Job 21 Parallel Bible Translations

Job 21 ▼
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1 In response, Job said: Then Job answered and said: Then Job replied:
2 |Listen carefully to my words; let this encourage all of you. “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 and let me speak! Then, after I've spoken, you'll be free to mock me. 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 After all, isn't my complaint against a human being? If so, 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, be appalled, and then shut up! 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 think about this, I'm petrified with terror and my body shudders uncontrollably.| 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 live to reach old age and increase in power and wealth, too? 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 Their children grow up while they're alive, and they live to see their grandchildren. 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 houses are safe from fear, and God's chastisement never visits 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 bull breeds without fail, and their cows calve without miscarriages. 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 release their children to play like sheep; their young ones dance about, 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 singing with tambourines and lyres as they rejoice to the sound of flutes. 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 grow old in prosperity, as they descend peacefully into the afterlife. 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 |They say to God, 'Turn away from us! We have no desire 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? Where's the profit in talking 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 Behold! Their prosperity isn't in their control! The counsel of the wicked will remain far from me.| 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 do the wicked have their lights put out? Does calamity ever fall on them? Will God in his anger ever apportion their destruction? “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 May they become like a straw, blown away before the wind; like a chaff that's swept off by a storm. 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 God stores up their iniquity to repay their children; making them repay so that they may be aware. 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 Their own eyes will see their destruction; and they'll drink 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 What will they care for their household after them, when the number of his months comes to an end?| 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 God learn anything? After all, he will judge even the exalted ones. 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 Such persons will die in their full vigor, completely prosperous and secure. 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 buckets are filled with milk, his bone marrow is healthy. his pails full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist. well nourished in body, bones rich with marrow.
25 Others die with a bitter soul, never having tasted the good life. Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity. Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having enjoyed anything good.
26 They both 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 |Look! I know your thoughts, your plans are going to harm 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 You ask, 'Where is the noble person's house?' and 'Where are the tents where the wicked 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 on the highway? Don't you accept their word 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 that the wicked person is spared from times of calamity, that he is rescued on the day of wrath? 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 expose his conduct to his face? Who will repay him for what he has done 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 when he is carried away to the cemetery and guardians are placed to watch his tomb? 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 runoff from the streams will seem sweet to him; everyone will follow after him; countless crows march ahead of 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 then, can you console me so worthlessly? What is left of your answers is treachery.| 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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