21:1 約伯回答說：
21:2 你們要細聽我的言語，就算是你們安慰我。
21:3 請寬容我，我又要說話；說了以後，任憑你們嗤笑吧！
21:4 我豈是向人訴冤？為何不焦急呢？
21:5 你們要看著我而驚奇，用手摀口。
21:6 我每逢思想，心就驚惶，渾身戰兢。
21:7 惡人為何存活，享大壽數，勢力強盛呢？
21:8 他們眼見兒孫，和他們一同堅立。
21:9 他們的家宅平安無懼；上帝的杖也不加在他們身上。
21:10 他們的公牛孳生而不斷絕；母牛下犢而不掉胎。
21:11 他們打發小孩子出去，多如羊群；他們的兒女踴躍跳舞。
21:12 他們隨著琴鼓歌唱，又因簫聲歡喜。
21:13 他們度日諸事亨通，轉眼下入陰間。
21:14 他們對上帝說：離開我們吧！我們不願曉得你的道。
21:15 全能者是誰，我們何必事奉他呢？求告他有甚麼益處呢？
21:16 看哪，他們亨通不在乎自己；惡人所謀定的離我好遠。
21:17 惡人的燈何嘗熄滅？患難何嘗臨到他們呢？上帝何嘗發怒，向他們分散災禍呢？
21:18 他們何嘗像風前的碎秸，如暴風颳去的糠秕呢？
21:19 你們說：上帝為惡人的兒女積蓄罪孽；我說：不如本人受報，好使他親自知道。
21:20 願他親眼看見自己敗亡，親自飲全能者的忿怒。
21:21 他的歲月既盡，他還顧他本家嗎？
21:22 上帝既審判那在高位的，誰能將知識教訓他呢？
21:23 有人至死身體強壯，盡得平靖安逸；
21:24 他的奶桶充滿，他的骨髓滋潤。
21:25 有人至死心中痛苦，終身未嘗福樂的滋味；
21:26 他們一樣躺臥在塵土中，都被蟲子遮蓋。
21:27 我知道你們的意思，並誣害我的計謀。
21:28 你們說：霸者的房屋在哪裡？惡人住過的帳棚在哪裡？
21:29 你們豈沒有詢問過路的人嗎？不知道他們所引的證據嗎？
21:30 就是惡人在禍患的日子得存留，在發怒的日子得逃脫。
21:31 他所行的，有誰當面給他說明？他所做的，有誰報應他呢？
21:32 然而他要被抬到塋地；並有人看守墳墓。
21:33 他要以谷中的土塊為甘甜；在他以先去的無數，在他以後去的更多。
21:34 你們對答的話中既都錯謬，怎麼徒然安慰我呢？
Then Job replied:
2 “Listen
carefully to my words;
let this be the consolation you give me.
3 Bear with me while I speak,
and after I have spoken, mock on.
4 “Is
my complaint directed to a human being?
Why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me and be appalled;
clap your hand over your mouth.
6 When I think about this, I am terrified;
trembling seizes my body.
7 Why do the wicked live on,
growing old and increasing in power?
8 They see their children established around them,
their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their homes are safe and free from fear;
the rod of God is not on them.
10 Their bulls never fail to breed;
their cows calve and do not miscarry.
11 They send forth their children as a flock;
their little ones dance about.
12 They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre;
they make merry to the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their years in prosperity
and go down to the grave in peace.
14 Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone!
We have no desire to know your ways.
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
What would we gain by praying to him?’
16 But their prosperity is not in their own hands,
so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.
17 “Yet
how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?
How often does calamity come upon them,
the fate God allots in his anger?
18 How often are they like straw before the wind,
like chaff swept away by a gale?
19 It is said, ‘God stores up the punishment of the wicked for
their children.’
Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will
experience it!
20 Let their own eyes see their destruction;
let them drink the cup of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what do they care about the families they leave behind
when their allotted months come to an end?
22 “Can
anyone teach knowledge to God,
since he judges even the highest?
23 One person dies in full vigor,
completely secure and at ease,
24 well nourished in body,
bones rich with marrow.
25 Another dies in bitterness of soul,
never having enjoyed anything good.
26 Side by side they lie in the dust,
and worms cover them both.
27 “I
know full well what you are thinking,
the schemes by which you would wrong me.
28 You say, ‘Where now is the house of the great,
the tents where the wicked lived?’
29 Have you never questioned those who travel?
Have you paid no regard to their accounts—
30 that the wicked are spared from the day of calamity,
that they are delivered from the day of wrath?
31 Who denounces their conduct to their face?
Who repays them for what they have done?
32 They are carried to the grave,
and watch is kept over their tombs.
33 The soil in the valley is sweet to them;
everyone follows after them,
and a countless throng goes before them.
34 “So
how can you console me with your nonsense?
Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!”
*************
約伯對於三個朋友的論調提出反論，是就現實的現象可以看見惡人反而興旺，不像他們說的！也就是說，「善有善報、惡有惡報」這套理論是與現實狀態不符合，更何況這三位朋友是應該來安慰他，不是來和他理論他是有多麼壞，才會受上帝懲罰，才有今日的下場！
約伯說的事情，其實在現實的狀態中的確是如此！那些大家看為壞蛋的人，反而是家道豐富，不管是子孫或是錢財都是比大家認為的好人多，而且這些人偏偏都很長壽，甚至於是善終，而且還是平平安安的去呢！
就拿中共政權來說，他們號稱「槍桿子出政權」，搶奪了國民政府的執政權，雖然刷是殺人無數的政權，卻統治中國大陸比國民政府更久！雖然很惡劣，強調自己是無神論，迫害宗教、違背中國的傳統，甚至還散播病毒危害世界！但是，依然在這個世界呼風喚雨，在聯合國還拍桌子大罵別的國家！
這是不是「善有善報、惡有惡報」這套理論反差呢？怪不得他們推崇鬼谷子的《厚黑學》：心要黑、臉要厚！不僅心地邪惡，更是行事卑鄙！
然而對基督徒而言這些並不可怕，因為上帝必得永恆的勝利，在上帝國實現時，上帝的正義要完全實現，這些邪惡者必定受到上帝審判！他們的興旺只是一時，終究會滅亡，正如聖經說到主耶穌再來的時候，要審判萬民！只有蒙耶穌基督拯救的人才能享受永生，其他未蒙拯救的必至滅亡！上帝的話必定會實現，必定不落空！
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