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Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
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Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
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Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
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Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
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For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
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Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
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Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?
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Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
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What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?
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With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.
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Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?
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Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,
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That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?
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What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
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Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
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How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
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I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;
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Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:
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Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
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The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
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A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
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He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
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He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
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Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
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For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.
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He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:
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Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.
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And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.
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He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
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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.
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Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.
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It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
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He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
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For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
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They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.
1
Then Job answered and said,
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I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.
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Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?
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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.
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But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief.
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Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased?
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But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company.
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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.
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He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
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They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.
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God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
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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.
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His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.
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He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant.
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I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust.
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My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
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Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.
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O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.
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Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.
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My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.
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O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!
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When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
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My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.
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Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?
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Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?
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For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.
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He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.
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He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.
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Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
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Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.
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The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
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But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.
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My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
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They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
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If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
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I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.
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And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
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They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.
1
Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
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How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.
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Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?
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He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?
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Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.
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The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.
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The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.
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For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.
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The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.
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The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.
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Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
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His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.
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It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.
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His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.
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It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.
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His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.
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His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.
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He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
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He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.
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They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.
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Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.
1
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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Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.
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But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.
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But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;
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And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not;
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And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.
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But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
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But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.
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There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
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And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.
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But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry.
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Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well.
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So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better.
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The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
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But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God.
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Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
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And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
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But if any man love God, the same is known of him.
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As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
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For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)
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Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.
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The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.
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The LORD is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people.
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Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy.
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The king's strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob.
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Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.
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Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name; they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.
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Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
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The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.