know not? what understandest 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 thy heart carry thee away? and what do thine eyes wink at, 13 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. t 16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water? 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. to 20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppress or. 21 A dreadful sound is in his ears in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. 22 He believeth not that he shall return 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. c 25 For he stretcheth out his hand 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, reither shall he prolong the perfection thereupon the earth. of 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. 31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity for vanity shall be his recompense. i 32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. 33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive. 34 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. CHAP. XVI. T2 I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all. HEN Job answered and said, 3 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 my head at you, c 5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should assuage your grief. 6 Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased? 7 But now he hath made me weaagainst God, and strengtheneth him-ry: thou hast made desolate all my self against the Almighty. company. 8 And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me and my leanness rising up in me beareth 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. 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 be that will strike hands with me? 4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding; therefore shall thou not exalt them. 10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smit-p 5 He that speaketh flattery to his ten me upon the cheek reproachful- friends, even the eyes of his children ly; they have gathered themselves shall fail. together against me. 11 God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked. E 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 my 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. 6 He hath made me also a byword of the people: and aforetime I was as a tabrei. 7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow. 8 Upright men shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. 9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and strong er. 10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you. E 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 my house: I have made my bed in the darkness. 14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thom art my mother, and my sister. 15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it? c 20 My friends scorn me: but 16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest toge t 22 When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return. CHAP XVII. Y breath is corrupt, my days ready for me. CHAP. XVIII. HEN answered Bildad the T Shubite, and said, 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? of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God. CHAP. XIX. fHEN Job answered said, doo, the light of the wicked How long we ad sack 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. w 8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare. 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. my soul, and break me in pieces with words? 3 These ten times have ye reproached 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. E8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set 12 His strength shall be hunger-darkness in my paths. bitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side. 13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the first-born of death shall devour his strength. E 14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors. 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 my hope hath he removed like a tree. 11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth 15 It shall dwell in his taberna-me unto him as one of his enemies. cle, because it is none of his: brim- 12 His troops come together, and stone shall be scattered upon his ha-raise up their way against me, and bitation. 16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off. w 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 astonished at his day, as they that went before were affrighted. 21 Surely such are the dwellings encamp round about my tabernacle. f 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 my 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. f 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 me. me; I arose, and they spake against | 7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have 19 All my inward friends abhor-seen him shall say, Where is he? red me and they whom I loved are turned against me. f 20 My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth. s 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 O that my words were now written! O that they were printed in a book! E8 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 o 24 That they were graven within his mouth, though he hide it under an iron pen and lead in the rock his tongue; for ever 13 Though he spare it, and fort 25 For I know that my Redeem-sake it not; but keep it still within er liveth, and that he shall stand at his mouth: the latter day upon the earth : w 14 Yet his meat in his bowels is 1 26 And though after my skin turned, it is the gall of asps within worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: c 27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me. him. 15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly. E 16 He shall suck the poison of 28 But ye should say, Why per-asps: the viper's tongue shall slay secute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me? 29 Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment. CHAP. XX. 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; 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 be 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. w 23 When he is about to fill his harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating. E 24 He shad 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. wo 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. CHAP. XXI. 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. 6 Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh. 7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? 13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. c 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. w 17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out? and how oft cometh their destruction upon them? God distributeth sorrows in his anger. E 18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. 19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it. w 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. E 23 One dieth in his fall 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. 8 Their seed is established in 26 They shall lie down alike in their sight with them, and their off-the dust, and the worms shall cover spring before their eyes. them. 9 Their houses are safe from fear, 27 Behold, I know your thoughts, neither is the rod of God upon them, and the devices which ye wrongfully 10 Their bull gendereth, and fail-imagine against me. casteth not her calf. eth not their cow calveth, and 28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling-places of the wicked? 11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. 12 They take the timbrel and 29 Have ye not asked them that |