1 Job replied:
2 Listen at least to my words, enough of your consolation.
3 Bear with me while I speak; and then you can mock.
4 Is my grudge against humans? Why then should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me and be appalled; cover your mouth for a moment.
6 When I think about this I am troubled and trembling seizes my body.
7 Why do the wicked live, increase in age and in power?
8 Their descendants fluorish in their sight, their kinsfolk and their offspring.
9 Their homes are safe, free from fear; they do not feel the scourge of God.
10 Their bulls breed without fail; their cows calve and do not miscarry.
11 They have children as they have lambs their little ones dance like deer.
12 They sing to the rhythm of timbrel and harp; make merry to the sound of the flute.
13 They live out their days in happiness and go down to Sheol in peace.
14 Yet they said to God, "Go away! We have no desire to learn your way.
15 Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? What will it profit us if we pray to him?"
16 Though they planned everything far from God prosperity is in their hands.
17 How often is their lamp put out? How often does calamity befall them? How often does God's anger wipe them out?
18 How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff which the storm sweeps away?
19 You say, "His children will pay for his sin." Let the man himself pay for his iniquity;
20 let his own eyes see his misfortune; let him drink the wrath of the Almighty!
21 What does he care about his family when he dies, when his months have been cut off?
22 Can anyone teach God knowledge, since he judges even the highest?
23 One man dies in full vigor, at ease and completely secure;
24 full and nourished is his figure, rich in marrow are his bones.
25 Another dies in bitterness, never having enjoyed happiness.
26 But in the dust they lie down side by side, covered with worms.
27 I know your thoughts fully and your schemes about me.
28 For you say, "Where is the house of the great prince? Where is the tent of the wicked?"
29 Have you never asked the travelers, or have you misunderstood what they say -
30 that the evil man is spared from calamity, delivered from the day of God's fury?
31 Who will denounce his conduct to his face or pay him back for what he has done?
32 When people have carried him to the grave his image watches from his tomb.
33 The soft earth is sweet to him; behind him you see everyone follow and before him a countless horde.
34 How then can you console me with your nonsense? Pure falsehood is all you have said.
Versículos relacionados com Job, 21:
Job chapter 21 is a response to Zofar's statements about the punishment of the wicked. Job argues that many wicked prosper in this life, while many righteous suffer. He states that suffering is a part of the human condition, and that success and failure are not necessarily indications of virtue or sin. Following are five verses that address these themes:
Psalm 37:7 - "Rest in the Lord, and wait in Him; do not irritate you because of the one who thrives in his way, because of the man who performs cunning in intent." This verse talks about the importance of trusting God and not worrying about the success of others.
Psalm 73:3-5 - "For I was envy of the superb, when he saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no distress to their death, and are firm in possession of goods. They are not in work like other men, nor, nor are they They are afflicted like other men. " This verse portrays a person's envy in relation to the prosperity of the wicked.
Proverbs 22:16 - "He who oppresses the poor to magnify himself, and he who gives the rich man will surely impoverish." This verse states that material prosperity is not necessarily a sign of virtue.
Ecclesiastes 7:15 - "All this I saw in the days of my vanity; there is just that perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked who extends his days in his malice." This verse reflects the idea that justice does not always prevail in this life.
Luke 6:20 - "And raising his eyes to his disciples, he said, Blessed are you the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." This verse talks about the importance of seeking spiritual rewards rather than material.
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