And it was so, when the days of their feasting were finished, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

And the LORD said unto Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one that fears God, and turns away from evil?

Have not you made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has on every side? you have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions are increased in the land.

And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone am escaped to tell you.

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone am escaped to tell you.

And the LORD said unto Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one that fears God, and turns away from evil? and still he holds fast his integrity, although you moved me against him, to destroy him without cause.

Let the stars of its twilight be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:

For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then would I have been at rest,

Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.

Your words have upheld him that was falling, and you have strengthened the feeble knees.

Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.

Lo this, we have searched it out, so it is; hear it, and know you it for your good.

Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!

Then should I still have comfort; yea, I would exult myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.

My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks that pass away;

Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand how I have erred.

I have sinned; what shall I do unto you, O you preserver of men? why have you set me as a mark against you, so that I am a burden to myself?

If your children have sinned against him, and he has cast them away for their transgression;

If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, I have not seen you.

Have you eyes of flesh? or see you as man sees?

Your hands have made me and fashioned me together totally; yet you do destroy me.

Remember, I beseech you, that you have made me as the clay; and will you bring me into dust again?

Have you not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and have knit me together with bones and sinews.

You have granted me life and favor, and your care has preserved my spirit.

And these things have you hid in your heart: I know that this is with you.

Why then have you brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had died, and no eye had seen me!

I would have been as though I had not been; I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.

For you have said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in your eyes.

But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knows not such things as these?

Behold now, I have prepared my case; I know that I shall be justified.

Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with you, you have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;

You shall call, and I will answer you: you will have a desire to the work of your hands.

But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.

Have you heard the council of God? and do you limit wisdom to yourself?

I will show you, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;

Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:

I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are you all.

Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldens you that you answer?

But now he has made me weary: you have made desolate all my company.

And you have filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me bears witness to my face.

They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.

I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and laid my strength in the dust.

O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry have no place.

When a few years have come, then I shall go the way where I shall not return.

For you have hidden their heart from understanding: therefore shall you not exalt them.

If I wait, the grave is my house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

I have said to corruption, You are my father: to the worm, You are my mother, and my sister.

His memory shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.

He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.

These ten times have you reproached me: you are not ashamed that you have wronged me.

And if indeed I have erred, my error remains with myself.

My kinsfolk have failed, and my close friends have forgotten me.

All my close friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved have turned against me.

My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.

I have heard the rebuke of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.

Yet he shall perish forever like his own refuse: they who have seen him shall say, Where is he?

Bear with me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.

What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

Have you not asked them that go by the way? and do you not know their evidences,

For you have taken a pledge from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

You have not given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

Have you marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?

Yea, the Almighty shall be your defense, and you shall have plenty of silver.

For then shall you have your delight in the Almighty, and shall lift up your face unto God.

My foot has held fast to his steps, his way have I kept, and not turned aside.

Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.

Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so does the grave those who have sinned.

How have you helped him that is without power? how save you the arm that has no strength?

How have you counseled him that has no wisdom? and how have you plentifully declared the thing as it is?

To whom have you uttered words? and whose spirit came from you?

Behold, all you yourselves have seen it; why then are you thus altogether vain?

The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.

Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame of it with our ears.

But now they that are younger than I hold me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.

Because he has loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also cast off restraint before me.

They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.

And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

You have become cruel to me: with your strong hand you oppose yourself against me.

If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot has hastened to deceit;

If my heart has been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbor's door;

If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

Or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it;

(For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided him from my mother's womb;)

If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;

If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw I had help in the gate:

If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, You are my confidence;

This also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.

Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.

If the men of my tent have not, Oh that we had of his meat! we cannot be satisfied.

If I have eaten its fruit without payment, or have caused its owners to lose their life:

Lest you should say, We have found out wisdom: God vanquishes him, not man.

Behold, now I have opened my mouth, my tongue has spoken in my mouth.

Surely you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the voice of your words, saying,

Then he is gracious unto him, and says, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.

He looks upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not;