Job 21:1-34
21 And Job proceeded to answer and say:
2 “Listen, YOU men, attentively to my word,And let this become YOUR consolation.
3 Put up with me, and I myself shall speak;And after my speaking you may [each] deride.+
4 As for me, is my concern [expressed] to man?Or why is it that my spirit does not get impatient?
5 Turn YOUR faces to me and stare in amazement,And put [YOUR] hand upon [YOUR] mouth.+
6 And if I have remembered, I have also become disturbed,And shuddering has taken hold of my flesh.
7 Why is it that the wicked themselves keep living,+Have grown old, also have become superior in wealth?+
8 Their offspring are firmly established with them in their sight,And their descendants before their eyes.
9 Their houses are peace itself, free from dread,+And the rod of God* is not upon them.
10 His own bull actually impregnates, and it does not waste semen;His cow brings forth+ and suffers no abortion.
11 They keep sending out their young boys just like a flock,And their own male children go skipping about.
12 They continue raising [their voice] with the tambourine and harp,+And keep rejoicing at the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their days in good times,+And in a moment down to Sheʹol they descend.
14 And they say to the [true] God, ‘Turn away from us!+And in the knowledge of your ways we have found no delight.+
15 What does the Almighty amount to, that we should serve him,*+And how do we benefit ourselves in that we have come in touch with him?’+
16 Look! Their well-being is not in their own power.*+The very counsel of wicked ones has kept far from me.+
17 How many times is the lamp of the wicked ones extinguished,+And [how many times] does their disaster come upon them?[How many times] in his anger does he apportion destruction?+
18 Do they become like straw before a wind,*+And like chaff that a storm wind has stolen away?
19 God* himself will store up one’s hurtfulness for one’s own sons;+He will reward him that he may know [it].+
20 His eyes will see his decay,And from the rage of the Almighty he will drink.+
21 For what will his delight be in his house after him,When the number of his months will really be cut in two?+
22 Will he teach knowledge even to God,*+When that One himself judges high ones?+
23 This very one will die during his full self-sufficiency,+When he is altogether carefree and at ease;
24 [When] his own thighs have become full of fatAnd the very marrow of his bones is being kept moist.
25 And this other one will die with a bitter soulWhen he has not eaten of good things.+
26 Together in the dust they will lie down+And maggots themselves will form a cover over them.+
27 Look! I well know the thoughts of YOU menAnd the schemes with which YOU would act violently against me.+
28 For YOU say, ‘Where is the house of the noble one,And where is the tent, the tabernacles of wicked ones?’+
29 Have YOU not asked those traveling over the roads?And do YOU not carefully inspect their very signs,
30 That at the day of disaster an evil one is spared,+At the day of fury he is delivered?*
31 Who will tell him of his way to his very face?+And for what he himself has done who will reward him?+
32 As for him, to the graveyard he will be brought,+And over a tomb* a vigil will be kept.
33 To him the clods of earth of a torrent valley will certainly become sweet,+And after him he will drag all mankind,*+And those before him were without number.
34 So how vainly YOU men try to comfort me,+And YOUR very replies do remain as unfaithfulness!”
Footnotes
^ Or, “we should worship him (render him sacred service).” Heb., na·ʽav·dhenʹnu.
^ Lit., “hand.”
^ “Wind.” Heb., ruʹach; Gr., a·neʹmou; Lat., venʹti.
^ “God.” Heb., ʼElohʹah.
^ “He is delivered,” by a correction; M, “brought,” as in vs 32.
^ Or, “heap of sheaves.”
^ Or, “every earthling man.” Heb., kol-ʼa·dhamʹ.
