# Job 21 (New King James Version)
Job's Discourse on the Wicked

##### Chapter 21
###### 1 Then Job answered and said:

###### 2 "Listen carefully to my speech,  
And let this be your consolation.  

###### 3 Bear with me that I may speak,  
And after I have spoken, keep mocking.

###### 4 "As for me, _is_ my complaint against man?  
And if _it were,_ why should I not be impatient?  

###### 5 Look at me and be astonished;  
Put _your_ hand over _your_ mouth.  

###### 6 Even when I remember I am terrified,  
And trembling takes hold of my flesh.  

###### 7 Why do the wicked live _and_ become old,  
Yes, become mighty in power?  

###### 8 Their descendants are established with them in their sight,  
And their offspring before their eyes.  

###### 9 Their houses _are_ safe from fear,  
Neither _is_ the rod of God upon them.  

###### 10 Their bull breeds without failure;  
Their cow calves without miscarriage.  

###### 11 They send forth their little ones like a flock,  
And their children dance.  

###### 12 They sing to the tambourine and harp,  
And rejoice to the sound of the flute.  

###### 13 They spend their days in wealth,  
And in a moment go down to the grave.  

###### 14 Yet they say to God, 'Depart from us,  
For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.  

###### 15 Who _is_ the Almighty, that we should serve Him?  
And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?'  

###### 16 Indeed 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 put out?  
_How often_ does their destruction come upon them,  
The sorrows _God_ distributes in His anger?  

###### 18 They are like straw before the wind,  
And like chaff that a storm carries away.  

###### 19 _They say,_ 'God lays up one's iniquity for his children';  
Let Him recompense him, that he may know _it._  

###### 20 Let his eyes see his destruction,  
And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.  

###### 21 For what does he care about his household after him,  
When the number of his months is cut in half?

###### 22 "Can _anyone_ teach God knowledge,  
Since He judges those on high?  

###### 23 One dies in his full strength,  
Being wholly at ease and secure;  

###### 24 His pails are full of milk,  
And the marrow of his bones is moist.  

###### 25 Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul,  
Never having eaten with pleasure.  

###### 26 They lie down alike in the dust,  
And worms cover them.

###### 27 "Look, I know your thoughts,  
And the schemes _with which_ you would wrong me.  

###### 28 For you say,  
'Where _is_ the house of the prince?  
And where _is_ the tent,  
The dwelling place of the wicked?'  

###### 29 Have you not asked those who travel the road?  
And do you not know their signs?  

###### 30 For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom;  
They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.  

###### 31 Who condemns his way to his face?  
And who repays him _for what_ he has done?  

###### 32 Yet he shall be brought to the grave,  
And a vigil kept over the tomb.  

###### 33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him;  
Everyone shall follow him,  
As countless _have gone_ before him.  

###### 34 How then can you comfort me with empty words,  
Since falsehood remains in your answers?"