Then Job answered and said,
Hear diligently my speech;
And let this be your consolations.
Suffer me, and I also will speak;
And after that I have spoken, {Or, thou shall mock}mock on.
As for me, is my complaint {Or, of}to man?
And why should I not be impatient?
{Hebrew: Look unto me.}Mark me, and be astonished,
And lay your hand upon your mouth.
Even when I remember I am troubled,
And horror taketh hold on my flesh.
Wherefore do the wicked live,
Become old, yea, wax mighty in power?
Their seed is established with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes.
Their houses are safe from fear,
Neither is the rod of God upon them.
Their bull gendereth, and faileth not;
Their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
They send forth their little ones like a flock,
And their children dance.
They {Hebrew: lift up the voice.}sing to the timbrel and harp,
And rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
They spend their days in prosperity,
And in a moment they go down to Sheol.
And they say unto God, Depart from us;
For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
{Or, Ye say, Lo &c.}Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand:
The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
{Or, How oft is the lamp of the wicked put out, And how oft cometh their calamity upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger. They are as stubble…away.}How oft is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?
That their calamity cometh upon them?
That God distributeth sorrows in his anger?
That they are as stubble before the wind,
And as chaff that the storm carrieth away?
{Or, God layeth up his iniquity for his children: He rewardeth him, and he shall know it. His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink &c.}Ye say, God layeth up his iniquity for his children.
Let him recompense it unto himself, that he may know it:
Let his own eyes see his destruction,
And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
For what careth he for his house after him,
When the number of his months is cut off?
Shall any teach God knowledge,
Seeing he judgeth those that are high?
One dieth in his full strength,
Being wholly at ease and quiet:
His pails are full of milk,
And the marrow of his bones is moistened.
And another dieth in bitterness of soul,
And never tasteth of good.
They lie down alike in the dust,
And the worm covereth them.
Behold, I know your thoughts,
And the devices wherewith ye would wrong me.
For ye say, Where is the house of the prince?
And where is the tent wherein the wicked dwelt?
Have ye not asked wayfaring men?
And do ye not know their evidences,
That the evil man is {Or, spared in &c.}reserved to the day of calamity?
That they are {Or, led away in &c.}led forth to the day of wrath?
Who shall declare his way to his face?
And who shall repay him what he hath done?
{Or, Moreover he is borne to the grave, And keepth watch over his tomb. The clots of the valley are sweet unto him; And all men draw &c.}Yet shall he be borne to the grave,
And men shall keep watch over the tomb.
The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him,
And all men shall draw after him,
As there were innumerable before him.
How then comfort ye me {Or, with vanity}in vain,
Seeing in your answers there remaineth only {Or, faithlessness}falsehood?
Querverweise zu Hiob 21,19 Hiob 21,19
And lay thou thy {Hebrew: ore.}treasure {Or, on the earth}in the dust,And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks;
If thou doest well, shall it not be lifted up? and if thou doest not well, sin coucheth at the door: and unto thee shall be its desire; but do thou rule over it.
thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me,
If I whet {Hebrew: the lightning of my sword.}my glittering sword,And my hand take hold on judgment;I will render vengeance to mine adversaries,And will recompense them that hate me.
Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. {[Chapter 3:19 in Hebrew]}
Is not this laid up in store with me,Sealed up {Or, in my treasuries}among my treasures?
Surely he hath borne our {Hebrew: sicknesses.}griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah hath {Hebrew: made to light.}laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Let his children be fatherless,And his wife a widow.
Let his children be vagabonds, and beg;And let them seek their bread {Or, far from}out of their desolate places.
Let the extortioner {Hebrew: snare.}catch all that he hath;And let strangers make spoil of his labor.
Let there be none to {Or, continued}extend kindness unto him;Neither let there be any to have pity on his fatherless children.
Let his posterity be cut off;In the generation following let their name be blotted out.
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with Jehovah;And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
Let them be before Jehovah continually,That he may cut off the memory of them from the earth;
Because he remembered not to show kindness,But persecuted the poor and needy man,And the broken in heart, to slay them.
Yea, he loved cursing, and it came unto him;And he delighted not in blessing, and it was far from him.
He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment,And it came into his inward parts like water,And like oil into his bones.
Let it be unto him as the raiment wherewith he covereth himself,And for the girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
This is the reward of mine adversaries from Jehovah,And of them that speak evil against my soul.
But deal thou with me, O Jehovah the Lord, for thy name's sake:Because thy lovingkindness is good, deliver thou me;
For I am poor and needy,And my heart is wounded within me.
I am gone like the shadow when it {Or, is stretched out}declineth:I am tossed up and down as the locust.
My knees {Or, totter}are weak through fasting;And my flesh faileth of fatness.
I am become also a reproach unto them:When they see me, they shake their head.
Help me, O Jehovah my God;Oh save me according to thy lovingkindness:
That they may know that this is thy hand;That thou, Jehovah, hast done it.
Let them curse, but bless thou:When they arise, they shall be put to shame,But thy servant shall rejoice.
{Or, Mine adversaries shall be clothed…And they shall cover &c.}Let mine adversaries be clothed with dishonor,And let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.
I will give great thanks unto Jehovah with my mouth;Yea, I will praise him among the multitude.
For he will stand at the right hand of the needy,To save him from them that judge his soul.
And I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me: Jehovah reward the evil-doer according to his wickedness.
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves {Greek: dig through.}break through and steal:
Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
Prepare ye {Or, a place of slaughter}slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers, that they rise not up, and possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities.
{Another reading is, The evil shall return.}He will requite the evil unto {Or, them that lie in wait for me}mine enemies:Destroy thou them in thy truth.
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not {Greek: dig through.}break through nor steal:
Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's sins, which he hath done, and {Another reading is, seeth Or, considereth.}feareth, and doeth not such like;
For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then shall he render unto every man according to his {Greek: doing.}deeds.
but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Yet say ye, Wherefore doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.
Alexander the coppersmith {Greek: showed.}did me much evil: the Lord will render to him according to his works:
The soul that sinneth, it shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
Render unto her even as she rendered, and double unto her the double according to her works: in the cup which she mingled, mingle unto her double.
Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of them that slew the prophets.
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of {Greek: Gehenna.}hell?
Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city:
that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar.