Beginning

17 My spirit shall be made feeble; my days shall be made short, and only the sepulchre is left to me. (My breath shall be made weak; my days shall be made short, and only the grave, or a tomb, is left to me.)

² I have not sinned, and mine eye dwelleth in bitternesses. (I have not sinned, and yet I see their bitterness toward me.)

³ Lord, deliver thou me, and set me beside thee; and the hand of each man fight against me. (Lord, save thou me, and put me beside thee; then let someone try to fight against me!)

⁴ Thou hast made the heart of them far from doctrine, that is, (far) from knowing of (the) truth; therefore they shall not be enhanced (and so thou shalt not let them triumph).

⁵ He promiseth prey to his fellows, and the eyes of his sons shall fail (yet the eyes of his sons shall fail).

⁶ He hath set [me] as into a proverb of the common people, and his ensample before them.

⁷ Mine eye dimmed at [the] indignation (My eyes dimmed with grief); and my members be driven as into nought.

⁸ Just men shall wonder on this thing; and an innocent shall be raised up against an hypocrite.

⁹ And a just man shall hold his way, and he shall add strength to clean hands. (The righteous shall hold to their way, and he who hath clean hands shall be made even stronger.)

¹⁰ Therefore all ye be turned again, and come ye; and I shall not find in you any wise man. (And so come now, let all of you try again; for thus far, I have not found a wise man among you.)

¹¹ My days be passed; my thoughts be scattered, tormenting mine heart.

¹² Those have turned the night into day; and again after darknesses hope (for) light. (They have turned the night into day; and then again after darkness, hope for some light.)

¹³ If I sustain, either suffer patiently, hell is mine house; and I have arrayed my bed in darknesses. (If I endure, Sheol, or the grave, shall be my house; and I shall array my bed in darkness.)

¹⁴ I said to rot (And I shall say to rot), Thou art my father; and to worms, Ye be my mother, and my sister.

¹⁵ Therefore where is now mine abiding? and who beholdeth my patience?

¹⁶ All my things shall go down into [the] deepest hell; guessest thou, whether rest shall be to me, namely there. (All my thoughts shall go down into Sheol; thinkest thou, that there shall be any rest for me there?)

18 Then Bildad (the) Shuhite answered, and said,

² Unto what end shalt thou boast with words? Understand thou us first, and so speak we together. (Unto what end shalt thou continue to boast with your words? First listen to us, and then we shall speak together.)

³ Why be we areckoned as beasts, and why have we been (judged) foul before thee?

⁴ What, or why, losest thou thy soul in thy strong vengeance? Whether the earth shall be forsaken for thee, and hard stones shall be borne over from their place, (just for thee)?

⁵ Whether the light of a wicked man shall not be quenched; and the flame of his fire shall not shine? (The light of the wicked shall be quenched; and the flame of his fire shall not shine!)

⁶ Light shall wax dark in his tabernacle; and the lantern, which is on him, shall be quenched. (The light shall grow dark in his tent; and the lantern, which shineth on him, shall be quenched.)

⁷ The steps of his strength shall be made strait; and his (own) counsel shall cast him down.

⁸ For he hath sent, or put, his feet into a net; and he goeth in the meshes, or knittings, thereof.

⁹ His foot shall be holden with a snare; and thirst shall burn out against him.

¹⁰ The foot-trap of him is hid in the earth, and his snare is laid on the path. (A foot-trap is hid on the ground for him, and a snare is laid on the path for him.)

¹¹ Dreads shall make him afeared on every side, and shall bewrap his feet. (Terror shall make him afraid on every side, and shall enwrap, or shall bind, his feet.)

¹² His strength [shall] be made feeble by hunger; and poverty (shall) assail his ribs.

¹³ Devour it the fairness of his skin; the first engendered (of) death waste his arms. (Disease shall devour the beauty of his skin; and Death’s first-born shall destroy, or shall eat up, his arms and his legs.)

¹⁴ His trust be taken away from his tabernacle; and perishing, as a king, above-tread on him. (He shall be torn away from the safety of his tent; and perishing, or destruction, shall tread all over him, like a king.)

¹⁵ The fellows of him that is not, that is, the fellows of a dead man, dwell in his tabernacle; and brimstone be sprinkled in his tabernacle. (The fellows, or friends, of him who is not, that is, the friends of he who is dead, shall live in his tent; and brimstone, or sulphur, shall be sprinkled all around it to ward off evil.)

¹⁶ The roots of him be made dry beneath; and be his ripe corn all-broken above. (His roots shall be made dry beneath; and all his branches shall wither above.)

¹⁷ His mind perish from the earth; and his name be not made solemn in streets. (His memory shall perish from the earth; and his name shall be forgotten in the streets.)

¹⁸ He shall put him out from light into darknesses; and he shall bear him over from the world. (He shall be put out from the light into the darkness; and he shall be carried over from this world into the next.)

¹⁹ Neither his seed, neither his kindred, shall be in his people, neither any remnants of them (shall be) left in his countries. (Neither his descendants, nor his kindred, shall be among his own people, nor shall any remnant of them be left in his land.)

²⁰ The last men (of him) shall wonder in his days; and hideousness shall assail the first men. (The people who come after him shall wonder at his day; just as horror assailed those who came before him.)

²¹ Therefore these be the tabernacles of a wicked man; and this is the place of him, that knoweth not God. (And so such shall be the fate of the wicked; the end, or the place, of those, who do not know God.)

19 Forsooth Job answered, and said,

² How long torment ye my soul, and all-break me with words?

³ Lo! ten times ye have shamed me, and ye (still) be not ashamed, (for) oppressing me.

⁴ Forsooth and if I know not [Forsooth if I am unknowing], mine unknowing shall be with me.

⁵ And ye be raised (up) against me, and reprove me with my shames (and rebuke me with my shame).

⁶ Namely now understand ye, that God hath tormented me not by even doom, and hath (en)compassed me with his beatings. (Now then understand ye, that God hath tormented me with unfair judgement, and hath surrounded me with his beatings.)

⁷ Lo! I suffering violence shall cry, and no man shall hear me; I shall cry loud, and there is none that deemeth me worthy to be heard. (Lo! I suffering violence shall cry out, but no one shall hear me; I shall cry aloud, but there is no one who judgeth me worthy to be heard.)

⁸ The Lord hath beset about my path, and I may not go (The Lord hath hedged about my path, so that I cannot go forth); and he hath set darknesses in my way.

⁹ He hath spoiled me of my glory (He hath taken away my glory), and hath taken away the crown from mine head.

¹⁰ He hath destroyed me on each side, and I (have) perished; and he hath taken away mine hope, as from a tree pulled up by the root (and he hath taken away my hope, like a tree pulled up by its roots).

¹¹ His strong vengeance was wroth against me; and he had me so as his enemy.

¹² His thieves came together, and made to them a way by me; and besieged my tabernacle in compass. (His forces came together, and made a way for themselves against me, and they besieged me on all sides of my tent.)

¹³ He made [a]far my brethren from me; and my known as aliens went away from me. (He made my brothers to go far away from me; and my acquaintances, or my friends, went away from me like strangers.)

¹⁴ My neighbours have forsaken me; and they that knew me have forgotten me. (My friends have deserted me; and they who knew me have forgotten me.)

¹⁵ The tenants of mine house, and mine handmaids (and my slave-girls), had me as a stranger; and I was as a pilgrim before their eyes.

¹⁶ I called my servant, and he answered not to me; with mine own mouth I prayed him (I begged him with my own mouth).

¹⁷ My wife loathed my breath; and I prayed (for) the sons of my womb. (My wife loathed my very breath; even though I prayed for the sons of my womb.)

¹⁸ Also fools despised me; and when I was gone away from them, they backbited me.

¹⁹ They, that were my counsellors sometime, had abomination of me (They, who were sometimes my counsellors, loathed me); and he, whom I loved most, was (an) adversary to me.

²⁰ When my fleshes were wasted, my bone(s) cleaved to my skin; and only [the] lips be left about my teeth (and I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth).

²¹ Have ye mercy on me, have ye mercy on me, namely, ye my friends; for the hand of the Lord hath touched me.

²² Why pursue ye me, as God pursueth (me); and ye be fulfilled with my fleshes? (be ye not yet filled full with my flesh?)

²³ Who giveth, or granteth, to me, that my words be written? Who giveth to me, that those be written in a book,

²⁴ with an iron pointel, either with a piece of lead; either with a chisel those be graven in a flint? (or on a piece of lead, with an iron stylus? or be engraved on a stone, with a chisel?)

²⁵ For I know, that mine again-buyer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise from the earth; (For I know, that my redeemer liveth, and on the last day he shall rise to my defense;)

²⁶ and again I shall be (en)compassed with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see God, my saviour.

²⁷ Whom I myself shall see, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another man. This mine hope is kept in my bosom, that is, in mine heart (This hope of mine is kept in my bosom, that is, in my heart).

²⁸ Why therefore say ye now, Pursue we him, and find we the root of a word against him? (And so why now say ye, Let us pursue him, and find we the root of the matter against him?)

²⁹ Therefore flee ye from the face of the sword; for the sword is the venger of wickednesses, and know ye, that doom shall be. (And so flee ye from the face of the sword; for the sword is the avenger of wickedness, and know ye, that there shall be a judgement/that there is a Judge.)

20 And then Zophar (the) Naamathite answered, and said,

² Therefore my thoughts diverse come one after another; and the mind is ravished into diverse things. (And so now my thoughts come diversely one after another; and my mind thinketh on many different things.)

³ I shall hear the teaching, by which thou reprovest me; and the spirit of mine understanding shall answer me. (I have heard the words, with which thou rebukest me; and the spirit of my understanding hath given me an answer.)

⁴ I know this from the beginning, since man was set on [the] earth, (Certainly thou knowest this from the beginning, since man was put on the earth,)

⁵ that the praising of wicked men is short(-lived), and the joy of an hypocrite is at the likeness of a point soon passing (away).

⁶ Though his pride go up into (the) heaven(s), and his head toucheth the clouds,

⁷ he shall be lost in the end, as a dunghill; and, they that have seen him, shall say, Where is he? (he shall be discarded in the end, like his own dung; and then they who have seen him, shall say, Where is he?)

⁸ As a dream flying away, or soon forgotten, he shall not be found; he shall pass as the sight of nights. (Like a dream flying away, or soon forgotten, he shall not be found; he shall pass away like a vision in the night.)

⁹ The eye that saw him shall not see him again; and his place shall no more behold him.

¹⁰ His sons shall be all-broken with neediness; and his hands shall yield to him his sorrow. (His sons shall make recompense to the poor; and with their hands they shall give back their goods to them.)

¹¹ His bones shall be [full-]filled with the vices of his young waxing age; and they shall sleep with him in (the) dust.

¹² For when evil was sweet in his mouth, he hid it under his tongue.

¹³ He shall spare it, and shall not forsake it; and he shall hide it in his throat (and he shall hide it in his mouth).

¹⁴ His bread in his womb shall be turned into the gall of snakes within him.

¹⁵ He shall vomit, or cast, out the riches which he hath devoured; and God shall draw those riches out of his womb.

¹⁶ He shall suck the gall of snakes; and the tongue of an adder shall slay him.

¹⁷ See he not the streams of the flood of the strand, of honey, and of butter. (He shall not see the streams of oil, or of cream, nor the rivers of honey and butter.)

¹⁸ He shall suffer pains for all things which he hath done, nevertheless he shall not be wasted by those pains, but ever endure; and after the multitude of his findings, so shall he suffer (and he shall suffer for the multitude of his deeds).

¹⁹ For he brake, and made naked the house of the poor man; he ravished it, and builded it not. (For he broke into, and emptied out, the house of the poor; and he stole, what he did not build.)

²⁰ And his womb was not yet [ful]filled; and when he hath that, that he coveted, he may not hold it in possession. (And his belly, or his appetite, was not yet satisfied; and even when he hath, what he desired, he cannot hold onto it.)

²¹ There (be) left nothing of his meat; and therefore nothing shall dwell of his goods. (Nothing shall remain of his food; and nothing shall remain of his goods.)

²² When he is full-filled with riches, yet he shall be made strait in covetousness (Yea, even when he is filled full with riches, he shall still be in dire straits); he shall burn in it, and all sorrow shall fall in upon him.

²³ I would, that his womb be filled, that he send out into him the wrath of his strong vengeance, and rain his battle upon him. (I wish, that as his belly is filled, that God send upon him the anger of his strong vengeance, and rain down his battle upon him.)

²⁴ He shall flee iron armours, and he shall fall into a brazen bow. (He shall flee from iron arms, or weapons, and he shall fall by a bronze bow.)

²⁵ Which is led, or taken out of his sheath, or case, and this bow going out, and shining as lightning, shall smite him in bitterness; horrible fears shall go (forth), and come upon him. (Which is taken out of its sheath, or its case, and this bow going out, and shining like lightning, shall strike him in his gall bladder; horrible fears shall go forth, and shall come upon him.)

²⁶ All darknesses (shall) be hid in his privates; fire, which is not tended, shall devour him; he shall be tormented (who is) left in his tabernacle. (All darkness shall be hid in his secret place; a fire, which is not tended, shall devour him; he who is left in his tent, shall be tormented.)

²⁷ Heavens shall show his wickedness; and earth shall rise up (al)together against him. (The heavens shall show his wickedness; and the earth shall altogether rise up against him.)

²⁸ The seed, or generation, of his house shall be open (All that he hath in his house shall be destroyed); it shall be drawn down in the day of the strong vengeance of the Lord.

²⁹ This is the part of a wicked man, which is given to him of God, and the heritage of his words is also of the Lord. (This is the portion for the wicked, which is given to him from God, and his inheritance which is also from the Lord.)