Job Asserts the Prosperity of the Wicked |
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But Job answered and said,
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Hear diligently my speech,
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and let this be your consolations. |
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Suffer me that I may speak;
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and after that I have spoken, mock on. |
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As for me, is my complaint to man?
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And if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled? |
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Mark me, and be astonished,
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and lay your hand upon your mouth. |
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Even when I remember I am afraid,
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and trembling taketh hold on my flesh. |
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Wherefore do the wicked live,
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become old, yea, are mighty in power? |
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Their seed is established in their sight with them,
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and their offspring before their eyes. |
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Their houses are safe from fear,
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neither is the rod of God upon them. |
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Their bull gendereth, and faileth not;
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their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. |
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They send forth their little ones like a flock,
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and their children dance. |
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They take the timbrel and harp,
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and rejoice at the sound of the organ. |
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They spend their days in wealth,
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and in a moment go down to the grave. |
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Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us;
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for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. |
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What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
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And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him? |
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Lo, their good is not in their hand:
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the counsel of the wicked is far from me. |
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How oft is the candle of the wicked put out!
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And how oft cometh their destruction upon them! |
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God distributeth sorrows in his anger. |
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They are as stubble before the wind,
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and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. |
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God layeth up his iniquity for his children:
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he rewardeth him, and he shall know it. |
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His eyes shall see his destruction,
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and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty. |
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For what pleasure hath he in his house after him,
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when the number of his months is cut off in the midst? |
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Shall any teach God knowledge?
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seeing he judgeth those that are high. |
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One dieth in his full strength,
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being wholly at ease and quiet. |
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His breasts are full of milk,
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and his bones are moistened with marrow. |
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And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul,
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and never eateth with pleasure. |
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They shall lie down alike in the dust,
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and the worms shall cover them. |
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Behold, I know your thoughts,
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and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me. |
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For ye say, Where is the house of the prince?
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And where are the dwelling places of the wicked? |
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Have ye not asked them that go by the way?
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And do ye not know their tokens, |
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that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction?
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They shall be brought forth to the day of wrath. |
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Who shall declare his way to his face?
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And who shall repay him what he hath done? |
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Yet shall he be brought to the grave,
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and shall remain in the tomb. |
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The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him,
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and every man shall draw after him, |
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as there are innumerable before him. |
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How then comfort ye me in vain,
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seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood? |
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