Job 14-16 (Darby Translation)

Job 14

 ¹Man, born of woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.

 ²He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; and he fleeth as a shadow, and continueth not.

 ³Yet dost thou open thine eyes upon such a one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?

 ⁴Who can bring a clean [man] out of the unclean? Not one!

 ⁵If his days are determined, if the number of his months is with thee, [and] thou hast appointed his bounds which he must not pass,

 ⁶Look away from him; and let him rest, till he accomplish, as a hireling, his day.

 ⁷For there is hope for a tree: if it be cut down, it will sprout again, and its tender branch will not cease;

 ⁸Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stock die in the ground,

 ⁹Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and put forth boughs like a young plant.

 ¹⁰But a man dieth, and is prostrate; yea, man expireth, and where is he?

 ¹¹The waters recede from the lake, and the river wasteth and drieth up:

 ¹²So man lieth down, and riseth not again; till the heavens be no more, they do not awake, nor are raised out of their sleep.

 ¹³Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol, that thou wouldest keep me secret until thine anger be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me, --

 ¹⁴(If a man die, shall he live [again]?) all the days of my time of toil would I wait, till my change should come:

 ¹⁵Thou wouldest call, and I would answer thee; thou wouldest have a desire after the work of thy hands.

 ¹⁶For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?

 ¹⁷My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou heapest up mine iniquity.

 ¹⁸And indeed a mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of its place;

 ¹⁹The waters wear the stones, the floods thereof wash away the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.

 ²⁰Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth away; thou changest his countenance, and dismissest him.

 ²¹His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, and he perceiveth it not.

 ²²But his flesh hath pain for himself alone, and his soul mourneth for himself.

Job 15

 ¹And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

 ²Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind,

 ³Reasoning with unprofitable talk, and with speeches which do no good?

 ⁴Yea, thou makest piety of none effect, and restrainest meditation before ùGod.

 ⁵For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou hast chosen the tongue of the crafty.

 ⁶Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; and thy lips testify against thee.

 ⁷Art thou the first man that was born? and wast thou brought forth before the hills?

 ⁸Hast thou listened in the secret council of +God? And hast thou absorbed wisdom for thyself?

 ⁹What knowest thou that we know not? [what] understandest thou which is not in us?

 ¹⁰Both the greyheaded and the aged are with us, older than thy father.

 ¹¹Are the consolations of ùGod too small for thee? and the word gently spoken to thee?

 ¹²Why doth thy heart carry thee away? and why do thine eyes wink?

 ¹³That thou turnest thy spirit against ùGod, and lettest words go out of thy mouth?

 ¹⁴What is man, that he should be pure? and he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

 ¹⁵Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight:

 ¹⁶How much less the abominable and corrupt, -- man, that drinketh unrighteousness like water!

 ¹⁷I will shew thee, listen to me; and what I have seen I will declare;

 ¹⁸Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hidden;

 ¹⁹Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.

 ²⁰All his days the wicked man is tormented, and numbered years are allotted to the violent.

 ²¹The sound of terrors is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer cometh upon him.

 ²²He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is singled out for the sword.

 ²³He wandereth abroad for bread, -- where may it be? He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

 ²⁴Distress and anguish make him afraid; they prevail against him, as a king ready for the battle.

 ²⁵For he hath stretched out his hand against ùGod, and strengthened himself against the Almighty:

 ²⁶He runneth against him, with [outstretched] neck, with the thick bosses of his bucklers;

 ²⁷For he hath covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat upon [his] flanks.

 ²⁸And he dwelleth in desolate cities, in houses that no man inhabiteth, which are destined to become heaps.

 ²⁹He shall not become rich, neither shall his substance continue, and their possessions shall not extend upon the earth.

 ³⁰He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches; and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.

 ³¹Let him not trust in vanity: he is deceived, for vanity shall be his recompense;

 ³²It shall be complete before his day, and his branch shall not be green.

 ³³He shall shake off his unripe grapes as a vine, and shall cast his flower as an olive.

 ³⁴For the family of the ungodly shall be barren, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery.

 ³⁵They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, and their belly prepareth deceit.

Job 16

 ¹And Job answered and said,

 ²I have heard many such things: grievous comforters are ye all.

 ³Shall words of wind have an end? or what provoketh thee that thou answerest?

 ⁴I also could speak as ye: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could join together words against you, and shake my head at you;

 ⁵[But] I would encourage you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips should assuage [your pain].

 ⁶If I speak, my pain is not assuaged; and if I forbear, what am I eased?

 ⁷But now he hath made me weary; ... thou hast made desolate all my family;

 ⁸Thou hast shrivelled me up! it is become a witness; and my leanness riseth up against me, it beareth witness to my face.

 ⁹His anger teareth and pursueth me; he gnasheth with his teeth against me; [as] mine adversary he sharpeneth his eyes at me.

 ¹⁰They gape upon me with their mouth; they smite my cheeks reproachfully; they range themselves together against me.

 ¹¹ÃƒÂƒÃ‚¹God hath delivered me over to the iniquitous man, and hurled me into the hands of the wicked.

 ¹²I was at rest, but he hath shattered me; he hath taken me by the neck and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.

 ¹³His arrows encompass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.

 ¹⁴He breaketh me with breach upon breach; he runneth upon me like a mighty man.

 ¹⁵I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and rolled my horn in the dust.

 ¹⁶My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death;

 ¹⁷Although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.

 ¹⁸O earth, cover not my blood, and let there be no place for my cry!

 ¹⁹Even now, behold, my Witness is in the heavens, and he that voucheth for me is in the heights.

 ²⁰My friends are my mockers; mine eye poureth out tears unto +God.

 ²¹Oh that there were arbitration for a man with +God, as a son of man for his friend!

 ²²For years [few] in number shall pass, -- and I shall go the way [whence] I shall not return.