The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

Did I say: 'Give unto me'? or: 'Offer a present for me of your substance'?

or: 'Deliver me from the adversary's hand'? or: 'Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors'?

Teach me, and I will hold my peace; and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

How forcible are words of uprightness! But what doth your arguing argue?

Do ye hold words to be an argument, but the speeches of one that is desperate to be wind?

Yea, ye would cast lots upon the fatherless, and dig a pit for your friend.

Now therefore be pleased to look upon me; for surely I shall not lie to your face.

Return, I pray you, let there be no injustice; yea, return again, my cause is righteous.

Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern crafty devices?

Is there not a time of service to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling?

As a servant that eagerly longeth for the shadow, and as a hireling that looketh for his wages;

So am I made to possess — months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.

When I lie down, I say: 'When shall I arise?' But the night is long, and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.

My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin closeth up and breaketh out afresh.

My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.

O remember that my life is a breath; mine eye shall no more see good.

The eye of him that seeth me shall behold me no more; while Thine eyes are upon me, I am gone.

As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.

He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that Thou settest a watch over me?

When I say: 'My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint';

Then Thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions;

So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than these my bones.

I loathe it; I shall not live alway; let me alone; for my days are vanity.

What is man, that Thou shouldest magnify him, and that Thou shouldest set Thy heart upon him,

And that Thou shouldest remember him every morning, and try him every moment?

How long wilt Thou not look away from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?

If I have sinned, what do I unto Thee, O Thou watcher of men? Why hast Thou set me as a mark for Thee, so that I am a burden to myself?

And why dost Thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust; and Thou wilt seek me, but I shall not be.

Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said:

How long wilt thou speak these things, seeing that the words of thy mouth are as a mighty wind?

Doth God pervert judgment? Or doth the Almighty pervert justice?

If thy children sinned against Him, He delivered them into the hand of their transgression.

If thou wouldest seek earnestly unto God, and make thy supplication to the Almighty;

If thou wert pure and upright; surely now He would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.

And though thy beginning was small, yet thy end should greatly increase.

For inquire, I pray thee, of the former generation, and apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out —

For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow —

Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?

Can the rush shoot up without mire? Can the reed-grass grow without water?

Whilst it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb.

So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hope of the godless man shall perish;

Whose confidence is gossamer, and whose trust is a spider's web.

He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall hold fast thereby, but it shall not endure.

He is green before the sun, and his shoots go forth over his garden.

His roots are wrapped about the heap, he beholdeth the place of stones.

If he be destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him: 'I have not seen thee.'

Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others spring.

Behold, God will not cast away an innocent man, neither will He uphold the evil-doers;

Till He fill thy mouth with laughter, and thy lips with shouting.

They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the tent of the wicked shall be no more.

Then Job answered and said:

Of a truth I know that it is so; and how can man be just with God?

If one should desire to contend with Him, he could not answer Him one of a thousand.

He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength; who hath hardened himself against Him, and prospered?

Who removeth the mountains, and they know it not, when He overturneth them in His anger.

Who shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.

Who commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars.

Who alone stretcheth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.

Who maketh the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.

Who doeth great things past finding out; yea, marvellous things without number.

Lo, He goeth by me, and I see Him not. He passeth on also, but I perceive Him not.

Behold, He snatcheth away, who can hinder Him? Who will say unto Him: 'What doest Thou?'

God will not withdraw His anger; the helpers of Rahab did stoop under Him.

How much less shall I answer Him, and choose out my arguments with Him?

Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer; I would make supplication to Him that contendeth with me.

If I had called, and He had answered me; yet would I not believe that He would hearken unto my voice —

He that would break me with a tempest, and multiply my wounds without cause;

That would not suffer me to take my breath, but fill me with bitterness.

If it be a matter of strength, lo, He is mighty! and if of justice, who will appoint me a time?

Though I be righteous, mine own mouth shall condemn me; though I be innocent, He shall prove me perverse.

I am innocent — I regard not myself, I despise my life.

It is all one — therefore I say: He destroyeth the innocent and the wicked.

If the scourge slay suddenly, He will mock at the calamity of the guiltless.

The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if it be not He, who then is it?

Now my days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good.

They are passed away as the swift ships; as the vulture that swoopeth on the prey.

If I say: 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer',

I am afraid of all my pains, I know that Thou wilt not hold me guiltless.

I shall be condemned; why then do I labour in vain?

If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;

Yet wilt Thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.

For He is not a man, as I am, that I should answer Him, that we should come together in judgment.

There is no arbiter betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.

Let Him take His rod away from me, and let not His terror make me afraid;

Then would I speak, and not fear Him; for I am not so with myself.

My soul is weary of my life; I will give free course to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

I will say unto God: Do not condemn me; make me know wherefore Thou contendest with me.

Is it good unto Thee that Thou shouldest oppress, that Thou shouldest despise the work of Thy hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

Hast Thou eyes of flesh? or seest Thou as man seeth?

Are Thy days as the days of man, or Thy years as a man's days,

That Thou inquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin,

Although Thou knowest that I shall not be condemned; and there is none that can deliver out of Thy hand?

Thy hands have framed me and fashioned me together round about; yet Thou dost destroy me!

Remember, I beseech Thee, that Thou hast fashioned me as clay; and wilt Thou bring me into dust again?

Hast Thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.

Thou hast granted me life and favour, and Thy providence hath preserved my spirit.

Yet these things Thou didst hide in Thy heart; I know that this is with Thee;