< Job 21 >
1 Then responded Job, and said: —
2 Hear ye patiently my words, and let this be your consolation:
3 Suffer me, that, I, may speak, and, after I have spoken, thou canst mock!
4 Did, I, unto man, make my complaint? Wherefore, then, should my spirit not be impatient?
5 Turn round to me, and be astonished, and lay hand on mouth!
6 When I call to mind, then am I dismayed, and there seizeth my flesh a shuddering: —
7 Wherefore do, lawless men, live, advance in years, even wax mighty in power?
8 Their seed, is established in their sight, along with them, yea their offspring, before their eyes;
9 Their houses, are at peace, without dread, neither is, the rod of GOD, upon them;
10 His bull, covereth, and causeth not aversion, His cow safely calveth, and casteth not her young;
11 They send forth—like a flock—their young ones, and, their children, skip about for joy;
12 They rejoice aloud as [with] timbrel and lyre, and make merry to the sound of the pipe;
13 They complete, in prosperity, their days, and, in a moment to hades, they sink down. (Sheol )
14 Yet they said unto GOD, Depart from us, and, In the knowledge of thy ways, find we no pleasure.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? Or what shall we profit, that we should urge him?
16 Lo! not in their own hand, is their welfare, The counsel of lawless men, is far from me!
17 How oft, the lamp of the lawless, goeth out, and their calamity, cometh upon them, Sorrows, apportioneth he in his anger;
18 They become as straw before the wind, and as chaff, which the storm stealeth away.
19 Shall, GOD, reserve, for his children, his sorrow? Let him recompense him so that he may know it;
20 His own eyes, shall see his misfortune, and, the wrath of the Almighty, shall he drink.
21 For what shall be his pleasure in his house after him, when, the number of his months, is cut in twain?
22 Is it, to GOD, one can teach knowledge, seeing that, he, shall judge, them who are on high?
23 This, man dieth, in the very perfection of his prosperity, wholly tranquil and secure;
24 His veins, are filled with nourishment, and, the marrow of his bones, is fresh;
25 Whereas, this other man, dieth, in bitterness of soul, and hath never tasted good fortune:
26 Together, in the dust, they lie down, and, the worm, spreadeth a covering over them.
27 Lo! I know your plans, and the devices, wherewith ye would do me violence!
28 For ye say, Where is the house of the noble-minded? And where the dwelling-tent of the lawless?
29 Have ye not asked the passers-by in the way? And, their signs, can ye not recognise?
30 That, to the day of calamity, is the wicked reserved, to the day of indignant visitation, are they led.
31 Who can declare—to his face—his way? And, what, he, hath done, who shall recompense to him?
32 Yet, he, to the graves, is borne, and, over the tomb, one keepeth watch;
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.
34 How then should ye comfort me with vanity, since, as for your replies, there lurketh, [in them] treachery?
