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¹ And Job answered and said,

² Hear attentively my speech, and let this replace your consolations.

³ Suffer me and I will speak; and after I have spoken, mock on!

⁴ As for me, is my complaint to a man? or wherefore should not my spirit be impatient?

⁵ Mark me, and be astonished, and lay the hand upon the mouth.

⁶ Even when I think [thereon], I am affrighted, and trembling taketh hold of my flesh.

⁷ Wherefore do the wicked live, grow old, yea, become mighty in power?

⁸ Their seed is established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes.

⁹ Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of +God upon them.

¹⁰ Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.

¹¹ They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.

¹² They shout to the tambour and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.

¹³ They spend their days in prosperity, and in a moment go down to Sheol.

¹⁴ And they say unto God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways!

¹⁵ What is the Almighty that we should serve him? and what are we profited if we pray unto him?

¹⁶ Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked be far from me!

¹⁷ How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, and cometh their calamity upon them? Doth he distribute sorrows [to them] in his anger?

¹⁸ Do they become as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away?

¹⁹ +God layeth up [the punishment of] his iniquity for his children; he rewardeth him, and he shall know [it]:

²⁰ His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the fury of the Almighty.

²¹ For what pleasure should he have in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?

²² Can any teach God knowledge? And he it is that judgeth those that are high.

²³ One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet;

²⁴ His sides are full of fat, and the marrow of his bones is moistened;

²⁵ And another dieth in bitterness of soul, and hath not tasted good:

²⁶ Together they lie down in the dust, and the worms cover them.

²⁷ Lo, I know your thoughts, and the devices ye wrongfully imagine against me.

²⁸ For ye say, Where is the house of the noble? and where the tent of the dwellings of the wicked?

²⁹ Have ye not asked the wayfarers? and do ye not regard their tokens:

³⁰ That the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity? They are led forth to the day of wrath.

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

³² Yet is he carried to the graves, and watch is kept over the tomb.

³³ The clods of the valley are sweet unto him; and every man followeth suit after him, as there were innumerable before him.

³⁴ How then comfort ye me in vain? Your answers remain perfidious.