When Life Seems Unfair

¹ Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

² "My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer
because I am greatly disturbed.

³ I hear a rebuke that dishonors me,
and my understanding inspires me to reply.

⁴ "Surely you know how it has been from of old,
ever since man was placed on the earth,

⁵ that the mirth of the wicked is brief,
the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.

⁶ Though his pride reaches to the heavens
and his head touches the clouds,

⁷ he will perish forever, like his own dung;
those who have seen him will say, 'Where is he?'

⁸ Like a dream he flies away, no more to be found,
banished like a vision of the night.

⁹ The eye that saw him will not see him again;
his place will look on him no more.

¹⁰ His children must make amends to the poor;
his own hands must give back his wealth.

¹¹ The youthful vigor that fills his bones
will lie with him in the dust.

¹² "Though evil is sweet in his mouth
and he hides it under his tongue,

¹³ though he cannot bear to let it go
and keeps it in his mouth,

¹⁴ yet his food will turn sour in his stomach;
it will become the venom of serpents within him.

¹⁵ He will spit out the riches he swallowed;
God will make his stomach vomit them up.

¹⁶ He will suck the poison of serpents;
the fangs of an adder will kill him.

¹⁷ He will not enjoy the streams,
the rivers flowing with honey and cream.

¹⁸ What he toiled for he must give back uneaten;
he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.

¹⁹ For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute;
he has seized houses he did not build.

²⁰ "Surely he will have no respite from his craving;
he cannot save himself by his treasure.

²¹ Nothing is left for him to devour;
his prosperity will not endure.

²² In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him;
the full force of misery will come upon him.

²³ When he has filled his belly,
God will vent his burning anger against him
and rain down his blows upon him.

²⁴ Though he flees from an iron weapon,
a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.

²⁵ He pulls it out of his back,
the gleaming point out of his liver.
Terrors will come over him;

²⁶ total darkness lies in wait for his treasures.
A fire unfanned will consume him
and devour what is left in his tent.

²⁷ The heavens will expose his guilt;
the earth will rise up against him.

²⁸ A flood will carry off his house,
rushing waters on the day of God's wrath.

²⁹ Such is the fate God allots the wicked,
the heritage appointed for them by God."

¹ Then Job replied:

² "Listen carefully to my words;
let this be the consolation you give me.

³ Bear with me while I speak,
and after I have spoken, mock on.

⁴ "Is my complaint directed to man?
Why should I not be impatient?

⁵ Look at me and be astonished;
clap your hand over your mouth.

⁶ When I think about this, I am terrified;
trembling seizes my body.

⁷ Why do the wicked live on,
growing old and increasing in power?

⁸ They see their children established around them,
their offspring before their eyes.

⁹ Their homes are safe and free from fear;
the rod of God is not upon them.

¹⁰ Their bulls never fail to breed;
their cows calve and do not miscarry.

¹¹ They send forth their children as a flock;
their little ones dance about.

¹² They sing to the music of tambourine and harp;
they make merry to the sound of the flute.

¹³ They spend their years in prosperity
and go down to the grave in peace.

¹⁴ Yet they say to God, 'Leave us alone!
We have no desire to know your ways.

¹⁵ Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
What would we gain by praying to him?'

¹⁶ But their prosperity is not in their own hands,
so I stand aloof from the counsel of the wicked.

¹⁷ "Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?
How often does calamity come upon them,
the fate God allots in his anger?

¹⁸ How often are they like straw before the wind,
like chaff swept away by a gale?

¹⁹ It is said, 'God stores up a man's punishment for his sons.'
Let him repay the man himself, so that he will know it!

²⁰ Let his own eyes see his destruction;
let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹ For what does he care about the family he leaves behind
when his allotted months come to an end?

²² "Can anyone teach knowledge to God,
since he judges even the highest?

²³ One man dies in full vigor,
completely secure and at ease,

²⁴ his body well nourished,
his bones rich with marrow.

²⁵ Another man dies in bitterness of soul,
never having enjoyed anything good.

²⁶ Side by side they lie in the dust,
and worms cover them both.

²⁷ "I know full well what you are thinking,
the schemes by which you would wrong me.

²⁸ You say, 'Where now is the great man's house,
the tents where wicked men lived?'

²⁹ Have you never questioned those who travel?
Have you paid no regard to their accounts-

³⁰ that the evil man is spared from the day of calamity,
that he is delivered from the day of wrath?

³¹ Who denounces his conduct to his face?
Who repays him for what he has done?

³² He is carried to the grave,
and watch is kept over his tomb.

³³ The soil in the valley is sweet to him;
all men follow after him,
and a countless throng goes before him.

³⁴ "So how can you console me with your nonsense?
Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!"

New International Version