Job:23-24
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Then Job answered and said ,
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Even to day is my complaint bitter :
my stroke is heavier than my groaning .
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Oh that I knew where I might find him !
that I might come even to his seat !
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I would order my cause before him ,
and fill my mouth with arguments .
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I would know the words which he would answer me ,
and understand what he would say unto me .
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Will he plead against me with his great power ?
No ;
but he would put strength in me .
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There the righteous might dispute with him ;
so should I be delivered for ever from my judge .
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Behold ,
I go forward ,
but he is not there ;
and backward ,
but I cannot perceive him :
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On the left hand ,
where he doth work ,
but I cannot behold him :
he hideth himself on the right hand ,
that I cannot see him :
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But he knoweth the way that I take :
when he hath tried me ,
I shall come forth as gold .
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My foot hath held his steps ,
his way have I kept ,
and not declined .
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Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips ;
I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food .
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But he is in one mind ,
and who can turn him ?
and what his soul desireth ,
even that he doeth .
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For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me :
and many such things are with him .
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Therefore am I troubled at his presence :
when I consider ,
I am afraid of him .
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For God maketh my heart soft ,
and the Almighty troubleth me :
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Because I was not cut off before the darkness ,
neither hath he covered the darkness from my face .
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Why ,
seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty ,
do they that know him not see his days ?
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Some remove the landmarks ;
they violently take away flocks ,
and feed thereof .
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They drive away the ass of the fatherless ,
they take the widow '
s ox for a pledge .
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They turn the needy out of the way :
the poor of the earth hide themselves together .
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Behold ,
as wild asses in the desert ,
go they forth to their work ;
rising betimes for a prey :
the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children .
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They reap every one his corn in the field :
and they gather the vintage of the wicked .
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They cause the naked to lodge without clothing ,
that they have no covering in the cold .
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They are wet with the showers of the mountains ,
and embrace the rock for want of a shelter .
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They pluck the fatherless from the breast ,
and take a pledge of the poor .
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They cause him to go naked without clothing ,
and they take away the sheaf from the hungry ;
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Which make oil within their walls ,
and tread their winepresses ,
and suffer thirst .
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Men groan from out of the city ,
and the soul of the wounded crieth out :
yet God layeth not folly to them .
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They are of those that rebel against the light ;
they know not the ways thereof ,
nor abide in the paths thereof .
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The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy ,
and in the night is as a thief .
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The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight ,
saying ,
No eye shall see me :
and disguiseth his face .
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In the dark they dig through houses ,
which they had marked for themselves in the daytime :
they know not the light .
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For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death :
if one know them ,
they are in the terrors of the shadow of death .
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He is swift as the waters ;
their portion is cursed in the earth :
he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards .
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Drought and heat consume the snow waters :
so doth the grave those which have sinned .
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The womb shall forget him ;
the worm shall feed sweetly on him ;
he shall be no more remembered ;
and wickedness shall be broken as a tree .
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He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not :
and doeth not good to the widow .
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He draweth also the mighty with his power :
he riseth up ,
and no man is sure of life .
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Though it be given him to be in safety ,
whereon he resteth ;
yet his eyes are upon their ways .
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They are exalted for a little while ,
but are gone and brought low ;
they are taken out of the way as all other ,
and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn .
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And if it be not so now ,
who will make me a liar ,
and make my speech nothing worth ?
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Then answered Bildad the Shuhite ,
and said ,