Job:26-31

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* Then Job answered and said , * How you have helped him who is without power ! How you have saved the arm that has no strength ! * How you have counseled him who has no wisdom , And plentifully declared sound knowledge ! * To whom have you uttered words ? And whose spirit came forth from you ? * The spirits of the dead tremble Beneath the waters and those that stay in them . * Sheol is naked before [God ], And Abaddon has no covering . * He stretches out the north over empty space , And hangs the earth on nothing . * He binds up the waters in his thick clouds ; And the cloud is not rent under them . * He encloses the face of the throne , And spreads his cloud on it . * He has described a boundary on the face of the waters , To the confines of light and darkness . * The pillars of heaven tremble And are astonished at his rebuke . * He stirs up the sea with his power , And by his understanding he strikes through Rahab . * By his Spirit the heavens are garnished ; His hand has pierced the swift serpent . * Look , these are but the outskirts of his ways : And how small a whisper do we hear of him ! But the thunder of his power who can understand ? * And Job again took up his parable , and said , * As God lives , who has taken away my right , And the Almighty , who has vexed my soul : * (For my life is yet whole in me , And the spirit of God is in my nostrils ); * Surely my lips will not speak unrighteousness , Neither will my tongue utter deceit . * Far be it from me that I should justify you (note :){+}(:note ): Until I die I will not put away my integrity from me . * My righteousness I hold fast , and will not let it go : My heart will not reproach [me ] so long as I live . * Let my enemy be as the wicked , And let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous . * For what is the hope of the godless , though he gets himself gain , When God takes away his soul ? * Will God hear his cry , When trouble comes on him ? * Will he delight himself in the Almighty , And call on God at all times ? * I will teach you (note :){+}(:note ) concerning the hand of God ; That which is with the Almighty I will not conceal . * Look , all you (note :){+}(:note ) yourselves have seen it ; Why then have you {+} become altogether vain ? * This is the portion of [the ] wicked man with God , And the heritage of oppressors , which they receive from the Almighty : * If his sons are multiplied , it is for the sword ; And his offspring will not be satisfied with bread . * Those who remain of him will be buried in death , And his widows will make no lamentation . * Though he heaps up silver as the dust , And prepares raiment as the clay ; * He may prepare it , but the just will put it on , And the innocent will divide the silver . * He builds his house as the moth , And as a booth which the keeper makes . * He lies down rich , but he will not be gathered [to his fathers ]; He opens his eyes , and he is not . * Terrors overtake him like waters ; A tempest steals him away in the night . * The east wind carries him away , and he departs ; And it sweeps him out of his place . * For [God ] will hurl at him , and not spare : He would fain flee out of his hand . * Men will clap their hands at him , And will hiss him out of his place . * Surely there is a mine for silver , And a place for gold which they refine . * Iron is taken out of the earth , And copper is molten out of the stone . * [Man ] sets an end to darkness , And searches out , to the furthest bound , The stones of obscurity and of thick darkness . * He breaks open a shaft away from where men sojourn ; They are forgotten of the foot ; They hang far from common man , they swing to and fro . * As for the earth , out of it comes bread ; And underneath it is turned up as it were by fire . * Its stones are the place of sapphires , And it has dust of gold . * That path no bird of prey knows , Neither has the falcon 's eye seen it : * The proud beasts haven 't trodden it , Nor has the fierce lion passed by it . * He puts forth his hand on the flinty rock ; He overturns the mountains by the roots . * He cuts out channels among the rocks ; And his eye sees every precious thing . * He dams up the sources of the rivers ; And the thing that is hid he brings forth to light . * But where will wisdom be found ? And where is the place of understanding ? * Common man doesn 't know its price ; Neither is it found in the land of the living . * The deep says , It is not in me ; And the sea says , It is not with me . * It can 't be obtained for gold , Neither will silver be weighed for its price . * It can 't be valued with the gold of Ophir , With the precious onyx , or the sapphire . * Gold and glass can 't equal it , Neither will it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold . * No mention will be made of coral or of crystal : Yes , the price of wisdom is above rubies . * The topaz of Ethiopia will not equal it , Neither will it be valued with pure gold . * From where then comes wisdom ? And where is the place of understanding ? * Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living , And kept close from the birds of the heavens . * Destruction and Death say , We have heard a rumor of it with our ears . * God understands its way , And he knows its place . * For he looks to the ends of the earth , And sees under the whole heaven ; * To make a weight for the wind : Yes , he metes out the waters by measure . * When he made a decree for the rain , And a way for the lightning of the thunder ; * Then he saw it , and declared it ; He established it , yes , and searched it out . * And to man he said , Look , the fear of the Lord , that is wisdom ; And to depart from evil is understanding . * And Job again took up his parable , and said , * Oh that I were as in the months of old , As in the days when God watched over me ; * When his lamp shined on my head , And by his light I walked through darkness ; * As I was in the ripeness of my days , When the friendship of God was on my tent ; * When the Almighty was yet with me , And my children were about me ; * When my steps were washed with butter , And the rock poured me out streams of oil ! * When I went forth to the gate to the city , When I prepared my seat in the street , * The young men saw me and hid themselves , And the aged rose up and stood ; * The princes refrained from talking , And laid their hand on their mouth ; * The voice of the leaders was hushed , And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth . * For when the ear heard [me ], then it blessed me ; And when the eye saw [me ], it gave witness to me : * Because I delivered the poor that cried , The fatherless also , that had none to help him . * The blessing of him who was ready to perish came upon me ; And I caused the widow 's heart to sing for joy . * I put on righteousness , and it clothed me : My justice was as a robe and a diadem . * I was eyes to the blind , And I was feet to the lame . * I was a father to the needy : And the cause of him who I didn 't know I searched out . * And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous , And plucked the prey out of his teeth . * Then I said , I will die in my nest , And I will multiply my days as the sand : * My root is spread out to the waters , And the dew lies all night on my branch ; * My glory is fresh in me , And my bow is renewed in my hand . * To me men gave ear , and waited , And kept silent for my counsel . * After my words they did not speak again ; And my speech distilled on them . * And they waited for me as for the rain ; And they opened their mouth wide [as ] for the latter rain . * I smiled on them , when they had no confidence ; And the light of my countenance they did not cast down . * I chose out their way , and sat [as ] chief , And stayed as a king in the army , As one who comforts the mourners . * But now those who are younger than I have me in derision , Whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock . * Yes , the strength of their hands , whereto should it profit me ? Men in whom ripe age has perished . * They are gaunt with want and famine ; They gnaw the desert , in the gloom of wasteness and desolation . * They pluck salt-wort by the bushes ; And the roots of the broom are their food . * They are driven forth from the midst [of men ]; They cry after them as after a thief ; * So that they stay in frightful valleys , In holes of the earth and of the rocks . * Among the bushes they bray ; Under the nettles they are gathered together . * [They are ] sons of fools , yes , sons of base men ; They were scourged out of the land . * And now I have become their song , Yes , I am a byword to them . * They are disgusted by me , they stand aloof from me , And do not spare to spit in my face . * For he has loosed his cord , and afflicted me ; And they have cast off the bridle before me . * On my right hand rise the rabble ; They thrust aside my feet , And they cast up against me their ways of destruction . * They mar my path , They set forward my calamity , [Even ] men who have no helper . * As through a wide breach they come : In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves [on me ]. * Terrors are turned on me ; They chase my honor as the wind ; And my welfare has passed away as a cloud . * And now my soul is poured out inside me ; Days of affliction have taken hold on me . * In the night season my bones are pierced in me , And the [pains ] that gnaw me take no rest . * By [God 's ] great force is my garment disfigured ; It binds me about as the collar of my coat . * He has cast me into the mire , And I have become like dust and ashes . * I cry to you , and you do not answer me : I stand up , and you gaze at me . * You have turned to be cruel to me ; With the might of your hand you persecute me . * You lift me up to the wind , you cause me to ride [on it ]; And you dissolve me in the storm . * For I know that you will bring me to death , And to the house appointed for all living . * Nevertheless , does not one stretch out his hand when he falls ? And , when he is ruined , cry for help because of it ? * Didn 't I weep for him who was in trouble ? Wasn 't my soul grieved for the needy ? * When I looked for good , then evil came ; And when I waited for light , there came darkness . * My insides are troubled , and do not rest ; Days of affliction have come upon me . * I go mourning without the sun : I stand up in the assembly , and cry for help . * I am a brother to jackals , And a companion to ostriches . * My skin is black , [and falls ] from me , And my bones are burned with heat . * Therefore my harp is [turned ] to mourning , And my pipe into the voice of those who weep . * I made a covenant with my eyes ; How then should I look at a virgin ? * For what is the portion from God above , And the heritage from the Almighty on high ? * Is it not calamity to the unrighteous , And disaster to the workers of iniquity ? * Doesn 't he see my ways , And number all my steps ? * If I have walked with falsehood , And my foot has hurried to deceit * (Let me be weighed in an even balance , That God may know my integrity ); * If my step has turned out of the way , And my heart walked after my eyes , And if any spot has stuck to my hands : * Then let me sow , and let another eat ; Yes , let the produce of my field be rooted out . * If my heart has been enticed to a woman , And I have laid wait at my fellow man 's door ; * Then let my wife grind to another , And let others have sex with her . * For that were a heinous crime ; Yes , it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges : * For it is a fire that consumes to Destruction , And would root out all my increase . * If I have despised the cause of my male slave or of my female slave , When they contended with me ; * What then shall I do when God rises up ? And when he visits , what shall I answer him ? * Did not he who made me in the womb make him ? And did not one fashion us in the womb ? * If I have withheld the poor from [their ] desire , Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail , * Or have eaten my morsel alone , And the fatherless has not eaten of it * (No , from my youth he grew up with me as with a father , And her I have guided from my mother 's womb ); * If I have seen any perish for want of clothing , Or that the needy had no covering ; * If his loins haven 't blessed me , And if he has not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep ; * If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless , Because I saw my help in the gate : * Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade , And my arm be broken from the bone . * For calamity from God is a terror to me , And by reason of his majesty I can do nothing . * If I have made gold my hope , And have said to the fine gold , [You are ] my confidence ; * If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great , And because my hand had gotten much ; * If I have seen the sun when it shined , Or the moon walking in brightness , * And my heart has been secretly enticed , And my mouth has kissed my hand : * This also was an iniquity to be punished by the judges ; For I should have denied the God who is above . * If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me , Or lifted up myself when evil found him ; * (Yes , I haven 't allowed my mouth to sin By asking his life with a curse ); * If the men of my tent haven 't said , Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat ? * (The sojourner has not lodged in the street ; But I have opened my doors to the traveler ); * If like man I have covered my transgressions , By hiding my iniquity in my bosom , * Because I feared the great multitude , And the contempt of families terrified me , So that I kept silent , and didn 't go out of the door - * Oh that I had one to hear me ! (Look , here is my signature , let the Almighty answer me ); And [that I had ] the indictment which my adversary has written ! * Surely I would carry it on my shoulder ; I would bind it to me as a crown : * I would declare to him the number of my steps ; As a leader I would go near to him . * If my land cries out against me , And its furrows weep together ; * If I have eaten its fruits without money , Or have caused its owners to lose their life : * Let thistles grow instead of wheat , And cockle instead of barley . The words of Job are ended . * So these three men ceased to answer Job , because he was righteous in his own eyes .

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