Job 21
- Then Job answered and said:
- “Listen carefully to my speech, And let this be your consolation.
- Bear with me that I may speak, And after I have spoken, keep mocking.
- “As for me, is my complaint against man? And if it were, why should I not be impatient?
- Look at me and be astonished; Put your hand over your mouth.
- Even when I remember I am terrified, And trembling takes hold of my flesh.
- Why do the wicked live and become old, Yes, become mighty in power?
- Their descendants are established with them in their sight, And their offspring before their eyes.
- Their houses are safe from fear, Neither is the rod of God upon them.
- Their bull breeds without failure; Their cow calves without miscarriage.
- They send forth their little ones like a flock, And their children dance.
- They sing to the tambourine and harp, And rejoice to the sound of the flute.
- They spend their days in wealth, And in a moment go down to the grave.
- Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us, For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.
- Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’
- Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand; The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
- “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their destruction come upon them, The sorrows God distributes in His anger?
- They are like straw before the wind, And like chaff that a storm carries away.
- They say, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity for his children’; Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.
- Let his eyes see his destruction, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
- For what does he care about his household after him, When the number of his months is cut in half?
- “Can anyone teach God knowledge, Since He judges those on high?
- One dies in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and secure;
- His pails are full of milk, And the marrow of his bones is moist.
- Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, Never having eaten with pleasure.
- They lie down alike in the dust, And worms cover them.
- “Look, I know your thoughts, And the schemes with which you would wrong me.
- For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent, The dwelling place of the wicked?’
- Have you not asked those who travel the road? And do you not know their signs?
- For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom; They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.
- Who condemns his way to his face? And who repays him for what he has done?
- Yet he shall be brought to the grave, And a vigil kept over the tomb.
- The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him; Everyone shall follow him, As countless have gone before him.
- How then can you comfort me with empty words, Since falsehood remains in your answers?”