Job 21
1 Then Job answered and said,
Then Job answered, and said:
2 “Listen carefully to my words, and let this be the comfort you offer to me.
Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance.
3 Put up with me, and I also will speak; after I have spoken, mock on.
Suffer me, and I will speak, and after, if you please, laugh at my words.
4 As for me, is my complaint to a person? Why should I not be impatient?
Is my debate against man, that I should not have just reason to be troubled?
5 Look at me and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
Hearken to me and be astonished, and lay your finger on your mouth.
6 When I think about my sufferings, I am terrified, and trembling seizes my body.
As for me, when I remember, I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.
7 Why do wicked people continue to live, become old, and grow mighty in power?
Why then do the wicked live, are they advanced, and strengthened with riches?
8 Their descendants are established with them in their sight, and their offspring are established before their eyes.
Their seed continueth before them, a multitude of kinsmen, and of children’s children in their sight.
9 Their houses are safe from fear; neither is the rod of God on them.
Their houses are secure and peaceable, and the rod of God is not upon them.
10 Their bull breeds; it does not fail to do so; their cow gives birth and does not lose her calf prematurely.
Their cattle have conceived, and failed not: their cow has calved, and is not deprived of her fruit.
11 They send out their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
Their little ones go out like a flock, and their children dance and play.
12 They sing to the tambourine and harp and rejoice with the music of the flute.
They take the timbrel, and the harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.
They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell. (Sheol h7585)
14 They say to God, 'Depart from us for we do not wish any knowledge of your ways.
Who have said to God: Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should worship him? What advantage would we get if we prayed to him?'
Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what doth it profit us if we pray to him?
16 See, is not their prosperity in their own hands? I have nothing to do with the advice of wicked people.
Yet because their good things are not in their hand, may the counsel of the wicked be far from me.
17 How often is it that the lamp of wicked people is put out, or that their calamity comes upon them? How often does it happen that God distributes sorrows to them in his anger?
How often shall the lamp of the wicked be put out, and a deluge come upon them, and he shall distribute the sorrows of his wrath?
18 How often is it that they become like stubble before the wind or like chaff that the storm carries away?
They shall be as chaff before the face of the wind, and as ashes which the whirlwind scattereth.
19 You say, 'God lays up one's guilt for his children to pay.' Let him pay it himself, so that he might know his guilt.
God shall lay up the sorrow of the father for his children: and when he shall repay, then shall he know.
20 Let his eyes see his own destruction, and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
His eyes shall see his own destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what does he care about his family after him when the number of his months is cut off?
For what is it to him what befalleth his house after him: and if the number of his months be diminished by one half?
22 Can anyone teach God knowledge since he judges even those who are high?
Shall any one teach God knowledge, who judgeth those that are high?
23 One man dies in his full strength, being completely quiet and at ease.
One man dieth strong, and hale, rich and happy.
24 His body is full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is moist.
His bowels are full of fat, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
25 Another man dies in bitterness of soul, one who has never experienced anything good.
But another dieth in bitterness of soul without any riches:
26 They lie down alike in the dust; the worms cover them both.
And yet they shall sleep together in the dust, and worms shall cover them.
27 See, I know your thoughts, and the ways in which you wish to wrong me.
Surely I know your thoughts, and your unjust judgments against me.
28 For you say, 'Where now is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked man once lived?'
For you say: Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?
29 Have you never asked traveling people? Do you not know the evidence they can tell,
Ask any one of them that go by the way, and you shall perceive that he knoweth these same things.
30 that the wicked man is kept from the day of calamity, and that he is led away from the day of wrath?
Because the wicked man is reserved to the day of destruction, and he shall be brought to the day of wrath.
31 Who will condemn the wicked man's way to his face? Who will repay him for what he has done?
Who shall reprove his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?
32 Yet he will be borne to the grave; men will keep watch over his tomb.
He shall be brought to the graves, and shall watch in the heap of the dead.
33 The clods of the valley will be sweet to him; all people will follow after him, as there were innumerable people before him.
He hath been acceptable to the gravel of Cocytus, and he shall draw every man after him, and there are innumerable before him.
34 How then do you comfort me with nonsense, since in your answers there is nothing but falsehood?”
How then do ye comfort me in vain, whereas your answer is shewn to be repugnant to truth?
