1 Then Job answered
and said,
2 How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with
words?
3 These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed
that ye make yourselves strange to me.
4 And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with
myself.
5 If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead
against me my reproach:
6 Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me
with his net.
7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud,
but there is no judgment.
8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set
darkness in my paths.
9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from
my head.
10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine
hope hath he removed like a tree.
11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth
me unto him as one of his enemies.
12 His troops come together, and raise up their way against
me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.
13 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance
are verily estranged from me.
14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten
me.
15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for
a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.
16 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated
him with my mouth.
17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the
children's sake of mine own body.
18 Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake
against me.
19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved
are turned against me.
20 My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped
with the skin of my teeth.
21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for
the hand of God hath touched me.
22 Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with
my flesh?
23 Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed
in a book!
24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock
for ever!
25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand
at the latter day upon the earth:
26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in
my flesh shall I see God:
27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold,
and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
28 But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root
of the matter is found in me?
29 Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments
of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.
Chapter 20
1 Then answered
Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this
I make haste.
3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my
understanding causeth me to answer.
4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,
5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of
the hypocrite but for a moment?
6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head
reach unto the clouds;
7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which
have seen him shall say, Where is he?
8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea,
he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
9 The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither
shall his place any more behold him.
10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands
shall restore their goods.
11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie
down with him in the dust.
12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it
under his tongue;
13 Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still
within his mouth:
14 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps
within him.
15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up
again: God shall cast them out of his belly.
16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall
slay him.
17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey
and butter.
18 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.
19 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because
he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;
20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall
not save of that which he desired.
21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no
man look for his goods.
22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits:
every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.
23 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.
24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel
shall strike him through.
25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering
sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him.
26 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.
27 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall
rise up against him.
28 The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall
flow away in the day of his wrath.
29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage
appointed unto him by God.
Chapter 21
1 But Job answered
and said,
2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.
3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken,
mock on.
4 As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why
should not my spirit be troubled?
5 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
6 Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold
on my flesh.
7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty
in power?
8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their
offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God
upon them.
10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth,
and casteth not her calf.
11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their
children dance.
12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound
of the organ.
13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down
to the grave.
14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire
not the knowledge of thy ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what
profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
16 Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked
is far from me.
17 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 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the
storm carrieth away.
19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth
him, and he shall know it.
20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of
the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the
number of his months is cut off in the midst?
22 Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that
are high.
23 One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and
quiet.
24 His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened
with marrow.
25 And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never
eateth with pleasure.
26 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall
cover them.
27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully
imagine against me.
28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are
the dwelling places of the wicked?
29 Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not
know their tokens,
30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they
shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.
31 Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay
him what he hath done?
32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in
the tomb.
33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every
man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.
34 How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there
remaineth falsehood? |