21:1And Job answered and said,

21:2Hear attentively my speech, and let this replace your consolations.

21:3Suffer me and I will speak; and after I have spoken, mock on!

21:4As for me, is my complaint to a man? or wherefore should not my spirit be impatient?

21:5Mark me, and be astonished, and lay the hand upon the mouth.

21:6Even when I think thereon, I am affrighted, and trembling taketh hold of my flesh.

21:7Wherefore do the wicked live, grow old, yea, become mighty in power?

21:8Their seed is established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes.

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

21:10Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.

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

21:12They shout to the tambour and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.

21:13They spend their days in prosperity, and in a moment go down to Sheol.

21:14And they say unto *God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways!

21:15What is the Almighty that we should serve him? and what are we profited if we pray unto him?

21:16Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked be far from me!

21:17How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, and cometh their calamity upon them? Doth he distribute sorrows to them in his anger?

21:18Do they become as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away?

21:19+God layeth up the punishment of his iniquity for his children; he rewardeth him, and he shall know it:

21:20His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the fury of the Almighty.

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

21:22Can any teach *God knowledge? And he it is that judgeth those that are high.

21:23One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet;

21:24His sides are full of fat, and the marrow of his bones is moistened;

21:25And another dieth in bitterness of soul, and hath not tasted good:

21:26Together they lie down in the dust, and the worms cover them.

21:27Lo, I know your thoughts, and the devices ye wrongfully imagine against me.

21:28For ye say, Where is the house of the noble? and where the tent of the dwellings of the wicked?

21:29Have ye not asked the wayfarers? and do ye not regard their tokens:

21:30That the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity? They are led forth to the day of wrath.

21:31Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?

21:32Yet is he carried to the graves, and watch is kept over the tomb.

21:33The clods of the valley are sweet unto him; and every man followeth suit after him, as there were innumerable before him.

21:34How then comfort ye me in vain? Your answers remain perfidious.

22:1And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

22:2Can a man be profitable to *God? surely it is unto himself that the wise man is profitable.

22:3Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if thou art righteous? And is it gain to him that thou makest thy ways perfect?

22:4Will he reason with thee for fear of thee? Will he enter with thee into judgment?

22:5Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities without end?

22:6For thou hast taken a pledge of thy brother for nought, and stripped off the clothing of the naked.

22:7Thou hast not given water to the fainting to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.

22:8But the powerful man, he had the land; and the man of high rank dwelt in it.

22:9Widows hast thou sent empty away, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

22:10Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;

22:11Or darkness, that thou canst not see, and floods of waters cover thee.

22:12Is not +God in the height of the heavens? And behold the summit of the stars: how exalted are they!

22:13And thou sayest, What doth *God know? will he judge through the dark cloud?

22:14Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh on the vault of the heavens.

22:15Dost thou mark the ancient path which wicked men have trodden?

22:16Who were carried off before the time, whose foundation was overflowed with a flood;

22:17Who said unto *God, Depart from us! and what could the Almighty do to them?

22:18Yet he filled their houses with good. But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

22:19The righteous see it, and are glad; and the innocent laugh them to scorn:

22:20Is not he who rose against us destroyed, and doth not the fire consume his residue?

22:21Reconcile thyself now with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.

22:22Receive, I pray thee, instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in thy heart.

22:23If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up. If thou remove unrighteousness far from thy tents,

22:24And put the precious ore with the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrents,

22:25Then the Almighty will be thy precious ore, and silver heaped up unto thee;

22:26Yea, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto +God:

22:27Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows;

22:28And thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee; and light shall shine upon thy ways.

22:29When they are made low, then thou shalt say, Rise up! and he shall save him that is of downcast eyes.

22:30Even him that is not innocent shall he deliver; yea, he shall be delivered by the pureness of thy hands.

23:1And Job answered and said,

23:2Even to-day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.

23:3Oh that I knew where I might find him, that I might come to his seat!

23:4I would order the cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments;

23:5I would know the words he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.

23:6Would he plead against me with his great power? Nay; but he would give heed unto me.

23:7There would an upright man reason with him; and I should be delivered for ever from my judge.

23:8Lo, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I do not perceive him;

23:9On the left hand, where he doth work, but I behold him not; he hideth himself on the right hand, and I see him not.

23:10But he knoweth the way that I take; he trieth me, I shall come forth as gold.

23:11My foot hath held to his steps; his way have I kept, and not turned aside.

23:12Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have laid up the words of his mouth more than the purpose of my own heart.

23:13But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? And what his soul desireth, that will he do.

23:14For he will perform what is appointed for me; and many such things are with him.

23:15Therefore am I troubled at his presence; I consider, and I am afraid of him.

23:16For *God hath made my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me;

23:17Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he hidden the gloom from me.

24:1Why are not times treasured up with the Almighty? why do not they that know him see his days?

24:2They remove the landmarks; they violently take away the flocks and pasture them;

24:3They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge;

24:4They turn the needy out of the way: the afflicted of the land all hide themselves.

24:5Lo, as wild asses in the desert, they go forth to their work, seeking early for the prey: the wilderness yieldeth them food for their children.

24:6They reap in the field the fodder thereof, and they gather the vintage of the wicked;

24:7They pass the night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold;

24:8They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and for want of a shelter embrace the rock ...

24:9They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor:

24:10These go naked without clothing, and, hungry, they bear the sheaf;

24:11They press out oil within their walls, they tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.

24:12Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out; and +God imputeth not the impiety.

24:13There are those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.

24:14The murderer riseth with the light, killeth the afflicted and needy, and in the night is as a thief.

24:15And the eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me; and he putteth a covering on his face.

24:16In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves in; they know not the light:

24:17For the morning is to them all as the shadow of death; for they are familiar with the terrors of the shadow of death.

24:18He is swift on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed on the earth: he turneth not unto the way of the vineyards.

24:19Drought and heat consume snow waters; so doth Sheol those that have sinned.

24:20The womb forgetteth him; the worm feedeth sweetly on him: he shall be no more remembered; and unrighteousness is broken as a tree, --

24:21He that despoileth the barren that beareth not, and doeth not good to the widow:

24:22He draweth also the mighty with his power; he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.

24:23God setteth him in safety, and he resteth thereon; but his eyes are upon their ways.

24:24They are exalted for a little, and are no more; they are laid low; like all other are they gathered, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.

24:25If it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?