Beginning
24 ¶ Why, seeing that times are not hidden from the Almighty, do those that know him not see his days?
2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks and feed thereof.
3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They turn the needy out of the way; and all the poor of the earth hide themselves from them.
5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, they go forth to their work, rising early for a prey; the wilderness yields food for them and for their children.
6 In the field they reap their fodder, and the wicked gather the vintage that is not theirs.
7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the floods of the mountains and embrace the rock for want of a covering.
9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast and take a pledge of the poor.
10 They cause the naked to go without clothing, and they take away the sheaves from the hungry.
11 They press oil within their walls and tread their winepresses and suffer thirst.
12 Men groan from out of the city, and the souls of the dead cry out; yet God did not hinder them.
13 ¶ They are among those that rebel against the light; they have never known its ways nor abided in its paths.
14 The murderer rises with the light, kills the poor and the needy, and in the night is as a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me; and disguises his face.
16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime; they do not know the light.
17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death; if they are known, the terrors of the shadow of death come over them.
18 ¶ They are swift upon the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth; they never come by the way of the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters; so does Sheol consume those who have sinned.
20 The Merciful One shall forget them; the worm shall feed sweetly on them; they shall never be remembered again; and iniquity shall be broken as a tree.
21 He afflicted the barren woman that did not conceive and never did good unto the widow.
22 He furthered the violent with his power; he did not lend to anyone in his life.
23 If he gave credit to some to take them over, his eyes were upon their ways.
24 They were exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all others and cut off as the tops of the heads of grain.
25 And if it is not so now, who will make me a liar or reduce my speech to nothing?
25 ¶ Then Bildad, the Shuhite, answered, and said,
2 Dominion and fear are with God; he makes peace in his high places.
3 Is there any number to his armies? And upon whom does his light not arise?
4 How then can man be justified with God? Or how can he that is born of a woman be clean?
5 Behold, even the moon shall not shine, neither are the stars pure in his sight.
6 How much less man, who is as a worm, and the son of man, who is also a worm?
26 ¶ Job answered and said,
2 How hast thou helped the one who has no power? Hast thou saved with thy arm the one who has no strength?
3 How hast thou counselled the one that has no wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?
4 To whom hast thou uttered words, and whose is the spirit that comes forth from thee?
5 ¶ Dead things are formed under the waters and of its dwelling places.
6 Sheol is naked before him, and hell has no covering.
7 He stretches out the north wind over the empty place and hangs the earth upon nothing.
8 He binds up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
9 He holds back the face of his throne and spreads his cloud upon it.
10 He has compassed the waters with bounds until the end of light and darkness.
11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.
12 He divides the sea with his power, and by his intelligence he smites its pride.
13 By his spirit he has adorned the heavens; his hand has formed the fleeing serpent.
14 Behold, these are parts of his ways; but how little a portion have we heard of him? For the thunder of his power, who shall understand?
27 ¶ Moreover, Job continued his parable and said,
2 As God lives, who has taken away my rights; and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
3 that all the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
4 my lips shall not speak iniquity, nor my tongue utter deceit.
5 In no wise should I justify you; until I die I will not remove my integrity from me.
6 I hold fast to my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
7 ¶ Let my enemy be as the wicked and my adversary as the unrighteous.
8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he has stolen much, when God takes away his soul?
9 Will God hear his cry when the tribulation comes upon him?
10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call upon God?
11 ¶ I will teach you what there is in the hand of God; I will not conceal that which is regarding the Almighty.
12 Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; why then are ye so completely vain?
13 This is the portion of a wicked man with God and the heritage of the violent, which they shall receive of the Almighty.
14 If their sons are multiplied, it is for the sword; and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
15 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death; and their widows shall not weep.
16 Though he heaps up silver as the dust and prepares raiment as the clay,
17 he may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver.
18 He built his house as a moth and as a booth that the keeper makes.
19 The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered; he shall open his eyes and not see anyone.
20 Terrors shall take hold on him as waters; a whirlwind shall carry him away in the night.
21 The east wind shall take him away, and he shall depart; the storm shall catch him up out of his place.
22 For God shall cast down on him and not spare; he would attempt to flee out of his hand.
23 Men shall clap their hands at him, and from his place they shall hiss at him.
28 ¶ Surely there is a mine for the silver, and a place for gold where they refine it.
2 Iron is taken out of the dust, and bronze is melted out of the stone.
3 He set a border unto the darkness, and unto every perfect work that he made, he placed a stone of darkness and shadow of death.
4 The river breaks forth next to the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot, that were higher than man, are gone away.
5 Land out of which bread comes forth, and underneath it shall be as if it were converted in fire.
6 A place where its stones shall be sapphires; and it shall have dust of gold.
7 A path which no fowl knows and which the vulture’s eye has never seen;
8 the young of the proud have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed by it.
9 He put his hand upon the flint and overturned the mountains from the root.
10 He cut rivers out of the rocks; and his eye saw every precious thing.
11 He detained the rivers in their source and caused that which was hid to be brought to light.
12 But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?
13 Man never knew its price; neither is it found in the land of the living.
14 ¶ The deep saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith, It is not with me.
15 It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for its price.
16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx or the sapphire.
17 Gold cannot equal it, nor can diamond; neither shall it be exchanged for vessels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls; for wisdom is better than precious stones.
19 The emerald of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
20 ¶ Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding?
21 Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living and kept concealed from every fowl of the heaven.
22 Hell and death say, We have heard its fame with our ears.
23 God understands its way, and he alone knows its place.
24 For he looks unto the ends of the earth and sees under the whole heaven,
25 To make a weight for the wind and to supply water by measure,
26 when he made a law for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunders.
27 Then he saw it and counted it; he prepared it and also searched it out.
28 And unto man he said, Behold, that the fear of the Lord, is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
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