約伯記 21
1 約伯回答說：
Then Job answered and said,
2 你們且聽一聽我的話! 這也算是你們給我的安慰。
“Listen carefully to my words, and let this be the comfort you offer to me.
3 請讓我發言，我說完後，任你們笑罵。
Put up with me, and I also will speak; after I have spoken, mock on.
4 我豈是抱怨人﹖我失了忍耐，難道沒有理由﹖
As for me, is my complaint to a person? Why should I not be impatient?
5 你們注意聽我，必要吃驚，且要用手堵住口。
Look at me and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
6 甚至我一回想，我就恐怖，全身戰慄。
When I think about my sufferings, I am terrified, and trembling seizes my body.
7 惡人為何享受高壽而勢力強大﹖
Why do wicked people continue to live, become old, and grow mighty in power?
8 他們在世時，子孫昌盛，親眼看見子子孫孫。
Their descendants are established with them in their sight, and their offspring are established before their eyes.
9 他們的住宅平安，無所畏懼，天主的棍杖也不加在他們身上。
Their houses are safe from fear; neither is the rod of God on them.
10 他們的公牛交尾，無不成功；母牛產子，決無流產。
Their bull breeds; it does not fail to do so; their cow gives birth and does not lose her calf prematurely.
11 他們使孩子跑出像羊群，子女跳躍如麋鹿。
They send out their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
12 他們伴著手鼓與豎琴歌唱，隨著笛聲歡呼。
They sing to the tambourine and harp and rejoice with the music of the flute.
They spend their days in prosperity, and they go down quietly to Sheol. (Sheol h7585)
14 但他們曾向天主說：「離開我們! 我們不願知道你的道路。
They say to God, 'Depart from us for we do not wish any knowledge of your ways.
15 全能者是誰，竟叫我們事奉他﹖我們祈求他有什麼好處﹖」
What is the Almighty, that we should worship him? What advantage would we get if we prayed to him?'
16 看啊! 他們的幸福，豈不在他們掌握中﹖惡人的思想豈不離他很遠﹖
See, is not their prosperity in their own hands? I have nothing to do with the advice of wicked people.
17 惡人的燈有多少次熄滅過﹖災禍有多少次降在他們身上﹖天主何嘗因忿怒而消滅他們﹖
How often is it that the lamp of wicked people is put out, or that their calamity comes upon them? How often does it happen that God distributes sorrows to them in his anger?
18 使他們好像被風吹的碎湝﹖好像被暴風捲去的糠秕﹖
How often is it that they become like stubble before the wind or like chaff that the storm carries away?
19 難道天主要向他的兒子討罪債﹖其實應向他本人報復，叫他覺悟!
You say, 'God lays up one's guilt for his children to pay.' Let him pay it himself, so that he might know his guilt.
20 叫他親眼看見自己的毀滅，親自飲下全能者的義怒之杯。
Let his eyes see his own destruction, and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 他既逝去，他本人的歲月已絕，他的家庭對他還有什麼相干﹖
For what does he care about his family after him when the number of his months is cut off?
22 天主既審判天上者，人豈能教給他什麼智識﹖
Can anyone teach God knowledge since he judges even those who are high?
23 有人到死一無所缺，享盡了平安幸福。
One man dies in his full strength, being completely quiet and at ease.
24 他的腰部充滿脂肪，他的骨髓潤澤豐盈；
His body is full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is moist.
25 但有人卻至死心靈酸苦，一生毫無福樂；
Another man dies in bitterness of soul, one who has never experienced anything good.
26 他們卻一同埋於塵土，為蛆蟲所掩蓋。
They lie down alike in the dust; the worms cover them both.
27 我確知你們的思想，以及對我所籌劃的陰謀。
See, I know your thoughts, and the ways in which you wish to wrong me.
28 你們要問：「霸王的家在那裏﹖惡人住的帳幕在何處﹖」
For you say, 'Where now is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked man once lived?'
29 你們怎麼不問過路的人﹖難道你們不承認他們的證據﹖
Have you never asked traveling people? Do you not know the evidence they can tell,
30 「惡人在毀滅之日不受害，在憤怒之日會得救。」
that the wicked man is kept from the day of calamity, and that he is led away from the day of wrath?
31 他的動作，誰敢當面指摘﹖他的行為，誰能報復﹖
Who will condemn the wicked man's way to his face? Who will repay him for what he has done?
32 他最後被抬入墳墓，且親自守護自己的墓地。
Yet he will be borne to the grave; men will keep watch over his tomb.
33 谷中的土壤，他感覺甘美；眾人都跟他而去，但在他前面的人，更不可勝數。
The clods of the valley will be sweet to him; all people will follow after him, as there were innumerable people before him.
34 你們為何說空話來安慰我﹖你們的答話顯然只是欺詐!
How then do you comfort me with nonsense, since in your answers there is nothing but falsehood?”
