- And Job answered and said,
- Hear attentively my speech, and let this replace your consolations.
- Suffer me and I will speak; and after I have spoken, mock on!
- As for me, is my complaint to a man? or wherefore should not my spirit be impatient?
- Mark me, and be astonished, and lay the hand upon the mouth.
- Even when I think [thereon], I am affrighted, and trembling taketh hold of my flesh.
- Wherefore do the wicked live, grow old, yea, become mighty in power?
- Their seed is established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes.
- Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of †God upon them.
- Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
- They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
- They shout to the tambour and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
- They spend their days in prosperity, and in a moment go down to Sheol.
- And they say unto ·God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways!
- What is the Almighty that we should serve him? and what are we profited if we pray unto him?
- Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked be far from me!
- How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, and cometh their calamity upon them? Doth he distribute sorrows [to them] in his anger?
- Do they become as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away?
- +God layeth up [the punishment of] his iniquity for his children; he rewardeth him, and he shall know [it]:
- His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the fury of the Almighty.
- For what pleasure should he have in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?
- Can any teach ·God knowledge? And he it is that judgeth those that are high.
- One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet;
- His sides are full of fat, and the marrow of his bones is moistened;
- And another dieth in bitterness of soul, and hath not tasted good:
- Together they lie down in the dust, and the worms cover them.
- Lo, I know your thoughts, and the devices ye wrongfully imagine against me.
- For ye say, Where is the house of the noble? and where the tent of the dwellings of the wicked?
- Have ye not asked the wayfarers? and do ye not regard their tokens:
- That the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity? They are led forth to the day of wrath.
- Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?
- Yet is he carried to the graves, and watch is kept over the tomb.
- The clods of the valley are sweet unto him; and every man followeth suit after him, as there were innumerable before him.
- How then comfort ye me in vain? Your answers remain perfidious.
Job Chapters
Job Chapter 21 (Darby Translation)
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