In the land of Uz, there was a man called Job: an innocent and virtuous man, such a one as feared God, and eschewed evil.

This man had seven sons, and three daughters.

His substance was seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she-asses, and a very great household: so that he was one of the most principal men among all them of the east country.

Then said the LORD unto Satan, "Hast thou not considered my servant Job, and how that he is an innocent and virtuous man: such one as feareth God, and escheweth evil, and that there is none like him in the land?"

In the mean season while he was yet speaking, there came another, and said, "The Chaldeans made three armies, and fell upon thy camels, which they have carried away: yea, and slain thy servants with the sword, and I only am gotten away, to tell thee."

Then said the LORD unto Satan, "Hast thou not considered my servant Job, how that he is an innocent and virtuous man such one as feareth God, and escheweth evil, and that there is none like him in the land? But thou movedst me against him, to punish him: yet is it in vain, for he continueth still in his godliness."

Satan answered the LORD, and said, "Skin for skin? Yea, a man will give all that ever he hath, for his life.

and the night in the which it was said, 'There is a man child conceived.'

because it shut not up the womb that bare me. For then should these sorrows have been hid from mine eyes.

That should be joy to the man whose way is hid, which God keepeth back from him.

"And unto me came the word secretly, and mine ear hath received a little thereof.

In the fantasies and thoughts of the visions of the night, when sleep cometh on men:

He stood there, and I knew not his face. An image there was, before mine eyes, and in the stillness heard I a voice.

'Shall man be more just than God? Or shall man be purer than his maker?

They shall be destroyed from morning unto the evening: yea, they shall perish everlastingly, and no man think thereon.

Name me one else, if thou can find any: yea, look about thee upon any of the holy men.

As for the foolish man, displeasure killeth him; and anger slayeth the ignorant.

that his children were without prosperity or health; that they were slain in the door, and no man to deliver them;

that his harvest was eaten up of the hungry; that the weaponed man had spoiled it, and that the thirsty had drunk up his riches.

but it is man, that is born unto misery, like as the sparks fly up out of the hot coals.

"Behold, happy is the man whom God punisheth: therefore, despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.

What power have I to endure? Or, what is mine end, that my soul might be patient?

Mine own brethren pass over by me, as the water brook that hastily runneth through the valleys.

Do ye take deliberacy to check men's sayings, and judge a poor word spoken in vain?

Is not the life of man upon earth a very battle? Are not his days like the days of a hired servant?

"O remember that my life is but a wind, and that mine eye shall no more see the pleasures thereof;

yea, and that none other man's eye shall see me anymore.

"What is man, that thou dost magnify him? And that thou settest thy heart upon him?

I have offended; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? Why hast thou made me to stand in thy way, and am so heavy a burden unto myself?

"Oftentimes, a thing doth flourish, and men think that it may abide the sunshine. It shooteth forth the branches in its garden,

But if it be taken out of its place, every man denieth it, saying, 'I know thee not.'

"Behold, God will not cast away a virtuous man, neither will he help the ungodly.

"I know it is so of a truth: for how may a man, compared unto God, be justified?

He is God, whose wrath no man may withstand: but the proudest of all must stoop under him.

If men will speak of strength, he is the strongest of all; if men will speak of righteousness, who dare be my record?

If I will justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me; if I will put forth my self for a perfect man, he shall prove me a wicked doer.

Though I washed my self with snowy water, and made mine hands never so clean,

yet shouldest thou dip me in the mire, and mine own clothes should defile me.

For he that I must give answer unto, and with whom I go to law, is not a man as I am.

Hast thou fleshly eyes then, or doest thou look as a man looketh?

Are thy days as the days of man, and thy years as man's years,

Whereas, notwithstanding, thou knowest that I am no wicked person, and that there is no man able to deliver me out of thine hand.

"If I did sin, thou haddest an eye unto me, and shalt not declare me innocent because of mine offense.

If I have done wickedly, woe is me therefore. If I have done righteously, yet dare I not lift up my head; so full am I of confusion, and see mine own misery.

Should men give ear unto thee only? Thou wilt laugh other men to scorn; and shall nobody mock thee again?

For it is he that knoweth the vanity of men. He seeth their wickedness also; should he not then consider it?

A vain body exalteth himself, and man, newborn, is like a wild ass's colt.

Then shouldest thou take thy rest, and no man to make thee afraid, yea many one should set much by thee.

"Then, no doubt, ye are the men alone; and wisdom shall perish with you.

Thus, he that calleth upon God, and whom God heareth, is mocked of his neighbour; the godly and innocent man is laughed to scorn.

In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all men.

He carrieth away the wise men, as it were a spoil, and bringeth the judges out of their wits.

and grope in the dark without light, staggering to and fro like drunken men.

Lo, all this have I seen with mine eye, heard with mine ear, and understand it.

Would God ye kept your tongue, that ye might be taken for wise men!

Shall that help you, when he calleth you to reckoning? Think ye to beguile him, as a man is beguiled?

Lo, though he slay me, yet will I put my trust in him. But if I shew and reprove mine own ways in his sight,

Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of divers miseries.

The days of man are short, the number of his months are known only to thee. Thou hast appointed him his bounds; he cannot go beyond them.

But as for man; when he is dead, perished and consumed away, what becometh of him?

but when man sleepeth, he riseth not again, until the heaven perish: he shall not wake up nor rise out of his sleep.

May a dead man live again? All the days of this my pilgrimage am I looking, till my changing shall come.

Thou hast sealed up mine offenses, as it were in a bag: but be merciful unto my wickedness.

the waters pierce through the very stones by little and little, the floods wash away the gravel and the earth. Even so destroyest thou the hope of man in like manner.

Whether his children come to worship or no, he cannot tell: And if they be men of low degree, he knoweth not.

"Should a wise man's answer be as the science of the wind, and fill his belly with the wind of the east?

Art thou the first man that ever was born? Or, wast thou made before the hills?

With us are old and aged men; yea, such as have lived longer than thy forefathers.

What is man, that he should be clean? What hath he, which is born of a woman, whereby he might be known to be righteous?

How much more then an abominable and vile man, which drinketh wickedness like water?

which wise men have told, and hath not been hid from their fathers:

Therefore shall his dwelling be in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabits, but are become heaps of stones.

He is angry at me, he hateth me, and gnasheth upon me with his teeth. Mine enemy scowleth upon me with his eyes.

They have opened their mouths wide upon me, and smitten me upon the cheek despitefully, they have eased themselves through mine adversity.

My face is swollen with weeping, and mine eyes are waxen dim.

My friends laugh me to scorn, but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.

Though a body might plead with God, as one man doth with another,

Froward men are with me, and mine eye must continue in the bitterness of them.

Mine eye is dim for very heaviness, and all my strength is become like a shadow.

Virtuous men therefore shall well consider this, and the innocent shall take part against the hypocrite.

"As for you, turn you, and get you hence, I pray you - seeing I cannot see one wise man among you.

Other men shall dwell in his house - which now is none of his - and brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

He hath spoiled me of mine honour, and taken the crown away from my head.

His men of war came together, which made their way over me, and besieged my dwelling round about.

He hath put my brethren far away from me, and such as were of mine acquaintance, are become strangers unto me.

Mine own kinfolk have forsaken me, and my friends have put me out of remembrance.

The servants and maids of mine own house take me for a stranger, and I am become as an alien in their sight.

Mine own wife may not abide my breath, I was fain to speak fair for the children of mine own body.

I have sufficiently heard thy checking and reproof; therefore am I purposed to make answer after mine understanding.

Knowest thou not this, namely: that from the beginning - ever since the creation of man upon earth -

Is it with a man, that I make this disputation? Which if it were so, should not my spirit be then in sore trouble?

"Wherefore do wicked men live in health and prosperity, come to their old age, and increase in riches?

Ask any man that goeth by the way, and - if ye will not regard their tokens and deeds - he shall tell you,

Then shall he be fain to be buried among the stones by the brookside. All men must follow him, and there are innumerable gone before him.

"May a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?

"Well, thou wilt keep the old way, that all wicked men have gone:

Yea, the Almighty his own self shall be thine harvest, and the heap of thy money.

For some men there be, that remove other men's landmarks; that rob them of their cattle, and keep the same for their own;

They are the cause that so many men are naked and bare, having no clothes to cover them and keep them from cold;

The eye of the ungodly is like the adulterer, that waiteth for the darkness, and sayeth thus in himself, 'Tush, there shall no man see me,' and so he disguiseth his face.