Job:26-31
rsv@Job:26:1 @ Then Job answered:
rsv@Job:26:2 @ "How you have helped him who has no power! How you have saved the arm that has no strength!
rsv@Job:26:3 @ How you have counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge!
rsv@Job:26:4 @ With whose help have you uttered words, and whose spirit has come forth from you?
rsv@Job:26:5 @ The shades below tremble, the waters and their inhabitants.
rsv@Job:26:6 @ Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.
rsv@Job:26:7 @ He stretches out the north over the void, and hangs the earth upon nothing.
rsv@Job:26:8 @ He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them.
rsv@Job:26:9 @ He covers the face of the moon, and spreads over it his cloud.
rsv@Job:26:10 @ He has described a circle upon the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.
rsv@Job:26:11 @ The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astounded at his rebuke.
rsv@Job:26:12 @ By his power he stilled the sea; by his understanding he smote Rahab.
rsv@Job:26:13 @ By his wind the heavens were made fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
rsv@Job:26:14 @ Lo, 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?"
rsv@Job:27:1 @ And Job again took up his discourse, and said:
rsv@Job:27:2 @ "As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter;
rsv@Job:27:3 @ as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;
rsv@Job:27:4 @ my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit.
rsv@Job:27:5 @ Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
rsv@Job:27:6 @ I hold fast my righteousness, and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.
rsv@Job:27:7 @ "Let my enemy be as the wicked, and let him that rises up against me be as the unrighteous.
rsv@Job:27:8 @ For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life?
rsv@Job:27:9 @ Will God hear his cry, when trouble comes upon him?
rsv@Job:27:10 @ Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?
rsv@Job:27:11 @ I will teach you concerning the hand of God; what is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
rsv@Job:27:12 @ Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?
rsv@Job:27:13 @ "This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage which oppressors receive from the Almighty:
rsv@Job:27:14 @ If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword; and his offspring have not enough to eat.
rsv@Job:27:15 @ Those who survive him the pestilence buries, and their widows make no lamentation.
rsv@Job:27:16 @ Though he heap up silver like dust, and pile up clothing like clay;
rsv@Job:27:17 @ he may pile it up, but the just will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver.
rsv@Job:27:18 @ The house which he builds is like a spider's web, like a booth which a watchman makes.
rsv@Job:27:19 @ He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more; he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.
rsv@Job:27:20 @ Terrors overtake him like a flood; in the night a whirlwind carries him off.
rsv@Job:27:21 @ The east wind lifts him up and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.
rsv@Job:27:22 @ It hurls at him without pity; he flees from its power in headlong flight.
rsv@Job:27:23 @ It claps its hands at him, and hisses at him from its place.
rsv@Job:28:1 @ "Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold which they refine.
rsv@Job:28:2 @ Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the ore.
rsv@Job:28:3 @ Men put an end to darkness, and search out to the farthest bound the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
rsv@Job:28:4 @ They open shafts in a valley away from where men live; they are forgotten by travelers, they hang afar from men, they swing to and fro.
rsv@Job:28:5 @ As for the earth, out of it comes bread; but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
rsv@Job:28:6 @ Its stones are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold.
rsv@Job:28:7 @ "That path no bird of prey knows, and the falcon's eye has not seen it.
rsv@Job:28:8 @ The proud beasts have not trodden it; the lion has not passed over it.
rsv@Job:28:9 @ "Man puts his hand to the flinty rock, and overturns mountains by the roots.
rsv@Job:28:10 @ He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.
rsv@Job:28:11 @ He binds up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hid he brings forth to light.
rsv@Job:28:12 @ "But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?
rsv@Job:28:13 @ Man does not know the way to it, and it is not found in the land of the living.
rsv@Job:28:14 @ The deep says, `It is not in me,' and the sea says, `It is not with me.'
rsv@Job:28:15 @ It cannot be gotten for gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
rsv@Job:28:16 @ It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire.
rsv@Job:28:17 @ Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
rsv@Job:28:18 @ No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal; the price of wisdom is above pearls.
rsv@Job:28:19 @ The topaz of Ethiopia cannot compare with it, nor can it be valued in pure gold.
rsv@Job:28:20 @ "Whence then comes wisdom? And where is the place of understanding?
rsv@Job:28:21 @ It is hid from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the birds of the air.
rsv@Job:28:22 @ Abaddon and Death say, `e have heard a rumor of it with our ears.'
rsv@Job:28:23 @ "God understands the way to it, and he knows its place.
rsv@Job:28:24 @ For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees everything under the heavens.
rsv@Job:28:25 @ When he gave to the wind its weight, and meted out the waters by measure;
rsv@Job:28:26 @ when he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder;
rsv@Job:28:27 @ then he saw it and declared it; he established it, and searched it out.
rsv@Job:28:28 @ And he said to man, `ehold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.'+"
rsv@Job:29:1 @ And Job again took up his discourse, and said:
rsv@Job:29:2 @ "Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;
rsv@Job:29:3 @ when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;
rsv@Job:29:4 @ as I was in my autumn days, when the friendship of God was upon my tent;
rsv@Job:29:5 @ when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me;
rsv@Job:29:6 @ when my steps were washed with milk, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
rsv@Job:29:7 @ When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square,
rsv@Job:29:8 @ the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood;
rsv@Job:29:9 @ the princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth;
rsv@Job:29:10 @ the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
rsv@Job:29:11 @ When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved;
rsv@Job:29:12 @ because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless who had none to help him.
rsv@Job:29:13 @ The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
rsv@Job:29:14 @ I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.
rsv@Job:29:15 @ I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame.
rsv@Job:29:16 @ I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
rsv@Job:29:17 @ I broke the fangs of the unrighteous, and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
rsv@Job:29:18 @ Then I thought, `en I thought, "I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand,
rsv@Job:29:19 @ my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches,
rsv@Job:29:20 @ my glory fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.'
rsv@Job:29:21 @ "Men listened to me, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel.
rsv@Job:29:22 @ After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them.
rsv@Job:29:23 @ They waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
rsv@Job:29:24 @ I smiled on them when they had no confidence; and the light of my countenance they did not cast down.
rsv@Job:29:25 @ I chose their way, and sat as chief, and I dwelt like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.
rsv@Job:30:1 @ "But now they make sport of me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
rsv@Job:30:2 @ What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone?
rsv@Job:30:3 @ Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry and desolate ground;
rsv@Job:30:4 @ they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes, and to warm themselves the roots of the broom.
rsv@Job:30:5 @ They are driven out from among men; they shout after them as after a thief.
rsv@Job:30:6 @ In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
rsv@Job:30:7 @ Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together.
rsv@Job:30:8 @ A senseless, a disreputable brood, they have been whipped out of the land.
rsv@Job:30:9 @ "And now I have become their song, I am a byword to them.
rsv@Job:30:10 @ They abhor me, they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
rsv@Job:30:11 @ Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.
rsv@Job:30:12 @ On my right hand the rabble rise, they drive me forth, they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
rsv@Job:30:13 @ They break up my path, they promote my calamity; no one restrains them.
rsv@Job:30:14 @ As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.
rsv@Job:30:15 @ Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.
rsv@Job:30:16 @ "And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me.
rsv@Job:30:17 @ The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
rsv@Job:30:18 @ With violence it seizes my garment; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
rsv@Job:30:19 @ God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
rsv@Job:30:20 @ I cry to thee and thou dost not answer me; I stand, and thou dost not heed me.
rsv@Job:30:21 @ Thou hast turned cruel to me; with the might of thy hand thou dost persecute me.
rsv@Job:30:22 @ Thou liftest me up on the wind, thou makest me ride on it, and thou tossest me about in the roar of the storm.
rsv@Job:30:23 @ Yea, I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
rsv@Job:30:24 @ "Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help?
rsv@Job:30:25 @ Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
rsv@Job:30:26 @ But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came.
rsv@Job:30:27 @ My heart is in turmoil, and is never still; days of affliction come to meet me.
rsv@Job:30:28 @ I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
rsv@Job:30:29 @ I am a brother of jackals, and a companion of ostriches.
rsv@Job:30:30 @ My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat.
rsv@Job:30:31 @ My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
rsv@Job:31:1 @ "I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I look upon a virgin?
rsv@Job:31:2 @ What would be my portion from God above, and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
rsv@Job:31:3 @ Does not calamity befall the unrighteous, and disaster the workers of iniquity?
rsv@Job:31:4 @ Does not he see my ways, and number all my steps?
rsv@Job:31:5 @ "If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hastened to deceit;
rsv@Job:31:6 @ (Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!)
rsv@Job:31:7 @ if my step has turned aside from the way, and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has cleaved to my hands;
rsv@Job:31:8 @ then let me sow, and another eat; and let what grows for me be rooted out.
rsv@Job:31:9 @ "If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door;
rsv@Job:31:10 @ then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down upon her.
rsv@Job:31:11 @ For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
rsv@Job:31:12 @ for that would be a fire which consumes unto Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase.
rsv@Job:31:13 @ "If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me;
rsv@Job:31:14 @ what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
rsv@Job:31:15 @ Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?
rsv@Job:31:16 @ "If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
rsv@Job:31:17 @ or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it
rsv@Job:31:18 @ (for from his youth I reared him as a father, and from his mother's womb I guided him);
rsv@Job:31:19 @ if I have seen any one perish for lack of clothing, or a poor man without covering;
rsv@Job:31:20 @ if his loins have not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
rsv@Job:31:21 @ if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw help in the gate;
rsv@Job:31:22 @ then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket.
rsv@Job:31:23 @ For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.
rsv@Job:31:24 @ "If I have made gold my trust, or called fine gold my confidence;
rsv@Job:31:25 @ if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, or because my hand had gotten much;
rsv@Job:31:26 @ if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor,
rsv@Job:31:27 @ and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand;
rsv@Job:31:28 @ this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I should have been false to God above.
rsv@Job:31:29 @ "If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him that hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him
rsv@Job:31:30 @ (I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse);
rsv@Job:31:31 @ if the men of my tent have not said, `ho is there that has not been filled with his meat?'
rsv@Job:31:32 @ (the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the wayfarer);
rsv@Job:31:33 @ if I have concealed my transgressions from men, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
rsv@Job:31:34 @ because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors--
rsv@Job:31:35 @ Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!
rsv@Job:31:36 @ Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown;
rsv@Job:31:37 @ I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him.
rsv@Job:31:38 @ "If my land has cried out against me, and its furrows have wept together;
rsv@Job:31:39 @ if I have eaten its yield without payment, and caused the death of its owners;
rsv@Job:31:40 @ let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley." The words of Job are ended.
rsv@Job:32:1 @ So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.
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