| 1 | But Job answered and said, | |
| 2 | Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations. | |
| 3 | Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on. | |
| 4 | As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled? | |
| 5 | Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth. | |
| 6 | Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh. | |
| 7 | Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? | |
| 8 | Their seed is established in their sight with them, 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 take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. | |
| 13 | They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. | |
| 14 | Therefore 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 profit should we have, if we pray unto him? | |
| 16 | Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me. | |
| 17 | How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger. | |
| 18 | They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. | |
| 19 | God layeth up 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 wrath of the Almighty. | |
| 21 | For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst? | |
| 22 | Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high. | |
| 23 | One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. | |
| 24 | His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow. | |
| 25 | And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure. | |
| 26 | They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them. | |
| 27 | Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me. | |
| 28 | For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked? | |
| 29 | Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens, | |
| 30 | That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought 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 shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb. | |
| 33 | The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him. | |
| 34 | How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood? | |