Matthew(i)
1 Iob answered, and sayde:
2 I haue oft times heard such thinges. Miserable geuers of comforte are ye, al the sorte of you.
3 Shall not thy vayne wordes come yet to an ende? Or, hast thou yet eny more to saye?
4 I coulde speake, as ye do also. But woulde God, that youre soule were in my soules steade: then shoulde I heape vp wordes agaynst you, and shake my heade at you.
5 I shoulde comforte you wyth my mouth, and release youre payne wyth the talkyng of my lyppes.
6 But what shal I do? For all my wordes, my sorow wyl not cease: and though I holde my tonge, yet wyll it not departe from me,
7 And now that I am full of paine, and al that I haue destroyed
8 (wherof my wryncles beare wytnesse) there standeth vp a dyssembler to make me aunswere wyth lyes to my face.
9 He is angrye at me, he hateth me, & gnasheth vpon me with hys teth. Myne enemy skouleth vpon me with his eyes.
10 They haue, opened their mouthes wyde vpon me, and smitten me vpon the cheke despytefully, they haue eased themselues thorow mine aduersite.
11 God hath geuen me ouer to the vngodly, & deliuered me into the handes of the wycked.
12 I was somtyme in wealth, but sodenlye hath broughte me to noughte. He hath taken me by the neck, he hath rente me, and set me, as it were a marck for hym to shute at.
13 He hath compased me roundeaboute with his dartes, he hath wounded my loynes, and not spared. My bowels hath he poured vpon the grounde.
14 Ye hath geuen the one wounde vpon another, and is fallen vpon me lyke a giaunte.
15 I haue sowed a sack cloth vpon my skynne, and lye with my strength in the dust.
16 My face is swollen with wepyng, & myne eyes are waxen dymne.
17 Howbeit there is no wyckednesse in my handes, and my prayer is cleane.
18 O earth, couer not my bloud, and let my cryenge fynde no rowme.
19 For lo, my witnesse is in heauen, & he that knoweth me, is aboue in the heyght.
20 My frendes laugh me to scorne, but myne eye poureth out teares vnto God.
21 Though a body myght pleate with God, as one man doth with another,
22 yeth the nombre of my yeares are come, and I must go the waye, from whence I shall not turne agayne.