Job 33:6–19

¹⁹How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

¹FOR we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

⁹Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?

²⁰Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

¹⁶And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.

⁷And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

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.

²And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?

¹²Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.

²²In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.

³Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!

⁴I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.

³⁵Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.

³²For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment.

³³Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.

³⁴Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me:

³⁵Then would I speak, and not fear him; but it is not so with me.

³Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.

²¹Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.

³⁴Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me:

⁴For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

¹⁶Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.

¹⁴Then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;

²³Because they have committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, saith the Lord.

⁷Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.

¹⁷Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.

⁴For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes.

²¹Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.

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.

¹⁸Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.

²³How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.

⁸Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.

¹¹My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.

¹²Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

⁵God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.

⁶My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

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

²³If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.

²⁸I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.

²⁴Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?

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

¹¹He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.

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.

¹⁶For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?

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

²¹Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.

³⁵Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.

⁵For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment.

³⁰If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;

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

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.

⁴Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?

²⁴Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

³⁵And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

²Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord.

¹⁶For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?

¹⁸Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:

²⁵¶ Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

⁵Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any: he is mighty in strength and wisdom.

²⁰For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

⁶O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

²²In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

¹⁴Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?

¹⁷I said, I will answer also my part, I also will shew mine opinion.

¹⁰Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.

¹¹For the work of a man shall he render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways.

¹²Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment.

¹⁷Shall even he that hateth right govern? and wilt thou condemn him that is most just?

¹⁸Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked? and to princes, Ye are ungodly?

¹⁹How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? for they all are the work of his hands.

²³For he will not lay upon man more than right; that he should enter into judgment with God.

²Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s?

⁴I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee.

²²Behold, God exalteth by his power: who teacheth like him?

²³Who hath enjoined him his way? or who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity?

²Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.

⁸Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

⁹Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?

⁴He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?

¹⁹Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

²⁰Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

²¹Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

²Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.

⁹Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?

³⁵And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

³⁴For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counseller?

²²Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?

⁷And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

³⁹But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.

⁴And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

⁵And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

²⁹The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

¹⁴Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it.

¹⁰Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

²⁴I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the Lord.

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:

¹⁴How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him?

¹⁵Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?

¹¹God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.

²⁴¶ Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

¹⁰And the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.

¹¹God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.

²⁹Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man,

²⁵Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:

¹⁹And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

⁹¶ And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

¹⁴And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

¹⁷And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?

¹⁸Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

²⁹For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord:

⁵Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.

⁶And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.

¹³In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,

³But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.

²⁴And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

⁵I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.

¹⁸Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright.

²⁸The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord.

¹²And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

¹GOD, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

¹⁰He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity.

¹⁵He delivereth the poor in his affliction, and openeth their ears in oppression.

⁶Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.

⁵¶ The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

¹⁴¶ And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

¹⁰Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

⁴⁵Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

²⁷For thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.

⁸Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.

³⁸And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.

²⁸When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain.

¹¹The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

¹⁰Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

²⁵But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

⁷And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

⁶And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.

¹¹My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.

¹⁹¶ When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.

²And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

³And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

⁴And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

⁵And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

⁶And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

³⁰The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?

³¹While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.

³²And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

³³The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.

³⁴And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:

³⁵And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

³⁶At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellers and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me.

³⁷Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

¹⁶Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;

⁶¶ Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.

⁹The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.

²⁸He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.

³⁰To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.

⁹The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

⁴Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

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

²²Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers.

²⁴Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.

¹⁵And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

²⁷And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.

²⁸But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.

²⁹Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,

³⁰And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

³¹And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

³²And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

³³And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

¹⁷My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.

¹⁷Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:

¹⁸For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.

³²But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

⁷¹It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

¹²Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law;

¹⁰Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.

¹²And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.

⁵Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.

⁹By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.

¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?

¹³Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?

¹¹His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.

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.

⁶⁷Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.

¹O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.

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.

¹⁹As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.