Then Job answered and said,

Listen carefully to my word, And let this be your consolations.

Bear with me, and I will speak; And after I have spoken, mock on.

As for me, is my complaint to man? And why should my spirit not be impatient?

Look at me and be appalled; And put your hand over your mouth.

Even when I remember, I am troubled, And horror takes hold of my flesh.

Why do the wicked live, Grow old, even become mighty in riches?

Their seed is established with them in their sight, And their offspring, before their eyes.

Their houses are free from dread, And the rod of God is not upon them.

Their bull breeds and does not fail; Their cow calves and does not miscarry.

They send forth their little ones like a herd, And their children dance.

They lift up their voices to the tambourine and lyre, And they rejoice at the sound of the flute.

They spend their days in prosperity, And in a moment they go down into Sheol.

And they say unto God, Depart from us, For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.

What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit is there, that we should pray to Him?

Indeed, their prosperity is not in their own hand. The counsel of the wicked is far from Him.

How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, So that their calamity comes upon them, So that God distributes sorrows in His anger?

Do they become like straw before the wind And like chaff that the storm carries off?

You say, God stores up the punishment of his iniquity for his children. I say, Let Him recompense him, so that he knows it.

Let his eyes see his destruction, And let him drink the wrath of the Almighty.

For what is there for him to delight in, in his house after him, When the number of his months is cut off?

Will someone teach knowledge to God, Seeing that He judges those who are on high?

One dies in his full strength, Being completely at ease and quiet;

His pails are full of milk, And the marrow of his bones is moist.

But another dies in bitterness of soul And does not taste of good.

They lie down alike in the dust, And the worm covers them.

Indeed, I know your thoughts, And the devices by which you would wrong me.

For you say, Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent of the dwellings of the wicked?

Have you not asked those who travel the roads? And do you not regard their evidence,

That the wicked man is spared in the day of calamity, That they are led forth at the day of overflowing wrath?

Who will declare his way to his face? And who will repay him what he has done?

When he is borne to the grave, A watch is kept over the tomb.

The clods of the valley are sweet to him; And all men go in procession after him, And those who went before him are without number.

Why then do you comfort me with vanity? For your responses leave only falsehood behind.