New Living Translation

1 Then Job spoke again: 2 “Listen closely to what I am saying.<br>That’s one consolation you can give me.<br> 3 Bear with me, and let me speak.<br>After I have spoken, you may resume mocking me.<br> 4 “My complaint is with God (Elohim), not with people.<br>I have good reason to be so impatient.<br> 5 Look at me and be stunned.<br>Put your hand over your mouth in shock.<br> 6 When I think about what I am saying, I shudder.<br>My body trembles.<br> 7 “Why do the wicked prosper,<br>growing old and powerful?<br> 8 They live to see their children grow up and settle down,<br>and they enjoy their grandchildren.<br> 9 Their homes are safe from every fear,<br>and God (Elohim) does not punish them.<br> 10 Their bulls never fail to breed.<br>Their cows bear calves and never miscarry.<br> 11 They let their children frisk about like lambs.<br>Their little ones skip and dance.<br> 12 They sing with tambourine and harp.<br>They celebrate to the sound of the flute.<br> 13 They spend their days in prosperity,<br>then go down to the grave in peace.<br> 14 And yet they say to God (Elohim), ‘Go away.<br>We want no part of you and your ways.<br> 15 Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him?<br>What good will it do us to pray?’<br> 16 (They think their prosperity is of their own doing,<br>but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.)<br> 17 “Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished.<br>Do they ever have trouble?<br>Does God (Elohim) distribute sorrows to them in anger?<br> 18 Are they driven before the wind like straw?<br>Are they carried away by the storm like chaff?<br>Not at all!<br> 19 “‘Well,’ you say, ‘at least God (Elohim) will punish their children!’<br>But I say he should punish the ones who sin,<br>so that they understand his judgment.<br> 20 Let them see their destruction with their own eyes.<br>Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty.<br> 21 For they will not care what happens to their family<br>after they are dead.<br> 22 “But who can teach a lesson to God (Elohim),<br>since he judges even the most powerful?<br> 23 One person dies in prosperity,<br>completely comfortable and secure,<br> 24 the picture of good health,<br>vigorous and fit.<br> 25 Another person dies in bitter poverty,<br>never having tasted the good life.<br> 26 But both are buried in the same dust,<br>both eaten by the same maggots.<br> 27 “Look, I know what you’re thinking.<br>I know the schemes you plot against me.<br> 28 You will tell me of rich and wicked people<br>whose houses have vanished because of their sins.<br> 29 But ask those who have been around,<br>and they will tell you the truth.<br> 30 Evil people are spared in times of calamity<br>and are allowed to escape disaster.<br> 31 No one criticizes them openly<br>or pays them back for what they have done.<br> 32 When they are carried to the grave,<br>an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb.<br> 33 A great funeral procession goes to the cemetery.<br>Many pay their respects as the body is laid to rest,<br>and the earth gives sweet repose.<br> 34 “How can your empty clichés comfort me?<br>All your explanations are lies!”<br>