Job 4:2–6

¹⁸For I am full of matter, the spirit within me constraineth me.

¹⁹Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles.

²⁰I will speak, that I may be refreshed: I will open my lips and answer.

²⁰For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

¹¹Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.

⁴For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.

⁵But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.

⁶Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.

⁸For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.

⁹Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.

¹⁰For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

⁹Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.

³¶ Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.

¹²Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

⁵But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief.

³²But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

²¹The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.

²⁸But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see.

²⁹Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

⁴³And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

²²Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:

¹⁹For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

⁴The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.

⁷The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish doeth not so.

²¹The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.

⁶Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

²²And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the Lord had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

¹⁴Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.

¹²Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

¹⁸There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.

¹⁴The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.

⁷So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.

⁶Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus;

⁶Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.

³¶ Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.

⁴Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.

²³The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips.

²⁴Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

²¹Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.

¹⁶For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

¹THEREFORE seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;

³For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

⁵And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

¹¹But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.

⁵But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.

²⁵For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

²⁶I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.

¹⁴To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁰If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

²⁶For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.

²⁶In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.

¹THERE was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

¹⁵And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?

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.

¹⁵Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

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

¹³Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

³I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

¹²Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.

¹³The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

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

¹⁵I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.

¹⁷And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.

¹⁷And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:

⁸And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

⁹Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?

¹⁰Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

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.

¹I MADE a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?

²For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?

³Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?

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

⁵If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;

⁶Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.

⁷If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;

⁸Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.

⁹If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door;

¹⁰Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

¹¹For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.

¹²For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.

¹³If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;

¹⁴What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?

¹⁵Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

¹⁷Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;

¹⁸(For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother’s womb;)

¹⁹If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;

²⁰If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

²¹If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:

²²Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

²³For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.

²⁴If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;

²⁵If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;

²⁶If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;

²⁷And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:

²⁸This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.

²⁹If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:

³⁰Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.

³¹If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.

³²The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.

³³If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:

³⁴Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?

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

³⁶Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.

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

³⁸If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;

³⁹If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:

⁴⁰Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.