1. Then Job answered:
2. “Listen carefully to my words;let this be the consolation you offer me.
3. Bear with me and I will speak,and after I have spoken you may mock.
4. Is my complaint against a man?If so, why should I not be impatient?
5. Look at me and be appalled;put your hands over your mouths.
6. For, when I think about this, I am terrifiedand my body feels a shudder.
7. “Why do the wicked go on living,grow old, even increase in power?
8. Their children are firmly established in their presence,their offspring before their eyes.
9. Their houses are safe and without fear;and no rod of punishment from God is upon them.
10. Their bulls breed without fail;their cows calve and do not miscarry.
11. They allow their children to run like a flock;their little ones dance about.
12. They sing to the accompaniment of tambourine and harp,and make merry to the sound of the flute.
13. They live out their years in prosperityand go down to the grave in peace.