21:1 And Job answereth and saith: --

21:2 Hear ye diligently my word, And this is your consolation.

21:3 Bear with me, and I speak, And after my speaking -- ye may deride.

21:4 I -- to man [is] my complaint? and if [so], wherefore May not my temper become short?

21:5 Turn unto me, and be astonished, And put hand to mouth.

21:6 Yea, if I have remembered, then I have been troubled. And my flesh hath taken fright.

21:7 Wherefore do the wicked live? They have become old, Yea, they have been mighty in wealth.

21:8 Their seed is established, Before their face with them, And their offspring before their eyes.

21:9 Their houses [are] peace without fear, Nor [is] a rod of God upon them.

21:10 His bullock hath eaten corn, and doth not loath. His cow bringeth forth safely, And doth not miscarry.

21:11 They send forth as a flock their sucklings, And their children skip,

21:12 They lift [themselves] up at timbrel and harp, And rejoice at the sound of an organ.

21:13 They wear out in good their days, And in a moment [to] Sheol go down.

21:14 And they say to God, `Turn aside from us, And the knowledge of Thy ways We have not desired.

21:15 What [is] the Mighty One that we serve Him? And what do we profit when we meet with Him?`

21:16 Lo, not in their hand [is] their good, (The counsel of the wicked Hath been far from me.)

21:17 How oft is the lamp of the wicked extinguished, And come on them doth their calamity? Pangs He apportioneth in His anger.

21:18 They are as straw before wind, And as chaff a hurricane hath stolen away,

21:19 God layeth up for his sons his sorrow, He giveth recompense unto him -- and he knoweth.

21:20 His own eyes see his destruction, And of the wrath of the Mighty he drinketh.

21:21 For what [is] his delight in his house after him, And the number of his months cut off?

21:22 To God doth [one] teach knowledge, And He the high doth judge?

21:23 This [one] dieth in his perfect strength, Wholly at ease and quiet.

21:24 His breasts have been full of milk, And marrow his bones doth moisten.

21:25 And this [one] dieth with a bitter soul, And have not eaten with gladness.

21:26 Together -- on the dust they lie down, And the worm doth cover them over.

21:27 Lo, I have known your thoughts, And the devices against me ye do wrongfully.

21:28 For ye say, `Where [is] the house of the noble? And where the tent -- The tabernacles of the wicked?`

21:29 Have ye not asked those passing by the way? And their signs do ye not know?

21:30 That to a day of calamity is the wicked spared. To a day of wrath they are brought.

21:31 Who doth declare to his face his way? And [for] that which he hath done, Who doth give recompence to him?

21:32 And he -- to the graves he is brought. And over the heap a watch is kept.

21:33 Sweet to him have been the clods of the valley, And after him every man he draweth, And before him there is no numbering.