Job 21  American Standard Version

² Hear diligently my speech;
And let this be your consolations.
³ Suffer me, and I also will speak;
And after that I have spoken, ^[a]mock on.
⁴ As for me, is my complaint ^[b]to man?
And why should I not be impatient?
^5 [c]Mark me, and be astonished,
And lay your hand upon your mouth.
⁶ Even when I remember I am troubled,
And horror taketh hold on my flesh.
⁷ Wherefore do the wicked live,
Become old, yea, wax mighty in power?
⁸ Their seed is established with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes.
⁹ Their houses are ^[d]safe from fear,
Neither is the rod of God upon them.
¹⁰ Their bull gendereth, and faileth not;
Their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
¹¹ They send forth their little ones like a flock,
And their children dance.
¹² They ^[e]sing to the timbrel and harp,
And rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
¹³ They spend their days in prosperity,
And in a moment they go down to Sheol.
¹⁴ And they say unto God, Depart from us;
For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
¹⁵ What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
^16 [f]Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand:
The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

^17 [g]How oft is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?
That their calamity cometh upon them?
That God distributeth sorrows in his anger?
¹⁸ That they are as stubble before the wind,
And as chaff that the storm carrieth away?
^19 [h]Ye say, God layeth up his iniquity for his children.
Let him recompense it unto himself, that he may know it:
²⁰ Let his own eyes see his destruction,
And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
²¹ For what careth he for his house after him,
When the number of his months is cut off?
²² Shall any teach God knowledge,
Seeing he judgeth those that are high?
²³ One dieth in his full strength,
Being wholly at ease and quiet:
²⁴ His pails are full of milk,
And the marrow of his bones is moistened.
²⁵ And another dieth in bitterness of soul,
And never tasteth of good.
²⁶ They lie down alike in the dust,
And the worm covereth them.

²⁷ Behold, I know your thoughts,
And the devices wherewith ye would wrong me.
²⁸ For ye say, Where is the house of the prince?
And where is the tent wherein the wicked dwelt?
²⁹ Have ye not asked wayfaring men?
And do ye not know their evidences,
³⁰ That the evil man is ^[i]reserved to the day of calamity?
That they are ^[j]led forth to the day of wrath?
³¹ Who shall declare his way to his face?
And who shall repay him what he hath done?
^32 [k]Yet shall he be borne to the grave,
And men shall keep watch over the tomb.
³³ The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him,
And all men shall draw after him,
As there were innumerable before him.
³⁴ How then comfort ye me ^[l]in vain,
Seeing in your answers there remaineth only ^[m]falsehood?