The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

The waters wear the stones; the overflowings thereof wash away the dust of the earth; so Thou destroyest the hope of man.

Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth; Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.

His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he regardeth them not.

But his flesh grieveth for him, and his soul mourneth over him.

Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said:

Should a wise man make answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?

Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?

Yea, thou doest away with fear, and impairest devotion before God.

For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.

Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; yea, thine own lips testify against thee.

Art thou the first man that was born? Or wast thou brought forth before the hills?

Dost thou hearken in the council of God? And dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?

What knowest thou, that we know not? What understandest thou, which is not in us?

With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, much older than thy father.

Are the consolations of God too small for thee, and the word that dealeth gently with thee?

Why doth thy heart carry thee away? And why do thine eyes wink?

That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth.

What is man, that he should be clean? And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

Behold, He putteth no trust in His holy ones; yea, the heavens are not clean in His sight.

How much less one that is abominable and impure, man who drinketh iniquity like water!

I will tell thee, hear thou me; and that which I have seen I will declare —

Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it;

Unto whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them.

The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.

A sound of terrors is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.

He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.

He wandereth abroad for bread: 'Where is it?' He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

Distress and anguish overwhelm him; they prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

Because he hath stretched out his hand against God, and behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty;

He runneth upon him with a stiff neck, with the thick bosses of his bucklers.

Because he hath covered his face with his fatness, and made collops of fat on his loins;

And he hath dwelt in desolate cities, in houses which no man would inhabit, which were ready to become heaps.

He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall their produce bend to the earth.

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.

Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself; for vanity shall be his recompense.

It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be leafy.

He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.

For the company of the godless shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery.

They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, and their belly prepareth deceit.

Then Job answered and said:

I have heard many such things; sorry comforters are ye all.

Shall windy words have an end? Or what provoketh thee that thou answerest?

I also could speak as ye do; if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you.

I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips would assuage your grief.

Though I speak, my pain is not assuaged; and though I forbear, what am I eased?

But now He hath made me weary; Thou hast made desolate all my company.

And Thou hast shrivelled me up, which is a witness against me; and my leanness riseth up against me, it testifieth to my face.

He hath torn me in His wrath, and hated me; He hath gnashed upon me with His teeth; mine adversary sharpeneth his eyes upon me.

They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek scornfully; they gather themselves together against me.

God delivereth me to the ungodly, and casteth me into the hands of the wicked.

I was at ease, and He broke me asunder; yea, He hath taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces; He hath also set me up for His mark.

His archers compass me round about, He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; He poureth out my gall upon the ground.

He breaketh me with breach upon breach; He runneth upon me like a giant.

I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and have laid my horn in the dust.

My face is reddened with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death;

Although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.

O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no resting-place.

Even now, behold, my Witness is in heaven, and He that testifieth of me is on high.

Mine inward thoughts are my intercessors, mine eye poureth out tears unto God;

That He would set aright a man contending with God, as a son of man setteth aright his neighbour!

For the years that are few are coming on, and I shall go the way whence I shall not return.

My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.

Surely there are mockers with me, and mine eye abideth in their provocation.

Give now a pledge, be surety for me with Thyself; who else is there that will strike hands with me?

For Thou hast hid their heart from understanding; therefore shalt Thou not exalt them.

He that denounceth his friends for the sake of flattery, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

He hath made me also a byword of the people; and I am become one in whose face they spit.

Mine eye also is dimmed by reason of vexation, and all my members are as a shadow.

Upright men are astonished at this, and the innocent stirreth up himself against the godless.

Yet the righteous holdeth on his way, and he that hath clean hands waxeth stronger and stronger.

But as for you all, do ye return, and come now; and I shall not find a wise man among you.

My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.

They change the night into day; the light is short because of darkness.

If I look for the nether-world as my house; if I have spread my couch in the darkness;

If I have said to corruption: 'Thou art my father', to the worm: 'Thou art my mother, and my sister';

Where then is my hope? And as for my hope, who shall see it?

They shall go down to the bars of the nether-world, when we are at rest together in the dust.

Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said:

How long will ye lay snares for words? Consider, and afterwards we will speak.

Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed dull in your sight?

Thou that tearest thyself in thine anger, shall the earth be forsaken for thee? Or shall the rock be removed out of its place?

Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.

The light shall be dark in his tent, and his lamp over him shall be put out.

The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.

For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon the toils.

A gin shall take him by the heel, and a snare shall lay hold on him.

A noose is hid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.

Terrors shall overwhelm him on every side, and shall entrap him at his feet.

His trouble shall be ravenous, and calamity shall be ready for his fall.

It shall devour the members of his body, yea, the first-born of death shall devour his members.

That wherein he trusteth shall be plucked out of his tent; and he shall be brought to the king of terrors.

There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his; brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

His roots shall dry up beneath, and above shall his branch wither.

His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name abroad.

He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

He shall have neither son nor son's son among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.

They that come after shall be astonished at his day, as they that went before are affrighted.

Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.

Then Job answered and said:

How long will ye vex my soul, and crush me with words?