Job 21:18-34 ▼

18 Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?

19 It is said that God lays up one’s punishment for his children. Let God repay the man himself, so he will know it.

20 Let his eyes see his own destruction; let him drink for himself the wrath of the Almighty.

21 For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months has run out?

22 Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since He judges those on high?

23 One man dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease.

24 His body is well nourished, and his bones are rich with marrow.

25 Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity.

26 But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both.

27 Behold, I know your thoughts full 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 in which the wicked dwell?’

29 Have you never asked those who travel the roads? Do you not accept their reports?

30 Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.

31 Who denounces his behavior to his face? Who repays him for what he has done?

32 He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.

33 The clods of the valley are sweet to him; everyone follows behind him, and those before him are without number.

34 So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.”