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. Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? Or loweth the ox over his fodder? Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? The things that my soul refused to touch Are as my sorrowful meat. Oh that I might have my request; And that God would grant me the thing that I long for! Even that it would please God to destroy me; That he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! 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. And what is mine end, that I should prolong my Is not my help in me? And is wisdom driven quite from me? life? To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend; But he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. What time they wax warm, they vanish: When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. The troops of Tema looked, The companies of Sheba waited for them. They were confounded because they had hoped; They came thither, and were ashamed. For now ye are nothing; Ye see my casting down, and are afraid. Did I say, Bring unto me? Or, Give a reward for me of your substance? Or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty? Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: And cause me to understand wherein I have erred. How forcible are right words! But what doth your arguing reprove? Do ye imagine to reprove words, And the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind? Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, And ye dig a pit for your friend. Now therefore be content, look upon me; Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; Cannot my taste discern perverse things? Is There not an appointed time to man upon So am I made to possess months of vanity, And I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day. My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; O remember that my life is wind: Mine eye shall no more see good. The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: So he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. He shall return no more to his house, Neither shall his place know him any more. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. That thou settest a watch over me? When I say, My bed shall comfort me, I loathe it; I would not live alway: Let me alone; for my days are vanity. What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? And that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, And try him every moment? How long wilt thou not depart from me, Nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? 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? And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, And take away mine iniquity? For now shall I sleep in the dust; And thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, Doth God pervert judgment? Or doth the Almighty pervert justice? If thy children have sinned against him, And he have cast them away for their transgression; If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, Surely now he would awake for thee, And make the habitation of thy righteousness pro sperous. Though thy beginning was small, Yet thy latter end should greatly increase. |