| Chapter 21 |
1 |
And Job answereth and saith: --
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2 |
Hear ye diligently my word, And this is your consolation.
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3 |
Bear with me, and I speak, And after my speaking -- ye may deride.
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4 |
I -- to man [is] my complaint? and if [so], wherefore May not my temper become short?
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5 |
Turn unto me, and be astonished, And put hand to mouth.
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6 |
Yea, if I have remembered, then I have been troubled. And my flesh hath taken fright.
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7 |
Wherefore do the wicked live? They have become old, Yea, they have been mighty in wealth.
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8 |
Their seed is established, Before their face with them, And their offspring before their eyes.
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9 |
Their houses [are] peace without fear, Nor [is] a rod of God upon them.
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10 |
His bullock hath eaten corn, and doth not loath. His cow bringeth forth safely, And doth not miscarry.
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11 |
They send forth as a flock their sucklings, And their children skip,
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12 |
They lift [themselves] up at timbrel and harp, And rejoice at the sound of an organ.
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13 |
They wear out in good their days, And in a moment [to] Sheol go down.
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14 |
And they say to God, 'Turn aside from us, And the knowledge of Thy ways We have not desired.
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15 |
What [is] the Mighty One that we serve Him? And what do we profit when we meet with Him?'
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16 |
Lo, not in their hand [is] their good, (The counsel of the wicked Hath been far from me.)
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17 |
How oft is the lamp of the wicked extinguished, And come on them doth their calamity? Pangs He apportioneth in His anger.
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18 |
They are as straw before wind, And as chaff a hurricane hath stolen away,
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19 |
God layeth up for his sons his sorrow, He giveth recompense unto him -- and he knoweth.
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20 |
His own eyes see his destruction, And of the wrath of the Mighty he drinketh.
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21 |
For what [is] his delight in his house after him, And the number of his months cut off?
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22 |
To God doth [one] teach knowledge, And He the high doth judge?
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23 |
This [one] dieth in his perfect strength, Wholly at ease and quiet.
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24 |
His breasts have been full of milk, And marrow his bones doth moisten.
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25 |
And this [one] dieth with a bitter soul, And have not eaten with gladness.
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26 |
Together -- on the dust they lie down, And the worm doth cover them over.
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27 |
Lo, I have known your thoughts, And the devices against me ye do wrongfully.
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28 |
For ye say, 'Where [is] the house of the noble? And where the tent -- The tabernacles of the wicked?'
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29 |
Have ye not asked those passing by the way? And their signs do ye not know?
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30 |
That to a day of calamity is the wicked spared. To a day of wrath they are brought.
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31 |
Who doth declare to his face his way? And [for] that which he hath done, Who doth give recompence to him?
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32 |
And he -- to the graves he is brought. And over the heap a watch is kept.
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33 |
Sweet to him have been the clods of the valley, And after him every man he draweth, And before him there is no numbering.
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34 |
And how do ye comfort me [with] vanity, And in your answers hath been left trespass?
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