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Job 21 - Good News Bible bible

Job 21

¹Listen to what I am saying; that is all the comfort I ask from you.

³Give me a chance to speak and then, when I am through, sneer if you like.

⁴My quarrel is not with mortals; I have good reason to be impatient.

⁵Look at me. Isn't that enough to make you stare in shocked silence?

⁶When I think of what has happened to me, I am stunned, and I tremble and shake.

⁷Why does God let evil people live, let them grow old and prosper?

⁸They have children and grandchildren, and live to watch them all grow up.

⁹God does not bring disaster on their homes; they never have to live in terror.

¹⁰Yes, all their cattle breed and give birth without trouble.

¹¹Their children run and play like lambs

¹²and dance to the music of harps and flutes.

¹³They live out their lives in peace and quietly die without suffering.

¹⁴The wicked tell God to leave them alone; they don't want to know his will for their lives.

¹⁵They think there is no need to serve God nor any advantage in praying to him.

¹⁶They claim they succeed by their own strength, but their way of thinking I can't accept.

¹⁷Was a wicked person's light ever put out? Did one of them ever meet with disaster? Did God ever punish the wicked in anger

¹⁸and blow them away like straw in the wind, or like dust carried away in a storm?

¹⁹You 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 their sins.

²⁰Let sinners bear their own punishment; let them feel the wrath of Almighty God.

²¹When our lives are over, do we really care whether our children are happy?

²²Can anyone teach God, who judges even those in high places?

²³Some people stay healthy till the day they die; they die happy and at ease, their bodies well-nourished.

²⁵Others have no happiness at all; they live and die with bitter hearts.

²⁶But all alike die and are buried; they all are covered with worms.

²⁷I know what spiteful thoughts you have.

²⁸You ask, "Where are the homes of great people now, those who practiced evil?"

²⁹Haven't you talked with people who travel? Don't you know the reports they bring back?

³⁰On the day God is angry and punishes, it is the wicked who are always spared.

³¹There is no one to accuse the wicked or pay them back for all they have done.

³²When they are carried to the graveyard, to their well-guarded tombs,

³³thousands join the funeral procession, and even the earth lies gently on their bodies.

³⁴And you! You try to comfort me with nonsense! Every answer you give is a lie!