Job 21
1 Then Job answered:
Then answered Job, and said,
2 “Listen carefully to my words; let this be your consolation to me.
Hear, O hear my speech, and let this be wherewith you give consolations.
3 Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking.
Bear with me that I may indeed speak: and after my speaking, then canst thou mock.
4 Is my complaint against a man? Then why should I not be impatient?
As for me, —is against man my complaint? and if this be so, why should my spirit not be impatient?
5 Look at me and be appalled; put your hand over your mouth.
Turn yourselves unto me, and be astounded, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
6 When I remember, terror takes hold, and my body trembles in horror.
Yea, when I think of it, I am terrified, and shuddering seizeth hold of my flesh.
7 Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, grow strong in power?
8 Their descendants are established around them, and their offspring before their eyes.
Their seed is firmly established in their presence with them. their offspring are before their eyes.
9 Their homes are safe from fear; no rod of punishment from God is upon them.
Their houses are at peace without any dread, and no rod of God [cometh] over them.
10 Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry.
The bull of each one gendereth, and disappointeth not: the cow of each one calveth, and casteth not her young.
11 They send forth their little ones like a flock; their children skip about,
They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children skip about [with joy].
12 singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute.
They sing to the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
They wear out their days in happiness, and in a moment they go down to the nether world. (Sheol h7585)
14 Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.
And yet they say unto God, “Depart from us; and the knowledge of thy ways we desire not.
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’
What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit shall we have, if we entreat him urgently?”
16 Still, their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
Lo, not in their hand doth their happiness rest! The counsel of the wicked be [still] far from me.
17 How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?
How often is the lamp of the wicked quenched? and how often cometh over them their calamity? and doth [God] distribute their lot in his anger?
18 Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?
Are they as straw before the wind, and as chaff which the stealeth away?
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.
Should God lay up for his children his wrong-doing? it were better that he reward him, that he might know it himself.
20 Let his eyes see his own destruction; let him drink for himself the wrath of the Almighty.
His own eyes ought to see his downfall, and from the wrath of the Almighty ought he to drink.
21 For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months has run out?
For what care hath he for his household after him, when the number of his months is all apportioned to him?
22 Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since He judges those on high?
Is this fitting God, who teacheth knowledge? him who judgeth those that are highest?
23 One man dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease.
That this one dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet;
24 His body is well nourished, and his bones are rich with marrow.
His vessels being full of healthy fluid, and the marrow of his bones being well moistened:
25 Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity.
While this other dieth with an embittered soul, and hath never partaken of any happiness;
26 But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both.
[And yet] together they must lie down in the dust, and the worms will cover them?
27 Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.
Behold, I know your thoughts, and the opinions which ye wrongfully devise against me.
28 For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’
For ye say, Where is the house of the noble-minded? and where is the tent of the dwelling-places of the wicked?
29 Have you never asked those who travel the roads? Do you not accept their reports?
Have ye not asked the wayfarers? surely their token ye cannot disregard,
30 Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.
That the bad man is reserved for the day of calamity, [that the wicked] are carried forward to the day of wrath.
31 Who denounces his behavior to his face? Who repays him for what he has done?
[But] who will tell him to his face of his way? and who will repay him what he hath done?
32 He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.
Yea he will indeed be carried to the grave, and men will quickly think of his monument:
33 The clods of the valley are sweet to him; everyone follows behind him, and those before him are without number.
Sweet are to him the clods of the valley; and after him succeedeth every man, as those that were before him are without number.
34 So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.”
How then will ye comfort me with vanity? and of your answers there remaineth only deception.
