Job 21:1-34 NLT

[1] Then Job spoke again: [2] "Listen closely to what I am saying. That's one consolation you can give me. [3] Bear 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. [5] Look at me and be stunned. Put your hand over your mouth in shock. [6] When I think about what I am saying, I shudder. My body trembles. [7] "Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful? [8] They live to see their children grow up and settle down, and they enjoy their grandchildren. [9] Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them. [10] Their bulls never fail to breed. Their cows bear calves and never miscarry. [11] They let their children frisk about like lambs. Their little ones skip and dance. [12] They sing with tambourine and harp. They celebrate to the sound of the flute. [13] They spend their days in prosperity, then go down to the grave in peace. [14] And yet they say to God, 'Go away. We want no part of you and your ways. [15] Who 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.) [17] "Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished. Do they ever have trouble? Does God distribute sorrows to them in anger? [18] Are they driven before the wind like straw? Are they carried away by the storm like chaff? Not at all! [19] "'Well,' you say, 'at least God will punish their children!' But I say he should punish the ones who sin, so that they understand his judgment. [20] Let them see their destruction with their own eyes. Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty. [21] For they will not care what happens to their family after they are dead. [22] "But who can teach a lesson to God, since he judges even the most powerful? [23] One person dies in prosperity, completely comfortable and secure, [24] the picture of good health, vigorous and fit. [25] Another person dies in bitter poverty, never having tasted the good life. [26] But both are buried in the same dust, both eaten by the same maggots. [27] "Look, I know what you're thinking. I know the schemes you plot against me. [28] You will tell me of rich and wicked people whose houses have vanished because of their sins. [29] But ask those who have been around, and they will tell you the truth. [30] Evil people are spared in times of calamity and are allowed to escape disaster. [31] No one criticizes them openly or pays them back for what they have done. [32] When they are carried to the grave, an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb. [33] A great funeral procession goes to the cemetery. Many pay their respects as the body is laid to rest, and the earth gives sweet repose. [34] "How can your empty clichés comfort me? All your explanations are lies!"