Job 21
1 Then Job answered:
約伯回答說：
2 “Listen carefully to my words; let this be your consolation to me.
你們且聽一聽我的話! 這也算是你們給我的安慰。
3 Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking.
請讓我發言，我說完後，任你們笑罵。
4 Is my complaint against a man? Then why should I not be impatient?
我豈是抱怨人﹖我失了忍耐，難道沒有理由﹖
5 Look at me and be appalled; put your hand over your mouth.
你們注意聽我，必要吃驚，且要用手堵住口。
6 When I remember, terror takes hold, and my body trembles in horror.
甚至我一回想，我就恐怖，全身戰慄。
7 Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
惡人為何享受高壽而勢力強大﹖
8 Their descendants are established around them, and their offspring before their eyes.
他們在世時，子孫昌盛，親眼看見子子孫孫。
9 Their homes are safe from fear; no rod of punishment from God is upon them.
他們的住宅平安，無所畏懼，天主的棍杖也不加在他們身上。
10 Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry.
他們的公牛交尾，無不成功；母牛產子，決無流產。
11 They send forth their little ones like a flock; their children skip about,
他們使孩子跑出像羊群，子女跳躍如麋鹿。
12 singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute.
他們伴著手鼓與豎琴歌唱，隨著笛聲歡呼。
他們幸福地度過天年，平安地降入陰府。 (Sheol h7585)
14 Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.
但他們曾向天主說：「離開我們! 我們不願知道你的道路。
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’
全能者是誰，竟叫我們事奉他﹖我們祈求他有什麼好處﹖」
16 Still, their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
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﹖
17 How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?
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﹖
18 Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?
使他們好像被風吹的碎湝﹖好像被暴風捲去的糠秕﹖
19 It is said that God lays up one’s punishment for his children. Let God repay the man himself, so he will know it.
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!
20 Let his eyes see his own destruction; let him drink for himself the wrath of the Almighty.
叫他親眼看見自己的毀滅，親自飲下全能者的義怒之杯。
21 For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months has run out?
他既逝去，他本人的歲月已絕，他的家庭對他還有什麼相干﹖
22 Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since He judges those on high?
天主既審判天上者，人豈能教給他什麼智識﹖
23 One man dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease.
有人到死一無所缺，享盡了平安幸福。
24 His body is well nourished, and his bones are rich with marrow.
他的腰部充滿脂肪，他的骨髓潤澤豐盈；
25 Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity.
但有人卻至死心靈酸苦，一生毫無福樂；
26 But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both.
他們卻一同埋於塵土，為蛆蟲所掩蓋。
27 Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.
我確知你們的思想，以及對我所籌劃的陰謀。
28 For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’
你們要問：「霸王的家在那裏﹖惡人住的帳幕在何處﹖」
29 Have you never asked those who travel the roads? Do you not accept their reports?
你們怎麼不問過路的人﹖難道你們不承認他們的證據﹖
30 Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.
「惡人在毀滅之日不受害，在憤怒之日會得救。」
31 Who denounces his behavior to his face? Who repays him for what he has done?
他的動作，誰敢當面指摘﹖他的行為，誰能報復﹖
32 He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.
他最後被抬入墳墓，且親自守護自己的墓地。
33 The clods of the valley are sweet to him; everyone follows behind him, and those before him are without number.
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。
34 So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.”
你們為何說空話來安慰我﹖你們的答話顯然只是欺詐!
