Job 21

And Job answered and said, 2 “Hearing, hear my words, and let this be your consolation. 3 Tolerate me and I will speak, and after I have spoken, you may mock. \* 4 As for me, {is} my complaint to a man? And if, why may my breath not be short? 5 Look at me and wonder, and lay the hand upon the mouth. 6 For when I remember, then I am terrified, and trembling seizes my flesh. \* 7 Why do the wicked live, grow old, and become mighty {in} power? 8 Their seed is established with them to their faces, and their descendants to their eyes. 9 Their houses {are} peace, without fear, and the rod of God {is} not upon them. \* 10 His bull breeds and it does not fail; his cow calves and it does not miscarry. 11 They send out their babes like a flock, and their children dance. 12 They lift up the tambourine and the harp, and they rejoice to the sound of the flute. \* 13 They spend their days in prosperity, and they go down {to} Sheol in a moment. 14 They say to God, ‘Turn away from us, for we do not desire knowledge of your ways. 15 Who {is} the Almighty, that we should serve him? And how will we profit, that we should pray to him?’ \* 16 Behold, their prosperity {is} not in their hand! {May} the counsel of the wicked {be} far from me! 17 How often does the lamp of the wicked go out, or does their calamity come upon them? {How often,} in his nose, does he distribute pains? 18 {How often} are they like stubble to the face of the wind or like chaff that a storm carries away? \* 19 ‘God lays up his guilt for his sons.’ Let him repay to him, and he will know! 20 Let his eyes see his destruction, and from the wrath of the Almighty let him drink. 21 For what {is} his interest in his house after him when the number of his months is cut off? \* 22 Will one teach knowledge to God, since he judges the ones being high? 23 This one dies in the bone of his perfection; all of him {is} tranquil and secure. 24 His pails are full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is moistened. \* 25 But that one dies in the soul of bitterness, and he has not eaten the good. 26 They lie down alike in the dust, and the worm covers over them. \* 27 Behold, I know your thoughts and the notions you wrest against me. 28 For you say, ‘Where {is} the house of the tyrant? Where {is} the tent of the habitation of the wicked?’ \* 29 Have you not asked travelers of the way? Or do you not acknowledge their signs, 30 that the wicked is spared in the day of calamity; in the day of wrath they are brought forth? \* 31 Who will denounce his way to his face? And what he has done, who will repay to him? 32 Indeed, he will be brought forth to the grave, and one will watch over the burial mound. 33 The clods of the torrent will be sweet to him, and every man will extend after him, and to his face there is not numbering. \* 34 So how do you comfort me in vain? And falsehood is left in your answers!” \*