JOB - Bible LITV

The Book of JOB -- Literal Translation of the Holy Bible - Copyright Š 1976 - 2000 --
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Job 1
1 ś There was a man in the land of Uz, his name was Job. And this man was perfect and upright, and fearing God, and turning away from evil.
2 And seven sons and three daughters were born to him.
3 And his possessions were 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 greater than all the sons of the east.
4 ś And his sons feasted in the house of each one on his day. And they sent and called their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
5 And it happened, when the day of feasting had gone around, Job would send and sanctify them. And he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt sacrifices according to all their number. For Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. This, Job always did.
6 ś And a day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah. And Satan also came among them.
7 And Jehovah said to Satan, From where have you come? And Satan answered Jehovah and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
8 And Jehovah said to Satan, Have you set your heart on My servant Job because there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil?
9 And Satan answered Jehovah and said, Does Job fear God for nothing?
10 Have You not made a hedge for him, and for his house, and for all that is his all around? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock have increased in the land.
11 But put out Your hand now, and touch against all that is his, and see if he will not then curse You to Your face.
12 And Jehovah said to Satan, Behold, all that is his is in your hand! Only, do not lay your hand on him. And Satan went out from the face of Jehovah.
13 ś And a day came when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their brother's house, the first-born.
14 And a messenger came to Job and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses were feeding beside them.
15 And the Sabeans fell on them and took them away. And they killed the young men with the mouth of the sword; and I, I alone have escaped to tell you.
16 While this one was still speaking, this other also came and said, The fire of God has fallen from the heavens and has burned up the sheep and the young men. And it has consumed them; and I, I alone have escaped to tell you.
17 While this one was still speaking, this other also came and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands and swooped down on the camels. And they have taken them away. And they have killed the young men with the mouth of the sword; and I, I alone have escaped to tell you.
18 While this one was still speaking, this other came and said, Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their brother, the first-born.
19 And, behold! A great wind came from the wilderness and touched the four corners of the house. And it fell on the young men and they died; and I, I alone have escaped to tell you.
20 ś And Job rose up and tore his robe, and shaved his head. And he fell down on the ground and worshiped.
21 And he said, I came naked out of my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away. Blessed be the name of Jehovah.
22 In all this Job did not sin, nor charge wrong to God.

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Job 2
1 ś And it happened that a day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah. And Satan also came among them to present himself before Jehovah.
2 And Jehovah said to Satan, From where have you come? And Satan answered Jehovah and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it.
3 And Jehovah said to Satan, Have you set your heart on My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, fearing God, and turning away from evil? And he is still holding to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to swallow him for nothing.
4 And Satan answered Jehovah and said, Skin for skin. Yea, all that a man has he will give for his life.
5 But indeed put out Your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse You to Your face.
6 And Jehovah said to Satan, Behold, he is in your hand; but preserve his life.
7 ś And Satan went out from before the face of Jehovah. And he struck Job with bad burning ulcers from the sole of his foot to the top of his head.
8 And he took a broken piece of pottery with which to scrape himself. And he sat down among the ashes.
9 And his wife said to him, Are you still holding fast to your integrity? Bless God and die!
10 But he said to her, You speak as one of the foolish ones speak. Also, shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
11 ś And three friends of Job heard of all this evil that had come on him. And they each one came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite; Bildad the Shuhite; and Zophar the Naamathite. And they had met together to come to lament with him, and to comfort him.
12 And when they lifted up their eyes from a distance and did not recognize him, they lifted up their voice and wept then. And each one tore his robe. And they sprinkled dust on their heads toward the heavens.
13 And they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights. And no one was speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

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Job 3
1 ś After this Job opened his mouth and cursed his day.
2 And Job answered and said:
3 Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night which said, A man-child has been conceived.
4 Let that day be darkness! Let not God look on it from above, nor let the light shine on it.
5 Let darkness and the shadow of death seize upon it. Let a cloud dwell on it. Let all that blackens the day terrify it.
6 As for that night, let darkness seize it! Let it not be joined to the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful voice come in it.
8 Let those curse it who curse the day, those ready to stir up Leviathan.
9 Let the stars of its twilight be dark; let it look for light, but have none, let it wait for eyelids of the dawn.
10 For it did not shut up the doors of my mother's womb; nor did it hide toil from my eyes.
11 ś Why did I not die from the womb, come from the womb and expire?
12 Why did the knees go before me; or why the breasts, that I should suck?
13 For now I would have lain down and have been quiet; I would have slept. Then I would have been at rest,
14 with kings and wise men of the earth, who built ruins for themselves;
15 or with chiefs; they had gold, they filled their houses with silver;
16 or as a hidden miscarriage, I would not have been, like infants who never saw light.
17 There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest;
18 the prisoners are at ease together, they hear not the voice of the slave driver;
19 the small and the great, he is there, and the slave free from his master.
20 ś Why is light given to the miserable one, and life to him who is bitter in soul;
21 who is waiting for death, but it is not; and they dig for it more than for treasures?
22 They are rejoicing to exultation. They are glad when they find the grave.
23 To a man whose way is hidden, God has made a hedge about him.
24 For my sighing comes before my food; and my groanings are poured out like the waters.
25 For the dreadful thing I dreaded has come on me; and that which I feared has come to me.
26 I am not at ease, nor am I at rest; nor am I quiet; yet turmoil comes.

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Job 4
1 ś And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 Shall one try a word with you, you who are weary? But who can hold back with words?
3 Behold, you have instructed many; and you have made weak hands strong.
4 Your words have upheld him who was falling, and you have made feeble knees strong.
5 But now it has come upon you, and you faint. It touches you, and you are troubled.
6 Is not your reverence your hope; your hope the uprightness of your ways?
7 ś I beg you, remember, Who ever perished, being innocent? Or where were the righteous cut off?
8 As I have seen, the ones who plow iniquity and sow misery reap the same.
9 They perish from the breath of God, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
10 The lion roars; and the voice of the lion and the teeth of the young lions are broken;
11 the old lion is perishing for lack of prey; and the lioness' offspring are scattered.
12 ś Now a word was stolen to me, and my ear received a whisper of it.
13 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
14 fear and trembling met me, and made my many bones dread.
15 Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up;
16 it stood still, but I could not discern its form; an image was before my eyes; there was silence; then I heard a voice:
17 Is man more righteous than God? Or a strong man be purer than his Maker?
18 Behold, He puts no trust in His servants; and He charges His angels with folly!
19 How much more those that dwell in houses of clay; whose foundation is in the dust; they crush them before the moth!
20 They are shattered from morning till evening; they perish forever with no one regarding.
21 Is not their tent cord pulled up within them? They die, but not with wisdom.

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Job 5
1 ś Call now. Is there anyone answering you? And to which of the saints will you turn?
2 For vexation kills the fool, and passion causes the simple to die.
3 I have seen the fool taking root, but suddenly I cursed his dwelling place.
4 His sons are far from safety; yea, they are crushed in the gate; nor is there any deliverer.
5 The hungry eat his harvest, and take him to the thorns, and the snare snuffs up their wealth.
6 ś For affliction does not come forth from the dust, nor does trouble spring up out of the ground;
7 for man is born to trouble, and the sons of the flame rise, flying upward.
8 Truly, I would seek to God, and to God I would put my plea,
9 who is doing great things, and there is no searching them; marvelous things to which is no numbering,
10 giving rain on the face of the earth and sending water on the face of the field;
11 to set the lowly on high; yea, the mourners become very high in safety;
12 breaking the plots of the crafty, nor did their hands perform the undertaking.
13 He takes the wise in their craftiness, and the counsel of the wily ones is hastened.
14 They meet with darkness by day, and grope in the noonday as in the night.
15 But He saves the needy from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.
16 And there is hope for the weak; and injustice shuts her mouth.
17 ś Behold, blessed is the man whom God corrects; and despise not the chastisement of the Almighty.
18 For He wounds, and He binds up. He shatters, and His hands heal.
19 He will deliver you in six troubles; yea, in seven no evil shall touch you.
20 In famine He will redeem you from death; and in war from the hand of the sword.
21 You shall be hidden from the whip of the tongue; and you shall not be afraid of violence when it comes.
22 You shall laugh at violence and at famine; and you shall not be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
23 For you shall be in covenant with the stones of the field; and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you.
24 And you shall know that your tent is in peace; and you shall visit your home and shall miss nothing.
25 And you shall know that your seed will be numerous, and your offspring as the grass of the earth.
26 You shall come to the grave in full vigor, like a stack of grain comes up in its season.
27 Consider this. We have searched it out; it is so. Hear it, and know it for yourself.

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Job 6
1 ś And Job answered and said:
2 Oh that my vexation were carefully weighed, and my ruin lifted in the balances together!
3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; on account of this my words have been rash.
4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; their fury is drinking my spirit; the terrors of God are set against me.
5 Does the wild ass bray over tender grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder?
6 Are tasteless things eaten without salt? Or is there taste in the slime of an egg?
7 My soul refuses to touch them; they are sickening food to me.
8 ś Who will give it that my desire might come, and God would grant my longing;
9 and God would be willing and crush me; let loose His hand and cut me off?
10 And it is yet my comfort; and I would exult in pain not spared; for I have not hidden the words of the Holy One.
11 What is my strength that I should wait? And what is my end that I should prolong my life?
12 Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh bronze?
13 Is not my help within me? And is wisdom driven from me?
14 ś To the faint, mercy is due from his friend; for he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
15 My brothers have dealt deceitfully, like the torrent, like the streams of torrents, they pass away;
16 those darkened from ice, in which the snow hides itself.
17 At the time they are warmed, they are cut off; when it is hot they dry up.
18 The paths of their way bend; they go to nothing and are lost.
19 The troops of Tema looked; the travelers of Sheba hoped for them;
20 they were ashamed because they had hoped; they came there and were ashamed.
21 Surely now you have become like it; you see my dismay, and are afraid.
22 ś Did I indeed say, Give to me? Or, Offer a bribe for me from your wealth?
23 Or, Deliver me from a foe's hand? Or, Redeem me from the oppressors hand?
24 Teach me and I will be silent; and cause me to understand in what I have erred.
25 Right words are powerful, but what does your arguing argue?
26 Do you intend to criticize words, and the speeches of one who is caused to despair, that are as wind?
27 Yea, you cause even an orphan to fall; and you bargain over your friend.
28 And now, please look on me. For if I lie, it is before your face.
29 Turn back, I beseech you; let there be no wrong. Yea, return again, for my righteousness is in it.
30 Is there wrong in my tongue? Cannot my palate discern desirable things?

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Job 7
1 ś Is there not a warfare to man on earth? And his days like the days of a hireling?
2 As a servant pants for the shade, and as a hireling looks for his wages,
3 so I am caused to inherit months of emptiness; and weary nights are appointed to me.
4 When I lie down, I say, When shall I rise up? But the night is long, and I am full of tossings, until the twilight of the dawn.
5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken and is loathed.
6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and are ended without hope.
7 ś Remember that my life is a breath; my eyes shall not return to see good.
8 The eye of him who sees me shall gaze at me no more; Your eyes are on me, and I am not.
9 As the cloud fades, it goes, so he who goes down to Sheol shall not come up.
10 He shall return no more to his house; nor shall his place know him any more.
11 Therefore, I will not hold my mouth; I will speak in the distress of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that You set a watch over me?
13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me; my couch shall bear my complaining,
14 then You scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions;
15 so that my soul chooses strangling and death rather than my bones.
16 I despise them; I will not live always. Let me alone, for my days are vanity.
17 ś What is man that You should magnify him, and that You should set Your heart on him,
18 and visit him every morning, trying him every moment?
19 How long will You not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?
20 I have sinned; what do I do to You, O Watcher of man? Why have You set me as a target for You so that I am a burden on myself?
21 And why do You not lift up my transgression, and make my iniquity pass away? For now I shall lie down in the dust, and You shall seek me; but I will not be.

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Job 8
1 ś And Bildad the Shuhite answered, saying:
2 Until when will you speak these things, since the words of your mouth are like a mighty wind?
3 Or does God pervert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
4 If your sons have sinned against Him, and if He has sent them away in the hand of their transgression,
5 if you would seek earnestly to God, and make your prayer to the Almighty,
6 if you were pure and upright, surely now He would rise for you, and make whole the abode of your righteousness.
7 And your beginning was small, yet your end would greatly increase.
8 ś For now ask of the former generation, and prepare to the search of their fathers;
9 for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing because our days on earth are a shadow.
10 Shall they not teach you, speak to you, and bring forth words out of their heart?
11 Can the rush grow up without mire? Can the reed grass grow without water?
12 While it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down, it dries out before every plant.
13 So are the paths of all those forgetting God; yea, the hope of the ungodly shall perish,
14 whose hope is cut off, and his trust as a spider's house.
15 He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand; he shall hold fast to it, but it shall not endure.
16 He is moist before the sun, and his tender plants shoot forth on his garden.
17 His roots are wrapped around a heap; he sees a house of stones.
18 If one swallows him from his place, then it shall deny him, saying I have not seen you!
19 Behold this is the joy of His way, and out of the earth others shall grow.
20 ś Behold, God will not cast away the innocent, and He will not help the evildoers,
21 until He fills your mouth with laughter and your lips with rejoicing.
22 Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame; and the tent of the wicked shall not be.

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Job 9
1 ś And Job answered and said:
2 Truly I know it is so; but how can man be just with God?
3 If he would argue with Him, he cannot answer Him one of a thousand.
4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has been hard against Him and been at peace?
5 He who moves the mountains, and they do not know; when He overturns them in His anger;
6 who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble;
7 the One speaking to the sun and it does not rise; and He sets a seal around the stars;
8 stretching out the heavens by Himself, and walking on the waves of the sea;
9 who made the Bear, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south;
10 who is doing great things past finding out; yea, marvelous things without number?
11 Behold, He goes by me, and I do not see Him; and He passes on, but I do not perceive Him.
12 Behold, He takes away; who can turn Him back? Who will say to Him, What are You doing?
13 God will not withdraw His anger; the helpers of pride stoop under Him.
14 ś How much less shall I answer Him, and choose my words with Him!
15 Though I were righteous, I could not answer Him; I seek mercy for my judgment.
16 If I had called and He had answered me; I would not believe that He had listened to my voice;
17 who breaks me with a tempest, and adds to my wounds without cause;
18 who will not allow me to bring back my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
19 If I speak of strength, behold, He is mighty; and if of judgment, who can summon me?
20 If I justify myself, my mouth will condemn me; though I am perfect, He shall declare me perverse;
21 though I were perfect, I would not know my own soul; I despise my life.
22 ś It is One; so then I said, He is consuming the perfect and the wicked.
23 If the whip kills suddenly, He will mock at the testing of the innocent.
24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?
25 ś Now my days are swifter than a runner; they flee away; they see no good;
26 they have passed away like the reed ships; as an eagle swoops on food.
27 If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will loosen my face and be cheerful,
28 I am afraid of all my sorrows; I know that You will not hold me innocent;
29 I have been condemned; why should I labor in vain?
30 If I wash myself with snow, and make my hands clean with soap,
31 yet You will plunge me into the ditch, and my own clothes would abhor me.
32 For He is not a man, as I am, that I should answer Him; that we should come together in judgment;
33 there is no mediator between us, who might lay his hand on both of us.
34 Let Him take His rod away from me, and let not His dread make me afraid;
35 then I would speak, and not fear Him; for I am not so in myself.

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Job 10
1 ś My soul loathes my life; I will leave my complaint on myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God, Do not condemn me; make me know why You contend with me.
3 Is it good to You that You should crush, that You should despise the work of Your hands, and You shine on the counsel of the wicked?
4 Have You eyes of flesh; or do You see as a man sees?
5 Are Your days as the days of man? Or Your years like the days of man,
6 that You seek out my iniquity, and search for my sin?
7 You know that I am not wicked; and there is no one delivering out of Your hand.
8 ś Your hands have made me and shaped me together all around; yet You engulf me.
9 Remember, I beseech You, that You have formed me as clay; and will You bring me to dust again?
10 Did You not pour me out like milk; yea, curdled me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knitted me with bones and sinews.
12 You have made me have life and favor, and Your providence has kept my spirit.
13 And these You have hidden in Your heart; I know that this was with You.
14 ś If I sin, then You watch me; and You will not acquit me from my guilt.
15 If I am wrong, woe to me! And if I am righteous, I will not lift up my head, being filled with shame and seeing my pain.
16 And if it rise, You would hunt me as a lion; and again You show Yourself wonderful in me.
17 You renew Your witnesses against me, and increase Your anger with me; changes and warfare are with me.
18 Why then did You bring me from the womb? I would have died, and no eye seen me.
19 I would have been as though I had never been, carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not my days few? Then cease and let me alone, that I may take a little comfort
21 before I go; and I shall not return; to the land of darkness, and the shadow of death;
22 a land of obscurity, the darkness of the shadow of death, and without any order; even the shining is as darkness.

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Job 11
1 ś And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
2 Should not a flood of words be answered? And should a man of lips be justified?
3 Should your lies make men silent? And will you mock, and no one make you ashamed?
4 For you have said, My doctrine is pure; and, I am clean in Your eyes.
5 But who will grant that God would speak and open His lips against you,
6 and would tell you the secrets of wisdom, that counsel is double? Know then that God forgets some of your iniquity for you.
7 ś Can you find out God by searching? Or can you find out the end of the Almighty?
8 Heights of the heavens! What can you do? It is deeper than Sheol; what can you know?
9 Its measure is longer than the earth, broader than the sea.
10 If He passes through and shuts up, or gathers together, then who can turn Him back?
11 For He knows the vanity of men; and He sees deceit, and will He not consider?
12 For foolish man takes heart, and man is born a wild ass's colt.
13 ś If you prepare your heart, and stretch out your hands toward Him;
14 if iniquity is in your hand, put it far away and do not let wickedness dwell in your tents;
15 surely then you shall lift up your face without blemish; and you will be steadfast, and you will not fear;
16 for you shall forget your misery, and shall remember it as waters that have passed;
17 and your lifetime shall rise more than the noonday; you shall fly; you shall be as the morning.
18 And you shall trust, because there is hope. Yea, you shall look about and you shall lie down in safety.
19 You shall lie down, and no one will be terrifying; yea, many shall seek your favor.
20 But the eyes of the wicked shall be consumed, and escape shall perish from them; and their hope shall be like the breathing out of the soul.

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Job 12
1 ś And Job answered and said:
2 For truly you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.
3 I also have a heart as well as you; I do not fall short of you. And with whom are not things like these?
4 I am a laughingstock to his friend; he calls on God, and He answers him; the just, the upright one is a mockery;
5 a torch is despised in the thoughts of him who feels secure; it is ready for those with slipping feet.
6 ś The tents of plunderers and those provoking God are at ease, to whomever God brings into his hand.
7 But now please ask the animals, and they will teach you; and the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will recount to you;
9 who of all these does not know that Jehovah's hand has done this,
10 in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all flesh, even of man?
11 Does the ear not try words, and the mouth taste food for itself?
12 ś With the aged is wisdom, and understanding is in the length of days.
13 With Him is wisdom and strength; He has forethought and understanding.
14 Behold, He breaks down, and no one builds; He shuts against a man, and no one opens.
15 Behold, He holds back the waters, and they dry up; and He sends them out, and they overflow the earth.
16 With Him is strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are His.
17 He causes wise men to go stripped; and He makes judges fools.
18 He loosens the bonds of kings, and He binds their loins with a girdle;
19 making priests walk away stripped; and He overthrows the mighty;
20 turning aside the lip of the trusted men; and He takes away the reason of the aged.
21 He pours scorn on nobles, and He loosens the girdle of the mighty;
22 revealing deep things out of darkness; and He brings the shadow of death to light.
23 He gives greatness to the nations, and He destroys them; spreading out the nations, and He leads them out.
24 He takes away the heart of the heads of the people of the land; and He causes them to wander in a waste in which is no path.
25 They grope in the dark, and there is no light; and He makes them stagger like a drunkard.

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Job 13
1 ś Behold, my eye has seen all this; my ear has heard and understood it.
2 As you know, I know, even I; I do not fall short of you.
3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue with God.
4 But you are imputers of lies; you are all worthless healers.
5 Oh that you would stop speaking entirely; and it would be your wisdom!
6 Hear now my reasoning, and listen to the arguments of my lips.
7 Would you speak unrighteously for God and speak deceitfully for Him?
8 Will you lift up His face, or will you contend for God?
9 Or as one man mocks another, do you mock Him? Is it good that He should search you out?
10 Reproving He will reprove you if you secretly lift up faces.
11 Shall not His highness make you afraid, and His dread fall on you?
12 Your remembered sayings are like ashes; surely your backs are backs of clay.
13 ś Be silent from me, that I may speak; and let what will, pass over me.
14 Why do I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hand?
15 Behold, He will cut me off; I will not wait, but I will justify my ways before His face.
16 He also is my salvation, for an ungodly one shall not come before Him.
17 Listen, hear my word, and let what I say be in your ears.
18 Behold now, I have set my cause in order; I know that I shall be justified.
19 Who is he who will strive with me? For then I would be quiet and die.
20 Only two things do not do to me, O God, then I will not hide myself from Your face:
21 Remove Your hand from me, and let not Your terror make me afraid.
22 Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and reply to me.
23 ś How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my transgressions and my sin.
24 Why do You hide Your face and count me for Your enemy?
25 Will You terrify a leaf driven to and fro? Will you pursue the dry stubble?
26 For You write bitter things against me and make me inherit the sins of my youth.
27 You also put my feet in the stocks, and watch all my paths; You set a limit on the soles of my feet.
28 And he wears out like a rotten thing, like a garment which a moth eats.

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Job 14
1 ś Man born of woman is short of days, and full of turmoil.
2 He comes forth like a flower and withers; he also flees like a shadow and does not stand.
3 Also do You open Your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with You?
4 Who gives a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!
5 Since his days are fixed, the number of his months is with You, and You have appointed his bounds, and he cannot pass over;
6 look away from him, so that he may rest, till he shall enjoy his day as a hireling.
7 ś For there is hope of a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and its shoot will not cease.
8 Though its root becomes old in the earth, and its stump dies in the dust,
9 at the scent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant.
10 But man dies and is cut off, and man expires; and where is he?
11 As the waters go away from the sea, and a river wastes away and dries up,
12 even so man lies down and does not rise until the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.
13 Who will grant that You would hide me in Sheol; You would conceal me until Your anger turns back; that You would set a limit for me and remember me?
14 If a man dies, will he revive? All the days of my warfare I will wait, until my change comes.
15 You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall long to the work of Your hands.
16 ś For now You number my steps; do You not watch over my sin?
17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and You cover over my iniquity.
18 And surely a falling mountain crumbles away, and the rock moves out of its place.
19 The waters wear away stones; its outpouring washes the dust of the earth; and You cause the hope of man to perish.
20 You overpower him forever, and he goes. You change his face and send him away.
21 His sons come to honor, and he does not know; they fail, but he does not mark it.
22 But his flesh is pained within him; and his soul mourns over him.

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Job 15
1 ś And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
3 Should he reason with speech that is not useful, or with words having no profit in them?
4 Yea, you do away with fear, and take away devotion before God.
5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth; and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6 Your mouth condemns you, and not I; yea, your own lips testify against you.
7 Were you the first man born? Or were you made before the hills?
8 Have you heard the secret counsel of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9 What do you know that we do not know? Or understand, that is not with us?
10 With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, mightier than your father as to days.
11 Are the comforts of God small with you, and a word that deals gently with you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away? And why do your eyes flash,
13 that you turn your spirit against God and let such words go out of your mouth?
14 What is man that he should be clean? And he born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15 Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones; yea, the heavens are not clean in His eyes.
16 How much more loathed and corrupted is man who drinks injustice like water!
17 ś I will tell you; hear me, and I will declare this that I have seen;
18 that which wise men have told and have not hidden from their fathers;
19 to them alone the land was given; and no alien passed among them.
20 All the days of the wicked he is laboring in pain; a number of years are stored up for the ruthless.
21 A dreadful sound of things is in his ears; the one devastating shall come on him in peace.
22 He does not believe in a return from darkness, but he is awaited by the sword.
23 He is wandering, for he seeks for bread. Where is it? He knows that the day of darkness is at his hand.
24 Distress and pain terrify him; they shall overpower him, as a king ready for the attack;
25 because he stretched out his hand against God; and he acts mighty against the Almighty.
26 He runs at Him with a stiff neck, with the thick layers of his shields,
27 because he has covered his face with fat; yea, he has put fat on his loins.
28 And he dwells in cut off cities; houses, none lives in them, which are ready to become heaps.
29 He shall not be rich, nor shall his wealth hold out; nor shall he stretch out their gain on the earth.
30 He shall not escape from darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches; and he shall turn at the breath of His mouth.
31 Let not he being deceived trust in vanity; for his reward shall be vanity.
32 Before his day it shall be fulfilled, and his branch shall not be green;
33 he shall shake off its unripe grape as the vine; and he shall cast its flower like the olive.
34 For the company of the ungodly shall be bleak; and fire shall devour the tents of bribery;
35 they conceive mischief and generate evil; and their belly prepares deceit.

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Job 16
1 ś And Job answered and said:
2 I have heard many such things. You are all miserable comforters.
3 Is there an end to windy words? Or what provokes you that you answer?
4 I also could speak as you. If your soul were in the place of my soul, I could bind words against you and shake at you with my head.
5 I might make you strong with my mouth, and the moving of my lips could spare you.
6 ś If I speak, my pain is not held back; and though I forbear, what goes from me?
7 But now He has made me weary. You have made all my company desolate.
8 And You have plucked me; for it is a witness, and my failure rises up against me; and it answers to my face.
9 His anger has torn, and hated me; He gnashes at me with His teeth; my enemy sharpens His eyes at me.
10 They have gaped at me with their mouth, and scornfully struck my cheek; they gather themselves together against me.
11 God has delivered me to the perverse; and He has turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, but He has shattered me; yea, He has also taken hold on my neck and broken me to bits; and He has set me up as a target for Him.
13 His archers surround me; He splits my inward parts and has no pity; He pours out my gall on the ground.
14 He breaks me with break on top of break; He runs on me like a warrior.
15 I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and I have thrust my horn in the dust.
16 My face is reddened from weeping; and the shadow of death is on my eyelids,
17 ś though no violence is in my hand, and my prayer is pure.
18 O earth, do not cover my blood, and let not my cry have a place.
19 Even now, behold! My witness is in Heaven; and He who testifies of me is on high.
20 My scorners are my friends; my eye pours out tears to God.
21 O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleads for his friend!
22 For years few in number will come; and I shall not return the way I shall go.

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Job 17
1 ś My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; graves are for me.
2 Are not mockers with me? And my eye rests on their insults.
3 Please lay down a pledge for me with Yourself; who is he who will strike my hand with me?
4 For You have hidden their heart from understanding; therefore You shall not exalt them.
5 He informs against friends for a share; even his son's eyes shall be consumed.
6 He has also set me as a byword of the peoples, and I am a spitting to the faces.
7 And my eye is dim from grief; and all my members are like a shadow.
8 Upright ones shall be amazed at this; and the innocent shall stir himself against the ungodly.
9 And the righteous shall hold firmly on his way; and he of clean hands adds strength.
10 ś And now all of them, go back and please come again; and I shall not find among you a wise man.
11 My days have passed; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart.
12 They set night for day; light is near in the face of darkness.
13 If I wait for Sheol as my house, I have spread out my bed in the darkness;
14 I have said to corruption, You are my father; to the worm, My mother and my sister.
15 And where then is my hope? And as for my hope, who shall see it?
16 They shall go down to the bars of Sheol, when our descent together is in the dust.

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Job 18
1 ś And Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 Until when will you put an end to words? Consider, and afterwards we will speak.
3 Why are we counted as animals? Are we stupid in your eyes?
4 One tearing himself in his anger, shall the earth be forsaken for your sake? Or shall the rock move from its place?
5 ś Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out; and the spark of his fire shall not blaze.
6 The light shall be dark in his tent; and his lamp shall be put out above him;
7 the steps of his strength shall be hampered; and his own counsel shall throw him down.
8 For he is sent into a net by his own feet; and he is walking on a snare;
9 the trap shall take him by the heel; a noose shall prevail over him;
10 the pitfall is hid for him in the ground, and a trap for him on the way.
11 ś Terrors frighten him on every side and shall dash him at his feet.
12 His strength shall be hunger-bitten, and calamity shall be ready at his side.
13 It devours parts of his skin; the first-born of death eats his parts.
14 His hope shall be rooted out of his tent, and you marched to the king of terrors.
15 What is not his shall dwell in his tent; brimstone is scattered on his home.
16 His roots are dried up beneath, and his branch shall wither above.
17 His memory perishes from the earth, and there is no name to him on the face of the street.
18 They push him from light to darkness, and they make him flee from the world.
19 He shall have no son nor kinsman among his people, nor any remnant in his dwellings.
20 Those after him shall be amazed at his day; and those before were seized with horror.
21 Surely these are the tents of the perverse, and this the place that has not known God.

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Job 19
1 ś And Job answered and said:
2 Until when will you torment my soul and break me in pieces with words?
3 This ten times you have shamed me; you are not ashamed that you have wronged me.
4 And if indeed I have erred, my error remains with me.
5 If truly you magnify yourself against me, and plead my misery against me,
6 know now that God has overthrown me and His net has closed on me.
7 Behold, I cry out, Violence! And I am not answered; I cry aloud, but there is no justice.
8 ś He has fenced up my path so that I cannot pass; and He has set darkness on my paths.
9 He has stripped me of my honor, and He has taken the crown from my head.
10 He has broken me on every side, and I go; and He has uprooted my hope like a tree.
11 And also His wrath glows against me, and to Himself He counts me as His foe.
12 His troops come together and they heap up their way against me; and they camp around my tent.
13 He has put my brothers from me; and ones knowing me are truly alienated from me.
14 My near ones have fallen away, and ones knowing me have forgotten me.
15 The tenants in my house, even my slave-girls, count me as a foreigner; I am an alien in their eyes.
16 I called my servant, but he does not answer; I must beg him with my mouth.
17 My breath is strange to my wife, and I must beg to the sons of my mother's womb.
18 Even young children despise me; I rise, and they speak against me.
19 All the men of my counsel detest me; even this one I loved has turned against me.
20 My bone clings on my skin and on my flesh; and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Pity me! Pity me, you my friends! For the hand of God has touched me.
22 Why do you pursue me, as God does, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 ś Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were engraved in a book!
24 Oh that they were cut with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever!
25 For I know my Redeemer is living, and He shall rise on the earth at the last;
26 and after my skin has been struck off from my flesh, yet this, I shall see God,
27 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and no stranger; though my reins be exhausted in my bosom.
28 For you may say, Why do we persecute him? And the root of the matter is found in me.
29 Fear for yourselves because of the sword; for fury brings punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.

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Job 20
1 ś And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
2 So my thoughts cause me to answer, even because of my haste in me.
3 I have heard the instruction of my chastisement; and the spirit from my understanding makes me reply.
4 Do you know this from of old, from the setting of man on earth,
5 that the exulting of the wicked is near an end, and the joy of the ungodly is for a moment?
6 Though his height mounts up to the heavens, and his head touches to the clouds,
7 he shall perish forever like his dung; they who see him shall say, Where is he?
8 He flies off like a dream, and is not found; and is driven away like a night vision.
9 An eye glimpsed him, but will not again; yea, his place shall not again see him.
10 ś His sons seek the poor's favors; and his hands shall restore his wealth.
11 His bones are full of his youthful vigor, but it lies down on the dust with him.
12 Even if evil is sweet in his mouth (he hides it under his tongue,
13 he spares it, and he will not leave it; yea, he keeps holding it in his mouth);
14 yet his food in his belly shall be turned; the gall of asps is within him.
15 He swallows wealth, but vomits it; God drives it out from 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 flowings of torrents of honey and curd;
18 giving back his gain, and he will now swallow. In the wealth of his trading he will not enjoy it.
19 For he crushed and forsook the poor; he stole a house, but he had not built it.
20 Surely he shall not know ease in his belly; he will not escape with his things of desire.
21 There is no residue for his eating; because of this, his good will not last.
22 In the fullness of his scorn, it is strait for him; the hand of every wretched one shall come upon him.
23 ś It shall happen at the filling of his belly, He shall cast on him the fury of His wrath, and He shall rain on him while he is eating.
24 He may flee from the iron weapon, a bow of bronze shall pierce him.
25 One draws it, and treads it from behind, even lightning from his gall; terrors come upon him.
26 All darkness is hidden for secret treasuring; fire not blown shall consume him; those left in his tent shall be broken.
27 The heavens shall expose his iniquity; and the earth shall be raising up itself against him.
28 The fruit of his house shall move, flowing away in the day of His wrath.
29 This is the evil man's portion from God, and the inheritance of his word from God.

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Job 21
1 ś And Job answered and said:
2 Listen carefully to my speech, and let this be your comfort.
3 Rise with me and I shall speak; then after I have spoken, you may mock.
4 As for me, is my complaint to man? And why should not my spirit be short?
5 Turn toward me and be astonished, and put your hand on your mouth.
6 And if I remember, I am dismayed; and trembling seizes on my flesh.
7 ś Why do the wicked live? They grow old, and become mighty in power.
8 Their seed is established with them before their face, and their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are in peace, without fear; nor is God's rod on them.
10 His bull passes semen and does not fail; his cow calves and does not miscarry.
11 They send their little ones out as a flock; and their children dance.
12 They lift up voice at the timbrel and lyre, and rejoice at the sound of the flute.
13 They spend their days in good, and in a moment go down to Sheol.
14 And they say to God, Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what do we profit if we entreat Him?
16 Behold, their good is not in their hand! The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17 ś How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, and their calamity comes on them! He shares out pangs in His anger;
18 they are as straw before the wind, and as chaff that the tempest steals away.
19 God stores up his iniquity for his sons; He repays him, and he knows.
20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what is his delight in his house after him, and his number of months is cut off.
22 Shall any teach God knowledge, since He shall judge those exalted?
23 One dies in his full strength, wholly secure and at ease;
24 his sides are full of milk, and his bones are wet with marrow.
25 And another dies with bitter soul, and never eats with pleasure;
26 they lie down together on the dust, and the worms shall cover over them.
27 ś Behold, I know your thoughts, and the plots you would wrongfully do against me;
28 for you say, Where is the house of the noble, and where the tent, the dwellings of the wicked?
29 Did you not ask those who pass along the highway; and do you not know their signs?
30 For the wicked is kept for the day of calamity; they shall be brought to the day of wrath.
31 Who shall declare his way to his face? And who repays him for what he has done?
32 Yet he shall be brought to the grave, and watch shall be kept over his tomb.
33 And the clods of the valley shall be sweet to him; and every man shall draw after him; and there is not any number before him.
34 How then do you comfort me with vanity? Yea, in your answers remains treachery.

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Job 22
1 ś And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 Can a man be useful to God? For can a wise man be useful to himself?
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways perfect?
4 Will He reprove you because of your reverence, or enter into judgment with you?
5 ś Is not your wickedness great, and is there no end to your iniquities?
6 For you have taken a pledge from your brother for nothing, and you have stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You have not given water to the faint to drink, and you withheld food from the hungry.
8 And the earth is to him, to the armed man; and the honored one lives in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty, and have crushed the arms of orphans.
10 On account of this snares are all around you, and suddenly dread troubles you;
11 or darkness, so that you cannot see, and a flood of waters covers you.
12 Is not God high in Heaven? Also behold the leading stars, for they are high.
13 And you say, What does God know? Can He judge through the dark cloud?
14 Clouds are a covering for Him, and He does not see; and He walks the circuit of the heavens.
15 ś Do you keep to the old way which evil men have trod?
16 They were taken, but there was not time; their foundation was poured out by a flood;
17 who said to God, Depart from us; and, What can the Almighty do to them?
18 Yet He filled their houses with substance; and the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 The righteous see it and are glad; and the innocent scornfully laugh;
20 truly our adversary is not cut down, and fire has eaten their wealth.
21 ś Now be of service with Him, and be at peace; good shall come to you by them.
22 Now receive the Law from His mouth and put His words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty you shall be built up; you shall put injustice far from your tents.
24 Then you shall lay gold on the dust, even among the rocks of the torrents of Ophir.
25 Yea, the Almighty shall be your gold and silver, a tower to you,
26 for then you will delight over the Almighty, and you will lift up your face to God.
27 You shall make your prayer to Him, and He will hear you; and you shall pay your vows.
28 You shall also decide a thing, and it will stand for you; and light shall shine on your ways.
29 For they have humiliated you; and you shall say, Pride! And He shall save the lowly of eyes.
30 He shall deliver one not innocent and will deliver by the cleanness of your hands.

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Job 23
1 ś And Job answered and said:
2 Even today my complaint is bitter; my hand is heavy over my groaning.
3 Oh that I knew where I might find Him, I would come into His seat;
4 I would order my cause before Him, and I would fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know the words He would answer me, and understand what He would say to me.
6 Would He plead against me with greatness of strength? No, surely He would put it in me.
7 There the righteous might reason with Him; and I would be forever delivered from my Judge.
8 ś Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I do not see Him;
9 to the left where He works, but I cannot see; He turns to the right, but I do not see Him.
10 But He knows the way with me. When I am tried, I shall come forth as gold.
11 My foot has held fast in His steps; I have kept His way and have not turned;
12 nor have I departed from the command of His lips; I treasured the Words of His mouth more than my portion.
13 ś But He is in one mind, and who can turn Him? Yea, His soul desires, and He does it.
14 For He fulfilled my lot, and many like these are with Him.
15 On account of this I am troubled from His presence; I consider, and am in dread of Him.
16 For God makes my heart weak, and the Almighty troubles me.
17 In this I was not cut off by darkness; yea, He covered the thick darkness from my face.

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Job 24
1 ś Why since times are not hidden from the Almighty, do even those knowing Him not see His days?
2 They move the landmarks; they seize and pasture flocks;
3 they drive away the ass of orphans; they take the widow's ox for a pledge;
4 they turn the needy out of the way; the poor of the earth have hidden together.
5 Behold, like wild asses in the desert, they go out in their work, seeking early for prey; the desert yields food for him for their young.
6 They reap his fodder in the field, and they glean the wicked's vineyard.
7 They lodge naked ones without clothing, and they give no cover against the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of hills, and embrace the rock for lack of shelter.
9 They seize the orphan from the breast, and lay a pledge on the poor.
10 They make them go without clothing, and are hungry; they lift up the sheaves.
11 They press out oil between their walls; they tread winepresses, but are thirsty.
12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God does not charge unseemliness.
13 ś They are among rebellers against light; they do not recognize His ways, nor do they stay in His paths.
14 The murderer rising with the light kills the poor and needy, and in the night he is a thief.
15 And the adulterer's eye keeps watch for twilight, saying, No eye will see me; and he puts a covering on his face.
16 In the dark he digs through houses; they shut themselves up by day; they do not know the light.
17 For alike are morning and the shadow of death to them; for he knows the terrors of death shadow.
18 ś He is swift on the waters; their part is cursed in the earth; he does not face the way of the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat eat up the snow waters, and Sheol those who have sinned.
20 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall suck on him; he shall be remembered no more; and injustice shall be broken like a tree.
21 He ill treats the barren that bear not, and does no good to the widow.
22 He also draws the mighty with his strength; He rises up, and no one is sure of life.
23 He gives security to him, and he leans on it; yet His eyes are on their ways.
24 They are lifted up for a little while, but they are not; and they are brought low; they are gathered in like all others, and wither like the heads of ears of grain.
25 And if not, then who will prove me a liar, and make my speech into nothing?

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Job 25
1 ś And Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 Rule and fear are with Him. He makes peace in His high places.
3 Is there any number of His armies? And on whom does His light not rise?
4 How then can man be justified with God? Or how can one who is born of a woman be pure?
5 Behold, even the moon, and it is not bright; and the stars are not pure in His eyes;
6 how much less man who is a maggot; and the son of man who is a worm!

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Job 26
1 ś And Job answered and said:
2 How have you helped the powerless, or saved the arm with no strength?
3 How have you advised the ones not wise or fully declared wise plans?
4 With whom have you spoken words? And whose breath came forth from you?
5 ś The departed spirits are made to writhe from beneath the waters, and their inhabitants.
6 Sheol is naked before Him, and the Pit has no covering.
7 He stretched out the north over the empty place; and He hung the earth on nothing.
8 He binds up the waters in His thick clouds; and the cloud does not burst under them.
9 He covers the face of His throne, spreading His cloud over it.
10 He has described a circle on the surface of the waters to the boundary of light with darkness.
11 The pillars of the heavens tremble and are stunned at His rebuke.
12 With His power He quiets the sea, and by His understanding He shatters pride.
13 By His Spirit the heavens were beautiful; His hand pierced the fleeing snake.
14 Lo, these are the edges of His ways; yea, what a whisper of a word we hear of Him! And the thunder of His might who can understand?

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Job 27
1 ś And Job continued the uplifting of his discourse, and said:
2 As God lives, He has taken away my judgment; yea, the Almighty has made my soul bitter.
3 As long as my breath is in me, and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils,
4 my lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
5 Far be it from me that I should justify you. Until I die, I shall not retract my integrity from me.
6 I hold fast by my righteousness, and I will not abandon it; my heart shall not shame me any of my days.
7 ś Let my enemy be like the wicked and he who rises against me as the perverse.
8 For what is the hope of the ungodly when He cuts off, when God pulls out his soul?
9 Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?
10 Will he delight in the Almighty? Will he call on God at every time?
11 ś I will teach you by the hand of God; that which is with the Almighty I will not hide.
12 Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; when then do you become vain with this vanity?
13 This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the inheritance of ruthless men that they shall receive from the Almighty.
14 If his sons become numerous, the sword is for them; and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
15 Those remaining of him shall be buried in death, and his widows shall not weep.
16 Though he heaps up silver like the dust, and prepares clothing like the clay;
17 he may prepare, but the just shall put it on; and the innocent shall divide the silver.
18 He builds his house like a moth, and like a booth that a watchman makes.
19 The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered; he opens his eyes, and he is not.
20 Fears shall overtake him like waters; a tempest steals him away in the night.
21 The east wind lifts him up and he is gone; for it whirls him out of his place.
22 For it will hurl at him, and will not spare; from its hand fleeing he will flee.
23 He shall clap His hands at him, and shall hiss him from his place.

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Job 28
1 ś Surely there is a mine for the silver, and a place where they refine gold.
2 Iron is taken out of the earth, and bronze is smelted from stone.
3 He sets an end to darkness, and to every extremity He searches out a stone of darkness and death-shade.
4 He opens a shaft far from the visitor; they are forgotten by man's foot; they hang far from men; they swing to and fro.
5 As to the earth, out of it comes bread; and underneath it, it is turned up like fire.
6 The place of sapphires is in its stones, and it has dust of gold.
7 There is a path not known to birds of prey, nor has a falcon's eye caught sight of it;
8 the sons of pride have not trodden on it; the lion has not passed by it.
9 He places his hand on the flint places; He overturns mountains by the roots.
10 He cuts out rivers among the rocks, and His eye sees every precious thing.
11 He restrains the floods from overflowing; and He brings the hidden thing to light.
12 But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?
13 Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living.
14 ś The deep says, It is not in me; and the sea says, It is not with me.
15 Pure gold cannot be given instead of it, and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
16 It cannot be weighed against the gold of Ophir, against precious onyx, or sapphire;
17 gold and crystal cannot be ranked with it, nor its exchange a vessel of fine gold.
18 Coral and rock crystal cannot be mentioned; yea, the getting of wisdom is above jewels.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia cannot be ranked with it; it cannot be weighed against pure gold.
20 ś Where then does wisdom come from, and where is the place of understanding?
21 Yea, it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the birds of the heavens;
22 the Place of Ruin and Death say, We have heard its fame with our ears.
23 God knows its way, and He knows its place.
24 For He looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under all the heavens;
25 making a weight for the winds and measuring out the waters by measure.
26 When He made a decree for the rain, and a way for the flash, the thunderclap,
27 then He saw it, and declared it; He prepared it, and He also searched it out.
28 And to man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom! And to turn from evil is understanding.

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Job 29
1 ś And Job continued the lifting up of his discourse, and said:
2 Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God watched over me;
3 when His lamp shone on my head, when I walked through darkness by His light;
4 as I was in the days of my harvest, when the intimacy with God was on my tent;
5 when the Almighty was yet with me and my children were around me;
6 when I washed my steps with curds, and the rock poured out rivers of oil for me;
7 ś when I went out to the gate by the city; when I prepared my seat in the street.
8 The young men saw me and hid themselves; the aged rose up, stood up;
9 the rulers held back with words, and they laid a hand on their mouth;
10 the leaders' voice was hidden; yea, their tongue clung to the roof of their mouth.
11 For the ear heard, and blessed me; and the eye saw, and witnessed for me.
12 For I delivered the poor who cried for help and the orphan who had no helper to him.
13 The blessing of the perishing came on me; and I made the widow's heart to sing.
14 I put on righteousness and it clothed me; my judgment was like a robe and a diadem.
15 I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.
16 I was father to the poor, and the cause which I did not know, I searched out.
17 I broke the fangs of the perverse, and cast the prey out of his teeth.
18 ś Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply days like the sand.
19 My root was open to the waters, and the dew lay all night on my branch.
20 My glory was fresh with me, and my bow was renewed in my hand.
21 They listened to me and waited, and kept silence for my counsel.
22 After my words, they did not go on, and my speech dropped on them.
23 And they waited for me like the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
24 I laughed on those when they did not believe, and they did not make the light of my face to fall.
25 I chose out their way, and sat as chief; and I lived like a king among the troops; as the mourners, and he who comforts.

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Job 30
1 ś But now the young in days laugh at me; those whose fathers I would have refused to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 Also, what profit for me was the strength of their hands; for full vigor had perished from them?
3 They are lifeless with want and hunger, those who gnaw the dry ground which was formerly waste and desolation;
4 those plucking mallow by the bushes, and broom roots for their food;
5 they are driven from the midst; they shouted against them as a thief;
6 they dwell in the chasms of the torrents, in the holes of the earth, and in rocks.
7 They bray among the bushes; they huddle together under the nettles;
8 sons of fools; yea, sons without a name; they have been whipped out of the land.
9 And now I am their song; yea, I am their byword.
10 They despise me, and they keep away from me; they do not spare spit from my face.
11 Because He has loosed His bowstring and afflicted me, they also have thrown off the bridle in my presence.
12 On my right hand a brood rises; they push away my feet and raise their destructive ways against me.
13 They have broken down my path; they profit by my ruin; they have no helper.
14 They come on, as through a break; they roll on under ruin.
15 ś Terrors are turned on me; they pursue my soul like the wind, and my goods pass away like a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have seized me.
17 The night pierces my bones on me, and my gnawings never lie down.
18 By the great force of my disease my garment is disfigured; it chokes me like the mouth of my coat.
19 He has cast me into the mire; and I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I cried to You, but You did not answer me. I stood up, and You looked at me.
21 You changed to be cruel to me; You assault me with the might of Your hand;
22 You lift me up to the wind; You cause me to ride on it; and You melt me in a storm.
23 For I know that You will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
24 Surely He will not stretch out His hand to the ruin heap; behold, they cry for help in their misfortune.
25 Did I not weep for him whose day is hard; and my soul grieved for the poor?
26 When I looked for good, then evil came; and when I waited for light, then darkness came.
27 My bowels have boiled, and they have not rested; the days of affliction confront me.
28 I go in mourning with no sun; I stood up in the assembly, and I cried out.
29 I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to daughters of the ostrich.
30 My skin is blackened on me, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 And my lyre has turned to mourning, and My flute vibrates to the sound of weeping.

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Job 31
1 ś I made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I look intently on a virgin?
2 For what is the portion from God above? And what is the legacy from the Almighty on high?
3 Is it not disaster to the perverse, and calamity to the workers of iniquity?
4 Does He not see my ways and count all my steps?
5 If I have walked with vanity, or my foot has hurried to deceit,
6 let me be weighed in a just balance so that God may know my integrity.
7 If my step has turned aside out of the way, or my heart has walked after my eyes, and if any blot has held fast to my hands,
8 let me sow, and let another eat; and let my harvests be rooted out.
9 ś If my heart has been enticed by a woman; or I have laid wait at my neighbor's door,
10 let my wife grind to another, and let others crouch over her.
11 For that would be an evil scheme, and is iniquity for judges.
12 For it is a fire that devours to the Place of Ruin, and it would root up all my gain.
13 If I despised the cause of my male slave or my slave-girl when they contended with me,
14 what then shall I do when God rises up? And when He calls me to account, what shall I answer Him?
15 Did not He who made me in the belly make him? And did not One shape us in the womb?
16 ś If I have withheld from the desire of the poor, or I have consumed the widow's eyes,
17 or have eaten my bit alone, and the orphan has not eaten it,
18 for from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother's womb I guided her.
19 If I have seen any perish for lack of clothing, or there was no covering for the needy;
20 if his loins have not blessed me, and he warmed himself with the fleece of my flock;
21 if I have lifted up my hand against the orphan, when I watched over my help in the gate;
22 let my shoulder fall from the back, and let my arm be broken from the elbow.
23 For trouble from God is a terror to me, and I could not do the thing because of His majesty.
24 ś If I have made gold my hope or have called fine gold my trust;
25 if I rejoiced because my wealth was great; or because my hand had gotten much;
26 if I looked to the light when it shone, or the splendid moon marching,
27 and my heart was secretly enticed, or my mouth has kissed my hand;
28 this also would be an iniquity for the judges; for I would have denied God above.
29 If I rejoiced at the ruin of one hating me, and I was excited when evil found him;
30 also I have not given my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse;
31 if the men of my tent did not say, Who can give one not satisfied from his flesh?
32 The stranger did not sleep in the street, for I opened my doors to the traveler;
33 ś if I covered my transgressions like Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
34 then let me fear before a great multitude, and let the scorn of families frighten me and I will be silent, and not go out the door.
35 Oh that I had one to hear me! See, my mark! Let the Almighty answer me, and let my Accuser write an indictment.
36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder, and bind it like crowns to me.
37 I would tell Him the number of my steps. Like a prince I would go near Him.
38 If my land cries out against me, or its furrows weep together;
39 if I have eaten its strength without silver, or have caused its owner to expire;
40 let thorns come forth instead of wheat, and a weed instead of barley. The words of Job are finished.

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Job 32
1 ś And these three men rested from answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.
2 And then burned the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram; his wrath burned against Job, because he had justified himself rather than God.
3 Also his wrath burned against his three friends, because they had not found any answer, yet they had condemned Job.
4 And Elihu had waited for Job with words, because they were older than he in days.
5 When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men, then his anger burned.
6 ś And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and you are very aged; so I held back and was afraid to make my knowledge known to you.
7 I said, Days will speak, and many years will make wisdom known.
8 But it is a spirit in man giving them perception, even the breath of the Almighty.
9 It is not the great that are wise, nor the aged who perceive justice;
10 so then I say, Listen to me; I will declare my opinion, I also.
11 Behold, I waited for your words; I listened to your reasons while you searched out words;
12 yea, I paid attention to you, and behold, not one of you proved Job wrong, nor answered his sayings;
13 that you not say, We have discovered wisdom. It is God who will scatter him, not man.
14 And he has not ordered words against me, and I will not answer him with your words.
15 ś They are broken; they do not reply again; words have been removed from them.
16 Shall I wait because they do not speak, because they stand, not answering again?
17 I also will answer my share; I also will declare what I know.
18 For I am full of words; the spirit inside me pressed on me;
19 behold my belly is like wine that has no vent; it bursts like new wineskins.
20 I will speak so that I may be relieved; I will open my lips and answer.
21 I will not now lift up the face of a man, nor eulogize any man.
22 For I do not know how to eulogize; else after a little my Maker will take me away.

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Job 33
1 ś However, Job, now hear my speech and listen to all my words.
2 Behold, now I have opened my mouth; my tongue has spoken in my mouth.
3 My words shall be from my upright heart; and my lips will clearly speak knowledge.
4 The Spirit of God made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
5 If you are able, answer me; set yourself in order before me. Stand up!
6 Behold, I am toward God as you; I also was formed from the clay.
7 Behold, my terror shall not frighten you; and my burden shall not be heavy on you.
8 ś Surely you have spoken in my ears, and I have heard the sound of words.
9 You said, I am pure, without transgression; I am clean and no iniquity is in me;
10 behold, He finds alienation on me; He considers me His enemy;
11 He puts my feet in the stocks; He watches all my paths.
12 Behold, you are not right in this. I will answer you, for God is greater than man.
13 Why do you contend against Him, since He does not give account to you for any of His matters?
14 ś For in one way God may speak, and in a second, but one does not regard it.
15 In a dream, a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men; while they slumber on the bed,
16 then He opens the ear of men and seals their instruction,
17 that He may turn man from his deed; that He might conceal pride from man.
18 He holds back his soul from the Pit, and his life from passing by the sword.
19 ś He is also chastened with pain on his bed, and enduring strife in his bones;
20 so that his life loathes bread, and his soul desirable food.
21 His flesh wastes away from his sight; and his bones laid bare, they that were not seen.
22 Yea, his soul draws near to the Pit, and his life to those causing dying.
23 If there is a messenger for him, a mediator, one among a thousand, to declare for man his uprightness,
24 then let Him be gracious to him and say, Deliver him from going down to the Pit, for I have found a ransom!
25 His flesh shall be fresher than in vigor; let him return to the days of his youth.
26 He will pray to God, and He will accept him, and he will see His face with exultation; for He will restore to man his righteousness.
27 He will observe to men and say, I have sinned, and I have perverted uprightness; and it was not equally repaid to me;
28 He has redeemed my soul from passing over into the Pit, and my life shall see the light.
29 ś Lo, all these God does two or three times with a man,
30 to bring back his soul from the Pit, to be illuminated with the light of the living.
31 Pay attention, O Job; listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.
32 If you have anything to say, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you.
33 If not, you listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.

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Job 34
1 ś And Elihu answered and said:
2 O wise men, hear my words; and you who know, listen to me;
3 for the ear tries words as the palate tastes food.
4 Let us choose for ourselves what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good.
5 For Job has said, I am righteous; also, God has taken away my right;
6 should I lie against my right? My wound is incurable, yet I am without rebellion.
7 What man is like Job, who drinks up derision like water;
8 who goes in company with those who work iniquity, and walks with wicked men?
9 For he has said, It is no benefit for a man when he is accepted with God.
10 ś So, O man of heart, listen to me; far be it from God to do wickedness; and the Almighty, to do evilly.
11 For He repays man's work to him; and according to a man's way, He causes him to find.
12 Yea, surely God will not do evilly, nor will the Almighty pervert justice.
13 Who has given the earth as in deposit with Him? Or who has laid the whole world?
14 If He sets His heart on him, if He gathers his Spirit and his breath to Himself,
15 all flesh shall perish together, and man shall return to dust.
16 ś But if you have understanding, hear this; listen to the sound of my words:
17 Shall one who hates justice restrain it? Or will you condemn a righteous, mighty one;
18 who says to a king, O worthless one; to nobles, O evil one?
19 How much less to Him who does not lift up the face of rulers, nor regard the rich before the poor; for all of them are the work of His hands.
20 In a moment they die, and a people are shaken at midnight; yea, they pass away, and the mighty will be taken without a hand.
21 For His eyes are on the ways of a man, and He sees all his steps.
22 There is no darkness nor shadow of death, to hide there those who work iniquity.
23 For He does not still impose on man to go before God in judgment.
24 He will break mighty men in pieces without inquiry, and make others stand in their place.
25 So He knows their works; and He overturns in the night, so that they are crushed.
26 He strikes them for evil deeds in the place of the spectators,
27 for so they turned from following Him, and they did not consider all His ways so as
28 to cause the cry of the poor to come to Him. For He hears the cry of the afflicted.
29 And He gives rest; who then can condemn? And when He hides His face, who then can see Him? Even it may be against a nation and a man together,
30 from the reigning of ungodly men, from being snares for the people.
31 ś For has any said to God, I have taken away; I will not pervert?
32 Besides what I see, You teach me; if I have done iniquity, I will not do it again.
33 Must He repay you because you rejected it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore, speak what you know.
34 Men of heart will say to me, and a wise man who hears me will say,
35 Job has spoken without knowledge, and his words are not with insight.
36 Would that Job may be tried to the end, because his answers are like men of iniquity.
37 For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us, and multiplies his words against God.

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Job 35
1 ś And Elihu answered and said:
2 Do you think this to be just, you that say, I am more just than God?
3 For you say, What will it benefit you? What shall I profit more than if I had sinned?
4 I will answer your words, and your friends with you.
5 Observe the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds, they are higher than you.
6 If you sin, what do you do against Him? Or if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to Him? Or what does He receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness is for a man like yourself; and your righteousness may profit a son of man.
9 ś From the host of oppressions, they cry out; they cry because of the arm of the multitude.
10 But no one says, Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,
11 teaching us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?
12 There they cry, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evildoers.
13 Surely, God will not hear vanity, nor will the Almighty look upon it.
14 ś How much less when you say you do not regard Him! Judgment is before Him, and you are waiting for Him.
15 And now, because His anger has not visited, and He does not recognize great stupidity,
16 even Job vainly opens his mouth; he multiplies words without knowledge.

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Job 36
1 ś And Elihu continued, and said:
2 Wait for me a little, and I will show you that there are yet words for God.
3 I will bring my knowledge from afar, and I will credit righteousness to my Maker.
4 For truly my words are not false; the perfect One in knowledge is with you.
5 ś Behold, God is mighty, and He does not despise. He is mighty in strength of heart.
6 He will not keep the wicked alive, but He gives justice to the afflicted.
7 He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous, but they are like kings on the throne; yea, He causes them to sit forever, and they are very high.
8 And if they are bound in chains, or caught in cords of affliction,
9 then He declares to them their work and their transgressions, that they have behaved proudly.
10 He also opens their ear to instruction, and commands that they turn back from iniquity.
11 If they hear and serve, they shall spend their days in good, and their years in pleasures.
12 But if they do not hear, they shall pass away by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.
13 But the ungodly in heart heap up anger; they cry not when He has bound them.
14 Their soul dies in youth, and their life ends among the sodomites.
15 ś He delivers the afflicted by his affliction, and He opens their ears by oppression.
16 And also He lured you from the mouth of distress to a wide place not cramped under; and the setting of your table would be full of fatness.
17 But you have filled up the judgment of the wicked; judgment and justice take hold.
18 For beware wrath, that He not lure you with His scorn; then a great ransom cannot turn you aside.
19 If your cry for help is set in order, then it will not be in gold, but with all the strong forces.
20 Do not desire the night when people are cut off in their stead.
21 Beware! Do not turn to iniquity; for you have chosen this rather than affliction.
22 Behold, God is exalted in His power. Who is a teacher like Him?
23 Who has appointed Him His way; or who can say, You have done wrong?
24 ś Remember that you magnify His work, of which men have sung;
25 every man has seen it; man beholds it from afar.
26 Behold, God is great, and we do not know; the number of His years cannot be searched out.
27 For He draws up the drops of water; they distill rain into mist,
28 which the clouds drip down, and drop upon men plentifully.
29 Also can any understand the spreading of the clouds, the crashing of His canopy?
30 Behold, He spreads His light about Him, and He covers the bottom of the sea.
31 For He judges the people by them; He gives plenty of food.
32 He covers His hands with the lightning, and commands it to strike the mark;
33 its thunder tells about Him; also the cattle, as to what is coming.

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Job 37
1 ś My heart also trembles at this, and it leaps from its place.
2 Listen carefully to the thunder of His voice, and the rumbling that comes out from His mouth.
3 He lets it loose under the whole heavens, and His lightning to the wings of the earth.
4 After it, a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice; and He will not hold them back when His voice is heard.
5 God thunders wondrously with His voice; He does great things, and we do not know.
6 ś For He says to the snow, Fall on the earth; also to the shower of rain, and the shower of heavy rains.
7 He seals up the hand of every man so that all men may know His work.
8 Then the beast goes into its lair, and they stay in their dens.
9 Out of the storeroom comes the tempest, and cold from scattering winds.
10 Ice is given by God's breath, and the expanse of waters is frozen.
11 Yea, He loads the cloud with moisture; He scatters His lightning cloud;
12 and it is turned around by His guidance, so that they may do whatever He commands them on the face of the world of the earth.
13 Whether as a whip, or for His land, or for mercy, He finds it.
14 ś Listen to this, O Job; stand still and consider the wonderful works of God.
15 Do you know when God placed them, and caused the lightning of His cloud to shine?
16 Do you know the balance of the clouds, the wonderful works of Him who is perfect in knowledge,
17 you whose garments are warm when the earth is still from the south wind?
18 Can you beat out the expanse with Him, hard like a cast mirror?
19 Make us know what we shall say to Him; for we cannot arrange our case because of darkness.
20 Shall it be told to Him that I would speak? If a man speaks, surely he will be swallowed up.
21 ś And now men cannot look upon the light when it is bright in the clouds; when the wind has passed and cleared them.
22 Golden splendor comes out of the north; God is awesome in His majesty.
23 We cannot find Him, the Almighty; He is exalted in power; and He does not violate justice and abundant righteousness.
24 So, men, fear Him; He does not see any who are wise of heart.

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Job 38
1 ś And Jehovah answered Job out of the tempest and said:
2 Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Now gird up your loins like a man, for I will question you; and you teach Me.
4 ś Where were you when I founded the earth? Declare if you know understanding.
5 Who has set its dimensions, for you know? Or who has stretched a line on it?
6 On what were its bases sunk? Or who cast its cornerstone,
7 when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it burst out; it came forth from the womb?
9 When I made the clouds to clothe it, and darkness its navel-band;
10 and I broke My limit on it and set bars and doors;
11 and I said, You shall come to here, but no further; and here your proud waves shall be set?
12 ś Have you commanded the morning from your days, and caused the dawn to know its place,
13 that it might take hold of the wings of the earth; that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
14 It is turned like clay under a seal; and they stand out like a garment.
15 And their light is withheld from the wicked, and the high arm shall be broken.
16 Have you gone to the springs of the sea; or have you walked in searching of the deep?
17 Have death's gates been opened to you; or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
18 Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Declare, if you know it all!
19 Where is this, the way light dwells; and where is the place of darkness,
20 that you should take it to its boundary, and that you should perceive the paths to its house?
21 You know, for then you were born, and the number of your days is great.
22 Have you entered into the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I have reserved for the time of distress for the day of battle and war?
24 How is it, the way the light is distributed; and how does the east wind spread itself on the earth?
25 ś Who has cut a channel for the flood; or a way for the thunderclaps,
26 to make it rain on the earth where no man is, a wilderness and no man in it;
27 to satisfy the waste and desolation, and to cause the source of grass to sprout?
28 Is there a father for the rain? Or who has given birth to the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes forth the ice; and the frost of the heavens, who fathered it;
30 the waters hidden like stone, and the face of the deep is captured?
31 Can you bind the bands of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?
32 Can you bring out the constellations in their season; or can you guide the Bear with its sons?
33 Do you know the limits of the heavens; can you establish their rulership on the earth?
34 Can you lift your voice to the clouds, so that floods of water may cover you?
35 Can you send lightnings, that they may go and say to you, Here we are?
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts; or who has given understanding to the mind?
37 Who can by wisdom number the clouds or who can lay down the jars of the heavens,
38 when the dust is melted into hardness, and the clods cling fast together?
39 Will you hunt the prey for the lion, or fill the appetite of the young lions,
40 when they crouch in dens, and sit in the cover of their hiding place?
41 Who provides food for the raven, when its young ones cry to God and wander about without food?

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Job 39
1 ś Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock bear? Do you observe the calving of deer?
2 Can you tell the months they fulfill; or do you know the time for their bearing,
3 when they crouch and bring forth; they send out their pangs?
4 Their sons are strong; they multiply with grain; they go forth and do not return to them.
5 Who has sent out the wild ass free, or who has loosened the bands of the wild ass?
6 To whom I have assigned the desert for his home, and the salt land for his dwellings?
7 He laughs at the roar of the city; he does not hear the driver's shouts;
8 he seeks out mountains for his pasture; and he searches after every green thing.
9 Will the wild ox consent to be your servant, or spend the night by your feed-trough?
10 Can you tie the wild ox in the furrow with his rope? Or will he harrow the valleys for you?
11 Will you trust him because his strength is great; or will you leave your labor to him?
12 Or will you have faith in him, that he will return your seed, and gather it to your grain-floor?
13 ś The wing of the ostriches flap joyously, though not like the stork's pinions for flight.
14 For she leaves her eggs to the earth, and lets them warm on the dust;
15 and forgets that a foot may crush it, or the beast of the field may trample it;
16 she treats her young roughly, as if they are not hers; for her labor is vanity without fear;
17 because God has made her forget wisdom; and He has not given to her a share in understanding.
18 At the time she lifts up on high, she laughs at the horse and its rider.
19 ś Have you given the horse its strength: have you clothed its neck with a mane?
20 Can you make him leap like a locust; the majesty of his snorting is terrifying?
21 He paws in the valley and he rejoices in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons;
22 he mocks at fear and is not terrified; and he does not turn back from the sword.
23 The quiver rattles against him, the flashing spear and the javelin.
24 He swallows the ground with quivering and trembling, and he does not stand still for the sound of the ram's horn.
25 When the ram's horn sounds, he says, Aha! And he smells the battle from a distance, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26 ś Does the hawk soar from your understanding? Will he spread his wings toward the south?
27 Or does the eagle mount up at your mouth, and make his nest on high?
28 He lives and stays on the rock, on the crag of the rock and the stronghold.
29 From there he seeks food; his eyes see afar off.
30 And his young brood also sucks up blood; and where the pierced ones are, there he is.

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Job 40
1 ś And Jehovah answered Job and said:
2 Shall a reprover contend with the Almighty? He who reproves God, let him answer it.
3 Then Job answered Jehovah and said:
4 Behold, I am vile! What shall I answer You? I will put my hand to my mouth.
5 Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; yea, twice, but I will go no further.
6 ś And Jehovah answered Job out of the tempest and said:
7 Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will question you; and you make Me to know.
8 Will you also set aside My judgment; will you condemn Me so that you may be justified?
9 And have you an arm like God; or can you thunder with a voice like His?
10 Adorn yourself with majesty now, and with grandeur, and clothe yourself with glory and honor;
11 pour forth the outbursts of your anger; yea, look on everyone who is proud, and bring him down low;
12 look on everyone who is proud, and humble him, and trample the wicked in their place;
13 hide them in the dust together; bind their faces in darkness.
14 Then I also will confess to you that your right hand can save you.
15 ś Now behold Behemoth, which I made along with you; he eats grass like an ox;
16 see, now, his strength is in his loins, and his force in the muscles of his belly;
17 he hangs his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are knit together;
18 his bones are like tubes of bronze; his bones like bars of iron;
19 he is the first in the ways of God; his Maker brings near his sword.
20 For the mountains yield food for him, and all the beasts of the field play there.
21 He lies under the lotus, in the hiding-place of the reed and the marsh;
22 the lotus trees cover him in its shadow; the willows of the torrent circle him.
23 Behold, he is confident, even if Jordan burst forth against his mouth.
24 Shall any take him before his eyes, or pierce his nose with snares?

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Job 41
1 ś Can you draw out the leviathan with a hook, or hold down his tongue with a cord?
2 Can you put a reed rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw with a thorn?
3 Will he multiply pleas for help to you; or will he speak soft words to you?
4 Will he cut a covenant with you; will you take him for a slave forever?
5 Will you play with him as with a bird; or will you tie him up for your maidens?
6 Shall your partners bargain over him; shall they divide him among the merchants?
7 Can you fill his skin with barbs, or his head with fishing spears?
8 Put your hand on him; remember the battle; you will not do it again!
9 Behold, his hope has been made false; will he not be cast down at the sight of him?
10 None is so fierce as to dare to stir him up. Who then is able to stand before Me?
11 ś Who has gone before Me that I should repay? All under the heavens, it is Mine!
12 I will not keep silent as to his limbs, or the matter of his powers, or the grace of his frame.
13 Who can take off the face of his covering; who can come with his double bridle?
14 Who can pry open the doors of his face? Terror is all around his teeth.
15 The rows of shields are his pride, shut up with a tight seal;
16 one is so near to another that no air can come between them;
17 they are joined to one another; they clasp each other, so that they cannot be separated.
18 His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are as the eyelids of the dawn.
19 Out of his mouth go burning torches; sparks of fire fly out.
20 Smoke goes out of his nostrils like a boiling pot fired by reeds.
21 His breath kindles coals and the flame goes out from his mouth.
22 Strength abides in his neck and terror dances before him.
23 The folds of flesh cleave together, cast firm on him; he cannot be moved.
24 His heart is cast hard as a stone, even cast hard as a piece of a lower millstone.
25 The mighty are afraid from his arising; from the crashings they miss the way.
26 The sword overtakes him, but will not hold firm, nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
27 He counts iron as straw, bronze as rotten wood.
28 A son of a bow cannot make him flee; slingstones are turned to stubble by him;
29 darts are counted as stubble; he laughs at the shaking of a javelin.
30 Points of potsherds are under him; he spreads sharp marks on the mire.
31 He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment;
32 he makes a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be grayheaded.
33 There is nothing like him on earth, one made without fear.
34 He beholds all high things; he is king over all the sons of pride.

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Job 42
1 ś And Job answered Jehovah and said:
2 I know that You can do all, and no purpose is withheld from You.
3 Who is this hiding counsel without knowledge? So I declared, but did not understand things too wonderful for me; yea, I did not know.
4 I pray, Listen, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You will make me know.
5 I have heard of You by hearing of the ear, but now my eye has seen You;
6 Therefore, I despise myself, and I have repented on dust and ashes.
7 ś And it happened, after Jehovah spoke these words to Job, Jehovah said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My anger glows against you and your two friends. For You have not spoken the right about Me, as My servant Job.
8 And now take for you seven young bulls and seven rams and go to My servant Job, and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. And My servant Job will pray for you. Surely I will lift up his face so as not to do with you according to your folly, in that you have not spoken the right about Me, as My servant Job.
9 And Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as Jehovah spoke to them. And Jehovah lifted the face of Job.
10 ś And when he prayed for his friends, Jehovah turned the captivity of Job; and Jehovah added to Job all which had been his, to double.
11 And all his brothers and all his sisters came to him; and all knowing him before. And they ate bread with him in his house and consoled him and comforted him as to all the evil that Jehovah had brought on him. And they each gave him a piece of money, and each one a ring of gold.
12 And Jehovah blessed the latter days of Job more than the earlier days. And to him were fourteen thousand sheep and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses.
13 And he had seven sons and three daughters.
14 And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch.
15 And in all the land there were not found women as beautiful as Job's daughters. And their father gave them inheritance among their brothers.
16 After this Job lived a hundred and forty years. And he saw his sons, and his grandsons, even four generations.
17 And Job died, being old and full of days.

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Scripture taken from the Literal Translation of the Holy Bible
Copyright Š 1976 - 2000
By Jay P. Green, Sr.
Used by permission of the copyright holder
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