that there came a messenger to Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them,

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

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 only I alone have escaped to tell thee.

And LORD said to Satan, From where did thou come? And Satan answered LORD, and said, From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.

As for that night, let thick darkness seize upon it. Let it not rejoice among the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of the months.

Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up leviathan.

Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should suck?

or with rulers who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

Or I should have been as a hidden untimely birth, as infants that never saw light.

There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.

There the prisoners are at ease together. They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.

The small and the great are there. And the servant is free from his master.

who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they can find the grave?

For my sighing comes before I eat, and my groanings are poured out like water.

But now it comes to thee, and thou faint. It touches thee, and thou are troubled.

Remember, I pray thee, who [ever] perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?

By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are 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 perishes for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.

Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a whisper of it.

How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!

Between morning and evening they are destroyed. They perish forever without any regarding it.

His sons are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them,

so that he sets up on high those who are low, and those who mourn are exalted to safety.

In famine he will redeem thee from death, and in war from the power of the sword.

O that my grief were but weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!

For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison of which my spirit drinks up. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.

Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or the ox moo over his fodder?

Can that which has no savor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

My soul refuses to touch [them]. They are as loathsome food to me.

Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass?

which are black because of the ice, in which the snow hides itself.

What time they grow warm, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

They were put to shame because they had hoped. They came there, and were confounded.

For now ye are nothing. Ye see a terror, and are afraid.

Did I say, Give to me? Or, Offer a present for me from your substance?

Or, Deliver me from the adversary's hand? Or, Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?

How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what does it reprove?

Do ye think to reprove words, seeing that the speeches of a man who is desperate are as wind?

Yea, ye would cast [lots] upon the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend.

Now therefore be pleased to look upon me, for truly I shall not lie to your face.

Is there not a warfare to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling?

so I am made to possess months of misery, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.

My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.

Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that thou set a watch over me?

I loathe [my life]. I would not live always. Let me alone, for my days are vanity.

Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?

if thou were pure and upright, surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.

(for we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow).

So are the paths of all who forget God. And the hope of the profane man shall perish,

His roots are wrapped around the [stone] heap. He beholds the place of stones.

Behold, he seizes; who can hinder him? Who will say to him, What are thou doing?

Whom, though I were righteous, yet I would not answer. I would make supplication to my judge.

Though I were perfect, I do not regard myself. I despise my life.

Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good,

They are passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey.

Have thou eyes of flesh? Or do thou see as man sees?

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

Thou renew thy witnesses against me, and increase thine indignation upon me. Changes and warfare are with me.

Are not my days few? Cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little

before I go where I shall not return, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death,

the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as midnight.

For thou shall forget thy misery. Thou shall remember it as waters that are passed away.

No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.

The tents of robbers prosper, and those who provoke God are secure. Into whose hand God brings [abundantly].

Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee, and the fishes of the sea shall declare to thee.

Does not the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food?

With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his.

He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

Lo, my eye has seen all [this]. My ear has heard and understood it.

But ye are forgers of lies. Ye are all physicians of no value.

O that ye would altogether be silent! And it would be your wisdom.

Is it good that he should search you out? Or as deceiving a man, will ye deceive him?

Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes. Your defenses are defenses of clay.

Hear diligently my speech, and let my declaration be in your ears.

Then call thou, and I will answer, or let me speak, and answer thou me.

How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me to know my transgression and my sin.

Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with thee, and thou have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass,

But man dies, and is laid low. Yea, man gives up the spirit, and where is he?

The waters wear the stones. The overflowings of it wash away the dust of the earth. So thou destroy the hope of man.

His sons come to honor, and he does not know it, and they are brought low, but he does not perceive it of them.

Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches with which he can do no good?

Are thou the first man who was born? Or were thou brought forth before the hills?

With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, much older than thy father.

Are the consolations of God too small for thee, even the word that is gentle toward thee?

Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones. Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight:

The wicked man travails with pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.

He wanders abroad for bread, [saying], Where is it? He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

And he has dwelt in desolate cities, in houses which no man inhabited, which were ready to become heaps.

I have heard many such things. Miserable comforters are ye all.

Shall vain words have an end? Or what provokes thee that thou answer?

I also could speak as ye do, if your soul were in my soul's stead. I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you.

[But] I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage [your grief].

For when a few years are come, I shall go the way where I shall not return.

My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, the grave is [ready] for me.

Surely there are mockers with me, and my eye dwells upon their provocation.

My eye also is dim because of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.

My days are past. my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.

if I have said to corruption, Thou are my father, to the worm, My mother, and my sister,

where then is my hope? And as for my hope, who shall see it?