Job 21

₂Hear diligently my speech,

And let this be your consolations.

₃Suffer me that I may speak;

And after that I have spoken, mock on.

₄As for me, is my complaint to man?

And if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?

₅Mark me, and be astonished,

And lay your hand upon your mouth.

₆Even when I remember I am afraid,

And trembling taketh hold on my flesh.

₇Wherefore do the wicked live,

Become old, yea, are mighty in power?

₈Their seed is established in their sight with them,

And their offspring before their eyes.

₉Their houses are safe from fear,

Neither is the rod of God upon them.

₁₀Their bull gendereth, and faileth not;

Their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.

₁₁They send forth their little ones like a flock,

And their children dance.

₁₂They take the timbrel and harp,

And rejoice at the sound of the organ.

₁₃They spend their days in wealth,

And in a moment go down to the grave.

₁₄Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us;

For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

₁₅What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

₁₆Lo, their good is not in their hand:

The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

₁₇How oft is the candle of the wicked put out!

And how oft cometh their destruction upon them!

God distributeth sorrows in his anger.

₁₈They are as stubble before the wind,

And as chaff that the storm carrieth away.

₁₉God layeth up his iniquity for his children:

He rewardeth him, and he shall know it.

₂₀His eyes shall see his destruction,

And he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

₂₁For what pleasure hath he in his house after him,

When the number of his months is cut off in the midst?

₂₂Shall any teach God knowledge?

Seeing he judgeth those that are high.

₂₃One dieth in his full strength,

Being wholly at ease and quiet.

₂₄His breasts are full of milk,

And his bones are moistened with marrow.

₂₅And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul,

And never eateth with pleasure.

₂₆They shall lie down alike in the dust,

And the worms shall cover them.

₂₇Behold, I know your thoughts,

And the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.

₂₈For ye say, Where is the house of the prince?

And where are the dwelling places of the wicked?

₂₉Have ye not asked them that go by the way?

And do ye not know their tokens,

₃₀That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction?

They shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

₃₁Who shall declare his way to his face?

And who shall repay him what he hath done?

₃₂Yet shall he be brought to the grave,

And shall remain in the tomb.

₃₃The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him,

And every man shall draw after him,

As there are innumerable before him.

₃₄How then comfort ye me in vain,

Seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?