rsv Job:21-23
rsv@Job:21:1 @ Then Job answered:
rsv@Job:21:2 @ "Listen carefully to my words, and let this be your consolation.
rsv@Job:21:3 @ Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on.
rsv@Job:21:4 @ As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient?
rsv@Job:21:5 @ Look at me, and be appalled, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
rsv@Job:21:6 @ When I think of it I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh.
rsv@Job:21:7 @ Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
rsv@Job:21:8 @ Their children are established in their presence, and their offspring before their eyes.
rsv@Job:21:9 @ Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them.
rsv@Job:21:10 @ Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves, and does not cast her calf.
rsv@Job:21:11 @ They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
rsv@Job:21:12 @ They sing to the tambourine and the lyre, and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
rsv@Job:21:13 @ They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol.
rsv@Job:21:14 @ They say to God, `ey say to God, "Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of thy ways.
rsv@Job:21:15 @ What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?'
rsv@Job:21:16 @ Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand? The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
rsv@Job:21:17 @ "How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them? That God distributes pains in his anger?
rsv@Job:21:18 @ That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away?
rsv@Job:21:19 @ You say, `God stores up their iniquity for their sons.' Let him recompense it to themselves, that they may know it.
rsv@Job:21:20 @ Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
rsv@Job:21:21 @ For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off?
rsv@Job:21:22 @ Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those that are on high?
rsv@Job:21:23 @ One dies in full prosperity, being wholly at ease and secure,
rsv@Job:21:24 @ his body full of fat and the marrow of his bones moist.
rsv@Job:21:25 @ Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of good.
rsv@Job:21:26 @ They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them.
rsv@Job:21:27 @ "Behold, I know your thoughts, and your schemes to wrong me.
rsv@Job:21:28 @ For you say, `r you say, "Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked dwelt?'
rsv@Job:21:29 @ Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony
rsv@Job:21:30 @ that the wicked man is spared in the day of calamity, that he is rescued in the day of wrath?
rsv@Job:21:31 @ Who declares his way to his face, and who requites him for what he has done?
rsv@Job:21:32 @ When he is borne to the grave, watch is kept over his tomb.
rsv@Job:21:33 @ The clods of the valley are sweet to him; all men follow after him, and those who go before him are innumerable.
rsv@Job:21:34 @ How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood."
rsv@Job:22:1 @ Then Eli'phaz the Te'manite answered:
rsv@Job:22:2 @ "Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
rsv@Job:22:3 @ Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
rsv@Job:22:4 @ Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you, and enters into judgment with you?
rsv@Job:22:5 @ Is not your wickedness great? There is no end to your iniquities.
rsv@Job:22:6 @ For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
rsv@Job:22:7 @ You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
rsv@Job:22:8 @ The man with power possessed the land, and the favored man dwelt in it.
rsv@Job:22:9 @ You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.
rsv@Job:22:10 @ Therefore snares are round about you, and sudden terror overwhelms you;
rsv@Job:22:11 @ your light is darkened, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.
rsv@Job:22:12 @ "Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
rsv@Job:22:13 @ Therefore you say, `erefore you say, "What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness?
rsv@Job:22:14 @ Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the vault of heaven.'
rsv@Job:22:15 @ Will you keep to the old way which wicked men have trod?
rsv@Job:22:16 @ They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away.
rsv@Job:22:17 @ They said to God, `ey said to God, "Depart from us,' and `d "What can the Almighty do to us?'
rsv@Job:22:18 @ Yet he filled their houses with good things-- but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
rsv@Job:22:19 @ The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent laugh them to scorn,
rsv@Job:22:20 @ saying, `f, and what they left the fire has consumed.'
rsv@Job:22:21 @ "Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you.
rsv@Job:22:22 @ Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.
rsv@Job:22:23 @ If you return to the Almighty and humble yourself, if you remove unrighteousness far from your tents,
rsv@Job:22:24 @ if you lay gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent bed,
rsv@Job:22:25 @ and if the Almighty is your gold, and your precious silver;
rsv@Job:22:26 @ then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God.
rsv@Job:22:27 @ You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you; and you will pay your vows.
rsv@Job:22:28 @ You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways.
rsv@Job:22:29 @ For God abases the proud, but he saves the lowly.
rsv@Job:22:30 @ He delivers the innocent man; you will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."
rsv@Job:23:1 @ Then Job answered:
rsv@Job:23:2 @ "Today also my complaint is bitter, his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
rsv@Job:23:3 @ Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat!
rsv@Job:23:4 @ I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
rsv@Job:23:5 @ I would learn what he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me.
rsv@Job:23:6 @ Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; he would give heed to me.
rsv@Job:23:7 @ There an upright man could reason with him, and I should be acquitted for ever by my judge.
rsv@Job:23:8 @ "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him;
rsv@Job:23:9 @ on the left hand I seek him, but I cannot behold him; I turn to the right hand, but I cannot see him.
rsv@Job:23:10 @ But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
rsv@Job:23:11 @ My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
rsv@Job:23:12 @ I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured in my bosom the words of his mouth.
rsv@Job:23:13 @ But he is unchangeable and who can turn him? What he desires, that he does.
rsv@Job:23:14 @ For he will complete what he appoints for me; and many such things are in his mind.
rsv@Job:23:15 @ Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him.
rsv@Job:23:16 @ God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me;
rsv@Job:23:17 @ for I am hemmed in by darkness, and thick darkness covers my face.
rsv@Job:24:1 @ "Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days?