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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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