¹Then Job answered and said,

²“Listen carefully to my words,

And let this be your consolation.

³Bear with me, and I will speak,

And after my words, you can mock.

⁴Is my complaint made to man?

And if so, why should I not be impatient?

⁵Turn towards me and be astonished,

And put your hand over your mouth.

⁶If I remember it,

I am terrified,

And fear takes hold of my body.

⁷Why do the wicked live

And grow old,

And even increase their power?

⁸Their seed is established with them in their presence,

And their progeny in their sight.

⁹Their houses are free of fear,

But there is no rule of God over them.

¹⁰His ox procreates

And is not infertile;

His cow calves

And does not miscarry.

¹¹They let their little ones frolic like lambs,

And their children dance around.

¹²They lift up their spirits with drum and harp,

And they rejoice to the sound of the flute.

¹³They spend their days in well-being,

But in a moment they descend to the underworld.

¹⁴Yet they say to God,

‘Depart from us’,

And, ‘We do not take pleasure in knowledge of your ways.

¹⁵Who is the Almighty,

That we should serve him,

And in what way are we profited,

That we entreat him?’

¹⁶Behold, their well-being is not under their control.

The conduct of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁷But you say,

‘How often the lamp of the wicked is extinguished,

And how often their downfall comes upon them!

He apportions them agony in his anger.

¹⁸They will be as straw in the wind,

And as chaff which the storm carries away.

¹⁹God reserves his punishment for the man's iniquity for his sons;

He retributes him,

And he knows it.

²⁰His eyes will see his demise,

And he will drink from the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what pleasure does he leave in his house after him

When the number of his months is cut in half?’

²²Can anyone teach God knowledge?

Or will he judge those on high?

²³One dies in the prime of his strength

When he is entirely at ease and comfortable.

²⁴His bottles are full of milk,

And the marrow of his bones is well-nourished.

²⁵Another dies with bitter feelings

And does not partake of the goodness.

²⁶Together in the dust they lie

And the worm covers them both.

²⁷Behold, I know your thoughts

And your devices,

Which do violence to me.

²⁸For you say,

‘Where is the noble's house?’

And, ‘Where is the tent of the dwellings of the wicked?’

²⁹Have you not asked the passers-by?

Do you not recognize their writing?

³⁰They say,

‘For the wicked man is reserved to the day of calamity;

They will be led to the day of wrath.’

³¹Who will tell him his way to his face?

And who will repay him for what he has done?

³²So he will be led to the burial places,

And he will take his place in his sepulchral mound.

³³The covering of turf from the brook will be sweet to him.

And every man after him will face the same fate,

As have countless before him,

³⁴So how can you comfort me with vanity,

And with answers in which treachery remains?”