1. Then Job responded by saying:
2. I beseech you to hear my words and to do penance.
3. Permit me, and I will speak, and afterwards, if you see fit, you can laugh at my words.
4. Is my dispute against man, so that I would have no reason to be discouraged?
5. Listen to me and be astonished, and place a finger over your mouth.
6. As for me, when I think it over, I am afraid, and trembling convulses my body.
7. Why then do the impious live, having been lifted up and strengthened with riches?
8. They see their offspring continue before them: a commotion of close relatives and of children's children in their sight.
9. Their houses have been secure and peaceable, and there is no staff of God over them.