contend for God? 13:9 Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him? 13:10 He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.
13:11 Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you? 13:12 Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.
13:13 Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will.
13:14 Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand? 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
13:16 He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.
13:17 Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.
13:18 Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.
13:19 Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.
13:20 Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee.
13:21 Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.
13:22 Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.
13:23 How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.
13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy? 13:25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble? 13:26 For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.
13:27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.
13:28 And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.
14:1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.
14:2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
14:3 And doth thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? 14:4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
14:5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; 14:6 Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.
14:7 For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
14:8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; 14:9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
14:10 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? 14:11 As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: 14:12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
14:13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! 14:14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
14:15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.
14:16 For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin? 14:17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.
14:18 And surely the mountains falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place.
14:19 The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.
14:20 Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.
14:21 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.
14:22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.
15:1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said, 15:2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? 15:3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good? 15:4 Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
15:5 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
15:6 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
15:7 Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills? 15:8 Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? 15:9 What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us? 15:10 With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.
15:11 Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee? 15:12 Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at, 15:13 That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth? 15:14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? 15:15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
15:16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water? 15:17 I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare; 15:18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it: 15:19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
15:20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
15:21 A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
15:22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
15:23 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
15:24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
15:25 For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.
15:26 He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: 15:27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.
15:28 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.
15:29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
15:30 He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
15:31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.
15:32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
15:33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
15:34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
15:35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.
16:1 Then Job answered and said, 16:2 I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.
16:3 Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest? 16:4 I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul’s stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you.
16:5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief.
16:6 Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased? 16:7 But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company.
16:8 And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.
16:9 He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
16:10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.
16:11 God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
16:12 I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.
16:13 His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.
16:14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant.
16:15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust.
16:16 My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death; 16:17 Not for any injustice in mine hands: also