Job

^1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

^1:2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.

^1:3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

^1:4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

^1:5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

^1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

^1:7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence come you? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

^1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and turns away from evil?

^1:9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Does Job fear God for nothing?

^1:10 Have not you made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has on every side? you have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

^1:11 But put forth yours hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.

^1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your power; only upon himself put not forth yours hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

^1:13 And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:

^1:14 And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:

^1:15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell you.

^1:16 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and has burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell you.

^1:17 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell you.

^1:18 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:

^1:19 And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and stroke the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell you.

^1:20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,

^1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

^1:22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

^2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.

^2:2 And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence come you? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

^2:3 And the LORD said unto Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and turns away from evil? and still he holds fast his integrity, although you moved me against him, to destroy him without cause.

^2:4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man has will he give for his life.

^2:5 But put forth yours hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.

^2:6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in yours hand; but save his life.

^2:7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and stroke Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

^2:8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself likewise; and he sat down among the ashes.

^2:9 Then said his wife unto him, Do you still retain yours integrity? curse God, and die.

^2:10 But he said unto her, You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

^2:11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.

^2:12 And when they lifted up their eyes far off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.

^2:13 So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.

^3:1 After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.

^3:2 And Job spoke, and said,

^3:3 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a male child conceived.

^3:4 Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

^3:5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

^3:6 As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

^3:7 Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.

^3:8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.

^3:9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:

^3:10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.

^3:11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the spirit when I came out of the belly?

^3:12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?

^3:13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,

^3:14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, which build desolate places for themselves;

^3:15 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:

^3:16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.

^3:17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.

^3:18 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

^3:19 The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.

^3:20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;

^3:21 Which long for death, but it comes not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;

^3:22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?

^3:23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God has hedged in?

^3:24 For my sighing comes before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.

^3:25 For the thing which I greatly feared has come upon me, and that which I was afraid of has come unto me.

^3:26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.

^4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

^4:2 If we analyse to commune with you, will you be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?

^4:3 Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.

^4:4 Your words have raised up him that was falling, and you have strengthened the feeble knees.

^4:5 But now it has come upon you, and you faint; it touches you, and you are troubled.

^4:6 Is not this your fear, your confidence, your hope, and the uprightness of your ways?

^4:7 Remember, I pray you, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?

^4:8 Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

^4:9 By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.

^4:10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.

^4:11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.

^4:12 Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.

^4:13 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,

^4:14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.

^4:15 Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:

^4:16 It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,

^4:17 Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?

^4:18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:

^4:19 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

^4:20 They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.

^4:21 Does not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.

^5:1 Call now, if there be any that will answer you; and to which of the saints will you turn?

^5:2 For wrath kills the foolish man, and envy slays the silly one.

^5:3 I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.

^5:4 His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.

^5:5 Whose harvest the hungry eats up, and takes it even out of the thorns, and the robber swallows up their substance.

^5:6 Although affliction comes not out of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground;

^5:7 Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

^5:8 I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:

^5:9 Which does great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:

^5:10 Who gives rain upon the earth, and sends waters upon the fields:

^5:11 To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.

^5:12 He dissapoints the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.

^5:13 He takes the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the perverse is carried headlong.

^5:14 They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope in the noonday as in the night.

^5:15 But he saves the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.

^5:16 So the poor has hope, and iniquity stops her mouth.

^5:17 Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects: therefore despise not you the chastening of the Almighty:

^5:18 For he makes sore, and binds up: he wounds, and his hands make whole.

^5:19 He shall deliver you in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch you.

^5:20 In famine he shall redeem you from death: and in war from the power of the sword.

^5:21 You shall be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.

^5:22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh: neither shall you be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

^5:23 For you shall be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.

^5:24 And you shall know that your tabernacle shall be in peace; and you shall visit your habitation, and shall not sin.

^5:25 You shall know also that your seed shall be great, and yours offspring as the grass of the earth.

^5:26 You shall come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of corn comes in in his season.

^5:27 Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know you it for your good.

^6:1 But Job answered and said,

^6:2 Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together!

^6:3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.

^6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinks up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.

^6:5 Does the wild ass bray when he has grass? or lows the ox over his fodder?

^6:6 Can that which is unpleasing be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

^6:7 The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful food.

^6:8 Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!

^6:9 Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

^6:10 Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.

^6:11 What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?

^6:12 Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass?

^6:13 Is not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me?

^6:14 To him that is afflicted pity should be showed from his friend; but he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

^6:15 My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away;

^6:16 Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid:

^6:17 What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

^6:18 The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish.

^6:19 The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them.

^6:20 They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed.

^6:21 For now all of you are nothing; all of you see my casting down, and are afraid.

^6:22 Did I say, Bring unto me? or, Give a reward for me of your substance?

^6:23 Or, Deliver me from the enemy's hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty?

^6:24 Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

^6:25 How forcible are right words! but what does your arguing reprove?

^6:26 Do all of you imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?

^6:27 Yea, all of you overwhelm the fatherless, and all of you dig a pit for your friend.

^6:28 Now therefore be content, look upon me; for it is evident unto you if I lie.

^6:29 Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness is in it.

^6:30 Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?

^7:1 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of a worker?

^7:2 As a servant earnestly desires the shadow, and as a worker looks for the reward of his work:

^7:3 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.

^7:4 When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings back and forth unto the dawning of the day.

^7:5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.

^7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.

^7:7 O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.

^7:8 The eye of him that has seen me shall see me no more: yours eyes are upon me, and I am not.

^7:9 As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away: so he that goes down to the grave shall come up no more.

^7:10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

^7:11 Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

^7:12 Am I a sea, or a whale, that you set a watch over me?

^7:13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaints;

^7:14 Then you scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions:

^7:15 So that my soul chooses strangling, and death rather than my life.

^7:16 I loathe it; I would not live always: let me alone; for my days are vanity.

^7:17 What is man, that you should magnify him? and that you should set yours heart upon him?

^7:18 And that you should visit him every morning, and try him every moment?

^7:19 How long will you not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?

^7:20 I have sinned; what shall I do unto you, O you preserver of men? why have you set me as a mark against you, so that I am a burden to myself?

^7:21 And why do you not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and you shall seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.

^8:1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

^8:2 How long will you speak these things? and how long shall the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?

^8:3 Does God pervert judgment? or does the Almighty pervert justice?

^8:4 If your children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression;

^8:5 If you would seek unto God early, and make your supplication to the Almighty;

^8:6 If you were pure and upright; surely now he would awake for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.

^8:7 Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end should greatly increase.

^8:8 For enquire, I pray you, of the former age, and prepare yourself to the search of their fathers:

^8:9 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)

^8:10 Shall not they teach you, and tell you, and utter words out of their heart?

^8:11 Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?

^8:12 Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withers before any other herb.

^8:13 So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish:

^8:14 Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web.

^8:15 He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.

^8:16 He is green before the sun, and his branch shoots forth in his garden.

^8:17 His roots are wrapped about the heap, and sees the place of stones.

^8:18 If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen you.

^8:19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.

^8:20 Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers:

^8:21 Till he fill your mouth with laughing, and your lips with rejoicing.

^8:22 They that hate you shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nothing.

^9:1 Then Job answered and said,

^9:2 I know it is so truthfully: but how should man be just with God?

^9:3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.

^9:4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and has prospered?

^9:5 Which removes the mountains, and they know not: which overturns them in his anger.

^9:6 Which shakes the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.

^9:7 Which commands the sun, and it rises not; and seals up the stars.

^9:8 Which alone spreads out the heavens, and treads upon the waves of the sea.

^9:9 Which makes Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.

^9:10 Which does great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.

^9:11 Lo, he goes by me, and I see him not: he passes on also, but I perceive him not.

^9:12 Behold, he takes away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What do you?

^9:13 If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him.

^9:14 How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him?

^9:15 Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.

^9:16 If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.

^9:17 For he breaks me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause.

^9:18 He will not suffer me to take my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

^9:19 If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?

^9:20 If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.

^9:21 Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.

^9:22 This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroys the perfect and the wicked.

^9:23 If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.

^9:24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covers the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he?

^9:25 Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.

^9:26 They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hastes to the prey.

^9:27 If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort myself:

^9:28 I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that you will not hold me innocent.

^9:29 If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain?

^9:30 If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;

^9:31 Yet shall you plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall detest me.

^9:32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment.

^9:33 Neither is there any arbitrator between us, that might lay his hand upon us both.

^9:34 Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me:

^9:35 Then would I speak, and not fear him; but it is not so with me.

^10:1 My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

^10:2 I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; show me wherefore you contend with me.

^10:3 Is it good unto you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of yours hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

^10:4 Have you eyes of flesh? or see you as man sees?

^10:5 Are your days as the days of man? are your years as man's days,

^10:6 That you enquire after mine iniquity, and search after my sin?

^10:7 You know that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of yours hand.

^10:8 Yours hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet you do destroy me.

^10:9 Remember, I plead to you, that you have made me as the clay; and will you bring me into dust again?

^10:10 Have you not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

^10:11 You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and have fenced me with bones and sinews.

^10:12 You have granted me life and favour, and your visitation has preserved my spirit.

^10:13 And these things have you hid in yours heart: I know that this is with you.

^10:14 If I sin, then you mark me, and you will not acquit me from mine iniquity.

^10:15 If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see you mine affliction;

^10:16 For it increases. You hunt me as a fierce lion: and again you show yourself marvellous upon me.

^10:17 You renew your witnesses against me, and increase yours indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.

^10:18 Wherefore then have you brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me!

^10:19 I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

^10:20 Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,

^10:21 Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;

^10:22 A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.

^11:1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

^11:2 Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified?

^11:3 Should your lies make men hold their peace? and when you mock, shall no man make you ashamed?

^11:4 For you have said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in yours eyes.

^11:5 But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against you;

^11:6 And that he would show you the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacts of you less than yours iniquity deserves.

^11:7 Can you by searching find out God? can you find out the Almighty unto perfection?

^11:8 It is as high as heaven; what can you do? deeper than hell; what can you know?

^11:9 The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

^11:10 If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him?

^11:11 For he knows vain men: he sees wickedness also; will he not then consider it?

^11:12 For vain men would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt.

^11:13 If you prepare yours heart, and stretch out yours hands toward him;

^11:14 If iniquity be in yours hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in your tabernacles.

^11:15 For then shall you lift up your face without spot; yea, you shall be steadfast, and shall not fear:

^11:16 Because you shall forget your misery, and remember it as waters that pass away:

^11:17 And yours age shall be clearer than the noonday: you shall shine forth, you shall be as the morning.

^11:18 And you shall be secure, because there is hope; yea, you shall dig about you, and you shall take your rest in safety.

^11:19 Also you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid; yea, many shall make suit unto you.

^11:20 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the spirit.

^12:1 And Job answered and said,

^12:2 No doubt but all of you are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.

^12:3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knows not such things as these?

^12:4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calls upon God, and he answers him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.

^12:5 He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.

^12:6 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God brings abundantly.

^12:7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach you; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell you:

^12:8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto you.

^12:9 Who knows not in all these that the hand of the LORD has wrought this?

^12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

^12:11 Does not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his food?

^12:12 With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.

^12:13 With him is wisdom and strength, he has counsel and understanding.

^12:14 Behold, he breaks down, and it cannot be built again: he shuts up a man, and there can be no opening.

^12:15 Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up: also he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.

^12:16 With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.

^12:17 He leads counsellors away spoiled, and makes the judges fools.

^12:18 He looses the bond of kings, and girds their loins with a girdle.

^12:19 He leads princes away spoiled, and overthrows the mighty.

^12:20 He removes away the speech of the trusty, and takes away the understanding of the aged.

^12:21 He pours contempt upon princes, and weakens the strength of the mighty.

^12:22 He discovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.

^12:23 He increases the nations, and destroys them: he enlarges the nations, and straitens them again.

^12:24 He takes away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

^12:25 They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them to stagger like a drunken man.

^13:1 Lo, mine eye has seen all this, mine ear has heard and understood it.

^13:2 What all of you know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you.

^13:3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.

^13:4 But all of you are forgers of lies, all of you are all physicians of no value.

^13:5 O that all of you would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.

^13:6 Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.

^13:7 Will all of you speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?

^13:8 Will all of you accept his person? will all of you contend for God?

^13:9 Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocks another, do all of you so mock him?

^13:10 He will surely reprove you, if all of you do secretly accept persons.

^13:11 Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?

^13:12 Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.

^13:13 Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will.

^13:14 Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?

^13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

^13:16 He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.

^13:17 Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.

^13:18 Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.

^13:19 Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the spirit.

^13:20 Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from you.

^13:21 Withdraw yours hand far from me: and let not your dread make me afraid.

^13:22 Then call you, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer you me.

^13:23 How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.

^13:24 Wherefore hide you your face, and hold me for yours enemy?

^13:25 Will you break a leaf driven back and forth? and will you pursue the dry stubble?

^13:26 For you write bitter things against me, and make me to possess the iniquities of my youth.

^13:27 You put my feet also in the stocks, and look narrowly unto all my paths; you set a print upon the heels of my feet.

^13:28 And he, as a rotten thing, consumes, as a garment that is moth eaten.

^14:1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.

^14:2 He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down: he flees also as a shadow, and continues not.

^14:3 And does you open yours eyes upon such an one, and bring me into judgment with you?

^14:4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.

^14:5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with you, you have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;

^14:6 Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as a worker, his day.

^14:7 For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

^14:8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;

^14:9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.

^14:10 But man dies, and wastes away: yea, man gives up the spirit, and where is he?

^14:11 As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decays and dries up:

^14:12 So man lies down, and rises not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.

^14:13 O that you would hide me in the grave, that you would keep me secret, until your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

^14:14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

^14:15 You shall call, and I will answer you: you will have a desire to the work of yours hands.

^14:16 For now you number my steps: do you not watch over my sin?

^14:17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and you sew up mine iniquity.

^14:18 And surely the mountains falling comes to nothing, and the rock is removed out of his place.

^14:19 The waters wear the stones: you wash away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and you destroys the hope of man.

^14:20 You prevail for ever against him, and he passes: you change his countenance, and send him away.

^14:21 His sons come to honour, and he knows it not; and they are brought low, but he perceives it not of them.

^14:22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.

^15:1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,

^15:2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?

^15:3 Should he reason with useless talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?

^15:4 Yea, you cast off fear, and restrain prayer before God.

^15:5 For your mouth utters yours iniquity, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.

^15:6 Yours own mouth condemns you, and not I: yea, yours own lips testify against you.

^15:7 Are you the first man that was born? or were you made before the hills?

^15:8 Have you heard the secret of God? and do you restrain wisdom to yourself?

^15:9 What know you, that we know not? what understand you, which is not in us?

^15:10 With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than your father.

^15:11 Are the consolations of God small with you? is there any secret thing with you?

^15:12 Why does yours heart carry you away? and what do your eyes overlook,

^15:13 That you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth?

^15:14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

^15:15 Behold, he puts no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

^15:16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinks iniquity like water?

^15:17 I will show you, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;

^15:18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:

^15:19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.

^15:20 The wicked man labors with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.

^15:21 A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.

^15:22 He believes not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.

^15:23 He wanders abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

^15:24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

^15:25 For he stretches out his hand against God, and strengthens himself against the Almighty.

^15:26 He runs upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:

^15:27 Because he covers his face with his fatness, and makes fatness on his flanks.

^15:28 And he dwells in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabits, which are ready to become heaps.

^15:29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.

^15:30 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.

^15:31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.

^15:32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.

^15:33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.

^15:34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.

^15:35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepares deceit.

^16:1 Then Job answered and said,

^16:2 I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are all of you all.

^16:3 Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldens you that you answer?

^16:4 I also could speak as all of you do: if your soul were in my soul's position, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you.

^16:5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should subside your grief.

^16:6 Though I speak, my grief is not subsided: and though I forbear, what am I eased?

^16:7 But now he has made me weary: you have made desolate all my company.

^16:8 And you have filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me bears witness to my face.

^16:9 He tears me in his wrath, who hates me: he gnashes upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpens his eyes upon me.

^16:10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.

^16:11 God has delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.

^16:12 I was at ease, but he has broken me asunder: he has also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.

^16:13 His archers compass me round about, he cleaves my reins asunder, and does not spare; he pours out my gall upon the ground.

^16:14 He breaks me with breach upon breach, he runs upon me like a giant.

^16:15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust.

^16:16 My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death;

^16:17 Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.

^16:18 O earth, cover not you my blood, and let my cry have no place.

^16:19 Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.

^16:20 My friends scorn me: but mine eye pours out tears unto God.

^16:21 O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleads for his neighbour!

^16:22 When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.

^17:1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.

^17:2 Are there not mockers with me? and does not mine eye continue in their provocation?

^17:3 Lay down now, put me in a guarantor with you; who is he that will shake hands with me?

^17:4 For you have hid their heart from understanding: therefore shall you not exalt them.

^17:5 He that speaks flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

^17:6 He has made me also a byword of the people; and in old times I was as a timbrel.

^17:7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.

^17:8 Upright men shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.

^17:9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that has clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.

^17:10 But as for you all, do all of you return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.

^17:11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.

^17:12 They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.

^17:13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

^17:14 I have said to corruption, You are my father: to the worm, You are my mother, and my sister.

^17:15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?

^17:16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

^18:1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

^18:2 How long will it be before all of you make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.

^18:3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?

^18:4 He tears himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for you? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?

^18:5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.

^18:6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.

^18:7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.

^18:8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks upon a snare.

^18:9 The animal trap shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.

^18:10 The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.

^18:11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.

^18:12 His strength shall be famished, and destruction shall be ready at his side.

^18:13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.

^18:14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.

^18:15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

^18:16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.

^18:17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.

^18:18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

^18:19 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.

^18:20 They that come after him shall be astonished at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.

^18:21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knows not God.

^19:1 Then Job answered and said,

^19:2 How long will all of you vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?

^19:3 These ten times have all of you reproached me: all of you are not ashamed that all of you make yourselves strange to me.

^19:4 And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remains with myself.

^19:5 If indeed all of you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach:

^19:6 Know now that God has overthrown me, and has compassed me with his net.

^19:7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

^19:8 He has fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness in my paths.

^19:9 He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

^19:10 He has destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope has he removed like a tree.

^19:11 He has also kindled his wrath against me, and he counts me unto him as one of his enemies.

^19:12 His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and camp round about my tabernacle.

^19:13 He has put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily cut off from me.

^19:14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

^19:15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an foreigner in their sight.

^19:16 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I implored him with my mouth.

^19:17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I implored for the children's sake of mine own body.

^19:18 Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spoke against me.

^19:19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.

^19:20 My bone cleaves to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

^19:21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O all of you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.

^19:22 Why do all of you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

^19:23 Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!

^19:24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!

^19:25 For I know that my redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

^19:26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

^19:27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

^19:28 But all of you should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?

^19:29 Be all of you afraid of the sword: for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that all of you may know there is a judgment.

^20:1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

^20:2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.

^20:3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.

^20:4 Know you not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,

^20:5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

^20:6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;

^20:7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

^20:8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

^20:9 The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

^20:10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.

^20:11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.

^20:12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;

^20:13 Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:

^20:14 Yet his food in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.

^20:15 He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

^20:16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.

^20:17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.

^20:18 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.

^20:19 Because he has oppressed and has forsaken the poor; because he has violently taken away an house which he built not;

^20:20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.

^20:21 There shall none of his food be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.

^20:22 In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.

^20:23 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.

^20:24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.

^20:25 It is drawn, and comes out of the body; yea, the glittering sword comes out of his gall: terrors are upon him.

^20:26 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.

^20:27 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.

^20:28 The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

^20:29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.

^21:1 But Job answered and said,

^21:2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.

^21:3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.

^21:4 As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?

^21:5 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.

^21:6 Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling takes hold on my flesh.

^21:7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?

^21:8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.

^21:9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.

^21:10 Their bull genders, and fails not; their cow calves, and casts not her calf.

^21:11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.

^21:12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.

^21:13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.

^21:14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of your ways.

^21:15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

^21:16 Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

^21:17 How often is the candle of the wicked put out! and how often comes their destruction upon them! God distributes sorrows in his anger.

^21:18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carries away.

^21:19 God lays up his iniquity for his children: he rewards him, and he shall know it.

^21:20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

^21:21 For what pleasure has he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?

^21:22 Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judges those that are high.

^21:23 One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.

^21:24 His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.

^21:25 And another dies in the bitterness of his soul, and never eats with pleasure.

^21:26 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.

^21:27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which all of you wrongfully imagine against me.

^21:28 For all of you say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?

^21:29 Have all of you not asked them that go by the way? and do all of you not know their tokens,

^21:30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

^21:31 Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he has done?

^21:32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.

^21:33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.

^21:34 How then comfort all of you me in vain, seeing in your answers there remains falsehood?

^22:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

^22:2 Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?

^22:3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous? or is it gain to him, that you make your ways perfect?

^22:4 Will he reprove you for fear of you? will he enter with you into judgment?

^22:5 Is not your wickedness great? and yours iniquities infinite?

^22:6 For you have taken a pledge from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

^22:7 You have not given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

^22:8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.

^22:9 You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

^22:10 Therefore snares are round about you, and sudden fear troubles you;

^22:11 Or darkness, that you can not see; and abundance of waters cover you.

^22:12 Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!

^22:13 And you says, How does God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?

^22:14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he sees not; and he walks in the circuit of heaven.

^22:15 Have you marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?

^22:16 Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflowed with a flood:

^22:17 Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?

^22:18 Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

^22:19 The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn.

^22:20 Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumes.

^22:21 Acquaint now yourself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto you.

^22:22 Receive, I pray you, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in yours heart.

^22:23 If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up, you shall put away iniquity far from your tabernacles.

^22:24 Then shall you lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.

^22:25 Yea, the Almighty shall be your defence, and you shall have plenty of silver.

^22:26 For then shall you have your delight in the Almighty, and shall lift up your face unto God.

^22:27 You shall make your prayer unto him, and he shall hear you, and you shall pay your vows.

^22:28 You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto you: and the light shall shine upon your ways.

^22:29 When men are cast down, then you shall say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.

^22:30 He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of yours hands.

^23:1 Then Job answered and said,

^23:2 Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.

^23:3 Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!

^23:4 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.

^23:5 I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.

^23:6 Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.

^23:7 There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.

^23:8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:

^23:9 On the left hand, where he does work, but I cannot behold him: he hides himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:

^23:10 But he knows the way that I take: when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

^23:11 My foot has held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.

^23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

^23:13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desires, even that he does.

^23:14 For he performs the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

^23:15 Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.

^23:16 For God makes my heart soft, and the Almighty troubles me:

^23:17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither has he covered the darkness from my face.

^24:1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?

^24:2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.

^24:3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

^24:4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.

^24:5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising early for a prey: the wilderness yields food for them and for their children.

^24:6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.

^24:7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.

^24:8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.

^24:9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.

^24:10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;

^24:11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.

^24:12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded cries out: yet God lays not folly to them.

^24:13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.

^24:14 The murderer rising with the light kills the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.

^24:15 The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguises his face.

^24:16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.

^24:17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

^24:18 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholds not the way of the vineyards.

^24:19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so does the grave those which have sinned.

^24:20 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.

^24:21 He evil entreats the barren that bears not: and does not good to the widow.

^24:22 He draws also the mighty with his power: he rises up, and no man is sure of life.

^24:23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he rests; yet his eyes are upon their ways.

^24:24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.

^24:25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?

^25:1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

^25:2 Dominion and fear are with him, he makes peace in his high places.

^25:3 Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom does not his light arise?

^25:4 How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?

^25:5 Behold even to the moon, and it shines not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.

^25:6 How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?

^26:1 But Job answered and said,

^26:2 How have you helped him that is without power? how save you the arm that has no strength?

^26:3 How have you counselled him that has no wisdom? and how have you plentifully declared the thing as it is?

^26:4 To whom have you uttered words? and whose spirit came from you?

^26:5 Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.

^26:6 Hell is naked before him, and destruction has no covering.

^26:7 He stretches out the north over the empty place, and hangs the earth upon nothing.

^26:8 He binds up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.

^26:9 He holds back the face of his throne, and spreads his cloud upon it.

^26:10 He has compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.

^26:11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.

^26:12 He divides the sea with his power, and by his understanding he strikes through the proud.

^26:13 By his spirit he has garnished the heavens; his hand has formed the crooked serpent.

^26:14 Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?

^27:1 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,

^27:2 As God lives, who has taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who has vexed my soul;

^27:3 All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;

^27:4 My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.

^27:5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.

^27:6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

^27:7 Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that rises up against me as the unrighteous.

^27:8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he has gained, when God takes away his soul?

^27:9 Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him?

^27:10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?

^27:11 I will teach you by the hand of God: that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.

^27:12 Behold, all you yourselves have seen it; why then are all of you thus altogether vain?

^27:13 This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty.

^27:14 If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

^27:15 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep.

^27:16 Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay;

^27:17 He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver.

^27:18 He builds his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper makes.

^27:19 The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he opens his eyes, and he is not.

^27:20 Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest steals him away in the night.

^27:21 The east wind carries him away, and he departs: and as a storm hurls him out of his place.

^27:22 For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.

^27:23 Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.

^28:1 Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it.

^28:2 Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone.

^28:3 He sets an end to darkness, and searches out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.

^28:4 The flood breaks out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.

^28:5 As for the earth, out of it comes bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.

^28:6 The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it has dust of gold.

^28:7 There is a path which no fowl knows, and which the vulture's eye has not seen:

^28:8 The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.

^28:9 He puts forth his hand upon the rock; he overturns the mountains by the roots.

^28:10 He cuts out rivers among the rocks; and his eye sees every precious thing.

^28:11 He binds the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid brings he forth to light.

^28:12 But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?

^28:13 Man knows not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.

^28:14 The depth says, It is not in me: and the sea says, It is not with me.

^28:15 It cannot be got for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.

^28:16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.

^28:17 The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.

^28:18 No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies.

^28:19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.

^28:20 Whence then comes wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?

^28:21 Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.

^28:22 Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.

^28:23 God understands the way thereof, and he knows the place thereof.

^28:24 For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole heaven;

^28:25 To make the weight for the winds; and he weights the waters by measure.

^28:26 When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder:

^28:27 Then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out.

^28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

^29:1 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,

^29:2 Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;

^29:3 When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;

^29:4 As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;

^29:5 When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me;

^29:6 When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;

^29:7 When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!

^29:8 The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up.

^29:9 The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.

^29:10 The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.

^29:11 When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:

^29:12 Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.

^29:13 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

^29:14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.

^29:15 I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.

^29:16 I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.

^29:17 And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.

^29:18 Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.

^29:19 My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch.

^29:20 My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand.

^29:21 Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel.

^29:22 After my words they spoke not again; and my speech dropped upon them.

^29:23 And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.

^29:24 If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down.

^29:25 I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforts the mourners.

^30:1 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.

^30:2 Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?

^30:3 For lack and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.

^30:4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their food.

^30:5 They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)

^30:6 To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.

^30:7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.

^30:8 They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

^30:9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.

^30:10 They detest me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

^30:11 Because he has loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.

^30:12 Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.

^30:13 They ruin my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.

^30:14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.

^30:15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passes away as a cloud.

^30:16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

^30:17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.

^30:18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it binds me about as the collar of my coat.

^30:19 He has cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

^30:20 I cry unto you, and you do not hear me: I stand up, and you regard me not.

^30:21 You are become cruel to me: with your strong hand you oppose yourself against me.

^30:22 You lift me up to the wind; you cause me to ride upon it, and dissolve my substance.

^30:23 For I know that you will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

^30:24 Nevertheless he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

^30:25