Job 21
1 Then responded Job, and said: —
Then Job answered:
2 Hear ye patiently my words, and let this be your consolation:
“Listen carefully to my words; let this be your consolation to me.
3 Suffer me, that, I, may speak, and, after I have spoken, thou canst mock!
Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking.
4 Did, I, unto man, make my complaint? Wherefore, then, should my spirit not be impatient?
Is my complaint against a man? Then why should I not be impatient?
5 Turn round to me, and be astonished, and lay hand on mouth!
Look at me and be appalled; put your hand over your mouth.
6 When I call to mind, then am I dismayed, and there seizeth my flesh a shuddering: —
When I remember, terror takes hold, and my body trembles in horror.
7 Wherefore do, lawless men, live, advance in years, even wax mighty in power?
Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
8 Their seed, is established in their sight, along with them, yea their offspring, before their eyes;
Their descendants are established around them, and their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses, are at peace, without dread, neither is, the rod of GOD, upon them;
Their homes are safe from fear; no rod of punishment from God is upon them.
10 His bull, covereth, and causeth not aversion, His cow safely calveth, and casteth not her young;
Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry.
11 They send forth—like a flock—their young ones, and, their children, skip about for joy;
They send forth their little ones like a flock; their children skip about,
12 They rejoice aloud as [with] timbrel and lyre, and make merry to the sound of the pipe;
singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute.
13 They complete, in prosperity, their days, and, in a moment to hades, they sink down. (Sheol h7585)
They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace. (Sheol h7585)
14 Yet they said unto GOD, Depart from us, and, In the knowledge of thy ways, find we no pleasure.
Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? Or what shall we profit, that we should urge him?
Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’
16 Lo! not in their own hand, is their welfare, The counsel of lawless men, is far from me!
Still, their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
17 How oft, the lamp of the lawless, goeth out, and their calamity, cometh upon them, Sorrows, apportioneth he in his anger;
How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?
18 They become as straw before the wind, and as chaff, which the storm stealeth away.
Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?
19 Shall, GOD, reserve, for his children, his sorrow? Let him recompense him so that he may know it;
It is said that God lays up one’s punishment for his children. Let God repay the man himself, so he will know it.
20 His own eyes, shall see his misfortune, and, the wrath of the Almighty, shall he drink.
Let his eyes see his own destruction; let him drink for himself the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what shall be his pleasure in his house after him, when, the number of his months, is cut in twain?
For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months has run out?
22 Is it, to GOD, one can teach knowledge, seeing that, he, shall judge, them who are on high?
Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since He judges those on high?
23 This, man dieth, in the very perfection of his prosperity, wholly tranquil and secure;
One man dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease.
24 His veins, are filled with nourishment, and, the marrow of his bones, is fresh;
His body is well nourished, and his bones are rich with marrow.
25 Whereas, this other man, dieth, in bitterness of soul, and hath never tasted good fortune:
Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity.
26 Together, in the dust, they lie down, and, the worm, spreadeth a covering over them.
But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both.
27 Lo! I know your plans, and the devices, wherewith ye would do me violence!
Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.
28 For ye say, Where is the house of the noble-minded? And where the dwelling-tent of the lawless?
For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’
29 Have ye not asked the passers-by in the way? And, their signs, can ye not recognise?
Have you never asked those who travel the roads? Do you not accept their reports?
30 That, to the day of calamity, is the wicked reserved, to the day of indignant visitation, are they led.
Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.
31 Who can declare—to his face—his way? And, what, he, hath done, who shall recompense to him?
Who denounces his behavior to his face? Who repays him for what he has done?
32 Yet, he, to the graves, is borne, and, over the tomb, one keepeth watch;
He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.
33 Pleasant to him are the mounds of the torrent-bed, —and, after him, doth every man march, as, before him, there were without number.
The clods of the valley are sweet to him; everyone follows behind him, and those before him are without number.
34 How then should ye comfort me with vanity, since, as for your replies, there lurketh, [in them] treachery?
So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.”
