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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Job 21 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/job/21.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" 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title="Job 20">◄</a> Job 21 <a href="../job/22.htm" title="Job 22">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/job/21.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">Job’s Seventh Speech: A Response to Zophar</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Then Job spoke again:</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>“Listen closely to what I am saying.</p><p class="line2">That’s one consolation you can give me.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Bear with me, and let me speak.</p><p class="line2">After I have spoken, you may resume mocking me.</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>“My complaint is with God, not with people.</p><p class="line2">I have good reason to be so impatient.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Look at me and be stunned.</p><p class="line2">Put your hand over your mouth in shock.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>When I think about what I am saying, I shudder.</p><p class="line2">My body trembles.</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>“Why do the wicked prosper,</p><p class="line2">growing old and powerful?</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>They live to see their children grow up and settle down,</p><p class="line2">and they enjoy their grandchildren.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>Their homes are safe from every fear,</p><p class="line2">and God does not punish them.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Their bulls never fail to breed.</p><p class="line2">Their cows bear calves and never miscarry.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>They let their children frisk about like lambs.</p><p class="line2">Their little ones skip and dance.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>They sing with tambourine and harp.</p><p class="line2">They celebrate to the sound of the flute.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>They spend their days in prosperity,</p><p class="line2">then go down to the grave<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> in peace.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>And yet they say to God, ‘Go away.</p><p class="line2">We want no part of you and your ways.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him?</p><p class="line2">What good will it do us to pray?’</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>(They think their prosperity is of their own doing,</p><p class="line2">but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.)</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>“Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished.</p><p class="line2">Do they ever have trouble?</p><p class="line2">Does God distribute sorrows to them in anger?</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Are they driven before the wind like straw?</p><p class="line2">Are they carried away by the storm like chaff?</p><p class="line2">Not at all!</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>“‘Well,’ you say, ‘at least God will punish their children!’</p><p class="line2">But I say he should punish the ones who sin,</p><p class="line2">so that they understand his judgment.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>Let them see their destruction with their own eyes.</p><p class="line2">Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>For they will not care what happens to their family</p><p class="line2">after they are dead.</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>“But who can teach a lesson to God,</p><p class="line2">since he judges even the most powerful?</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>One person dies in prosperity,</p><p class="line2">completely comfortable and secure,</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>the picture of good health,</p><p class="line2">vigorous and fit.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>Another person dies in bitter poverty,</p><p class="line2">never having tasted the good life.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>But both are buried in the same dust,</p><p class="line2">both eaten by the same maggots.</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>“Look, I know what you’re thinking.</p><p class="line2">I know the schemes you plot against me.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>You will tell me of rich and wicked people</p><p class="line2">whose houses have vanished because of their sins.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>But ask those who have been around,</p><p class="line2">and they will tell you the truth.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>Evil people are spared in times of calamity</p><p class="line2">and are allowed to escape disaster.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>No one criticizes them openly</p><p class="line2">or pays them back for what they have done.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>When they are carried to the grave,</p><p class="line2">an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>A great funeral procession goes to the cemetery.</p><p class="line2">Many pay their respects as the body is laid to rest,</p><p class="line2">and the earth gives sweet repose.</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/21-34.htm"><b>34</b></a></span>“How can your empty clich锟絪 comfort me?</p><p class="line2">All your explanations are lies!”</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">21:13 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">to Sheol.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of <a href="http://www.tyndale.com">Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.</a>, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. 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