| Chapter 21 |
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And Job answered and said, |
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Hear attentively my speech, and let this replace your consolations. |
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Suffer me and I will speak; and after I have spoken, mock on! |
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As for me, is my complaint to a man? or wherefore should not my spirit be impatient? |
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Mark me, and be astonished, and lay the hand upon the mouth. |
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Even when I think thereon, I am affrighted, and trembling taketh hold of my flesh. |
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Wherefore do the wicked live, grow old, yea, become mighty in power? |
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Their seed is established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes. |
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Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of +God upon them. |
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Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. |
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They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. |
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They shout to the tambour and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe. |
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They spend their days in prosperity, and in a moment go down to Sheol. |
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And they say unto łGod, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways! |
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What is the Almighty that we should serve him? and what are we profited if we pray unto him? |
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Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked be far from me! |
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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? |
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Do they become as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away? |
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+God layeth up the punishment of his iniquity for his children; he rewardeth him, and he shall know it: |
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His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the fury of the Almighty. |
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For what pleasure should he have in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off? |
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Can any teach łGod knowledge? And he it is that judgeth those that are high. |
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One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet; |
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His sides are full of fat, and the marrow of his bones is moistened; |
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And another dieth in bitterness of soul, and hath not tasted good: |
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Together they lie down in the dust, and the worms cover them. |
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Lo, I know your thoughts, and the devices ye wrongfully imagine against me. |
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For ye say, Where is the house of the noble? and where the tent of the dwellings of the wicked? |
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Have ye not asked the wayfarers? and do ye not regard their tokens: |
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That the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity? They are led forth to the day of wrath. |
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Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done? |
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Yet is he carried to the graves, and watch is kept over the tomb. |
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The clods of the valley are sweet unto him; and every man followeth suit after him, as there were innumerable before him. |
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How then comfort ye me in vain? Your answers remain perfidious. |