II. The Second Cycle of Debate............................... 15:1-21:34

Job 15:1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,

Job 15:2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?

Job 15:3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?

Job 15:4 Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.

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

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

Job 15:7 Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?

Job 15:8 Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?

Job 15:9 What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?

Job 15:10 With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.

Job 15:11 Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?

Job 15:12 Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,

Job 15:13 That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?

Job 15:14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

Job 15:15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

Job 15:16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?

Job 15:17 I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;

Job 15:18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:

Job 15:19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.

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

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

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

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

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

Job 15:25 For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.

Job 15:26 He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:

Job 15:27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.

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

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

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

Job 15:31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.

Job 15:32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.

Job 15:33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.

Job 15:34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.

Job 15:35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.

Job 16:1 Then Job answered and said,

Job 16:2 I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.

Job 16:3 Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?

Job 16:4 I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you.

Job 16:5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief.

Job 16:6 Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased?

Job 16:7 But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company.

Job 16:8 And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.

Job 16:9 He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.

Job 16:10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.

Job 16:11 God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.

Job 16:12 I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.

Job 16:13 His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.

Job 16:14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant.

Job 16:15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust.

Job 16:16 My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death;

Job 16:17 Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.

Job 16:18 O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.

Job 16:19 Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.

Job 16:20 My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.

Job 16:21 O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!

Job 16:22 When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.

Job 17:1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.

Job 17:2 Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?

Job 17:3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?

Job 17:4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.

Job 17:5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

Job 17:6 He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.

Job 17:7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.

Job 17:8 Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.

Job 17:9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.

Job 17:10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.

Job 17:11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.

Job 17:12 They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.

Job 17:13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

Job 17:14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.

Job 17:15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?

Job 17:16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

Job 18:1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

Job 18:2 How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.

Job 18:3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?

Job 18:4 He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?

Job 18:5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.

Job 18:6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.

Job 18:7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.

Job 18:8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.

Job 18:9 The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.

Job 18:10 The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.

Job 18:11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.

Job 18:12 His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.

Job 18:13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.

Job 18:14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.

Job 18:15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

Job 18:16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.

Job 18:17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.

Job 18:18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

Job 18:19 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.

Job 18:20 They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.

Job 18:21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.

Job 19:1 Then Job answered and said,

Job 19:2 How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?

Job 19:3 These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.

Job 19:4 And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.

Job 19:5 If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach:

Job 19:6 Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.

Job 19:7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

Job 19:8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.

Job 19:9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

Job 19:10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.

Job 19:11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.

Job 19:12 His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.

Job 19:13 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.

Job 19:14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

Job 19:15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.

Job 19:16 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.

Job 19:17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body.

Job 19:18 Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.

Job 19:19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.

Job 19:20 My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

Job 19:21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.

Job 19:22 Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

Job 19:23 Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!

Job 19:24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!

Job 19:25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

Job 19:26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

Job 19:27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

Job 19:28 But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?

Job 19:29 Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.

Job 20:1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

Job 20:2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.

Job 20:3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.

Job 20:4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,

Job 20:5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

Job 20:6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;

Job 20:7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

Job 20:8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

Job 20:9 The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

Job 20:10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.

Job 20:11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.

Job 20:12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;

Job 20:13 Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:

Job 20:14 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.

Job 20:15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

Job 20:16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.

Job 20:17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.

Job 20:18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.

Job 20:19 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;

Job 20:20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.

Job 20:21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.

Job 20:22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.

Job 20:23 When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.

Job 20:24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.

Job 20:25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him.

Job 20:26 All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.

Job 20:27 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.

Job 20:28 The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

Job 20:29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.

Job 21:1 But Job answered and said,

Job 21:2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.

Job 21:3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.

Job 21:4 As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?

Job 21:5 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.

Job 21:6 Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.

Job 21:7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?

Job 21:8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.

Job 21:9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.

Job 21:10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.

Job 21:11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.

Job 21:12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.

Job 21:13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.

Job 21:14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

Job 21:15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

Job 21:16 Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

Job 21:17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.

Job 21:18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.

Job 21:19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.

Job 21:20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

Job 21:21 For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?

Job 21:22 Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.

Job 21:23 One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.

Job 21:24 His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.

Job 21:25 And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.

Job 21:26 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.

Job 21:27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.

Job 21:28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?

Job 21:29 Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,

Job 21:30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

Job 21:31 Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?

Job 21:32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.

Job 21:33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.

Job 21:34 How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?