Job 5-8

Job 5

¹Call, I pray thee! Is there any that answereth thee? and to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn?

²For vexation killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the simple.

³I myself saw the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation.

⁴His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, and there is no deliverer:

⁵Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh even out of the thorns; and the snare gapeth for his substance.

⁶For evil cometh not forth from the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;

⁷For man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upwards.

⁸But as for me I will seek unto God, and unto God commit my cause;

⁹Who doeth great things and unsearchable, marvellous things without number;

¹⁰Who giveth rain on the face of the earth, and sendeth waters on the face of the fields;

¹¹Setting up on high those that are low; and mourners are exalted to prosperity.

¹²He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, and their hands carry not out the enterprise.

¹³He taketh the wise in their own craftiness; and the counsel of the wily is carried headlong:

¹⁴They meet with darkness in a the daytime, and grope at midday as in the night.

¹⁵And he saveth the needy from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.

¹⁶So the poor hath what he hopeth for, and unrighteousness stoppeth her mouth.

¹⁷Behold, happy is the man whom +God correcteth; therefore despise not the chastening of the Almighty.

¹⁸For he maketh sore, and bindeth up; he woundeth, and his hands make whole.

¹⁹He will deliver thee in six troubles, and in seven there shall no evil touch thee.

²⁰In famine he will redeem thee from death, and in war from the power of the sword.

²¹Thou shalt be hidden from the scourge of the tongue; and thou shalt not be afraid of destruction when it cometh.

²²At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh, and of the beasts of the earth thou shalt not be afraid.

²³For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

²⁴And thou shalt know that thy tent is in peace; and thou wilt survey thy fold, and miss nothing.

²⁵And thou shalt know that thy seed is numerous, and thine offspring as the herb of the earth.

²⁶Thou shalt come to the grave in a ripe age, as a shock of corn is brought in in its season.

²⁷Behold this, we have searched it out, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thyself.

Job 6

¹And Job answered and said,

²Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!

³For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; therefore my words are vehement.

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, their poison drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of +God are arrayed against me.

⁵Doth the wild ass bray by the grass? loweth an ox over his fodder?

⁶Shall that which is insipid be eaten without salt? Is there any taste in the white of an egg?

⁷What my soul refuseth to touch, that is as my loathsome food.

⁸Oh that I might have my request, and that +God would grant my desire!

⁹And that it would please +God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!

¹⁰Then should I yet have comfort; and in the pain which spareth not I would rejoice that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should have patience?

¹²Is my strength the strength of stones? is my flesh of brass?

¹³Is it not that there is no help in me, and soundness is driven away from me?

¹⁴For him that is fainting kindness is meet from his friend; or he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a stream, as the channel of streams which pass away,

¹⁶Which are turbid by reason of the ice, in which the snow hideth itself:

¹⁷At the time they diminish, they are dried up; when heat affecteth them, they vanish from their place:

¹⁸They wind about in the paths of their course, they go off into the waste and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba counted on them:

²⁰They are ashamed at their hope; they come thither, and are confounded.

²¹So now ye are nothing; ye see a terrible object and are afraid.

²²Did I say, Bring unto me, and make me a present from your substance?

²³Or, rescue me from the hand of the oppressor, and redeem me from the hand of the violent?

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

²⁵How forcible are right words! but what doth your upbraiding reprove?

²⁶Do ye imagine to reprove words? The speeches of one that is desperate are indeed for the wind.

²⁷Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and dig a pit for your friend.

²⁸Now therefore if ye will, look upon me; and it shall be to your face if I lie.

²⁹Return, I pray you, let there be no wrong; yea, return again, my righteousness shall be in it.

³⁰Is there wrong in my tongue? cannot my taste discern mischievous things?

Job 7

¹Hath not man a life of labour upon earth? and are not his days like the days of a hireling?

²As a bondman earnestly desireth the shadow, and a hireling expecteth his wages,

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

⁴If I lie down, I say, When shall I rise up, and the darkness be gone? and I am full of tossings until the dawn.

⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and suppurates.

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

⁷Remember thou that my life is wind; mine eye shall no more see good.

⁸The eye of him that hath seen me shall behold me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.

⁹The cloud consumeth and vanisheth away; so he that goeth down to Sheol shall not come up.

¹⁰He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him again.

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

¹²Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that thou settest a watch over me?

¹³When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;

¹⁴Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions;

¹⁵So that my soul chooseth strangling, death, rather than my bones.

¹⁶I loathe it; I shall not live always: let me alone, for my days are a breath.

¹⁷What is man, that thou makest much of him? and that thou settest thy heart upon him?

¹⁸And that thou visitest him every morning, triest him every moment?

¹⁹How long wilt thou not look away from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?

²⁰Have I sinned, what do I unto thee, thou Observer of men? Why hast thou set me as an object of assault for thee, so that I am become a burden to myself?

²¹And why dost not thou forgive my transgression and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I lie down in the dust, and thou shalt seek me early, and I shall not be.

Job 8

¹And Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

²How long wilt thou speak these things? and the words of thy mouth be a strong wind?

³Doth God pervert judgment, and the Almighty pervert justice?

⁴If thy children have sinned against him, he hath also given them over into the hand of their transgression.

⁵If thou seek earnestly unto God, and make thy supplication to the Almighty,

⁶If thou be pure and upright, surely now he will awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous;

⁷And though thy beginning was small, yet thine end shall be very great.

⁸For inquire, I pray thee, of the former generation, and attend to the researches of their fathers;

⁹For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, for our days upon earth are a shadow.

¹⁰Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?

¹¹Doth the papyrus shoot up without mire? doth the reed-grass grow without water?

¹²Whilst it is yet in its greenness and not cut down, it withereth before any other grass.

¹³So are the paths of all that forget God; and the profane man's hope shall perish,

¹⁴Whose confidence shall be cut off, and his reliance is a spider's web.

¹⁵He shall lean upon his house, and it shall not stand; he shall lay hold on it, but it shall not endure.

¹⁶He is full of sap before the sun, and his sprout shooteth forth over his garden;

¹⁷His roots are entwined about the stoneheap; he seeth the place of stones.

¹⁸If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him: I have not seen thee!

¹⁹Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the dust shall others grow.

²⁰Behold, God will not cast off a perfect man, neither will he take evil-doers by the hand.

²¹Whilst he would fill thy mouth with laughing and thy lips with shouting,

²²They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked be no more.