Job 21 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

Job’s Seventh Speech: A Response to Zophar

Job 21:1

Job 21:1Then Job spoke again:

Job 21:2

Job 21:2“Listen closely to what I am saying.
That’s one consolation you can give me.

Job 21:3

Job 21:3Bear with me, and let me speak.
After I have spoken, you may resume mocking me.

Job 21:4

Job 21:4“My complaint is with God, not with people.
I have good reason to be so impatient.

Job 21:5

Job 21:5Look at me and be stunned.
Put your hand over your mouth in shock.

Job 21:6

Job 21:6When I think about what I am saying, I shudder.
My body trembles.

Job 21:7

Job 21:7“Why do the wicked prosper,
growing old and powerful?

Job 21:8

Job 21:8They live to see their children grow up and settle down,
and they enjoy their grandchildren.

Job 21:9

Job 21:9Their homes are safe from every fear,
and God does not punish them.

Job 21:10

Job 21:10Their bulls never fail to breed.
Their cows bear calves and never miscarry.

Job 21:11

Job 21:11They let their children frisk about like lambs.
Their little ones skip and dance.

Job 21:12

Job 21:12They sing with tambourine and harp.
They celebrate to the sound of the flute.

Job 21:13

Job 21:13They spend their days in prosperity,
then go down to the grave[fn] in peace.

Job 21:14

Job 21:14And yet they say to God, ‘Go away.
We want no part of you and your ways.

Job 21:15

Job 21:15Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him?
What good will it do us to pray?’

Job 21:16

Job 21:16(They think their prosperity is of their own doing,
but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.)

Job 21:17

Job 21:17“Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished.
Do they ever have trouble?
Does God distribute sorrows to them in anger?

Job 21:18

Job 21:18Are they driven before the wind like straw?
Are they carried away by the storm like chaff?
Not at all!

Job 21:19

Job 21:19“‘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.

Job 21:20

Job 21:20Let them see their destruction with their own eyes.
Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty.

Job 21:21

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

Job 21:22

Job 21:22“But who can teach a lesson to God,
since he judges even the most powerful?

Job 21:23

Job 21:23One person dies in prosperity,
completely comfortable and secure,

Job 21:24

Job 21:24the picture of good health,
vigorous and fit.

Job 21:25

Job 21:25Another person dies in bitter poverty,
never having tasted the good life.

Job 21:26

Job 21:26But both are buried in the same dust,
both eaten by the same maggots.

Job 21:27

Job 21:27“Look, I know what you’re thinking.
I know the schemes you plot against me.

Job 21:28

Job 21:28You will tell me of rich and wicked people
whose houses have vanished because of their sins.

Job 21:29

Job 21:29But ask those who have been around,
and they will tell you the truth.

Job 21:30

Job 21:30Evil people are spared in times of calamity
and are allowed to escape disaster.

Job 21:31

Job 21:31No one criticizes them openly
or pays them back for what they have done.

Job 21:32

Job 21:32When they are carried to the grave,
an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb.

Job 21:33

Job 21:33A great funeral procession goes to the cemetery.
Many pay their respects as the body is laid to rest,
and the earth gives sweet repose.

Job 21:34

Job 21:34“How can your empty clichés comfort me?
All your explanations are lies!”

See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NLT Footnotes

(21:13)

Hebrew to Sheol.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

Job Chapter 21 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras

Job 21 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

NLT Footnotes

Job Chapter 21 — Additional Translations:

Did You Know BLB Is User Supported?