| Chapter 21 |
1 |
Then Job answered, and said: --
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2 |
Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance. --
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3 |
Suffer me, and I will speak, and after, if you please, laugh at my words. --
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4 |
Is my debate against man, that I should not have just reason to be troubled? --
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5 |
Hearken to me and be astonished, and lay your finger on your mouth. --
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6 |
As for me, when I remember, I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh. --
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7 |
Why then do the wicked live, are they advanced, and strengthened with riches? --
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8 |
Their seed continueth before them, a multitude of kinsmen, and of children's children in their sight. --
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9 |
Their houses are secure and peaceable, and the rod of God is not upon them. --
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10 |
Their cattle have conceived, and failed not: their cow has calved, and is not deprived of her fruit. --
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11 |
Their little ones go out like a flock, and their children dance and play. --
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12 |
They take the timbrel, and the harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. --
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13 |
They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell. --
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14 |
Who have said to God: Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. --
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15 |
Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what doth it profit us if we pray to him? --
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16 |
Yet because their good things are not in their hand, may the counsel of the wicked be far from me. --
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17 |
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? --
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18 |
They shall be as chaff before the face of the wind, and as ashes which the whirlwind scattereth. --
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19 |
God shall lay up the sorrow of the father for his children: and when he shall repay, then shall he know. --
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20 |
His eyes shall see his own destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty. --
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21 |
For what is it to him what befalleth his house after him: and if the number of his months be diminished by one half? --
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22 |
Shall any one teach God knowledge, who judgeth those that are high? --
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23 |
One man dieth strong, and hale, rich and happy. --
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24 |
His bowels are full of fat, and his bones are moistened with marrow. --
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25 |
But another dieth in bitterness of soul without any riches: --
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26 |
And yet they shall sleep together in the dust, and worms shall cover them. --
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27 |
Surely I know your thoughts, and your unjust judgments against me. --
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28 |
For you say: Where is the house of the prince ? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked? --
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29 |
Ask any one of them that go by the way, and you shall perceive that he knoweth these same things. --
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30 |
Because the wicked man is reserved to the day of destruction, and he shall be brought to the day of wrath. --
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31 |
Who shall reprove his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done? --
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32 |
He shall be brought to the graves, and shall watch in the heap of the dead. --
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33 |
He hath been acceptable to the gravel of Cocytus, and he shall draw every man after him, and there are innumerable before him. --
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34 |
How then do ye comfort me in vain, whereas your answer is shewn to be repugnant to truth ? --
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