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THE

BOOK OF JOB.

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THERE was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was 'Job; and that man was perfect and 1 Heb. Iyob. upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed

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2 evil. And there were born unto him seven 3 sons and three daughters. His 'substance also Or, cattle was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east. And his sons went and held a feast in the house of each one upon his day; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with 5 them. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. Now there was a day when the sons of ch. ii. 5, 9. God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. That is, the 7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest Adversary. thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and 8 from walking up and down in it. And the

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LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered

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Or,

So ver. 11, blasphemed

my servant Job? 'for there is none like him in 5 Or, that

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the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil. Then 9 Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an 10 hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath, on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his 1substance is increased in the land. But put 11 forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will renounce thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that 12 2 Heb. hand. he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth

1 Or, cattle

from the presence of the LORD.

And it fell on a day when his sons and his 13 daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house, that there came 14 a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside 3 Heb. Sheba. them: and the Sabeans fell upon them, and 15 took them away; yea, they have slain the

men.

♦ Heb. young ‘servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While 16 he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the *servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet 17 speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have taken them away, yea, and slain the 'servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came 18 also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: and, behold, there 19 came a great wind from the wilderness, and

5 Or, made a raid

6 Or,

over

smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I 20 only am escaped alone to tell thee. Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and 21 worshipped; and he said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. 22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God with foolishness.

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Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to pre2 sent himself before the LORD. And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking 3 up and down in it. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job? 'for there is none like him in the earth, a perfect 1Or, that and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil: and he still holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against 4 him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for 5 his life. But put forth thine hand now, and

touch his bone and his flesh, and he will re6 nounce thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; only 7 spare his life. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD, and Smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. 8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself 9 withal; and he sat among the ashes. Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still hold fast thine integrity? renounce God, and die.

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Heb. to swallow him

up.

But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of 10 1 Or, impious the 'foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we

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not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin
with his lips.

Now when Job's three friends heard of all 11
this evil that was come upon him, they came
every one from his own place; Eliphaz the
Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar
the Naamathite: and they made an appoint-
ment together to come to bemoan him and to
comfort him. And when they lifted up their 12
eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted
up their voice, and wept; and they rent every
one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their
heads toward heaven. So they sat down with 13
him upon the ground seven days and seven
nights, and none spake a word unto him: for
they saw that his 'grief was very great.

After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed 1 3 his day. And Job answered and said:

Let the day perish wherein I was born,

And the night which said, There is a man child
conceived.

Let that day be darkness;

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Let darkness and 'the shadow of death claim it 5

for their own;

Let a cloud dwell upon it;

Let all that maketh black the day terrify it.

As for that night, let thick darkness seize upon it: 6
Let it not 'rejoice among the days of the year;
Let it not come into the number of the months.
Lo, let that night be "barren;

Let no joyful voice come therein.

Let them curse it that curse the day,

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Who are 'ready to rouse up leviathan.

9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark : Let it look for light, but have none;

Neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning: 10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb,

Nor hid trouble from mine eyes.

II Why died I not from the womb?

Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

12 Why did the knees receive me?

Or why the breasts, that I should suck?

13 For now should I have lien down and been quiet;

I should have slept; then had I been at rest: 14 With kings and counsellors of the earth,

Which built up waste places for themselves;

15 Or with princes that had gold,

Who filled their houses with silver:

16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been ; As infants which never saw light.

17 There the wicked cease from 'troubling; And there the weary be at rest.

18 There the prisoners are at ease together; They hear not the voice of the taskmaster.

19 The small and great are there;

And the servant is free from his master.

20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery,

And life unto the bitter in soul;

21 Which 'long for death, but it cometh not; And dig for it more than for hid treasures;

22 Which rejoice 'exceedingly,

And are glad, when they can find the grave? 23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, And whom God hath hedged in?

24 For my sighing cometh "before I eat,

And my roarings are poured out like water.

1 Or, skilful

2 Or, built solitary piles

3 Or, raging

4 Heb. wait.

5 Or, unto exultation

6 Or, like my

meat

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