✧1Then 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. ✧10
American Standard Version (ASV). American Standard Version (1901). Public domain.
Their 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?