Job 4: 1 - 7: 21
| 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, |
| 2“If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved? |
| But who can withhold himself from speaking? |
| 3Behold, you have instructed many, |
| you have strengthened the weak hands. |
| 4Your words have supported him who was falling, |
| You have made the feeble knees firm. |
| 5But now it has come to you, and you faint. |
| It touches you, and you are troubled. |
| 6Isn’t your piety your confidence? |
| Isn’t the integrity of your ways your hope? |
| 7“Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent? |
| Or where were the upright cut off? |
| 8According to what I have seen, those who plough iniquity, |
| and sow trouble, |
| reap the same. |
| 9By the breath of God they perish. |
| By the blast of his anger are they consumed. |
| 10The roaring of the lion, |
| and the voice of the fierce lion, |
| the teeth of the young lions, are broken. |
| 11The old lion perishes for lack of prey. |
| The cubs of the lioness are scattered abroad. |
| 12“Now a thing was secretly brought to me. |
| My ear received a whisper of it. |
| 13In thoughts from the visions of the night, |
| when deep sleep falls on men, |
| 14fear came on me, and trembling, |
| which made all my bones shake. |
| 15Then a spirit passed before my face. |
| The hair of my flesh stood up. |
| 16It stood still, but I couldn’t discern its appearance. |
| A form was before my eyes. |
| Silence, then I heard a voice, saying, |
| 17‘Shall mortal man be more just than God? |
| Shall a man be more pure than his Maker? |
| 18Behold, he puts no trust in his servants. |
| He charges his angels with error. |
| 19How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay, |
| whose foundation is in the dust, |
| who are crushed before the moth! |
| 20Between morning and evening they are destroyed. |
| They perish forever without any regarding it. |
| 21Isn’t their tent cord plucked up within them? |
| They die, and that without wisdom.’ |
| 1“Call now; is there any who will answer you? |
| To which of the holy ones will you turn? |
| 2For resentment kills the foolish man, |
| and jealousy kills the simple. |
| 3I have seen the foolish taking root, |
| but suddenly I cursed his habitation. |
| 4His children are far from safety. |
| They are crushed in the gate. |
| Neither is there any to deliver them, |
| 5whose harvest the hungry eats up, |
| and take it even out of the thorns. |
| The snare gapes for their substance. |
| 6For affliction doesn’t come out of the dust, |
| neither does trouble spring out of the ground; |
| 7but man is born to trouble, |
| as the sparks fly upward. |
| 8“But as for me, I would seek God. |
| I would commit my cause to God, |
| 9who does great things that can’t be fathomed, |
| marvellous things without number; |
| 10who gives rain on the earth, |
| and sends waters on the fields; |
| 11so that he sets up on high those who are low, |
| those who mourn are exalted to safety. |
| 12He frustrates the plans of the crafty, |
| So that their hands can’t perform their enterprise. |
| 13He takes the wise in their own craftiness; |
| the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong. |
| 14They meet with darkness in the day time, |
| and grope at noonday as in the night. |
| 15But he saves from the sword of their mouth, |
| even the needy from the hand of the mighty. |
| 16So the poor has hope, |
| and injustice shuts her mouth. |
| 17“Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. |
| Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. |
| 18For he wounds and binds up. |
| He injures and his hands make whole. |
| 19He will deliver you in six troubles; |
| yes, in seven no evil will touch you. |
| 20In famine he will redeem you from death; |
| in war, from the power of the sword. |
| 21You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, |
| neither will you be afraid of destruction when it comes. |
| 22You will laugh at destruction and famine, |
| neither will you be afraid of the animals of the earth. |
| 23For you will be allied with the stones of the field. |
| The animals of the field will be at peace with you. |
| 24You will know that your tent is in peace. |
| You will visit your fold, and will miss nothing. |
| 25You will know also that your offspring will be great, |
| Your offspring as the grass of the earth. |
| 26You will come to your grave in a full age, |
| like a shock of grain comes in its season. |
| 27Look at this. We have searched it. It is so. |
| Hear it, and know it for your good.” |
| 1Then Job answered, |
| 2“Oh that my anguish were weighed, |
| and all my calamity laid in the balances! |
| 3For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, |
| therefore my words have been rash. |
| 4For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. |
| My spirit drinks up their poison. |
| The terrors of God set themselves in array against me. |
| 5Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? |
| Or does the ox low over his fodder? |
| 6Can that which has no flavour be eaten without salt? |
| Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? |
| 7My soul refuses to touch them. |
| They are as loathsome food to me. |
| 8“Oh that I might have my request, |
| that God would grant the thing that I long for, |
| 9even that it would please God to crush me; |
| that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! |
| 10Let it still be my consolation, |
| yes, let me exult in pain that doesn’t spare, |
| that I have not denied the words of the Holy One. |
| 11What is my strength, that I should wait? |
| What is my end, that I should be patient? |
| 12Is my strength the strength of stones? |
| Or is my flesh of bronze? |
| 13Isn’t it that I have no help in me, |
| that wisdom is driven away from me? |
| 14“To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; |
| even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty. |
| 15My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, |
| as the channel of brooks that pass away; |
| 16Which are black by reason of the ice, |
| in which the snow hides itself. |
| 17In the dry season, they vanish. |
| When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. |
| 18The caravans that travel beside them turn away. |
| They go up into the waste, and perish. |
| 19The caravans of Tema looked. |
| The companies of Sheba waited for them. |
| 20They were distressed because they were confident. |
| They came there, and were confounded. |
| 21For now you are nothing. |
| You see a terror, and are afraid. |
| 22Did I say, ‘Give to me?’ |
| or, ‘Offer a present for me from your substance?’ |
| 23or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand?’ |
| or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?’ |
| 24“Teach me, and I will hold my peace. |
| Cause me to understand my error. |
| 25How forcible are words of uprightness! |
| But your reproof, what does it reprove? |
| 26Do you intend to reprove words, |
| since the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind? |
| 27Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, |
| and make merchandise of your friend. |
| 28Now therefore be pleased to look at me, |
| for surely I will not lie to your face. |
| 29Please return. |
| Let there be no injustice. |
| Yes, return again. |
| My cause is righteous. |
| 30Is there injustice on my tongue? |
| Can’t my taste discern mischievous things? |
| 1“Isn’t a man forced to labour on earth? |
| Aren’t his days like the days of a hired hand? |
| 2As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, |
| as a hireling who looks for his wages, |
| 3so I am made to possess months of misery, |
| wearisome nights are appointed to me. |
| 4When I lie down, I say, |
| ‘When will I arise, and the night be gone?’ |
| I toss and turn until the dawning of the day. |
| 5My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. |
| My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh. |
| 6My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, |
| and are spent without hope. |
| 7Oh remember that my life is a breath. |
| My eye will no more see good. |
| 8The eye of him who sees me will see me no more. |
| Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be. |
| 9As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, |
| so he who goes down to Sheol will come up no more. |
| 10He will return no more to his house, |
| neither will his place know him any more. |
| 11“Therefore I will not keep silent. |
| 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 you put a guard over me? |
| 13When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me. |
| My couch will ease my complaint;’ |
| 14then you scare me with dreams, |
| and terrify me through visions: |
| 15so that my soul chooses strangling, |
| death rather than my bones. |
| 16I loathe my life. |
| I don’t want to live forever. |
| Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath. |
| 17What is man, that you should magnify him, |
| that you should set your mind on him, |
| 18that you should visit him every morning, |
| and test him every moment? |
| 19How long will you not look away from me, |
| nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle? |
| 20If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? |
| Why have you set me as a mark for you, |
| so that I am a burden to myself? |
| 21Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? |
| For now will I lie down in the dust. |
| You will seek me diligently, but I will not be.” |
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