Job:29-31
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Moreover Job continued his parable ,
and said ,
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Oh that I were as in months past ,
as in the days when God preserved me ;
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When his candle shined upon my head ,
and when by his light I walked through darkness ;
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As I was in the days of my youth ,
when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle ;
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When the Almighty was yet with me ,
when my children were about me ;
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When I washed my steps with butter ,
and the rock poured me out rivers of oil ;
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When I went out to the gate through the city ,
when I prepared my seat in the street !
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The young men saw me ,
and hid themselves :
and the aged arose ,
and stood up .
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The princes refrained talking ,
and laid their hand on their mouth .
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The nobles held their peace ,
and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth .
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When the ear heard me ,
then it blessed me ;
and when the eye saw me ,
it gave witness to me :
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Because I delivered the poor that cried ,
and the fatherless ,
and him that had none to help him .
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The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me :
and I caused the widow '
s heart to sing for joy .
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I put on righteousness ,
and it clothed me :
my judgment was as a robe and a diadem .
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I was eyes to the blind ,
and feet was I to the lame .
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I was a father to the poor :
and the cause which I knew not I searched out .
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And I brake the jaws of the wicked ,
and plucked the spoil out of his teeth .
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Then I said ,
I shall die in my nest ,
and I shall multiply my days as the sand .
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My root was spread out by the waters ,
and the dew lay all night upon my branch .
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My glory was fresh in me ,
and my bow was renewed in my hand .
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Unto me men gave ear ,
and waited ,
and kept silence at my counsel .
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After my words they spake not again ;
and my speech dropped upon them .
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And they waited for me as for the rain ;
and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain .
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If I laughed on them ,
they believed it not ;
and the light of my countenance they cast not down .
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I chose out their way ,
and sat chief ,
and dwelt as a king in the army ,
as one that comforteth the mourners .
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But now they that are younger than I have me in derision ,
whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock .
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Yea ,
whereto might the strength of their hands profit me ,
in whom old age was perished ?
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For want and famine they were solitary ;
fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste .
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Who cut up mallows by the bushes ,
and juniper roots for their meat .
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They were driven forth from among men , (
they cried after them as after a thief ;)
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To dwell in the clifts of the valleys ,
in caves of the earth ,
and in the rocks .
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Among the bushes they brayed ;
under the nettles they were gathered together .
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They were children of fools ,
yea ,
children of base men :
they were viler than the earth .
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And now am I their song ,
yea ,
I am their byword .
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They abhor me ,
they flee far from me ,
and spare not to spit in my face .
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Because he hath loosed my cord ,
and afflicted me ,
they have also let loose the bridle before me .
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Upon my right hand rise the youth ;
they push away my feet ,
and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction .
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They mar my path ,
they set forward my calamity ,
they have no helper .
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They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters :
in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me .
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Terrors are turned upon me :
they pursue my soul as the wind :
and my welfare passeth away as a cloud .
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And now my soul is poured out upon me ;
the days of affliction have taken hold upon me .
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My bones are pierced in me in the night season :
and my sinews take no rest .
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By the great force of my disease is my garment changed :
it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat .
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He hath cast me into the mire ,
and I am become like dust and ashes .
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I cry unto thee ,
and thou dost not hear me :
I stand up ,
and thou regardest me not .
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Thou art become cruel to me :
with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me .
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Thou liftest me up to the wind ;
thou causest me to ride upon it ,
and dissolvest my substance .
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For I know that thou wilt bring me to death ,
and to the house appointed for all living .
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Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave ,
though they cry in his destruction .
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Did not I weep for him that was in trouble ?
was not my soul grieved for the poor ?
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When I looked for good ,
then evil came unto me :
and when I waited for light ,
there came darkness .
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My bowels boiled ,
and rested not :
the days of affliction prevented me .
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I went mourning without the sun :
I stood up ,
and I cried in the congregation .
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I am a brother to dragons ,
and a companion to owls .
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My skin is black upon me ,
and my bones are burned with heat .
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My harp also is turned to mourning ,
and my organ into the voice of them that weep .
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I made a covenant with mine eyes ;
why then should I think upon a maid ?
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For what portion of God is there from above ?
and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high ?
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Is not destruction to the wicked ?
and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity ?
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Doth not he see my ways ,
and count all my steps ?
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If I have walked with vanity ,
or if my foot hath hasted to deceit ;
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Let me be weighed in an even balance ,
that God may know mine integrity .
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If my step hath turned out of the way ,
and mine heart walked after mine eyes ,
and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands ;
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Then let me sow ,
and let another eat ;
yea ,
let my offspring be rooted out .
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If mine heart have been deceived by a woman ,
or if I have laid wait at my neighbour '
s door ;
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Then let my wife grind unto another ,
and let others bow down upon her .
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For this is an heinous crime ;
yea ,
it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges .
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For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction ,
and would root out all mine increase .
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If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant ,
when they contended with me ;
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What then shall I do when God riseth up ?
and when he visiteth ,
what shall I answer him ?
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Did not he that made me in the womb make him ?
and did not one fashion us in the womb ?
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If I have withheld the poor from their desire ,
or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail ;
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Or have eaten my morsel myself alone ,
and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof ;
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For from my youth he was brought up with me ,
as with a father ,
and I have guided her from my mother '
s womb ;)
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If I have seen any perish for want of clothing ,
or any poor without covering ;
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If his loins have not blessed me ,
and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep ;
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If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless ,
when I saw my help in the gate :
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Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade ,
and mine arm be broken from the bone .
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For destruction from God was a terror to me ,
and by reason of his highness I could not endure .
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If I have made gold my hope ,
or have said to the fine gold ,
Thou art my confidence ;
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If I rejoiced because my wealth was great ,
and because mine hand had gotten much ;
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If I beheld the sun when it shined ,
or the moon walking in brightness ;
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And my heart hath been secretly enticed ,
or my mouth hath kissed my hand :
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This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge :
for I should have denied the God that is above .
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If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me ,
or lifted up myself when evil found him :
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Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul .
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If the men of my tabernacle said not ,
Oh that we had of his flesh !
we cannot be satisfied .
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The stranger did not lodge in the street :
but I opened my doors to the traveller .
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If I covered my transgressions as Adam ,
by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom :
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Did I fear a great multitude ,
or did the contempt of families terrify me ,
that I kept silence ,
and went not out of the door ?
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Oh that one would hear me !
behold ,
my desire is ,
that the Almighty would answer me ,
and that mine adversary had written a book .
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Surely I would take it upon my shoulder ,
and bind it as a crown to me .
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I would declare unto him the number of my steps ;
as a prince would I go near unto him .
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If my land cry against me ,
or that the furrows likewise thereof complain ;
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If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money ,
or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life :
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Let thistles grow instead of wheat ,
and cockle instead of barley .
The words of Job are ended .
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So these three men ceased to answer Job ,
because he was righteous in his own eyes .