1   Bvt Iob answering, sayd:

2   Heare I besech you my wordes, and doe penance.

3   Beare with me, that I also may speake, and after my wordes, if it shal seme good, laugh ye.

4   Is my disputation ^note agaynst man, that I ought not worthely to be sorie?

5   Harken to me, and be astonied, and put the singer vpon your mouth.

6   And I when I shal remember, am afrayd, and trembling shaketh my flesh.

7   Why then doe the impious liue, are they aduanced, and strengthened with riches?

8   Their seede contineweth before them, a multitude of kinsemen, and of nephewes in their sight.

9   Their houses be secure and peaceable, & the rod of God is not vpon them.

10   Their bullock hath conceiued, and hath not made abortion: their cow hath calued, and is not depriued of her calfe.

11   Their litle ones goe forth as flockes, and their infantes reioyse with pastimes.

12   They hold the timbrel, & the harpe, & reioyse at the sound of the organe.

13   They ^note lead their daies in wealth, and in a moment they goe downe to ^note hel.

14   Who sayd to God: depart from vs, we wil not the knowlege of thy waies.

15   Who is the Omnipotent, that we should serue him? and what doth it profite vs if we shal pray him?

16   But yet because their good things are not in their hand, be the counsel of the impious far from me.

17   How often shal the candel of the impious be extinguished, and inundation come vpon them, and shal he deuide the sorowes of his furie?

18   They shal be as chaffe before the face of the winde, and as ashes, which the whirlewinde scattereth.

19   God shal reserue the sorow of the father to his children: and when he shal haue rendred it, then shal he know

20   His eies shal see his owne slaughter, and he shal drincke the furie of the Omnipotent.

21   For what doeth it pertayne to him concerning his house after him: although the number of his monethes be diminished the halfe?

22   Shal anie man teach God knowledge, who iudgeth the high ones.

23   This man dieth strong and in health, rich and happie.

24   His vowels be ful of fatte, and his bones be embrewed with marrow.

25   But an other dieth in bitternesse of soule without anie riches:

26   And yet they shal sleepe together in the dust, and wormes shal couer them.

27   Surely

I know your cogitations, and vniust sentences agaynst me.

28   For you say: Where is the house of the prince? and where are the tabernacles of the impious?

29   Aske anie of the wayfaring men, and you shal vnderstand that he knoweth these self same thinges.

30   Because the euil man is kept vnto the day of perdition, and he shal be led to the day of furie.

31   Who shal reproue his way before him? and who shal repay him the thinges that he hath done?

32   He shal be brought to the graues, and shal watch in the heade of the dead.

33   He hath beene sweete to the grauel of ^note Cocytus, & after him he shal drawe euerie man, and before him innumerable.

34   How therfore doe ye comforth me in vayne, whereas your answer is shewed to be repugnant to the truth?

Previous section

Next section