- Then
Job answered and said:
- "Listen carefully to my speech, and
let
this be your consolation.
- Bear
with me that I may speak, and
after I have spoken, keep mocking. (Job
16:10; Job 12:4)
- "As
for me, is my complaint against
man? And if it
were, why should I not be impatient?
- Look at me and be
astonished; put your hand over your mouth. (Judges 18:19; Job 29:9; Ps. 73:3)
- Even when I remember I am
terrified, and trembling takes hold of my flesh.
- Why do the wicked live and become
old, yes, become mighty in power? (Jer. 12:1)
- Their descendants are established
with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes.
- Their houses are safe from fear,
neither is the rod of God upon them. (Ps. 73:5)
- Their bull breeds without failure;
their cow calves without miscarriage. (Ex. 23:26)
- They send forth their little ones
like a flock, and their children dance.
- They sing to the tambourine and
harp, and rejoice to the sound of the flute.
- They spend their days in
wealth, (Job 21:23; Job 36:11) and in a moment
go down to the grave.
- Yet they say to God, 'Depart form
us, (Job 22:17) for
we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways. (Prov.
1:29)
- Who is the Almighty, that we
should serve Him? And
what profit do we have if we pray to Him? (Job 35:2; Ps. 73:13; Mal. 3:14)
- Indeed their prosperity is not in
their hand; the counsel of the wicked is far from me. (Job 12:6; Ps. 73:3; Ps. 73:13; Prov. 1:10)
- "How often is the lamp of the
wicked put out? How often does their destruction come upon them,
the sorrows God distributes in His anger? (Job 18:6; Luke 12:46)
- They are like straw before the
wind (Ps.
1:4; Ps. 35:5),
and
like chaff that a storm carries away.
- They say, 'God lays up one's
iniquity for his children'; let Him recompense him, that he may know it.
- Let his eyes see his destruction,
and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
- For what does he care about his
household after him, when the number of his months is cut in
half? (Job 14:5)
- "Can anyone teach God knowledge,
since He judges those who are on high? (Is. 40:13; Is. 45:9)
- One dies in his full strength,
being wholly at ease and
secure; (Job 21:13)
- His pails are full of milk, and
the marrow of his bones is moist. (Prov. 3:8)
- Another man dies in the bitterness
of his soul, never having eaten with pleasure.
- They lie down alike in the
dust, (Eccl. 9:2) and
worms cover them. (Gen. 3:19; Job 20:11)
- "Look, I know your thoughts, and
the schemes with which you would wrong me.
- For you say, 'Where is the house
of the prince? And where is the tent, the dwelling place of the
wicked?'
- Have you not asked those who
travel the road? And do you not know their signs?
- For the wicked are reserved for
the day of doom; they shall be brought out on the day of wrath. (Prov. 16:4)
- Who condemns his way to his
face? And who repays him for what he has done?
- Yet he shall be brought to the
grave, and a vigil kept over the tomb.
- The clods of the valley shall be
sweet to him; everyone shall follow him, as countless have done before
him. (Job 17:16; Heb. 9:27)
- How then can you comfort me with
empty words, since falsehood remains in your answers?" (Job 16:2)
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