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Job's Dialogue Regarding the Wicked

¹ Then Job answered and said,

² "Listen carefully to my speech,
And let this be the consolation.

³ "Bear with me, and I also will speak;
And after I have spoken, you may continue to ^(C1)mock me.

⁴ "As for me, is ^(C1)my complaint to man or about him?
And ^(C2)why should I not be impatient and my spirit troubled?

⁵ "Look at me and be astonished and appalled;
And ^(C1)put your hand over your mouth.

⁶ "Even when I remember, I am troubled and afraid;
^(C1)Horror and trembling take hold of my flesh.

⁷ "Why ^(C1)do the wicked still live,
Become old, and become mighty in ^(C2)power?

⁸ "Their ^(C1)children and descendants are established with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes.

⁹ "Their houses ^(C1)are safe from fear;
And the rod of God is not on them.

¹⁰ "His bull breeds and does not fail;
His cow calves and does not miscarry.

¹¹ "They send forth their little ones like a flock,
And their children skip about.

¹² "They lift up their voices and sing to the tambourine and the lyre
And rejoice to the sound of the flute.

¹³ "They ^(C1)fully enjoy their days in prosperity,
And so go down to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) in a peaceful moment.

¹⁴ "Yet they say to God, '^(C1)Depart from us,
For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.

¹⁵ 'Who and what is ^(F1)the Almighty, that we should serve Him?
And ^(C1)what would we gain if we plead with Him?' ^(VR1)

¹⁶ "But notice, the prosperity of the wicked is not in their hand (in their power);
The ^(C1)counsel of the wicked and the mystery of God's dealings with the ungodly is far from my comprehension.

¹⁷ "How often then is it that ^(C1)the lamp of the wicked is put out,
And that their ^(C2)disaster falls on them?
Does God distribute pain and destruction and sorrow to them in His anger? ^(VR1)

¹⁸ "Are they like ^(C1)straw before the wind,
And like ^(C2)chaff that the storm steals and carries away?

¹⁹ "You say, '^(C1)God stores away the punishment of man's wickedness for his children.'
Let God repay him so that he may know and experience it.

²⁰ "Let his ^(C1)own eyes see his destruction,
And let him ^(C2)drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹ "For what pleasure does he have in his house and family after he is dead,
When the number of his months of life is cut off?

²² "Can anyone ^(C1)teach God knowledge,
Seeing that He ^(C2)judges those on high? ^(VR1)

²³ "One ^(C1)dies in his full strength,
Being wholly at ease and quiet and satisfied;

²⁴ His pails are full of milk his sides are filled out with fat,
And the ^(C1)marrow of his bones is moist,

²⁵ Whereas another dies with a bitter soul,
Never even tasting pleasure or good fortune.

²⁶ "Together they ^(C1)lie down in the dust,
And the ^(C2)worms cover them.

²⁷ "Behold, I know your thoughts,
And the plots by which you would wrong me.

²⁸ "For you say, 'Where is the house of ^(C1)the noble man?
And where is the ^(C2)tent, the dwelling place of the wicked?'

²⁹ "Have you not asked those who travel this way,
And do you not recognize their witness?

³⁰ "That ^(C1)evil men are now reserved for the day of disaster and destruction,
They will be led away on ^(C2)the day of God's wrath?

³¹ "But who will confront him with his actions and rebuke him face to face,
And who will repay him for what he has done?

³² "When he is carried to his grave,
A guard will keep watch over his tomb.

³³ "The dirt ^(C1)clods of the valley are sweet to him and gently cover him,
Moreover, ^(C2)all men will follow after him to a grave,
While countless ones go before him.

³⁴ "How then can you vainly ^(C1)comfort me with empty words,
Since your answers remain untrue?"