| 1 | And Job answereth and saith: -- |
| 2 | Hear ye diligently my word, And this is your consolation. |
| 3 | Bear with me, and I speak, And after my speaking—ye may deride. |
| 4 | I—to man [is] my complaint? and if [so], wherefore May not my temper become short? |
| 5 | Turn unto me, and be astonished, And put hand to mouth. |
| 6 | Yea, if I have remembered, then I have been troubled. And my flesh hath taken fright. |
| 7 | Wherefore do the wicked live? They have become old, Yea, they have been mighty in wealth. |
| 8 | Their seed is established, Before their face with them, And their offspring before their eyes. |
| 9 | Their houses [are] peace without fear, Nor [is] a rod of God upon them. |
| 10 | His bullock hath eaten corn, and doth not loath. His cow bringeth forth safely, And doth not miscarry. |
| 11 | They send forth as a flock their sucklings, And their children skip, |
| 12 | They lift [themselves] up at timbrel and harp, And rejoice at the sound of an organ. |
| 13 | They wear out in good their days, And in a moment [to] Sheol go down. |
| 14 | And they say to God, 'Turn aside from us, And the knowledge of Thy ways We have not desired. |
| 15 | What [is] the Mighty One that we serve Him? And what do we profit when we meet with Him?' |
| 16 | Lo, not in their hand [is] their good, (The counsel of the wicked Hath been far from me.) |
| 17 | How oft is the lamp of the wicked extinguished, And come on them doth their calamity? Pangs He apportioneth in His anger. |
| 18 | They are as straw before wind, And as chaff a hurricane hath stolen away, |
| 19 | God layeth up for his sons his sorrow, He giveth recompense unto him—and he knoweth. |
| 20 | His own eyes see his destruction, And of the wrath of the Mighty he drinketh. |
| 21 | For what [is] his delight in his house after him, And the number of his months cut off? |
| 22 | To God doth [one] teach knowledge, And He the high doth judge? |
| 23 | This [one] dieth in his perfect strength, Wholly at ease and quiet. |
| 24 | His breasts have been full of milk, And marrow his bones doth moisten. |
| 25 | And this [one] dieth with a bitter soul, And have not eaten with gladness. |
| 26 | Together—on the dust they lie down, And the worm doth cover them over. |
| 27 | Lo, I have known your thoughts, And the devices against me ye do wrongfully. |
| 28 | For ye say, 'Where [is] the house of the noble? And where the tent—The tabernacles of the wicked?' |
| 29 | Have ye not asked those passing by the way? And their signs do ye not know? |
| 30 | That to a day of calamity is the wicked spared. To a day of wrath they are brought. |
| 31 | Who doth declare to his face his way? And [for] that which he hath done, Who doth give recompence to him? |
| 32 | And he—to the graves he is brought. And over the heap a watch is kept. |
| 33 | Sweet to him have been the clods of the valley, And after him every man he draweth, And before him there is no numbering. |
| 34 | And how do ye comfort me [with] vanity, And in your answers hath been left trespass? |