Job 21
1 But Job answered and said,
2 Hear ye, hear ye my words, that I
may not have this consolation from you.
3 Raise me, and I will speak; then ye
shall not laugh me to scorn. 4 What!
is my reproof of man? and why should I not be angry?
5 Look upon me, and wonder, laying
your hand upon your cheek.
6 For even when I remember, I am
alarmed, and pains seize my flesh.
7 Wherefore do the ungodly live, and
grow old even in wealth? 8 Their seed
is according to their desire, and their children are
in their sight.
9 Their houses are prosperous, neither
have they any where
cause for fear, neither is there a scourge from the
Lord upon them. 10 Their cow does not
cast her calf, and their beast with young is safe,
and does not miscarry. 11 And they
remain as an unfailing flock, and their children play before
them, taking up the psaltery and harp;
12 and they rejoice at the voice of a
song. 13 And they spend their days in
wealth, and fall asleep in the rest of the grave.
14 Yet
such a man says to the Lord, Depart from me; I desire
not to know thy ways. 15 What is the
Mighty One, that we should serve him? and what profit is there that we should
approach him?
16 For their good things were in
their hands, but he regards not the works of the
ungodly. 17 Nevertheless, the lamp of
the ungodly also shall be put out, and destruction shall come upon them, and
pangs of vengeance shall seize them.
18 And they shall be as chaff before
the wind, or as dust which the storm has taken up.
19 Let his substance fail
to supply his children:
God shall recompense him, and he shall know it.
20 Let his eyes see his own
destruction, and let him not be saved by the Lord.
21 For his desire is in his house
with him, and the number of his months has been suddenly cut off.
22 Is it not the Lord who teaches
understanding and knowledge? and does not he judge murders?
23 One shall die in his perfect
strength, and wholly at ease and prosperous;
24 and his inwards are full of fat,
and his marrow is diffused throughout him.
25 And another dies in bitterness of
soul, not eating any good thing.
26 But they lie down in the earth
together, and corruption covers them.
27 So I know you, that ye
presumptuously attack me: 28 so that
ye will say, Where is the house of the prince? and where is the covering of
the tabernacles of the ungodly?
29 Ask those that go by the way, and
do not disown their tokens. 30 For
the wicked hastens to the day of destruction: they shall be led away for the
day of his vengeance. 31 Who will
tell him his way to his face, whereas he has done it?
who shall recompense him? 32 And he
has been led away to the tombs, and he has watched over the heaps.
33 The stones of the valley have been
sweet to him, and every man shall depart after him, and
there are innumerable
ones before him.
34 How then do ye comfort me in vain?
whereas I have no rest from your molestation.