Job 21, side by side

¹Then Job answered:

¹But Job answered and said,

²“Listen carefully to my words; let this be your consolation to me.

²Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.

³Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking.

³Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.

⁴Is my complaint against a man? Then why should I not be impatient?

⁴As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?

⁵Look at me and be appalled; put your hand over your mouth.

⁵Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.

⁶When I remember, terror takes hold, and my body trembles in horror.

⁶Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.

⁷Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?

⁷Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?

⁸Their descendants are established around them, and their offspring before their eyes.

⁸Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.

⁹Their homes are safe from fear; no rod of punishment from God is upon them.

⁹Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.

¹⁰Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry.

¹⁰Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.

¹¹They send forth their little ones like a flock; their children skip about,

¹¹They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.

¹²singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute.

¹²They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.

¹³They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace.

¹³They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.

¹⁴Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.

¹⁴Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’

¹⁵What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

¹⁶Still, their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.

¹⁶Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁷How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?

¹⁷How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.

¹⁸Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?

¹⁸They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.

¹⁹It is said that God lays up one’s punishment for his children. Let God repay the man himself, so he will know it.

¹⁹God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.

²⁰Let his eyes see his own destruction; let him drink for himself the wrath of the Almighty.

²⁰His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months has run out?

²¹For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?

²²Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since He judges those on high?

²²Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.

²³One man dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease.

²³One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.

²⁴His body is well nourished, and his bones are rich with marrow.

²⁴His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.

²⁵Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity.

²⁵And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.

²⁶But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both.

²⁶They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.

²⁷Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.

²⁷Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.

²⁸For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’

²⁸For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?

²⁹Have you never asked those who travel the roads? Do you not accept their reports?

²⁹Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,

³⁰Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.

³⁰That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

³¹Who denounces his behavior to his face? Who repays him for what he has done?

³¹Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?

³²He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.

³²Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.

³³The clods of the valley are sweet to him; everyone follows behind him, and those before him are without number.

³³The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.

³⁴So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.”

³⁴How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?