Job 21:27–34

²²But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?

⁸⁶All thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me.

¹⁹For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

²⁰The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.

²¹A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.

²²He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.

²³He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

²⁴Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

²⁵For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.

²⁶He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:

²⁷Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.

²⁸And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.

²⁹He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.

³⁰He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.

³¹Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.

³²It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.

³³He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.

³⁴For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.

³⁵They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.

²⁹This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.

⁵That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

³Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.

⁸Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

⁹By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.

¹⁰The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.

¹¹The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.

⁷¶ And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.

³I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.

⁴His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.

⁵Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.

³Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?

⁴If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression;

⁵If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty;

⁶If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.

⁴They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold.

⁷Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

²²They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.

⁹¶ Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!

¹⁰Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul.

¹¹For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.

³His 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.

³⁷I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.

²⁶And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.

²⁷So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children.

²⁸And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind.

²⁹If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the Lord hath not sent me.

³⁰But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord.

³¹¶ And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them:

³²And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.

³³They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.

³⁴And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also.

³⁶Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.

⁵God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.

⁶The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:

⁴I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.

⁸Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord.

⁴The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

⁹The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

¹⁰But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.

¹¹Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.

¹²But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

¹³And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;

¹⁴Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:

¹⁵Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

¹⁶But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.

¹⁷These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.

⁷But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

²⁸The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

⁵But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

¹³Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

²God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.

⁴Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.

⁵The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.

¹⁷For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

¹⁵That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,

¹⁰And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.

¹¹But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.

¹⁹Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

¹⁹And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.

²⁰And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord.

²¹Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel,

²²And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin.

²³And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.

²⁴Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.

⁷¶ And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

⁸And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.

⁹Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

¹⁰Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

¹¹Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.

¹²For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.

²⁵And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.

¹³In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

¹³For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

³³Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.

³⁴Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.

³⁵Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.

¹⁹God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.

¹¹Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.

¹⁸For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.

²¹These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.

²²And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

²¹The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword.

²²Asshur is there and all her company: his graves are about him: all of them slain, fallen by the sword:

²³Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company is round about her grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living.

²⁴There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit.

²⁵They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword: though their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of them that be slain.

²⁶There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living.

²⁷And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

²⁸Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword.

²⁹There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit.

³⁰There be the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit.

³¹Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord God.

³²For I have caused my terror in the land of the living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.

¹⁴Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.

²⁷And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

²⁴They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.

²³For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

⁴One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

⁷Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

⁸There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

¹⁹In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

¹⁶They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

¹⁷There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.

¹⁸There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

¹⁹The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.

²²Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?

²I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.

⁴But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.

³Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.

⁷¶ And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.