Jó 21

¹ Bvt Iob answered, and sayd,

² Hear diligently my speech, and let thisYour diligent marking of my words will be to me a great consolation.be your consolations.

³ Suffer mee, that I may speake, and when I haue spoken, mocke on.

⁴ As for me, [is] my complaint to man? and if [itAs though he would say, I do not talk with man but with God, who will not answer me, and therefore my mind must be troubled.were so], why should not my spirit be troubled?

⁵ Mark me, and be astonished, and lay [your] hand upon [your]He charges them as though they were not able to comprehend his feeling of God's judgment, and exhorts them therefore to silence.mouth.

⁶ Euen when I remember, I am afrayde, and feare taketh hold on my flesh.

⁷ Wherefore do the wickedJob proves against his adversaries that God does not punish the wicked immediately, but often gives them long life and prosperity, so we must not judge God just or unjust by the things that appear to our eyes.live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?

⁸ Their seede is established in their sight with them, and their generation before their eyes.

⁹ Their houses are peaceable without feare, and the rod of God is not vpon them.

¹⁰ Their bullocke gendreth, and fayleth not: their cow calueth, and casteth not her calfe.

¹¹ They send forth their little onesThey have healthy children and in those points he answers to that which Zophar alleged before.like a flock, and their children dance.

¹² They take the tabret & harpe, and reioyce in the sound of the organs.

¹³ They spend their days in wealth, and in a momentNot being tormented with long sickness.go down to the grave.

¹⁴ Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not theThey desire nothing more than to be exempt from all subjection that they should bear to God, thus Job shows his adversaries, that if they reason only by that which is seen by common experience the wicked who hate God are better dealt withal than they who love him.knowledge of thy ways.

¹⁵ Who is the Almightie, that we should serue him? and what profit should we haue, if we should pray vnto him?

¹⁶ Lo, their good [is] not in theirIt is not their own, but God only lends it to them.hand: the counsel of the wickedGod keep me from their prosperity.is far from me.

¹⁷ How oft shal the candle of the wicked be put out? and their destruction come vpon them? he wil deuide their liues in his wrath.

¹⁸ They shall be as stubble before the winde, and as chaffe that the storme carieth away.

¹⁹ God wil lay vp the sorowe of the father for his children: when he rewardeth him, hee shall knowe it.

²⁰ When God recompenses his wickedness, he will know that his prosperity was vanity.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 nomber of his moneths is cut off?

²² Shall [any] teachWho sends to the wicked prosperity and punishes the godly.God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.

²³ OneMeaning, the wicked.dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.

²⁴ His breasts are full of milke, and his bones runne full of marowe.

²⁵ And anotherThat is, the godly.dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.

²⁶ They shall lie down alike inAs concerning their bodies: and this he speaks according to the common judgment.the dust, and the worms shall cover them.

²⁷ Behold, I know your thoughts, and the enterprises, wherewith ye do me wrong.

²⁸ For ye say, Where [is] theThus they called Job's house in derision concluding that it was destroyed because he was wicked.house of the prince? and where [are] the dwelling places of the wicked?

²⁹ Have yeWho through long travailing have experience and tokens of it, that is, that the wicked prosper, and the godly live in affliction.not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,

³⁰ That the wicked is reserved to the day ofThough the wicked flourish here, yet God will punish him in the last day.destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

³¹ Who shall declare his wayThough men flatter him, and no one dares to reprove him in this world, yet death is a token that he will bring him to an account.to his face? and who shall repay him [what] he hath done?

³² Yet shal he be brought to the graue, & remaine in the heape.

³³ TheHe will be glad to lie in a slimy pit, who before could not be content with a royal palace.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 comfortSaying that the just in this world have prosperity and the wicked adversity.ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?