13:3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with G.o.d.

13:4 But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.

13:5 O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.

13:6 Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.

13:7 Will ye speak wickedly for G.o.d? and talk deceitfully for him? 13:8 Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for G.o.d? 13:9 Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him? 13:10 He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.

13:11 Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you? 13:12 Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.

13:13 Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will.

13:14 Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand? 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

13:16 He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.

13:17 Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.

13:18 Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.

13:19 Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.

13:20 Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee.

13:21 Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.

13:22 Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.

13:23 How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.

13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy? 13:25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble? 13:26 For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.

13:27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.

13:28 And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.

14:1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.

14:2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

14:3 And doth thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? 14:4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.

14:5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pa.s.s; 14:6 Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.

14:7 For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

14:8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; 14:9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.

14:10 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? 14:11 As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: 14:12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.

14:13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! 14:14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

14:15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.

14:16 For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin? 14:17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.

14:18 And surely the mountains falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place.

14:19 The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.

14:20 Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he pa.s.seth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.

14:21 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.

14:22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.

15:1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said, 15:2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? 15:3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good? 15:4 Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before G.o.d.

15:5 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.

15:6 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.

15:7 Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills? 15:8 Hast thou heard the secret of G.o.d? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? 15:9 What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us? 15:10 With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.

15:11 Are the consolations of G.o.d small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee? 15:12 Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at, 15:13 That thou turnest thy spirit against G.o.d, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth? 15:14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? 15:15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

15:16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water? 15:17 I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare; 15:18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it: 15:19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger pa.s.sed among them.

15:20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.

15:21 A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.

15:22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.

15:23 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

15:24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

15:25 For he stretcheth out his hand against G.o.d, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.

15:26 He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: 15:27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.

15:28 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.

15:29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.

15:30 He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.