Job 6-9 (21st Century King James Version)

Job 6

 ¹But Job answered and said:

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

   
 ³For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words are swallowed up.

   
 ⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; the poison thereof drinketh up my spirit; the terrors of God set themselves in array against me.

   
 ⁵Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? Or loweth the ox over his fodder?

   
 ⁶Can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

   
 ⁷The things that my soul refused to touch are as my distressing meat.

   
 ⁸"Oh that I might have my request, and that God would grant me the thing that I long for:

   
 ⁹even that it would please God to destroy me, that He would let loose His hand and cut me off!

   
 ¹⁰Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow. Let Him not spare, for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.

   
 ¹¹What is my strength, that I should hope? And what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?

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

   
 ¹³Is not my help in me? And is wisdom driven quite from me?

   
 ¹⁴"To him that is afflicted, pity should be shown by his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.

   
 ¹⁵My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away,

   
 ¹⁶which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid.

   
 ¹⁷When in time they wax warm, they vanish; when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

   
 ¹⁸The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing and perish.

   
 ¹⁹The troops of Tema looked; the companies of Sheba waited for them.

   
 ²⁰They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither and were ashamed.

   
 ²¹For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting down and are afraid.

   
 ²²Did I say, `Bring unto me'? or, `Give a reward for me of your substance'?

   
 ²³Or, `Deliver me from the enemy's hand'? or, `Redeem me from the hand of the mighty'?

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

   
 ²⁵How forceful are right words! But what doth your arguing reprove?

   
 ²⁶Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?

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

   
 ²⁸"Now therefore be content, look upon me; for it is evident unto you if I lie.

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

   
 ³⁰Is there iniquity on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern perverse things?

   

Job 7

 ¹"Is there not an appointed time for man upon earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hireling?

   
 ²As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as a hireling looketh for the reward of his work,

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

   
 ⁴When I lie down, I say, `When shall I arise and the night be gone?' And I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.

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

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

   
 ⁷"O remember that my life is wind; mine eye shall no more see good.

   
 ⁸The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more; Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.

   
 ⁹As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.

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

   
 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 whale, 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, and death rather than my life.

   
 ¹⁶I loathe it; I would not live always. Let me alone, for my days are vanity.

   
 ¹⁷"What is man, that Thou shouldest magnify him, and that Thou shouldest set Thine heart upon him?

   
 ¹⁸And that Thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?

   
 ¹⁹How long wilt Thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?

   
 ²⁰I have sinned. What shall I do unto Thee, O Thou preserver of men? Why hast Thou set me as a mark against Thee, so that I am a burden to myself?

   
 ²¹And why dost Thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? For now shall I sleep in the dust, and Thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be."

   

Job 8

 ¹Then answered Bildad the Shuhite and said:

   
 ²"How 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 pervert justice?

   
 ⁴If thy children have sinned against Him and He have cast them away for their transgression,

   
 ⁵if thou wouldest seek unto God speedily and make thy supplication to the Almighty,

   
 ⁶if thou wert pure and upright, surely now He would awake for thee and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.

   
 ⁷Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.

   
 ⁸"For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself for the searching of their fathers;

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

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

   
 ¹¹Can the rush grow up without mire? Can the reed grow without water?

   
 ¹²Whilst it is yet in his greenness and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb.

   
 ¹³So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish,

   
 ¹⁴whose hope shall be cut off and whose trust shall be a spider's web.

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

   
 ¹⁶He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.

   
 ¹⁷His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones.

   
 ¹⁸If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, `I have not seen thee.'

   
 ¹⁹Behold, this is the joy of His way, and out of the earth shall others grow.

   
 ²⁰"Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will He help the evildoers,

   
 ²¹till He fill thy mouth with laughing and thy lips with rejoicing.

   
 ²²They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame, and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought."

   

Job 9

 ¹Then Job answered and said:

   
 ²"I know in truth it is so, but how should man be just before God?

   
 ³If he will contend with Him, he cannot answer Him one in a thousand.

   
 ⁴He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against Him and hath prospered--

   
 ⁵Who removeth the mountains, and they know not; Who overturneth them in His anger;

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

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

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

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

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

   
 ¹¹Lo, He goeth by me, and I see Him not; He passeth on also, but I perceive Him not.

   
 ¹²Behold, He taketh away. Who can hinder Him? Who will say unto him, `What doest Thou?'

   
 ¹³"If God will not withdraw His anger, the proud helpers do stoop under Him.

   
 ¹⁴How much less shall I answer Him, and choose out my words to reason with Him--

   
 ¹⁵whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my Judge?

   
 ¹⁶If I had called and He had answered me, yet would I not believe that He had hearkened unto my voice.

   
 ¹⁷For He breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.

   
 ¹⁸He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness.

   
 ¹⁹If I speak of strength, lo, He is strong; and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?

   
 ²⁰If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me; if I say, `I am perfect,' it shall also prove me perverse.

   
 ²¹Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul; I would despise my life.

   
 ²²This is all one thing. Therefore I said it: `He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.'

   
 ²³If the scourge slay suddenly, He will laugh at the trial of the innocent.

   
 ²⁴The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covereth the faces of the judges thereof. If not, where and who is He?

   
 ²⁵"Now my days are swifter than a courier; they flee away, they see no good.

   
 ²⁶They are passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that hasteneth to the prey.

   
 ²⁷If I say, `I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness and comfort myself,'

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

   
 ²⁹If I be wicked, why then labor I in vain?

   
 ³⁰If I wash myself with snow water and make my hands never so clean,

   
 ³¹yet shalt Thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.

   
 ³²For He is not a man as I am, that I should answer Him and we should come together in judgment.

   
 ³³Neither is there any mediator between us who might lay his hand upon us both.

   
 ³⁴Let Him take His rod away from me, and let not fear of Him terrify me.

   
 ³⁵Then would I speak and not fear Him, but it is not so with me.