Job 21

Job’s Discourse on the Wicked

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 "Listen carefully to my speech,

And let this be your consolation.

3 Bear with me that I may speak,

And after I have spoken, keep *Job 16:10mocking.

4 "As for me, is my complaint against man?

And if itwere, why should I not be impatient?

5 Look at me and be astonished;

*Judg. 18:19; Job 13:5; 29:9; 40:4Put your hand over your mouth.

6 Even when I remember I am terrified,

And trembling takes hold of my flesh.

7 *Job 12:6; Ps. 17:10, 14; 73:3, 12; (Jer. 12:1); Hab. 1:13, 16Why do the wicked live and become old,

Yes, become mighty in power?

8 Their descendants are established with them in their sight,

And their offspring before their eyes.

9 Their houses are safe from fear,

*Ps. 73:5Neither is the rod of God upon them.

10 Their bull breeds without failure;

Their cow calves *Ex. 23:26without miscarriage.

11 They send forth their little ones like a flock,

And their children dance.

12 They sing to the tambourine and harp,

And rejoice to the sound of the flute.

13 They *Job 21:23; 36:11spend their days in wealth,

And in a moment go down to the grave.

14 *Job 22:17Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us,

For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.

15 *Ex. 5:2; Job 22:17; 34:9Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?

And *Job 35:3; Mal. 3:14what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’

16 Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand;

*Job 22:18; Ps. 1:1; Prov. 1:10The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

17 "How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?

Howoften does their destruction come upon them,

The sorrows God*(Job 31:2, 3; Luke 12:46)distributes in His anger?

18 *Ps. 1:4; 35:5; Is. 17:13; Hos. 13:3They are like straw before the wind,

And like chaff that a storm carries away.

19 Theysay, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity *(Ex. 20:5); Jer. 31:29; Ezek. 18:2for his children’;

Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.

20 Let his eyes see his destruction,

And *Ps. 75:8; Is. 51:17; Jer. 25:15; Rev. 14:10; 19:15let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

21 For what does he care about his household after him,

When the number of his months is cut in half?

22 "Can*Job 35:11; 36:22; (Is. 40:13; 45:9; Rom. 11:34; 1 Cor. 2:16)anyone teach God knowledge,

Since He judges those on high?

23 One dies in his full strength,

Being wholly at ease and secure;

24 His pails are full of milk,

And the marrow of his bones is moist.

25 Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul,

Never having eaten with pleasure.

26 They *Job 3:13; 20:11; Eccl. 9:2lie down alike in the dust,

And worms cover them.

27 "Look, I know your thoughts,

And the schemes withwhich you would wrong me.

28 For you say,

‘Where is the house of the prince?

And where is the tent,

The dwelling place of the wicked?’

29 Have you not asked those who travel the road?

And do you not know their signs?

30 *Job 20:29; (Prov. 16:4; 2 Pet. 2:9)For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom;

They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.

31 Who condemns his way to his face?

And who repays him forwhat he has done?

32 Yet he shall be brought to the grave,

And a vigil kept over the tomb.

33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him;

*Heb. 9:27Everyone shall follow him,

As countless havegone before him.

34 How then can you comfort me with empty words,

Since falsehood remains in your answers?"