Job 21

¹But Job answering, said:

²Hear I beseech you my words, and do penance.

³Bear with me, that I also may speak, and after my words, if it shall seem good, laugh ye.

⁴Is my disputation against man, that I ought not worthily to be sorry?

⁵Harken to me, and be astonished, and put the finger upon your mouth.

⁶And I when I shall remember, am afraid, and trembling shaketh my flesh.

⁷Why then do the impious live, are they advanced, & strengthened with riches?

⁸Their seed continueth before them, a multitude of kinsmen, & of nephews in their sight.

⁹Their houses be secure & peaceable, & the rod of God is not upon them.

¹⁰Their bullock hath conceived, & hath not made abortion: their cow hath calved, and is not deprived of her calf.

¹¹Their little ones go forth as flocks, and their infants rejoice with pastimes.

¹²They hold the timbrel, & the harp, & rejoice at the sound of the organ.

¹³They lead their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell.

¹⁴Who said to God: depart from us, we will not the knowledge of thy ways.

¹⁵Who is the Omnipotent, that we should serve him? And what doth it profit us if we shall pray him?

¹⁶But yet because their good things are not in their hand, be the counsel of the impious far from me.

¹⁷How often shall the candle of the impious be extinguished, and inundation come upon them, and shall he divide the sorrows of his fury?

¹⁸They shall be as chaff before the face of the wind, and as ashes, which the whirlwind scattereth.

¹⁹God shall reserve the sorrow of the father to his children: and when he shall have rendered it, then shall he know.

²⁰His eyes shall see his own slaughter, and he shall drink the fury of the Omnipotent.

²¹For what doeth it pertain to him concerning his house after him: although the number of his months be diminished the half?

²²Shall any man teach God knowledge, who judgeth the high ones?

²³This man dieth strong and in health, rich and happy.

²⁴His bowels be full of fat, and his bones be embrued with marrow.

²⁵But another dieth in bitterness of soul without any riches:

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

²⁷Surely I know your cogitations, & unjust sentences against me.

²⁸For you say: Where is the house of the Prince? & where are the tabernacles of the impious?

²⁹Ask any of the wayfaring men, & you shall understand that he knoweth these self-same things.

³⁰Because the evil man is kept unto the day of perdition, and he shall be led to the day of fury.

³¹Who shall reprove his way before him? And who shall repay him the things that he hath done?

³²He shall be brought to the graves, and shall watch in the head of the dead.

³³He hath been sweet to the gravel of Cocytus, and after him he shall draw every man, and before him innumerable.

³⁴How therefore do ye comfort me in vain, whereas your answer is shewed to be repugnant to the truth?