約伯記 21
1 約伯回答說：
Then Job answered,
2 你們且聽一聽我的話! 這也算是你們給我的安慰。
“Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation.
3 請讓我發言，我說完後，任你們笑罵。
Allow 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 man? Why shouldn’t I 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. Lay your hand on your mouth.
6 甚至我一回想，我就恐怖，全身戰慄。
When I remember, I am troubled. Horror takes hold of my flesh.
7 惡人為何享受高壽而勢力強大﹖
“Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?
8 他們在世時，子孫昌盛，親眼看見子子孫孫。
Their child is established with them in their sight, their offspring 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 upon them.
10 他們的公牛交尾，無不成功；母牛產子，決無流產。
Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don’t miscarry.
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. 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 at the sound of the pipe.
They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down 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 tell God, ‘Depart from us, for we don’t want to know about 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 serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray 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﹖
Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
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 the wicked is put out, that their calamity comes on them, that God distributes sorrows 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 are as stubble before the wind, as 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 his iniquity for his children.’ Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it.
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 own eyes see his destruction. 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 for his house 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﹖
“Shall any teach God knowledge, since he judges those who are high?
23 有人到死一無所缺，享盡了平安幸福。
One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.
24 他的腰部充滿脂肪，他的骨髓潤澤豐盈；
His pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moistened.
25 但有人卻至死心靈酸苦，一生毫無福樂；
Another dies in bitterness of soul, and never tastes of 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 worm covers them.
27 我確知你們的思想，以及對我所籌劃的陰謀。
“Behold, I know your thoughts, the plans with which you would 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 is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’
29 你們怎麼不問過路的人﹖難道你們不承認他們的證據﹖
Haven’t you asked wayfaring men? Don’t you know their evidences,
30 「惡人在毀滅之日不受害，在憤怒之日會得救。」
that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity, that they are led out to 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 declare his way to his face? Who will repay him 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 the 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 men will draw after him, as there were innumerable 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!
So how can you comfort me with nonsense, because in your answers there remains only falsehood?”
