Job 6-9 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition)

Job 6

 ¹But Job answered, and said:

    ²O that my sins, whereby I have deserved wrath, and the calamity that I suffer, were weighed in a balance.

    ³As the sand of the sea this would appear heavier: therefore my words are full of sorrow :

    ⁴For the arrows of the Lord are in me, the rage whereof drinketh up my spirit, and the terrors of the Lord war against me.

    ⁵Will the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or will the ox low when he standeth before a full manger?

    ⁶Or can an unsavoury thing be eaten, that is not seasoned with salt? or can a man taste that which when tasted bringeth death?

    ⁷The things which before my soul would not touch, now, through anguish are my meats.

    ⁸Who will grant that my request may come: and that God may give me what I look for?

    ⁹And that he that hath begun may destroy me, that he may let loose his hand, and cut me off?

    ¹⁰And that this may be my comfort, that afflicting me with sorrow, he spare not, nor I contradict the words of the Holy One.

    ¹¹For what is my strength, that I can hold out? or what is my end that I should keep patience?

    ¹²My strength is not the strength of stones, nor is my flesh of brass.

    ¹³Behold there is no help for me in myself, and my familiar friends also are departed from me.

    ¹⁴He that taketh away mercy from his friend, forsaketh the fear of the Lord.

    ¹⁵My brethren have passed by me, as the torrent that passeth swiftly in the valleys.

    ¹⁶They that fear the hoary frost, the snow shall fall upon them.

    ¹⁷At the time when they shall be scattered they shall perish: and after it groweth hot they shall be melted out of their place.

    ¹⁸The paths of their steps are entangled: they shall walk in vain, and shall perish.

    ¹⁹Consider the paths of Thema, the ways of Saba, and wait a little while.

    ²⁰They are confounded, because I have hoped: they are come also even unto me, and are covered with shame.

    ²¹Now you are come: and now seeing my affliction you are afraid.

    ²²Did I say: Bring to me, and give me of your substance?

    ²³Or deliver me from the hand of the enemy, and rescue me out of the hand of the mighty?

    ²⁴Teach me, and I will hold my peace: and if I have been ignorant in any thing, instruct me.

    ²⁵Why have you detracted the words of truth, whereas there is none of you that can reprove me?

    ²⁶You dress up speeches only to rebuke, and you utter words to the wind.

    ²⁷You rush in upon the fatherless, and you endeavour to overthrow your friend.

    ²⁸However finish what you have begun, give ear, and see whether I lie.

    ²⁹Answer, I beseech you, without contention: and speaking that which is just, judge ye.

    ³⁰And you shall not And iniquity in my tongue, neither shall folly sound in my mouth.

   

Job 7

 ¹The life of man upon earth is a warfare, and his days are like the days of a hireling.

    ²As a servant longeth for the shade, as the hireling looketh for the end of his work;

    ³So I also have had empty months, and have numbered to myself wearisome nights.

    ⁴If I lie down to sleep, I shall say: When shall arise? and again I shall look for the evening, and shall be filled with sorrows even till darkness.

    ⁵My flesh is clothed with rottenness and the filth of dust, my skin is withered and drawn together.

    ⁶My days have passed more swiftly than the web is cut by the weaver, and are consumed without any hope.

    ⁷Remember that my life is but wind, and my eyes shall not return to see good things.

    ⁸Nor shall the sight of man behold me: thy eyes are upon me, and I shall be no more.

    ⁹As a cloud is consumed, and passeth away: so he that shall go down to hell shall not come up.

    ¹⁰Nor shall he return my more into his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

    ¹¹Wherefore I will not spare my month, I will speak in the affliction of my spirit: I will talk with the bitterness of my soul.

    ¹²Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou hast enclosed me in a prison?

    ¹³If I say: My bed shall comfort me, and I shall be relieved speaking with myself on my couch:

    ¹⁴Thou wilt frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions.

    ¹⁵So that my soul rather chooseth hanging, and my bones death.

    ¹⁶I have done with hope, I shall now live no longer: spare me, for my days are nothing.

    ¹⁷What is a man that thou shouldst magnify him? or why dost thou set thy heart upon him?

    ¹⁸Thou visitest him early in the morning, and thou provest him suddenly.

    ¹⁹How long wilt thou not spare me, nor suffer me to swallow down my spittle?

    ²⁰I have sinned: what shall I do to thee, O keeper of men? why hast thou set me opposite to thee, and I am become burdensome to myself?

    ²¹Why dost thou not remove my sin, and why dost thou not take away my iniquity? Behold now I shall sleep in the dust: and if thou seek me in the morning, I shall not be.

   

Job 8

 ¹The Baldad the Suhite answered, and said:

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

    ³Doth God pervert judgment, or doth the Almighty overthrow that which is just?

    ⁴Although thy children have sinned against him, and he hath left them in the hand of their iniquity:

    ⁵Yet if thou wilt arise early to God, and wilt beseech the Almighty:

    ⁶If thou wilt walk clean and upright, he will presently awake onto thee, and will make the dwelling of thy justice peaceable:

    ⁷Insomuch, that if thy former things were small, thy latter things would be multiplied exceedingly.

    ⁸For inquire of the former generation, and search diligently into the memory of the fathers:

    ⁹(For we are but of yesterday, and are ignorant that our days upon earth are but a shadow:)

    ¹⁰And they shall teach thee: they shall speak to thee, and utter words out of their hearts.

    ¹¹Can the rush be green without moisture? or a sedge-bush grow without water?

    ¹²When it is yet in flower, and is not plucked up with the hand, it withereth before all herbs.

    ¹³Even so are the ways of all that forget God, and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish:

    ¹⁴His folly shall not please him, and his trust shall be like the spider's web.

    ¹⁵He shall lean upon his house, and it shall not stand: he shall prop it up, and it shall not rise:

    ¹⁶He seemeth to have moisture before the sun cometh, and at his rising his blossom shall shoot forth.

    ¹⁷His roots shall be thick upon a heap of stones, and among the stones he shall abide.

    ¹⁸If one swallow him up out of his place, he shall deny him, and shall say: I know thee not.

    ¹⁹For this is the joy of his way, that others may spring again out of the earth.

    ²⁰God will not cast away the simple, nor reach out his hand to the evildoer:

    ²¹Until thy mouth be filled with laughter, and thy lips with rejoicing.

    ²²They that hate thee, shall be clothed with confusion: and the dwelling of the wicked shall not stand.

   

Job 9

 ¹And Job answered, and said:

    ²Indeed I know it is so, and that man cannot be justified compared with

    ³If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one for a thousand.

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

    ⁵Who hath removed mountains, and they whom he overthrew in his wrath, knew it not.

    ⁶Who shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.

    ⁷Who commandeth tile sun and it riseth not: and shutteth up the stars as it were under a seal:

    ⁸Who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and walketh upon the waves of the sea.

    ⁹Who maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and Hyades, and the inner parts of the south.

    ¹⁰Who doth things great and incomprehensible, and wonderful, of which there is no number.

    ¹¹If he come to me, I shall not see him: if he depart I shall not understand.

    ¹²If he examine on a sudden, who shall answer him? or who can say: Why dost thou so?

    ¹³God, whose wrath no mall can resist, and under whom they stoop that bear up the world.

    ¹⁴What am I then, that I should answer him, and have words with him?

    ¹⁵I, who although I should have any just thing, would not answer, but would make supplication to my judge.

    ¹⁶And if he should hear me when I call, I should not believe that he had heard my voice.

    ¹⁷For he shall crush me in a whirlwind, and multiply my wounds even without cause.

    ¹⁸He alloweth not my spirit to rest, and he filleth me with bitterness.

    ¹⁹If strength be demanded, he is most strong: if equity of judgment, no man dare bear witness for me.

    ²⁰If I would justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: if I would shew myself innocent, he shall prove me wicked.

    ²¹Although I should be simple, even this my soul shall be ignorant of, and I shall be weary of my life.

    ²²One thing there is that I have spoken, both the innocent and the wicked he consumeth.

    ²³If he scourge, let him kill at once, and not laugh at the pains of the innocent.

    ²⁴The earth is given into the hand of the wicked, he covereth the face of the judges thereof: and if it be not he, who is it then?

    ²⁵My days have been swifter than a post: they have fled away and have not seen good.

    ²⁶They have passed by as ships carrying fruits, as an eagle flying to the prey.

    ²⁷If I say: I will not speak so: I change my face, and am tormented with sorrow.

    ²⁸I feared all my works, knowing that thou didst not spare the offender.

    ²⁹But if so also I am wicked, why have I laboured in vain?

    ³⁰If I be washed as it were with snow waters, and my hands shall shine ever so clean :

    ³¹Yet thou shalt plunge me in filth, and my garments shall abhor me,

    ³²For I shall not answer a man that is like myself: nor one that may be heard with me equally in judgment.

    ³³There is none that may be able to reprove both, and to put his hand between both.

    ³⁴Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me.

    ³⁵I will speak, and will not fear him: for I cannot answer while I am in fear.