21:1 Then Job responded,
21:2 “Listen carefully to my speech,
And let this be your way of consolation.
21:3 Bear with me that I may speak;
Then after I have spoken, you may mock me.
21:4 As for me, is my complaint ①to a mortal?
Or why should ②I not be impatient?
▷ ①Or against ②Lit my spirit
21:5 Look at me, and be astonished,
And put your hand over your mouth.
21:6 Even when I remember, I am disturbed,
And horror takes hold of my flesh.
21:7 Why do the wicked still live,
Grow old, and also become very ①powerful?
▷ ①Or superior
21:8 Their ①descendants endure with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes,
▷ ①Lit seed
21:9 Their houses are safe from fear,
And the ①rod of God is not on them.
▷ ①I.e., punishment
21:10 His ox mates ①without fail;
His cow calves and does not miscarry.
▷ ①Lit and does not fail
21:11 They send out their boys like the flock,
And their children dance.
21:12 They ①sing with the tambourine and harp,
And rejoice at the sound of the flute.
▷ ①Lit lifted up the voice
21:13 They spend their days in prosperity,
And ①suddenly they go down to ②Sheol.
▷ ①Or in peacefulness ②I.e., the netherworld
21:14 Yet they say to God, ‘Go away from us!
We do not even desire the knowledge of Your ways.
21:15 ①Who is ②the Almighty, that we should serve Him,
And what would we gain if we plead with Him?’
▷ ①Lit What ②Heb Shaddai
21:16 Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand;
The advice of the wicked is far from me.
21:17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out,
Or does their disaster fall on them?
Does ①God apportion destruction in His anger?
▷ ①Lit He
21:18 Are they as straw before the wind,
And like chaff which the storm carries away?
21:19 You say, ‘God saves up ①a person’s ②wrongdoing for his sons.’
Let ③God repay him so that he may know it.
▷ ①Lit his ②Or disaster ③Lit Him
21:20 Let his own eyes see his destruction,
And let him drink of the wrath of ①the Almighty.
▷ ①Heb Shaddai
21:21 For what does he care about his household ①after him,
When the number of his months is at an end?
▷ ①I.e., after he dies
21:22 Can anyone teach God knowledge,
In that He judges those on high?
21:23 One dies in his full strength,
Being wholly undisturbed and at ease;
21:24 His ①sides are filled with fat,
And the marrow of his bones is wet,
▷ ①As in Syriac; Heb uncertain. Some render as his pails are full of milk
21:25 While another dies with a bitter soul,
Never even ①tasting anything good.
▷ ①Lit eating
21:26 Together they lie down in the dust,
And maggots cover them.
21:27 “Behold, I know your thoughts,
And the plots you devise against me.
21:28 For you say, ‘Where is the house of the nobleman,
And where is the tent, the dwelling places of the wicked?’
21:29 Have you not asked travelers,
And do you not examine their ①evidence?
▷ ①Lit signs
21:30 For the wicked person is spared ①a day of disaster;
They ②are led away from a day of fury.
▷ ①Or for the day ②Or will be led to the day
21:31 Who ①confronts him with his actions,
And who repays him for what he has done?
▷ ①Lit declares his way to his face
21:32 When he is carried to the grave,
People will keep watch over his tomb.
21:33 The clods of the valley will ①gently cover him;
Moreover, all mankind will ②follow after him,
While countless others go before him.
▷ ①Lit be sweet to him ②Lit draw
21:34 So how dare you give me empty comfort?
For your answers remain nothing but falsehood!”