Job 21

1But Job answered and said,

2Hear ye, hear ye my words, that I may not have this consolation from you.

3Raise me, and I will speak; then ye shall not laugh me to scorn.

4What! is my reproof of man? and why should I not be angry?

5Look upon me, and wonder, laying your hand upon your cheek.

6For even when I remember, I am alarmed, and pains seize my flesh.

7Wherefore do the ungodly live, and grow old even in wealth?

8Their seed is according to [their] desire, and their children are in [their] sight.

9Their houses are prosperous, neither [have they] any where [cause for] fear, neither is there a scourge from the Lord upon them.

10Their cow does not cast her calf, and their [beast] with young is safe, and does not miscarry.

11And they remain as an unfailing flock, and their children play before [them], taking up the psaltery and harp;

12and they rejoice at the voice of a song.

13And they spend their days in wealth, and fall asleep in the rest of the grave.

14Yet [such a man] says to the Lord, Depart from me; I desire not to know thy ways.

15What is the Mighty One, that we should serve him? and what profit is there that we should approach him?

16For their good things were in [their] hands, but he regards not the works of the ungodly.

17Nevertheless, the lamp of the ungodly also shall be put out, and destruction shall come upon them, and pangs of vengeance shall seize them.

18And they shall be as chaff before the wind, or as dust which the storm has taken up.

19Let his substance fail [to supply] his children: [God] shall recompense him, and he shall know it.

20Let his eyes see his own destruction, and let him not be saved by the Lord.

21For his desire is in his house with him, and the number of his months has been suddenly cut off.

22Is it not the Lord who teaches understanding and knowledge? and does not he judge murders?

23One shall die in his perfect strength, and wholly at ease and prosperous;

24and his inwards are full of fat, and his marrow is diffused [throughout him].

25And another dies in bitterness of soul, not eating any good thing.

26But they lie down in the earth together, and corruption covers them.

27So I know you, that ye presumptuously attack me:

28so that ye will say, Where is the house of the prince? and where is the covering of the tabernacles of the ungodly?

29Ask those that go by the way, and do not disown their tokens.

30For the wicked hastens to the day of destruction: they shall be led away for the day of his vengeance.

31Who will tell him his way to his face, whereas he has done [it]? who shall recompense him?

32And he has been led away to the tombs, and he has watched over the heaps.

33The stones of the valley have been sweet to him, and every man shall depart after him, and [there are] innumerable [ones] before him.

34How then do ye comfort me in vain? whereas I have no rest from your molestation.