21 7 Job declareth how the prosperity of the wicked maketh them proud. 15 Insomuch that they blaspheme God. 16 Their destruction is at hand. 23 None ought to be judged wicked for affliction, neither good for prosperity.
1 But Job answered, and said,
2 Hear diligently my words, and this [a]shall be instead of your consolations.
3 Suffer me that I may speak, and when I have spoken, mock on.
4 Do I direct my talk to man? If it [b]were so, how should not my spirit be troubled?
5 Mark me, and be abashed, and lay your hand upon your [c]mouth.
6 Even when I remember, I am afraid, and fear taketh hold on my flesh.
7 Wherefore do the wicked [d]live, and wax old, and grow in wealth?
8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their generation before their eyes.
9 Their houses are peaceable without fear, and the rod of God is not upon them.
10 Their bullock gendereth, and faileth not: their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
11 They send forth their children [e]like sheep, and their sons dance.
12 They take the tambourine and harp, and rejoice in the sound of the organs.
13 They spend their days in wealth, and suddenly [f]they go down to the grave.
14 They say also unto God, Depart from us: for we desire not the [g]knowledge of thy ways.
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we should pray unto him?
16 Lo, their wealth is not in their [h]hand: therefore let the counsel of the wicked [i]be far from me.
17 How oft shall the candle of the wicked be put out and their destruction come upon them? he will divide their lives in his wrath.
18 They shall be as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
19 God will lay up the sorrow of the father for his children: when he rewardeth him, he shall know it.
20 [j]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?
22 Shall any teach [k]God knowledge, who judgeth the highest things?
23 One [l]dieth in his full strength, being in all ease and prosperity.
24 His breasts are full of milk, and his bones run full of marrow.
25 And another [m]dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.
26 They shall sleep both in [n]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 the prince’s [o]house? and where is the tabernacle of the wicked’s dwelling?
29 May ye [p]not ask them that go by the way? and ye cannot deny their signs.
30 But the wicked is kept unto the day of [q]destruction, and they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.
31 Who shall declare his way [r]to his face? and who shall reward him for that he hath done?
32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and remain in the heap.
33 The [s]slimy valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as before him there were innumerable.
34 How then comfort [t]ye me in vain, seeing in your answer there remain but lies?
Footnotes
- Job 21:2 Your diligent marking of my words shall be to me a great consolation.
- Job 21:4 As though he would say, I do not talk with man but with God, who will not answer me, and therefore my mind must needs be troubled.
- Job 21:5 He chargeth them as though they were not able to comprehend this his feeling of God’s judgment, and exhorteth them therefore to silence.
- Job 21:7 Job proveth against his adversaries that God punisheth not straightways the wicked, but oft times giveth them long life, and prosperity: so that we must not judge God just or unjust by the things that appear to our eyes.
- Job 21:11 They have store of children, lusty and healthful, and in these points he answereth to that which Zophar alleged before.
- Job 21:13 Not being tormented with long sickness.
- Job 21:14 They desire nothing more than to be exempt from all subjection that they should bear to God: thus Job showeth his adversaries, that if they reason only by that which is seen by common experience, the wicked that hate God, are better dealt withal, than they that love him.
- Job 21:16 It is not their own, but God only lendeth it unto them.
- Job 21:16 God keep me from their prosperity.
- Job 21:20 When God recompenseth his wickedness, he shall know that his prosperity was but vanity.
- Job 21:22 Who sendeth to the wicked prosperity, and punisheth the godly.
- Job 21:23 Meaning, the wicked.
- Job 21:25 To wit, the godly.
- Job 21:26 As concerning their bodies: and this he speaketh according to the common judgment.
- Job 21:28 Thus they called Job’s house in derision, concluding that it was destroyed because he was wicked.
- Job 21:29 Which through long travailing have experience and tokens thereof, to wit, that the wicked do prosper, and the godly live in affliction.
- Job 21:30 Though the wicked flourish here, yet God will punish him in the last day.
- Job 21:31 Though men do flatter him, and none dare reprove him in this world, yet death is a token that he will bring him to an account.
- Job 21:33 He shall be glad to lie in a slimy pit, which before could not be content with a royal palace.
- Job 21:34 Saying, that the just in this world have prosperity, and the wicked adversity.