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Then Job answered and said,
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How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?
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These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.
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And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
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If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach:
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Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.
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Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.
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He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.
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He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
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He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.
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He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.
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His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.
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He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.
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My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
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They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.
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I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.
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My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body.
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Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.
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All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.
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My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
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Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
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Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
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Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
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That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!
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For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
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And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
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Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
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But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?
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Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.
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Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
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Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.
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I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.
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Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,
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That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
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Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;
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Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
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He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
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The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.
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His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.
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His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.
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Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;
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Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:
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Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
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He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.
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He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.
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He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.
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That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.
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Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;
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Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.
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There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.
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In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.
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When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.
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He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.
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It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him.
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All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.
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The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.
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The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
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This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.
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But Job answered and said,
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Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.
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Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.
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As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?
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Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
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Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.
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Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
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Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.
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Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
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Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
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They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
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They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.
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They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
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Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
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What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
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Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
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How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
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They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
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God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.
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His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
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For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?
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Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.
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One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.
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His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
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And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.
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They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.
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Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.
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For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?
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Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,
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That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.
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Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?
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Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.
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The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.
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How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?
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Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
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Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?
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Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?
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Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?
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Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?
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For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
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Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
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But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.
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Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
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Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;
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Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.
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Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
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And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?
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Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.
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Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?
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Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:
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Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?
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Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
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The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn.
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Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.
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Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
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Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
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If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.
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Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.
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Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.
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For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.
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Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.
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Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.
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When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.
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He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.
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Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
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Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
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Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
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For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
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And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost.
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So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.
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For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.
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For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
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And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
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He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.
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They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst.
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By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches.
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He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
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He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;
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And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart.
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The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;
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For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
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The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
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Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.