Job 21 NLT ISV Parallel

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◄ Job 21 ►

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1Then Job spoke again:

1In response, Job said:

2“Listen closely to what I am saying. That’s one consolation you can give me.

2"Listen carefully to my words; let this encourage all of you.

3Bear with me, and let me speak. After I have spoken, you may resume mocking me.

3Bear with me and let me speak! Then, after I've spoken, you'll be free to mock me.

4“My complaint is with God, not with people. I have good reason to be so impatient.

4After all, isn't my complaint against a human being? If so, why shouldn't I be impatient?

5Look at me and be stunned. Put your hand over your mouth in shock.

5Look at me, be appalled, and then shut up!

6When I think about what I am saying, I shudder. My body trembles.

6When I think about this, I'm petrified with terror and my body shudders uncontrollably."

7“Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful?

7"Why do the wicked live to reach old age and increase in power and wealth, too?

8They live to see their children grow up and settle down, and they enjoy their grandchildren.

8Their children grow up while they're alive, and they live to see their grandchildren.

9Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them.

9Their houses are safe from fear, and God's chastisement never visits them.

10Their bulls never fail to breed. Their cows bear calves and never miscarry.

10Their bull breeds without fail, and their cows calve without miscarriages.

11They let their children frisk about like lambs. Their little ones skip and dance.

11They release their children to play like sheep; their young ones dance about,

12They sing with tambourine and harp. They celebrate to the sound of the flute.

12singing with tambourines and lyres as they rejoice to the sound of flutes.

13They spend their days in prosperity, then go down to the grave in peace.

13They grow old in prosperity, as they descend peacefully into the afterlife.

14And yet they say to God, ‘Go away. We want no part of you and your ways.

14"They say to God, 'Turn away from us! We have no desire to know your ways.

15Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him? What good will it do us to pray?’

15Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? Where's the profit in talking to him?'

16(They think their prosperity is of their own doing, but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.)

16Behold! Their prosperity isn't in their control! The counsel of the wicked will remain far from me."

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?

17"How often do the wicked have their lights put out? Does calamity ever fall on them? Will God in his anger ever apportion their destruction?

18Are they driven before the wind like straw? Are they carried away by the storm like chaff? Not at all!

18May they become like a straw, blown away before the wind; like a chaff that's swept off by a storm.

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.

19God stores up their iniquity to repay their children; making them repay so that they may be aware.

20Let them see their destruction with their own eyes. Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty.

20Their own eyes will see their destruction; and they'll drink the wrath of the Almighty.

21For they will not care what happens to their family after they are dead.

21What will they care for their household after them, when the number of his months comes to an end?"

22“But who can teach a lesson to God, since he judges even the most powerful?

22"Can God learn anything? After all, he will judge even the exalted ones.

23One person dies in prosperity, completely comfortable and secure,

23Such persons will die in their full vigor, completely prosperous and secure.

24the picture of good health, vigorous and fit.

24His buckets are filled with milk, his bone marrow is healthy.

25Another person dies in bitter poverty, never having tasted the good life.

25Others die with a bitter soul, never having tasted the good life.

26But both are buried in the same dust, both eaten by the same maggots.

26They both lie down in the dust; and worms cover them."

27“Look, I know what you’re thinking. I know the schemes you plot against me.

27"Look! I know your thoughts, your plans are going to harm me.

28You will tell me of rich and wicked people whose houses have vanished because of their sins.

28You ask, 'Where is the noble person's house?' and 'Where are the tents where the wicked live?'

29But ask those who have been around, and they will tell you the truth.

29Haven't you asked travelers on the highway? Don't you accept their word

30Evil people are spared in times of calamity and are allowed to escape disaster.

30that the wicked person is spared from times of calamity, that he is rescued on the day of wrath?

31No one criticizes them openly or pays them back for what they have done.

31Who will expose his conduct to his face? Who will repay him for what he has done

32When they are carried to the grave, an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb.

32when he is carried away to the cemetery and guardians are placed to watch his tomb?

33A great funeral procession goes to the cemetery. Many pay their respects as the body is laid to rest, and the earth gives sweet repose.

33The runoff from the streams will seem sweet to him; everyone will follow after him; countless crows march ahead of him.

34“How can your empty clich�s comfort me? All your explanations are lies!”

34How then, can you console me so worthlessly? What is left of your answers is treachery."

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