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 thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make
thee ashamed? |
11:4 |
For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes. |
11:5 |
But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee; |
11:6 |
And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which
is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth. |
11:7 |
Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto
perfection? |
11:8 |
It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou 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 knoweth vain men: he seeth 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 thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him; |
11:14 |
If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy
tabernacles. |
11:15 |
For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and
shalt not fear: |
11:16 |
Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away: |
11:17 |
And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday: thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be
as the morning. |
11:18 |
And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and
thou shalt take thy rest in safety. |
11:19 |
Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; yea, many shall make suit
unto thee. |
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 ye 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 knoweth
not such things as these? |
12:4 |
I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth 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 bringeth abundantly. |
12:7 |
But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they
shall tell thee: |
12:8 |
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall
declare unto thee. |
12:9 |
Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this? |
12:10 |
In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind. |
12:11 |
Doth 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 hath counsel and understanding. |
12:14 |
Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and
there can be no opening. |
12:15 |
Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth 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 leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools. |
12:18 |
He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle. |
12:19 |
He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty. |
12:20 |
He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the
aged. |
12:21 |
He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty. |
12:22 |
He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of
death. |
12:23 |
He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and
straiteneth them again. |
12:24 |
He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to
wander in a wilderness where there is no way. |
12:25 |
They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken
man. |
13:1 |
Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it. |
13:2 |
What ye 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 ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value. |
13:5 |
O that ye 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 ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him? |
13:8 |
Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God? |
13:9 |
Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock
him? |
13:10 |
He will surely reprove you, if ye 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
ghost. |
13:20 |
Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee. |
13:21 |
Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid. |
13:22 |
Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me. |
13:23 |
How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin. |
13:24 |
Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy? |
13:25 |
Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble? |
13:26 |
For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of
my youth. |
13:27 |
Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou
settest a print upon the heels of my feet. |
13:28 |
And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, 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 cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and
continueth not. |
14:3 |
And doth thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with
thee? |
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 thee, thou hast
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 dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? |
14:11 |
As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: |
14:12 |
So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake,
nor be raised out of their sleep. |
14:13 |
O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until
thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! |
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 |
Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine
hands. |
14:16 |
For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin? |
14:17 |
My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity. |
14:18 |
And surely the mountains falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his
place. |
14:19 |
The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of
the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man. |
14:20 |
Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance,
and sendest him away. |
14:21 |
His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he
perceiveth 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 unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
|
15:4 |
Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God. |
15:5 |
For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. |
15:6 |
Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee. |
15:7 |
Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills? |
15:8 |
Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? |
15:9 |
What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us? |
15:10 |
With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father. |
15:11 |
Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee? |
15:12 |
Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at, |
15:13 |
That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy 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 putteth 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 drinketh iniquity like water? |
15:17 |
I will shew thee, 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 travaileth 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 believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the
sword. |
15:23 |
He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth 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 stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the
Almighty. |
15:26 |
He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: |
15:27 |
Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his
flanks. |
15:28 |
And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, 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 prepareth deceit. |
16:1 |
Then Job answered and said, |
16:2 |
I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all. |
16:3 |
Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest? |
16:4 |
I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up
words against you, and shake mine head at you. |
16:5 |
But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage
your grief. |
16:6 |
Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased? |
16:7 |
But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company. |
16:8 |
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. |
16:9 |
He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine
enemy sharpeneth 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 hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
|
16:12 |
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. |
16:13 |
His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare;
he poureth out my gall upon the ground. |
16:14 |
He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth 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 thou 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 poureth out tears unto God. |
16:21 |
O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth 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 doth not mine eye continue in their provocation? |
17:3 |
Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me? |
17:4 |
For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.
|
17:5 |
He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail. |
17:6 |
He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret. |
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 astonied 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 hath clean hands shall be
stronger and stronger. |
17:10 |
But as for you all, do ye 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, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art 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 ye 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 teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? 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 walketh upon 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 hungerbitten, 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 astonied 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 knoweth
not God. |
19:1 |
Then Job answered and said, |
19:2 |
How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words? |
19:3 |
These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves
strange to me. |
19:4 |
And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself. |
19:5 |
If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach: |
19:6 |
Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath 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 hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths. |
19:9 |
He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. |
19:10 |
He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like
a tree. |
19:11 |
He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto 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 hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged 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 alien in
their sight. |
19:16 |
I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth. |
19:17 |
My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine
own body. |
19:18 |
Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me. |
19:19 |
All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me. |
19:20 |
My bone cleaveth 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 ye my friends; for the hand of God hath
touched me. |
19:22 |
Why do ye 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 liveth, 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 ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?
|
19:29 |
Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye
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 causeth me
to answer. |
20:4 |
Knowest thou 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 meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him. |
20:15 |
He hath 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 hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken
away an house which he builded 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 fulness 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 cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh 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. |