Job 21:1-16

1Then Job spoke again:

2“Listen closely to what I am saying. That’s one consolation you can give me.

3Bear with me, and let me speak. After I have spoken, you may resume mocking me.

4“My complaint is with God, not with people. I have good reason to be so impatient.

5Look at me and be stunned. Put your hand over your mouth in shock.

6When I think about what I am saying, I shudder. My body trembles.

7“Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful?

8They live to see their children grow up and settle down, and they enjoy their grandchildren.

9Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them.

10Their bulls never fail to breed. Their cows bear calves and never miscarry.

11They let their children frisk about like lambs. Their little ones skip and dance.

12They sing with tambourine and harp. They celebrate to the sound of the flute.

13They spend their days in prosperity, then go down to the grave in peace.

14And yet they say to God, ‘Go away. We want no part of you and your ways.

15Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him? What good will it do us to pray?’

16(They think their prosperity is of their own doing, but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.)