3:2 And Job spake, 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 G.o.d 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 ghost when I came out of the belly? 3:12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the b.r.e.a.s.t.s 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 cometh 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 G.o.d hath hedged in? 3:24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
3:25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is 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 a.s.say to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking? 4:3 Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.
4:4 Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.
4:5 But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
4:6 Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways? 4:7 Remember, I pray thee, 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 G.o.d 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 perisheth 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 falleth on men, 4:14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.
4:15 Then a spirit pa.s.sed 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 G.o.d? 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 Doth 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 thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn? 5:2 For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth 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 eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.
5:6 Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth 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 G.o.d, and unto G.o.d would I commit my cause: 5:9 Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number: 5:10 Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth 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 disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
5:13 He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward 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 saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.
5:16 So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth.
5:17 Behold, happy is the man whom G.o.d correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: 5:18 For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.
5:19 He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.
5:20 In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword.
5:21 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.
5:22 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
5:23 For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.
5:24 And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin.
5:25 Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the gra.s.s of the earth.
5:26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.
5:27 Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good.
6:1 But Job answered and said, 6:2 Oh that my grief were throughly 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 drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of G.o.d do set themselves in array against me.
6:5 Doth the wild a.s.s bray when he hath gra.s.s? or loweth the ox over his fodder? 6:6 Can that which is unsavoury 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 G.o.d would grant me the thing that I long for! 6:9 Even that it would please G.o.d 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.