Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
v1
Then ^[Hebrew “And”] Job answered and said,
v2
“Listen carefully to my words, and let this be your ^[Plural] consolation.
v3
Bear with me, and I myself ^[Emphatic personal pronoun] will speak; then ^[Hebrew “and”] after my speaking you can mock.
v4
As for me, is my complaint for human beings? And if so, why cannot I be impatient?
v5
Turn to me and be appalled, and place your hand on your mouth.
v6
And when I think of it, I am horrified, ^[Hebrew “and I am horrified”] and shuddering seizes my flesh.
v7
“Why do the wicked live, grow old, even grow mighty in power?
v8
With them their offspring are established before them, ^[Literally “to their faces”] and their descendants before their eyes.
v9
Their houses are safe without fear, and the rod of God is not upon them.
v10
His bull breeds and does not fail; his cow calves and does not miscarry.
v11
They send out their little ones like the flock, and their children dance around.
v12
They sing ^[Literally “they lift up their voices”] to the tambourine and lyre, and they rejoice to the sound of the long flute.
v13
They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol.
v14
And they say to God, ‘Turn away from us, for ^[Hebrew “and”] we do not desire to know your ways.
v15
Who is Shaddai that we should serve him, or ^[Hebrew “and”] what would we benefit when we plead with him?‘
v16
Look, their prosperity is not in their hands; the schemes of the wicked are repugnant ^[Or “the plan of the wicked is repugnant”] to me.
v17
“How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, and their disaster comes upon them? He ^[The antecedent is “God,” or possibly “the Almighty”] distributes pains in his anger.
v18
How often are they like straw before ^[Literally “to the faces of”] the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away?
v19
‘God stores up his iniquity for his children’? ^[Or “You say, ‘God stores up his iniquity for his children.’“] Then let him repay it to him that ^[Hebrew “and”] he may know.
v20
Let his eyes see his decay, and let him drink from the wrath of Shaddai,
v21
for what does he care for ^[Literally “his joy in”] his house after him, when the number of his months is ^[Hebrew “are”] cut off?
v22
Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since ^[Hebrew “and”] he himself ^[Emphatic personal pronoun] judges high ones?
v23
This one dies in full prosperity, ^[Literally “in the vigor of his prosperity”] completely ^[Literally “all of him”] at ease and secure.
v24
His vats are full with milk and the marrow of his bones is moist.
v25
Yet ^[Hebrew “And”] another dies with a bitter inner self ^[Or “soul”] and has not tasted prosperity.
v26
They lie down together in the dust, and maggots cover them.
v27
“Look, I know your ^[Plural] thoughts and the schemes you devise against me.
v28
For you say, ‘Where is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’ ^[Literally “tent of dwelling places of wicked”]
v29
Do you not ask those traveling the roads, and do you not take notice of their accounts?
v30
Indeed, the wicked is spared from the day of disaster; he is delivered from the day of wrath.
v31
Who denounces his way to his face? And who repays him for what he has done?
v32
When ^[Hebrew “And”] he is brought to the grave, then ^[Hebrew “and”] someone stands guard over the tomb.
v33
The clods of the valley are sweet to him; everyone will follow after him, and before ^[Literally “to the faces of”] him they are innumerable. ^[Literally “there is not number”]
v34
So ^[Hebrew “And”] how will you comfort me with emptiness, when ^[Hebrew “and”] fraud is left in your answers?”