New King James Version

English Standard Version

Job’s Discourse on the Wicked

Then Job answered and said:

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Job Replies: The Wicked Do Prosper

Then Job answered and said:

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“Listen carefully to my speech,
And let this be your [a]consolation.

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“Keep listening to my words,
and let this be your comfort.

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

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Bear with me, and I will speak,
and after I have spoken, mock on.

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“As for me, is my complaint against man?
And if it were, why should I not be impatient?

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As for me, is my complaint against man?
Why should I not be impatient?

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Look at me and be astonished;
Put your hand over your mouth.

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Look at me and be appalled,
and lay your hand over your mouth.

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

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When I remember, I am dismayed,
and shuddering seizes my flesh.

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Why do the wicked live and become old,
Yes, become mighty in power?

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Why do the wicked live,
reach old age, and grow mighty in power?

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

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Their offspring are established in their presence,
and their descendants before their eyes.

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Their houses are safe from fear,
Neither is [b]the rod of God upon them.

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Their houses are safe from fear,
and no rod of God is upon them.

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

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Their bull breeds without fail;
their cow calves and does not miscarry.

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

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They send out their little boys like a flock,
and their children dance.

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

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They sing to the tambourine and the lyre
and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.

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They spend their days in wealth,
And [c]in a moment go down to the [d]grave.

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They spend their days in prosperity,
and in peace they go down to Sheol.

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

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They say to God, ‘Depart from us!
We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.

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Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?
And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’

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What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’

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Indeed [e]their prosperity is not in their hand;
The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

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Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand?
The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

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“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?

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“How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?
That their calamity comes upon them?
That Goda distributes pains in his anger?

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They are like straw before the wind,
And like chaff that a storm [f]carries away.

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That they are like straw before the wind,
and like chaff that the storm carries away?

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They say, ‘God [g]lays up [h]one’s iniquity for his children’;
Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.

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You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’
Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it.

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

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Let their own eyes see their destruction,
and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

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

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For what do they care for their houses after them,
when the number of their months is cut off?

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“Can anyone teach God knowledge,
Since He judges those on high?

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Will any teach God knowledge,
seeing that he judges those who are on high?

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

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One dies in his full vigor,
being wholly at ease and secure,

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His [i]pails are full of milk,
And the marrow of his bones is moist.

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his pailsb full of milk
and the marrow of his bones moist.

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

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Another dies in bitterness of soul,
never having tasted of prosperity.

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

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They lie down alike in the dust,
and the worms cover them.

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“Look, I know your thoughts,
And the schemes with which you would wrong me.

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“Behold, I know your thoughts
and your schemes to wrong me.

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For you say,
‘Where is the house of the prince?
And where is [j]the tent,
The dwelling place of the wicked?’

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For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince?
Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’

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

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Have you not asked those who travel the roads,
and do you not accept their testimony

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

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that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity,
that he is rescued in the day of wrath?

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Who condemns his way to his face?
And who repays him for what he has done?

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Who declares his way to his face,
and who repays him for what he has done?

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

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When he is carried to the grave,
watch is kept over his tomb.

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The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him;
Everyone shall follow him,
As countless have gone before him.

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The clods of the valley are sweet to him;
all mankind follows after him,
and those who go before him are innumerable.

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How then can you comfort me with empty words,
Since [k]falsehood remains in your answers?”

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How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”

Parallel

New King James Version

English Standard Version

Job 21

Job 21