- Then Job responded by saying
- I beseech you to hear my words and to do penance
- Permit me, and I will speak, and afterwards, if you see fit, you can laugh at my words
- Is my dispute against man, so that I would have no reason to be discouraged
- Listen to me and be astonished, and place a finger over your mouth
- As for me, when I think it over, I am afraid, and trembling convulses my body
- Why then do the impious live, having been lifted up and strengthened with riches
- They see their offspring continue before them: a commotion of close relatives and of children’s children in their sight
- Their houses have been secure and peaceable, and there is no staff of God over them
- Their cattle have conceived and have not miscarried; their cow has given birth and is not deprived of her newborn
- Their little ones go out like a flock, and their children jump around playfully
- They take up the timbrel and the lyre, and they rejoice at the sound of the organ
- Their days are prolonged in wealth, yet, in an instant, they descend into hell
- Who has said to God, “Depart from us, for we do not want the knowledge of your ways
- Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? And how is it helpful to us if we pray to him?
- It is true that their good things are not in their power. May the counsel of the impious be far from me
- How often will the lamp of the wicked be extinguished, and a deluge overtake them, and how often will he distribute the afflictions of his wrath
- They will be like chaff before the face of the wind, and like ashes that the whirlwind scatters
- God will preserve the grief of the father for his sons, and, when he repays, then he will understand
- His eyes will see his own destruction, and he will drink from the wrath of the Almighty
- For what does he care what happens to his house after him, or if the number of its months are reduced by half
- Can anyone teach holy knowledge to God, who judges the exalted
- This one dies strong and healthy, rich and happy
- His gut is full of fat and his bones are moistened with marrow
- In truth, another dies in bitterness of soul, without any resources
- And yet they will sleep together in the dust, and worms will cover them
- Surely, I know your thoughts and your sinful judgments against me
- For you say, “Where is the house of the ruler, and where are the tabernacles of the impious?
- Ask any passerby whom you wish, and you will realize that he understands these same things
- that the evil-doer is reserved for the day of destruction, and he will be led to the day of wrath
- Who will reprove his way to his face, and who will repay him for what he has done
- He will be led to the tomb, and he will remain awake in the chaos of the dead
- He has been found acceptable to the banks of the River of Lamentation, and he will draw any man towards him, and there are countless before him
- Therefore, how long will you console me in vain, when your answer is shown to be repugnant to truth