Job 3–41

¹After this hath Job opened his mouth, and revileth his day. ²And Job answereth and saith:— ³Let the day perish in which I am born, And the night that hath said: ‘A man-child hath been conceived.’ ⁴That day—let it be darkness, Let not God require it from above, Nor let light shine upon it. ⁵Let darkness and death-shade redeem it, Let a cloud tabernacle upon it, Let them terrify it as the most bitter of days. ⁶That night—let thick darkness take it, Let it not be united to days of the year, Into the number of months let it not come. ⁷Lo! that night—let it be gloomy, Let no singing come into it. ⁸Let the cursers of day mark it, Who are ready to wake up Leviathan. ⁹Let the stars of its twilight be dark, Let it wait for light, and there is none, And let it not look on the eyelids of the dawn. ¹⁰Because it hath not shut the doors Of the womb that was mine! And hide misery from mine eyes.

¹¹Why from the womb do I not die? From the belly I have come forth and gasp! ¹²Wherefore have knees been before me? And what are breasts, that I suck? ¹³For now, I have lain down, and am quiet, I have slept—then there is rest to me, ¹⁴With kings and counsellors of earth, These building wastes for themselves. ¹⁵Or with princes—they have gold, They are filling their houses with silver. ¹⁶(Or as a hidden abortion I am not, As infants—they have not seen light.) ¹⁷There the wicked have ceased troubling, And there rest do the wearied in power. ¹⁸Together prisoners have been at ease, They have not heard the voice of an exactor, ¹⁹Small and great are there the same. And a servant is free from his lord.

²⁰Why giveth He to the miserable light, and life to the bitter soul? ²¹Who are waiting for death, and it is not, And they seek it above hid treasures. ²²Who are glad—unto joy, They rejoice when they find a grave. ²³To a man whose way hath been hidden, And whom God doth shut up? ²⁴For before my food, my sighing cometh, And poured out as waters are my roarings. ²⁵For a fear I feared and it meeteth me, And what I was afraid of doth come to me. ²⁶I was not safe—nor was I quiet—Nor was I at rest—and trouble cometh!

Chapter 4

¹And Eliphaz the Temanite answereth and saith:— ²Hath one tried a word with thee?—Thou art weary! And to keep in words who is able? ³Lo, thou hast instructed many, And feeble hands thou makest strong. ⁴The stumbling one do thy words raise up, And bowing knees thou dost strengthen. ⁵But now, it cometh in unto thee, And thou art weary; It striketh unto thee, and thou art troubled. ⁶Is not thy reverence thy confidence? Thy hope—the perfection of thy ways?

⁷Remember, I pray thee, Who, being innocent, hath perished? And where have the upright been cut off? ⁸As I have seen—ploughers of iniquity, And sowers of misery, reap it! ⁹From the breath of God they perish, And from the spirit of His anger consumed. ¹⁰The roaring of a lion, And the voice of a fierce lion, And teeth of young lions have been broken. ¹¹An old lion is perishing without prey, And the whelps of the lioness do separate.

¹²And unto me a thing is secretly brought, And receive doth mine ear a little of it. ¹³In thoughts from visions of the night, In the falling of deep sleep on men, ¹⁴Fear hath met me, and trembling, And the multitude of my bones caused to fear. ¹⁵And a spirit before my face doth pass, Stand up doth the hair of my flesh; ¹⁶It standeth, and I discern not its aspect, A similitude is over-against mine eyes, Silence! and a voice I hear: ¹⁷‘Is mortal man than God more righteous? Than his Maker is a man cleaner? ¹⁸Lo, in His servants He putteth no credence, Nor in His messengers setteth praise.’ ¹⁹Also—the inhabitants of houses of clay, (Whose foundation is in the dust, They bruise them before a moth.) ²⁰From morning to evening are beaten down, Without any regarding, for ever they perish. ²¹Hath not their excellency been removed with them? They die, and not in wisdom!

Chapter 5

¹Pray, call, is there any to answer thee? And unto which of the holy ones dost thou turn? ²For provocation slayeth the perverse, And envy putteth to death the simple, ³I—I have seen the perverse taking root, And I mark his habitation straightway, ⁴Far are his sons from safety, And they are bruised in the gate, And there is no deliverer. ⁵Whose harvest the hungry doth eat, And even from the thorns taketh it, And the designing swallowed their wealth.

⁶For sorrow cometh not forth from the dust, Nor from the ground springeth up misery. ⁷For man to misery is born, And the sparks go high to fly. ⁸Yet I—I inquire for God, And for God I give my word, ⁹Doing great things, and there is no searching. Wonderful, till there is no numbering. ¹⁰Who is giving rain on the face of the land, And is sending waters on the out-places. ¹¹To set the low on a high place, And the mourners have been high in safety. ¹²Making void thoughts of the subtile, And their hands do not execute wisdom. ¹³Capturing the wise in their subtilty, And the counsel of wrestling ones was hastened, ¹⁴By day they meet darkness, And as night—they grope at noon. ¹⁵And He saveth the wasted from their mouth, And from a strong hand the needy, ¹⁶And there is hope to the poor, And perverseness hath shut her mouth.

¹⁷Lo, the happiness of mortal man, God doth reprove him: And the chastisement of the Mighty despise not, ¹⁸For He doth pain, and He bindeth up, He smiteth, and His hands heal. ¹⁹In six distresses He delivereth thee, And in seven evil striketh not on thee. ²⁰In famine He hath redeemed thee from death, And in battle from the hands of the sword. ²¹When the tongue scourgeth thou art hid, And thou art not afraid of destruction, When it cometh. ²²At destruction and at hunger thou mockest, And of the beast of the earth, Thou art not afraid. ²³(For with sons of the field is thy covenant, And the beast of the field Hath been at peace with thee.) ²⁴And thou hast known that thy tent is peace, And inspected thy habitation, and errest not, ²⁵And hast known that numerous is Thy seed, And thine offspring as the herb of the earth; ²⁶Thou comest in full age unto the grave, As the going up of a stalk in its season. ²⁷Lo, this—we searched it out—it is right, hearken; And thou, know for thyself!

Chapter 6

¹And Job answereth and saith:— ²O that my provocation were thoroughly weighed, And my calamity in balances They would lift up together! ³For now, than the sands of the sea it is heavier, Therefore my words have been rash. ⁴For arrows of the Mighty are with me, Whose poison is drinking up my spirit. Terrors of God array themselves for me! ⁵Brayeth a wild ass over tender grass? Loweth an ox over his provender? ⁶Eaten is an insipid thing without salt? Is there sense in the drivel of dreams? ⁷My soul is refusing to touch! They are as my sickening food.

⁸O that my request may come, That God may grant my hope! ⁹That God would please—and bruise me, Loose His hand and cut me off! ¹⁰And yet it is my comfort, (And I exult in pain—He doth not spare,) That I have not hidden The sayings of the Holy One. ¹¹What is my power that I should hope? And what mine end That I should prolong my life? ¹²Is my strength the strength of stones? Is my flesh brazen? ¹³Is not my help with me, And substance driven from me?

¹⁴To a despiser of his friends is shame, And the fear of the Mighty he forsaketh. ¹⁵My brethren have deceived as a brook, As a stream of brooks they pass away. ¹⁶That are black because of ice, By them doth snow hide itself. ¹⁷By the time they are warm they have been cut off, By its being hot they have been Extinguished from their place. ¹⁸Turn aside do the paths of their way, They ascend into emptiness, and are lost. ¹⁹Passengers of Tema looked expectingly, Travellers of Sheba hoped for them. ²⁰They were ashamed that one hath trusted, They have come unto it and are confounded. ²¹Surely now ye have become the same! Ye see a downfall, and are afraid.

²²Is it because I said, Give to me? And, By your power bribe for me? ²³And, Deliver me from the hand of an adversary? And, From the hand of terrible ones ransom me? ²⁴Shew me, and I—I keep silent, And what I have erred, let me understand. ²⁵How powerful have been upright sayings, And what doth reproof from you reprove? ²⁶For reproof—do you reckon words? And for wind—sayings of the desperate. ²⁷Anger on the fatherless ye cause to fall, And are strange to your friend. ²⁸And, now, please, look upon me, Even to your face do I lie? ²⁹Turn back, I pray you, let it not be perverseness, Yea, turn back again—my righteousness is in it. ³⁰Is there in my tongue perverseness? Discerneth not my palate desirable things?

Chapter 7

¹Is there not a warfare to man on earth? And as the days of an hireling his days? ²As a servant desireth the shadow, And as a hireling expecteth his wage, ³So I have been caused to inherit months of vanity, And nights of misery they numbered to me. ⁴If I lay down then I said, ‘When do I rise!’ And evening hath been measured, And I have been full of tossings till dawn. ⁵Clothed hath been my flesh with worms, And a clod of dust, My skin hath been shrivelled and is loathsome, ⁶My days swifter than a weaving machine, And they are consumed without hope.

⁷Remember Thou that my life is a breath, Mine eye turneth not back to see good. ⁸The eye of my beholder beholdeth me not. Thine eyes are upon me—and I am not. ⁹Consumed hath been a cloud, and it goeth, So he who is going down to Sheol cometh not up. ¹⁰He turneth not again to his house, Nor doth his place discern him again. ¹¹Also I—I withhold not my mouth—I speak in the distress of my spirit, I talk in the bitterness of my soul. ¹²A sea -monster am I, or a dragon, That thou settest over me a guard? ¹³When I said, ‘My bed doth comfort me,’ He taketh away in my talking my couch. ¹⁴And thou hast affrighted me with dreams, And from visions thou terrifiest me, ¹⁵And my soul chooseth strangling, Death rather than my bones. ¹⁶I have wasted away—not to the age do I live. Cease from me, for my days are vanity.

¹⁷What is man that Thou dost magnify him? And that Thou settest unto him Thy…