> [[job-20|← Previous]] | [[job-00|TOC]] | [[job-22|Next →]] --- # Job, Chapter 21 ## Chapter 21 **Job’s Sixth Reply.** 1 Then Job answered and said: ^job-21-1 2 At least listen to my words, ^job-21-2 and let that be the consolation you offer. 3 Bear with me while I speak; ^job-21-3 and after I have spoken, you can mock! 4 Is my complaint toward any human being? ^job-21-4 Why should I not be impatient? 5 Look at me and be appalled, ^job-21-5 put your hands over your mouths. 6 When I think of it, I am dismayed, ^job-21-6 and shuddering seizes my flesh. 7 Why do the wicked keep on living, ^job-21-7 grow old, become mighty in power? 8 Their progeny is secure in their sight; ^job-21-8 their offspring are before their eyes. 9 Their homes are safe, without fear, ^job-21-9 and the rod of God is not upon them. 10 Their bulls breed without fail; ^job-21-10 their cows calve and do not miscarry. 11 They let their young run free like sheep, ^job-21-11 their children skip about. 12 They sing along with drum and lyre, ^job-21-12 and make merry to the sound of the pipe. 13 They live out their days in prosperity, ^job-21-13 and tranquilly go down to Sheol. 14 Yet they say to God, “Depart from us, ^job-21-14 for we have no desire to know your ways! 15 What is the Almighty that we should serve him? ^job-21-15 And what do we gain by praying to him?” 16 Their happiness is not in their own hands. ^job-21-16 The designs of the wicked are far from me! 17 How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? ^job-21-17 How often does destruction come upon them, the portion God allots in his anger? 18 Let them be like straw before the wind, ^job-21-18 like chaff the storm carries away! 19 “God is storing up the man’s misery for his children”?— ^job-21-19 let him requite the man himself so that he knows it! 20 Let his own eyes behold his calamity, ^job-21-20 and the wrath of the Almighty let him drink! 21 For what interest has he in his family after him, ^job-21-21 when the number of his months is finished? 22 Can anyone teach God knowledge, ^job-21-22 seeing that he judges those on high? 23 One dies in his full vigor, ^job-21-23 wholly at ease and content; 24 His figure is full and nourished, ^job-21-24 his bones are moist with marrow. 25 Another dies with a bitter spirit, ^job-21-25 never having tasted happiness. 26 Alike they lie down in the dust, ^job-21-26 and worms cover them both. 27 See, I know your thoughts, ^job-21-27 and the arguments you plot against me. 28 For you say, “Where is the house of the great, ^job-21-28 and where the dwelling place of the wicked?” 29 Have you not asked the wayfarers ^job-21-29 and do you not acknowledge the witness they give? 30 On the day of calamity the evil man is spared, ^job-21-30 on the day that wrath is released. 31 Who will charge him to his face about his conduct, ^job-21-31 and for what he has done who will repay him? 32 He is carried to the grave ^job-21-32 and at his tomb they keep watch. 33 Sweet to him are the clods of the valley. ^job-21-33 All humankind will follow after him, and countless others before him. 34 How empty the consolation you offer me! ^job-21-34 Your arguments remain a fraud. --- \* (21:7) In vv. [7] – [29] Job launches into a realistic description of the fate of the wicked, contrary to the claims made by the friends. \* (21:22) Those on high: the heavenly beings; cf. [1:6]; [Ps 82:1] – [8]. --- a. (21:2) [Jb 13:17]. b. (21:7) [Jb 12:6]; [Ps 37:35]; [73:3]; [Eccl 8:14]; [Jer 12:1] – [2]; [Mal 3:14] – [15]. c. (21:13) [Jb 34:20]. d. (21:14) [Jb 22:17]. e. (21:15) [Mal 3:14]. f. (21:16) [Jb 22:18]. --- _New American Bible, revised edition_ (2010, 1991, 1986, 1970) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. > [[job-20|← Previous]] | [[job-00|TOC]] | [[job-22|Next →]]