and suddenly there came a mighty great wind out of the South, and smote the four corners of the house: which fell upon thy children, so that they are dead, and I alone am gotten away, to tell thee."

And Job's three friends had word of all this evil which had come on him. And they came every one from his place, Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. So they came together to a meeting-place, in order that they might go and make clear to Job their grief for him, and give him comfort.

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 welcome me, and why were there two breasts that I might nurse at them?

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.

The mighty lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

But he saves the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.

Lo, the happiness of mortal man, God doth reprove him: And the chastisement of the Mighty despise not,

“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]!

For arrows of the Mighty are with me, Whose poison is drinking up my spirit. Terrors of God array themselves for me!

The things that sometime I might not away withal, are now my meat for very sorrow.

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?

To a despiser of his friends is shame, And the fear of the Mighty he forsaketh.

Or, Deliver me from the enemy's hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty?

"{How long} will you say these [things], and the words of your mouth [be] a mighty wind?

Doth God pervert judgment? And doth the Mighty One pervert justice?

If thou dost seek early unto God, And unto the Mighty makest supplication,

He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and has prospered?

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

If {it is a matter of} strength, look, [he is] mighty. But if {it is a matter of} justice, who can summon me?

For he is not a human being like I am, that I might answer him, that we might come together in judgment.

Neither is there any mediator between 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.

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.

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.

By searching dost thou find out God? Unto perfection find out the Mighty One?

“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]?

With him 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 princes away plundered, and overthrows the mighty.

He pours contempt upon princes, and weakens the strength of the mighty.

Yet I for the Mighty One do speak, And to argue for God I delight.

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

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

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

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!

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?

For he stretched out against God his hand, And against the Mighty he maketh himself mighty.

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 make you strong with my mouth, and the moving of my lips would spare you.

He breaketh me with breach upon breach; he runneth upon me like a mighty man.

O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleads for his neighbor!

If only my words might be recorded! if they might be put in writing in a book!

[That] with a pen of iron and [with] lead they might be engraved on a rock forever!

This, is the portion of the lawless man, from God, and the inheritance decreed him from the Mighty One.

Why do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?

What is the Mighty One that we serve Him? And what do we profit when we meet with Him?'

His own eyes see his destruction, And of the wrath of the Mighty he drinketh.

One dieth now when he is mighty and at his best, rich and in prosperity;

Is it a delight to the Mighty One That thou art righteous? is it gain, That thou makest perfect thy ways?

But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honorable man dwelt in it.

Those saying to God, 'Turn aside from us,' And what doth the Mighty One to them?

If thou dost return unto the Mighty Thou art built up, Thou puttest iniquity far from thy tents.

And the Mighty hath been thy defence, And silver is strength to thee.

For then on the Mighty thou delightest thyself, And dost lift up unto God thy face,

Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!

That I might know, what answer he would give me: and that I might understand, what he would say unto me.

Would he, with fulness of might, contend with me? Nay, surely, he, would give heed to me!

There the righteous might reason with him; so should I be delivered forever from my judge.

And God hath made my heart soft, And the Mighty hath troubled me.

Wherefore from the Mighty One Times have not been hidden, And those knowing Him have not seen His days.

He draws also the mighty with his power: he rises up, but no man is sure of life.

And though they might be safe, yet they will not receive it, for their eyes look upon their own ways.

"Dominion and awesome might belong to God; he establishes peace in his heights.

These are but the fringes of His ways;
how faint is the word we hear of Him!
Who can understand His mighty thunder?

God liveth! He turned aside my judgment, And the Mighty -- He made my soul bitter.

On the Mighty doth he delight himself? Call God at all times?

I shew you by the hand of God, That which is with the Mighty I hide not.

This is the portion of wicked man with God, And the inheritance of terrible ones From the Mighty they receive.

When he set the rain in order, and gave the mighty floods a law;

If only I might again be as I was in the months which are past, in the days when God was watching over me!

When yet the Mighty One is with me. Round about me -- my young ones,

when the mighty kept still their voice, and when their tongues cleaved to the roof of their mouths;

Yea, how might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom vigor has perished?

You have turned cruel to me; you persecute me with your hand's might.

I made an agreement with my eyes; how then might my eyes be looking on a virgin?

And what is the portion of God from above? And the inheritance of the Mighty from the heights?

For the fear of God kept me back, and because of his power I might not do such things.

“No, I have not allowed my mouth to sin
By cursing my enemy and asking for his life.

For fear of the great body of people, or for fear that families might make sport of me, so that I kept quiet, and did not go out of my door;

Who giveth to me a hearing? lo, my mark. The Mighty One doth answer me, And a bill hath mine adversary written.

Surely a spirit is in man, And the breath of the Mighty One Doth cause them to understand.

Surely I know not how to give flattering titles, How soon might my Maker take me away!

The Spirit of God hath made me, And the breath of the Mighty doth quicken me.

so that He may turn man from his act, that He might hide pride from man.

Therefore, O men of heart, hearken to me; Far be it from God to do wickedness, And from the Mighty to do perverseness:

Yea, truly, God doth not do wickedly, And the Mighty doth not pervert judgment.

Shall [he who] hates justice really govern? Or will you declare [the] Righteous One, the Mighty, guilty?--

In a moment they die, and at midnight Shake do people, and they pass away, And they remove the mighty without hand.

There is no darkness, and there is no deep shadow where instigators of mischief might hide themselves.

He breaketh the mighty -- no searching! And He appointeth others in their stead.

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

For else the men of understanding and wisdom, that have heard me, might say: 'What canst thou speak?'

Would that Job might be tested to the uttermost, for replying with the men of iniquity: