Job 21

Job Replies: The Wicked Do Prosper

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 *ch. 13:17"Keep listening to my words,

and let this be your comfort.

3 Bear with me, and I will speak,

and after I have spoken, *[ch. 16:10,20;17:2]mock on.

4 As for me, is my *ch. 10:1;23:2complaint against man?

Why should I not be impatient?

5 Look at me and be appalled,

and *ch. 29:9;40:4;Judg. 18:19lay your hand over your mouth.

6 When I remember, I am dismayed,

and shuddering seizes my flesh.

7 *ch. 12:6;Ps. 17:14;37:1,35;73:3,5;92:7;Eccles. 8:14;Jer. 12:1,2;Hab. 1:13,16;Mal. 3:14,15Why do the wicked live,

reach old age, and grow mighty in power?

8 Their *[ch. 5:25]offspring are established in their presence,

and their descendants before their eyes.

9 Their houses are *[ch. 5:24] safe from fear,

and *See ch. 9:34no rod of God is upon them.

10 Their bull breeds without fail;

their cow calves and *Ex. 23:26does not miscarry.

11 They send out their *[Ps. 17:14]little boys like a flock,

and their children dance.

12 They sing to *Ex. 15:20the tambourine and *ch. 30:31;Gen. 4:21the lyre

and rejoice to the sound of *ch. 30:31;Gen. 4:21the pipe.

13 They *ch. 36:11spend their days in prosperity,

and in *ch. 34:20;[ch. 24:19] peace they go down to *ch. 7:9;14:13;17:13;See Ps. 16:10Sheol.

14 They say to God, *ch. 22:17‘Depart from us!

We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.

15 *[Ex. 5:2] What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

And what *See ch. 34:9profit do we get if we pray to him?’

16 Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand?

*ch. 22:18;[Ps. 1:1]The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

17 "How often is it that *See ch. 18:5,6the lamp of the wicked is put out?

That their calamity comes upon them?

That God*21:17 Hebrew he distributes pains in his anger?

18 That they are like *ch. 13:25;Ps. 83:13straw before the wind,

and like *Ps. 1:4;35:5;Isa. 17:13;29:5chaff that the storm carries away?

19 You say, ‘God *ch. 15:20stores up their iniquity for their *Ex. 20:5children.’

Let him pay it out to them, that they may *Isa. 9:9;Ezek. 25:14;Hos. 9:7know it.

20 Let their own eyes see their destruction,

and let them *Ps. 60:3;75:8;Isa. 51:17,22;Jer. 25:15;Obad. 16;Rev. 14:10drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

21 For what do they care for their houses after them,

when *ch. 14:5the number of their months is cut off?

22 *Isa. 40:14;Rom. 11:34;1 Cor. 2:16Will any teach God knowledge,

seeing that he *[ch. 4:18;15:15]judges those who are on high?

23 One dies in his full vigor,

being wholly at ease and secure,

24 his pails*21:24 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain full of milk

and *Prov. 3:8;[Isa. 58:11;66:14]the marrow of his bones moist.

25 Another dies in *See ch. 7:11bitterness of soul,

never having tasted of prosperity.

26 They *ch. 20:11;[Eccles. 9:2] lie down alike in the dust,

and *Isa. 14:11the worms cover them.

27 "Behold, I know your thoughts

and your schemes to wrong me.

28 For you say, *[ch. 20:6,7] ‘Where is the house of the prince?

Where is *[ch. 8:22;15:34]the tent in which the wicked lived?’

29 Have you not asked those who travel the roads,

and do you not accept their testimony

30 that *[Prov. 16:4;2 Pet. 2:9]the evil man is spared in the day of calamity,

that he is rescued in the day of wrath?

31 Who declares his way *Deut. 7:10;Hos. 5:5;Gal. 2:11to his face,

and who *Deut. 7:10repays him for what he has done?

32 When he is *ch. 10:19carried to the grave,

watch is kept over his tomb.

33 *ch. 38:38The clods of the valley are sweet to him;

*[ch. 30:23;Heb. 9:27]all mankind follows after him,

and those who go before him are innumerable.

34 How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?

There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood."