Chapter 21 | |
1 | And Job answereth and saith: -- |
2 | Hear ye diligently my word, And this is your consolation. |
3 | Bear with me, and I speak, And after my speaking -- ye may deride. |
4 | I -- to man is my complaint? and if so, wherefore May not my temper become short? |
5 | Turn unto me, and be astonished, And put hand to mouth. |
6 | Yea, if I have remembered, then I have been troubled. And my flesh hath taken fright. |
7 | Wherefore do the wicked live? They have become old, Yea, they have been mighty in wealth. |
8 | Their seed is established, Before their face with them, And their offspring before their eyes. |
9 |
Their houses are peace without fear, Nor is a rod of God upon them. |
10 | His bullock hath eaten corn, and doth not loath. His cow bringeth forth safely, And doth not miscarry. |
11 | They send forth as a flock their sucklings, And their children skip, |
12 | They lift themselves up at timbrel and harp, And rejoice at the sound of an organ. |
13 | They wear out in good their days, And in a moment to Sheol go down. |
14 | And they say to God, `Turn aside from us, And the knowledge of Thy ways We have not desired. |
15 | What is the Mighty One that we serve Him? And what do we profit when we meet with Him?' |
16 | Lo, not in their hand is their good, (The counsel of the wicked Hath been far from me.) |
17 | How oft is the lamp of the wicked extinguished, And come on them doth their calamity? Pangs He apportioneth in His anger. |
18 | They are as straw before wind, And as chaff a hurricane hath stolen away, |
19 |
God layeth up for his sons his sorrow, He giveth recompense unto him -- and he knoweth. |
20 |
His own eyes see his destruction, And of the wrath of the Mighty he drinketh. |
21 | For what is his delight in his house after him, And the number of his months cut off? |
22 |
To God doth one teach knowledge, And He the high doth judge? |
23 | This one dieth in his perfect strength, Wholly at ease and quiet. |
24 | His breasts have been full of milk, And marrow his bones doth moisten. |
25 | And this one dieth with a bitter soul, And have not eaten with gladness. |
26 | Together -- on the dust they lie down, And the worm doth cover them over. |
27 |
Lo, I have known your thoughts, And the devices against me ye do wrongfully. |
28 | For ye say, `Where is the house of the noble? And where the tent -- The tabernacles of the wicked?' |
29 | Have ye not asked those passing by the way? And their signs do ye not know? |
30 |
That to a day of calamity is the wicked spared. To a day of wrath they are brought. |
31 | Who doth declare to his face his way? And for that which he hath done, Who doth give recompence to him? |
32 | And he -- to the graves he is brought. And over the heap a watch is kept. |
33 |
Sweet to him have been the clods of the valley, And after him every man he draweth, And before him there is no numbering. |
34 | And how do ye comfort me with vanity, And in your answers hath been left trespass? |