< Job 21 >
1 Then answered Job, and said,
2 Hear, O hear my speech, and let this be wherewith you give consolations.
3 Bear with me that I may indeed speak: and after my speaking, then canst thou mock.
4 As for me, —is against man my complaint? and if this be so, why should my spirit not be impatient?
5 Turn yourselves unto me, and be astounded, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
6 Yea, when I think of it, I am terrified, and shuddering seizeth hold of my flesh.
7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, grow strong in power?
8 Their seed is firmly established in their presence with them. their offspring are before their eyes.
9 Their houses are at peace without any dread, and no rod of God [cometh] over them.
10 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, and their children skip about [with joy].
12 They sing to the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
13 They wear out their days in happiness, and in a moment they go down to the nether world. (Sheol )
14 And yet they say unto God, “Depart from us; and the knowledge of thy ways we desire not.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit shall we have, if we entreat him urgently?”
16 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 quenched? and how often cometh over them their calamity? and doth [God] distribute their lot in his anger?
18 Are they as straw before the wind, and as chaff which the stealeth away?
19 Should God lay up for his children his wrong-doing? it were better that he reward him, that he might know it himself.
20 His own eyes ought to see his downfall, and from the wrath of the Almighty ought he to drink.
21 For what care hath he for his household after him, when the number of his months is all apportioned to him?
22 Is this fitting God, who teacheth knowledge? him who judgeth those that are highest?
23 That this one dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet;
24 His vessels being full of healthy fluid, and the marrow of his bones being well moistened:
25 While this other dieth with an embittered soul, and hath never partaken of any happiness;
26 [And yet] together they must lie down in the dust, and the worms will cover them?
27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the opinions which ye wrongfully devise against me.
28 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 ye not asked the wayfarers? surely their token ye cannot disregard,
30 That the bad man is reserved for the day of calamity, [that the wicked] are carried forward to the day of wrath.
31 [But] who will tell him to his face of his way? and who will repay him what he hath done?
32 Yea he will indeed be carried to the grave, and men will quickly think of his monument:
33 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 How then will ye comfort me with vanity? and of your answers there remaineth only deception.
