Job 21

¹We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

¹¹Are the consolations of God not enough for you, even words spoken gently to you?

²Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods.

³Yet I desire to speak to the Almighty and argue my case before God.

⁴You, however, smear with lies; you are all worthless physicians.

³¹Pay attention, Job, and listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.

³²But if you have something to say, answer me; speak up, for I would like to vindicate you.

¹“But now, O Job, hear my speech, and listen to all my words.

²Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.

¹⁰They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join together against me.

²⁰My friends are my scoffers as my eyes pour out tears to God.

¹³Be silent, and I will speak. Then let come to me what may.

⁴I am a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God, and He answered. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.

⁵The one at ease scorns misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

³¹Pay attention, Job, and listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.

³²But if you have something to say, answer me; speak up, for I would like to vindicate you.

²I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him.

³Although my spirit grows faint within me, You know my way. Along the path I travel they have hidden a snare for me.

¹¹Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.

¹A prayer of one who is afflicted, when he grows faint and pours out his lament before the Lord. Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry for help come before You.

¹For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Doe of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning?

²I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.

¹“I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.

²I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me.

³I remembered You, O God, and I groaned; I mused and my spirit grew faint. Selah

⁴You have kept my eyes from closing; I am too troubled to speak.

⁴“Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You? I place my hand over my mouth.

⁹The princes refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands.

¹⁹“Be quiet,” they told him. “Put your hand over your mouth and come with us and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest for the house of one person or a priest for a tribe and family in Israel?”

³²If you have foolishly exalted yourself or if you have plotted evil, put your hand over your mouth.

²⁰My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

²¹Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.

¹³Therefore, the prudent keep silent in such times, for the days are evil.

¹⁶I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the people who invade us.

¹²⁰My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.

³I remembered You, O God, and I groaned; I mused and my spirit grew faint. Selah

¹⁹Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.

²⁰Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.

¹⁵From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.

³For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴They have no struggle in their death; their bodies are well-fed.

⁶The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure—those who carry their god in their hands.

³⁵I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree,

¹Righteous are You, O Lord, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?

²You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.

¹³Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate the faithless? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

¹⁰They have closed their callous hearts; their mouths speak with arrogance.

⁶Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of a son is his father.

¹⁴from such men, O Lord, by Your hand—from men of the world whose portion is in this life. May You fill the bellies of Your treasured ones and satisfy their sons, so they leave their abundance to their children.

²⁸The possessions of his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s wrath.

¹⁰His sons will seek the favor of the poor, for his own hands must return his wealth.

¹⁹He has no offspring or posterity among his people, no survivor where he once lived.

³I have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed.

⁴His sons are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.

⁵They are free of the burdens others carry; they are not afflicted like other men.

³⁴Let Him remove His rod from me, so that His terror will no longer frighten me.

¹¹Terrors frighten him on every side and harass his every step.

¹⁹How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!

¹⁹bringing praise to their lips. Peace, peace to those far and near,” says the Lord, “and I will heal them.”

²⁰But the wicked are like the storm-tossed sea, for it cannot be still, and its waves churn up mire and muck.

²¹Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.

²⁶No woman in your land will miscarry or be barren; I will fulfill the number of your days.

¹So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate.

²It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow.

¹¹The Lord will make you prosper abundantly—in the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your land—in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.

¹⁶Then He told them a parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance.

¹⁷So he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have nowhere to store my crops?’

¹³He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your land—your grain, new wine, and oil, the young of your herds and the lambs of your flocks—in the land that He swore to your fathers to give you.

¹⁴You will be blessed above all peoples; among you there will be no barren man or woman or livestock.

¹³Our storehouses will be full, supplying all manner of produce; our flocks will bring forth thousands, tens of thousands in our fields.

¹⁴Our oxen will bear great loads. There will be no breach in the walls, no going into captivity, and no cry of lament in our streets.

³Children are indeed a heritage from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.

⁴Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are children born in one’s youth.

⁴¹But He lifts the needy from affliction and increases their families like flocks.

⁴You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.

⁵You improvise songs on the harp like David and invent your own musical instruments.

²¹And his brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute.

¹²At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the Lord and fail to see the work of His hands.

²⁷Why did you run away secretly and deceive me, without even telling me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and harps.

¹³But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

¹¹If they obey and serve Him, then they end their days in prosperity and their years in happiness.

⁴They have no struggle in their death; their bodies are well-fed.

¹⁹Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

³⁸For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark.

³⁹And they were oblivious until the flood came and swept them all away. So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.

²⁸It was the same in the days of Lot: People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.

²⁹But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

¹⁷They said to God, ‘Depart from us. What can the Almighty do to us?’

⁷because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.

⁴In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his schemes there is no God.

¹⁰and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.

¹¹For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie,

²³Whoever hates Me hates My Father as well.

²⁴If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father.

²⁹For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the Lord.

²But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.”

⁹For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should delight in God.’

¹³You also say: ‘Oh, what a nuisance!’ And you turn up your nose at it,” says the Lord of Hosts. “You bring offerings that are stolen, lame, or sick! Should I accept these from your hands?” asks the Lord.

¹⁴“But cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says the Lord of Hosts, “and My name is to be feared among the nations.

⁴They say, “With our tongues we will prevail. We own our lips—who can be our master?”

¹¹Get out of the way; turn off the road. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel!”

⁹Otherwise, I may have too much and deny You, saying, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, profaning the name of my God.

¹⁸But it was He who filled their houses with good things; so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.

¹Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them.

⁵Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah

⁶The righteous will see and fear; they will mock the evildoer, saying,

⁶They trust in their wealth and boast in their great riches.

⁷No man can possibly redeem his brother or pay his ransom to God.

⁶May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For they kill men in their anger, and hamstring oxen on a whim.

⁵Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.

⁶The light in his tent grows dark, and the lamp beside him goes out.

²⁰Whoever curses his father or mother, his lamp will be extinguished in deepest darkness.

⁹The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is extinguished.

²⁰For the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished.

¹⁸He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world.

⁴⁶The master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not anticipate. Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

⁴Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.

¹³Make them like tumbleweed, O my God, like chaff before the wind.

²⁵Would You frighten a windblown leaf? Would You chase after dry chaff?

⁵May they be like chaff in the wind, as the angel of the Lord drives them away.

¹³The nations rage like the rush of many waters. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweeds before a gale.

²⁴“I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind.

⁵You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

¹⁹Yet you may ask, ‘Why shouldn’t the son bear the iniquity of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right, carefully observing all My statutes, he will surely live.

²⁰The soul who sins is the one who will die. A son will not bear the iniquity of his father, and a father will not bear the iniquity of his son. The righteousness of the righteous man will fall upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked man will fall upon him.

²⁹“In those days, it will no longer be said: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.’

⁴Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.

⁵But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

²“What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge’?

²¹Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the iniquities of their forefathers. They will never rise up to possess a land or cover the earth with their cities.

¹⁷Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury; you who have drained the goblet to the dregs—the cup that makes men stagger.

¹⁰he too will drink the wine of God’s anger, poured undiluted into the cup of His wrath. And he will be tormented in fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.

⁸For a cup is in the hand of the Lord, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours from His cup, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to the dregs.

¹⁹He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, all is gone.

¹⁵This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.

¹⁶And they will drink and stagger and go out of their minds, because of the sword that I will send among them.”

²³In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham from afar, with Lazarus by his side.

⁵Since his days are determined and the number of his months is with You, and since You have set limits that he cannot exceed,

¹⁸I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

¹⁹And who knows whether that man will be wise or foolish? Yet he will take over all the labor at which I have worked skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.

²⁴I say: “O my God, do not take me in the midst of my days! Your years go on through all generations.

²³But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.

²⁷‘Then I beg you, father,’ he said, ‘send Lazarus to my father’s house,

²⁸for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also end up in this place of torment.’

²¹If his sons receive honor, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he is unaware.

³⁴“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”

¹⁶“For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

¹³Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or informed Him as His counselor?

¹⁴Whom did He consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the paths of justice? Who imparted knowledge to Him and showed Him the way of understanding?

⁸If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.

²“Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who argues with God give an answer.”

⁴For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;

¹⁷For when he dies, he will carry nothing away; his abundance will not follow him down.

¹⁹Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

²²In the midst of his plenty, he will be distressed; the full force of misery will come upon him.

²³When he has filled his stomach, God will vent His fury upon him, raining it down on him as he eats.

⁴They have no struggle in their death; their bodies are well-fed.

⁵They are free of the burdens others carry; they are not afflicted like other men.

⁸This will bring healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.

¹⁰They have closed their callous hearts; their mouths speak with arrogance.

²⁷Though his face is covered with fat and his waistline bulges with flesh,

¹⁶Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure.

¹⁷So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.

¹¹Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

²³When he has filled his stomach, God will vent His fury upon him, raining it down on him as he eats.

¹²But she replied, “As surely as the Lord your God lives, I have no bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. Look, I am gathering a couple of sticks to take home and prepare a meal for myself and my son, so that we may eat it and die.”

⁸He continued, “You know your father and his men. They are mighty men, and as fierce as a wild bear robbed of her cubs. Moreover, your father is a man of war who will not spend the night with the troops.

¹⁸He does not let me catch my breath, but overwhelms me with bitterness.

¹¹Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed and worms your blanket.

²It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow.

¹¹The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie down with him in the dust.

¹⁸The captives enjoy their ease; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.

¹⁹Both small and great are there, and the slave is freed from his master.

²⁰The womb forgets them; the worm feeds on them; they are remembered no more. So injustice is broken like a tree.

¹⁴Like sheep they are destined for Sheol. Death will be their shepherd. The upright will rule them in the morning, and their form will decay in Sheol, far from their lofty abode.

²²Knowing what they were thinking, Jesus replied, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?

⁸⁶All Your commandments are faithful; I am persecuted without cause—help me!

¹⁹For if anyone endures the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God, this is to be commended.

⁷After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.

³Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

⁴When your children sinned against Him, He gave them over to their rebellion.

²⁰A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless.

²¹Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.

²²Your enemies will be clothed in shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

⁷he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’

⁵Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah

⁶The righteous will see and fear; they will mock the evildoer, saying,

⁹Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster!

¹⁰You have plotted shame for your house by cutting off many peoples and forfeiting your life.

²⁶And he warned the congregation, “Move away now from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”

²⁷So they moved away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Meanwhile, Dathan and Abiram had come out and stood at the entrances to their tents with their wives and children and infants.

³⁶yet he passed away and was no more; though I searched, he could not be found.

⁸May none who pass by say to them, “The blessing of the Lord be on you; we bless you in the name of the Lord.”

⁴The Lord has made everything for His purpose—even the wicked for the day of disaster.

⁹if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

¹⁰Such punishment is specially reserved for those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and self-willed, they are unafraid to slander glorious beings.

⁷And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

²⁸The possessions of his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s wrath.

⁵But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

⁵The Lord is at Your right hand; He will crush kings in the day of His wrath.

¹⁰But those who hate Him He repays to their faces with destruction; He will not hesitate to repay to his face the one who hates Him.

¹¹When Cephas came to Antioch, however, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.

¹⁹Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”

³³How skillfully you pursue love! Even the most immoral of women could learn from your ways.

³⁴Moreover, your skirts are stained with the blood of the innocent poor, though you did not find them breaking in. But in spite of all these things

¹³For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

⁷Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.

⁸I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more.

²²One day the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. And the rich man also died and was buried.

¹⁴Like sheep they are destined for Sheol. Death will be their shepherd. The upright will rule them in the morning, and their form will decay in Sheol, far from their lofty abode.

²¹Mighty chiefs will speak from the midst of Sheol about Egypt and her allies: ‘They have come down and lie with the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword.’

²²Assyria is there with her whole company; her graves are all around her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword.

²⁷Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,

²³Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.

²⁴They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.

⁷before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

¹⁶Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?”

²²who rejoice and greatly exult when they reach the grave?

²“I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all.

³and he burned with anger against Job’s three friends because they had failed to refute Job, and yet had condemned him.

⁴You, however, smear with lies; you are all worthless physicians.

⁷After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.