Job 21

Job's Response

1-3 Why Do the Wicked Have It So Good?Job replied: "Now listen to me carefully, please listen, at least do me the favor of listening. Put up with me while I have my say— then you can mock me later to your heart's content.
4-16 "It's not you I'm complaining to—it's God. Is it any wonder I'm getting fed up with his silence? Take a good look at me. Aren't you appalled by what's happened? No! Don't say anything. I can do without your comments. When I look back, I go into shock, my body is racked with spasms. Why do the wicked have it so good, live to a ripe old age and get rich? They get to see their children succeed, get to watch and enjoy their grandchildren. Their homes are peaceful and free from fear; they never experience God's disciplining rod. Their bulls breed with great vigor and their cows calve without fail. They send their children out to play and watch them frolic like spring lambs. They make music with fiddles and flutes, have good times singing and dancing. They have a long life on easy street, and die painlessly in their sleep. They say to God, 'Get lost! We've no interest in you or your ways. Why should we have dealings with God Almighty? What's there in it for us?' But they're wrong, dead wrong—they're not gods. It's beyond me how they can carry on like this!
17-21 "Still, how often does it happen that the wicked fail, or disaster strikes, or they get their just deserts? How often are they blown away by bad luck? Not very often. You might say, 'God is saving up the punishment for their children.' I say, 'Give it to them right now so they'll know what they've done!' They deserve to experience the effects of their evil, feel the full force of God's wrath firsthand. What do they care what happens to their families after they're safely tucked away in the grave?

Fancy Funerals with All the Trimmings

22-26 "But who are we to tell God how to run his affairs? He's dealing with matters that are way over our heads. Some people die in the prime of life, with everything going for them— fat and sassy. Others die bitter and bereft, never getting a taste of happiness. They're laid out side by side in the cemetery, where the worms can't tell one from the other.
27-33 "I'm not deceived. I know what you're up to, the plans you're cooking up to bring me down. Naively you claim that the castles of tyrants fall to pieces, that the achievements of the wicked collapse. Have you ever asked world travelers how they see it? Have you not listened to their stories Of evil men and women who got off scot-free, who never had to pay for their wickedness? Did anyone ever confront them with their crimes? Did they ever have to face the music? Not likely—they're given fancy funerals with all the trimmings, Gently lowered into expensive graves, with everyone telling lies about how wonderful they were.
34 "So how do you expect me to get any comfort from your nonsense? Your so-called comfort is a tissue of lies."

Job 21

1 Then Job answered and said,

2 Hear diligently my speech; And let this be your consolations.

3 Suffer me, and I also will speak; And after that I have spoken, mock on.

4 As for me, is my complaint to man? And why should I not be impatient?

5 Mark me, and be astonished, And lay your hand upon your mouth.

6 Even when I remember I am troubled, And horror taketh hold on my flesh.

7 Wherefore do the wicked live, Become old, yea, wax mighty in power?

8 Their seed is established with them in their sight, And their offspring before their eyes.

9 Their houses are safe from fear, Neither is the rod of God upon them.

10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; Their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.

11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, And their children dance.

12 They sing to the timbrel and harp, And rejoice at the sound of the pipe.

13 They spend their days in prosperity, And in a moment they go down to Sheol.

14 And they say unto God, Depart from us; For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

16 Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand: The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

17 How oft is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity cometh upon them? That God distributeth sorrows in his anger?

18 That they are as stubble before the wind, And as chaff that the storm carrieth away?

19  Ye say, God layeth up his iniquity for his children. Let him recompense it unto himself, that he may know it:

20 Let his own eyes see his destruction, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

21 For what careth he for his house after him, When the number of his months is cut off?

22 Shall any teach God knowledge, Seeing he judgeth those that are high?

23 One dieth in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and quiet:

24 His pails are full of milk, And the marrow of his bones is moistened.

25 And another dieth in bitterness of soul, And never tasteth of good.

26 They lie down alike in the dust, And the worm covereth them.

27 Behold, I know your thoughts, And the devices wherewith ye would wrong me.

28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent wherein the wicked dwelt?

29 Have ye not asked wayfaring men? And do ye not know their evidences,

30 That the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity? That they are led forth to the day of wrath?

31 Who shall declare his way to his face? And who shall repay him what he hath done?

32 Yet shall he be borne to the grave, And men shall keep watch over the tomb.

33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, And all men shall draw after him, As there were innumerable before him.

34 How then comfort ye me in vain, Seeing in your answers there remaineth only falsehood?