8:1And Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

8:2How long wilt thou speak these things? and the words of thy mouth be a strong wind?

8:3Doth *God pervert judgment, and the Almighty pervert justice?

8:4If thy children have sinned against him, he hath also given them over into the hand of their transgression.

8:5If thou seek earnestly unto *God, and make thy supplication to the Almighty,

8:6If thou be pure and upright, surely now he will awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous;

8:7And though thy beginning was small, yet thine end shall be very great.

8:8For inquire, I pray thee, of the former generation, and attend to the researches of their fathers;

8:9For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, for our days upon earth are a shadow.

8:10Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?

8:11Doth the papyrus shoot up without mire? doth the reed-grass grow without water?

8:12Whilst it is yet in its greenness and not cut down, it withereth before any other grass.

8:13So are the paths of all that forget *God; and the profane man's hope shall perish,

8:14Whose confidence shall be cut off, and his reliance is a spider's web.

8:15He shall lean upon his house, and it shall not stand; he shall lay hold on it, but it shall not endure.

8:16He is full of sap before the sun, and his sprout shooteth forth over his garden;

8:17His roots are entwined about the stoneheap; he seeth the place of stones.

8:18If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him: I have not seen thee!

8:19Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the dust shall others grow.

8:20Behold, *God will not cast off a perfect man, neither will he take evil-doers by the hand.

8:21Whilst he would fill thy mouth with laughing and thy lips with shouting,

8:22They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked be no more.

9:1And Job answered and said,

9:2Of a truth I know it is so; but how can man be just with *God?

9:3If he shall choose to strive with him, he cannot answer him one thing of a thousand.

9:4He is wise in heart and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and had peace?

9:5Who removeth mountains, and they know it not, when he overturneth them in his anger;

9:6Who shaketh the earth out of its place, and the pillars thereof tremble;

9:7Who commandeth the sun, and it riseth not, and he sealeth up the stars;

9:8Who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the high waves of the sea;

9:9Who maketh the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south;

9:10Who doeth great things past finding out, and wonders without number.

9:11Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not; and he passeth along, and I perceive him not.

9:12Behold, he taketh away: who will hinder him? Who will say unto him, What doest thou?

9:13+God withdraweth not his anger; the proud helpers stoop under him:

9:14How much less shall I answer him, choose out my words to strive with him?

9:15Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer; I would make supplication to my judge.

9:16If I had called, and he had answered me, I would not believe that he hearkened to my voice, --

9:17He, who crusheth me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.

9:18He suffereth me not to take my breath, for he filleth me with bitternesses.

9:19Be it a question of strength, lo, he is strong; and be it of judgment, who will set me a time?

9:20If I justified myself, mine own mouth would condemn me; were I perfect, he would prove me perverse.

9:21Were I perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.

9:22It is all one; therefore I said, he destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.

9:23If the scourge kill suddenly, he mocketh at the trial of the innocent.

9:24The earth is given over into the hand of the wicked man; he covereth the faces of its judges. If not, who then is it?

9:25And my days are swifter than a runner: they flee away, they see no good.

9:26They pass by like skiffs of reed; as an eagle that swoops upon the prey.

9:27If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my sad countenance, and brighten up,

9:28I am afraid of all my sorrows; I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.

9:29Be it that I am wicked, why then do I labour in vain?

9:30If I washed myself with snow-water, and cleansed my hands in purity,

9:31Then wouldest thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes would abhor me.

9:32For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him; that we should come together in judgment.

9:33There is not an umpire between us, who should lay his hand upon us both.

9:34Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his terror make me afraid,

9:35Then I will speak, and not fear him; but it is not so with me.

10:1My soul is weary of my life: I will give free course to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

10:2I will say unto +God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou strivest with me.

10:3Doth it please thee to oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thy hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

10:4Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?

10:5Are thy days as the days of a mortal? are thy years as a man's days,

10:6That thou searchest after mine iniquity, and inquirest into my sin;

10:7Since thou knowest that I am not wicked, and that there is none that delivereth out of thy hand?

10:8Thy hands have bound me together and made me as one, round about; yet dost thou swallow me up!

10:9Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as clay, and wilt bring me into dust again.

10:10Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

10:11Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews;

10:12Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy care hath preserved my spirit;

10:13And these things didst thou hide in thy heart; I know that this was with thee.

10:14If I sinned, thou wouldest mark me, and thou wouldest not acquit me of mine iniquity.

10:15If I were wicked, woe unto me! and righteous, I will not lift up my head, being so full of shame, and beholding mine affliction; --

10:16And it increaseth: thou huntest me as a fierce lion; and ever again thou shewest thy marvellous power upon me.

10:17Thou renewest thy witnesses before me and increasest thy displeasure against me; successions of evil and a time of toil are with me.

10:18And wherefore didst thou bring me forth out of the womb? I had expired, and no eye had seen me.

10:19I should be as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

10:20Are not my days few? cease then and let me alone, that I may revive a little,

10:21Before I go, and never to return, -- to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;

10:22A land of gloom, as darkness itself; of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as thick darkness.