The Bible Part 102

14:5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pa.s.s; 14:6 Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.

14:7 For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

14:8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; 14:9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.

14:10 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? 14:11 As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: 14:12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.

14:13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! 14:14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

14:15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.

14:16 For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin? 14:17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.

14:18 And surely the mountains falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place.

14:19 The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.

14:20 Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he pa.s.seth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.

14:21 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.

14:22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.

15:1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said, 15:2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? 15:3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good? 15:4 Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before G.o.d.

15:5 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.

15:6 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.

15:7 Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills? 15:8 Hast thou heard the secret of G.o.d? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? 15:9 What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us? 15:10 With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.

15:11 Are the consolations of G.o.d small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee? 15:12 Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at, 15:13 That thou turnest thy spirit against G.o.d, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth? 15:14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? 15:15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

15:16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water? 15:17 I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare; 15:18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it: 15:19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger pa.s.sed among them.

15:20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.

15:21 A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.

15:22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.

15:23 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

15:24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

15:25 For he stretcheth out his hand against G.o.d, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.

15:26 He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: 15:27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.

15:28 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.

15:29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.

15:30 He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.

15:31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.

15:32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.

15:33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.

15:34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.

15:35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.

16:1 Then Job answered and said, 16:2 I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.

16:3 Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest? 16:4 I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you.

16:5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should a.s.swage your grief.

16:6 Though I speak, my grief is not a.s.swaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased? 16:7 But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company.

16:8 And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.

16:9 He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.

16:10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.

16:11 G.o.d hath delivered me to the unG.o.dly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.

16:12 I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.

16:13 His archers compa.s.s me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.

16:14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant.

16:15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust.

16:16 My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death; 16:17 Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.

16:18 O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.

16:19 Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.

16:20 My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto G.o.d.

16:21 O that one might plead for a man with G.o.d, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour! 16:22 When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.

17:1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.

17:2 Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation? 17:3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me? 17:4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.

17:5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

17:6 He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.

17:7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.

17:8 Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.

17:9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.

17:10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.

17:11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.

17:12 They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.

17:13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

17:14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.

17:15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it? 17:16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

18:1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, 18:2 How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.

18:3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight? 18:4 He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place? 18:5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.

18:6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.

18:7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.

18:8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.

18:9 The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.

18:10 The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.

18:11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.

18:12 His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.

18:13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.

18:14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.

18:15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

18:16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.

18:17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.

18:18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

18:19 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.

18:20 They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.

18:21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not G.o.d.

19:1 Then Job answered and said, 19:2 How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words? 19:3 These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.

19:4 And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.

19:5 If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach: 19:6 Know now that G.o.d hath overthrown me, and hath compa.s.sed me with his net.

19:7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

19:8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pa.s.s, and he hath set darkness in my paths.

19:9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

19:10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.

19:11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.

19:12 His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.

19:13 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.

19:14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

19:15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.

19:16 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.

19:17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body.

19:18 Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.

19:19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.

19:20 My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

19:21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of G.o.d hath touched me.

19:22 Why do ye persecute me as G.o.d, and are not satisfied with my flesh? 19:23 Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! 19:24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! 19:25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: 19:26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see G.o.d: 19:27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.