Job 21

¹Then Job responded by saying

²I beseech you to hear my words and to do penance

³Permit me, and I will speak, and afterwards, if you see fit, you can laugh at my words

⁴Is my dispute against man, so that I would have no reason to be discouraged

⁵Listen to me and be astonished, and place a finger over your mouth

⁶As for me, when I think it over, I am afraid, and trembling convulses my body

⁷Why then do the impious live, having been lifted up and strengthened with riches

⁸They see their offspring continue before them: a commotion of close relatives and of children’s children in their sight

⁹Their houses have been secure and peaceable, and there is no staff of God over them

¹⁰Their cattle have conceived and have not miscarried; their cow has given birth and is not deprived of her newborn

¹¹Their little ones go out like a flock, and their children jump around playfully

¹²They take up the timbrel and the lyre, and they rejoice at the sound of the organ

¹³Their days are prolonged in wealth, yet, in an instant, they descend into hell

¹⁴Who has said to God, “Depart from us, for we do not want the knowledge of your ways

¹⁵Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? And how is it helpful to us if we pray to him?

¹⁶It is true that their good things are not in their power. May the counsel of the impious be far from me

¹⁷How often will the lamp of the wicked be extinguished, and a deluge overtake them, and how often will he distribute the afflictions of his wrath

¹⁸They will be like chaff before the face of the wind, and like ashes that the whirlwind scatters

¹⁹God will preserve the grief of the father for his sons, and, when he repays, then he will understand

²⁰His eyes will see his own destruction, and he will drink from the wrath of the Almighty

²¹For what does he care what happens to his house after him, or if the number of its months are reduced by half

²²Can anyone teach holy knowledge to God, who judges the exalted

²³This one dies strong and healthy, rich and happy

²⁴His gut is full of fat and his bones are moistened with marrow

²⁵In truth, another dies in bitterness of soul, without any resources

²⁶And yet they will sleep together in the dust, and worms will cover them

²⁷Surely, I know your thoughts and your sinful judgments against me

²⁸For you say, “Where is the house of the ruler, and where are the tabernacles of the impious?

²⁹Ask any passerby whom you wish, and you will realize that he understands these same things

³⁰that the evil-doer is reserved for the day of destruction, and he will be led to the day of wrath

³¹Who will reprove his way to his face, and who will repay him for what he has done

³²He will be led to the tomb, and he will remain awake in the chaos of the dead

³³He has been found acceptable to the banks of the River of Lamentation, and he will draw any man towards him, and there are countless before him

³⁴Therefore, how long will you console me in vain, when your answer is shown to be repugnant to truth