Job 21:1-16

1Then Job replied ⌞to his friends⌟,

2“Listen carefully to my words, and let that be the comfort you offer me.

3Bear with me while I speak. Then after I’ve spoken, you may go on mocking.

4Am I complaining about a person? Why shouldn’t I be impatient?

5Look at me, and be shocked, and put ⌞your⌟ hand over ⌞your⌟ mouth.

6When I remember it, I’m terrified, and shuddering seizes my body.

7“Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, and even become more powerful?

8They see their children firmly established with them, and they get to see their descendants.

9Their homes are free from fear, and God doesn’t use his rod on them.

10Their bulls are fertile when they breed. Their cows give birth to calves and never miscarry.

11They send their little children out ⌞to play⌟ like a flock of lambs, and their children dance around.

12They sing with the tambourine and lyre, and they are happy with the music of the flute.

13They spend their days in happiness, and they go peacefully to the grave.

14But they say to God, ‘Leave us alone. We don’t want to know your ways.

15Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? What do we gain if we pray to him?’

16Anyhow, isn’t their happiness in their own power? (The plan of the wicked is foreign to my way of thinking.)