Job 21-23 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition)

Job 21

 ¹Then Job answered, and said:

    ²Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance.

    ³Suffer me, and I will speak, and after, if you please, laugh at my words.

    ⁴Is my debate against man, that I should not have just reason to be troubled?

    ⁵Hearken to me and be astonished, and lay your finger on your mouth.

    ⁶As for me, when I remember, I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.

    ⁷Why then do the wicked live, are they advanced, and strengthened with riches?

    ⁸Their seed continueth before them, a multitude of kinsmen, and of children's children in their sight.

    ⁹Their houses are secure and peaceable, and the rod of God is not upon them.

    ¹⁰Their cattle have conceived, and failed not: their cow has calved, and is not deprived of her fruit.

    ¹¹Their little ones go out like a flock, and their children dance and play.

    ¹²They take the timbrel, and the harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.

    ¹³They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell.

    ¹⁴Who have said to God: Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

    ¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what doth it profit us if we pray to him?

    ¹⁶Yet because their good things are not in their hand, may the counsel of the wicked be far from me.

    ¹⁷How often shall the lamp of the wicked be put out, and a deluge come upon them, and he shall distribute the sorrows of his wrath?

    ¹⁸They shall be as chaff before the face of the wind, and as ashes which the whirlwind scattereth.

    ¹⁹God shall lay up the sorrow of the father for his children: and when he shall repay, then shall he know.

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

    ²¹For what is it to him what befalleth his house after him: and if the number of his months be diminished by one half?

    ²²Shall any one teach God knowledge, who judgeth those that are high?

    ²³One man dieth strong, and hale, rich and happy.

    ²⁴His bowels are full of fat, and his bones are moistened with marrow.

    ²⁵But another dieth in bitterness of soul without any riches:

    ²⁶And yet they shall sleep together in the dust, and worms shall cover them.

    ²⁷Surely I know your thoughts, and your unjust judgments against me.

    ²⁸For you say: Where is the house of the prince ? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?

    ²⁹Ask any one of them that go by the way, and you shall perceive that he knoweth these same things.

    ³⁰Because the wicked man is reserved to the day of destruction, and he shall be brought to the day of wrath.

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

    ³²He shall be brought to the graves, and shall watch in the heap of the dead.

    ³³He hath been acceptable to the gravel of Cocytus, and he shall draw every man after him, and there are innumerable before him.

    ³⁴How then do ye comfort me in vain, whereas your answer is shewn to be repugnant to truth ?

   

Job 22

 ¹Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:

    ²Can man be compared with God, even though he were of perfect knowledge?

    ³What doth it profit God if thou be just? or what dost thou give him if thy way be unspotted?

    ⁴Shall he reprove thee for fear, and come with thee into judgment:

    ⁵And not for thy manifold wickedness, and thy infinite iniquities?

    ⁶For thou hast taken away the pledge of thy brethren without cause, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

    ⁷Thou hast not given water to the weary, thou hast withdrawn bread from the hungry.

    ⁸In the strength of thy arm thou didst possess the land, and being the most mighty thou holdest it.

    ⁹Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless thou hast broken in pieces.

    ¹⁰Therefore art thou surrounded with snares, and sudden fear troubleth thee.

    ¹¹And didst thou think that thou shouldst not see darkness, and that thou shouldst not be covered with the violence of overflowing waters?

    ¹²Dost not thou think that God is higher than heaven, and is elevated above the height of the stars?

    ¹³And thou sayst: What doth God know? and he judgeth as it were through a mist.

    ¹⁴The clouds are his covert, and he doth not consider our things, and he walketh about the poles of heaven.

    ¹⁵Dost thou desire to keep the path of ages, which wicked men have trodden?

    ¹⁶Who were taken away before their time, and a flood hath overthrown their foundation.

    ¹⁷Who said to God: Depart from us: and looked upon the Almighty as if he could do nothing:

    ¹⁸Whereas he had filled their houses with good things: whose way of thinking be far from me.

    ¹⁹The just shall see, and shall rejoice, and the innocent shall laugh them to scorn.

    ²⁰Is not their exaltation cut down, and hath not fire devoured the remnants of them?

    ²¹Submit thyself then to him, and be at peace: and thereby thou shalt have the best fruits.

    ²²Receive the law of his mouth, and lay up his words in thy heart.

    ²³If thou wilt return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, and shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle.

    ²⁴He shall give for earth flint, and for flint torrents of gold.

    ²⁵And the Almighty shall be against thy enemies, and silver shall be heaped together for thee.

    ²⁶Then shalt thou abound in delights in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face to God.

    ²⁷Thou shalt pray to him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay vows.

    ²⁸Thou shalt decree a thing, and it I shall come to thee, and light shall shine in thy ways.

    ²⁹For he that hath been humbled, shall be in glory: and he that shall bow down his eyes, he shall be saved.

    ³⁰The innocent shall be saved, and he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands.

   

Job 23

 ¹Then Job answered, and said:

    ²Now also my words are in bitterness, and the hand of my scourge is more grievous than my mourning.

    ³Who will grant me that I might know and find him, and come even to his throne?

    ⁴I would set judgment before him, and would fill my mouth with complaints.

    ⁵That I might know the words that he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me.

    ⁶I would not that he should contend with me with much strength, nor overwhelm me with the weight of his greatness.

    ⁷Let him propose equity against me, and let my judgment come to victory.

    ⁸But if I go to the east, he appeareth not; if to the west, I shall not understand him.

    ⁹If to the left hand, what shall I do? I shall not take hold on him: if I turn myself to the right hand, I shall not see him.

    ¹⁰But he knoweth my way, and has tried me as gold that passeth through the fire:

    ¹¹My foot hath followed his steps, I have kept his way, and have not declined from it.

    ¹²I have not departed from the commandments of his lips, and the words of his mouth I have hid in my bosom.

    ¹³For he is alone, and no man can turn away his thought: and whatsoever is soul hath desired, that hath he done.

    ¹⁴And when he shall have fulfilled his will in me, many other like things are also at hand with him.

    ¹⁵And therefore I am troubled at his presence, and when I consider him I am made pensive with fear.

    ¹⁶God hath softened my heart, and the Almighty hath troubled me.

    ¹⁷For I have not perished because of the darkness that hangs over me, neither hath the mist covered my face.