21:7 “Why do the wicked go on living, 1
grow old, 2 even increase in power?
21:8 Their children 3 are firmly established
in their presence, 4
their offspring before their eyes.
21:9 Their houses are safe 5 and without fear; 6
and no rod of punishment 7 from God is upon them. 8
21:10 Their bulls 9 breed 10 without fail; 11
their cows calve and do not miscarry.
21:11 They allow their children to run 12 like a flock;
their little ones dance about.
21:12 They sing 13 to the accompaniment of tambourine and harp,
and make merry to the sound of the flute.
21:13 They live out 14 their years in prosperity
and go down 15 to the grave 16 in peace.
21:14 So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us!
We do not want to 17 know your ways. 18
21:15 Who is the Almighty, that 19 we should serve him?
What would we gain
if we were to pray 20 to him?’ 21
21:16 But their prosperity is not their own doing. 22
The counsel of the wicked is far from me! 23
21:17 “How often 24 is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?
How often does their 25 misfortune come upon them?
How often does God apportion pain 26 to them 27 in his anger?
21:18 How often 28 are they like straw before the wind,
and like chaff swept away 29 by a whirlwind?
21:19 You may say, 30 ‘God stores up a man’s 31 punishment for his children!’ 32
Instead let him repay 33 the man himself 34
so that 35 he may know it!
21:20 Let his own eyes see his destruction; 36
let him drink of the anger of the Almighty.
21:21 For what is his interest 37 in his home
after his death, 38
when the number of his months
has been broken off? 39
21:22 Can anyone teach 40 God knowledge,
since 41 he judges those that are on high? 42
21:23 “One man dies in his full vigor, 43
completely secure and prosperous,
21:24 his body 44 well nourished, 45
and the marrow of his bones moist. 46
21:25 And another man 47 dies in bitterness of soul, 48
never having tasted 49 anything good.
21:26 Together they lie down in the dust,
and worms cover over them both.
21:27 “Yes, I know what you are thinking, 50
the schemes 51 by which you would wrong me. 52
21:28 For you say,
‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, 53
and where are the tents in which the wicked lived?’ 54
21:29 Have you never questioned those who travel the roads?
Do you not recognize their accounts 55 –
21:30 that the evil man is spared
from the day of his misfortune,
that he is delivered 56
from the day of God’s wrath?
21:31 No one denounces his conduct to his face;
no one repays him for what 57 he has done. 58
21:32 And when he is carried to the tombs,
and watch is kept 59 over the funeral mound, 60
21:33 The clods of the torrent valley 61 are sweet to him;
behind him everybody follows in procession,
and before him goes a countless throng.
21:34 So how can you console me with your futile words?
Nothing is left of your answers but deception!” 62