CPDV - Job - 21

21:1  Then Job responded by saying:

21:2  I beseech you to hear my words and to do penance.

21:3  Permit me, and I will speak, and afterwards, if you see fit, you can laugh at my words.

21:4  Is my dispute against man, so that I would have no reason to be discouraged?

21:5  Listen to me and be astonished, and place a finger over your mouth.

21:6  As for me, when I think it over, I am afraid, and trembling convulses my body.

21:7  Why then do the impious live, having been lifted up and strengthened with riches?

21:8  They see their offspring continue before them: a commotion of close relatives and of children’s children in their sight.

21:9  Their houses have been secure and peaceable, and there is no staff of God over them.

21:10  Their cattle have conceived and have not miscarried; their cow has given birth and is not deprived of her newborn.

21:11  Their little ones go out like a flock, and their children jump around playfully.

21:12  They take up the timbrel and the lyre, and they rejoice at the sound of the organ.

21:13  Their days are prolonged in wealth, yet, in an instant, they descend into hell.

21:14  Who has said to God, “Depart from us, for we do not want the knowledge of your ways.

21:15  Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? And how is it helpful to us if we pray to him?”

21:16  It is true that their good things are not in their power. May the counsel of the impious be far from me!

21:17  How often will the lamp of the wicked be extinguished, and a deluge overtake them, and how often will he distribute the afflictions of his wrath?

21:18  They will be like chaff before the face of the wind, and like ashes that the whirlwind scatters.

21:19  God will preserve the grief of the father for his sons, and, when he repays, then he will understand.

21:20  His eyes will see his own destruction, and he will drink from the wrath of the Almighty.

21:21  For what does he care what happens to his house after him, or if the number of its months are reduced by half?

21:22  Can anyone teach holy knowledge to God, who judges the exalted?

21:23  This one dies strong and healthy, rich and happy.

21:24  His gut is full of fat and his bones are moistened with marrow.

21:25  In truth, another dies in bitterness of soul, without any resources.

21:26  And yet they will sleep together in the dust, and worms will cover them.

21:27  Surely, I know your thoughts and your sinful judgments against me.

21:28  For you say, “Where is the house of the ruler, and where are the tabernacles of the impious?”

21:29  Ask any passerby whom you wish, and you will realize that he understands these same things:

21:30  that the evil-doer is reserved for the day of destruction, and he will be led to the day of wrath.

21:31  Who will reprove his way to his face, and who will repay him for what he has done?

21:32  He will be led to the tomb, and he will remain awake in the chaos of the dead.

21:33  He has been found acceptable to the banks of the River of Lamentation, and he will draw any man towards him, and there are countless before him.

21:34  Therefore, how long will you console me in vain, when your answer is shown to be repugnant to truth?