Beginning
29 So Job proceeded, and continued his parable, saying,
2 “Oh that I were as in times past, when God preserved me,
3 “when His light shined upon my head! By His light I walked through the darkness,
4 “as I was in the days of my youth, when God’s providence was upon my tabernacle,
5 “when the Almighty was still with me, and my children all around me,
6 “when I washed my paths with butter, and when the rock poured out rivers of oil for me.
7 “When I went out to the gate, to the judgment seat, I caused them to prepare my seat in the street.
8 “The young men saw me and hid themselves. And the aged arose, stood up.
9 “The princes stopped talking and laid their hand on their mouth.
10 “The voice of princes was hidden, and their tongue clung to the roof of their mouth.
11 “And when the ear heard me, it blessed me. And when the eye saw, it gave witness to me.
12 “For I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless, and him who had no one to help him.
13 “The blessing of him who was ready to perish came upon me. And I caused the widow’s heart to rejoice.
14 “I put on justice, and it covered me, my judgment as a robe and a crown.
15 “I was the eyes to the blind, and I was the feet to the lame.
16 “I was a father to the poor, and I did not know the cause. I sought it out diligently.
17 “I also broke the jaws of the unrighteous man and plucked the prey out of his teeth.
18 “Then I said, ‘I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply days as the sand.
19 ‘My root is spread out by the water, and the dew shall lie upon my branch.
20 ‘My glory shall renew toward me, and my bow shall be restored in my hand.’
21 “Men gave ear to me, and waited, and held their tongue at my counsel.
22 “After my words they did not reply, and my talk dropped upon them.
23 “And they waited for me, as for the rain. And they opened their mouth as for the latter rain.
24 “I laughed at them. They did not believe it. Nor did they cause the light of my countenance to fall.
25 “I pointed out their way, and sat as chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, like him who comforts the mourners.”
30 “But now, those who are younger than me, mock me, those whose fathers I have refused to set with the dogs of my flocks.
2 “For how should the strength of their hands have served me? Vigor perished in them.
3 “They were hard from poverty and famine, fleeing into the wilderness, dark, desolate and waste.
4 “They cut up nettles by the bushes, and the juniper root was their food.
5 “They were chased forth from among men. They shouted at them, as at a thief.
6 “Therefore they dwelt in the clefts of rivers, in the holes of the earth and rocks.
7 “They roared among the bushes, and under the thistles they gathered themselves.
8 “They were the children of fools, and the children of villains, who were scourged from the Earth.
9 “And now am I their song, and I am their talk.
10 “They abhor me, flee far from me, and do not hesitate to spit in my face.
11 “Because He has loosed His cord and humbled me. They have loosed the bridle before me.
12 “The youth rise up at my right hand. They have pushed away my feet and have built upon me the paths of their destruction.
13 “They have destroyed my paths. They took pleasure in my calamity. They had no help.
14 “They came as a great breach. Under this calamity they come in waves.
15 “Fear is turned upon me. They pursue my soul as the wind, and my health passes away as a cloud.
16 “Therefore my soul is now poured out upon me. And the days of affliction have taken hold on me.
17 “It pierces my bones in the night, and my sinews take no rest.
18 “Through great force is my garment changed, surrounding me as the collar of my coat.
19 “He has cast me into the mire, and I have become like ashes and dust.
20 “When I cry to You, You do not hear me. Nor do You regard me when I stand up.
21 “You turn Yourself cruelly against me and oppose me with the strength of Your Hand.
22 “You take me up, cause me to ride upon the wind, and make my strength fail.
23 “Surely I know that You will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all the living.
24 “Yet does not one still stretch his hand from the grave, though he cries in His destruction?
25 “Did not I weep with him who was in trouble? Was not my soul in heaviness for the poor?
26 “Yet when I looked for good, evil came to me. And when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 “My bowels boiled without rest. The days of affliction have come upon me.
28 “I went mourning, without Sun. I stood up in the Congregation and cried.
29 “I am a brother to the jackals, and a companion to the ostriches.
30 “My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burnt with heat.
31 “Therefore, my harp becomes mourning, and my organs the voice of those who weep.”
31 “I made a covenant with my eyes. Why, then, should I look upon a maid?
2 “What portion is of God from above, and inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
3 “Is it not destruction to the wicked, and strange calamity to the workers of iniquity?
4 “Does He not behold my ways, and tell all my steps,
5 “if I have walked in vanity or if my foot has hurried to deceit?
6 “Let God weigh me in the just balance, and He shall know my uprightness.
7 “If my step has turned out of the way, or my heart has walked after my eye, or if any blot has clung to my hands,
8 “let me sow, and let another eat. Yea, let my plants be rooted out.
9 “If my heart has been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at the door of my neighbor,
10 “let my wife grind to another man, and let other men bow down upon her.
11 “For this is a wickedness, and iniquity, to be condemned.
12 “Yea, this is a fire that shall devour to destruction, and which shall root out all my increase.
13 “If I contemned the judgment of my servant, and of my maid, when they contended with me,
14 “what then shall I do when God stands up? And when He shall visit, what shall I answer?
15 “He Who has made me in the womb, has He not made him? Has not He alone fashioned us in the womb?
16 “If I kept the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
17 “or have eaten my morsels alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of them
18 “(for from my youth has he grown up with me, as with a father, and from my mother’s womb have I been a guide to her).
19 “If I have seen any perish for lack of clothing, or any poor without covering,
20 “if his loins have not thanked me because he was warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
21 “if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless when I saw that I might help him in the gate,
22 “let my arm fall from my shoulder, and my arm be broken from the bone.
23 “For God’s punishment is fearful to me, and I could not be delivered from His Highness.
24 “If I made gold my hope, or have said to the wedge of gold, ‘You are my confidence,’
25 “if I rejoiced because my substance was great, or because my hand had gotten much,
26 “if I beheld the Sun when it shined, or the Moon walking in brightness,
27 “if my heart flattered me in secret, or if my mouth kissed my hand,
28 “(this also had been an iniquity to be condemned, for I had denied the God above),
29 “if I rejoiced at his destruction who hated me, or was moved to joy when evil came upon him
30 “(no, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by wishing a curse on his soul),
31 “have the men of my Tabernacle not said, ‘Who has not been satisfied with his food?’
32 “The stranger did not lodge in the street. I opened my doors to him who went by the way.
33 “I have hidden my sins, as Adam, concealing my iniquity in my bosom.
34 “Though I feared a great multitude, yet the most contemptible of the families feared me. So I kept silent, and did not go out of the door.
35 “Oh that I had someone to hear me! Behold, my sign that the Almighty will witness for me. Though my adversary would write a book,
36 “would not I take it upon my shoulder and bind it as a crown to me?
37 “I will tell him the number of my goings, and go to him as to a prince.
38 “If my land cries against me, or its furrows complain together,
39 “if I have eaten its fruits without silver, or I have grieved the souls of its masters,
40 “let thistles grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed in the place of barley.” THE WORDS OF JOB ARE ENDED.
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