Study Desk

"He provides them with security, and they are supported; And His eyes are on their ways.

"They are exalted a little while, then they are gone; Moreover, they are brought low, and like everything they are gathered up; Like the heads of grain they wither.

Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword; And his descendants will not be satisfied with bread.

"He sinks a shaft away from inhabited areas, Forgotten by the foot; They hang and swing, away from people.

"To me they listened and waited, And they kept silent for my advice.

"After my words they did not speak again, And my speech dropped on them.

"They waited for me as for the rain, And opened their mouths as for the late rain.

"I smiled at them when they did not believe, And they did not look at my kindness ungraciously.

"From poverty and famine they are gaunt, They who gnaw at the dry ground by night in waste and desolation,

So that they live on the slopes of ravines, In holes in the ground and among the rocks.

"They loathe me and stand aloof from me, And they do not refrain from spitting in my face.

"Because He has undone my bowstring and afflicted me, They have cast off the bridle before me.

"On the right hand their mob arises; They push aside my feet and pile up their ways of destruction against me.

"Sudden terrors are turned upon me; They chase away my dignity like the wind, And my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

And his anger burned against his three friends because they had found no answer, yet they had condemned Job.

"Should I wait, because they are not speaking, Because they have stopped and no longer answer?

"In a moment they die, and at midnight People are shaken and pass away, And the powerful are taken away without a hand.

"Therefore He knows their deeds, And He overthrows them in the night, And they are crushed.

Because they turned aside from following Him, And had no regard for any of His ways,

So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him, And that He would hear the cry of the afflicted—