21:1 Then Job answered, and said:

21:2 Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance.

21:3 Suffer me, and I will speak, and after, if you please, laugh at my words.

21:4 Is my debate against man, that I should not have just reason to be troubled?

21:5 Hearken to me and be astonished, and lay your finger on your mouth.

21:6 As for me, when I remember, I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.

21:7 Why then do the wicked live, are they advanced, and strengthened with riches?

21:8 Their seed continueth before them, a multitude of kinsmen, and of children's children in their sight.

21:9 Their houses are secure and peaceable, and the rod of God is not upon them.

21:10 Their cattle have conceived, and failed not: their cow has calved, and is not deprived of her fruit.

21:11 Their little ones go out like a flock, and their children dance and play.

21:12 They take the timbrel, and the harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.

21:13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell.

21:14 Who have said to God: Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

21:15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what doth it profit us if we pray to him?

21:16 Yet because their good things are not in their hand, may the counsel of the wicked be far from me.

21:17 How often shall the lamp of the wicked be put out, and a deluge come upon them, and he shall distribute the sorrows of his wrath?

21:18 They shall be as chaff before the face of the wind, and as ashes which the whirlwind scattereth.

21:19 God shall lay up the sorrow of the father for his children: and when he shall repay, then shall he know.

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

21:21 For what is it to him what befalleth his house after him: and if the number of his months be diminished by one half?

21:22 Shall any one teach God knowledge, who judgeth those that are high?

21:23 One man dieth strong, and hale, rich and happy.

21:24 His bowels are full of fat, and his bones are moistened with marrow.

21:25 But another dieth in bitterness of soul without any riches:

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

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

21:28 For you say: Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?

21:29 Ask any one of them that go by the way, and you shall perceive that he knoweth these same things.

21:30 Because the wicked man is reserved to the day of destruction, and he shall be brought to the day of wrath.

21:31 Who shall reprove his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?

21:32 He shall be brought to the graves, and shall watch in the heap of the dead.

21:33 He hath been acceptable to the gravel of Cocytus, and he shall draw every man after him, and there are innumerable before him.

21:34 How then do ye comfort me in vain, whereas your answer is shewn to be repugnant to truth?