21:1  Then Job answered and said:

21:2  “Listen carefully to my speech,
And let this be your consolation.

21:3  Bear with me that I may speak,
And after I have spoken, keep mocking.

21:4  “As for me, is my complaint against man?
And if it were, why should I not be impatient?

21:5  Look at me and be astonished;
Put your hand over your mouth.

21:6  Even when I remember I am terrified,
And trembling takes hold of my flesh.

21:7  Why do the wicked live and become old,
Yes, become mighty in power?

21:8  Their descendants are established with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes.

21:9  Their houses are safe from fear,
Neither is the rod of God upon them.

21:10  Their bull breeds without failure;
Their cow calves without miscarriage.

21:11  They send forth their little ones like a flock,
And their children dance.

21:12  They sing to the tambourine and harp,
And rejoice to the sound of the flute.

21:13  They spend their days in wealth,
And in a moment go down to the grave.

21:14  Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us,
For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.

21:15  Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?
And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’

21:16  Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand;
The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

21:17  “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
How often does their destruction come upon them,
The sorrows God distributes in His anger?

21:18  They are like straw before the wind,
And like chaff that a storm carries away.

21:19  They say, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity for his children’;
Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.

21:20  Let his eyes see his destruction,
And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

21:21  For what does he care about his household after him,
When the number of his months is cut in half?

21:22  “Can anyone teach God knowledge,
Since He judges those on high?

21:23  One dies in his full strength,
Being wholly at ease and secure;

21:24  His pails are full of milk,
And the marrow of his bones is moist.

21:25  Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul,
Never having eaten with pleasure.

21:26  They lie down alike in the dust,
And worms cover them.

21:27  'Look, I know your thoughts,
And the schemes with which you would wrong me.

21:28  For you say, ‘ Where is the house of the prince?
And where is the tent,
The dwelling place of the wicked?’

21:29  Have you not asked those who travel the road?
And do you not know their signs?

21:30  For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom;
They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.

21:31  Who condemns his way to his face?
And who repays him for what he has done?

21:32  Yet he shall be brought to the grave,
And a vigil kept over the tomb.

21:33  The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him;
Everyone shall follow him,
As countless have gone before him.

21:34  How then can you comfort me with empty words,
Since falsehood remains in your answers?”