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[1]And Job answereth and saith: --
[2]Hear ye diligently my word, And this is your consolation.
[3]Bear with me, and I speak, And after my speaking -- ye may deride.
[4]I -- to man [is] my complaint? and if [so], wherefore May not my temper become short?
[5]Turn unto me, and be astonished, And put hand to mouth.
[6]Yea, if I have remembered, then I have been troubled. And my flesh hath taken fright.
[7]Wherefore do the wicked live? They have become old, Yea, they have been mighty in wealth.
[8]Their seed is established, Before their face with them, And their offspring before their eyes.
[9]Their houses [are] peace without fear, Nor [is] a rod of God upon them.
[10]His bullock hath eaten corn, and doth not loath. His cow bringeth forth safely, And doth not miscarry.
[11]They send forth as a flock their sucklings, And their children skip,
[12]They lift [themselves] up at timbrel and harp, And rejoice at the sound of an organ.
[13]They wear out in good their days, And in a moment [to] Sheol go down.
[14]And they say to God, `Turn aside from us, And the knowledge of Thy ways We have not desired.
[15]What [is] the Mighty One that we serve Him? And what do we profit when we meet with Him?'
[16]Lo, not in their hand [is] their good, (The counsel of the wicked Hath been far from me.)
[17]How oft is the lamp of the wicked extinguished, And come on them doth their calamity? Pangs He apportioneth in His anger.
[18]They are as straw before wind, And as chaff a hurricane hath stolen away,
[19]God layeth up for his sons his sorrow, He giveth recompense unto him -- and he knoweth.
[20]His own eyes see his destruction, And of the wrath of the Mighty he drinketh.
[21]For what [is] his delight in his house after him, And the number of his months cut off?
[22]To God doth [one] teach knowledge, And He the high doth judge?
[23]This [one] dieth in his perfect strength, Wholly at ease and quiet.
[24]His breasts have been full of milk, And marrow his bones doth moisten.
[25]And this [one] dieth with a bitter soul, And have not eaten with gladness.
[26]Together -- on the dust they lie down, And the worm doth cover them over.
[27]Lo, I have known your thoughts, And the devices against me ye do wrongfully.
[28]For ye say, `Where [is] the house of the noble? And where the tent -- The tabernacles of the wicked?'
[29]Have ye not asked those passing by the way? And their signs do ye not know?
[30]That to a day of calamity is the wicked spared. To a day of wrath they are brought.
[31]Who doth declare to his face his way? And [for] that which he hath done, Who doth give recompence to him?
[32]And he -- to the graves he is brought. And over the heap a watch is kept.
[33]Sweet to him have been the clods of the valley, And after him every man he draweth, And before him there is no numbering.
[34]And how do ye comfort me [with] vanity, And in your answers hath been left trespass?
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