Job 21
1
Then Job answered and said,
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Hear diligently my speech; And let this be your consolations.
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Suffer me, and I also will speak; And after that I have spoken, mock on.
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As for me, is my complaint to man? And why should I not be impatient?
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Mark me, and be astonished, And lay your hand upon your mouth.
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Even when I remember I am troubled, And horror takes hold on my flesh.
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Wherefore do the wicked live, Become old, yea, wax mighty in power?
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Their seed is established with them in their sight, And their offspring before their
eyes.
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Their houses are safe from fear, Neither is the rod of God upon them.
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Their bull engenders, and fails not; Their cow calves, and casts not her calf.
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They send forth their little ones like a flock, And their children dance.
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They sing to the timbrel and harp, And rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
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They spend their days in prosperity, And in a moment they go down to Sheol.
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And they say to God, Depart from us; For we desire not the knowledge of your ways.
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What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit should we have, if
we pray to him?
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Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand: The counsel of the wicked is far from
me.
17
How oft is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon
them? That [God] distributes sorrows in his anger?
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That they are as stubble before the wind, And as chaff that the storm carries away?
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[You say], God lays up his iniquity for his children. Let him recompense it to himself,
that he may know it:
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Let his own eyes see his destruction, And let him drink of the anger of the Almighty.
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For what cares he for his house after him, When the number of his months is cut off?
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Shall any teach God knowledge, Seeing he judges those that are high?
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One dies in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and quiet:
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His pails are full of milk, And the marrow of his bones is moistened.
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And another dies in bitterness of soul, And never tastes of good.
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They lie down alike in the dust, And the worm covers them.
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Behold, I know your thoughts, And the devices wherewith you would wrong me.
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For you say, Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent wherein the wicked
dwelt?
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Have you not asked wayfaring men? And do you not know their evidences,
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That the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity? That they are led forth to the
day of anger?
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Who shall declare his way to his face? And who shall repay him what he has done?
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Yet shall he be borne to the grave, And men shall keep watch over the tomb.
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The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him, And all men shall draw after him, As
there were innumerable before him.
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How then comfort you me in vain, Seeing in your answers there remains [only] falsehood?