III. The Third Cycle of Debate............................... 22:1-26:14

Job 22:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

Job 22:2 Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?

Job 22:3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?

Job 22:4 Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?

Job 22:5 Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?

Job 22:6 For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

Job 22:7 Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.

Job 22:8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.

Job 22:9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

Job 22:10 Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;

Job 22:11 Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.

Job 22:12 Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!

Job 22:13 And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?

Job 22:14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.

Job 22:15 Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?

Job 22:16 Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:

Job 22:17 Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?

Job 22:18 Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

Job 22:19 The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn.

Job 22:20 Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.

Job 22:21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.

Job 22:22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.

Job 22:23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.

Job 22:24 Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.

Job 22:25 Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.

Job 22:26 For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.

Job 22:27 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.

Job 22:28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.

Job 22:29 When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.

Job 22:30 He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.

Job 23:1 Then Job answered and said,

Job 23:2 Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.

Job 23:3 Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!

Job 23:4 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.

Job 23:5 I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.

Job 23:6 Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.

Job 23:7 There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.

Job 23:8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:

Job 23:9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:

Job 23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Job 23:11 My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.

Job 23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

Job 23:13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.

Job 23:14 For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

Job 23:15 Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.

Job 23:16 For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:

Job 23:17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.

Job 24:1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?

Job 24:2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.

Job 24:3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

Job 24:4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.

Job 24:5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.

Job 24:6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.

Job 24:7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.

Job 24:8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

Job 24:9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.

Job 24:10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;

Job 24:11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.

Job 24:12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.

Job 24:13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.

Job 24:14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.

Job 24:15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.

Job 24:16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.

Job 24:17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

Job 24:18 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.

Job 24:19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.

Job 24:20 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.

Job 24:21 He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.

Job 24:22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.

Job 24:23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.

Job 24:24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.

Job 24:25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?

Job 25:1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

Job 25:2 Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high places.

Job 25:3 Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?

Job 25:4 How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?

Job 25:5 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.

Job 25:6 How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?

Job 26:1 But Job answered and said,

Job 26:2 How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength?

Job 26:3 How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?

Job 26:4 To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?

Job 26:5 Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.

Job 26:6 Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.

Job 26:7 He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

Job 26:8 He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.

Job 26:9 He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.

Job 26:10 He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.

Job 26:11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.

Job 26:12 He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.

Job 26:13 By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.

Job 26:14 Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?