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