Job · Literal Standard Version
Job 21 Literal Standard Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 And Job answers and says:
1 Then Job answered,
2 “Hear my word diligently, || And this is your consolation.
2 “Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation.
3 Bear with me, and I speak, || And after my speaking—you may deride.
3 Allow me, and I also will speak. After I have spoken, mock on.
4 [Is] my complaint [against] man? And if [so], why may my temper not become short?
4 As for me, is my complaint to man? Why shouldn’t I be impatient?
5 Turn to me, and be astonished, || And put hand to mouth.
5 Look at me, and be astonished. Lay your hand on your mouth.
6 Indeed, if I have remembered, then I have been troubled. And my flesh has taken fright.
6 When I remember, I am troubled. Horror takes hold of my flesh.
7 Why do the wicked live? They have become old, || Indeed, they have been mighty in wealth.
7 “Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?
8 Their seed is established, || Before their face with them, || And their offspring before their eyes.
8 Their child is established with them in their sight, their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses [are] peace without fear, || Nor [is] a rod of God on them.
9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
10 His bullock breeds without fail. His cow brings forth safely, and does not miscarry.
10 Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don’t miscarry.
11 They send forth their sucklings as a flock, || And their children skip,
11 They send out their little ones like a flock. Their children dance.
12 They lift [themselves] up at timbrel and harp, || And rejoice at the sound of a pipe.
12 They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
13 They wear out their days in good, || And in a moment go down [to] Sheol.
13 They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol.
14 And they say to God, Turn aside from us, || And the knowledge of Your ways || We have not desired.
14 They tell God, ‘Depart from us, for we don’t want to know about your ways.
15 What [is] the Mighty One that we serve Him? And what do we profit when we meet with Him?
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’
16 Behold, their good [is] not in their hand || (The counsel of the wicked || Has been far from me).
16 Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17 How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished, || And their calamity comes on them? He apportions pangs in His anger.
17 “How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out, that their calamity comes on them, that God distributes sorrows in his anger?
18 They are as straw before wind, || And as chaff a windstorm has stolen away,
18 How often is it that they are as stubble before the wind, as chaff that the storm carries away?
19 God lays up for his sons his sorrow, || He gives repayment to him—and he knows.
19 You say, ‘God lays up his iniquity for his children.’ Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it.
20 His own eyes see his destruction, || And he drinks of the wrath of the Mighty.
20 Let his own eyes see his destruction. Let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what [is] his delight in his house after him, || And the number of his months cut off?
21 For what does he care for his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?
22 Does [one] teach knowledge to God, || Since He judges [those] on high?
22 “Shall any teach God knowledge, since he judges those who are high?
23 This [one] dies in his perfect strength, || Wholly at ease and quiet.
23 One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.
24 His breasts have been full of milk, || And marrow moistens his bones.
24 His pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moistened.
25 And this [one] dies with a bitter soul, || And has not eaten with gladness.
25 Another dies in bitterness of soul, and never tastes of good.
26 Together they lie down on the dust, || And the worm covers them over.
26 They lie down alike in the dust. The worm covers them.
27 Behold, I have known your thoughts, || And the schemes against me you do wrongfully.
27 “Behold, I know your thoughts, the plans with which you would wrong me.
28 For you say, Where [is] the house of the noble? And where the tent—the dwelling places of the wicked?
28 For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’
29 Have you not asked those passing by the way? And do you not know their signs?
29 Haven’t you asked wayfaring men? Don’t you know their evidences,
30 That the wicked is spared to a day of calamity. They are brought to a day of wrath.
30 that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity, that they are led out to the day of wrath?
31 Who declares his way to his face? And [for] that which he has done, || Who gives repayment to him?
31 Who will declare his way to his face? Who will repay him what he has done?
32 And he is brought to the graves, || And a watch is kept over the heap.
32 Yet he will be borne to the grave. Men will keep watch over the tomb.
33 The clods of the valley have been sweet to him, || And he draws every man after him, || And there is no numbering before him.
33 The clods of the valley will be sweet to him. All men will draw after him, as there were innumerable before him.
34 And how do you comfort me [with] vanity, || And trespass has been left in your answers?”
34 So how can you comfort me with nonsense, because in your answers there remains only falsehood?”
Cross references (33)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 2 Hebrews 2:1; Job 15:11; Isaiah 55:2; Job 13:3–4; Job 33:31–33
- 3 Job 17:2; Job 16:10; Job 16:20; Job 13:13; Job 12:4–5
- 4 Psalm 142:2–3; Psalm 42:11; Psalm 102:1; Psalm 22:1–3; Job 10:1–2
- 5 Job 40:4; Job 29:9; Judges 18:19; Proverbs 30:32; Job 19:20–21
- 6 Habakkuk 3:16; Psalm 119:120; Psalm 77:3; Lamentations 3:19–20; Psalm 88:15
- 7 Psalm 73:3–12; Job 12:6; Psalm 37:35; Jeremiah 12:1–3; Habakkuk 1:13
- 8 Proverbs 17:6; Psalm 17:14; Job 20:28; Job 20:10; Job 18:19
- 9 Psalm 73:5; Job 9:34; Job 18:11; Psalm 73:19; Isaiah 57:19–21
- 10 Exodus 23:26; Ecclesiastes 9:1–2; Deuteronomy 28:11; Luke 12:16–21; Deuteronomy 7:13–14
- 11 Psalm 127:3–5; Psalm 107:41
- 12 Amos 6:4–6; Genesis 4:21; Isaiah 5:12; Genesis 31:27; Isaiah 22:13
- 13 Job 36:11; Psalm 73:4; Luke 12:19–20; Matthew 24:38–39; Luke 17:28–29
- 14 Job 22:17; Romans 8:7; Psalm 10:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:10–12; John 15:23–24
- 15 Exodus 5:2; Job 34:9; Malachi 1:13–14; Psalm 12:4; Isaiah 30:11
- 16 Job 22:18; Psalm 1:1; Proverbs 1:10; Psalm 52:5–7; Psalm 49:6–7
- 17 Job 18:5–6; Proverbs 20:20; Proverbs 13:9; Proverbs 24:20; Job 18:18
- 18 Psalm 1:4; Psalm 83:13; Job 13:25; Psalm 35:5; Isaiah 17:13
- 19 Exodus 20:5; Ezekiel 18:19–20; Jeremiah 31:29; Isaiah 53:4–6; Ezekiel 18:2
- 20 Isaiah 51:17; Revelation 14:10; Psalm 75:8; Job 27:19; Jeremiah 25:15–16
- 21 Job 14:5; Ecclesiastes 2:18–19; Psalm 102:24; Psalm 55:23; Luke 16:27–28
- 22 Romans 11:34; 1 Corinthians 2:16; Isaiah 40:13–14; Ecclesiastes 5:8; Job 40:2
- 23 Psalm 49:17; Luke 12:19–21; Job 20:22–23; Psalm 73:4–5
- 24 Proverbs 3:8; Psalm 17:10; Job 15:27
- 25 Ezekiel 4:16–17; Job 7:11; Job 20:23; 1 Kings 17:12; 2 Samuel 17:8
- 26 Isaiah 14:11; Ecclesiastes 9:2; Job 20:11; Job 3:18–19; Job 24:20
- 27 Luke 5:22; Psalm 119:86; 1 Peter 2:19; Job 42:7; Job 8:3–6
- 28 Job 8:22; Job 20:7; Psalm 52:5–6; Habakkuk 2:9–11; Numbers 16:26–34
- 29 Psalm 129:8
- 30 Proverbs 16:4; 2 Peter 2:9–17; 2 Peter 3:7; Job 20:28; Romans 2:5
- 31 Deuteronomy 7:10; Galatians 2:11; Romans 12:19; Jeremiah 2:33–35; James 2:13
- 32 Luke 16:22; Psalm 49:14; Ezekiel 32:21–32
- 33 Hebrews 9:27; Job 30:23; Job 24:24; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Job 17:16
- 34 Job 16:2; Job 32:3; Job 13:4; Job 42:7
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences