Job professeth his confidence in God. me! for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost. JOB, XIII. 17 He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools. 18 He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle. 19 He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty. 20 He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged. 21 He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty. 22 He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death. 23 He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again. 24 He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. 25 They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man. CHAPTER XIII. 20 Only do not two things unto me then will I not hide myself from thee. 21 Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid. 22 Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me. 23 How many are mine iniquities and sins! make me to know my transgression and my sin. 24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy! 25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro! and wiit thou pursue the dry stubble! 26 For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth. 1 Job reproveth his friends of partiality. 14 He O, mine eye hath seen all this, mine 2 What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you. 8 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God. 4 But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value. 5 Oh that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom. 6 Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips, 7 Will ye speak wickedly for God! and talk deceitfully for him! 8 Will ye accept his person! will ye contend for God! 9 Is it good that he should search you out! or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him! 10 He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons. 11 Shall not his excellency make you afraid and his dread fall upon you! 12 Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay. 13 Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will. 14 Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand! 15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. 16 He also shall be my salvation: for a hypocrite shall not come before him. 17 Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears. 18 Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified. 19 Who is he that will plead with 27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet. 28 And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is motheaten. CHAPTER XIV. Job entreateth God for favour, by the shortness of life, and certainty of death. 7 Though life once lost be irrecoverable, yet he waiteth for his change. 16 By sin the creature is subject to corruption. Mew days, and full of trouble. AN that is born of a woman is of 2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. 3 And dost thou open thine eyes upon such a one, and bringest me into judgment with thee! 4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean! not one. 5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; 6 Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day. 7 For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that if will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. 8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; 9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. 10 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? 11 As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up; 12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. 13 Oh that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! Eliphas reproveth Job JOB, XVI. of imprety. 14 If a man die, shall he live again? | filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity all the days of my appointed time will like water! I wait, till my change come. 15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer Chee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands. 16 For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin! 17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity. 18 And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place. 19 The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man. 20 Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. 21 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them. 22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn. CHAPTER XV. 1 Eliphas reproveth Job of impiety in justifying himself. 17 He proveth by tradition the unquietness of wicked men. T HEN answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said, 2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? 8 Should he reason with unprofitable talk or with speeches wherewith he can do no good! 4 Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God. 6 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. 6 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee. 7 Art thou the first man that was born or wast thou made before the hills! 8 Hast thou heard the secret of God! and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself! 9 What knowest thou, that we know not! what understanuest thou, which is not in us! 10 With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father. 11 Are the consolations of God small with thee! is there any secret thing with thee! 12 Why doth thine heart carry thee away! and what do thy eyes wink at, 18 That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth! 14 What is man, that he should be clean! and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous! 15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. 16 How much more abominable and 17 I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare; 18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it: 19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them." 20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. 21 A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon hín. 22 He believeth not that he shall re turn out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. 23 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. 24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. 25 For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth him self against the Almighty. 26 He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: 27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks. 28 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. 29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth. 80 He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away. Si Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity for vanity shall be his recompense. 82 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. 83 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the onve. 84 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate. and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. 35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit. CHAPTER XVI. 1 Job reproveth his friends of unmercifulness. ? He sheweth the pitifulness of his case. 17 He maintaineth his innocency. THEN Job answered and said, have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all. 8 Shall vain words have an end or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest! 4 I also could speak as ye do. If your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you. pany. from men to God. 6 He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret. 7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow. 8 Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. 8 And thou hast filled me with wrin- 9 The righteous also shall hold on kles, which is a witness against me: his way, and he that hath clean hands and my leanness rising up in me bear-shall be stronger and stronger. eth witness to my face. 9 He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me. 10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me. 11 God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked. 12 I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark. 13 His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground. 14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach; he runneth upon me like a giant. 15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust. 16 My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death; 17 Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure. 18 O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place. 19 Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high. 20 My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God. 21 Oh that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour! 22 When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return. CHAPTER XVII. 10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you. 11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. 12 They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness. 13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. 14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. 15 And where is now my hope! as for my hope, who shall see it! 16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust. CHAPTER XVIII. 2 How long will it be ere ye make an end of words! mark, and afterwards we will speak. 3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight! 4 He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee! and shall the rock be removed out of his place! 5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. 6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him. 7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down. 8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a 2 Are there not mockers with me! and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation! 3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike 'hands with me! 4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them. 5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail. 9 The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him. 10 The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way. 11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet. 12 His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side. 13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength. 14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors. Job sheweth his misery. JOB, XX. He believeth the resurrection. tabernacle, me; I arose, and they spake against brimstone me. his habita- 19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turn 15 It shall dwell in his because it is none of his shall be scattered upon tion. 16 His roots shall be dried up be-ed against me. neath, and above shall his branch be cut off. 17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street. 18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. 19 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings. 20 They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted. 21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God. CHAPTER XIX. 1 Job, complaining of his friends' cruelty, sheweth there is misery enough in him to feed their eruelty. 21, 28 He craveth pity. 23 He believeth the resurrection. HEN Job answered and said, Tow long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words! 20 My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth. 21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me. 22 Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh! 23 Oh that my words were written! oh that they were printed in a book! now 24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! 25 For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: 26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: 27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me. 28 But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the 8 These ten times have ye reproach-matter is found in me! ed me ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me. 4 And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself. 5 If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach; 6 Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net. 7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment. 8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths. 9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. 10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree. 11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies. 12 His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle. 13 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me. 14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. 15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight. 16 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I entreated him with my mouth. 17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I entreated for the children's sake of mine own body. 18 Yea, young children despised 29 Be ye afraid of the sword for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment. CHAPTER XX. Zophar showeth the state and portion of the wicked. TH THEN answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, 2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste. 3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer. 4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, 5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment! 6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; 7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? 8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. 9 The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him. 10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods. 11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust. 12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue; 13 Though he spare it, and forsake The state and portion JOB, XXI. it not, but keep it still within his mouth; 14 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him. 15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly. 16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him. 17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter. 18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein. 19 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away a house which he builded not; 20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired. 21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods. 22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him. 23 When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating. 24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through. 25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him. 26 All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle. 27 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him. 28 The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath. 29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God. CHAPTER XXI. 1 Job showeth that even in the judgment of man ha hath reason to be grieved. 7 Sometimes the wicked do so prosper, as they despise God. 16 Sometimes their destruction is manifest. 22 The happy and unhappy a. alike in death. 27 The judgment of the wicked is in another world. BUT Job answered and said, 2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations. 8 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on. 4 As for me, is my complaint to man! and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled! 5 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth. Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh. of the wicked. 7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power! 8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. 9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. 10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. 11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. 12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. 13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. 14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. 15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him! and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him! 16 Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distrib uteth sorrows in his anger. 18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm car rieth away. 19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it. 20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty. 21 For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst! 22 Shall any teach God knowledge! seeing he judgeth those that are high. 23 One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. 24 His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow. 25 And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure. 26 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them. 27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me. 28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince! and where are the dwellingplaces of the wicked! 29 Have ye not asked them that go by the way and do ye not know their tokens, 30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction! they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath. 31 Who shall declare his way to his face! and who shall repay him what he hath done! 32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb. 83 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumer able before him. |