Job 21:7-21

Why do evil people live a long time? They grow old and become more powerful. They see their children around them; they watch them grow up. Their homes are safe and without fear; God does not punish them. Their bulls never fail to mate; their cows have healthy calves. They send out their children like a flock; their little ones dance about. They sing to the music of tambourines and harps, and the sound of the flute makes them happy. Evil people enjoy successful lives and then go peacefully to the grave. They say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We don’t want to know your ways. Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?’ The success of the wicked is not their own doing. Their way of thinking is different from mine. Yet how often are the lamps of evil people turned off? How often does trouble come to them? How often do they suffer God’s angry punishment? How often are they like straw in the wind or like chaff that is blown away by a storm? It is said, ‘God saves up a person’s punishment for his children.’ But God should punish the wicked themselves so they will know it. Their eyes should see their own destruction, and they should suffer the anger of the Almighty. They do not care about the families they leave behind when their lives have come to an end.