Job - Chapter 21 | Good News Translation

  • 1. Listen to what I am saying; that is all the comfort I ask from you.
  • 2. {cf15I (SEE 21:1)}
  • 3. Give me a chance to speak and then, when I am through, sneer if you like.
  • 4. My quarrel is not with mortals; I have good reason to be impatient.
  • 5. Look at me. Isn't that enough to make you stare in shocked silence?
  • 6. When I think of what has happened to me, I am stunned, and I tremble and shake.
  • 7. Why does God let evil people live, let them grow old and prosper?
  • 8. They have children and grandchildren, and live to watch them all grow up.
  • 9. God does not bring disaster on their homes; they never have to live in terror.
  • 10. Yes, all their cattle breed and give birth without trouble.
  • 11. Their children run and play like lambs
  • 12. and dance to the music of harps and flutes.
  • 13. They live out their lives in peace and quietly die without suffering.
  • 14. The wicked tell God to leave them alone; they don't want to know his will for their lives.
  • 15. They think there is no need to serve God nor any advantage in praying to him.
  • 16. They claim they succeed by their own strength, but their way of thinking I can't accept.
  • 17. Was a wicked person's light ever put out? Did one of them ever meet with disaster? Did God ever punish the wicked in anger
  • 18. and blow them away like straw in the wind, or like dust carried away in a storm?
  • 19. You claim God punishes a child for the sins of his father. No! Let God punish the sinners themselves; let him show that he does it because of {I their} sins.
  • 20. Let sinners bear their own punishment; let them feel the wrath of Almighty God.
  • 21. When our lives are over, do we really care whether our children are happy?
  • 22. Can anyone teach God, who judges even those in high places?
  • 23. Some people stay healthy till the day they die; they die happy and at ease, their bodies well-nourished.
  • 24. {cf15I (SEE 21:23)}
  • 25. Others have no happiness at all; they live and die with bitter hearts.
  • 26. But all alike die and are buried; they all are covered with worms.
  • 27. I know what spiteful thoughts you have.
  • 28. You ask, "Where are the homes of great people now, those who practiced evil?"
  • 29. Haven't you talked with people who travel? Don't you know the reports they bring back?
  • 30. On the day God is angry and punishes, it is the wicked who are always spared.
  • 31. There is no one to accuse the wicked or pay them back for all they have done.
  • 32. When they are carried to the graveyard, to their well-guarded tombs,
  • 33. thousands join the funeral procession, and even the earth lies gently on their bodies.
  • 34. And you! You try to comfort me with nonsense! Every answer you give is a lie!
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