But Job answered and said,
How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength?
How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom?
and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?
To whom hast thou utteredwords? and whose spirit came from thee?
Dead things are formed from under the waters,
and the inhabitants thereof.
Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.
He stretcheth out the north over the empty place,
and hangeth the earth upon nothing.
He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
He holdeth back the face of his throne,
and spreadeth his cloud upon it.
He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.
The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.
He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.13 By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens;
his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.
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 ?
As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment;
All the while my breath is in me,
My lips shall not speak wickedness,
nor my tongue utterdeceit.
God forbid that I should justify you:
till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go :
my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Let mine enemy be as the wicked,
and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.
For what is the hope of the hypocrite,
though he hath gained ,
when God taketh away his soul?
Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?
Will he delight himself in the Almighty?
will he always call upon God?
I will teach you by the hand of God:
that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal .
Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it;
why then are ye thus altogether vain ?
This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty.
If his children be multiplied ,
it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
Those that remain of him shall be buried in death:
and his widows shall not weep .
Though he heap upsilver as the dust, and prepareraiment as the clay;
He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on ,
and the innocent shall divide the silver.
He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keepermaketh .
The rich man shall lie down ,
but he shall not be gathered :
he openeth his eyes,
and he is not.
Terrors take hold on him as waters,
a tempest stealeth him away in the night.
The east wind carrieth him away ,
and he departeth :
and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.
For God shall cast upon him, and not spare :
he would fain flee out of his hand.
Men shall clap their hands at him,
and shall hiss him out of his place.
He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection:
the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.
The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant ;
even the waters forgotten of the foot:
they are dried up , they are gone away from men.
As for the earth, out of it cometh bread:
and under it is turned up as it were fire.
The stones of it are the place of sapphires:
There is a path which no fowl knoweth ,
and which the vulture's eye hath not seen :
The lion's whelps have not trodden it,
nor the fierce lion passed by it.
he overturneth the mountains by the roots.
He cutteth out rivers among the rocks;
and his eye seeth every precious thing.
and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
But where shall wisdom be found ?
and where is the place of understanding?
Man knoweth not the price thereof;
neither is it found in the land of the living.
The depth saith , It is not in me:
and the sea saith , It is not with me.
It cannot be gotten for gold,
neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir,
with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
The gold and the crystal cannot equal it:
for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?
Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living,
and kept close from the fowls of the air.
Destruction and death say ,
We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.
God understandeth the way thereof,
and he knoweth the place thereof.
For he looketh to the ends of the earth,
and seeth under the whole heaven;
To make the weight for the winds;
and he weigheth the waters by measure.
When he made a decree for the rain,
and a way for the lightning of the thunder:
And unto man he said ,
Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
and to depart from evil is understanding.
Oh that I were as in months past,
as in the days when God preserved me;
and when by his light I walked through darkness;
As I was in the days of my youth,
when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;
When the Almighty was yet with me,
when my children were about me;
When I washed my steps with butter,
and the rock poured me outrivers of oil;
When I went out to the gate through the city,
when I prepared my seat in the street!
The young men saw me, and hid themselves:
and the aged arose , and stood up .
The princes refrained talking,
and laid their hand on their mouth.
and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
When the ear heard me,
then it blessed me;
and when the eye saw me,
it gave witness to me:
Because I delivered the poor that cried,
and the fatherless,
and him that had none to help him.
The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me:
and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy .
I put on righteousness, and it clothed me:
my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.
I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.
I was a father to the poor:
and the cause which I knew not I searched out .
and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
Then I said , I shall die in my nest,
and I shall multiply my days as the sand.
My root was spread out by the waters,
and the dew lay all night upon my branch.
Unto me men gave ear , and waited , and kept silence at my counsel.
After my words they spake not again ; and my speech dropped upon them.
And they waited for me as for the rain;
and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
If I laughed on them,
they believed it not;
and the light of my countenance they cast not down .
I chose out their way,
and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army,
as one that comforteth the mourners.
whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me,
in whom old age was perished ?
fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
They were driven forth from among men,
(they cried after them as after a thief;)
To dwell in the clifts of the valleys,
and in the rocks.
Among the bushes they brayed ;
under the nettles they were gathered together .
They were children of fools,
yea, children of base men:
they were viler than the earth.
And now am I their song,
yea, I am their byword.
They abhor me, they flee far from me,
and spare not to spit in my face.
Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me,
they have also let loose the bridle before me.
Upon my right hand rise the youth;
they push away my feet,
and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
They mar my path,
they set forward my calamity ,
they have no helper .
They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters:
in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
Terrors are turned upon me:
and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
And now my soul is poured out upon me;
the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
My bones are pierced in me in the night season:
and my sinews take no rest .
By the great force of my disease is my garment changed:
it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
He hath cast me into the mire,
and I am become like dust and ashes.
I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me:
I stand up , and thou regardest me not.
with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance . For I know that thou wilt bring me to death,
and to the house appointed for all living.
though they cry in his destruction.
Did not I weep for him that was in trouble?
was not my soul grieved for the poor?
When I looked for good, then evil came unto me:
and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
My bowels boiled , and rested not:
the days of affliction prevented me.
I went mourning without the sun:
I stood up , and I cried in the congregation.
My skin is black upon me,
and my bones are burned with heat.
My harp also is turned to mourning,
and my organ into the voice of them that weep .
I made a covenant with mine eyes;
why then should I think upon a maid?
For what portion of God is there from above?
and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
Is not destruction to the wicked?
and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
Let me be weighed in an even balance,
that God may know mine integrity.
If my step hath turned out of the way,
and mine heart walked after mine eyes,
and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;
Then let me sow , and let another eat ; yea, let my offspring be rooted out .
If mine heart have been deceived by a woman,
or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door; Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
For this is an heinous crime;
yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant,
when they contended with me;
What then shall I do when God riseth up?
and when he visiteth ,
what shall I answer him?
Did not he that made me in the womb make him?
If I have withheld the poor from their desire,
or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail ;
Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
(For from my youth he was brought up with me,
as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)
If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, o
r any poor without covering;
If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,
when I saw my help in the gate:
Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade,
For destruction from God was a terror to me,
and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
If I have madegold my hope, or have said to the fine gold,
Thou art my confidence;
If I rejoiced because my wealth was great,
or the moon walking in brightness;
And my heart hath been secretly enticed ,
This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge:
for I should have denied the God that is above.
If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me,
or lifted up myself when evil found him:
If the men of my tabernacle said not,
Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied .
The stranger did not lodge in the street:
by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:
Did I fear a great multitude,
or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence ,
and went not out of the door?
Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me,
and that mine adversary had written a book.
Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.
I would declare unto him the number of my steps;
as a prince would I go near unto him.
or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life: Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley.
The words of Job are ended .
Job 26,27,28.29,30,31