Job: God Will Punish the Wicked 1 CPDV Then Job responded by saying: BSB BSB: Then Job answered:
2 CPDV I beseech you to hear my words and to do penance. BSB BSB: “Listen carefully to my words; let this be your consolation to me.
3 CPDV Permit me, and I will speak, and afterwards, if you see fit, you can laugh at my words. BSB BSB: Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking.
4 CPDV Is my dispute against man, so that I would have no reason to be discouraged? BSB BSB: Is my complaint against a man? Then why should I not be impatient?
5 CPDV Listen to me and be astonished, and place a finger over your mouth. BSB BSB: Look at me and be appalled; put your hand over your mouth.
6 CPDV As for me, when I think it over, I am afraid, and trembling convulses my body. BSB BSB: When I remember, terror takes hold, and my body trembles in horror.
7 CPDV Why then do the impious live, having been lifted up and strengthened with riches? BSB BSB: Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
8 CPDV They see their offspring continue before them: a commotion of close relatives and of children’s children in their sight. BSB BSB: Their descendants are established around them, and their offspring before their eyes.
9 CPDV Their houses have been secure and peaceable, and there is no staff of God over them. BSB BSB: Their homes are safe from fear; no rod of punishment from God is upon them.
10 CPDV Their cattle have conceived and have not miscarried; their cow has given birth and is not deprived of her newborn. BSB BSB: Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry.
11 CPDV Their little ones go out like a flock, and their children jump around playfully. BSB BSB: They send forth their little ones like a flock; their children skip about,
12 CPDV They take up the timbrel and the lyre, and they rejoice at the sound of the organ. BSB BSB: singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute.
13 CPDV Their days are prolonged in wealth, yet, in an instant, they descend into hell. BSB BSB: They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace.
14 CPDV Who has said to God, “Depart from us, for we do not want the knowledge of your ways. BSB BSB: Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.
15 CPDV Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? And how is it helpful to us if we pray to him?” BSB BSB: Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’
16 CPDV It is true that their good things are not in their power. May the counsel of the impious be far from me! BSB BSB: Still, their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
17 CPDV 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? BSB BSB: How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?
18 CPDV They will be like chaff before the face of the wind, and like ashes that the whirlwind scatters. BSB BSB: Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?
19 CPDV God will preserve the grief of the father for his sons, and, when he repays, then he will understand. BSB BSB: It is said that God lays up one’s punishment for his children. Let God repay the man himself, so he will know it.
20 CPDV His eyes will see his own destruction, and he will drink from the wrath of the Almighty. BSB BSB: Let his eyes see his own destruction; let him drink for himself the wrath of the Almighty.
21 CPDV For what does he care what happens to his house after him, or if the number of its months are reduced by half? BSB BSB: For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months has run out?
22 CPDV Can anyone teach holy knowledge to God, who judges the exalted? BSB BSB: Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since He judges those on high?
23 CPDV This one dies strong and healthy, rich and happy. BSB BSB: One man dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease.
24 CPDV His gut is full of fat and his bones are moistened with marrow. BSB BSB: His body is well nourished, and his bones are rich with marrow.
25 CPDV In truth, another dies in bitterness of soul, without any resources. BSB BSB: Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity.
26 CPDV And yet they will sleep together in the dust, and worms will cover them. BSB BSB: But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both.
27 CPDV Surely, I know your thoughts and your sinful judgments against me. BSB BSB: Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.
28 CPDV For you say, “Where is the house of the ruler, and where are the tabernacles of the impious?” BSB BSB: For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’
29 CPDV Ask any passerby whom you wish, and you will realize that he understands these same things: BSB BSB: Have you never asked those who travel the roads? Do you not accept their reports?
30 CPDV that the evil-doer is reserved for the day of destruction, and he will be led to the day of wrath. BSB BSB: Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.
31 CPDV Who will reprove his way to his face, and who will repay him for what he has done? BSB BSB: Who denounces his behavior to his face? Who repays him for what he has done?
32 CPDV He will be led to the tomb, and he will remain awake in the chaos of the dead. BSB BSB: He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.
33 CPDV 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. BSB BSB: The clods of the valley are sweet to him; everyone follows behind him, and those before him are without number.
34 CPDV Therefore, how long will you console me in vain, when your answer is shown to be repugnant to truth? BSB BSB: So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.