E.
The third round of debates
21:1—32:1
1.
Job's conclusion concerning prosperity and calamity in human life
21:1-34
a.
His calming word to his friends
vv. 1-6
Job 21
:1
21:1
Then Job answered and said,
Job 21
:2
21:2
Listen carefully to my word,
And let this be your consolations.
Job 21
:3
21:3
Bear with me, and I will speak;
And after I have spoken, mock on.
Job 21
:4
21:4
As for me, is my complaint to man?
And why should my spirit not be impatient?
Job 21
:5
21:5
Look at me and be appalled;
And put
your hand over
your mouth.
Job 21
:6
21:6
Even when I remember, I am troubled,
And horror takes hold of my flesh.
b.
The prosperity of the wicked
vv. 7-16
Job 21
:7
21:7
Why do the
awicked live,
Grow old, even become mighty in riches?
Job 21
:8
21:8
Their seed is established with them in their sight,
And their offspring, before their eyes.
Job 21
:9
21:9
Their houses are free from dread,
And the
arod of God is not upon them.
Job 21
:10
21:10
1Their bull breeds and does not fail;
1Their cow calves and does not miscarry.
Job 21
:11
21:11
They send forth their little ones like a herd,
And their children dance.
Job 21
:12
21:12
They lift up
their voices to the tambourine and lyre,
And they rejoice at the sound of the flute.
Job 21
:13
21:13
They spend their days in prosperity,
And in a moment they go down into
aSheol.
Job 21
:14
21:14
And they say unto God,
aDepart from us,
For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.
Job 21
:15
21:15
aWhat is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?
And what profit is there, that we should pray to Him?
Job 21
:16
21:16
Indeed, their prosperity is not in their own hand.
The counsel of the wicked is far from
1Him.
c.
Job's questions concerning God's recompense to the wicked
vv. 17-34
Job 21
:17
21:17
How often is the lamp of the wicked put out,
So that their calamity comes upon them,
So that
1God distributes sorrows in His anger?
Job 21
:18
21:18
Do they become like straw before the wind
And like chaff that the storm carries off?
Job 21
:19
21:19
You say, God stores up
the punishment of his iniquity for his children.
I say, Let Him recompense him, so that he knows
it.
Job 21
:20
21:20
Let his eyes see his destruction,
And let him drink the wrath of the Almighty.
Job 21
:21
21:21
For what is there for him to delight in, in his house after him,
When the number of his months is cut off?
Job 21
:22
21:22
Will someone teach knowledge to God,
Seeing that He judges those who are on high?
Job 21
:23
21:23
One dies in his full strength,
Being completely at ease and quiet;
Job 21
:24
21:24
His pails are full of milk,
And the marrow of his bones is moist.
Job 21
:25
21:25
But another dies in bitterness of soul
And does not taste of good.
Job 21
:26
21:26
They lie down alike in the
adust,
And the worm covers them.
Job 21
:27
21:27
Indeed, I know your thoughts,
And the devices by which you would wrong me.
Job 21
:28
21:28
For you say, Where is the house of the prince?
Where is the tent of the dwellings of the wicked?
Job 21
:29
21:29
Have you not asked those who travel the roads?
And do you not regard their evidence,
Job 21
:30
21:30
That the wicked man is spared in the day of calamity,
That they are led forth at the day of overflowing wrath?
Job 21
:31
21:31
Who will declare his way to his face?
And who will repay him what he has done?
Job 21
:32
21:32
When he is borne to the grave,
A watch is kept over the tomb.
Job 21
:33
21:33
The clods of the valley are sweet to him;
And all men go in procession after him,
And
those who went before him are without number.
Job 21
:34
21:34
Why then do you comfort me with vanity?
For your responses leave
only falsehood behind.
