14 Jan The Book of Job (Bible) on the one hand, and Camus and Sartre on the other, reflect a stark contrast in attitude towards God and organized religion. Having said that, how might the

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Title: The Bible, King James version, Book 18: Job

Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8018]

[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]

[This file was first posted on June 15, 2003]

Edition: 10

Language: English

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE BIBLE, KING JAMES, BOOK 18 ***

This eBook was produced by David Widger

with the help of Derek Andrew's text from January 1992

and the work of Bryan Taylor in November 2002.

Book 18 Job

18:001:001 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and

that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and

eschewed evil.

18:001:002 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.

18:001:003 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three

thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five

hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this

man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

18:001:004 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his

day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to

drink with them.

18:001:005 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone

about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in

the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the

number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have

sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job

continually.

18:001:006 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present

themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

18:001:007 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan

answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the

earth, and from walking up and down in it.

18:001:008 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant

Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and

an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

18:001:009 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for

nought?

18:001:010 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house,

and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed

the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the

land.

18:001:011 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and

he will curse thee to thy face.

18:001:012 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in

thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So

Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

18:001:013 And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were

eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:

18:001:014 And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were

plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:

18:001:015 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they

have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only

am escaped alone to tell thee.

18:001:016 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said,

The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the

sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am

escaped alone to tell thee.

18:001:017 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said,

The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels,

and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with

the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell

thee.

18:001:018 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said,

Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in

their eldest brother's house:

18:001:019 And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and

smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the

young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to

tell thee.

18:001:020 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and

fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,

18:001:021 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked

shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken

away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

18:001:022 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

18:002:001 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present

themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to

present himself before the LORD.

18:002:002 And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And

Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in

the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

18:002:003 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant

Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and

an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and

still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me

against him, to destroy him without cause.

18:002:004 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all

that a man hath will he give for his life.

18:002:005 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his

flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.

18:002:006 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but

save his life.

18:002:007 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote

Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

18:002:008 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he

sat down among the ashes.

18:002:009 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine

integrity? curse God, and die.

18:002:010 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish

women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of

God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job

sin with his lips.

18:002:011 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was

come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz

the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the

Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come

to mourn with him and to comfort him.

18:002:012 And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not,

they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one

his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.

18:002:013 So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven

nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his

grief was very great.

18:003:001 After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.

18:003:002 And Job spake, and said,

18:003:003 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which

it was said, There is a man child conceived.

18:003:004 Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above,

neither let the light shine upon it.

18:003:005 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud

dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

18:003:006 As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be

joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the

number of the months.

18:003:007 Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come

therein.

18:003:008 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise

up their mourning.

18:003:009 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for

light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the

day:

18:003:010 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid

sorrow from mine eyes.

18:003:011 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost

when I came out of the belly?

18:003:012 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should

suck?

18:003:013 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have

slept: then had I been at rest,

18:003:014 With kings and counsellors of the earth, which build desolate

places for themselves;

18:003:015 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with

silver:

18:003:016 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants

which never saw light.

18:003:017 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be

at rest.

18:003:018 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of

the oppressor.

18:003:019 The small and great are there; and the servant is free from

his master.

18:003:020 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life

unto the bitter in soul;

18:003:021 Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more

than for hid treasures;

18:003:022 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find

the grave?

18:003:023 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God

hath hedged in?

18:003:024 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured

out like the waters.

18:003:025 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that

which I was afraid of is come unto me.

18:003:026 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet;

yet trouble came.

18:004:001 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

18:004:002 If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but

who can withhold himself from speaking?

18:004:003 Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened

the weak hands.

18:004:004 Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast

strengthened the feeble knees.

18:004:005 But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth

thee, and thou art troubled.

18:004:006 Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the

uprightness of thy ways?

18:004:007 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or

where were the righteous cut off?

18:004:008 Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow

wickedness, reap the same.

18:004:009 By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his

nostrils are they consumed.

18:004:010 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and

the teeth of the young lions, are broken.

18:004:011 The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's

whelps are scattered abroad.

18:004:012 Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received

a little thereof.

18:004:013 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep

falleth on men,

18:004:014 Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to

shake.

18:004:015 Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh

stood up:

18:004:016 It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an

image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a

voice, saying,

18:004:017 Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more

pure than his maker?

18:004:018 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he

charged with folly:

18:004:019 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose

foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

18:004:020 They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for

ever without any regarding it.

18:004:021 Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die,

even without wisdom.

18:005:001 Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which

of the saints wilt thou turn?

18:005:002 For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly

one.

18:005:003 I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his

habitation.

18:005:004 His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the

gate, neither is there any to deliver them.

18:005:005 Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of

the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.

18:005:006 Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth

trouble spring out of the ground;

18:005:007 Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

18:005:008 I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:

18:005:009 Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things

without number:

18:005:010 Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the

fields:

18:005:011 To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn

may be exalted to safety.

18:005:012 He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their

hands cannot perform their enterprise.

18:005:013 He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of

the froward is carried headlong.

18:005:014 They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope in the

noonday as in the night.

18:005:015 But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and

from the hand of the mighty.

18:005:016 So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth.

18:005:017 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore

despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:

18:005:018 For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands

make whole.

18:005:019 He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there

shall no evil touch thee.

18:005:020 In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the

power of the sword.

18:005:021 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither

shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.

18:005:022 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou

be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

18:005:023 For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and

the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

18:005:024 And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and

thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin.

18:005:025 Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine

offspring as the grass of the earth.

18:005:026 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of

corn cometh in in his season.

18:005:027 Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou

it for thy good.

18:006:001 But Job answered and said,

18:006:002 Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid

in the balances together!

18:006:003 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea:

therefore my words are swallowed up.

18:006:004 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison

whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set

themselves in array against me.

18:006:005 Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox

over his fodder?

18:006:006 Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there

any taste in the white of an egg?

18:006:007 The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful

meat.

18:006:008 Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me

the thing that I long for!

18:006:009 Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let

loose his hand, and cut me off!

18:006:010 Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in

sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words

of the Holy One.

18:006:011 What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end,

that I should prolong my life?

18:006:012 Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of

brass?

18:006:013 Is not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me?

18:006:014 To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his

friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.

18:006:015 My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the

stream of brooks they pass away;

18:006:016 Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow

is hid:

18:006:017 What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are

consumed out of their place.

18:006:018 The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing,

and perish.

18:006:019 The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for

them.

18:006:020 They were confounded because they had hoped; they came

thither, and were ashamed.

18:006:021 For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting down, and are

afraid.

18:006:022 Did I say, Bring unto me? or, Give a reward for me of your

substance?

18:006:023 Or, Deliver me from the enemy's hand? or, Redeem me from the

hand of the mighty?

18:006:024 Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to

understand wherein I have erred.

18:006:025 How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing

reprove?

18:006:026 Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that

is desperate, which are as wind?

18:006:027 Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your

friend.

18:006:028 Now therefore be content, look upon me; for it is evident unto

you if I lie.

18:006:029 Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again,

my righteousness is in it.

18:006:030 Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern

perverse things?

18:007:001 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his

days also like the days of an hireling?

18:007:002 As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling

looketh for the reward of his work:

18:007:003 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights

are appointed to me.

18:007:004 When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be

gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of

the day.

18:007:005 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is

broken, and become loathsome.

18:007:006 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent

without hope.

18:007:007 O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see

good.

18:007:008 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine

eyes are upon me, and I am not.

18:007:009 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth

down to the grave shall come up no more.

18:007:010 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place

know him any more.

18:007:011 Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the

anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my

soul.

18:007:012 Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?

18:007:013 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my

complaints;

18:007:014 Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through

visions:

18:007:015 So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my

life.

18:007:016 I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days

are vanity.

18:007:017 What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou

shouldest set thine heart upon him?

18:007:018 And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him

every moment?

18:007:019 How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I

swallow down my spittle?

18:007:020 I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of

men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am

a burden to myself?

18:007:021 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away

my iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt

seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.

18:008:001 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

18:008:002 How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the

words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?

18:008:003 Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert

justice?

18:008:004 If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them

away for their transgression;

18:008:005 If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy

supplication to the Almighty;

18:008:006 If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for

thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.

18:008:007 Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should

greatly increase.

18:008:008 For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare

thyself to the search of their fathers:

18:008:009 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our

days upon earth are a shadow:)

18:008:010 Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out

of their heart?

18:008:011 Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without

water?

18:008:012 Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it

withereth before any other herb.

18:008:013 So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's

hope shall perish:

18:008:01