Job 15 Cross References - BBE

¹ And Eliphaz the Temanite made answer and said, ² Will a wise man make answer with knowledge of no value, or will he give birth to the east wind? ³ Will he make arguments with words in which is no profit, and with sayings which have no value? ⁴ Truly, you make the fear of God without effect, so that the time of quiet worship before God is made less by your outcry. ⁵ For your mouth is guided by your sin, and you have taken the tongue of the false for yourself. ⁶ It is by your mouth, even yours, that you are judged to be in the wrong, and not by me; and your lips give witness against you. ⁷ Were you the first man to come into the world? or did you come into being before the hills? ⁸ Were you present at the secret meeting of God? and have you taken all wisdom for yourself? ⁹ What knowledge have you which we have not? is there anything in your mind which is not in ours? ¹⁰ With us are men who are grey-haired and full of years, much older than your father. ¹¹ Are the comforts of God not enough for you, and the gentle word which was said to you? ¹² Why is your heart uncontrolled, and why are your eyes lifted up; ¹³ So that you are turning your spirit against God, and letting such words go out of your mouth? ¹⁴ What is man, that he may be clean? and how may the son of woman be upright? ¹⁵ Truly, he puts no faith in his holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in his eyes; ¹⁶ How much less one who is disgusting and unclean, a man who takes in evil like water! ¹⁷ Take note and give ear to my words; and I will say what I have seen: ¹⁸ {\I The things which wise men have got from their fathers, and have not kept secret from us; ¹⁹ For only to them was the land given, and no strange people were among them:} ²⁰ The evil man is in pain all his days, and the number of the years stored up for the cruel is small. ²¹ A sound of fear is in his ears; in time of peace destruction will come on him: ²² He has no hope of coming safe out of the dark, and his fate will be the sword; ²³ He is wandering about in search of bread, saying, Where is it? and he is certain that the day of trouble is ready for him: ²⁴ He is greatly in fear of the dark day, trouble and pain overcome him: ²⁵ Because his hand is stretched out against God, and his heart is lifted up against the Ruler of all, ²⁶ Running against him like a man of war, covered by his thick breastplate; even like a king ready for the fight, ²⁷ Because his face is covered with fat, and his body has become thick; ²⁸ And he has made his resting-place in the towns which have been pulled down, in houses where no man had a right to be, whose fate was to become masses of broken walls. ²⁹ He does not get wealth for himself, and is unable to keep what he has got; the heads of his grain are not bent down to the earth. ³⁰ He does not come out of the dark; his branches are burned by the flame, and the wind takes away his bud. ³¹ Let him not put his hope in what is false, falling into error: for he will get deceit as his reward. ³² His branch is cut off before its time, and his leaf is no longer green. ³³ He is like a vine whose grapes do not come to full growth, or an olive-tree dropping its flowers. ³⁴ For the band of the evil-doers gives no fruit, and the tents of those who give wrong decisions for reward are burned with fire. ³⁵ Evil has made them with child, and they give birth to trouble; and the fruit of their body is shame for themselves.

¹¹ And Job's three friends had word of all this evil which had come on him. And they came every one from his place, Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. So they came together to a meeting-place, in order that they might go and make clear to Job their grief for him, and give him comfort.

¹ And Eliphaz the Temanite made answer and said,

¹ Then Eliphaz the Temanite made answer and said,

⁷ And it came about, after he had said these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, I am very angry with you and your two friends, because you have not said what is right about me, as my servant Job has.

⁹ And Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, went and did as the Lord had said. And the Lord gave ear to Job.

²⁶ My words may seem wrong to you, but the words of him who has no hope are for the wind.

² How long will you say these things, and how long will the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?

² Are all these words to go unanswered? and is a man seen to be right because he is full of talk? ³ Are your words of pride to make men keep quiet? and are you to make sport, with no one to put you to shame?

² The same things are in my mind as in yours; I am equal to you.

¹ Ephraim's food is the wind, and he goes after the east wind: deceit and destruction are increasing day by day; they make an agreement with Assyria, and take oil into Egypt.

¹³ Who has wisdom and good sense among you? let him make his works clear by a life of gentle wisdom.

⁴ But you put a false face on things; all your attempts to put things right are of no value. ⁵ If only you would keep quiet, it would be a sign of wisdom!

² Such things have frequently come to my ears: you are comforters who only give trouble. ³ May words which are like the wind be stopped? or what is troubling you to make answer to them?

¹ Then Job made answer and said, ² How have you given help to him who has no power! how have you been the salvation of the arm which has no strength! ³ How have you given teaching to him who has no wisdom, and fully made clear true knowledge!

¹³ Your words have been strong against me, says the Lord. And still you say, What have we said against you? ¹⁴ You have said, It is no use worshipping God: what profit have we had from keeping his orders, and going in clothing of sorrow before the Lord of armies? ¹⁵ And now to us the men of pride seem happy; yes, the evil-doers are doing well; they put God to the test and are safe.

³⁶ And I say to you that in the day when they are judged, men will have to give an account of every foolish word they have said. ³⁷ For by your words will your righteousness be seen, and by your words you will be judged.

⁶ Let your talk be with grace, mixed with salt, so that you may be able to give an answer to everyone.

⁴ He has an over-high opinion of himself; being without knowledge, having only an unhealthy love of questionings and wars of words, from which come envy, fighting, cruel words, evil thoughts, ⁵ Bitter talk of men who, being evil in mind and dead to what is true, take the faith to be a way of making profit.

¹³ So death came to Saul because of the sin which he did against the Lord, that is, because of the word of the Lord which he kept not; and because he went for directions to one who had an evil spirit, ¹⁴ And not to the Lord: for this reason, he put him to death and gave the kingdom to David, the son of Jesse.

⁵ But now it has come on you and it is a weariness to you; you are touched by it and your mind is troubled. ⁶ Is not your fear of God your support, and your upright way of life your hope?

⁸ But as for me, I would make my prayer to God, and I would put my cause before him:

¹⁴ He whose heart is shut against his friend has given up the fear of the Ruler of all.

¹⁰ Will he take delight in the Ruler of all, and make his prayer to God at all times?

¹ To the chief music-maker. Of the servant of the Lord. Of David. The sin of the evil-doer says in his heart, There is no fear of the Lord before his eyes. ² For he takes comfort in the thought that his sin will not be uncovered and hated. ³ In the words of his mouth are evil and deceit; he has given up being wise and doing good.

¹²⁶ It is time, O Lord, for you to let your work be seen; for they have made your law without effect.

¹⁴ And they have not made prayer to me in their hearts, but they make loud cries on their beds; they are cutting themselves for food and wine, they are turned against me.

¹⁰ And when a man's relation, even the one who is responsible for burning his body, lifting him up to take his bones out of the house, says to him who is in the inmost part of the house, Is there still anyone with you? and he says, No; then he will say, Keep quiet, for the name of the Lord may not be named.

⁶ And those who are turned back from going after the Lord, and those who have not made prayer to the Lord or got directions from him.

¹ And he made a story for them, the point of which was that men were to go on making prayer and not get tired;

³¹ Do we, then, through faith make the law of no effect? in no way: but we make it clear that the law is important.

²¹ I do not make the grace of God of no effect: because if righteousness is through the law, then Christ was put to death for nothing.

¹³ He takes the wise in their secret designs, and the purposes of the twisted are cut off suddenly.

²² It is all the same to me; so I say, He puts an end to the sinner and to him who has done no wrong together. ²³ If death comes suddenly through disease, he makes sport of the fate of those who have done no wrong. ²⁴ The land is given into the power of the evil-doer; the faces of its judges are covered; if not by him, then who has done it?

⁶ There is wealth in the tents of those who make destruction, and those by whom God is moved to wrath are safe; even those whose god is their strength.

¹⁹ You have given your mouth to evil, your tongue to words of deceit. ²⁰ You say evil of your brother; you make false statements against your mother's son.

² Purposing destruction, using deceit; your tongue is like a sharp blade. ³ You have more love for evil than for good, for deceit than for works of righteousness. Selah. ⁴ Destruction is in all your words, O false tongue.

³ Who make their tongues sharp like a sword, and whose arrows are pointed, even bitter words;

² O Lord, be the saviour of my soul from false lips, and from the tongue of deceit. ³ What punishment will he give you? what more will he do to you, you false tongue?

³ Their tongues are bent like a bow to send out false words: they have become strong in the land, but not for good faith: they go on from evil to evil, and they have no knowledge of me, says the Lord. ⁴ Let everyone keep watch on his neighbour, and put no faith in any brother: for every brother will certainly be tricking his brother, and every neighbour will go about saying evil. ⁵ Everyone will make sport of his neighbour with deceit, not saying what is true: their tongues have been trained to say false words; they are twisted, hating to come back.

⁸ His tongue is an arrow causing death; the words of his mouth are deceit: he says words of peace to his neighbour, but in his heart he is waiting secretly for him.

²¹ Because from inside, from the heart of men, come evil thoughts and unclean pleasures, ²² The taking of goods and of life, broken faith between husband and wife, the desire of wealth, wrongdoing, deceit, sins of the flesh, an evil eye, angry words, pride, foolish acts:

⁴⁵ The good man, out of the good store of his heart, gives good things; and the evil man, out of his evil store, gives evil: for out of the full store of the heart come the words of the mouth.

²⁶ If a man seems to have religion and has no control over his tongue but lets himself be tricked by what is false, this man's religion is of no value.

⁵ Even so the tongue is a small part of the body, but it takes credit for great things. How much wood may be lighted by a very little fire! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire; it is the power of evil placed in our bodies, making all the body unclean, putting the wheel of life on fire, and getting its fire from hell. ⁷ For every sort of beast and bird and every living thing on earth and in the sea has been controlled by man and is under his authority; ⁸ But the tongue may not be controlled by man; it is an unresting evil, it is full of the poison of death.

²⁰ Though I was in the right, he would say that I was in the wrong; I have done no evil; but he says that I am a sinner.

⁸ But you said in my hearing, and your voice came to my ears: ⁹ I am clean, without sin; I am washed, and there is no evil in me: ¹⁰ See, he is looking for something against me; in his eyes I am as one of his haters; ¹¹ He puts chains on my feet; he is watching all my ways. ¹² Truly, in saying this you are wrong; for God is greater than man.

⁵ For Job has said, I am upright, and it is God who has taken away my right; ⁶ Though I am right, still I am in pain; my wound may not be made well, though I have done no wrong. ⁷ What man is like Job, a man who freely makes sport of God, ⁸ And goes in the company of evil-doers, walking in the way of sinners? ⁹ For he has said, It is no profit to a man to take delight in God.

² Does it seem to you to be right, and righteousness before God, to say, ³ What profit is it to me, and how am I better off than if I had done wrong?

⁸ Will you even make my right of no value? will you say that I am wrong in order to make clear that you are right?

³ Who is this who makes dark the purpose of God by words without knowledge? For I have been talking without knowledge about wonders not to be searched out.

⁸ The evil of their tongues is the cause of their fall; all those who see them are shaking their heads at them.

³⁷ For by your words will your righteousness be seen, and by your words you will be judged.

⁶⁵ Then the high priest, violently parting his robes, said, He has said evil against God: what more need have we of witnesses? for now his words against God have come to your ears:

²² He said to him, By the words of your mouth you will be judged, you bad servant. You had knowledge that I am a hard man, taking up what I have not put down and getting in grain where I have not put seed;

¹ And the man had connection with Eve his wife, and she became with child and gave birth to Cain, and said, I have got a man from the Lord.

¹² Old men have wisdom, and a long life gives knowledge.

¹⁰ With us are men who are grey-haired and full of years, much older than your father.

⁴ Where were you when I put the earth on its base? Say, if you have knowledge. ⁵ By whom were its measures fixed? Say, if you have wisdom; or by whom was the line stretched out over it? ⁶ On what were its pillars based, or who put down its angle-stone, ⁷ When the morning stars made songs together, and all the sons of the gods gave cries of joy? ⁸ Or where were you when the sea came to birth, pushing out from its secret place; ⁹ When I made the cloud its robe, and put thick clouds as bands round it, ¹⁰ Ordering a fixed limit for it, with locks and doors; ¹¹ And said, So far you may come, and no farther; and here the pride of your waves will be stopped? ¹² Have you, from your earliest days, given orders to the morning, or made the dawn conscious of its place; ¹³ So that it might take a grip of the skirts of the earth, shaking all the evil-doers out of it? ¹⁴ It is changed like wet earth under a stamp, and is coloured like a robe; ¹⁵ And from the evil-doers their light is kept back, and the arm of pride is broken. ¹⁶ Have you come into the springs of the sea, walking in the secret places of the deep? ¹⁷ Have the doors of death been open to you, or have the door-keepers of the dark ever seen you? ¹⁸ Have you taken note of the wide limits of the earth? Say, if you have knowledge of it all. ¹⁹ Which is the way to the resting-place of the light, and where is the store-house of the dark; ²⁰ So that you might take it to its limit, guiding it to its house? ²¹ No doubt you have knowledge of it, for then you had come to birth, and the number of your days is great. ²² Have you come into the secret place of snow, or have you seen the store-houses of the ice-drops, ²³ Which I have kept for the time of trouble, for the day of war and fighting? ²⁴ Which is the way to the place where the wind is measured out, and the east wind sent out over the earth? ²⁵ By whom has the way been cut for the flowing of the rain, and the flaming of the thunder; ²⁶ Causing rain to come on a land where no man is living, on the waste land which has no people; ²⁷ To give water to the land where there is waste and destruction, and to make the dry land green with young grass? ²⁸ Has the rain a father? or who gave birth to the drops of night mist? ²⁹ Out of whose body came the ice? and who gave birth to the cold mist of heaven? ³⁰ The waters are joined together, hard as a stone, and the face of the deep is covered. ³¹ Are the bands of the Pleiades fixed by you, or are the cords of Orion made loose? ³² Do you make Mazzaroth come out in its right time, or are the Bear and its children guided by you? ³³ Have you knowledge of the laws of the heavens? did you give them rule over the earth? ³⁴ Is your voice sent up to the cloud, so that you may be covered by the weight of waters? ³⁵ Do you send out the thunder-flames, so that they may go, and say to you, Here we are? ³⁶ Who has put wisdom in the high clouds, or given knowledge to the lights of the north? ³⁷ By whose wisdom are the clouds numbered, or the water-skins of the heavens turned to the earth, ³⁸ When the earth becomes hard as metal, and is joined together in masses? ³⁹ Do you go after food for the she-lion, or get meat so that the young lions may have enough, ⁴⁰ When they are stretched out in their holes, and are waiting in the brushwood? ⁴¹ Who gives in the evening the meat he is searching for, when his young ones are crying to God; when the young lions with loud noise go wandering after their food?

² Before the mountains were made, before you had given birth to the earth and the world, before time was, and for ever, you are God.

²² The Lord made me as the start of his way, the first of his works in the past. ²³ From eternal days I was given my place, from the birth of time, before the earth was. ²⁴ When there was no deep I was given birth, when there were no fountains flowing with water. ²⁵ Before the mountains were put in their places, before the hills was my birth:

²⁹ The secret things are the Lord our God's: but the things which have been made clear are ours and our children's for ever, so that we may do all the words of this law.

⁶ And would make clear to you the secrets of wisdom, and the wonders of his purpose!

² No doubt you have knowledge, and wisdom will come to an end with you.

⁵ If only you would keep quiet, it would be a sign of wisdom! ⁶ Give ear to the argument of my mouth, and take note of the words of my lips.

⁴ As I was in my flowering years, when my tent was covered by the hand of God;

¹⁴ The secret of the Lord is with those in whose hearts is the fear of him; he will make his agreement clear to them.

³² For the wrong-hearted man is hated by the Lord, but he is a friend to the upright.

¹⁸ For which of them has knowledge of the secret of the Lord, and has seen him, and given ear to his word? which of them has taken note of his word and given attention to it?

⁷ Certainly the Lord will do nothing without making clear his secret to his servants, the prophets.

²⁵ At that time Jesus made answer and said, I give praise to you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have kept these things secret from the wise and the men of learning, and have made them clear to little children.

¹¹ And he said to them in answer, To you is given the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

³⁵ That it might come true which was said by the prophet, Opening my mouth, I will give out stories; I will give knowledge of things kept secret from before all time.

¹⁵ No longer do I give you the name of servants; because a servant is without knowledge of what his master is doing: I give you the name of friends, because I have given you knowledge of all the things which my Father has said to me.

³⁴ Who has knowledge of the mind of the Lord? or who has taken part in his purposes?

²⁵ Now to him who is able to make you strong in agreement with the good news which I gave you and the preaching of Jesus Christ, in the light of the revelation of that secret which has been kept through times eternal, ²⁶ But is now made clear; and by the writings of the prophets, by the order of the eternal God, the knowledge of it has been given to all the nations, so that they may come under the rule of the faith;

⁹ But as it says in the holy Writings, Things which the eye saw not, and which had not come to the ears or into the heart of man, such things as God has made ready for those who have love for him. ¹⁰ But God has given us the revelation of these things through his Spirit, for the Spirit makes search into all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who has knowledge of the things of a man but the spirit of the man which is in him? in the same way, no one has knowledge of the things of God but the Spirit of God.

¹⁶ For who has knowledge of the mind of the Lord, so as to be his teacher? But we have the mind of Christ.

³ But I have a mind as well as you; I am equal to you: yes, who has not knowledge of such things as these?

³ How have you given teaching to him who has no wisdom, and fully made clear true knowledge! ⁴ To whom have your words been said? and whose spirit came out from you?

⁷ Give attention to the things which are before you. If any man seems to himself to be Christ's, let him keep in mind that we are as much Christ's as he is.

⁵ For in my opinion, I am in no way less than the most important of the Apostles.

²¹ I say this by way of shaming ourselves, as if we had been feeble. But if anyone puts himself forward I am talking like a foolish person, I will do the same. ²² Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they of Israel? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. ²³ Are they servants of Christ? I am talking foolishly I am more so; I have had more experience of hard work, of prisons, of blows more than measure, of death. ²⁴ Five times the Jews gave me forty blows but one. ²⁵ Three times I was whipped with rods, once I was stoned, three times the ship I was in came to destruction at sea, a night and a day I have been in the water; ²⁶ In frequent travels, in dangers on rivers, in dangers from outlaws, in dangers from my countrymen, in dangers from the Gentiles, in dangers in the town, in dangers in the waste land, in dangers at sea, in dangers among false brothers; ²⁷ In hard work and weariness, in frequent watchings, going without food and drink, cold and in need of clothing. ²⁸ In addition to all the other things, there is that which comes on me every day, the care of all the churches. ²⁹ Who is feeble and I am not feeble? who is in danger of falling, and I am not angry? ³⁰ If I have to take credit to myself, I will do so in the things in which I am feeble.

⁷ Keep in mind the days of the past, give thought to the years of generations gone by: go to your father and he will make it clear to you, to the old men and they will give you the story.

⁸ Put the question now to the past generations, and give attention to what has been searched out by their fathers: ⁹ For we are but of yesterday, and have no knowledge, because our days on earth are gone like a shade: ¹⁰ Will they not give you teaching, and say words of wisdom to you?

²⁰ He makes the words of responsible persons without effect, and takes away the good sense of the old;

⁶ And Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, made answer and said, I am young, and you are very old, so I was in fear, and kept myself from putting my knowledge before you. ⁷ I said to myself, It is right for the old to say what is in their minds, and for those who are far on in years to give out wisdom.

³¹ The grey head is a crown of glory, if it is seen in the way of righteousness.

²⁴ Then Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, came near and gave Micaiah a blow on the side of the face, saying, Where is the spirit of the Lord whose word is in you?

⁸ But as for me, I would make my prayer to God, and I would put my cause before him: ⁹ Who does great things outside our knowledge, wonders without number: ¹⁰ Who gives rain on the earth, and sends water on the fields: ¹¹ Lifting up those who are low, and putting the sad in a safe place; ¹² Who makes the designs of the wise go wrong, so that they are unable to give effect to their purposes. ¹³ He takes the wise in their secret designs, and the purposes of the twisted are cut off suddenly. ¹⁴ In the daytime it becomes dark for them, and in the sunlight they go feeling about as if it was night. ¹⁵ But he keeps safe from their sword those who have no father, and the poor from the power of the strong. ¹⁶ So the poor man has hope, and the mouth of the evil-doer is stopped. ¹⁷ Truly, that man is happy who has training from the hand of God: so do not let your heart be shut to the teaching of the Ruler of all. ¹⁸ For after his punishment he gives comfort, and after wounding, his hands make you well. ¹⁹ He will keep you safe from six troubles, and in seven no evil will come near you. ²⁰ When there is need of food he will keep you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. ²¹ He will keep you safe from the evil tongue; and you will have no fear of wasting when it comes. ²² You will make sport of destruction and need, and will have no fear of the beasts of the earth. ²³ For you will be in agreement with the stones of the earth, and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you. ²⁴ And you will be certain that your tent is at peace, and after looking over your property you will see that nothing is gone. ²⁵ You will be certain that your seed will be great, and your offspring like the plants of the earth. ²⁶ You will come to your last resting-place in full strength, as the grain is taken up to the crushing-floor in its time.

¹³ But if you put your heart right, stretching out your hands to him; ¹⁴ If you put far away the evil of your hands, and let no wrongdoing have a place in your tent; ¹⁵ Then truly your face will be lifted up, with no mark of sin, and you will be fixed in your place without fear: ¹⁶ For your sorrow will go from your memory, like waters flowing away: ¹⁷ And your life will be brighter than day; though it is dark, it will become like the morning. ¹⁸ And you will be safe because there is hope; after looking round, you will take your rest in quiet; ¹⁹ Sleeping with no fear of danger; and men will be desiring to have grace in your eyes;

⁸ Were you present at the secret meeting of God? and have you taken all wisdom for yourself?

¹⁶ (UNTRANSLATED TEXT)

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort; ⁴ Who gives us comfort in all our troubles, so that we may be able to give comfort to others who are in trouble, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For as we undergo more of the pain which Christ underwent, so through Christ does our comfort become greater.

⁶ But God who gives comfort to the poor in spirit gave us comfort by the coming of Titus;

¹³ But if you put your heart right, stretching out your hands to him;

² Truly, those who make sport of me are round about me, and my eyes become dark because of their bitter laughing.

¹⁹ Do not let my haters be glad over me falsely; let not those who are against me without cause make sport of me.

¹³ Making signs with his eyes, rubbing with his feet, and giving news with his fingers;

⁹ Have joy, O young man, while you are young; and let your heart be glad in the days of your strength, and go in the ways of your heart, and in the desire of your eyes; but be certain that for all these things God will be your judge.

³ But Peter said, Ananias, why has the Evil One put it into your heart to be false to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land? ⁴ While you had it, was it not your property? and after you had given it in exchange, was it not still in your power? how has this purpose come into your mind? you have been false, not to men, but to God.

²² Let your heart be changed, and make prayer to God that you may have forgiveness for your evil thoughts.

¹⁴ But every man is tested when he is turned out of the right way by the attraction of his desire. ¹⁵ Then when its time comes, desire gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is of full growth, gives birth to death.

⁴ He is wise in heart and great in strength: who ever made his face hard against him, and any good came of it?

³ What profit is it to you to be cruel, to give up the work of your hands, looking kindly on the design of evil-doers?

²⁵ Because his hand is stretched out against God, and his heart is lifted up against the Ruler of all, ²⁶ Running against him like a man of war, covered by his thick breastplate; even like a king ready for the fight, ²⁷ Because his face is covered with fat, and his body has become thick;

¹³ Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from words of deceit.

¹³ Your words have been strong against me, says the Lord. And still you say, What have we said against you?

⁷ Because the mind of the flesh is opposite to God; it is not under the law of God, and is not able to be: ⁸ So that those who are in the flesh are not able to give pleasure to God.

² For we all go wrong in a number of things. If a man never makes a slip in his talk, then he is a complete man and able to keep all his body in control. ³ Now if we put bits of iron into horses' mouths so that they may be guided by us, we have complete control of their bodies. ⁴ And again ships, though they are so great and are moved by violent winds, are turned by a very small guiding-blade, at the impulse of the man who is using it. ⁵ Even so the tongue is a small part of the body, but it takes credit for great things. How much wood may be lighted by a very little fire! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire; it is the power of evil placed in our bodies, making all the body unclean, putting the wheel of life on fire, and getting its fire from hell.

⁴⁶ If they do wrong against you, for no man is without sin, and you are angry with them and give them up into the power of those who are fighting against them, so that they take them away as prisoners into a strange land, far off or near;

³⁶ If they do wrong against you, for no man is without sin, and you are angry with them, and give them up into the power of those who are fighting against them, so that they take them away prisoners to a land far off or near;

² Truly, I see that it is so: and how is it possible for a man to get his right before God?

⁴ If only a clean thing might come out of an unclean! But it is not possible.

⁴ How then is it possible for man to be upright before God? or how may he be clean who is a son of woman? ⁵ See, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not clean in his eyes: ⁶ How much less man who is an insect, and the son of man who is a worm!

³ They have all gone out of the way together; they are unclean, there is not one who does good, no, not one.

⁵ Truly, I was formed in evil, and in sin did my mother give me birth.

⁹ Who is able to say, I have made my heart clean, I am free from my sin?

²⁰ There is no man on earth of such righteousness that he does good and is free from sin all his days.

²⁹ This only have I seen, that God made men upright, but they have been searching out all sorts of inventions.

⁶ That which has birth from the flesh is flesh, and that which has birth from the Spirit is spirit.

¹⁸ For I am conscious that in me, that is, in my flesh, there is nothing good: I have the mind but not the power to do what is right.

²² However, the holy Writings have put all things under sin, so that that for which God gave the undertaking, based on faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who have such faith.

² In which you were living in the past, after the ways of this present world, doing the pleasure of the lord of the power of the air, the spirit who is now working in those who go against the purpose of God; ³ Among whom we all at one time were living in the pleasures of our flesh, giving way to the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and the punishment of God was waiting for us even as for the rest.

⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we are false to ourselves and there is nothing true in us. ⁹ If we say openly that we have done wrong, he is upright and true to his word, giving us forgiveness of sins and making us clean from all evil. ¹⁰ If we say that we have no sin, we make him false and his word is not in us.

¹⁸ Truly, he puts no faith in his servants, and he sees error in his angels;

¹ Give now a cry for help; is there anyone who will give you an answer? and to which of the holy ones will you make your prayer?

⁵ See, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not clean in his eyes:

² Over him were the winged ones: every one had six wings; two for covering his face, two for covering his feed, and two for flight. ³ And one said in a loud voice to another, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of armies: all the earth is full of his glory. ⁴ And the bases of the door-pillars were shaking at the sound of his cry, and the house was full of smoke. ⁵ Then I said, The curse is on me, and my fate is destruction; for I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies.

¹⁹ How much more those living in houses of earth, whose bases are in the dust! They are crushed more quickly than an insect;

¹² Though evil-doing is sweet in his mouth, and he keeps it secretly under his tongue;

⁷ What man is like Job, a man who freely makes sport of God,

⁶ For this cause I give witness that what I said is false, and in sorrow I take my seat in the dust.

¹ To the chief music-maker. Of David. The foolish man has said in his heart, God will not do anything. They are unclean, they have done evil works; there is not one who does good. ² The Lord was looking down from heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any who had wisdom, searching after God. ³ They have all gone out of the way together; they are unclean, there is not one who does good, no, not one.

³ Every one of them has gone back; they are unclean: there is not one who does good, no, not one.

²⁸ A good-for-nothing witness makes sport of the judge's decision: and the mouth of evil-doers sends out evil like a stream.

²⁸ And because they had not the mind to keep God in their knowledge, God gave them up to an evil mind, to do those things which are not right; ²⁹ Being full of all wrongdoing, evil, desire for the goods of others, hate, envy, putting to death, fighting, deceit, cruel ways, evil talk, and false statements about others; ³⁰ Hated by God, full of pride, without respect, full of loud talk, given to evil inventions, not honouring father or mother,

⁹ What then? are we worse off than they? In no way: because we have before made it clear that Jews as well as Greeks are all under the power of sin; ¹⁰ As it is said in the holy Writings, There is not one who does righteousness; ¹¹ Not one who has the knowledge of what is right, not one who is a searcher after God; ¹² They have all gone out of the way, there is no profit in any of them; there is not one who does good, not so much as one: ¹³ Their throat is like an open place of death; with their tongues they have said what is not true: the poison of snakes is under their lips: ¹⁴ Whose mouth is full of curses and bitter words: ¹⁵ Their feet are quick in running after blood; ¹⁶ Destruction and trouble are in their ways; ¹⁷ And of the way of peace they have no knowledge: ¹⁸ There is no fear of God before their eyes. ¹⁹ Now, we have knowledge that what the law says is for those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and all men may be judged by God:

³ For in the past we were foolish, hard in heart, turned from the true way, servants of evil desires and pleasures, living in bad feeling and envy, hated and hating one another.

²⁷ 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.

¹ And now, O Job, give ear to my words, and take note of all I say.

² Give ear, you wise, to my words; and you who have knowledge, give attention to me;

² Give me a little more time, and I will make it clear to you; for I have still something to say for God.

⁸ Put the question now to the past generations, and give attention to what has been searched out by their fathers:

¹⁸ Now when I am old and grey-headed, O God, give me not up; till I have made clear your strength to this generation, and your power to all those to come.

³ Which have come to our hearing and our knowledge, as they were given to us by our fathers. ⁴ We will not keep them secret from our children; we will make clear to the coming generation the praises of the Lord and his strength, and the great works of wonder which he has done. ⁵ He put up a witness in Jacob, and made a law in Israel; which he gave to our fathers so that they might give knowledge of them to their children; ⁶ So that the generation to come might have knowledge of them, even the children of the future, who would give word of them to their children;

¹⁹ The living, the living man, he will give you praise, as I do this day: the father will give the story of your mercy to his children.

²⁵ And Eber had two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, because in his time the peoples of the earth became separate; and his brother's name was Joktan.

³² These are the families of the sons of Noah, in the order of their generations and their nations: from these came all the nations of the earth after the great flow of waters.

⁸ When the Most High gave the nations their heritage, separating into groups the children of men, he had the limits of the peoples marked out, keeping in mind the number of the children of Israel.

¹⁷ And you will be certain that I am the Lord your God, living in Zion, my holy mountain: and Jerusalem will be holy, and no strange person will ever again go through her.

¹ Why are times not stored up by the Ruler of all, and why do those who have knowledge of him not see his days?

¹³ This is the punishment of the evil-doer from God, and the heritage given to the cruel by the Ruler of all.

³ You send man back to his dust; and say, Go back, you children of men. ⁴ For to you a thousand years are no more than yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.

¹² So give us knowledge of the number of our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.

³ This is evil in all things which are done under the sun: that there is one fate for all, and the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; while they have life their hearts are foolish, and after that--to the dead.

¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have a great amount of goods in store, enough for a number of years; be at rest, take food and wine and be happy. ²⁰ But God said to him, You foolish one, tonight I will take your soul from you, and who then will be the owner of all the things which you have got together? ²¹ So that is what comes to the man who gets wealth for himself, and has not wealth in the eyes of God.

²² For we are conscious that all living things are weeping and sorrowing in pain together till now.

¹ Come now, you men of wealth, give yourselves to weeping and crying because of the bitter troubles which are coming to you. ² Your wealth is unclean and insects have made holes in your clothing. ³ Your gold and your silver are wasted and their waste will be a witness against you, burning into your flesh. You have put by your store in the last days. ⁴ See, the money which you falsely kept back from the workers cutting the grass in your field, is crying out against you; and the cries of those who took in your grain have come to the ears of the Lord of armies. ⁵ You have been living delicately on earth and have taken your pleasure; you have made your hearts fat for a day of destruction. ⁶ You have given your decision against the upright man and have put him to death. He puts up no fight against you.

⁹ And the voice of the Lord God came to the man, saying, Where are you? ¹⁰ And he said, Hearing your voice in the garden I was full of fear, because I was without clothing: and I kept myself from your eyes.

³⁶ And as for the rest of you, I will make their hearts feeble in the land of their haters, and the sound of a leaf moved by the wind will send them in flight, and they will go in flight as from the sword, falling down when no one comes after them;

³⁶ And Abigail went back to Nabal; and he was feasting in his house like a king; and Nabal's heart was full of joy, for he had taken much wine; so she said nothing to him till dawn came. ³⁷ And in the morning, when the effect of the wine was gone, Nabal's wife gave him an account of all these things, and all the heart went out of him, and he became like stone. ³⁸ And about ten days after, the Lord sent disease on Nabal and death came to him.

⁶ For the Lord had made the sound of carriages and horses, and the noise of a great army, come to the ears of the Aramaeans, so that they said to one another, Truly, the king of Israel has got the kings of the Hittites and of the Egyptians for a price to make an attack on us.

¹³ And there was a day when his sons and daughters were feasting in the house of their oldest brother, ¹⁴ And a man came to Job, and said, The oxen were ploughing, and the asses were taking their food by their side: ¹⁵ And the men of Sheba came against them and took them away, putting the young men to the sword, and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news. ¹⁶ And this one was still talking when another came, and said, The fire of God came down from heaven, burning up the sheep and the goats and the young men completely, and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news. ¹⁷ And this one was still talking when another came, and said, The Chaldaeans made themselves into three bands, and came down on the camels and took them away, putting the young men to the sword, and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news. ¹⁸ And this one was still talking when another came, and said, Your sons and your daughters were feasting together in their oldest brother's house, ¹⁹ When a great wind came rushing from the waste land against the four sides of the house, and it came down on the young men, and they are dead; and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news.

¹¹ He is overcome by fears on every side, they go after him at every step.

⁵ That the pride of the sinner is short, and the joy of the evil-doer but for a minute? ⁶ Though he is lifted up to the heavens, and his head goes up to the clouds; ⁷ Like the waste from his body he comes to an end for ever: those who have seen him say, Where is he?

²² Even when his wealth is great, he is full of care, for the hand of everyone who is in trouble is turned against him. ²³ God gives him his desire, and sends the heat of his wrath on him, making it come down on him like rain. ²⁴ He may go in flight from the iron spear, but the arrow from the bow of brass will go through him; ²⁵ He is pulling it out, and it comes out of his back; and its shining point comes out of his side; he is overcome by fears.

²⁰ Fears overtake him like rushing waters; in the night the storm-wind takes him away.

¹⁸ You put their feet where there was danger of slipping, so that they go down into destruction. ¹⁹ How suddenly are they wasted! fears are the cause of their destruction. ²⁰ As a dream when one is awake, they are ended; they are like an image gone out of mind when sleep is over.

⁷ When the sinners come up like the grass, and all the workers of evil do well for themselves, it is so that their end may be eternal destruction.

²⁶ So in the day of your trouble I will be laughing; I will make sport of your fear; ²⁷ When your fear comes on you like a storm, and your trouble like a rushing wind; when pain and sorrow come on you.

²¹ And on the day which had been fixed, Herod, dressed in his robes and seated in his place, made a public statement to them. ²² And the people, with loud cries, said, It is the voice of a god, not of a man. ²³ And straight away the angel of the Lord sent a disease on him, because he did not give the glory to God: and his flesh was wasted away by worms, and so he came to his end.

¹⁰ And do not say evil things against the Lord, as some of them did, and destruction overtook them.

³ When they say, There is peace and no danger, then sudden destruction will come on them, as birth-pains on a woman with child; and they will not be able to get away from it.

¹¹ They have over them as king the angel of the great deep: his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek language Apollyon.

³³ While he was still talking to them, the king came down and said, This evil is from the Lord; why am I to go on waiting any longer for the Lord?

¹¹ Have I strength to go on waiting, or have I any end to be looking forward to?

¹⁶ If I had sent for him to be present, and he had come, I would have no faith that he would give ear to my voice.

²⁹ Be in fear of the sword, for the sword is the punishment for such things, so that you may be certain that there is a judge.

¹⁴ If his children are increased, it is for the sword; and his offspring have not enough bread.

²¹ And he will go through the land in bitter trouble and in need of food; and when he is unable to get food, he will become angry, cursing his king and his God, and his eyes will be turned to heaven on high; ²² And he will be looking down on the earth, and there will be trouble and dark clouds, black night where there is no seeing.

⁵ And he put down the silver in the Temple and went out, and put himself to death by hanging.

¹² No longer will the earth give you her fruit as the reward of your work; you will be a wanderer in flight over the earth.

⁵ For the light of the sinner is put out, and the flame of his fire is not shining. ⁶ The light is dark in his tent, and the light shining over him is put out.

¹² His strength is made feeble for need of food, and destruction is waiting for his falling footstep.

¹⁸ He is sent away from the light into the dark; he is forced out of the world.

³ They are wasted for need of food, biting the dry earth; their only hope of life is in the waste land. ⁴ They are pulling off the salt leaves from the brushwood, and making a meal of roots.

¹⁵ Let them go wandering up and down in search of food, and be there all night if they have not enough.

¹⁰ Let his children be wanderers, looking to others for their food; let them be sent away from the company of their friends.

⁸ But even if a man's life is long and he has joy in all his years, let him keep in mind the dark days, because they will be great in number. Whatever may come is to no purpose.

⁶ We have given our hands to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians so that we might have enough bread.

⁹ We put our lives in danger to get our bread, because of the sword of the waste land.

² For a day of dark and deep shade is near, a day of cloud and black night: like a black cloud a great and strong people is covering the mountains; there has never been any like them and will not be after them again, from generation to generation.

²⁰ Will not the day of the Lord be dark and not light? even very dark, with no light shining in it?

¹⁵ That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and sorrow, a day of wasting and destruction, a day of dark night and deep shade, a day of cloud and thick dark.

²⁷ But only a great fear of being judged, and of the fire of wrath which will be the destruction of the haters of God.

³⁷ They were stoned, they were cut up with knives, they were tested, they were put to death with the sword, they went about in sheepskins and in goatskins; being poor and in pain and cruelly attacked, ³⁸ Wandering in waste places and in mountains and in holes in the rocks; for whom the world was not good enough.

² If only my passion might be measured, and put into the scales against my trouble! ³ For then its weight would be more than the sand of the seas: because of this my words have been uncontrolled. ⁴ For the arrows of the Ruler of all are present with me, and their poison goes deep into my spirit: his army of fears is put in order against me.

¹⁴³ Pain and trouble have overcome me: but your teachings are my delight.

²⁷ When your fear comes on you like a storm, and your trouble like a rushing wind; when pain and sorrow come on you.

¹¹ Then loss will come on you like an outlaw, and your need like an armed man

³⁴ So loss will come on you like an outlaw, and your need like an armed man.

³ I have given orders to my holy ones, I have sent out my men of war, those of mine who take pride in their power, to give effect to my wrath.

³⁷ And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and became sad and very troubled. ³⁸ Then says he to them, My soul is very sad, even to death: keep watch with me here.

⁹ Trouble and sorrow on all whose works are evil, to the Jew first and then to the Greek;

² And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, to whose voice I am to give ear and let Israel go? I have no knowledge of the Lord and I will not let Israel go. ³ And they said, The God of the Hebrews has come to us: let us then go three days' journey into the waste land to make an offering to the Lord our God, so that he may not send death on us by disease or the sword.

¹⁷ Are you still uplifted in pride against my people so that you will not let them go?

²³ And if by these things you will not be turned to me, but still go against me;

⁷ And the Philistines, full of fear, said, God has come into their tents. And they said, Trouble is ours! for never before has such a thing been seen. ⁸ Trouble is ours! Who will give us salvation from the hands of these great gods? These are the gods who sent all sorts of blows on the Egyptians in the waste land. ⁹ Be strong, O Philistines, be men! Do not be servants to the Hebrews as they have been to you: go forward to the fight without fear.

⁶ Why do you make your hearts hard, like the hearts of Pharaoh and the Egyptians? When he had made sport of them, did they not let the people go, and they went away?

⁹ Then he makes clear to them what they have done, even their evil works in which they have taken pride.

⁹ Have you an arm like God? have you a voice of thunder like his? ¹⁰ Put on the ornaments of your pride; be clothed with glory and power: ¹¹ Let your wrath be overflowing; let your eyes see all the sons of pride, and make them low.

⁷ See, this is the man who did not make God his strength, but had faith in his goods and his property, and made himself strong in his wealth.

⁹ Their mouth goes up to heaven; their tongues go walking through the earth.

¹¹ And they say, How will the Lord see this? is there knowledge in the Most High?

⁹ Have knowledge, O peoples, and be in fear; give ear, all you far-off parts of the earth: ¹⁰ Let your designs be formed, and they will come to nothing; give your orders, and they will not be effected: for God is with us.

¹² For this cause it will be that, when the purpose of the Lord against Mount Zion and Jerusalem is complete, I will send punishment on the pride of the heart of the king of Assyria, and on the glory of his uplifted eyes. ¹³ For he has said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my knowledge, for I am wise: and I have taken away the limits of the peoples' lands, and the stores of their wealth have become mine; and I have made towns low in the dust, sending destruction on those living in them; ¹⁴ And I have put my hands on the wealth of the peoples, as on the place where a bird has put her eggs; and as a man may take the eggs from which a bird has gone, so I have taken all the earth for myself: and not a wing was moved, and not a mouth gave out a sound.

⁴ My passion is over: if the thorns were fighting against me, I would make an attack on them, and they would be burned up together.

⁴ Whose purpose and work was it? His who sent out the generations from the start. I the Lord, the first, and with the last, I am he. ⁵ The sea-lands saw it, and were in fear; the ends of the earth were shaking: they came near. ⁶ They gave help everyone to his neighbour; and everyone said to his brother, Take heart! ⁷ So the metal-worker put heart into the gold-worker, and he who was hammering the metal smooth said kind words to the iron-worker, saying of the plate, It is ready: and he put it together with nails, so that there might be no slipping.

²³ But you have been lifting yourself up against the Lord of heaven, and they have put the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your women, have taken wine in them; and you have given praise to gods of silver and gold, of brass and iron and wood and stone, who are without the power of seeing or hearing, and without knowledge: and to the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not given glory;

⁵ And he said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are attacking:

¹ Now, about that time, Herod the king made cruel attacks on the Christians.

²³ And straight away the angel of the Lord sent a disease on him, because he did not give the glory to God: and his flesh was wasted away by worms, and so he came to his end.

⁸ To you, Judah, will your brothers give praise: your hand will be on the neck of your haters; your father's sons will go down to the earth before you.

²² And in the time of his trouble, this same King Ahaz did even more evil against the Lord.

¹³ Have you no knowledge of what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of every land? were the gods of the nations of those lands able to keep their land from falling into my hands? ¹⁴ Who was there among all the gods of those nations, which my fathers put to destruction, who was able to keep his people safe from my hands? and is it possible that your God will keep you safe from my hands? ¹⁵ So do not be tricked by Hezekiah or let him get you to do this, and do not put any faith in what he says: for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to keep his people safe from my hands, or the hands of my fathers: how much less will your God keep you safe from my hands! ¹⁶ And his servants said even more against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷ And he sent letters, in addition, to put shame on the Lord, the God of Israel, and to say evil against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not been able to keep their people safe from my hands, no more will the God of Hezekiah keep his people safe from my hands.

¹² I was in comfort, but I have been broken up by his hands; he has taken me by the neck, shaking me to bits; he has put me up as a mark for his arrows.

⁴⁰ By you their backs are turned in flight, so that my haters are cut off.

¹⁵ But Jeshurun became fat and would not be controlled: you have become fat, you are thick and full of food: then he was untrue to the God who made him, giving no honour to the Rock of his salvation.

¹⁰ But come back, now, all of you, come; and I will not see a wise man among you.

¹⁰ They are shut up in their fat: with their mouths they say words of pride.

⁷ Their eyes are bursting with fat; they have more than their heart's desire.

³¹ The wrath of God came on them, and put to death the fattest of them, and put an end to the young men of Israel.

¹⁰ Make the hearts of this people fat, and let their ears be stopped, and their eyes shut; for fear that they may see with their eyes, and be hearing with their ears, and their heart may become wise, and they may be turned to me and made well.

²⁸ They have become fat and strong: they have gone far in works of evil: they give no support to the cause of the child without a father, so that they may do well; they do not see that the poor man gets his rights.

¹⁴ With kings and the wise ones of the earth, who put up great houses for themselves;

¹⁵ In his tent will be seen that which is not his, burning stone is dropped on his house.

⁸ Cursed are those who are joining house to house, and putting field to field, till there is no more living-space for any but themselves in all the land! ⁹ The Lord of armies has said to me secretly, Truly, numbers of great and fair houses will be waste, with no one living in them. ¹⁰ For ten fields of vines will only give one measure of wine, and a great amount of seed will only give a small measure of grain.

¹¹ And I will make Jerusalem a mass of broken stones, the living-place of jackals; and I will make the towns of Judah a waste, with no man living there.

¹⁸ Micah the Morashtite, who was a prophet in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, said to all the people of Judah, This is what the Lord of armies has said: Zion will become like a ploughed field, and Jerusalem will become a mass of broken walls, and the mountain of the house like the high places of the woodland.

³⁷ And Babylon will become a mass of broken walls, a hole for jackals, a cause of wonder and surprise, without a living man in it.

¹² For this reason, Zion will be ploughed like a field because of you, and Jerusalem will become a mass of broken walls, and the mountain of the house like a high place in the woods.

¹⁸ Who is a God like you, offering forgiveness for evil-doing and overlooking the sins of the rest of his heritage? he does not keep his wrath for ever, because his delight is in mercy.

²² Even when his wealth is great, he is full of care, for the hand of everyone who is in trouble is turned against him. ²³ God gives him his desire, and sends the heat of his wrath on him, making it come down on him like rain. ²⁴ He may go in flight from the iron spear, but the arrow from the bow of brass will go through him; ²⁵ He is pulling it out, and it comes out of his back; and its shining point comes out of his side; he is overcome by fears. ²⁶ All his wealth is stored up for the dark: a fire not made by man sends destruction on him, and on everything in his tent. ²⁷ The heavens make clear his sin, and the earth gives witness against him. ²⁸ The produce of his house is taken away into another country, like things given into the hands of others in the day of wrath.

¹⁵ Will you keep the old way by which evil men went? ¹⁶ Who were violently taken away before their time, who were overcome by the rush of waters: ¹⁷ Who said to God, Go away from us; and, What is the Ruler of all able to do to us? ¹⁸ Though he made their houses full of good things: but the purpose of the evil-doers is far from me! ¹⁹ The upright saw it and were glad: and those who had done no wrong made sport of them, ²⁰ Saying, Truly, their substance is cut off, and their wealth is food for the fire.

¹⁶ Though he may get silver together like dust, and make ready great stores of clothing; ¹⁷ He may get them ready, but the upright will put them on, and he who is free from sin will take the silver for a heritage.

¹⁶ Have no fear when wealth comes to a man, and the glory of his house is increased; ¹⁷ For at his death, he will take nothing away; his glory will not go down after him.

² And he sent for him and said, What is this which is said about you? give me an account of all you have done, for you will no longer be the manager of my property.

¹⁹ Now there was a certain man of great wealth, who was dressed in fair clothing of purple and delicate linen, and was shining and glad every day. ²⁰ And a certain poor man, named Lazarus, was stretched out at his door, full of wounds, ²¹ Desiring the broken bits of food which came from the table of the man of wealth; and even the dogs came and put their tongues on his wounds. ²² And in time the poor man came to his end, and angels took him to Abraham's breast. And the man of wealth came to his end, and was put in the earth.

¹¹ For when the sun comes up with its burning heat, the grass gets dry and the grace of its form is gone with the falling flower; so the man of wealth comes to nothing in his ways.

¹ Come now, you men of wealth, give yourselves to weeping and crying because of the bitter troubles which are coming to you. ² Your wealth is unclean and insects have made holes in your clothing. ³ Your gold and your silver are wasted and their waste will be a witness against you, burning into your flesh. You have put by your store in the last days.

⁹ By the breath of God destruction takes them, and by the wind of his wrath they are cut off.

¹⁴ In the daytime it becomes dark for them, and in the sunlight they go feeling about as if it was night.

²¹ Before I go to the place from which I will not come back, to the land where all is dark and black, ²² A land of thick dark, without order, where the very light is dark.

²² He has no hope of coming safe out of the dark, and his fate will be the sword;

²⁶ All his wealth is stored up for the dark: a fire not made by man sends destruction on him, and on everything in his tent.

²⁰ Saying, Truly, their substance is cut off, and their wealth is food for the fire.

⁴ But he will do right in the cause of the poor, and give wise decisions for those in the land who are in need; and the rod of his mouth will come down on the cruel, and with the breath of his lips he will put an end to the evil-doer.

³³ For a place of fire has long been ready; yes, it has been made ready for the king; he has made it deep and wide: it is massed with fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of fire, puts a light to it.

⁴ See, it is put into the fire for burning: the fire has made a meal of its two ends and the middle part of it is burned; is it good for any work? ⁵ Truly, before it was cut down, it was not used for any purpose: how much less, when the fire has made a meal of it and it is burned, will it be made into anything? ⁶ For this cause the Lord has said: Like the vine-tree among the trees of the woods which I have given to the fire for burning, so will I give the people of Jerusalem. ⁷ And my face will be turned against them; and though they have come out of the fire they will be burned up by it; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord when my face is turned against them.

⁴⁷ And say to the woodland of the South, Give ear to the words of the Lord: this is what the Lord has said: See, I will have a fire lighted in you, for the destruction of every green tree in you and every dry tree: the flaming flame will not be put out, and all faces from the south to the north will be burned by it. ⁴⁸ And all flesh will see that I the Lord have had it lighted: it will not be put out.

¹² But the sons of the kingdom will be put out into the dark, and there will be weeping and cries of pain.

¹³ Then the king said to the servants, Put cords round his hands and feet and put him out into the dark; there will be weeping and cries of sorrow.

⁴¹ Then will he say to those on the left, Go from me, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire which is ready for the Evil One and his angels:

⁴³ And if your hand is a cause of trouble to you, let it be cut off; it is better for you to go into life with one hand than to have two hands and go into hell, into the eternal fire. ⁴⁴ (OMITTED TEXT) ⁴⁵ And if your foot is a cause of trouble to you, let it be cut off: it is better for you to go into life with one foot than to have two feet and go into hell. ⁴⁶ (OMITTED TEXT) ⁴⁷ And if your eye is a cause of trouble to you, take it out: it is better for you to go into the kingdom of God with one eye than, having two eyes, to go into hell, ⁴⁸ Where their worm is ever living and the fire is not put out. ⁴⁹ Everyone will be salted with fire.

⁸ To give punishment to those who have no knowledge of God, and to those who do not give ear to the good news of our Lord Jesus: ⁹ Whose reward will be eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his strength,

¹⁷ These are fountains without water, and mists before a driving storm; for whom the eternal night is kept in store.

¹³ Violent waves of the sea, streaming with their shame, wandering stars for whom the darkest night is kept in store for ever.

¹⁵ And out of his mouth comes a sharp sword, with which he overcomes the nations: and he has rule over them with a rod of iron: and he is crushing with his feet the grapes of the strong wrath of God the Ruler of all.

⁸ What I have seen is that those by whom trouble has been ploughed, and evil planted, get the same for themselves.

¹⁶ With him are strength and wise designs; he who is guided into error, together with his guide, are in his hands;

¹⁰ Have no faith in the rewards of evil-doing, or in profits wrongly made: if your wealth is increased, do not put your hopes on it.

⁸ By planting the seed of evil a man will get in the grain of sorrow, and the rod of his wrath will be broken.

¹⁰ For you have not given honour to the God of your salvation, and have not kept in mind the Rock of your strength; for this cause you made a garden of Adonis, and put in it the vine-cuttings of a strange god; ¹¹ In the day of your planting you were watching its growth, and in the morning your seed was flowering: but its fruit is wasted away in the day of grief and bitter sorrow.

²⁰ As for him whose food is the dust of a dead fire, he has been turned from the way by a twisted mind, so that he is unable to keep himself safe by saying, What I have here in my hand is false.

⁴ No one puts forward an upright cause, or gives a true decision: their hope is in deceit, and their words are false; they are with child with sin, and give birth to evil.

⁷ For they have been planting the wind, and their fruit will be the storm; his grain has no stem, it will give no meal, and if it does, a strange nation will take it.

⁸ The worshippers of false gods have given up their only hope.

³ For if a man has an idea that he is something when he is nothing, he is tricked by himself.

⁷ Be not tricked; God is not made sport of: for whatever seed a man puts in, that will he get back as grain. ⁸ Because he who puts in the seed of the flesh will of the flesh get the reward of death; but he who puts in the seed of the Spirit will of the Spirit get the reward of eternal life.

⁶ Do not be turned from the right way by foolish words; for because of these things the punishment of God comes on those who do not put themselves under him.

¹⁶ He is full of strength before the sun, and his branches go out over his garden. ¹⁷ His roots are twisted round the stones, forcing their way in between them. ¹⁸ If he is taken away from his place, then it will say, I have not seen you. ¹⁹ Such is the joy of his way, and out of the dust another comes up to take his place.

⁷ For there is hope of a tree; if it is cut down, it will come to life again, and its branches will not come to an end. ⁸ Though its root may be old in the earth, and its cut-off end may be dead in the dust; ⁹ Still, at the smell of water, it will make buds, and put out branches like a young plant.

¹⁶ Under the earth his roots are dry, and over it his branch is cut off. ¹⁷ His memory is gone from the earth, and in the open country there is no knowledge of his name.

¹⁶ Who were violently taken away before their time, who were overcome by the rush of waters:

⁵ But God will put an end to you for ever; driving you out from your tent, uprooting you from the land of the living. Selah. ⁶ The upright will see it with fear, and will say, laughing at you: ⁷ See, this is the man who did not make God his strength, but had faith in his goods and his property, and made himself strong in his wealth. ⁸ But I am like a branching olive-tree in the house of God; I have put my faith in his mercy for ever and ever.

²³ But you, O God, will send them down into the underworld; the cruel and the false will be cut off before half their days are ended; but I will have faith in you.

¹⁷ Be not evil overmuch, and be not foolish. Why come to your end before your time?

¹¹ When its branches are dry they will be broken off; the women will come and put fire to them: for it is a foolish people; for this cause he who made them will have no mercy on them, and he whose work they are will not have pity on them.

⁸ He had it planted in a good field by great waters so that it might put out branches and have fruit and be a strong vine. ⁹ Say, This is what the Lord has said: Will it do well? will he not have its roots pulled up and its branches cut off, so that all its young leaves may become dry and it may be pulled up by its roots? ¹⁰ And if it is planted will it do well? will it not become quite dry at the touch of the east wind, drying up in the bed where it was planted?

¹⁶ The rod has come on Ephraim, their root is dry, let them have no fruit; even though they give birth, I will put to death the dearest fruit of their bodies.

⁵ I will be as the dew to Israel; he will put out flowers like a lily, and send out his roots like Lebanon. ⁶ His branches will be stretched out, he will be beautiful as the olive-tree and sweet-smelling as Lebanon. ⁷ They will come back and have rest in his shade; their life will be made new like the grain, and they will put out flowers like the vine; his name will be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁶ If a man does not keep himself in me, he becomes dead and is cut off like a dry branch; such branches are taken up and put in the fire and burned.

³⁹ You will put in vines and take care of them, but you will get no wine or grapes from them; for they will be food for worms. ⁴⁰ Your land will be full of olive-trees, but there will be no oil for the comfort of your body; for your olive-tree will give no fruit.

⁹ The earth is sorrowing and wasting away; Lebanon is put to shame and has become waste; Sharon is like the Arabah; and in Bashan and Carmel the leaves are falling.

¹³ And the stars of heaven were falling to the earth, like green fruit from a tree before the force of a great wind.

³ And his sons did not go in his ways, but moved by the love of money took rewards, and were not upright in judging.

³ Here I am: give witness against me before the Lord and before the man on whom he has put the holy oil: whose ox or ass have I taken? to whom have I been untrue? who has been crushed down by me? from whose hand have I taken a price for the blinding of my eyes? I will give it all back to you.

¹³ So is the end of all who do not keep God in mind; and the hope of the evil-doer comes to nothing:

²² Your haters will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the sinner will not be seen again.

¹⁴ If you put far away the evil of your hands, and let no wrongdoing have a place in your tent;

¹ Then Zophar the Naamathite made answer and said,

⁵ Is not your evil-doing great? and there is no end to your sins. ⁶ For you have taken your brother's goods when he was not in your debt, and have taken away the clothing of those who have need of it. ⁷ You do not give water to the tired traveller, and from him who has no food you keep back bread. ⁸ For it was the man with power who had the land, and the man with an honoured name who was living in it. ⁹ You have sent widows away without hearing their cause, and you have taken away the support of the child who has no father.

⁸ For what is the hope of the sinner when he is cut off, when God takes back his soul?

¹² For I was a saviour to the poor when he was crying for help, to the child with no father, and to him who had no supporter. ¹³ The blessing of him who was near to destruction came on me, and I put a song of joy into the widow's heart. ¹⁴ I put on righteousness as my clothing, and was full of it; right decisions were to me a robe and a head-dress. ¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind, and feet to him who had no power of walking. ¹⁶ I was a father to the poor, searching out the cause of him who was strange to me. ¹⁷ By me the great teeth of the evil-doer were broken, and I made him give up what he had violently taken away.

¹³ Those who have no fear of God keep wrath stored up in their hearts; they give no cry for help when they are made prisoners.

¹⁴ The sinners in Zion are full of fear; the haters of God are shaking with wonder. Who among us may keep his place before the burning fire? who among us may see the eternal burnings? ¹⁵ He whose ways are true, and whose words are upright; he who gives no thought to the profits of false acts, whose hands have not taken rewards, who will have no part in putting men to death, and whose eyes are shut against evil;

¹¹ So because the poor man is crushed under your feet, and you take taxes from him of grain: you have made for yourselves houses of cut stone, but you will not take your rest in them; the fair vine-gardens planted by your hands will not give you wine. ¹² For I have seen how your evil-doing is increased and how strong are your sins, you troublers of the upright, who take rewards and do wrong to the cause of the poor in the public place.

² The good man is gone from the earth, there is no one upright among men: they are all waiting secretly for blood, every man is going after his brother with a net.

⁵¹ And will have him cut in two, and will give him a part in the fate of the false ones: there will be weeping and cries of sorrow.

¹⁴ That man is a worker of evil; the seed of wrongdoing has given birth to deceit.

⁴ No one puts forward an upright cause, or gives a true decision: their hope is in deceit, and their words are false; they are with child with sin, and give birth to evil. ⁵ They give birth to snake's eggs, and make spider's threads: whoever takes their eggs for food comes to his death, and the egg which is crushed becomes a poison-snake.

¹³ You have been ploughing sin, you have got in a store of evil, the fruit of deceit has been your food: for you put faith in your way, in the number of your men of war.

¹⁵ Then when its time comes, desire gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is of full growth, gives birth to death.