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27 Yea, ye would cast lots upon the fatherless,
And make merchandise of
your friend.
28 Now therefore be pleased to look upon me;
1For surely I shall not lie to your face.
29 Return, I pray you, let there be no injustice;
Yea, return again, 'my cause is righteous.
30 Is there injustice on my tongue ?

Cannot my taste discern mischievous things?
I Is there not a warfare to man upon earth?
And are not his days like the days of an hireling?
2 As a servant that earnestly desireth the shadow,
And as an hireling that looketh for his wages:
3 So am I made to possess months of vanity,
And wearisome nights are appointed to me.
4 When I lie down, I say,

"When shall I arise? but the night is long;
And I am full of tossings to and fro unto the
dawning of the day.

5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust;
My skin closeth up and breaketh out afresh.
6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle,
And are spent without hope.

7 Oh remember that my life is wind:

Mine eye shall no more see good.

8 The eye of him that seeth me shall behold me

no more:

Thine eyes shall be upon me, but I shall not be.

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9 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, So he that goeth down to "Sheol shall come up Or, the grave

no more.

10 He shall return no more to his house,

Neither shall his place know him any more.
II Therefore I will not refrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

12 Am I a sea, or a sea-monster,

That thou settest a watch over me? 13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me,

6

My couch shall ease my complaint;
Then thou scarest me with dreams,
And terrifiest me through visions:
So that my soul chooseth strangling,
And death rather than these my bones.

1 Or, I waste 1I loathe my life; I would not live alway: Let me alone; for my days are 'vanity.

away

2 Or, shall

3 Or, as a breath

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14

15

16

What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him, 17
And that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him,
And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, 18
And try him every moment?

19

How long wilt thou not look away from me,
Nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
If I have sinned, what 'do I unto thee, O thou 20
5watcher of men?

Why hast thou set me as a mark for thee,

So that I am a burden to myself?

And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, 21
and take away mine iniquity?

For now shall I lie down in the dust;

And thou shalt seek me diligently, but I shall
not be.

Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, 1 8
How long wilt thou speak these things?

And how long shall the words of thy mouth be
like a mighty wind?

Doth God pervert judgement?

Or doth the Almighty pervert justice?

"If thy children have sinned against him,

And he have delivered them into the hand of
their transgression :

If thou wouldest seek diligently unto God,
And make thy supplication to the Almighty;
If thou wert pure and upright;

Surely now he would awake for thee,

And make the habitation of thy righteousness
prosperous.

2

3

5

6

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7 And though thy beginning was small,

Yet thy latter end should greatly increase. 8 For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, And apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out:

9

(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing,
Because our days upon earth are a shadow :)

10 Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee,

And utter words out of their heart ?

II Can the 'rush grow up without mire?
Can the 'flag grow without water?

12 Whilst it is yet in its greenness, and not cut
down,

It withereth before any other herb.

13 So are the paths of all that forget God;

And the hope of the godless man shall perish : 14 Whose confidence shall break in sunder, And whose trust is a spider's 'web.

15 He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand:

He shall hold fast thereby, but it shall not endure.

16 He is green before the sun,

And his shoots go forth over his garden.

17 His roots are wrapped 'about the heap, He beholdeth the place of stones.

18 If he be destroyed from his place,

Then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen
thee.

19 Behold, this is the joy of his way,

And out of the 'earth shall others spring.

20 Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, Neither will he uphold the evil-doers.

21 "He will yet fill thy mouth with laughter, And thy lips with shouting.

22 They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; And the tent of the wicked shall be no more.

9 I Then Job answered and said,

1 Or, papyrus 2 Or,

reed-grass

3 Or, be cut off

4 Heb. house.

5 Or, beside the spring

6 Or, dust

7 Or, Till he fill

1 Or, For

2 Or, before
3 Or, If one
should desire...
he could not
&c.

4 Heb.
high places.

Of a truth I know that it is so :

'But how can man be just 'with God?
'If he be pleased to contend with him,
He cannot answer him one of a thousand.
He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength:
Who hath hardened himself against him, and
prospered?

2

3

Which removeth the mountains, and they know 5 it not,

When he overturneth them in his anger.

Which shaketh the earth out of her place,
And the pillars thereof tremble.

6

Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; 7
And sealeth up the stars.

Which alone stretcheth out the heavens,

And treadeth upon the 'waves of the sea.

8

Which maketh the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, 9
And the chambers of the south.

ΙΟ

II

Which doeth great things past finding out; Yea, marvellous things without number. Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: He passeth on also, but I perceive him not. Or, turn him Behold, he seizeth the prey, who can hinder 12

back

6 Or, arrogancy

See Is. xxx. 7. 7 Or, did

8 Or, him that would judge

me

him?

Who will say unto him, What doest thou?
God will not withdraw his anger;

The helpers of "Rahab 'do stoop under him.
How much less shall I answer him,

13

14

And choose out my words to reason with him?
Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I 15

not answer;

I would make supplication to mine adversary.
If I had called, and he had answered me;
Yet would I not believe that he hearkened unto
my voice.

16

9 Heb. He who.

For he breaketh me with a tempest,
And multiplieth my wounds without cause.
He will not suffer me to take my breath,

17

18

But filleth me with bitterness.

19 1If we speak of the strength of the mighty, 'lo, he is there!

20

4

And if of judgement, who will appoint me a time? Though I be righteous, mine own mouth shall condemn me:

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am I, saith he; and if of judgement,

Though I be perfect, 'it shall prove me perverse. Who &c.

21 *I am perfect; I regard not myself;

I despise my life.

22 It is all one; therefore I say,

He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.

23 If the scourge slay suddenly,

He will mock at the "trial of the innocent.

24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked:

He covereth the faces of the judges thereof;

If it be not he, who then is it?

25 Now my days are swifter than a 'post: They flee away, they see no good.

26 They are passed away as the swift ships: As the eagle that swoopeth on the prey.

27 If I say, I will forget my complaint,

3 Or, he
4 Or, Though I
be perfect, I
will not regard

&c.

5 See ch. i. I.

6 Or, calamity

7 Or, runner

8 Heb. ships of reed.

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I will put off my sad countenance, and 'be of Heb. good cheer:

28 I am afraid of all my sorrows,

I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.

29 I shall be condemned;

Why then do I labour in vain?

30 If I wash myself with snow water, And "make my hands never so clean;

31 Yet wilt thou plunge me in the ditch, And mine own clothes shall abhor me.

32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer

him,

That we should come together in judgement.

33 There is no "daysman betwixt us, That might lay his hand upon us both.

34 Let him take his rod away from me, And let not his terror make me afraid:

brighten up.

10 Another
reading is,
with snow.
11 Heb.cleanse
my hands with
lye.

12 Or, umpire

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