Job 21

¹But Job answered and said, ²Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations. ³Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on. ⁴As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?⁵Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.⁶Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.

⁷Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? ⁸Their seed is established in their sight with them, 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 take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. ¹³They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.¹⁴Therefore 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 good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁷How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger. ¹⁸They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. ¹⁹God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it. ²⁰His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty. ²¹For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst? 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 breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow. ²⁵And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure. ²⁶They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.

²⁷Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me. ²⁸For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked? ²⁹Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens, ³⁰That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought 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 brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.³³The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him. ³⁴How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?