Job

21 Then responded Job and said:—

2 Hear ye patiently my words, And let this be your consolation:

3 Suffer me that I may speak, And after I have spoken thou canst mock!

4 Did I unto man make my complaint? Wherefore then should my spirit not be impatient?

5 Turn round to me and be astonished, And lay hand on mouth!

6 When I call to mind then am I dismayed, And there seizeth my flesh a shuddering:—

7 Wherefore do lawless men live, Advance in years, even wax mighty in power?

8 Their seed is established in their sight along with them, Yea their offspring, before their eyes;

9 Their houses are at peace without dread, Neither is the rod of God upon them;

10 His bull covereth and causeth not aversion, His cow safely calveth, and casteth not her young;

11 They send forth—like a flock—their young ones, And their children skip about for joy;

12 They rejoice aloud as [with] timbrel and lyre, And make merry to the sound of the pipe;

13 They complete in prosperity their days, And in a moment to hades they sink down.

14 Yet they said unto God, Depart from us, and In the knowledge of thy ways find we no pleasure.

15 What is the Almighty that we should serve him? Or what shall we profit, that we should urge him?

16 Lo! not in their own hand is their welfare, The counsel of lawless men is far from me!

17 How oft the lamp of the lawless goeth out And their calamity cometh upon them, Sorrows apportioneth he in his anger;

18 They become as straw before the wind, And as chaff which the storm stealeth away.

19 Shall God reserve for his children his sorrow? Let him recompense him so that he may know it;

20 His own eyes shall see his misfortune, And the wrath of the Almighty shall he drink.

21 For what shall be his pleasure in his house after him, When the number of his months is cut in twain?

22 Is it to God one can teach knowledge, Seeing that he shall judge them who are on high?

23 This man dieth in the very perfection of his prosperity, Wholly tranquil and secure;

24 His veins are filled with nourishment, And the marrow of his bones is fresh;

25 Whereas this other man dieth in bitterness of soul, And hath never tasted good fortune:

26 Together in the dust they lie down, And the worm spreadeth a covering over them.

27 Lo! I know your plans, And the devices wherewith ye would do me violence!

28 For ye say, Where is the house of the noble-minded? And where the dwelling-tent of the lawless?

29 Have ye not asked the passers-by in the way? And their signs can ye not recognise?

30 That to the day of calamity is the wicked reserved, To the day of indignant visitation are they led.

31 Who can declare—to his face—his way? And what he hath done who shall recompense to him?

32 Yet he to the graves is borne, And over the tomb one keepeth watch;

33 Pleasant to him are the mounds of the torrent-bed,—And after him doth every man march, As before him there were without number.

34 How then should ye comfort me with vanity, Since as for your replies there lurketh [in them] treachery?