Job 6-9 (Darby Translation)

Job 6

 ¹And Job answered and said,

 ²Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!

 ³For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; therefore my words are vehement.

 ⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, their poison drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of +God are arrayed against me.

 ⁵Doth the wild ass bray by the grass? loweth an ox over his fodder?

 ⁶Shall that which is insipid be eaten without salt? Is there any taste in the white of an egg?

 ⁷What my soul refuseth to touch, that is as my loathsome food.

 ⁸Oh that I might have my request, and that +God would grant my desire!

 ⁹And that it would please +God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!

 ¹⁰Then should I yet have comfort; and in the pain which spareth not I would rejoice that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

 ¹¹What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should have patience?

 ¹²Is my strength the strength of stones? is my flesh of brass?

 ¹³Is it not that there is no help in me, and soundness is driven away from me?

 ¹⁴For him that is fainting kindness [is meet] from his friend; or he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.

 ¹⁵My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a stream, as the channel of streams which pass away,

 ¹⁶Which are turbid by reason of the ice, in which the snow hideth itself:

 ¹⁷At the time they diminish, they are dried up; when heat affecteth them, they vanish from their place:

 ¹⁸They wind about in the paths of their course, they go off into the waste and perish.

 ¹⁹The caravans of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba counted on them:

 ²⁰They are ashamed at their hope; they come thither, and are confounded.

 ²¹So now ye are nothing; ye see a terrible object and are afraid.

 ²²Did I say, Bring unto me, and make me a present from your substance?

 ²³Or, rescue me from the hand of the oppressor, and redeem me from the hand of the violent?

 ²⁴Teach me, and I will hold my tongue; and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

 ²⁵How forcible are right words! but what doth your upbraiding reprove?

 ²⁶Do ye imagine to reprove words? The speeches of one that is desperate are indeed for the wind.

 ²⁷Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and dig [a pit] for your friend.

 ²⁸Now therefore if ye will, look upon me; and it shall be to your face if I lie.

 ²⁹Return, I pray you, let there be no wrong; yea, return again, my righteousness shall be in it.

 ³⁰Is there wrong in my tongue? cannot my taste discern mischievous things?

Job 7

 ¹Hath not man a life of labour upon earth? and are not his days like the days of a hireling?

 ²As a bondman earnestly desireth the shadow, and a hireling expecteth his wages,

 ³So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.

 ⁴If I lie down, I say, When shall I rise up, and the darkness be gone? and I am full of tossings until the dawn.

 ⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and suppurates.

 ⁶My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.

 ⁷Remember thou that my life is wind; mine eye shall no more see good.

 ⁸The eye of him that hath seen me shall behold me no [more]: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.

 ⁹The cloud consumeth and vanisheth away; so he that goeth down to Sheol shall not come up.

 ¹⁰He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him again.

 ¹¹Therefore I will not restrain my mouth: I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

 ¹²Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that thou settest a watch over me?

 ¹³When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;

 ¹⁴Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions;

 ¹⁵So that my soul chooseth strangling, death, rather than my bones.

 ¹⁶I loathe it; I shall not live always: let me alone, for my days are a breath.

 ¹⁷What is man, that thou makest much of him? and that thou settest thy heart upon him?

 ¹⁸And that thou visitest him every morning, triest him every moment?

 ¹⁹How long wilt thou not look away from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?

 ²⁰Have I sinned, what do I unto thee, thou Observer of men? Why hast thou set me as an object of assault for thee, so that I am become a burden to myself?

 ²¹And why dost not thou forgive my transgression and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I lie down in the dust, and thou shalt seek me early, and I shall not be.

Job 8

 ¹And Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

 ²How long wilt thou speak these things? and the words of thy mouth be a strong wind?

 ³Doth ùGod pervert judgment, and the Almighty pervert justice?

 ⁴If thy children have sinned against him, he hath also given them over into the hand of their transgression.

 ⁵If thou seek earnestly unto ùGod, and make thy supplication to the Almighty,

 ⁶If thou be pure and upright, surely now he will awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous;

 ⁷And though thy beginning was small, yet thine end shall be very great.

 ⁸For inquire, I pray thee, of the former generation, and attend to the researches of their fathers;

 ⁹For we are [but] of yesterday, and know nothing, for our days upon earth are a shadow.

 ¹⁰Shall not they teach thee, [and] tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?

 ¹¹Doth the papyrus shoot up without mire? doth the reed-grass grow without water?

 ¹²Whilst it is yet in its greenness [and] not cut down, it withereth before any [other] grass.

 ¹³So are the paths of all that forget ùGod; and the profane man's hope shall perish,

 ¹⁴Whose confidence shall be cut off, and his reliance is a spider's web.

 ¹⁵He shall lean upon his house, and it shall not stand; he shall lay hold on it, but it shall not endure.

 ¹⁶He is full of sap before the sun, and his sprout shooteth forth over his garden;

 ¹⁷His roots are entwined about the stoneheap; he seeth the place of stones.

 ¹⁸If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him: I have not seen thee!

 ¹⁹Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the dust shall others grow.

 ²⁰Behold, ùGod will not cast off a perfect man, neither will he take evil-doers by the hand.

 ²¹Whilst he would fill thy mouth with laughing and thy lips with shouting,

 ²²They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked be no more.

Job 9

 ¹And Job answered and said,

 ²Of a truth I know it is so; but how can man be just with ùGod?

 ³If he shall choose to strive with him, he cannot answer him one thing of a thousand.

 ⁴He is wise in heart and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and had peace?

 ⁵Who removeth mountains, and they know it not, when he overturneth them in his anger;

 ⁶Who shaketh the earth out of its place, and the pillars thereof tremble;

 ⁷Who commandeth the sun, and it riseth not, and he sealeth up the stars;

 ⁸Who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the high waves of the sea;

 ⁹Who maketh the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south;

 ¹⁰Who doeth great things past finding out, and wonders without number.

 ¹¹Lo, he goeth by me, and I see [him] not; and he passeth along, and I perceive him not.

 ¹²Behold, he taketh away: who will hinder him? Who will say unto him, What doest thou?

 ¹³+God withdraweth not his anger; the proud helpers stoop under him:

 ¹⁴How much less shall I answer him, choose out my words [to strive] with him?

 ¹⁵Whom, though I were righteous, [yet] would I not answer; I would make supplication to my judge.

 ¹⁶If I had called, and he had answered me, I would not believe that he hearkened to my voice, --

 ¹⁷He, who crusheth me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.

 ¹⁸He suffereth me not to take my breath, for he filleth me with bitternesses.

 ¹⁹Be it a question of strength, lo, [he is] strong; and be it of judgment, who will set me a time?

 ²⁰If I justified myself, mine own mouth would condemn me; were I perfect, he would prove me perverse.

 ²¹Were I perfect, [yet] would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.

 ²²It is all one; therefore I said, he destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.

 ²³If the scourge kill suddenly, he mocketh at the trial of the innocent.

 ²⁴The earth is given over into the hand of the wicked [man]; he covereth the faces of its judges. If not, who then is it?

 ²⁵And my days are swifter than a runner: they flee away, they see no good.

 ²⁶They pass by like skiffs of reed; as an eagle that swoops upon the prey.

 ²⁷If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my [sad] countenance, and brighten up,

 ²⁸I am afraid of all my sorrows; I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.

 ²⁹Be it that I am wicked, why then do I labour in vain?

 ³⁰If I washed myself with snow-water, and cleansed my hands in purity,

 ³¹Then wouldest thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes would abhor me.

 ³²For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him; that we should come together in judgment.

 ³³There is not an umpire between us, who should lay his hand upon us both.

 ³⁴Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his terror make me afraid,

 ³⁵[Then] I will speak, and not fear him; but it is not so with me.