Job 21

¹ And Job answereth and saith: —

² Hear ye diligently my word, And this is your consolation.

³ Bear with me, and I speak, And after my speaking — ye may deride.

⁴ I — to man [is] my complaint? and if [so], wherefore May not my temper become short?

⁵ Turn unto me, and be astonished, And put hand to mouth.

⁶ Yea, if I have remembered, then I have been troubled. And my flesh hath taken fright.

⁷ Wherefore do the wicked live? They have become old, Yea, they have been mighty in wealth.

⁸ Their seed is established, Before their face with them, And their offspring before their eyes.

⁹ Their houses [are] peace without fear, Nor [is] a rod of God upon them.

¹⁰ His bullock hath eaten corn, and doth not loath. His cow bringeth forth safely, And doth not miscarry.

¹¹ They send forth as a flock their sucklings, And their children skip,

¹² They lift [themselves] up at timbrel and harp, And rejoice at the sound of an organ.

¹³ They wear out in good their days, And in a moment [to] Sheol go down.

¹⁴ And they say to God, ‘Turn aside from us, And the knowledge of Thy ways We have not desired.

¹⁵ What [is] the Mighty One that we serve Him? And what do we profit when we meet with Him?’

¹⁶ Lo, not in their hand [is] their good, (The counsel of the wicked Hath been far from me.)

¹⁷ How oft is the lamp of the wicked extinguished, And come on them doth their calamity? Pangs He apportioneth in His anger.

¹⁸ They are as straw before wind, And as chaff a hurricane hath stolen away,

¹⁹ God layeth up for his sons his sorrow, He giveth recompense unto him — and he knoweth.

²⁰ His own eyes see his destruction, And of the wrath of the Mighty he drinketh.

²¹ For what [is] his delight in his house after him, And the number of his months cut off?

²² To God doth [one] teach knowledge, And He the high doth judge?

²³ This [one] dieth in his perfect strength, Wholly at ease and quiet.

²⁴ His breasts have been full of milk, And marrow his bones doth moisten.

²⁵ And this [one] dieth with a bitter soul, And have not eaten with gladness.

²⁶ Together — on the dust they lie down, And the worm doth cover them over.

²⁷ Lo, I have known your thoughts, And the devices against me ye do wrongfully.

²⁸ For ye say, ‘Where [is] the house of the noble? And where the tent — The tabernacles of the wicked?’

²⁹ Have ye not asked those passing by the way? And their signs do ye not know?

³⁰ That to a day of calamity is the wicked spared. To a day of wrath they are brought.

³¹ Who doth declare to his face his way? And [for] that which he hath done, Who doth give recompence to him?

³² And he — to the graves he is brought. And over the heap a watch is kept.

³³ Sweet to him have been the clods of the valley, And after him every man he draweth, And before him there is no numbering.

³⁴ And how do ye comfort me [with] vanity, And in your answers hath been left trespass?