Job 21:1-16

New International Version

² “Listen carefully to my words;^(A)
    let this be the consolation you give me.^(B)
3 Bear with me while I speak,
    and after I have spoken, mock on.^(C)

⁴ “Is my complaint^(D) directed to a human being?
    Why should I not be impatient?^(E)
5 Look at me and be appalled;
    clap your hand over your mouth.^(F)
6 When I think about this, I am terrified;^(G)
    trembling seizes my body.^(H)
7 Why do the wicked live on,
    growing old and increasing in power?^(I)
8 They see their children established around them,
    their offspring before their eyes.^(J)
9 Their homes are safe and free from fear;^(K)
    the rod of God is not on them.^(L)
10 Their bulls never fail to breed;
    their cows calve and do not miscarry.^(M)
11 They send forth their children as a flock;^(N)
    their little ones dance about.
¹² They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre;^(O)
    they make merry to the sound of the pipe.^(P)
13 They spend their years in prosperity^(Q)
    and go down to the grave^(R) in peace.^[a](S)
14 Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone!^(T)
    We have no desire to know your ways.^(U)
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
    What would we gain by praying to him?’^(V)
16 But their prosperity is not in their own hands,
    so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.^(W)