Job 40:1–5

¹THEN the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

⁶¶ Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

¹⁶For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

¹⁴With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?

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

³⁵Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?

³⁶For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

¹³Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters.

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?

¹⁰Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?

¹¹Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.

⁸He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.

¹¹And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,

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?

²²What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

²³And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

²What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?

²As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;

³If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.

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

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?

⁴Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?

⁵Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man’s days,

⁶That thou inquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?

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

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

²²Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.

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

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?

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.

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

¹⁷My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.

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.

¹⁰He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.

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

²⁰Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;

²³Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?

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

¹⁸He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness.

¹⁰That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.

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.

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.

¹⁵I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust.

¹⁶My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death;

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

¹⁸O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.

¹⁹Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.

²⁰My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.

²¹O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!

¹¹Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

¹²Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?

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

¹²Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?

¹⁹How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?

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.

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.

³²If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth.

⁹The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.

⁵Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.

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

⁶And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.

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

¹⁹And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?

¹⁵This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

¹⁰I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.

⁵¶ Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

¹⁸I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,

¹⁹And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

¹³And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

⁸When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

¹⁶¶ The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.

⁹I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.

¹³Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.

⁴¶ But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

¹⁰¶ And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

⁵We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:

⁷O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.

¹⁵O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.

²⁰But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

⁶All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

⁶But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

²¹O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!

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

⁵I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.

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

⁷There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.

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

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

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.

³³Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:

⁴Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

⁵Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

¹⁴For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.

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

¹⁵Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.

³If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.

¹⁰And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice.

¹⁸¶ I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God.

¹⁹Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.

³¹Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more:

³²That which I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.

¹⁹Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.