Job 4 Cross References - Thomson

¹ Here Eliphaz the Thaimianite interrupting him, said, ² Should frequent replies be made to thee in distress? But o who can bear the vehemence of thy words? ³ For if thou hast instructed many; and strengthened hands which were weak; and raised up with words them who were fainting; ⁴ and given courage to knees which were strengthless: ⁵ but now, when trouble hath come upon thee and touched thee, thou art impatient: ⁶ is not either thy fear grounded on folly; or thy hope? And this calamity the effect of thy conduct? ⁷ Recollect therefore. Who ever perished, being innocent? Or when were the righteous utterly destroyed? ⁸ As I have seen men ploughing improper grounds: they who sow such places shall reap sorrows. ⁹ By the decree of the Lord they shall perish; and by the blast of his ire be utterly consumed. ¹⁰ The strength of a lion and the roaring of a lioness and the boastful pride of dragons have been extinguished. ¹¹ The myrmekoleon hath perished for want of food: and young lions have forsaken each other. ¹² But had there been any truth in thy words; none of these evils would have happened to thee. ¹³ Should not my ear receive unusual things coming from him? At a dreadful sound by night, when terror appalleth men, ¹⁴ I was seized with a horror and trembling, which gave a violent shog to my bones. ¹⁵ A wind indeed blew full in my face, and my hair stood erect and my flesh quivered. ¹⁶ I started up, but could perceive nothing: I looked, but there was no form before my eyes. I only heard a sound and a voice, saying: ¹⁷ "What! can a mortal be pure before the Lord, or a man by his works be blameless?" ¹⁸ If in his servants he placeth not confidence, and in his angels perceiveth some blemish: ¹⁹ how should he treat them who dwell in houses of clay, [of which clay we indeed are] but as worms? ²⁰ but from morning till noon: and they are no more. ²¹ Because they could not help themselves they were destroyed. For he blowed on them and they withered: they perished because they had not wisdom.

¹¹ Now when his three friends heard of all the calamities which were come upon him, they came to him each from his own country, namely, Eliphaz the king of the Thaimanites, Baldad the sovereign of the Saucheans, and Sophar the king of the Minaians. Having made an appointment they came to him to comfort and take care of him,

¹ After this Job opened his mouth and cursed his day, ² saying,

¹ To this, Job in reply said,

¹ Here Baldad the Sauchean interposing said,

¹ Here Eliphaz the Thaimanite taking up the argument said:

¹ Upon this, Eliphaz the Thaimanite answered, and said,

⁹ So Eliphaz the Thaimanite, and Baldad the Sauchean, and Sophar the Minaian, went and did as the Lord commanded them, and he forgave them their sin for Job's sake.

¹⁸ for I am full of words; for I am pained with a spirit within me; ¹⁹ for I am like a vessel full of new wine, in fermentation, without vent; or like the labouring bellows of a smith. ²⁰ I will speak that I may have ease, by opening my lips.

¹¹ Therefore my wrath, which I filled up and restrained that I might not destroy them, I now pour out on infants in the streets, and on the congregation of youths at the same time. Because husband and wife shall be comprehended; the elder with him who is full of days;

⁹ therefore I said, I will not name the name of the Lord; I will not speak any more in his name. But there was kindled as it were a burning fire in my bones and I became dejected and cannot bear it.

²⁰ For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

⁴ For in great affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears"not that you should be grieved, but that you might know that overflowing love which I have for you. ⁵ Now if any one hath occasioned grief, he hath grieved me only as a partner in it; that I may not continue a burden on you all; ⁶ sufficient for such a one is the censure which hath been passed by the majority;

⁸ because if I grieved you by that letter, I have no cause to regret, though I did regret; for I find that that letter, though suitable to the occasion, made you sorry. ⁹ Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were affected with a sorrow which led to a reformation. For you were affected with a godly sorrow, that you might in no wise receive damage from us. ¹⁰ For godly sorrow operateth to produce a reformation for salvation, never to be repented of; but the sorrow of this world worketh death.

¹⁹ For I know that he will command his children and his household after him, who are to keep the ways of the Lord, to execute judgment and justice, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham all that he hath spoken to him.

²⁸ And give a charge to Joshua, and strengthen and encourage him; for he shall cross over before this people, and shall give them the possession of all this land which thou hast seen.

²² and kept the festival of unleavened bread seven days, with joy; for the Lord had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assur to them, to strengthen their hands in the works of the house of the God of Israel.

⁵ And should there be strength in my mouth; would I not spare moving my lips?

²¹ The lips of the righteous are skilled in things lofty; but those devoid of understanding die of want.

⁷ The lips of the wise are devoted to knowledge; but the hearts of fools are not safe.

²¹ The wise and prudent are called crafty; and they who are sweet in discourse will be more listened to.

³ Be strong ye hands which are feeble, and ye knees which are without strength.

⁴ The Lord Lord giveth me an instructed tongue, to know when it is proper to speak a word. He gave it me in the morning; he gave me in addition an ear to hear.

²² Because you turned aside the heart of the righteous, whom I turned not aside, in order that you might strengthen the hands of a transgressor that he should by no means turn from his evil way and live;

³² and I have prayed for thee that thy faith may not quite fail. When thou therefore hast recovered thyself, strengthen thou thy brethren.

⁴³ Then an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him.

²⁹ Let no corrupt discourse proceed out of your mouth; nothing but what is good for edification, of such utility as to be a benefit to the hearers.

⁶ Let your conversation be always with courteousness, seasoned with salt, with a knowledge how you ought to answer every one.

¹² Therefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the knees which are feeble,

¹⁴ The Lord is faithful in his words, and bountiful in all his works.

¹⁸ They who wound with their speeches are swords: but the tongues of the wise are healing.

²³ The heart of a wise man will consider the words of his mouth: and on his lips he will carry knowledge. ²⁴ Good words are a honey comb: and the sweetness thereof is health to the soul.

³ Be strong ye hands which are feeble, and ye knees which are without strength. ⁴ Take comfort ye who are faint hearted; take courage, be not terrified; behold our God retributeth judgment; he will indeed make retribution; he himself will come and save us.

⁶ Whereupon the king's countenance changed and his thoughts troubled him and the joints of his loins were loosened and his knees smote one against another.

⁷ so that, on the contrary, I rather wish you to forgive and comfort him, that such a one may not be overwhelmed with an excess of sorrow.

⁶ But God who comforteth them who are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus;

¹⁴ And we exhort you, brethren; admonish the disorderly; comfort the desponding; support the weak; exercise forbearance towards all;

¹¹ But put forth thine hand and touch all that he hath, he will indeed openly renounce thee.

⁵ Only put forth thy hand, and touch his bones and his flesh, he will indeed openly renounce thee.

²⁵ For the terror, which I dreaded, is come upon me; and that, of which I was afraid, hath befallen me. ²⁶ Did I not cultivate peace? was I not quiet? was I not at rest? Yet wrath is come upon me.

¹⁴ Mercy hath bidden me adieu. When the superintending care of the Lord overlooked me,

²¹ Pity me, pity me, O my friends, for the hand of the Lord hath touched me.

¹⁰ In a man who is self willed, arrogant and boastful there is impurity: in an evil day and a day of adversity, he will be stained deeper and deeper, until he utterly faint.

¹ Having therefore this ministration, as we have obtained mercy, we do not falter,

¹⁶ For this cause we do not faint: nay though this outer man of ours is wasted, yet the inner is renewed day by day.

³ Consider him who bore such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you may not grow weary, nor faint in your minds.

⁵ And have you forgotten this exhortation which speaketh to us as to children, "My son slight not the correction of the Lord, Nor faint when reproved by him;

³ Lord, remember I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done what is good in thy sight. And Ezekias wept sore.

¹ There was a man in the country of Ausitis whose name was Job. He was a man of truth and integrity, just, pious, and who abstained from every thing that was evil.

⁸ And the Lord said to him, Hast thou harboured in thy mind any thing against my servant Job? For there is not like him on the earth, a man unblameable, true, pious, abstaining from every thing evil. ⁹ And Satan in reply said before the Lord, Doth Job worship the Lord for nothing? ¹⁰ Hast thou not made a hedge about all that he hath, abroad and at home, and about all that belong to him round about, and blessed the works of his hands, and multiplied his cattle on the earth?

¹⁵ Though the Almighty, as he hath begun, may subdue me: yet I will speak and plead before him.

¹⁷ yet there was no iniquity in my hands. And my prayer was pure.

¹⁵ Where then have I any ground of hope? Or shall I see those good things of mine?

¹¹ And I will come out at his commands; for I have kept his ways, and will not turn aside from his commands, ¹² nor transgress in my bosom: indeed I have hid his words.

⁵ Far be it from me to acknowledge you to be right; for till I die, I will not give up mine innocence. ⁶ And for asserting my righteousness I make no apology; for I am not conscious to myself of having done amiss.

¹² for I saved the poor from the hand of the mighty; and assisted the orphan who had no helper. ¹³ The blessing of him who was perishing came upon me: and the mouth of the widow blessed me. ¹⁴ I put on righteousness and cloathed myself with justice as with a mantle. ¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. ¹⁶ I was a father to those in distress; and the cause which I knew not I searched out. ¹⁷ And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous; and plucked the prey from betwixt their teeth.

¹ I made a covenant with mine eyes, that I would not gaze on a virgin: ² yet what portion hath God dealt out from above? ³ And what, alas! the lasting portion on high? "Destruction is for the wicked and banishment for transgressors." ⁴ Why will he not behold my way and number all my steps? ⁵ Have I walked with scoffers or hath my foot hasted to deceit? ⁶ For I have been weighed in a just balance; and the Lord knoweth mine integrity. ⁷ If my foot hath deviated from the way or my heart gone astray after mine eyes; or if with my hands I have touched bribes: ⁸ may I sow and others eat; and let me have no root in the land. ⁹ If my heart hath gone after another man's wife, or if I have lain in wait at her gates; ¹⁰ let my wife gratify another, and mine infant children be dishonoured. ¹¹ For the defiling of another man's wife exciteth a fury of wrath not to be restrained. ¹² For it is a fire burning in all the limbs; which will not go out, till it hath utterly consumed. ¹³ If I have slighted the cause of my man servant or maid servant when they had a controversy with me, ¹⁴ what shall I do when the Lord maketh inquest? And when he visiteth, what answer shall I make? ¹⁵ Was not I formed in the womb as they were? And were we not alike fashioned in the belly? ¹⁶ Far from depriving the poor of what they had, or causing the heart of a widow to fail; ¹⁷ if I have eaten my morsel alone, and have not shared it with the orphan; ¹⁸ [for from my youth I as a father nourished them, and was their guide from my mother's womb] ¹⁹ If I have seen the naked perishing and have not clothed them; ²⁰ and if the poor have not blessed me, and their shoulders been warmed with the fleece of my lambs; ²¹ If I have raised a hand against the fatherless, because I had around me greater support: ²² may my shoulder bone be dislocated, and my arm broken at the elbow. ²³ For the fear of the Lord restrained me, and the burden of that I could not endure. ²⁴ If I have made gold my measure, or placed my confidence in precious stones: ²⁵ or if I have exulted because my wealth was great, or laid my hand on what was not counted out to me: ²⁶ or, [do we not see the refulgent sun sometimes eclipsed, and the moon continually changing? for it is not in them:] ²⁷ if then my heart hath been secretly enticed, and I have laid my hand on my mouth and kissed it ²⁸ let this be reckoned to me as the greatest transgression, that I have lied in the presence of the Lord, the Most High. ²⁹ If I have rejoiced at the downfall of mine enemies, and my heart hath said, Aha! ³⁰ Let mine ear hear myself cursed, and let me be a by-word among the people, when I am afflicted. ³¹ If my maid servants have often said, that we had some of his flesh meat to eat! while I was living luxuriously: ³² [indeed the stranger lodged not in the street, and my door was open to every comer:] ³³ If when I sinned inadvertently, I concealed my sin; ³⁴ for I was not so awed by the multitude as not to mention it before them; [Now if I had suffered a poor man to go from my door with an empty lap, ³⁵ who could have heard me with patience?] And if I had not feared the hand of the Lord ³⁶ I would have put on my shoulders the writing which I had against any one, and have acknowledged it as a crown: ³⁷ But if I did not tear it in pieces and give it up, without taking any thing from the debtor: ³⁸ if ever my ground hath cried out against me, and the furrows thereof joined in the complaint: ³⁹ if I have eaten alone the strength thereof without money, and by rapine caused the heart of the owner of the soil to grieve: ⁴⁰ let nettles spring up for me instead of wheat, and bramble bushes instead of barley.

²⁶ For the Lord will be over all thy ways, and will support thy foot that thou mayst not be shaken.

²⁶ In the fear of the Lord a man hath hope of strength; and to his children he leaveth a support.

¹³ Wherefore having girded up the loins of your understanding, being perfectly sober, keep your hope fixed on the favour to be conferred on you at the manifestation of Jesus Christ;

¹⁷ And since you invoke, as father, him who without respect of persons judgeth every one according to his work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear;

²⁰ for the Lord will not cast off the innocent, nor from the ungodly accept a gift:

²² Say then, wrath destroyeth the great and powerful: ²³ that the wicked fall by an untimely death. But the righteous are laughed to scorn:

⁷ He will not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but will seat them at last with kings on a throne and they shall be exalted.

²⁵ I have been young and am now old, yet I have never seen the righteous utterly forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

¹⁵ In the days of my vanity I took a view of all classes. Here is a righteous man perishing for his righteous act: there a wicked man continuing in his wickedness.

¹ As the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God, man indeed knoweth not what to love or what to hate: with regard to all things before him there is vanity in them all. ² The same event happeneth to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, and to the bad; to the clean and to the unclean; to him who sacrificeth and to him who sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; as is he who sweareth, so is he who feareth the oath.

⁴ When the barbarians saw the venomous creature hanging to his hand they said to one another, This man is certainly a murderer whom vengeance suffereth not to live, though he hath escaped from the sea.

⁹ the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly from, temptation, and to reserve the wicked to the day of judgment, to be punished;

¹⁴ Behold this man hath travailed with injustice. He conceived mischief and brought forth iniquity: ¹⁵ he hath digged a pit and covered it: into the pit which he made he will fall: ¹⁶ his mischief will return on his own head; on his own head his injustice will come down.

⁸ He who soweth iniquity shall reap evils; and compleat the punishment of his deeds. God blesseth a cheerful giver; and will supply the deficiency of his works.

¹⁸ thy ways and thy devices have done these things to thee. It is owing to thy wickedness that they are bitter; that they have reached thy very heart.

⁷ because they sowed blasted seed, therefore the catastrophe was correspondent; there is not a handful capable of yielding meal. And had it succeeded, strangers would have devoured it.

¹² [p] Sow for yourselves for righteousness; gather in the fruit of life. Light up for yourselves the light of knowledge. Seek the Lord until the fruits of righteousness come for you. ¹³ Why have you concealed impiety and gathered in the iniquities thereof? You have eaten false fruit. [J] Because thou hast trusted in thy sins, and in the multitude of thine army,

⁶ Now considering this, that he who soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly, and that he who soweth bountifully will reap bountifully,

⁷ Be not deceived. God is not to be imposed on; for whatever a man soweth, that he shall reap. ⁸ Because he who soweth for his flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption; but he who soweth for the spirit shall from the spirit reap life everlasting;

⁸ At the blast of thy wrath the water parted; The waters were compacted like a wall; The waves were condensed in the midst of the sea.

¹⁰ Thou didst send forth thy blast, the sea covered them; They sank like lead in the mighty water.

⁷ Behold I will put such a spirit in him and he shall hear such news, that he shall return to his own land. And I will destroy him with the sword in his own land.

¹⁹ a great blast of wind came up suddenly from the wilderness, and took the four corners of the house, so that the house fell upon thy children, and they are dead, and I, alone having escaped, am come to tell thee.

³⁰ Let him never cast a shadow on the ground, nor escape out of darkness.

¹³ Hide them in the earth together, and cover their faces with dishonour.

¹⁵ Then were seen the head springs of waters, and the foundations of the World were disclosed, at thy rebuke. Lord; at the blowing of the blast of thine anger.

⁴ but he will administer justice to the lowly, and work conviction in the meek of the earth. And he will smite the earth with the word of his mouth, and with a breath from his lips destroy the wicked.

³³ Of thee he will previously demand [and hast thou not provided for his reign] a deep valley and wood laid up in piles; the wrath of the Lord will be fire and wood in abundance like a valley burning with brimstone.

⁸ then will be revealed that lawless one, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth. With the brightness of his coming he will indeed put a stop to the operations

¹⁶ Reform. If thou dost not, I am coming to thee quickly, and I will fight against; them with the sword of my mouth.

¹⁵ and that they may perish in battle, and the weak escape from the hand of the mighty.

¹⁷ And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous; and plucked the prey from betwixt their teeth.

⁷ Arise, Lord; save me, my God! Because thou hast smitten all them, who foolishly were mine enemies; hast broken the teeth of sinners:

⁴ and delivered my soul from the midst of lions. I laid me down to sleep, troubled as I was. As for the sons of men, their teeth are weapons and darts; and their tongue is a sharp sword.

⁶ God hath broken their teeth in their mouth: the Lord hath broken the lion's grinders.

¹⁴ A wicked progeny have teeth like swords and grinders like cleavers, so as to consume and devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from among men.

⁹ Judas is a lion's whelp. From a vigorous stem, my son, thou art sprung. Couching down thou art gone to sleep like a young lion: Who dare rouse him!

²⁴ Behold the people will rouse like a young lion; And, like an old lion, exult with pride. They will not go to rest till they devour prey; Until they have drunk the blood of the slain.

⁹ Couching down, he is gone to rest, like a lion; Yes like a young lion; who dare rouse him? Blessed are they who bless thee, And they who curse thee are already cursed.

³ Will the Lord in judging pass an unrighteous judgment? Or will he who made all things pervert justice? ⁴ If thy children have sinned in his sight, he hath dismissed them for their transgression:

¹⁴ If their children be many they shall be for slaughter; and if they grow up to men, they shall be beggars. ¹⁵ Those who are about him shall die by pestilence: and their widows none shall compassionate.

³⁹ Wilt thou hunt the prey for lions, or satisfy the appetites of dragons?

² perhaps he like a lion may tear my soul; if there be none to redeem; none to deliver.

¹⁰ Rich men have become poor and hungry: But they who seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.

⁷ A lion has gone up from his den: a destroyer of nations hath begun his march and is come from his place to make this land a desolation; and the cities shall be demolished so as to be uninhabitable.

¹⁰ Am I to follow the Lord? Will he roar like a lion? And because of his roaring, will the children of waters be affrighted?

¹⁷ But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, that the proclamation might be made completely by me, and that all the nations might hear it. And I was delivered out of the mouth of a lion.

¹⁴ Behold these are parts of his ways. But let us hear the least breath of reason for him. As for the strength of his thunder; who knoweth when he shall employ it?

¹¹ Once God hath spoken; these two things I have heard: That strength belongeth to God,

¹² For we now by means of a mirrour see a representation of things; but we shall then see face to face. I now know in part; but I shall then know as I am known.

²¹ Then God brought an ecstasy upon Adam and caused him to sleep, and took one of his ribs and filled up flesh instead thereof.

¹² And at the going down of the sun an ecstacy came on Abram, and lo! a great gloomy horror falleth upon him,

³ And Abimelech the king of the Gerarites sent and took Sarah. And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said, Behold thou diest for this woman, whom thou hast taken; for she is the man's wife.

¹² and dreamed; and lo! a ladder set on the earth, the top of which reached up to heaven and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

²⁴ But God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night and said to him, Take care that thou speak not evil to Jacob.

² And God spoke to Israel in a vision of the night and said, Jacob! Jacob! And he said, Here I am.

⁶ he said to them, Hear my words. If there be a prophet among you to the Lord, I will make myself known to him by a vision, and speak to him in sleep.

¹⁹ Now therefore tarry you also here this night, that I may know what the Lord will further say to me. ²⁰ And God came to Balaam by night, and said to him, If these men come to call thee, arise and go with them: but what I say to thee, that thou shalt do.

¹⁴ For the Lord may have spoken once, and again; ¹⁵ In a dream, for instance, or in a nightly vision: As when a dread horror falleth on men, during their slumbers on a bed; ¹⁶ then doth he open the understanding of men.

¹⁹ and the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night; whereupon he blessed the God of heaven, and said,

²⁸ There is none but God in heaven who revealeth secrets. He indeed hath made known to the king Nabuchodonosar what must come to pass in latter days. With regard to thy dream, and the visions of thy head, on thy bed, this is it. ²⁹ Thy thoughts, king, on thy bed ascended to what might come to pass hereafter. And he who revealeth secrets made known to thee the things which must come to pass.

⁵ I had a dream which terrified me and I was troubled on my bed, and the visions of my head disquieted me.

¹⁸ And while he was speaking to me, I fell flat with my face on the ground. Then he touched me and set me on my feet,

⁹ but I heard the sound of his words. And when I heard him, I was struck with awe, and my face was on the ground.

¹⁴ Thou terrifiest me with dreams and affrightest me with visions.

¹⁹ Again he hath rebuked him with sickness on a bed, and benumbed all his bones;

¹²⁰ Penetrate my flesh with the dread of thee; for I am terrified at thy judgments.

⁵ Whereupon I said, Ah! Woe is me! [for I was confounded] for being a man, and having unclean lips; and dwelling among a people of unclean lips, I have seen with mine eyes the king the Lord of Hosts.

¹¹ And he said to me, Daniel, man greatly beloved, gain knowledge by the words which I speak to thee and stand up; for I am now sent to thee. And when he said this to me I stood up trembling.

¹⁶ I watched myself; and at the sound of the prayer of my lips my bowels trembled and a tremor seized my bones; and under me my whole frame quivered. I shall be at rest in the day of affliction, at the time of his coining to the people of my neighbourhood.

¹² at the sight of whom Zacharias was greatly discomposed and terrified.

²⁹ Upon seeing him she was greatly discomposed at his speech, and revolved in her mind what sort of a salutation this might be.

¹⁷ And when I saw him I fell at his feet as one dead. Whereupon he laid his right hand on me, and said to me, "Fear not. I am the first and the last,

⁴ Who maketh winds his messengers, and flaming fire his ministers;

⁸ The men in power shall be confounded; and pangs shall seize them, like those of a woman in travail. And they shall bewail their calamities, one to another, and be amazed; and their countenances will quiver like a flame.

³ For this cause my loins are filled with fainting; pangs have seized me like a woman in travail. I did wrong not to hear; I shuddered so that I could not see. ⁴ My heart is bewildered, transgression overwhelmeth me. My soul is on the brink of despair.

²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said it is an apparition, and cried out for fear.

³⁷ At which they were affrighted, and, being in terror, thought they saw a spirit; ³⁸ he said to them, Why are you alarmed? And why do groundless surmises arise in your hearts? ³⁹ View my hands and my feet; that it is I myself; handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have.

⁷ Now in respect to the messengers it is said, "Who maketh winds his messengers, and flaming fire his ministers:

¹⁴ Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth on service on the account of them who are to be heirs of salvation?

¹² And after the earthquake, a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was a sound of a gentle breeze

²⁵ Thou canst not do such a thing as this to slay the righteous with the wicked. Shall the righteous be as the wicked? No, no; Thou who judgest the whole earth; wilt not thou execute judgment?

³ Will the Lord in judging pass an unrighteous judgment? Or will he who made all things pervert justice?

² Of a truth I know that it is so. For how can a mortal be righteous with the Lord?

³⁰ For though I have washed myself with snow, and purified myself with clean hands: ³¹ thou hast so thoroughly plunged me in filth that my very robes abhor me.

⁴ For who can be free from stain? Surely none.

¹⁴ For who being mortal can be irreprehensible? Or can the offspring of woman be righteous?

⁴ For how can a mortal be just before the Lord or any offspring of woman make himself clean?

² What thinkest thou of this in thy pleading? Who art thou that thou shouldst say, "I am righteous before the Lord?"

¹⁰ but none said, where is the God who made me;

⁸ Decline not the trial with Me. Dost thou think that I have spoken to thee for any other purpose, but that thou mayst appear justified?

² and enter not into judgment with thy servant; for in thy sight no man living can be justified.

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and bountiful in all his works.

²⁰ Because there is not a righteous man on earth who will do good and not commit sin,

¹ [p] Righteous as thou art, O Lord, can I defend a cause against thee? but let me speak to thee in respect to judgments. Why is the way of wicked men prosperous? Why are they happy who have been all guilty of perfidy?

⁹ [p] The heart is deep beyond all things; so also is a man, who then can know Him?

²⁰ But, said he, it is that which cometh out of a man, which defileth him. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of man, proceed those evil surmises, adulteries, fornications, murders, ²² thefts, inordinate desires, malice, fraud, sensuality, envy, detraction, pride, foolishness. ²³ All these are the evil things which come from within, and defile the man.

⁵ Indeed according to this obduracy, and impenitent heart of thine thou art treasuring up for thyself wrath against a day of the wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

⁴ No, by no means. Yea, let God be true, though every man be a liar, as it is written, " So that thou must be justified in thy acts and must overcome when thou art judged." ⁵ If then our unrighteousness established the righteousness of God, what shall we say, Is not God unjust who taketh vengeance? I speak as a man. ⁶ No, by no means. In that case, how shall God judge the world? ⁷ For if by my falsehood the truth of God hath abounded to his glory, why am I yet condemned as a sinner?

²⁰ But who art thou, O man, who enterest into a dispute with God? Shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

³³ O the depth of the riches, and of the wisdom, and of the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways not to be traced out!

⁸ And the four animate beings had, each of them six wings around and underneath they were full of eyes. And they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!

¹⁵ If in his holy ones he placeth not confidence; and the heaven is not pure in his sight; ¹⁶ how abominable and filthy must man be; who drinketh iniquity in, like water!

⁵ If he setteth the moon beside him, it shineth not: and the stars are not pure in his sight. ⁶ Grant then that man is rottenness and that the son of man is a worm.

²⁰ Bless the Lord, all ye his angels; ye mighty powers, who execute his word, on hearing the voice of his commands. ²¹ Bless the Lord, all ye his armies: ye ministers of his, who perform his will.

² And seraphs stood around him, each having six wings; and with two they covered the face, and with two they covered the feet, and two they used in flying. ³ And they cried one to another and said, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is filled with his glory."

⁴ For if God spared not angels who sinned, but confining them in Tartarus, chains of darkness, delivered them up to be kept for judgment

⁶ and the angels who did not keep their own government, but left their proper abode, he hath reserved in perpetual bonds, under darkness, for the judgment of the great day.

⁷ then God formed the man, dust from the earth, and breathed upon his face a breath of life, and the man became a living soul.

¹⁹ By the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy bread until thou return into the earth out of which thou wast taken; for earth thou art and to earth thou shalt return."

²⁷ Then Abraham answered and said, Now I have taken upon me to speak to my Lord, I who am but dust and ashes!

⁹ Remember that thou hast made me of clay, and art turning me again into mould.

¹² And your boasting be dissipated like ashes; and your bodies be reduced to clay.

² or like a flower which fell when in bloom. He glideth away indeed like a shadow and can make no stay.

¹⁶ who were borne aloft, and whose foundations were the surgy stream. As for them

⁶ Thou art formed out of clay, and so am I: we are both made of the same material.

¹¹ With rebukes thou hast corrected man for iniquity; and caused his life to waste like a spider. Still every man troubleth himself in vain.

⁵ shall these trifling years of theirs be as if in the morning, a green herb passed away? ⁶ Should it in the morning bloom and pass away? In the evening it would have fallen, withered and become dry. ⁷ Because we have fallen short by thine anger, and by thine indignation have been troubled;

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass; like a flower of the field, so he may bloom. ¹⁶ Because a blast of wind passed over it, it is gone. It shall no more know its place.

⁴ His breath goeth out and he shall return to his earth; on that day all his projects shall perish.

⁷ and dust return to dust as it was, and the spirit return to God who gave it;

⁷ and we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may belong to God and not be from, us;

¹ For we know that when the earthly house of this dwelling of ours is dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, everlasting in the heavens.

²⁴ Because "all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as a flower of grass. the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth,

⁶ though nation may fight against nation, and city against city, because God hath confounded them with all kinds of affliction;

²⁰ He was thirty two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem, and departed unlamented, and was buried in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings;

¹⁴ [for though a man die he may be revived, after finishing the days of this life of his,] I would wait patiently, until I come again into existence.

²⁰ Thou hast brought him to an end, and he is gone: thou hast set thy face against him and dismissed him.

²² But my numbered days are come, and I must go the way, by which I cannot return.

¹⁷ May the memorial of him be destroyed from the earth.

⁷ For when he thinketh that he is now firmly established, then shall he be utterly destroyed; and they who have seen him will say, Where is he?

³⁶ Again I passed by, and lo! he was gone. Though I sought him, his place could not be found.

¹³ O spare me that I may recover strength; before I go hence and be no more.

⁵ shall these trifling years of theirs be as if in the morning, a green herb passed away? ⁶ Should it in the morning bloom and pass away? In the evening it would have fallen, withered and become dry.

⁷ When the wicked sprang up like grass; all the workers of iniquity had a glimpse that they should be destroyed forever.

⁷ The just are remembered with praises; but the name of the wicked is extinguished.

¹² I am cut off from my generation, I have left the remainder of my life. He is gone and departed from me, like one striking a tent, having just pitched it. My soul within me was like a web which the weaver was in act to sever from the loom. ¹³ In that day I was delivered up until morning as to a lion. So did he break to pieces all my bones. For from day to night I was delivered up.

²² and their enemies shall be clothed with shame; and the dwellings of the wicked shall come to naught.

²¹ Such are the houses of the unrighteous, and such the place of them who know not the Lord.

¹² But the impious he saveth not: because they would not know the Lord, and because, when they were admonished, they were disobedient,

⁵ Behold thou hast made my days old; and mine existence is as nothing before thee. The universe; every man living is vanity.

¹⁴ They are pent up like sheep in the mansion of the dead: death shall feed them and the early watches will rule over them: and that help of theirs from their glory, shall in the mansion of the dead become obsolete.

²⁰ A man who is in honour and hath not understanding, hath been compared to the brute beasts, and is like them.

³ Trust not in chiefs, nor in sons of men, in whom there is no safety. ⁴ His breath goeth out and he shall return to his earth; on that day all his projects shall perish.

¹⁶ They who see thee will express their amazement at thee and say, Is this the man who troubled the earth? who shook kings?

²⁰ Whereupon God said to him; Fool, this very night this soul of thine will be demanded of thee. Whose then will those things be which thou hast provided?

²² At length this poor man died, and was carried by angels to Abraham's bosom. And the rich man died also, and was buried. ²³ And in the mansion of the dead having lifted up his eyes, being in torment, he seeth Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom.

¹¹ For the sun riseth with its scorching heat, and withereth the blade, and the flower thereof failleth, and its beautiful appearance is gone. Just so will the rich man be blasted in his pursuits.