1 Then Job answered,
2 "Listen diligently to my speech.
Let this be your consolation.
3 Allow me, and I also will speak.
After I have spoken, mock on.
4 As for me, is my complaint to man?
Why shouldn’t I be impatient?
5 Look at me, and be astonished.
Lay your hand on your mouth.
6 When I remember, I am troubled.
Horror takes hold of my flesh.
7 "Why do the wicked live,
become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?
8 Their child is established with them in their sight,
their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear,
neither is the rod of God upon them.
10 Their bulls breed without fail.
Their cows calve, and don’t miscarry.
11 They send out their little ones like a flock.
Their children dance.
12 They sing to the tambourine and harp,
and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their days in prosperity.
In an instant they go down to Sheol.
14 They tell God, ‘Depart from us,
for we don’t want to know about your ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’
16 Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17 "How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out,
that their calamity comes on them,
that God distributes sorrows in his anger?
18 How often is it that they are as stubble before the wind,
as chaff that the storm carries away?
19 You say, ‘God lays up his iniquity for his children.’
Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it.
20 Let his own eyes see his destruction.
Let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what does he care for his house after him,
when the number of his months is cut off?
22 "Shall any teach God knowledge,
since he judges those who are high?
23 One dies in his full strength,
being wholly at ease and quiet.
24 His pails are full of milk.
The marrow of his bones is moistened.
25 Another dies in bitterness of soul,
and never tastes of good.
26 They lie down alike in the dust.
The worm covers them.
27 "Behold, I know your thoughts,
the plans with which you would wrong me.
28 For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince?
Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’
29 Haven’t you asked wayfaring men?
Don’t you know their evidences,
30 that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity,
that they are led out to the day of wrath?
31 Who will declare his way to his face?
Who will repay him what he has done?
32 Yet he will be borne to the grave.
Men will keep watch over the tomb.
33 The clods of the valley will be sweet to him.
All men will draw after him,
as there were innumerable before him.
34 So how can you comfort me with nonsense,
because in your answers there remains only falsehood?"
1 But Job answered and said,
2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this be [instead of] your consolations.
3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after I have spoken, mock on.
4 As for me, [is] my complaint to man? And if so, why should not my spirit be troubled?
5 Look upon me and be astonished and lay [your] hand upon [your] mouth.
6 [Even I myself], when I remember, I am afraid, and trembling takes hold on my flesh.
7 Why do the wicked live and become old and even increase in riches?
8 Their seed is with them, established in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses [are] safe from fear; neither [is] the rod of God upon them.
10 Their cows conceive, and do not abort; their cows calve and do not cast forth their young.
11 They send forth their little ones like [a flock of] sheep, and their children dance.
12 They jump at the sound of the timbrel and harp and rejoice at the sound of the organ.
13 They spend their days in pleasure and in a moment go down to Sheol.
14 Therefore, they say unto God, Depart from us; for we do not desire the knowledge of thy ways.
15 Who [is] the Almighty that we should serve him? And what profit should we have if we pray unto him?
16 Behold that their good [is] not in their hands; the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17 How often is the candle of the wicked put out and their destruction comes upon them, and [God] distributes sorrows upon them in his anger.
18 They shall be as stubble before the wind and as chaff taken up by the whirlwind.
19 God shall lay up his violence for [their] sons; and he will reward him so that he shall know [it].
20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what delight shall he have in his house after him, being cut off in the number of his months?
22 Shall he teach God knowledge, seeing he judges those that are high?
23 This one shall die in the full strength of his beauty, being completely at ease and quiet.
24 His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
25 And another dies in the bitterness of his soul, never having eaten with pleasure.
26 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.
27 Behold, I know your thoughts and the imaginations which ye devise against me.
28 For ye say, What [is] of the house of the prince, and what of the tent of the habitation of the wicked?
29 Have ye not asked those that go by the way, and do ye not know their tokens?
30 That the wicked is reserved for the day of destruction, they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.
31 Who shall declare his way to his face? And who shall repay him [what] he has done?
32 He shall yet be brought to the grave and shall remain in the tomb.
33 The clods of the river [valley] shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall be drawn after him, as [there were] innumerable before him.
34 How then do ye comfort me in vain, [given] that your answers remain as falsehood?: