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Job Hears of His Misfortunes, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

Jobchapter 21

34 verses · unknown · 10th century BC · Wisdom and poetry

Job Hears of His Misfortunes, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

The line breaks below follow the poem's own punctuation. The section titles are this site's own.

A.Job: Wherefore Do the Wicked Live and Grow Mighty?vv. 1-16

Then Job answered:

“Listen carefully to my words; let this be your consolation to me.

Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking.

Is my complaint against a man?Then why should I not be impatient?

Look at me and be appalled; put your hand over your mouth.

When I remember, terror takes hold, and my body trembles in horror.

Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?

Their descendants are established around them, and their offspring before their eyes.

Their homes are safe from fear; no rod of punishment from God is upon them.

Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry.

They send forth their little ones like a flock; their children skip about,

singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute.

They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace.

Yet they say to God:‘Leave us alone!For we have no desire to know Your ways.

Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’

Still, their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.

B.Job: One Dieth in Full Strength, Another in Bitterness of Soulvv. 17-34

How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?Does disaster come upon them?Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?

Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?

It is said that God lays up one’s punishment for his children.Let God repay the man himself, so he will know it.

Let his eyes see his own destruction; let him drink for himself the wrath of the Almighty.

For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months has run out?

Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since He judges those on high?

One man dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease.

His body is well nourished, and his bones are rich with marrow.

Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity.

But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both.

Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.

For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’

Have you never asked those who travel the roads?Do you not accept their reports?

Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.

Who denounces his behavior to his face?Who repays him for what he has done?

He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.

The clods of the valley are sweet to him; everyone follows behind him, and those before him are without number.

So how can you comfort me with empty words?For your answers remain full of falsehood.”

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