Job 21 Parallel Bible Translations

Job 21 ▼
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1 Then Job replied [to his friends], Then Job answered and said: Then Job replied:
2 |Listen carefully to my words, and let that be the comfort you offer me. “Keep listening to my words, and let this be your comfort. “Listen carefully to my words; let this be the consolation you give me.
3 Bear with me while I speak. Then after I've spoken, you may go on mocking. Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on. Bear with me while I speak, and after I have spoken, mock on.
4 Am I complaining about a person? Why shouldn't I be impatient? As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient? “Is my complaint directed to a human being? Why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me, and be shocked, and put [your] hand over [your] mouth. Look at me and be appalled, and lay your hand over your mouth. Look at me and be appalled; clap your hand over your mouth.
6 When I remember it, I'm terrified, and shuddering seizes my body. When I remember, I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh. When I think about this, I am terrified; trembling seizes my body.
7 |Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, and even become more powerful? Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
8 They see their children firmly established with them, and they get to see their descendants. Their offspring are established in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes. They see their children established around them, their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their homes are free from fear, and God doesn't use his rod on them. Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them. Their homes are safe and free from fear; the rod of God is not on them.
10 Their bulls are fertile when they breed. Their cows give birth to calves and never miscarry. Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and does not miscarry. Their bulls never fail to breed; their cows calve and do not miscarry.
11 They send their little children out [to play] like a flock of lambs, and their children dance around. They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance. They send forth their children as a flock; their little ones dance about.
12 They sing with the tambourine and lyre, and they are happy with the music of the flute. They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe. They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre; they make merry to the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their days in happiness, and they go peacefully to the grave. They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol. They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace.
14 But they say to God, 'Leave us alone. We don't want to know your ways. They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways. Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways.
15 Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? What do we gain if we pray to him?' What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’ Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?’
16 Anyhow, isn't their happiness in their own power? (The plan of the wicked is foreign to my way of thinking.) Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand? The counsel of the wicked is far from me. But their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.
17 |How often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does disaster happen to them? How often does an angry God give them pain? “How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them? That God distributes pains in his anger? “Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does calamity come upon them, the fate God allots in his anger?
18 How often are they like straw in the wind or like husks that the storm sweeps away? That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away? How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a gale?
19 |[You say,] 'God saves a person's punishment for his children.' God should pay back that person so that he would know that it is a punishment. You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it. It is said, ‘God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children.’ Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it!
20 His eyes should see his own ruin. He should drink from the wrath of the Almighty. Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty. Let their own eyes see their destruction; let them drink the cup of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 How can he be interested in his family after he's gone, when the number of his months is cut short? For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off? For what do they care about the families they leave behind when their allotted months come to an end?
22 |Can anyone teach God knowledge? Can anyone judge the Most High? Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high? “Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he judges even the highest?
23 One person dies in his prime and feels altogether happy and contented. One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure, One person dies in full vigor, completely secure and at ease,
24 His stomach is full of milk, and his bones are strong and healthy. his pails full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist. well nourished in body, bones rich with marrow.
25 Another person, never having tasted happiness, dies with a bitter soul. Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity. Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having enjoyed anything good.
26 Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them. They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them. Side by side they lie in the dust, and worms cover them both.
27 |You see, I know your thoughts and the schemes you plot against me “Behold, I know your thoughts and your schemes to wrong me. “I know full well what you are thinking, the schemes by which you would wrong me.
28 because you ask, 'Where is the house of the influential person? Where is the tent where wicked people live?' For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’ You say, ‘Where now is the house of the great, the tents where the wicked lived?’
29 Haven't you asked travelers? But you didn't pay attention to their directions. Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony Have you never questioned those who travel? Have you paid no regard to their accounts—
30 On the day of disaster the wicked person is spared. On the day of [God's] anger he is rescued. that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity, that he is rescued in the day of wrath? that the wicked are spared from the day of calamity, that they are delivered from the day of wrath?
31 Who will tell him to his face how he lived? Who will pay him back for what he did? Who declares his way to his face, and who repays him for what he has done? Who denounces their conduct to their face? Who repays them for what they have done?
32 He is carried to the cemetery, and his grave is guarded. When he is carried to the grave, watch is kept over his tomb. They are carried to the grave, and watch is kept over their tombs.
33 The soil in the creekbed is sweet to him. Everyone follows him. Countless others went before him. The clods of the valley are sweet to him; all mankind follows after him, and those who go before him are innumerable. The soil in the valley is sweet to them; everyone follows after them, and a countless throng goes before them.
34 How can you comfort me with this nonsense when your answers continue to betray me?| How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.” “So how can you console me with your nonsense? Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!”
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