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Then Iyov answered and said:
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“Hear my Word diligently, and let this be your comfort.
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Bear with me, and I shall speak; and after I speak, mock on.
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Is my complaint directed to Adam? And if so, why should my ruach not be short?
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Turn toward me and be astonished, and place a hand upon your mouth.
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When I remember, I am terrified, and trembling seizes my flesh.
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Why do the wicked live, grow old, and even become mighty in strength?
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Their seed is established before their face with them, and their offspring before their eyes.
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Their houses are shalom, without dread, and the staff of Eloah is not upon them.
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His bull mates and does not fail; his cow gives birth and does not miscarry.
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They send their young ones out like a flock, and their children leap.
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They lift the tambourine and lyre and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
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They complete their days in good, and in a moment descend to Sheol.
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Yet they say to El, ‘Turn away from us; we do not delight in the knowledge of Your Ways.
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What is Shaddai, that we should serve Him? And what profit is there if we entreat Him?’
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See, is not their good in their own hand? The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
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How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished, or their ruin comes upon them? Does He distribute cords in His anger?
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Are they like straw before the wind and chaff stolen by a storm?
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Eloah stores his crookedness for his sons? Let Him repay him, that he may know.
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Let his eyes see his own destruction, and let him drink from the wrath of Shaddai.
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For what delight does he have in his house after him, when the number of his new moons is cut in half?
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Can anyone teach knowledge to El, since He judges those on high?
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This one dies in the bone of his completeness, entirely at ease and quiet.
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His vessels are full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is moist.
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Another dies with a bitter being and never eats of good.
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Together they lie down upon the dust, and the worm covers them.
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See, I know your thoughts and the schemes by which you wrong me.
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For you say, ‘Where is the house of the noble? And where is the tent—the dwellings of the wicked?’
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Have you not asked those passing along the way? And do you not recognize their signs,
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that the wicked is withheld for the day of ruin and carried toward the day of overflowing wrath?
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Who declares his Way to his face? And who repays him for what he has done?
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Yet he is carried to the graves, and over a burial mound he watches.
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The clods of the torrent are sweet to him; every Adam draws after him, as there were without number before him.
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How then do you comfort me with emptiness, when betrayal remains in your answers?”