Day 4 The Wisdom Books in a Month

Job 17

1 I perish, carried away by the wind, and I seek for burial, and obtain [it] not. 2 Weary I intreat; and what have I done? and strangers have stolen my goods. 3 Who is this? let him join hands with me. 4 For thou hast hid their heart from wisdom; therefore thou shalt not exalt them. 5 He shall promise mischief to [his] companions: but [their] eyes have failed for [their] children. 6 But thou hast made me a byword among the nations, and I am become a scorn to them. 7 For my eyes are dimmed through pain; I have been grievously beset by all. 8 Wonder has seized true men upon this; and let the just rise up against the transgressor. 9 But let the faithful hold on his own way, and let him that is pure of hands take courage. 10 Howbeit, do ye all strengthen [yourselves] and come now, for I do not find truth in you. 11 My days have passed in groaning, and my heart-strings are broken. 12 I have turned the night into day: the light is short because of darkness. 13 For if I remain, Hades is my habitation: and my bed has been made in darkness. 14 I have called upon death to be my father, and corruption [to be] my mother and sister. 15 Where then is yet my hope? or [where] shall I see my good? 16 Will they go down with me to Hades, or shall we go down together to the tomb?

Job 18

1 Then Baldad the Sauchite answered and said, 2 How long wilt thou continue? forbear, that we also may speak. 3 For wherefore have we been silent before thee like brutes? 4 Anger has possessed thee: for what if thou shouldest die; would [the earth] under heaven be desolate? or shall the mountains be overthrown from their foundations? 5 But the light of the ungodly shall be quenched, and their flame shall not go up. 6 His light [shall be] darkness in [his] habitation, and his lamp shall be put out with him. 7 Let the meanest of men spoil his goods, and let his counsel deceive [him]. 8 His foot also has been caught in a snare, [and] let it be entangled in a net. 9 And let snares come upon him: he shall strengthen those that thirst for his destruction. 10 His snare is hid in the earth, and that which shall take him is by the path. 11 Let pains destroy him round about, and let many [enemies] come about him, 12 [vex him] with distressing hunger: and a signal destruction has been prepared for him. 13 Let the soles of his feet be devoured: and death shall consume his beauty. 14 And let health be utterly banished from his tabernacle, and let distress seize upon him with a charge from the king. 15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle in his night: his excellency shall be sown with brimstone. 16 His roots shall be dried up from beneath, and his crop shall fall away from above. 17 Let his memorial perish out of the earth, and his name shall be publicly cast out. 18 Let [one] drive him from light into darkness. 19 He shall not be known among his people, nor his house preserved on the earth. 20 But strangers shall dwell in his possessions: the last groaned for him, and wonder seized the first. 21 These are the houses of the unrighteous, and this is the place of them that know not the Lord.

Job 19

1 Then Job answered and said, 2 How long will ye vex my soul, and destroy me with words? only know that the Lord has dealt with me thus. 3 Ye speak against me; ye do not feel for me, but bear hard upon me. 4 Yea verily, I have erred in truth, (but the error abides with myself) 4a in having spoken words which it was not right [to speak]; and my words err, and are unseasonable. 5 But alas! for ye magnify yourselves against me, and insult me with reproach. 6 Know then that it is the Lord that has troubled [me], and has raised his bulwark against me. 7 Behold, I laugh at reproach; I will not speak: [or] I will cry out, but [there is] nowhere judgment. 8 I am fenced round about, and can by no means escape: he has set darkness before my face. 9 And he has stripped me of my glory, and has taken the crown from my head. 10 He has torn me round about, and I am gone: and he has cut off my hope like a tree. 11 And he has dreadfully handled me in anger, and has counted me for an enemy. 12 His troops also came upon me with one accord, liers in wait compassed my ways. 13 My brethren have stood aloof from me; they have recognised strangers [rather] than me: and my friends have become pitiless. 14 My nearest of kin have not acknowledged me, and they that knew my name, have forgotten me. 15 [As for] my household, and my maid-servants, I was a stranger before them. 16 I called my servant, and he hearkened not; and my mouth intreated [him]. 17 And I besought my wife, and earnestly intreated the sons of my concubines. 18 But they rejected me for ever; whenever I rise up, they speak against me. 19 They that saw me abhorred me: the very persons whom I had loved, rose up against me. 20 My flesh is corrupt under my skin, and my bones are held in [my] teeth. 21 Pity me, pity me, O friends; for it is the hand of the Lord that has touched me. 22 Wherefore do ye persecute me as also the Lord [does], and are not satisfied with my flesh? 23 For oh that my words were written, and that they were recorded in a book for ever, 24 with an iron pen and lead, or graven in the rocks! 25 For I know that he is eternal who is about to deliver me, 26 [and] to raise up upon the earth my skin that endures these [sufferings]: for these things have been accomplished to me of the Lord; 27 which I am conscious of in myself, which mine eye has seen, and not another, but all have been fulfilled to me in [my] bosom. 28 But if ye shall also say, What shall we say before him, and [so] find the root of the matter in him? 29 Do ye also beware of deceit: for wrath will come upon transgressors; and then shall they know where their substance is.

Job 20

1 Then Sophar the Minæan answered and said, 2 I did not suppose that thou wouldest answer thus: neither do ye understand more than I. 3 I will hear my shameful reproach; and the spirit of my understanding answers me. 4 Hast thou [not] known these things of old, from the time that man was set upon the earth? 5 But the mirth of the ungodly is a signal downfall, and the joy of transgressors is destruction: 6 although his gifts should go up to heaven, and his sacrifice reach the clouds. 7 For when he shall seem to be now established, then he shall utterly perish: and they that knew him shall say, Where is he? 8 Like a dream that has fled away, he shall not be found; and he has fled like a vision of the night. 9 The eye has looked upon him, but shall not [see him] again; and his place shall no longer perceive him. 10 Let [his] inferiors destroy his children, and let his hands kindle the fire of sorrow. 11 His bones have been filled with [vigour of] his youth, and it shall lie down with him in the dust. 12 Though evil be sweet in his mouth, [though] he will hide it under his tongue; 13 though he will not spare it, and will not leave it, but will keep it in the midst of his throat: 14 yet he shall not at all be able to help himself; the gall of an asp is in his belly. 15 [His] wealth unjustly collected shall be vomited up; a messenger [of wrath] shall drag him out of his house. 16 And let him suck the poison of serpents, and let the serpent's tongue slay him. 17 Let him not see the milk of the pastures, nor the supplies of honey and butter. 18 He has laboured unprofitably and in vain, [for] wealth of which he shall not taste: [it is] as a lean thing, unfit for food, which he cannot swallow. 19 For he has broken down the houses of many mighty men: and he has plundered an habitation, though he built [it] not. 20 There is no security to his possessions; he shall not be saved by his desire. 21 There is nothing remaining of his provisions; therefore his goods shall not flourish. 22 But when he shall seem to be just satisfied, he shall be straitened; and all distress shall come upon him. 23 If by any means he would fill his belly, let [God] send upon him the fury of wrath; let him bring a torrent of pains upon him. 24 And he shall by no means escape from the power of the sword; let the brazen bow wound him. 25 And let the arrow pierce through his body; and let the stars be against his dwelling-place: let terrors come upon him. 26 And let all darkness wait for him: a fire that burns not out shall consume him; and let a stranger plague his house. 27 And let the heaven reveal his iniquities, and the earth rise up against him. 28 Let destruction bring his house to an end; let a day of wrath come upon him. 29 This is the portion of an ungodly man from the Lord, and the possession of his goods [appointed him] by the all-seeing [God].

Job 21

1 But Job answered and said, 2 Hear ye, hear ye my words, that I may not have this consolation from you. 3 Raise me, and I will speak; then ye shall not laugh me to scorn. 4 What! is my reproof of man? and why should I not be angry? 5 Look upon me, and wonder, laying your hand upon your cheek. 6 For even when I remember, I am alarmed, and pains seize my flesh. 7 Wherefore do the ungodly live, and grow old even in wealth? 8 Their seed is according to [their] desire, and their children are in [their] sight. 9 Their houses are prosperous, neither [have they] any where [cause for] fear, neither is there a scourge from the Lord upon them. 10 Their cow does not cast her calf, and their [beast] with young is safe, and does not miscarry. 11 And they remain as an unfailing flock, and their children play before [them], taking up the psaltery and harp; 12 and they rejoice at the voice of a song. 13 And they spend their days in wealth, and fall asleep in the rest of the grave. 14 Yet [such a man] says to the Lord, Depart from me; I desire not to know thy ways. 15 What is the Mighty One, that we should serve him? and what profit is there that we should approach him? 16 For their good things were in [their] hands, but he regards not the works of the ungodly. 17 Nevertheless, the lamp of the ungodly also shall be put out, and destruction shall come upon them, and pangs of vengeance shall seize them. 18 And they shall be as chaff before the wind, or as dust which the storm has taken up. 19 Let his substance fail [to supply] his children: [God] shall recompense him, and he shall know it. 20 Let his eyes see his own destruction, and let him not be saved by the Lord. 21 For his desire is in his house with him, and the number of his months has been suddenly cut off. 22 Is it not the Lord who teaches understanding and knowledge? and does not he judge murders? 23 One shall die in his perfect strength, and wholly at ease and prosperous; 24 and his inwards are full of fat, and his marrow is diffused [throughout him]. 25 And another dies in bitterness of soul, not eating any good thing. 26 But they lie down in the earth together, and corruption covers them. 27 So I know you, that ye presumptuously attack me: 28 so that ye will say, Where is the house of the prince? and where is the covering of the tabernacles of the ungodly? 29 Ask those that go by the way, and do not disown their tokens. 30 For the wicked hastens to the day of destruction: they shall be led away for the day of his vengeance. 31 Who will tell him his way to his face, whereas he has done [it]? who shall recompense him? 32 And he has been led away to the tombs, and he has watched over the heaps. 33 The stones of the valley have been sweet to him, and every man shall depart after him, and [there are] innumerable [ones] before him. 34 How then do ye comfort me in vain? whereas I have no rest from your molestation.