✧Then Job answered and said, ✧2Hear diligently my speech; And let this be your consolations. ✧3Suffer me, and I also will speak; And after that I have spoken, mock on. ✧4As for me, is my complaint to man? And why should I not be impatient? ✧5Mark me, and be astonished, And lay your hand upon your mouth. ✧6Even when I remember I am troubled, And horror taketh hold on my flesh. ✧7Wherefore do the wicked live, Become old, yea, wax mighty in power? ✧8Their seed is established with them in their sight, And their offspring before their eyes. ✧9Their houses are safe from fear, Neither is the rod of God upon them. ✧10Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; Their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. ✧11They send forth their little ones like a flock, And their children dance. ✧12They sing to the timbrel and harp, And rejoice at the sound of the pipe. ✧13They spend their days in prosperity, And in a moment they go down to Sheol. ✧14And they say unto God, Depart from us; For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. ✧15What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him? ✧16Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand: The counsel of the wicked is far from me. ✧17How 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? ✧18That they are as stubble before the wind, And as chaff that the storm carrieth away? ✧19[Ye say], God layeth up his iniquity for his children. Let him recompense it unto himself, that he may know it: ✧20Let his own eyes see his destruction, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. ✧21For what careth he for his house after him, When the number of his months is cut off? ✧22Shall any teach God knowledge, Seeing he judgeth those that are high? ✧23One dieth in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and quiet: ✧24His pails are full of milk, And the marrow of his bones is moistened. ✧25And another dieth in bitterness of soul, And never tasteth of good. ✧26They lie down alike in the dust, And the worm covereth them. ✧27Behold, I know your thoughts, And the devices wherewith ye would wrong me. ✧28For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent wherein the wicked dwelt? ✧29Have ye not asked wayfaring men? And do ye not know their evidences, ✧30That the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity? That they are led forth to the day of wrath? ✧31Who shall declare his way to his face? And who shall repay him what he hath done? ✧32Yet shall he be borne to the grave, And men shall keep watch over the tomb. ✧33The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, And all men shall draw after him, As there were innumerable before him. ✧34How then comfort ye me in vain, Seeing in your answers there remaineth [only] falsehood?