Job 21
New Century Version
Job Answers Zophar
21 Then Job answered:
2 “Listen carefully to my words,
and let this be the way you comfort me.
3 Be patient while I speak.
After I have finished, you may continue to make fun of me.
4 “My complaint is not just against people;
I have reason to be impatient.
5 Look at me and be shocked;
put your hand over your mouth in shock.
6 When I think about this, I am terribly afraid
and my body shakes.
7 Why do evil people live a long time?
They grow old and become more powerful.
8 They see their children around them;
they watch them grow up.
9 Their homes are safe and without fear;
God does not punish them.
10 Their bulls never fail to mate;
their cows have healthy calves.
11 They send out their children like a flock;
their little ones dance about.
12 They sing to the music of tambourines and harps,
and the sound of the flute makes them happy.
13 Evil people enjoy successful lives
and then go peacefully to the grave.
14 They say to God, ‘Leave us alone!
We don’t want to know your ways.
15 Who is the Almighty that we should serve him?
What would we gain by praying to him?’
16 The success of the wicked is not their own doing.
Their way of thinking is different from mine.
17 Yet how often are the lamps of evil people turned off?
How often does trouble come to them?
How often do they suffer God’s angry punishment?
18 How often are they like straw in the wind
or like chaff that is blown away by a storm?
19 It is said, ‘God saves up a person’s punishment for his children.’
But God should punish the wicked themselves so they will know it.
20 Their eyes should see their own destruction,
and they should suffer the anger of the Almighty.
21 They do not care about the families they leave behind
when their lives have come to an end.
22 “No one can teach knowledge to God;
he is the one who judges even the most important people.
23 One person dies while he still has all his strength,
feeling completely safe and comfortable.
24 His body was well fed,
and his bones were strong and healthy.
25 But another person dies with an unhappy heart,
never enjoying any happiness.
26 They are buried next to each other,
and worms cover them both.
27 “I know very well your thoughts
and your plans to wrong me.
28 You ask about me, ‘Where is this great man’s house?
Where are the tents where the wicked live?’
29 Have you never asked those who travel?
Have you never listened to their stories?
30 On the day of God’s anger and punishment,
it is the wicked who are spared.
31 Who will accuse them to their faces?
Who will pay them back for the evil they have done?
32 They are carried to their graves,
and someone keeps watch over their tombs.
33 The dirt in the valley seems sweet to them.
Everybody follows after them,
and many people go before them.
34 “So how can you comfort me with this nonsense?
Your answers are only lies!”
Job 21
King James Version
21 But Job answered and said,
2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.
3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.
4 As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?
5 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
6 Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.
7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, 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 take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.
13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
14 Therefore 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 good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.
20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?
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 breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
25 And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.
26 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.
27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.
28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?
29 Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,
30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought 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 brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.
33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.
34 How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
