Job 30:17–23

¹³I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

¹⁹He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain:

²⁰So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.

²¹His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones that were not seen stick out.

⁴When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.

²O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.

²Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak: O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed.

³My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O Lord, how long?

⁴Return, O Lord, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake.

⁵For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

⁶I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.

²For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.

³There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.

⁴For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

⁵My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.

⁶I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.

⁷For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh.

⁸I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.

²⁰My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

⁷¶ So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.

⁵¶ Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

⁶From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

⁵My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.

³¹Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.

²⁷And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:

⁶Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

¹⁴Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

⁶Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.

¹SAVE me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.

²I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

⁸And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.

⁷Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

⁸Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.

²O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.

⁴O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?

⁵Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.

⁹Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?

⁴⁴Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.

²³But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.

¹⁴If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.

¹⁵If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;

¹⁶For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.

¹⁷Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.

⁹He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.

¹⁰They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.

¹¹God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.

¹²I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.

¹³His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.

¹⁴He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant.

⁶Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

³Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

⁶Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.

⁷Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

⁸He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.

⁹He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

¹⁴All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.

²⁵Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?

²⁶For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.

²⁷Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.

²⁸And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.

²²Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

⁶Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.

⁹Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

²⁰I 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?

²¹And 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 shall not be.

⁷Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?

⁸Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?

⁹Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

¹³Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.

²¹The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.

⁴The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

²Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.

³Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

¹⁹The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

¹³The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

¹¹At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,

¹²Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them.

¹⁸They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.

¹⁷For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.

³Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:

¹⁰And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.

⁵Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:

⁶Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

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.

⁵For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

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

¹⁴For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

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.

⁵Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;

³³The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.

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

²²This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.

⁸Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.