21:1  And Job answered and said,

21:2  Hear attentively my speech, and let this replace your consolations.

21:3  Suffer me and I will speak; and after I have spoken, mock on!

21:4  As for me, is my complaint to a man? or wherefore should not my spirit be impatient?

21:5  Mark me, and be astonished, and lay the hand upon the mouth.

21:6  Even when I think [thereon], I am affrighted, and trembling taketh hold of my flesh.

21:7  Wherefore do the wicked live, grow old, yea, become mighty in power?

21:8  Their seed is established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes.

21:9  Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of +God upon them.

21:10  Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.

21:11  They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.

21:12  They shout to the tambour and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.

21:13  They spend their days in prosperity, and in a moment go down to Sheol.

21:14  And they say unto ùGod, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways!

21:15  What is the Almighty that we should serve him? and what are we profited if we pray unto him?

21:16  Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked be far from me!

21:17  How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, and cometh their calamity upon them? Doth he distribute sorrows [to them] in his anger?

21:18  Do they become as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away?

21:19  +God layeth up [the punishment of] his iniquity for his children; he rewardeth him, and he shall know [it]:

21:20  His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the fury of the Almighty.

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

21:22  Can any teach ùGod knowledge? And he it is that judgeth those that are high.

21:23  One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet;

21:24  His sides are full of fat, and the marrow of his bones is moistened;

21:25  And another dieth in bitterness of soul, and hath not tasted good:

21:26  Together they lie down in the dust, and the worms cover them.

21:27  Lo, I know your thoughts, and the devices ye wrongfully imagine against me.

21:28  For ye say, Where is the house of the noble? and where the tent of the dwellings of the wicked?

21:29  Have ye not asked the wayfarers? and do ye not regard their tokens:

21:30  That the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity? They are led forth to the day of wrath.

21:31  Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?

21:32  Yet is he carried to the graves, and watch is kept over the tomb.

21:33  The clods of the valley are sweet unto him; and every man followeth suit after him, as there were innumerable before him.

21:34  How then comfort ye me in vain? Your answers remain perfidious.