And his sons went and made a feast in the house of each one on his day; and they sent and invited their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

And at the end of their days of feasting, Job sent and made them clean, getting up early in the morning and offering burned offerings for them all. For, Job said, It may be that my sons have done wrong and said evil of God in their hearts. And Job did this whenever the feasts came round.

Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

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 only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.

Job made answer and said,

Let darkness and deep gloom reclaim it; let clouds settle down on it; let blackness in mid-day terrify it.

Because it did not keep the doors of my mother's body shut, so that trouble might be veiled from my eyes.

Why did the knees meet me? and wherefore the breasts, that I should suck?

For then I might have gone to my rest in quiet, and in sleep have been in peace,

Or as a child dead at birth I might never have come into existence; like young children who have not seen the light.

To a man whose way is hidden, God has made a hedge about him.

And Eliphaz the Temanite made answer and said,

Truly, you have been a helper to others, and you have made feeble hands strong;

Thy words have upholden him that was falling, And thou hast made firm the feeble knees.

Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.

A spirit glided past me and made the hair on my skin to bristle.

They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night.

For, with the stones of the field, shall be thy covenant, and, the wild beast of the field, hath been made thy friend;

See, we have made search with care, and it is so; it has come to our ears; see that you take note of it for yourself.

And Job made answer and said,

“Oh, that my grief could actually be weighed
And placed in the balances together with my tragedy [to see if my grief is the grief of a coward]!

The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat.

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

If only he would be pleased to put an end to me; and would let loose his hand, so that I might be cut off!

So might it still be my comfort, And I might exult in the anguish he would not spare, - That I had not concealed the sayings of the Holy One.

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

“Is my strength and endurance that of stones,
Or is my flesh made of bronze?

For him that is fainting kindness is meet from his friend; or he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.

Which darken by reason of the cold, over them, is a covering made by the snow:

So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.

What is man, that you have made him great, and that your attention is fixed on him,

[If] I have sinned, what have I done to you, watcher of humanity? Why have you made me as a target for yourself, so that I have become a burden to myself?

Then Bildad the Shuhite made answer and said,

And Job made answer and said,

He is wise in heart and great in strength: who ever made his face hard against him, and any good came of it?

Who made [the constellations] the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,
And the [vast starry] spaces of the south;

If he came by me, I might not look upon him: if he went his way, I should not perceive it.

“They pass by like the [swift] boats made of reeds,
Like an eagle that swoops down on its prey.

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

then You dip me in a pit of mud,
and my own clothes despise me!

For he is not a man as I am, that I might give him an answer, that we might come together before a judge.

Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.

“Let Him take His rod away from me,
And let not the dread and fear of Him terrify me.

Does it delight you to oppress or despise what you have made, while you smile at the plans of the wicked?

Do you have eyes made of flesh? Can you look at things as humans do?

Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.

Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?

Wherefore then, from the womb, didst thou bring me forth? I might have breathed my last, and, no eye, have seen me.

As though I had not been, should I have become, - from the womb to the grave, might I have been borne.

Then Zophar the Naamathite made answer and said,

But, {O that} God might speak, and [that] he would open his lips to you,

that he might show thee out of his secret wisdom how manifold his law is! Then shouldest thou know that God had forgotten thee, because of thy sins.

And Job made answer and said,

“But I have intelligence and understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these [of God’s wisdom and might]?

It seems that I am to be as one who is a cause of laughing to his neighbour, one who makes his prayer to God and is answered! the upright man who has done no wrong is to be made sport of!

Who among all of these doesn't know that the LORD's hand made them,

Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?

With God is wisdom and might; He hath counsel and understanding.

“With Him are might and sound wisdom,
The misled and the misleader are His [and in His power].

He leads counselors away barefoot
and makes judges go mad.

Pouring contempt upon princes, And the girdle of the mighty He made feeble.

They grope about in the dark, having no light, and He hath made them to reel, like a drunken man.

“Oh, that you would be completely silent,
And that silence would be your wisdom!

Would it be well, when he searched you out? Or, as one might jest with a mortal, would ye jest, with him?

Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ash;
your defenses are made of clay.

If only a clean thing might come out of an unclean! But it is not possible.

If determined are his days, The number of his months are with Thee, His limit Thou hast made, And he passeth not over;

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

If only you would keep me safe in the underworld, putting me in a secret place till your wrath is past, giving me a fixed time when I might come to your memory again!

You'll call and I'll answer you; you'll long for your creatures that your hands have made.

His sons come to honour, and he has no knowledge of it; they are made low, but he is not conscious of it.

And Eliphaz the Temanite made answer and said,

Truly, you make the fear of God without effect, so that the time of quiet worship before God is made less by your outcry.

Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?

Both hoary and venerable, are among us, one mightier than thy father in days!

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?

Because he covered his face with fat, and made his hips bulge with fat,

And he has made his resting-place in the towns which have been pulled down, in houses where no man had a right to be, whose fate was to become masses of broken walls.

Evil has made them with child, and they give birth to trouble; and the fruit of their body is shame for themselves.

And Job made answer and said,

I also, like you, might speak, If your soul were in my soul's stead. I might join against you with words, And nod at you with my head.

I might harden you with my mouth, And the moving of my lips might be sparing.

But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company.

I am broken by his wrath, and his hate has gone after me; he has made his teeth sharp against me: my haters are looking on me with cruel eyes;

"He tore me apart when I was at ease; grabbing me by my neck, he shook me to pieces then he really made me his target.

He made a breach in me, breach upon breach, He ran upon me, like a mighty man.

I have made haircloth the clothing of my skin, and my horn is rolled in the dust.

O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!

He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.

They turned night into day
and made light seem near in the face of darkness.

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

Then Bildad the Shuhite made answer and said,

Terrors made him afraid round about, and scattered him to his feet.

His strength is made feeble for need of food, and destruction is waiting for his falling footstep.

He is driven away from light to darkness, made to wander the landscape.

And Job made answer and said,

Ten times now you have made sport of me; it gives you no sense of shame to do me wrong.

My way is walled up by him so that I may not go by: he has made my roads dark.

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