And the king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea.

And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, whereunto the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?

For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed.

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

And his sons went and held a feast in the house of each one upon his day; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, 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.

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.”

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.

But put forth thy hand now and touch all that he hath, and see if he will not curse thee to thy face!

And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their brother, the firstborn.

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

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

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.

While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their brother, the firstborn;

And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Then Job got up, and after parting his clothing and cutting off his hair, he went down on his face to the earth, and gave worship, and said,

And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

Job neither sinned nor charged God with wrongdoing in all of this.

Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him, to destroy him without just cause.”

but put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and see if he will not curse thee to thy face!

And Jehovah saith unto the Adversary, 'Lo, he is in thy hand; only his life take care of.'

So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

And he taketh to him a potsherd to scrape himself with it, and he is sitting in the midst of the ashes.

Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.

But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

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.

And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.

and sat with Job on the ground for a full week without saying a word, since they could see the great extent of his anguish.

After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.

Let destruction take the day of my birth, and the night on which it was said, A man child has come into the world.

If only that day had turned to darkness!
May God above not care about it,
or light shine on it.

Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

As for that night, let it have no fruit; let no voice of joy be sounded in it;

Let the cursers of day mark it, Who are ready to wake up Leviathan.

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

Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.

Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

"If I had died, I would be lying down by now, undisturbed, asleep, and at rest,

With kings and counsellers of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;

Or with rulers who had gold, and whose houses were full of silver;

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.

There the passions of the evil are over, and those whose strength has come to an end have rest.

There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

Wherefore is light given to him that is in trouble, and life to those bitter of soul,

Which long for death, if it come not;

Who are glad with great joy, and full of delight when they come to their last resting-place;

“Why is the light of day given to a man whose way is hidden,
And whom God has hedged in?

In place of my food I have grief, and cries of sorrow come from me like water.

For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?

Behold, thou hast been a teacher of many, and hast comforted the weary hands.

Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?

Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?

As I have seen -- ploughers of iniquity, And sowers of misery, reap it!

By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.

The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.

The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.

And unto me a thing is secretly brought, And receive doth mine ear a little of it.

In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,

Fear hath met me, and trembling, And the multitude of my bones caused to fear.

Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:

“The spirit stood still, but I could not discern its appearance;
A form was before my eyes;
There was silence, and then I heard a voice, saying:

"Can a mortal person be more righteous than God? Or can the purity of the valiant exceed that of his maker?'

If God puts no trust in His servants
and He charges His angels with foolishness,

How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

If their tent-cord is pulled up, do they not come to an end, and without wisdom?

Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?

For wrath is the cause of death to the foolish, and he who has no wisdom comes to his end through passion.

I myself have seen the fool taking root, but suddenly I cursed his place of residence.

“His children are far from safety [and included in their father’s ruin],
They are oppressed and crushed in the [court of justice in the city’s] gate,
And there is no one to rescue them.

Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.

Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;

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

“As for me, I would seek God and inquire of Him,
And I would commit my cause to God;

Who giveth rain on the face of the earth, and sendeth waters on the face of the fields;

which setteth up them of low degree, and sendeth prosperity to those that are in heaviness;

He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.

He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.

They encounter darkness by day,
and they grope at noon
as if it were night.

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

So the poor man has hope, and the mouth of the evil-doer is stopped.

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

He delivereth thee out of six troubles, so that in the seventh there can no harm touch thee.

In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword.

Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.

At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth.

Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.

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.

“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 now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.

For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.

Does the ass of the fields give out his voice when he has grass? or does the ox make sounds over his food?

Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?