Chapter 3

18:018:010 The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.

18:018:011 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.

18:018:012 His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.

18:018:013 It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.

18:018:014 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.

18:018:015 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

18:018:016 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.

18:018:017 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.

18:018:018 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

18:018:019 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.

18:018:020 They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.

18:018:021 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.

18:019:001 Then Job answered and said,

18:019:002 How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?

18:019:003 These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.

18:019:004 And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.

18:019:005 If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach:

18:019:006 Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.

18:019:007 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

18:019:008 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.

18:019:009 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

18:019:010 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.

18:019:011 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.

18:019:012 His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.

18:019:013 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.

18:019:014 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

18:019:015 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.

18:019:016 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.

18:019:017 My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body.

18:019:018 Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.

18:019:019 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.

18:019:020 My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

18:019:021 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.

18:019:022 Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

18:019:023 Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!

18:019:024 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!

18:019:025 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

18:019:026 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

18:019:027 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

18:019:028 But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?

18:019:029 Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.

18:020:001 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

18:020:002 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.

18:020:003 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.

18:020:004 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,

18:020:005 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

18:020:006 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;

18:020:007 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

18:020:008 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

18:020:009 The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

18:020:010 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.

18:020:011 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.

18:020:012 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;

18:020:013 Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:

18:020:014 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.

18:020:015 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

18:020:016 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.

18:020:017 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.

18:020:018 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.

18:020:019 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;

18:020:020 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.

18:020:021 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.

18:020:022 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.

18:020:023 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.

18:020:024 He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.

18:020:025 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him.

18:020:026 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.

18:020:027 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.

18:020:028 The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

18:020:029 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.

18:021:001 But Job answered and said,

18:021:002 Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.

18:021:003 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.

18:021:004 As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?

18:021:005 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.

18:021:006 Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.

18:021:007 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?

18:021:008 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.

18:021:009 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.

18:021:010 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.

18:021:011 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.

18:021:012 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.

18:021:013 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.

18:021:014 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

18:021:015 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

18:021:016 Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

18:021:017 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.

18:021:018 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.

18:021:019 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.

18:021:020 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

18:021:021 For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?

18:021:022 Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.

18:021:023 One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.

18:021:024 His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.

18:021:025 And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.

18:021:026 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.

18:021:027 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.

18:021:028 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?

18:021:029 Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,

18:021:030 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

18:021:031 Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?

18:021:032 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.

18:021:033 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.

18:021:034 How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?

18:022:001 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

18:022:002 Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?

18:022:003 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?

18:022:004 Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?

18:022:005 Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?

18:022:006 For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

18:022:007 Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.

18:022:008 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.

18:022:009 Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

18:022:010 Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;

18:022:011 Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.

18:022:012 Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!

18:022:013 And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?

18:022:014 Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.

18:022:015 Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?

18:022:016 Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:

18:022:017 Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?

18:022:018 Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

18:022:019 The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn.

18:022:020 Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.

18:022:021 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.

18:022:022 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.

18:022:023 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.

18:022:024 Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.

18:022:025 Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.

18:022:026 For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.

18:022:027 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.

18:022:028 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.

18:022:029 When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.

18:022:030 He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.

18:023:001 Then Job answered and said,

18:023:002 Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.

18:023:003 Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!

18:023:004 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.

18:023:005 I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.

18:023:006 Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.

18:023:007 There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.

18:023:008 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:

18:023:009 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:

18:023:010 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

18:023:011 My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.

18:023:012 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

18:023:013 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.

18:023:014 For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

18:023:015 Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.

18:023:016 For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:

18:023:017 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.

18:024:001 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?

18:024:002 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.

18:024:003 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

18:024:004 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.

18:024:005 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.

18:024:006 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.

18:024:007 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.

18:024:008 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

18:024:009 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.

18:024:010 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;

18:024:011 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.

18:024:012 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.

18:024:013 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.

18:024:014 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.

18:024:015 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.

18:024:016 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.

18:024:017 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

18:024:018 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.

18:024:019 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.

18:024:020 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.

18:024:021 He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.

18:024:022 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.

18:024:023 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.

18:024:024 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.

18:024:025 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?

18:025:001 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

18:025:002 Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high places.

18:025:003 Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?

18:025:004 How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?

18:025:005 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.

18:025:006 How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?

18:026:001 But Job answered and said,

18:026:002 How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength?

18:026:003 How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?

18:026:004 To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?

18:026:005 Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.

18:026:006 Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.

18:026:007 He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

18:026:008 He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.

18:026:009 He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.

18:026:010 He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.

18:026:011 The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.

18:026:012 He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.

18:026:013 By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.

18:026:014 Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?

18:027:001 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,

18:027:002 As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;

18:027:003 All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;

18:027:004 My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.

18:027:005 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.

18:027:006 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

18:027:007 Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

18:027:008 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?

18:027:009 Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?

18:027:010 Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?

18:027:011 I will teach you by the hand of God: that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.

18:027:012 Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; why then are ye thus altogether vain?

18:027:013 This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty.

18:027:014 If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

18:027:015 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep.

18:027:016 Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay;

18:027:017 He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver.

18:027:018 He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.

18:027:019 The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he is not.

18:027:020 Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night.

18:027:021 The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.

18:027:022 For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.

18:027:023 Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.

18:028:001 Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it.

18:028:002 Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone.