The FarAboveAll translation of the Old Testament from the Masoretic Hebrew and Aramaic (WLC). See details on www.FarAboveAll.com.

Version 0.35.76, 26 August 2024

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Job Chapter 21

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?”

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