CHAPTER 21
1And Job spoke up and he said:
2Hear, O hear my word,
and let this be your consolation.
3Bear with me while I speak,
and after I speak you may mock.
4Is my complaint directed to man,
and why should I not be impatient?
5Turn to me and be appalled,
put your hand over your mouth,
6when I recall and am dismayed,
and shuddering grips my flesh.
7 Why do the wicked live,
grow rich and gather wealth?
8Their seed is firm-founded before them,
their offspring before their eyes.
9Their homes are safe from fear,
and God’s rod is not against them.
10Their bull breeds and brings no miscarriage,
their cow calves and does not lose her young.
11They send out their little ones like a flock,
and their children go dancing.
12They carry the timbrel and lyre
and rejoice at the sound of the flute.
13 They pass their days in bounty,
and in an instant they go down to Sheol.
14And they say to God, “Turn away from us,
we have no desire to know Your ways.
15 Who is Shaddai that we should serve Him,
and what use for us to entreat Him?”
16Look, their bounty is not in their hands—
the counsel of the wicked is far from me!
17How often does the lamp of the wicked gutter
and their disaster come upon them—
does He portion out shares in His wrath,
18and are they as straw in the wind
and chaff that the storm has snatched?
19Does God set aside for His sons His affliction?
Let Him pay him back that he may know.
20Let his own eyes see his collapse,
and let him drink from Shaddai’s seething venom.
21For what will he care for his home when he’s gone,
and the number of his months broken off?
22Will he teach knowledge to God,
and will he judge those on high?
23One person dies full of innocence,
completely tranquil and at peace.
24His udders are filled with milk,
the marrow of his bones still moist.
25Another dies with a bitter heart,
and he has never enjoyed good.
26 Together in the dust they lie,
and the worm will cover them.
27Look, I know your plans,
and your violent schemes against me.
28When you say, “Where is the nobleman’s house,
and where is the tent of the wicked’s abode?”
29 Have you not asked the wayfarers,
and their tokens you cannot mistake?
30For on disaster’s day harm is held back,
on the day when wrath is unleashed.
31Who will tell to his face his way,
and for what he did, who will pay him back?
32And he is borne off to a sepulcher
and on the grave-mound someone keeps watch.
33The clods of the brook are sweet to him,
and every man is drawn after him,
and before him—beyond all number.
34And how do you console me with mere breath,