Job 21

²Hear diligently my speech;

And let this be your consolations.

³Suffer me, and I also will speak;

And after that I have spoken, mock on.

⁴As for me, is my complaint to man?

And why should I not be impatient?

⁵Mark me, and be astonished,

And lay your hand upon your mouth.

⁶Even when I remember I am troubled,

And horror taketh hold on my flesh.

⁷Wherefore do the wicked live,

Become old, yea, wax mighty in power?

⁸Their seed is established with them in their sight,

And their offspring before their eyes.

⁹Their houses are safe from fear,

Neither is the rod of God upon them.

¹⁰Their bull gendereth, and faileth not;

Their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.

¹¹They send forth their little ones like a flock,

And their children dance.

¹²They sing to the timbrel and harp,

And rejoice at the sound of the pipe.

¹³They spend their days in prosperity,

And in a moment they go down to Sheol.

¹⁴And they say unto God, Depart from us;

For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

¹⁵What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

¹⁶Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand:

The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁷How oft is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?

That their calamity cometh upon them?

That God distributeth sorrows in his anger?

¹⁸That they are as stubble before the wind,

And as chaff that the storm carrieth away?

¹⁹Ye say, God layeth up his iniquity for his children.

Let him recompense it unto himself, that he may know it:

²⁰Let his own eyes see his destruction,

And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what careth he for his house after him,

When the number of his months is cut off?

²²Shall any teach God knowledge,

Seeing he judgeth those that are high?

²³One dieth in his full strength,

Being wholly at ease and quiet:

²⁴His pails are full of milk,

And the marrow of his bones is moistened.

²⁵And another dieth in bitterness of soul,

And never tasteth of good.

²⁶They lie down alike in the dust,

And the worm covereth them.

²⁷Behold, I know your thoughts,

And the devices wherewith ye would wrong me.

²⁸For ye say, Where is the house of the prince?

And where is the tent wherein the wicked dwelt?

²⁹Have ye not asked wayfaring men?

And do ye not know their evidences,

³⁰That the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity?

That they are led forth to the day of wrath?

³¹Who shall declare his way to his face?

And who shall repay him what he hath done?

³²Yet shall he be borne to the grave,

And men shall keep watch over the tomb.

³³The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him,

And all men shall draw after him,

As there were innumerable before him.

³⁴How then comfort ye me in vain,

Seeing in your answers there remaineth only falsehood?