And he saith unto her, 'As one of the foolish women speaketh, thou speakest; yea, the good we receive from God, and the evil we do not receive.' In all this Job hath not sinned with his lips.

Let darkness and death-shade redeem it, Let a cloud tabernacle upon it, Let them terrify it as the most bitter of days.

(Or as a hidden abortion I am not, As infants -- they have not seen light.)

For before my food, my sighing cometh, And poured out as waters are my roarings.

As I have seen -- ploughers of iniquity, And sowers of misery, reap it!

By day they meet darkness, And as night -- they grope at noon.

And hast known that numerous is Thy seed, And thine offspring as the herb of the earth;

Thou comest in full age unto the grave, As the going up of a stalk in its season.

Brayeth a wild ass over tender grass? Loweth an ox over his provender?

My soul is refusing to touch! They are as my sickening food.

My brethren have deceived as a brook, As a stream of brooks they pass away.

Is there not a warfare to man on earth? And as the days of an hireling his days?

As a servant desireth the shadow, And as a hireling expecteth his wage,

For, ask I pray thee of a former generation, And prepare to a search of their fathers,

They have passed on with ships of reed, As an eagle darteth on food.

Eyes of flesh hast Thou? As man seeth -- seest Thou?

As the days of man are Thy days? Thy years as the days of a man?

Remember, I pray Thee, That as clay Thou hast made me, And unto dust Thou dost bring me back.

Dost Thou not as milk pour me out? And as cheese curdle me?

And it riseth -- as a lion Thou huntest me. And Thou turnest back -- Thou shewest Thyself wonderful in me.

As I had not been, I am, From the belly to the grave I am brought,

A land of obscurity as thick darkness, Death-shade -- and no order, And the shining is as thick darkness.'

And empty man is bold, And the colt of a wild ass man is born.

For thou dost forget misery, As waters passed away thou rememberest.

And above the noon doth age rise, Thou fliest -- as the morning thou art.

And yet, ask, I pray thee, One of the beasts, and it doth shew thee, And a fowl of the heavens, And it doth declare to thee.

They feel darkness, and not light, He causeth them to wander as a drunkard.

Is it good that He doth search you, If, as one mocketh at a man, ye mock at Him?

And he, as a rotten thing, weareth away, As a garment hath a moth consumed him.

As a flower he hath gone forth, and is cut off, And he fleeth as a shadow and standeth not.

Look away from off him that he may cease, Till he enjoy as an hireling his day.

From the fragrance of water it doth flourish, And hath made a crop as a plant.

Also -- surely abominable and filthy Is man drinking as water perverseness.

Terrify him do adversity and distress, They prevail over him As a king ready for a boaster.

He shaketh off as a vine his unripe fruit, And casteth off as an olive his blossom.

He breaketh me -- breach upon breach, He runneth upon me as a mighty one.

And dim from sorrow is mine eye, And my members as a shadow all of them.

Wherefore have we been reckoned as cattle? We have been defiled in your eyes!

And He kindleth against me His anger, And reckoneth me to Him as His adversaries.

Why do you pursue me as God? And with my flesh are not satisfied?

As his own dung for ever he doth perish, His beholders say: 'Where is he?'

As a dream he fleeth, and they find him not, And he is driven away as a vision of the night,

He is giving back what he laboured for, And doth not consume it; As a bulwark is his exchange, and he exults not.

They send forth as a flock their sucklings, And their children skip,

They are as straw before wind, And as chaff a hurricane hath stolen away,

As to the man of arm -- he hath the earth, And the accepted of face -- he dwelleth in it.

So as to set on the dust a defence, And on a rock of the valleys a covering.

For He hath known the way with me, He hath tried me -- as gold I go forth.

The ass of the fatherless they lead away, They take in pledge the ox of the widow,

At the light doth the murderer rise, He doth slay the poor and needy, And in the night he is as a thief.

Forget him doth the womb, Sweeten on him doth the worm, No more is he remembered, And broken as a tree is wickedness.

High they were for a little, and they are not, And they have been brought low. As all others they are shut up, And as the head of an ear of corn cut off.

As the wicked is my enemy, And my withstander as the perverse.

If he heap up as dust silver, And as clay prepare clothing,

He hath built as a moth his house, And as a booth a watchman hath made.

Overtake him as waters do terrors, By night stolen him away hath a whirlwind.

Who doth make me as in months past, As in the days of God's preserving me?

As I have been in days of my maturity, And the counsel of God upon my tent.

Righteousness I have put on, and it clotheth me, As a robe and a diadem my justice.

And I say, 'With my nest I expire, And as the sand I multiply days.'

And they wait as for rain for me, And their mouth they have opened wide As for the latter rain.

I choose their way, and sit head, And I dwell as a king in a troop, When mourners he doth comfort.

From the midst they are cast out, (They shout against them as a thief),

As a wide breach they come, Under the desolation have rolled themselves.

He hath turned against me terrors, It pursueth as the wind mine abundance, And as a thick cloud, Hath my safety passed away.

By the abundance of power, Is my clothing changed, As the mouth of my coat it doth gird me.

(But from my youth He grew up with me as with a father, And from the belly of my mother I am led.)

Yea, I have not suffered my mouth to sin, To ask with an oath his life.

If I have covered as Adam my transgressions, To hide in my bosom mine iniquity,

The number of my steps I tell Him, As a leader I approach Him.

Lo, my breast is as wine not opened, Like new bottles it is broken up.

And he hath travelled for company With workers of iniquity, So as to go with men of wickedness.

As wicked He hath stricken them, In the place of beholders.

Thou hast made an expanse with Him For the clouds -- strong as a hard mirror!

Gird, I pray thee, as a man, thy loins, And I ask thee, and cause thou Me to know.

It turneth itself as clay of a seal And they station themselves as clothed.

As a stone waters are hidden, And the face of the deep is captured.

Who hath sent forth the wild ass free? Yea, the bands of the wild ass who opened?

Dost thou cause him to rush as a locust? The majesty of his snorting is terrible.

Gird, I pray thee, as a man, thy loins, I ask thee, and cause thou Me to know.

Lo, I pray thee, Behemoth, that I made with thee: Grass as an ox he eateth.

He doth bend his tail as a cedar, The sinews of his thighs are wrapped together,

His bones are tubes of brass, His bones are as a bar of iron.

Dost thou play with him as a bird? And dost thou bind him for thy damsels?

His sneezings cause light to shine, And his eyes are as the eyelids of the dawn.

Out of his nostrils goeth forth smoke, As a blown pot and reeds.

His heart is firm as a stone, Yea, firm as the lower piece.

He reckoneth iron as straw, brass as rotten wood.

As stubble have darts been reckoned, And he laugheth at the shaking of a javelin.

He causeth to boil as a pot the deep, The sea he maketh as a pot of ointment.

Hear, I pray thee, and I -- I do speak, I ask thee, and cause thou me to know.'

And now, take to you seven bullocks and seven rams, and go ye unto My servant Job, and ye have caused a burnt-offering to ascend for you; and Job My servant doth pray for you, for surely his face I accept, so as not to do with you folly, because ye have not spoken concerning Me rightly, like My servant Job.

And they go -- Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite -- and do as Jehovah hath spoken unto them; and Jehovah doth accept the face of Job.

And there have not been found women fair as the daughters of Job in all the land, and their father doth give to them an inheritance in the midst of their brethren.