Job 24-28 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition)

Job 24

 ¹Times are not hid from the Almighty: but they that know him, know not his days.

    ²Some have removed landmarks, have taken away flocks by force, and fed them.

    ³They have driven away the ass of the fatherless, and have taken away the widow's ox for a pledge.

    ⁴They have overturned the way of the poor, and have oppressed together the meek of the earth.

    ⁵Others like wild asses in the desert go forth to their work: by watching for a prey they get bread for their children.

    ⁶They reap the field that is not their own, and gather the vintage of his vineyard whom by violence they have oppressed.

    ⁷They send men away naked, taking away their clothes who have no covering in the cold:

    ⁸Who are wet, with the showers of the mountains, and having no covering embrace the stones.

    ⁹They have violently robbed the fatherless, and stripped the poor common people.

    ¹⁰From the naked and them that go without clothing, and from the hungry they have taken away the ears of corn.

    ¹¹They have taken their rest at noon among the stores of them, who after having trodden the winepresses suffer thirst.

    ¹²Out of the cities they have made men to groan, and the soul of the wounded hath cried out, and God doth not suffer it to pass unrevenged.

    ¹³They have been rebellious to the light, they have not known his ways, neither have they returned by his paths.

    ¹⁴The murderer riseth at the very break of day, he killeth the needy, and the poor man: but in the night he will be as a thief.

    ¹⁵The eye of the adulterer observeth darkness, saying: No eye shall see me: and he will cover his face.

    ¹⁶He diggeth through houses in the dark, as in the day they had appointed for themselves, and they have not known the light.

    ¹⁷If the morning suddenly appear, it is to them the shadow of death: and they walk in darkness as if it were in light.

    ¹⁸He is light upon the face of the water: cursed be his portion on the earth, let him not walk by the way of the vineyards.

    ¹⁹Let him pass from the snow waters to excessive heat, and his sin even to hell.

    ²⁰Let mercy forget him: may worms be his sweetness: let him be remembered no more, but be broken in pieces as an unfruitful tree.

    ²¹For he hath fed the barren that beareth not, and to the widow he hath done no good.

    ²²He hath pulled down the strong by his might: and when he standeth up, he shall not trust to his life.

    ²³God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride: but his eyes are upon his ways.

    ²⁴They are lifted up for a little while and shall not stand, and shall be brought down as all things, and shall be taken away, and as the tops of the ears of corn they shall be broken.

    ²⁵And if it be not so, who can convince me that I have lied, and set my words before God?

   

Job 25

 ¹Then Baldad the Suhite answered, and I said:

    ²Power and terror are with him, who maketh peace in his high places.

    ³Is there any numbering of his soldiers? and upon whom shall not his light arise?

    ⁴Can man be justified compared with God, or he that is born of a woman appear clean?

    ⁵Behold even the moon doth not shine, and the stars are not pure in his sight.

    ⁶How much less man that is rottenness and the son of man who is a worm?

   

Job 26

 ¹Then Job answered, and said:

    ²Whose helper art thou? is it of him that is weak? and dost thou hold up the arm of him that has no strength?

    ³To whom hast thou given counsel? perhaps to him that hath no wisdom, and thou hast shewn thy very great prudence.

    ⁴Whom hast thou desired to teach? was it not him that made life?

    ⁵Behold the giants groan under the waters, and they that dwell with them.

    ⁶Hell is naked before him, and there is no covering for destruction.

    ⁷He stretched out the north over the empty space, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

    ⁸He bindeth up the waters in his clouds, so that they break not out and fall down together.

    ⁹He withholdeth the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud over it.

    ¹⁰He hath set bounds about the waters, till light and darkness come to an end.

    ¹¹The pillars of heaven tremble, and dread at his beck.

    ¹²By his power the seas are suddenly gathered together, and his wisdom has struck the proud one.

    ¹³His spirit hath adorned the heavens, and his obstetric hand brought forth the winding serpent.

    ¹⁴Lo, these things are said in part of his ways: and seeing we have heard scarce a little drop of his word, who shall be able to behold the thunder of his greatness?

   

Job 27

 ¹Job also added, taking up his parable, and said:

    ²As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, who hath brought my soul to bitterness,

    ³As long as breath remaineth in me, and the spirit of God in my nostrils,

    ⁴My lips shall not speak iniquity, neither shall my tongue contrive lying.

    ⁵God forbid that I should judge you to be just: till I die I will not depart from my innocence.

    ⁶My justification, which I have begun to hold, I will not forsake: for my heart doth not reprehend me in all my life.

    ⁷Let my enemy be as the ungodly, and my adversary as the wicked one.

    ⁸For what is the hope of the hypocrite if through covetousness he take by violence, and God deliver not his soul?

    ⁹Will God hear his cry, when distress shall come upon him?

    ¹⁰Or can he delight himself in the Almighty, and call upon God at all times?

    ¹¹I will teach you by the hand of God, what the Almighty hath, and I will not conceal it.

    ¹²Behold you all know it, and why do you speak vain things without cause?

    ¹³This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the inheritance of the violent, which they shall receive of the Almighty.

    ¹⁴If his sons be multiplied, they shall be for the sword, and his grandsons shall not be filled with bread.

    ¹⁵They that shall remain of him, shall be buried in death, and his widows shall not weep.

    ¹⁶If he shall heap together silver as earth, and prepare raiment as clay,

    ¹⁷He shall prepare indeed, but the just man shall be clothed with it: and the innocent shall divide the silver.

    ¹⁸He hath built his house as a moth, and as a keeper he hath made a booth.

    ¹⁹The rich man when he shall sleep shall take away nothing with him: he shall open his eyes and find nothing.

    ²⁰Poverty like water shall take hold on him, a tempest shall oppress him in the night.

    ²¹A burning wind shall take him up, and carry him away, and as a whirlwind shall snatch him from his place.

    ²²And he shall cast upon him, and shall not spare: out of his hand he would willingly flee.

    ²³He shall clasp his hands upon him, and shall hiss at him, beholding his place.

   

Job 28

 ¹Silver hath beginnings of its veins, and gold hath a place wherein it is melted.

    ²Iron is taken out of the earth, and stone melted with heat is turned into brass.

    ³He hath set a time for darkness, and the end of all things he considereth, the stone also that is in the dark and the shadow of death.

    ⁴The flood divideth from the people that are on their journey, those whom the food of the needy man hath forgotten, and who cannot be come at.

    ⁵The land, out of which bread grew in its place, hath been overturned with fire.

    ⁶The stones of it are the place of sapphires, and the clods of it are gold.

    ⁷The bird hath not known the path, neither hath the eye of the vulture beheld it.

    ⁸The children of the merchants have not trodden it, neither hath the lioness passed by it.

    ⁹He hath stretched forth his hand to the flint, he hath overturned mountains from the roots.

    ¹⁰In the rocks he hath cut out rivers, and his eye hath seen every precious thing.

    ¹¹The depths also of rivers he hath searched, and hidden things he hath brought forth to light.

    ¹²But where is wisdom to be found, and where is the place of understanding?

    ¹³Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of them that live in delights.

    ¹⁴The depth saith: It is not in me: and the sea saith: It is not with me.

    ¹⁵The finest gold shall not purchase it, neither shall silver be weighed in exchange for it

    ¹⁶It shall not be compared with the dyed colours of India, or with the most precious stone sardonyx, or the sapphire.

    ¹⁷Gold or crystal cannot equal it, neither shall any vessels of gold be changed for it.

    ¹⁸High and eminent things shall not be mentioned in comparison of it: but wisdom is drawn out of secret places.

    ¹⁹The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be equal to it, neither shall it be compared to the cleanest dyeing.

    ²⁰Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?

    ²¹It is hid from the eyes of all living. and the fowls of the air know it not.

    ²²Destruction and death have said: With our ears we have heard the fame thereof.

    ²³God understandeth the way of it, and he knoweth the place thereof.

    ²⁴For he beholdeth the ends of the world: and looketh on all things that are under heaven.

    ²⁵Who made a weight for the winds and weighed the waters by measure.

    ²⁶When he gave a law for the rain, and a way for the sounding storms.

    ²⁷Then he saw it, and declared, and prepared, and searched it.

    ²⁸And he said to man: Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart from evil, is understanding.