| Chapter 21 |
1 |
And Job answered and said, --
|
2 |
Hear attentively my speech, and let this replace your consolations. --
|
3 |
Suffer me and I will speak; and after I have spoken, mock on! --
|
4 |
As for me, is my complaint to a man? or wherefore should not my spirit be impatient? --
|
5 |
Mark me, and be astonished, and lay the hand upon the mouth. --
|
6 |
Even when I think [thereon], I am affrighted, and trembling taketh hold of my flesh. --
|
7 |
Wherefore do the wicked live, grow old, yea, become mighty in power? --
|
8 |
Their seed is established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes. --
|
9 |
Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of +God upon them. --
|
10 |
Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. --
|
11 |
They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. --
|
12 |
They shout to the tambour and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe. --
|
13 |
They spend their days in prosperity, and in a moment go down to Sheol. --
|
14 |
And they say unto łGod, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways! --
|
15 |
What is the Almighty that we should serve him? and what are we profited if we pray unto him? --
|
16 |
Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked be far from me! --
|
17 |
How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, and cometh their calamity upon them? Doth he distribute sorrows [to them] in his anger? --
|
18 |
Do they become as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away? --
|
19 |
+God layeth up [the punishment of] his iniquity for his children; he rewardeth him, and he shall know [it]: --
|
20 |
His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the fury of the Almighty. --
|
21 |
For what pleasure should he have in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off? --
|
22 |
Can any teach łGod knowledge? And he it is that judgeth those that are high. --
|
23 |
One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet; --
|
24 |
His sides are full of fat, and the marrow of his bones is moistened; --
|
25 |
And another dieth in bitterness of soul, and hath not tasted good: --
|
26 |
Together they lie down in the dust, and the worms cover them. --
|
27 |
Lo, I know your thoughts, and the devices ye wrongfully imagine against me. --
|
28 |
For ye say, Where is the house of the noble? and where the tent of the dwellings of the wicked? --
|
29 |
Have ye not asked the wayfarers? and do ye not regard their tokens: --
|
30 |
That the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity? They are led forth to the day of wrath. --
|
31 |
Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done? --
|
32 |
Yet is he carried to the graves, and watch is kept over the tomb. --
|
33 |
The clods of the valley are sweet unto him; and every man followeth suit after him, as there were innumerable before him. --
|
34 |
How then comfort ye me in vain? Your answers remain perfidious. --
|