Job:15-17
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Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite ,
and said ,
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Should a wise man utter vain knowledge ,
and fill his belly with the east wind ?
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Should he reason with unprofitable talk ?
or with speeches wherewith he can do no good ?
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Yea ,
thou castest off fear ,
and restrainest prayer before God .
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For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity ,
and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty .
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Thine own mouth condemneth thee ,
and not I :
yea ,
thine own lips testify against thee .
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Art thou the first man that was born ?
or wast thou made before the hills ?
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Hast thou heard the secret of God ?
and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself ?
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What knowest thou ,
that we know not ?
what understandest thou ,
which is not in us ?
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With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men ,
much elder than thy father .
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Are the consolations of God small with thee ?
is there any secret thing with thee ?
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Why doth thine heart carry thee away ?
and what do thy eyes wink at ,
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That thou turnest thy spirit against God ,
and lettest such words go out of thy mouth ?
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What is man ,
that he should be clean ?
and he which is born of a woman ,
that he should be righteous ?
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Behold ,
he putteth no trust in his saints ;
yea ,
the heavens are not clean in his sight .
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How much more abominable and filthy is man ,
which drinketh iniquity like water ?
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I will shew thee ,
hear me ;
and that which I have seen I will declare ;
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Which wise men have told from their fathers ,
and have not hid it :
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Unto whom alone the earth was given ,
and no stranger passed among them .
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The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days ,
and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor .
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A dreadful sound is in his ears :
in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him .
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He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness ,
and he is waited for of the sword .
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He wandereth abroad for bread ,
saying ,
Where is it ?
he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand .
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Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid ;
they shall prevail against him ,
as a king ready to the battle .
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For he stretcheth out his hand against God ,
and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty .
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He runneth upon him ,
even on his neck ,
upon the thick bosses of his bucklers :
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Because he covereth his face with his fatness ,
and maketh collops of fat on his flanks .
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And he dwelleth in desolate cities ,
and in houses which no man inhabiteth ,
which are ready to become heaps .
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He shall not be rich ,
neither shall his substance continue ,
neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth .
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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 .
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Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity :
for vanity shall be his recompence .
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It shall be accomplished before his time ,
and his branch shall not be green .
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He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine ,
and shall cast off his flower as the olive .
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For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate ,
and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery .
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They conceive mischief ,
and bring forth vanity ,
and their belly prepareth deceit .
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Then Job answered and said ,
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I have heard many such things :
miserable comforters are ye all .
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Shall vain words have an end ?
or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest ?
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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 .
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But I would strengthen you with my mouth ,
and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief .
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Though I speak ,
my grief is not asswaged :
and though I forbear ,
what am I eased ?
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But now he hath made me weary :
thou hast made desolate all my company .
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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 .
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He teareth me in his wrath ,
who hateth me :
he gnasheth upon me with his teeth ;
mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me .
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They have gaped upon me with their mouth ;
they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully ;
they have gathered themselves together against me .
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God hath delivered me to the ungodly ,
and turned me over into the hands of the wicked .
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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 .
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His archers compass me round about ,
he cleaveth my reins asunder ,
and doth not spare ;
he poureth out my gall upon the ground .
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He breaketh me with breach upon breach ,
he runneth upon me like a giant .
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I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin ,
and defiled my horn in the dust .
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My face is foul with weeping ,
and on my eyelids is the shadow of death ;
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Not for any injustice in mine hands :
also my prayer is pure .
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O earth ,
cover not thou my blood ,
and let my cry have no place .
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Also now ,
behold ,
my witness is in heaven ,
and my record is on high .
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My friends scorn me :
but mine eye poureth out tears unto God .
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O that one might plead for a man with God ,
as a man pleadeth for his neighbour !
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When a few years are come ,
then I shall go the way whence I shall not return .
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My breath is corrupt ,
my days are extinct ,
the graves are ready for me .
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Are there not mockers with me ?
and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation ?
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Lay down now ,
put me in a surety with thee ;
who is he that will strike hands with me ?
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For thou hast hid their heart from understanding :
therefore shalt thou not exalt them .
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He that speaketh flattery to his friends ,
even the eyes of his children shall fail .
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He hath made me also a byword of the people ;
and aforetime I was as a tabret .
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Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow ,
and all my members are as a shadow .
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Upright men shall be astonied at this ,
and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite .
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The righteous also shall hold on his way ,
and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger .
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But as for you all ,
do ye return ,
and come now :
for I cannot find one wise man among you .
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My days are past ,
my purposes are broken off ,
even the thoughts of my heart .
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They change the night into day :
the light is short because of darkness .
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If I wait ,
the grave is mine house :
I have made my bed in the darkness .
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I have said to corruption ,
Thou art my father :
to the worm ,
Thou art my mother ,
and my sister .
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And where is now my hope ?
as for my hope ,
who shall see it ?
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They shall go down to the bars of the pit ,
when our rest together is in the dust .
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Then answered Bildad the Shuhite ,
and said ,