Now upon a certain day when his sons and daughters were eating, and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house,

there came a messenger unto Job, and said, "While the oxen were a plowing, and the asses going in the pasture beside them,

While he was speaking, there came yet another, and said, "Thy sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house,

Now when Job's friends heard of all the trouble that happened to him, there came three of them, every one from his own place: namely, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they were agreed together to come, to shew their compassion on him, and to comfort him.

O that I utterly had no being, or were as a thing born out of time that is put aside, either as young children, which never saw the light.

Thy words have set up those that were fallen, thou hast refreshed the weak knees.

"Consider, I pray thee: who ever perished being an innocent? Or, when were the godly destroyed?

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

Job answered, and said, "Oh that my misery were weighed, and my punishment laid in the balances:

Confounded are they that put any confidence in them: For when they came to obtain the things that they looked for, they were brought to confusion.

He commandeth the sun, and it riseth not: he closeth up the stars, as it were under a signet.

Hast thou not turned me, as it were milk: and turned me to cruddes like cheese?

Thou huntest me out, being in heaviness, as it were a lion, and troublest me out of measure.

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

He cometh up and is cut down like a flower. He flyeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one state.

O that thou wouldest keep me, and hide me in the hell, until thy wrath were stilled: and to appoint me a time, wherein thou mightest remember me.

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

I could speak as ye do also. But would God, that your soul were in my soul's stead: then should I heap up words against you, and shake my head at you.

I was some time in wealth, but suddenly hath he brought me to naught. He hath taken me by the neck, he hath rent me, and set me, as it were a mark for him to shoot at.

He hath made me as it were a byword of the common people. I am his jesting stock among them.

He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am undone: My hope hath he taken away from me, as it were a tree plucked up by the root.

His wrath is kindled against me; he taketh me, as though I were his enemy.

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

All such as were my most familiars, abhor me: And they whom I loved best, are turned against me.

O that my words were written, O that they were put in a book:

would God they were graven with an iron pen in lead or in stone.

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

To such as were weary, hast thou given no water to drink, and thou hast withdrawn bread from the hungry.

which were cut down out of time, and whose foundation was as a running water,

"The ungodly is very swift: O that his portion also upon earth were swifter than the running water, which suffereth not the shipman to behold the fair and pleasant vineyards.

O that they, for the wickedness which they have done, were drawn to the hell, sooner than snow melteth at the heat.

O that all compassion upon them were forgotten: that their dainties were worms, that they were clean put out of remembrance, and utterly hewn down like an unfruitful tree.

There are places were silver is molten, and where gold is tried;

"Oh that I were as I was in the months by past, and in the days when God preserved me;

If I had spoken, they would have it none other ways, my words were so well taken among them.

When I agreed unto their way, I was the chief, and sat as a king among his servants; and when they were in heaviness, I was their comforter.

And when they were driven forth, men cried after them, as it had been after a thief.

They were children of fools and villains, which are dead away from the world.

"Fearfulness is turned against me. Mine honour vanisheth away more swiftly than wind, and my prosperity departeth hence like as it were a cloud.

With all their power have they changed my garment, and girded me therewith, as it were with a coat.

I am even as it were clay, and am become like ashes and dust.

In times past thou didst set me up on high, as it were above the wind, but now hast thou given me a very sore fall.

He that fashioned me in my mother's womb, made he not him also? Were we not both shapen alike in our mother's bodies?

That were a wickedness worth to be punished, for then should I have denied the God that is above.

Now tarried Elihu till they had ended their communication with Job: for why? They were elder than he.

So when Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, saw that these three men were not able to make Job answer, he was miscontent.

May he be made whole, that loveth no right? If thou were a very innocent man, shouldest thou then be punished?

They that were in the stead of Seers, dealt like ungodly men.

So hard is she to her young ones, as though they were not hers, and laboureth in vain without any fear.

His body is covered with scales as it were with shields, locked in, kept, and well compact together.

In all the land were none found so fair, as the daughters of Job, and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.