His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

and the Sabeans attacked and took them. They also slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

and behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, they came each one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and comfort him.

When they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky.

Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

“The prisoners are at ease together;
They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.

Who rejoice greatly,
And exult when they find the grave?

“By the breath of God they perish,
And by the blast of His anger they come to an end.

‘Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces;
Unobserved, they perish forever.

‘Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them?
They die, yet without wisdom.’

“His sons are far from safety,
They are even oppressed in the gate,
And there is no deliverer.

“By day they meet with darkness,
And grope at noon as in the night.

“My soul refuses to touch them;
They are like loathsome food to me.

“When they become waterless, they are silent,
When it is hot, they vanish from their place.

“The paths of their course wind along,
They go up into nothing and perish.

“They were disappointed for they had trusted,
They came there and were confounded.

“Will they not teach you and tell you,
And bring forth words from their minds?

“It is God who removes the mountains, they know not how,
When He overturns them in His anger;

“Now my days are swifter than a runner;
They flee away, they see no good.

“They slip by like reed boats,
Like an eagle that swoops on its prey.

“They are high as the heavens, what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol, what can you know?

“Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up;
And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth.

“They grope in darkness with no light,
And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.

“His sons achieve honor, but he does not know it;
Or they become insignificant, but he does not perceive it.

“Distress and anguish terrify him,
They overpower him like a king ready for the attack,

“They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity,
And their mind prepares deception.”

“They have gaped at me with their mouth,
They have slapped me on the cheek with contempt;
They have massed themselves against me.

“They make night into day, saying,
‘The light is near,’ in the presence of darkness.

“He is torn from the security of his tent,
And they march him before the king of terrors.

“Even young children despise me;
I rise up and they speak against me.

“Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!

“That with an iron stylus and lead
They were engraved in the rock forever!

“He flies away like a dream, and they cannot find him;
Even like a vision of the night he is chased away.

“They send forth their little ones like the flock,
And their children skip about.

“They sing to the timbrel and harp
And rejoice at the sound of the flute.

“They spend their days in prosperity,
And suddenly they go down to Sheol.

“They say to God, ‘Depart from us!
We do not even desire the knowledge of Your ways.

“Are they as straw before the wind,
And like chaff which the storm carries away?

“Together they lie down in the dust,
And worms cover them.

“For the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity;
They will be led forth at the day of fury.

“Is not God in the height of heaven?
Look also at the distant stars, how high they are!

“They said to God, ‘Depart from us!’
And ‘What can the Almighty do to them?’

“Some remove the landmarks;
They seize and devour flocks.

“They drive away the donkeys of the orphans;
They take the widow’s ox for a pledge.

“They push the needy aside from the road;
The poor of the land are made to hide themselves altogether.

“Behold, as wild donkeys in the wilderness
They go forth seeking food in their activity,
As bread for their children in the desert.

“They harvest their fodder in the field
And glean the vineyard of the wicked.

“They spend the night naked, without clothing,
And have no covering against the cold.

“They are wet with the mountain rains
And hug the rock for want of a shelter.

“Others snatch the orphan from the breast,
And against the poor they take a pledge.

“They cause the poor to go about naked without clothing,
And they take away the sheaves from the hungry.

“Within the walls they produce oil;
They tread wine presses but thirst.

“Others have been with those who rebel against the light;
They do not want to know its ways
Nor abide in its paths.

“In the dark they dig into houses,
They shut themselves up by day;
They do not know the light.

“They are insignificant on the surface of the water;
Their portion is cursed on the earth.
They do not turn toward the vineyards.

“He provides them with security, and they are supported;
And His eyes are on their ways.

“They are exalted a little while, then they are gone;
Moreover, they are brought low and like everything gathered up;
Even like the heads of grain they are cut off.

“Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword;
And his descendants will not be satisfied with bread.

“Surely there is a mine for silver
And a place where they refine gold.

“He sinks a shaft far from habitation,
Forgotten by the foot;
They hang and swing to and fro far from men.

“To me they listened and waited,
And kept silent for my counsel.

“After my words they did not speak again,
And my speech dropped on them.

“They waited for me as for the rain,
And opened their mouth as for the spring rain.

“I smiled on them when they did not believe,
And the light of my face they did not cast down.

“From want and famine they are gaunt
Who gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation,

“They are driven from the community;
They shout against them as against a thief,

So that they dwell in dreadful valleys,
In holes of the earth and of the rocks.

“Among the bushes they cry out;
Under the nettles they are gathered together.

“Fools, even those without a name,
They were scourged from the land.

“They abhor me and stand aloof from me,
And they do not refrain from spitting at my face.

“Because He has loosed His bowstring and afflicted me,
They have cast off the bridle before me.

“On the right hand their brood arises;
They thrust aside my feet and build up against me their ways of destruction.

“They break up my path,
They profit from my destruction;
No one restrains them.

“As through a wide breach they come,
Amid the tempest they roll on.

“Terrors are turned against me;
They pursue my honor as the wind,
And my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

“If I have despised the claim of my male or female slaves
When they filed a complaint against me,

And his anger burned against his three friends because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.

Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were years older than he.

“They are dismayed, they no longer answer;
Words have failed them.

“Shall I wait, because they do not speak,
Because they stop and no longer answer?

“In a dream, a vision of the night,
When sound sleep falls on men,
While they slumber in their beds,

Who shows no partiality to princes
Nor regards the rich above the poor,
For they all are the work of His hands?

“In a moment they die, and at midnight
People are shaken and pass away,
And the mighty are taken away without a hand.

“Therefore He knows their works,
And He overthrows them in the night,
And they are crushed.

Because they turned aside from following Him,
And had no regard for any of His ways;

So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him,
And that He might hear the cry of the afflicted—

“Look at the heavens and see;
And behold the clouds—they are higher than you.

“Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out;
They cry for help because of the arm of the mighty.

“There they cry out, but He does not answer
Because of the pride of evil men.

“He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous;
But with kings on the throne
He has seated them forever, and they are exalted.

“And if they are bound in fetters,
And are caught in the cords of affliction,

Then He declares to them their work
And their transgressions, that they have magnified themselves.

“He opens their ear to instruction,
And commands that they return from evil.

“If they hear and serve Him,
They will end their days in prosperity
And their years in pleasures.

“But if they do not hear, they shall perish by the sword
And they will die without knowledge.

“But the godless in heart lay up anger;
They do not cry for help when He binds them.

“They die in youth,
And their life perishes among the cult prostitutes.

“For He draws up the drops of water,
They distill rain from the mist,

Which the clouds pour down,
They drip upon man abundantly.