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 to 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 to Satan, From where come you? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

1:8 And the LORD said to 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 eschews 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 your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.

1:12 And the LORD said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your power; only on himself put not forth your 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 oldest brother's house:

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

1:15 And the Sabeans fell on them, and took them away; yes, 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 on the camels, and have carried them away, yes, 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 oldest brother's house:

1:19 And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell on 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 on 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 to Satan, From where come you? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

2:3 And the LORD said to 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 eschews 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, yes, all that a man has will he give for his life.

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

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

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

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

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

2:10 But he said to 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 on 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 afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven.

2:13 So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word to 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 man child conceived.

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

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

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

3:7 See, 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 my eyes.

3:11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost 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 Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to 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 is come on me, and that which I was afraid of is come to 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 assay 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 upheld him that was falling, and you have strengthened the feeble knees.

4:5 But now it is come on 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 my 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 on 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 my 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 forth of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground;

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

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

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

5:10 Who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on 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 disappoints 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 fraudulent 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: yes, 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 whip 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 your offspring as the grass of the earth.

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

5:27 See 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 unsavory 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 meat.

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; yes, 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 my 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 brothers 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 you are nothing; you see my casting down, and are afraid.

6:22 Did I say, Bring to 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 you imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?

6:27 Yes, you overwhelm the fatherless, and you dig a pit for your friend.

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

6:29 Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yes, 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 on earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?

7:2 As a servant earnestly desires the shadow, and as an hireling 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 to and fro to 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: my eye shall no more see good.

7:8 The eye of him that has seen me shall see me no more: your eyes are on 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 your heart on 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 to 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 to God betimes, 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 inquire, 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 on 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 wither 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 on 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 of a truth: 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 on 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; yes, and wonders without number.

9:11 See, 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 to 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 listened to 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, see, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?

9:20 If I justify myself, my 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 whip 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 hastens 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 labor 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 my own clothes shall abhor 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 judge between us, that might lay his hand on 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 on myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

10:2 I will say to God, Do not condemn me; show me why you contend with me.

10:3 Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and shine on 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 my iniquity, and search after my sin?

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

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

10:9 Remember, I beseech 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 favor, and your visitation has preserved my spirit.

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

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

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

10:16 For it increases. You hunt me as a fierce lion: and again you show yourself marvelous on me.

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

10:18 Why then have you brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, 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 from where 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 your 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 your iniquity deserves.

11:7 Can you by searching find out God? can you find out the Almighty to 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 your heart, and stretch out your hands toward him;

11:14 If iniquity be in your 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; yes, 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 your 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; yes, 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; yes, many shall make suit to 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 ghost.

12:1 And Job answered and said,

12:2 No doubt but 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: yes, who knows not such things as these?

12:4 I am as one mocked of his neighbor, who calls on 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 to you.

12:9 Who knows not in all these that the hand of the LORD has worked 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 meat?

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 on 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 See, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it.

13:2 What you know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior to you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

13:12 Your remembrances are like to 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 Why do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand?

13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain my 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 ghost.

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

13:21 Withdraw your 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 my iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.

13:24 Why hide you your face, and hold me for your enemy?

13:25 Will you break a leaf driven to and fro? 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 to all my paths; you set a print on 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 your eyes on 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 an hireling, 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: yes, man gives up the ghost, 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 your 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 my 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 destroy 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 honor, and he knows it not; and they are brought low, but he perceives it not of them.

14:22 But his flesh on 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 unprofitable talk? or with speeches with which he can do no good?

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

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

15:6 Your own mouth comdemns you, and not I: yes, your 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 gray headed 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 your heart carry you away? and what do your eyes wink at,

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; yes, 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 To whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.

15:20 The wicked man travails 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 on 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 on him, even on his neck, on the thick bosses of his bucklers:

15:27 Because he covers his face with his fatness, and makes bulges of fat 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 on 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 recompense.

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 you all.

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

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

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

16:6 Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged: 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 on me with his teeth; my enemy sharpens his eyes on me.

16:10 They have gaped on me with their mouth; they have smitten me on 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 splits my reins asunder, and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground.

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

16:15 I have sewed sackcloth on 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 my 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 my eye pours out tears to God.

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

16:22 When a few years are come, then I shall go the way from where 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 my eye continue in their provocation?

17:3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with you; who is he that will strike 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 aforetime I was as a tabret.

17:7 My 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 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 my 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 ere you make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.

18:3 Why 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 Yes, 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 on a snare.

18:9 The gin 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 extremely hungry, 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 on 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 you vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?

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

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

19:5 If indeed 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 my hope has he removed like a tree.

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

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

19:13 He has put my brothers far from me, and my acquaintance are truly estranged from me.

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

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

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

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

19:18 Yes, 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 sticks to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

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

19:22 Why do 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 on 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 my eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

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

19:29 Be you afraid of the sword: for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that 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 on 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 to 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: yes, 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 meat 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 labored 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 meat 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 on him.

20:23 When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath on him, and shall rain it on 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; yes, the glittering sword comes out of his gall: terrors are on 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 to 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 on your mouth.

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

21:7 Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, 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 on them.

21:10 Their bull engenders, 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 tambourine 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 to 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 to him?

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

21:17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft comes their destruction on 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 middle?