1. Then Job answered and said,
2. Hear diligently my speech; and let this be your consolations.
3. Suffer me, and I also will speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.
4. As for me, is my complaint to man? and why should I not be impatient?
5. Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
6. Even when I remember I am troubled, and horror taketh hold on my flesh.
7. Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, wax mighty in power?
8. Their seed is established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes.
9. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
10. Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
11. They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
12. They sing to the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
13. They spend their days in prosperity, and in a moment they go down to Sheol.
14. Yet they said unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
15. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
16. Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.