JOB 21
21:1 But Job answered and said,
21:2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.
21:3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.
21:4 As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?
21:5 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
21:6 Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.
21:7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
21:8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.
21:9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
21:10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
21:11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
21:12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.
21:13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
21:14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
21:15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
21:16 Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
21:17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them!
God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
21:18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
21:19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.
21:20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21:21 For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?
21:22 Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.
21:23 One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.
21:24 His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
21:25 And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.
21:26 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.
21:27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.
21:28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?
21:29 Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,
21:30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.
21:31 Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?
21:32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.
21:33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.
21:34 How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?JOB 22
22:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
22:2 Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?
22:3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?
22:4 Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?
22:5 Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?
22:6 For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
22:7 Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
22:8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.
22:9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
22:10 Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;
22:11 Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.
22:12 Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
22:13 And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?
22:14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.
22:15 Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?
22:16 Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:
22:17 Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?
22:18 Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
22:19 The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn.
22:20 Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.
22:21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
22:22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
22:23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.
22:24 Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.
22:25 Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.
22:26 For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.
22:27 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.
22:28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.
22:29 When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.
22:30 He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.JOB 23
23:1 Then Job answered and said,
23:2 Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
23:3 Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
23:4 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
23:5 I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.
23:6 Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.
23:7 There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.
23:8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
23:9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:
23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
23:11 My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.
23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
23:13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
23:14 For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.
23:15 Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.
23:16 For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:
23:17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.JOB 24
24:1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
24:2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
24:3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
24:4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
24:5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.
24:6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
24:7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
24:8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
24:9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
24:10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
24:11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
24:12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
24:13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
24:14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
24:15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
24:16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
24:17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
24:18 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
24:19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
24:20 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
24:21 He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
24:22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
24:23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.
24:24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
24:25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?JOB 25
25:1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
25:2 Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high places.
25:3 Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?
25:4 How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
25:5 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.
25:6 How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?