約伯記21:1-34

 

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!”

 

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    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！