Job 21-23 (Darby Translation)

Job 21

 ¹And Job answered and said,

 ²Hear attentively my speech, and let this replace your consolations.

 ³Suffer me and I will speak; and after I have spoken, mock on!

 ⁴As for me, is my complaint to a man? or wherefore should not my spirit be impatient?

 ⁵Mark me, and be astonished, and lay the hand upon the mouth.

 ⁶Even when I think [thereon], I am affrighted, and trembling taketh hold of my flesh.

 ⁷Wherefore do the wicked live, grow old, yea, become mighty in power?

 ⁸Their seed is established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes.

 ⁹Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of +God upon them.

 ¹⁰Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.

 ¹¹They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.

 ¹²They shout to the tambour and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.

 ¹³They spend their days in prosperity, and in a moment go down to Sheol.

 ¹⁴And they say unto ùGod, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways!

 ¹⁵What is the Almighty that we should serve him? and what are we profited if we pray unto him?

 ¹⁶Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked be far from me!

 ¹⁷How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, and cometh their calamity upon them? Doth he distribute sorrows [to them] in his anger?

 ¹⁸Do they become as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away?

 ¹⁹+God layeth up [the punishment of] his iniquity for his children; he rewardeth him, and he shall know [it]:

 ²⁰His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the fury of the Almighty.

 ²¹For what pleasure should he have in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?

 ²²Can any teach ùGod knowledge? And he it is that judgeth those that are high.

 ²³One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet;

 ²⁴His sides are full of fat, and the marrow of his bones is moistened;

 ²⁵And another dieth in bitterness of soul, and hath not tasted good:

 ²⁶Together they lie down in the dust, and the worms cover them.

 ²⁷Lo, I know your thoughts, and the devices ye wrongfully imagine against me.

 ²⁸For ye say, Where is the house of the noble? and where the tent of the dwellings of the wicked?

 ²⁹Have ye not asked the wayfarers? and do ye not regard their tokens:

 ³⁰That the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity? They are led forth to the day of wrath.

 ³¹Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?

 ³²Yet is he carried to the graves, and watch is kept over the tomb.

 ³³The clods of the valley are sweet unto him; and every man followeth suit after him, as there were innumerable before him.

 ³⁴How then comfort ye me in vain? Your answers remain perfidious.

Job 22

 ¹And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

 ²Can a man be profitable to ùGod? surely it is unto himself that the wise man is profitable.

 ³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if thou art righteous? And is it gain [to him] that thou makest thy ways perfect?

 ⁴Will he reason with thee for fear of thee? Will he enter with thee into judgment?

 ⁵Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities without end?

 ⁶For thou hast taken a pledge of thy brother for nought, and stripped off the clothing of the naked.

 ⁷Thou hast not given water to the fainting to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.

 ⁸But the powerful man, he had the land; and the man of high rank dwelt in it.

 ⁹Widows hast thou sent empty away, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

 ¹⁰Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;

 ¹¹Or darkness, that thou canst not see, and floods of waters cover thee.

 ¹²Is not +God in the height of the heavens? And behold the summit of the stars: how exalted are they!

 ¹³And thou sayest, What doth ùGod know? will he judge through the dark cloud?

 ¹⁴Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh on the vault of the heavens.

 ¹⁵Dost thou mark the ancient path which wicked men have trodden?

 ¹⁶Who were carried off before the time, whose foundation was overflowed with a flood;

 ¹⁷Who said unto ùGod, Depart from us! and what could the Almighty do to them?

 ¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good. But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

 ¹⁹The righteous see it, and are glad; and the innocent laugh them to scorn:

 ²⁰Is not he who rose against us destroyed, and doth not the fire consume his residue?

 ²¹Reconcile thyself now with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.

 ²²Receive, I pray thee, instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in thy heart.

 ²³If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up. If thou remove unrighteousness far from thy tents,

 ²⁴And put the precious ore with the dust, and [the gold of] Ophir among the stones of the torrents,

 ²⁵Then the Almighty will be thy precious ore, and silver heaped up unto thee;

 ²⁶Yea, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto +God:

 ²⁷Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows;

 ²⁸And thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee; and light shall shine upon thy ways.

 ²⁹When they are made low, then thou shalt say, Rise up! and he shall save him that is of downcast eyes.

 ³⁰[Even] him that is not innocent shall he deliver; yea, he shall be delivered by the pureness of thy hands.

Job 23

 ¹And Job answered and said,

 ²Even to-day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.

 ³Oh that I knew where I might find him, that I might come to his seat!

 ⁴I would order the cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments;

 ⁵I would know the words he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.

 ⁶Would he plead against me with [his] great power? Nay; but he would give heed unto me.

 ⁷There would an upright man reason with him; and I should be delivered for ever from my judge.

 ⁸Lo, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I do not perceive him;

 ⁹On the left hand, where he doth work, but I behold [him] not; he hideth himself on the right hand, and I see [him] not.

 ¹⁰But he knoweth the way that I take; he trieth me, I shall come forth as gold.

 ¹¹My foot hath held to his steps; his way have I kept, and not turned aside.

 ¹²Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have laid up the words of his mouth more than the purpose of my own heart.

 ¹³But he is in one [mind], and who can turn him? And what his soul desireth, that will he do.

 ¹⁴For he will perform [what] is appointed for me; and many such things are with him.

 ¹⁵Therefore am I troubled at his presence; I consider, and I am afraid of him.

 ¹⁶For ùGod hath made my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me;

 ¹⁷Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he hidden the gloom from me.