Job 21:1-34 CSB

[1] Then Job answered: [2] Pay close attention to my words; let this be the consolation you offer. [3] Bear with me while I speak; then after I have spoken, you may continue mocking. [4] As for me, is my complaint against a human being? Then why shouldn't I be impatient? [5] Look at me and shudder; put your hand over your mouth. [6] When I think about it, I am terrified and my body trembles in horror. [7] Why do the wicked continue to live, growing old and becoming powerful? [8] Their children are established while they are still alive, and their descendants, before their eyes. [9] Their homes are secure and free of fear; no rod from God strikes them. [10] Their bulls breed without fail; their cows calve and do not miscarry. [11] They let their little ones run around like lambs; their children skip about, [12] singing to the tambourine and lyre and rejoicing at the sound of the flute. [13] They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace. [14] Yet 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, and what will we gain by pleading with him?" [16] But their prosperity is not of their own doing. The counsel of the wicked is far from me! [17] How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come on them? Does he apportion destruction in his anger? [18] Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff a storm sweeps away? [19] God reserves a person's punishment for his children. Let God repay the person himself, so that he may know it. [20] Let his own eyes see his demise; let him drink from the Almighty's wrath! [21] For what does he care about his family once he is dead, when the number of his months has run out? [22] Can anyone teach God knowledge, since he judges the exalted ones? [23] One person dies in excellent health, completely secure and at ease. [24] His body is well fed, and his bones are full of marrow. [25] Yet another person dies with a bitter soul, having never tasted prosperity. [26] But they both lie in the dust, and worms cover them. [27] I know your thoughts very well, the schemes by which you would wrong me. [28] For you say, "Where now is the nobleman's house?" and "Where are the tents the wicked lived in?" [29] Have you never consulted those who travel the roads? Don't you accept their reports? [30] Indeed, the evil person is spared from the day of disaster, rescued from the day of wrath. [31] Who would denounce his behavior to his face? Who would repay him for what he has done? [32] He is carried to the grave, and someone keeps watch over his tomb. [33] The dirt on his grave is sweet to him. Everyone follows behind him, and those who go before him are without number. [34] So how can you offer me such futile comfort? Your answers are deceptive.