Study Desk

And the Adversary answereth Jehovah and saith, `A skin for a skin, and all that a man hath he doth give for his life.

Yet, put forth, I pray Thee, Thy hand, and strike unto his bone and unto his flesh -- if not: unto Thy face he doth bless Thee!'

And Jehovah saith unto the Adversary, `Lo, he [is] in thy hand; only his life take care of.'

And the Adversary goeth forth from the presence of Jehovah, and smiteth Job with a sore ulcer from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

And his wife saith to him, `Still thou art keeping hold on thine integrity: bless God and die.'

And he saith unto her, `As one of the foolish women speaketh, thou speakest; yea, the good we receive from God, and the evil we do not receive.' In all this Job hath not sinned with his lips.

And three of the friends of Job hear of all this evil that hath come upon him, and they come in each from his place -- Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite -- and they are met together to come in to bemoan him, and to comfort him;

and they lift up their eyes from afar and have not discerned him, and they lift up their voice and weep, and rend each his robe, and sprinkle dust on their heads -- heavenward.

After this hath Job opened his mouth, and revileth his day.

Small and great [are] there the same. And a servant [is] free from his lord.

From the breath of God they perish, And from the spirit of His anger consumed.

`Is mortal man than God more righteous? Than his Maker is a man cleaner?

Lo, in His servants He putteth no credence, Nor in His messengers setteth praise.'

I -- I have seen the perverse taking root, And I mark his habitation straightway,

Far are his sons from safety, And they are bruised in the gate, And there is no deliverer.

For He doth pain, and He bindeth up, He smiteth, and His hands heal.

Brayeth a wild ass over tender grass? Loweth an ox over his provender?

That God would please -- and bruise me, Loose His hand and cut me off!

To a despiser of his friends [is] shame, And the fear of the Mighty he forsaketh.

Is there not a warfare to man on earth? And as the days of an hireling his days?