Grant me a hearing

¹Then Job answered:

²Listen carefully to my remarks

and let that comfort you.

³Bear with me so I can speak, I myself;

and after my reply you can mock.

⁴Are my complaints against another human;

why is my patience short?

⁵Turn to me and be appalled;

lay your hand over your mouth.

⁶If I recall it, I’m scared;

shaking seizes my body.

The success of the wicked

⁷Why do the wicked live,

grow old, and even become strong?

⁸Their children are always with them,

their offspring in their sight,

⁹their houses safe from dread,

God’s punishing stick not upon them.

¹⁰Their bull always breeds successfully;

their cows give birth and never miscarry.

¹¹They send forth their little ones like sheep;

their infants bounce around.

¹²They raise drum and lyre,

rejoice at the sound of a flute.

¹³They spend their days contentedly,

go down to the grave peacefully.

¹⁴They say to God, “Turn away from us;

we take no pleasure in knowing your ways;

¹⁵who is the Almighty that we should serve him,[#21.15 Heb or Mountain One]

¹⁶Look, isn’t their well-being the work of their own hands?

A sinner’s logic is beyond me.

Desired vindication

¹⁷How often does the lamp of the wicked flicker

or disaster come upon them,

with its fury inflicting pain on them?

¹⁸Let them be like straw in the wind,

like dry grass stolen by a storm.

¹⁹God stores up his punishment for his children.

Let him destroy them so they know.

²⁰Let their own eyes witness their doom.

Let them drink from the Almighty’s wrath.

²¹What do they care about their household after they die,

when their numbered days are cut off?

A common fate

²²Will they instruct God—

he who judges the most powerful?

²³Someone dies in wonderful health,

completely comfortable and well,

²⁴their buckets full of milk,

their bones marrow-filled and sound.

²⁵Another dies in bitter spirit,

never having tasted the good things.

²⁶They lie together in the dust

and worms cover them.

Further disagreement

²⁷Look, I know your thoughts;

your plans harm me.

²⁸You say, “Where is the official’s house?

Where is the tent, the dwelling of the wicked?”

²⁹Haven’t you asked travelers

or paid attention to their reports?

³⁰On the day of disaster the wicked are spared;

on the day of fury they are rescued.

³¹Who can criticize their behavior to their faces;

they act, and who can avenge them?

³²They are carried to their graves;

someone keeps guard over their tombs.

³³The soil near the desert streambed is sweet to them;

everyone marches after them—

those before them, beyond counting.

³⁴How empty is your comfort to me;

only deceit remains in your responses.