Job 21

Job’s Seventh Speech: A Response to Zophar

21Then Job spoke again.H347H6030H5592"Listen closely to what I am saying. That's one consolation you can give me.H8085H8085H4405H85753Bear with me, and let me speak. After I have spoken, you may resume mocking me.H5375H1696H310H1696H39324"My complaint is with God, not with people. I have good reason to be so impatient.H7879H120H7307H71145Look at me and be stunned. Put your hand over your mouth in shock.H6437H8074H7760H3027H63106When I think about what I am saying, I shudder. My body trembles.H2142H926H6427H270H13207"Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful?H7563H2421H6275H1396H24288They live to see their children grow up and settle down, and they enjoy their grandchildren.H2233H3559H6440H6631H58699Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them.H1004H7965H6343H7626H43310Their bulls never fail to breed. Their cows bear calves and never miscarry.H7794H5674H1602H6510H6403H792111They let their children frisk about like lambs. Their little ones skip and dance.H7971H5759H6629H3206H754012They sing with tambourine and harp. They celebrate to the sound of the flute.H5375H8596H3658H8055H6963H574813They spend their days in prosperity, then go down to the grave

in peace.H3615H1086H3117H2896H7281H2865H5181H758514And yet they say to God, 'Go away. We want no part of you and your ways.H559H410H5493H2654H1847H187015Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him? What good will it do us to pray?'H7706H5647H3276H629316(They think their prosperity is of their own doing, but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.)H2898H3027H6098H7563H736817"Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished. Do they ever have trouble? Does God distribute sorrows to them in anger?H5216H7563H1846H935H343H2505H2256H63918Are they driven before the wind like straw? Are they carried away by the storm like chaff? Not at all!H8401H6440H7307H4671H5492H158919"'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.H433H6845H205H1121H7999H304520Let them see their destruction with their own eyes. Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty.H5869H7200H3589H8354H2534H770621For they will not care what happens to their family after they are dead.H2656H1004H310H4557H2320H268622"But who can teach a lesson to God, since he judges even the most powerful?H3925H410H1847H8199H731123One person dies in prosperity, completely comfortable and secure,H4191H8537H6106H7946H796124the picture of good health, vigorous and fit.H5845H4390H2461H6106H8248H422125Another person dies in bitter poverty, never having tasted the good life.H4191H4751H5315H398H289626But both are buried in the same dust, both eaten by the same maggots.H7901H3162H6083H7415H368027"Look, I know what you're thinking. I know the schemes you plot against me.H3045H4284H4209H255428You will tell me of rich and wicked people whose houses have vanished because of their sins.H559H1004H5081H4908H168H756329But ask those who have been around, and they will tell you the truth.H7592H5674H1870H5234H22630Evil people are spared in times of calamity and are allowed to escape disaster.H7451H2820H3117H343H2986H3117H567831No one criticizes them openly or pays them back for what they have done.H5046H1870H6440H7999H621332When they are carried to the grave, an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb.H2986H6913H8245H143033A great funeral procession goes to the cemetery. Many pay their respects as the body is laid to rest, and the earth gives sweet repose.H7263H5158H4985H120H4900H310H4557H644034"How can your empty cliches comfort me? All your explanations are lies!"H5162H1892H8666H7604H4604