Job
Job 21
1 Then Job answered:
2 “Listen, listen to my words,
so that this may not be all the comfort I get from you.
3 Bear with me, and I will speak;
then you will not be laughing at me.
4 What of it? Is my argument with a man?
And why should I not be angry?
5 Look at me and be amazed;
with your hand laid over your jaw.
6 For when I remember, I am shaken,
and pains take hold of my flesh.
Why Do the Ungodly Live On?
7 Why do the ungodly go on living,
and grow old in their wealth?
8 Their offspring are just as they want them,
and their children are right there in front of their eyes.
9 Their houses do well; there is no fear anywhere;
there is no whip from the Lord on them.
10 Their cow does not drop her calf early;
the one carrying young comes through safe and does not lose it.
11 They last like sheep that never fail,
and their small children play,
12 picking up harp and lyre,
and they are glad at the sound of a song.
13 They finish out their life in good things,
and they fall asleep in the rest of Hades.
14 Yet such a man says to the Lord, ‘Get away from me;
I do not want to know your ways.
15 What is the Sufficient One, that we should be his slaves?
And what good does it do us to go and meet him?’
16 For their good things were in their own hands,
and he does not watch over the works of the ungodly.
Chaff Before the Wind
17 And yet the lamp of the ungodly will be put out too;
ruin will come on them,
and birth pangs will take hold of them out of his anger.
18 They will be like chaff in front of the wind,
or like dust a whirlwind has carried off.
19 Let his goods run out before they reach his sons.
He will pay him back, and he will know it.
20 Let his own eyes see his own slaughter,
and let him not be brought through safe by the Lord.
21 For what does he want with his house after him,
when the number of his months has been cut in two?
22 Is it not the Lord who teaches understanding and knowledge?
And it is he who decides cases of killing.
One Man and Another
23 One man dies in the full strength of his own simplicity,
thoroughly comfortable and doing well;
24 his insides are full of fat,
and his marrow runs rich.
25 Another comes to his end in bitterness of soul,
never having eaten anything good.
26 They lie down together in the ground,
and rot has covered them both.
27 So I know you:
you press on me with your nerve.
28 For you will say, ‘Where is the house of the ruler?
And where is the shelter of the tents of the ungodly?’
29 Ask the people who pass by on the road,
and you will not disown the signs they bring.
30 For the evil man is spared for the day of destruction;
they will be led away for the day of his anger.
31 Who will tell him his own way to his face?
He did it — who will pay him back?
32 And he himself was carried off to the graves,
and kept watch over the bier.
33 The pebbles of the valley stream were sweet to him;
every man will go away after him,
and countless ones went on ahead of him.
34 So why do you comfort me with empty words?
As for my getting any rest from you — there is none.”