Job 23-24

Job 23

¹And Job answereth and saith: --

²Also -- to-day is my complaint bitter, My hand hath been heavy because of my sighing.

³O that I had known -- and I find Him, I come in unto His seat,

⁴I arrange before Him the cause, And my mouth fill with arguments.

⁵I know the words He doth answer me, And understand what He saith to me.

⁶In the abundance of power doth He strive with me? No! surely He putteth it in me.

⁷There the upright doth reason with Him, And I escape for ever from my judge.

⁸Lo, forward I go -- and He is not, And backward -- and I perceive him not.

⁹To the left in His working -- and I see not, He is covered on the right, and I behold not.

¹⁰For He hath known the way with me, He hath tried me -- as gold I go forth.

¹¹On His step hath my foot laid hold, His way I have kept, and turn not aside,

¹²The command of His lips, and I depart not. Above my allotted portion I have laid up The sayings of His mouth.

¹³And He is in one mind, And who doth turn Him back? And His soul hath desired -- and He doth it.

¹⁴For He doth complete my portion, And many such things are with Him.

¹⁵Therefore, from His presence I am troubled, I consider, and am afraid of Him.

¹⁶And God hath made my heart soft, And the Mighty hath troubled me.

¹⁷For I have not been cut off before darkness, And before me He covered thick darkness.

Job 24

¹Wherefore from the Mighty One Times have not been hidden, And those knowing Him have not seen His days.

²The borders they reach, A drove they have taken violently away, Yea, they do evil.

³The ass of the fatherless they lead away, They take in pledge the ox of the widow,

⁴They turn aside the needy from the way, Together have hid the poor of the earth.

⁵Lo, wild asses in a wilderness, They have gone out about their work, Seeking early for prey, A mixture for himself -- food for young ones.

⁶In a field his provender they reap, And the vineyard of the wicked they glean.

⁷The naked they cause to lodge Without clothing. And there is no covering in the cold.

⁸From the inundation of hills they are wet, And without a refuge -- have embraced a rock.

⁹They take violently away From the breast the orphan, And on the poor they lay a pledge.

¹⁰Naked, they have gone without clothing, And hungry -- have taken away a sheaf.

¹¹Between their walls they make oil, Wine-presses they have trodden, and thirst.

¹²Because of enmity men do groan, And the soul of pierced ones doth cry, And God doth not give praise.

¹³They have been among rebellious ones of light, They have not discerned His ways, Nor abode in His paths.

¹⁴At the light doth the murderer rise, He doth slay the poor and needy, And in the night he is as a thief.

¹⁵And the eye of an adulterer Hath observed the twilight, Saying, ‘No eye doth behold me.' And he putteth the face in secret.

¹⁶He hath dug in the darkness -- houses; By day they shut themselves up, They have not known light.

¹⁷When together, morning is to them death shade, When he discerneth the terrors of death shade.

¹⁸Light he is on the face of the waters, Vilified is their portion in the earth, He turneth not the way of vineyards.

¹⁹Drought -- also heat -- consume snow-waters, Sheol those who have sinned.

²⁰Forget him doth the womb, Sweeten on him doth the worm, No more is he remembered, And broken as a tree is wickedness.

²¹Treating evil the barren who beareth not, And to the widow he doth no good,

²²And hath drawn the mighty by his power, He riseth, and none believeth in life.

²³He giveth to him confidence, and he is supported, And his eyes are on their ways.

²⁴High they were for a little, and they are not, And they have been brought low. As all others they are shut up, And as the head of an ear of corn cut off.

²⁵And if not now, who doth prove me a liar, And doth make of nothing my word?