Job 15-16

American Standard Version

² Should a wise man make answer with ^[a]vain knowledge,
And fill himself with the east wind?
³ Should he reason with unprofitable talk,
Or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
⁴ Yea, thou doest away with fear,
And ^[b]hinderest ^[c]devotion before God.
⁵ For ^[d]thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth,
And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
⁶ Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I;
Yea, thine own lips testify against thee.

⁷ Art thou the first man that was born?
Or wast thou brought forth before the hills?
^8 [e]Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God?
And dost thou limit wisdom to thyself?
⁹ What knowest thou, that we know not?
What understandest thou, which is not in us?
¹⁰ With us are both the grayheaded and the very aged men,
Much elder than thy father.
¹¹ Are the consolations of God too small for thee,
^[f]Even the word that is gentle toward thee?
¹² Why doth thy heart carry thee away?
And why do thine eyes flash,
¹³ That against God thou turnest thy spirit,
And lettest words go out of thy mouth?
¹⁴ What is man, that he should be clean?
And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
¹⁵ Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones;
Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight:
¹⁶ How much less ^[g]one that is abominable and corrupt,
A man that drinketh iniquity like water!

¹⁷ I will show thee, hear thou me;
And that which I have seen I will declare
¹⁸ (Which wise men have told
From their fathers, and have not hid it;
¹⁹ Unto whom alone the land was given,
And no stranger passed among them):
²⁰ The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days,
^[h]Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
²¹ A sound of terrors is in his ears;
In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
²² He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness,
And he is waited for of the sword.
²³ He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it?
He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
²⁴ Distress and anguish make him afraid;
They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
²⁵ Because he hath stretched out his hand against God,
And ^[i]behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty;
²⁶ He runneth upon him with a stiff neck,
^[j]With the thick bosses of his bucklers;
²⁷ Because he hath covered his face with his fatness,
And gathered fat upon his loins;
²⁸ And he hath dwelt in ^[k]desolate cities,
In houses which no man ^[l]inhabited,
Which were ready to become heaps;
²⁹ He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue,
Neither shall ^[m]their possessions be extended on the earth.
³⁰ He shall not depart out of darkness;
The flame shall dry up his branches,
And by the breath of ^[n]God’s mouth shall he go away.
³¹ Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself;
For vanity shall be his recompense.
³² It shall be ^[o]accomplished before his time,
And his branch shall not be green.
³³ He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine,
And shall cast off his flower as the olive-tree.
³⁴ For the company of the godless shall be barren,
And fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
³⁵ They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity,
And their heart prepareth deceit.

² I have heard many such things:
^[p]Miserable comforters are ye all.
³ Shall ^[q]vain words have an end?
Or what provoketh thee that thou answerest?
⁴ 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.
⁵ But I would strengthen you with my mouth,
And the solace of my lips would assuage your grief.

⁶ Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged;
And though I forbear, ^[r]what am I eased?
⁷ But now he hath made me weary:
Thou hast made desolate all my company.
⁸ And thou hast ^[s]laid fast hold on me, which is a witness against me:
And my leanness riseth up against me,
It testifieth to my face.
⁹ He hath torn me in his wrath, and ^[t]persecuted me;
He hath gnashed upon me with his teeth:
Mine adversary sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
¹⁰ They have gaped upon me with their mouth;
They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully:
They gather themselves together against me.
¹¹ God delivereth me to the ungodly,
And casteth me into the hands of the wicked.
¹² I was at ease, and he brake me asunder;
Yea, he hath taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces:
He hath also set me up for his mark.
¹³ His ^[u]archers compass me round about;
He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare;
He poureth out my gall upon the ground.
¹⁴ He breaketh me with breach upon breach;
He runneth upon me like a ^[v]giant.
¹⁵ I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin,
And have ^[w]laid my horn in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is red with weeping,
And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
¹⁷ Although there is no violence in my hands,
And my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ O earth, cover not thou my blood,
And let my cry ^[x]have no resting-place.
¹⁹ Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
And he that voucheth for me is on high.
²⁰ My friends scoff at me:
But mine eye poureth out tears unto God,
^21 [y]That he would maintain the right of a man with God,
And of a son of man with his neighbor!
²² For when a few years are come,
I shall go the way whence I shall not return.