Bible Topics for Kids
JOB, 1. A man who lived in Uz
Job 3:1-26
1. After this JOB opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.
2. JOB answered:
3. "Let the day perish in which I was born,the night which said, 'There is a boy conceived.'
4. Let that day be darkness.Don't let God from above seek for it,neither let the light shine on it.
5. Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own.Let a cloud dwell on it.Let all that makes black the day terrify it.
6. As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it.Let it not rejoice among the days of the year.Let it not come into the number of the months.
7. Behold, let that night be barren.Let no joyful voice come therein.
8. Let them curse it who curse the day,who are ready to rouse up leviathan.
9. Let the stars of its twilight be dark.Let it look for light, but have none,neither let it see the eyelids of the morning,
10. because it didn't shut up the doors of my mother's womb,nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.
11. "Why didn't I die from the womb?Why didn't I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?
12. Why did the knees receive me?Or why the breast, that I should nurse?
13. For now should I have lain down and been quiet.I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,
14. with kings and counselors of the earth,who built up waste places for themselves;
15. or with princes who had gold,who filled their houses with silver:
16. or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been,as infants who never saw light.
17. There the wicked cease from troubling.There the weary are at rest.
18. There the prisoners are at ease together.They don't hear the voice of the taskmaster.
19. The small and the great are there.The servant is free from his master.
20. "Why is light given to him who is in misery,life to the bitter in soul,
21. Who long for death, but it doesn't come;and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
22. who rejoice exceedingly,and are glad, when they can find the grave?
23. Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,whom God has hedged in?
24. For my sighing comes before I eat.My groanings are poured out like water.
25. For the thing which I fear comes on me,That which I am afraid of comes to me.
26. I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest;but trouble comes."
Job 4:1-21
1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
2. "If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved?But who can withhold himself from speaking?
3. Behold, you have instructed many,you have strengthened the weak hands.
4. Your words have supported him who was falling,You have made firm the feeble knees.
5. But now it has come to you, and you faint.It touches you, and you are troubled.
6. Isn't your piety your confidence?Isn't the integrity of your ways your hope?
7. "Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent?Or where were the upright cut off?
8. According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity,and sow trouble,reap the same.
9. By the breath of God they perish.By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
10. The roaring of the lion,and the voice of the fierce lion,the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
11. The old lion perishes for lack of prey.The cubs of the lioness are scattered abroad.
12. "Now a thing was secretly brought to me.My ear received a whisper of it.
13. In thoughts from the visions of the night,when deep sleep falls on men,
14. fear came on me, and trembling,which made all my bones shake.
15. Then a spirit passed before my face.The hair of my flesh stood up.
16. It stood still, but I couldn't discern its appearance.A form was before my eyes.Silence, then I heard a voice, saying,
17. 'Shall mortal man be more just than God?Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
18. Behold, he puts no trust in his servants.He charges his angels with error.
19. How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay,whose foundation is in the dust,who are crushed before the moth!
20. Between morning and evening they are destroyed.They perish forever without any regarding it.
21. Isn't their tent cord plucked up within them?They die, and that without wisdom.'
Job 5:1-27
1. "Call now; is there any who will answer you?To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2. For resentment kills the foolish man,and jealousy kills the simple.
3. I have seen the foolish taking root,but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
4. His children are far from safety.They are crushed in the gate.Neither is there any to deliver them,
5. whose harvest the hungry eats up,and take it even out of the thorns.The snare gapes for their substance.
6. For affliction doesn't come out of the dust,neither does trouble spring out of the ground;
7. but man is born to trouble,as the sparks fly upward.
8. "But as for me, I would seek God.I would commit my cause to God,
9. who does great things that can't be fathomed,marvelous things without number;
10. who gives rain on the earth,and sends waters on the fields;
11. so that he sets up on high those who are low,those who mourn are exalted to safety.
12. He frustrates the devices of the crafty,So that their hands can't perform their enterprise.
13. He takes the wise in their own craftiness;the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.
14. They meet with darkness in the day time,and grope at noonday as in the night.
15. But he saves from the sword of their mouth,even the needy from the hand of the mighty.
16. So the poor has hope,and injustice shuts her mouth.
17. "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects.Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.
18. For he wounds, and binds up.He injures, and his hands make whole.
19. He will deliver you in six troubles;yes, in seven no evil shall touch you.
20. In famine he will redeem you from death;in war, from the power of the sword.
21. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue,neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.
22. At destruction and famine you shall laugh,neither shall you be afraid of the animals of the earth.
23. For you shall be allied with the stones of the field.The animals of the field shall be at peace with you.
24. You shall know that your tent is in peace.You shall visit your fold, and shall miss nothing.
25. You shall know also that your offspring shall be great,Your offspring as the grass of the earth.
26. You shall come to your grave in a full age,like a shock of grain comes in its season.
27. Look this, we have searched it, so it is.Hear it, and know it for your good."
Job 6:1-30
1. Then JOB answered,
2. "Oh that my anguish were weighed,and all my calamity laid in the balances!
3. For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas,therefore have my words been rash.
4. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me.My spirit drinks up their poison.The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
5. Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass?Or does the ox low over his fodder?
6. Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt?Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
7. My soul refuses to touch them.They are as loathsome food to me.
8. "Oh that I might have my request,that God would grant the thing that I long for,
9. even that it would please God to crush me;that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
10. Be it still my consolation,yes, let me exult in pain that doesn't spare,that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
11. What is my strength, that I should wait?What is my end, that I should be patient?
12. Is my strength the strength of stones?Or is my flesh of brass?
13. Isn't it that I have no help in me,That wisdom is driven quite from me?
14. "To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend;even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
15. My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook,as the channel of brooks that pass away;
16. Which are black by reason of the ice,in which the snow hides itself.
17. In the dry season, they vanish.When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.
18. The caravans that travel beside them turn aside.They go up into the waste, and perish.
19. The caravans of Tema looked.The companies of Sheba waited for them.
20. They were distressed because they were confident.They came there, and were confounded.
21. For now you are nothing.You see a terror, and are afraid.
22. Did I say, 'Give to me?'or, 'Offer a present for me from your substance?'
23. or, 'Deliver me from the adversary's hand?'or, 'Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?'
24. "Teach me, and I will hold my peace.Cause me to understand wherein I have erred.
25. How forcible are words of uprightness!But your reproof, what does it reprove?
26. Do you intend to reprove words,since the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind?
27. Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless,and make merchandise of your friend.
28. Now therefore be pleased to look at me,for surely I shall not lie to your face.
29. Please return.Let there be no injustice.Yes, return again.My cause is righteous.
30. Is there injustice on my tongue?Can't my taste discern mischievous things?
Job 7:1-21
1. "Isn't a man forced to labor on earth?Aren't his days like the days of a hired hand?
2. As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow,as a hireling who looks for his wages,
3. so am I made to possess months of misery,wearisome nights are appointed to me.
4. When I lie down, I say,'When shall I arise, and the night be gone?'I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.
5. My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust.My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.
6. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle,and are spent without hope.
7. Oh remember that my life is a breath.My eye shall no more see good.
8. The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more.Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be.
9. As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away,so he who goes down to Sheol shall come up no more.
10. He shall return no more to his house,neither shall his place know him any more.
11. "Therefore I will not keep silent.I will speak in the anguish of my spirit.I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12. Am I a sea, or a sea monster,that you put a guard over me?
13. When I say, 'My bed shall comfort me.My couch shall ease my complaint;'
14. then you scare me with dreams,and terrify me through visions:
15. so that my soul chooses strangling,death rather than my bones.
16. I loathe my life.I don't want to live forever.Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
17. What is man, that you should magnify him,that you should set your mind on him,
18. that you should visit him every morning,and test him every moment?
19. How long will you not look away from me,nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?
20. If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men?Why have you set me as a mark for you,so that I am a burden to myself?
21. Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity?For now shall I lie down in the dust.You will seek me diligently, but I shall not be."
Job 8:1-22
1. Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,
2. "How long will you speak these things?Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?
3. Does God pervert justice?Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?
4. If your children have sinned against him,He has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience.
5. If you want to seek God diligently,make your supplication to the Almighty.
6. If you were pure and upright,surely now he would awaken for you,and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.
7. Though your beginning was small,yet your latter end would greatly increase.
8. "Please inquire of past generations.Find out about the learning of their fathers.
9. (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing,because our days on earth are a shadow.)
10. Shall they not teach you, tell you,and utter words out of their heart?
11. "Can the papyrus grow up without mire?Can the rushes grow without water?
12. While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down,it withers before any other reed.
13. So are the paths of all who forget God.The hope of the godless man shall perish,
14. Whose confidence shall break apart,Whose trust is a spider's web.
15. He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand.He shall cling to it, but it shall not endure.
16. He is green before the sun.His shoots go out along his garden.
17. His roots are wrapped around the rock pile.He sees the place of stones.
18. If he is destroyed from his place,then it shall deny him, saying, 'I have not seen you.'
19. Behold, this is the joy of his way:out of the earth, others shall spring.
20. "Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man,neither will he uphold the evildoers.
21. He will still fill your mouth with laughter,your lips with shouting.
22. Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame.The tent of the wicked shall be no more."
Job 9:1-35
1. Then JOB answered,
2. "Truly I know that it is so,but how can man be just with God?
3. If he is pleased to contend with him,he can't answer him one time in a thousand.
4. God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength:who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?
5. He removes the mountains, and they don't know it,when he overturns them in his anger.
6. He shakes the earth out of its place.Its pillars tremble.
7. He commands the sun, and it doesn't rise,and seals up the stars.
8. He alone stretches out the heavens,and treads on the waves of the sea.
9. He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,and the rooms of the south.
10. He does great things past finding out;yes, marvelous things without number.
11. Behold, he goes by me, and I don't see him.He passes on also, but I don't perceive him.
12. Behold, he snatches away.Who can hinder him?Who will ask him, 'What are you doing?'
13. "God will not withdraw his anger.The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.
14. How much less shall I answer him,And choose my words to argue with him?
15. Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn't answer him.I would make supplication to my judge.
16. If I had called, and he had answered me,yet I wouldn't believe that he listened to my voice.
17. For he breaks me with a storm,and multiplies my wounds without cause.
18. He will not allow me to catch my breath,but fills me with bitterness.
19. If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty!If of justice, 'Who,' says he, 'will summon me?'
20. Though I am righteous, my own mouth shall condemn me.Though I am blameless, it shall prove me perverse.
21. I am blameless.I don't respect myself.I despise my life.
22. "It is all the same.Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.
23. If the scourge kills suddenly,he will mock at the trial of the innocent.
24. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked.He covers the faces of its judges.If not he, then who is it?
25. "Now my days are swifter than a runner.They flee away, they see no good.
26. They have passed away as the swift ships,as the eagle that swoops on the prey.
27. If I say, 'I will forget my complaint,I will put off my sad face, and cheer up;'
28. I am afraid of all my sorrows,I know that you will not hold me innocent.
29. I shall be condemned.Why then do I labor in vain?
30. If I wash myself with snow,and cleanse my hands with lye,
31. yet you will plunge me in the ditch.My own clothes shall abhor me.
32. For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him,that we should come together in judgment.
33. There is no umpire between us,that might lay his hand on us both.
34. Let him take his rod away from me.Let his terror not make me afraid;
35. then I would speak, and not fear him,for I am not so in myself.
Job 10:1-22
1. "My soul is weary of my life.I will give free course to my complaint.I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2. I will tell God, 'Do not condemn me.Show me why you contend with me.
3. Is it good to you that you should oppress,that you should despise the work of your hands,and smile on the counsel of the wicked?
4. Do you have eyes of flesh?Or do you see as man sees?
5. Are your days as the days of mortals,or your years as man's years,
6. that you inquire after my iniquity,and search after my sin?
7. Although you know that I am not wicked,there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.
8. "'Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether,yet you destroy me.
9. Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay.Will you bring me into dust again?
10. Haven't you poured me out like milk,and curdled me like cheese?
11. You have clothed me with skin and flesh,and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12. You have granted me life and loving kindness.Your visitation has preserved my spirit.
13. Yet you hid these things in your heart.I know that this is with you:
14. if I sin, then you mark me.You will not acquit me from my iniquity.
15. If I am wicked, woe to me.If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head,being filled with disgrace,and conscious of my affliction.
16. If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion.Again you show yourself powerful to me.
17. You renew your witnesses against me,and increase your indignation on me.Changes and warfare are with me.
18. "'Why, then, have you brought me out of the womb?I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.
19. I should have been as though I had not been.I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20. Aren't my days few?Cease then.Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,
21. before I go where I shall not return from,to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
22. the land dark as midnight,of the shadow of death,without any order,where the light is as midnight.'"
Job 11:1-20
1. Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered,
2. "Shouldn't the multitude of words be answered?Should a man full of talk be justified?
3. Should your boastings make men hold their peace?When you mock, shall no man make you ashamed?
4. For you say, 'My doctrine is pure.I am clean in your eyes.'
5. But oh that God would speak,and open his lips against you,
6. that he would show you the secrets of wisdom!For true wisdom has two sides.Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.
7. "Can you fathom the mystery of God?Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
8. They are high as heaven. What can you do?They are deeper than Sheol. What can you know?
9. Its measure is longer than the earth,and broader than the sea.
10. If he passes by, or confines,or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?
11. For he knows false men.He sees iniquity also, even though he doesn't consider it.
12. An empty-headed man becomes wisewhen a man is born as a wild donkey's colt.
13. "If you set your heart aright,stretch out your hands toward him.
14. If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away.Don't let unrighteousness dwell in your tents.
15. Surely then you shall lift up your face without spot;Yes, you shall be steadfast, and shall not fear:
16. for you shall forget your misery.You shall remember it like waters that have passed away.
17. Life shall be clearer than the noonday.Though there is darkness, it shall be as the morning.
18. You shall be secure, because there is hope.Yes, you shall search, and shall take your rest in safety.
19. Also you shall lie down, and no one shall make you afraid.Yes, many shall court your favor.
20. But the eyes of the wicked shall fail.They shall have no way to flee.Their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit."
Job 12:1-25
1. Then JOB answered,
2. "No doubt, but you are the people,and wisdom shall die with you.
3. But I have understanding as well as you;I am not inferior to you.Yes, who doesn't know such things as these?
4. I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor,I, who called on God, and he answered.The just, the blameless man is a joke.
5. In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune.It is ready for them whose foot slips.
6. The tents of robbers prosper.Those who provoke God are secure,who carry their God in their hands.
7. "But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you;the birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.
8. Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you.The fish of the sea shall declare to you.
9. Who doesn't know that in all these,The LORD's hand has done this,
10. in whose hand is the life of every living thing,and the breath of all mankind?
11. Doesn't the ear try words,even as the palate tastes its food?
12. With aged men is wisdom,in length of days understanding.
13. "With God is wisdom and might.He has counsel and understanding.
14. Behold, he breaks down, and it can't be built again.He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
15. Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up.Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
16. With him is strength and wisdom.The deceived and the deceiver are his.
17. He leads counselors away stripped.He makes judges fools.
18. He loosens the bond of kings.He binds their waist with a belt.
19. He leads priests away stripped,and overthrows the mighty.
20. He removes the speech of those who are trusted,and takes away the understanding of the elders.
21. He pours contempt on princes,and loosens the belt of the strong.
22. He uncovers deep things out of darkness,and brings out to light the shadow of death.
23. He increases the nations, and he destroys them.He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.
24. He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth,and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
25. They grope in the dark without light.He makes them stagger like a drunken man.
Job 13:1-28
1. "Behold, my eye has seen all this.My ear has heard and understood it.
2. What you know, I know also.I am not inferior to you.
3. "Surely I would speak to the Almighty.I desire to reason with God.
4. But you are forgers of lies.You are all physicians of no value.
5. Oh that you would be completely silent!Then you would be wise.
6. Hear now my reasoning.Listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7. Will you speak unrighteously for God,and talk deceitfully for him?
8. Will you show partiality to him?Will you contend for God?
9. Is it good that he should search you out?Or as one deceives a man, will you deceive him?
10. He will surely reprove you,if you secretly show partiality.
11. Shall not his majesty make you afraid,And his dread fall on you?
12. Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes,Your defenses are defenses of clay.
13. "Be silent, leave me alone, that I may speak.Let come on me what will.
14. Why should I take my flesh in my teeth,and put my life in my hand?
15. Behold, he will kill me.I have no hope.Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.
16. This also shall be my salvation,that a godless man shall not come before him.
17. Hear diligently my speech.Let my declaration be in your ears.
18. See now, I have set my cause in order.I know that I am righteous.
19. Who is he who will contend with me?For then would I hold my peace and give up the spirit.
20. "Only don't do two things to me;then I will not hide myself from your face:
21. withdraw your hand far from me;and don't let your terror make me afraid.
22. Then call, and I will answer;or let me speak, and you answer me.
23. How many are my iniquities and sins?Make me know my disobedience and my sin.
24. Why hide you your face,and hold me for your enemy?
25. Will you harass a driven leaf?Will you pursue the dry stubble?
26. For you write bitter things against me,and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth:
27. You also put my feet in the stocks,and mark all my paths.You set a bound to the soles of my feet,
28. though I am decaying like a rotten thing,like a garment that is moth-eaten.
Job 14:1-22
1. "Man, who is born of a woman,is of few days, and full of trouble.
2. He grows up like a flower, and is cut down.He also flees like a shadow, and doesn't continue.
3. Do you open your eyes on such a one,and bring me into judgment with you?
4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?Not one.
5. Seeing his days are determined,the number of his months is with you,and you have appointed his bounds that he can't pass;
6. Look away from him, that he may rest,until he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day.
7. "For there is hope for a tree,If it is cut down, that it will sprout again,that the tender branch of it will not cease.
8. Though its root grows old in the earth,and its stock dies in the ground,
9. yet through the scent of water it will bud,and sprout boughs like a plant.
10. But man dies, and is laid low.Yes, man gives up the spirit, and where is he?
11. As the waters fail from the sea,and the river wastes and dries up,
12. so man lies down and doesn't rise.Until the heavens are no more, they shall not awake,nor be roused out of their sleep.
13. "Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,that you would keep me secret, until your wrath is past,that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14. If a man dies, shall he live again?All the days of my warfare would I wait,until my release should come.
15. You would call, and I would answer you.You would have a desire to the work of your hands.
16. But now you count my steps.Don't you watch over my sin?
17. My disobedience is sealed up in a bag.You fasten up my iniquity.
18. "But the mountain falling comes to nothing.The rock is removed out of its place;
19. The waters wear the stones.The torrents of it wash away the dust of the earth.So you destroy the hope of man.
20. You forever prevail against him, and he departs.You change his face, and send him away.
21. His sons come to honor, and he doesn't know it.They are brought low, but he doesn't perceive it of them.
22. But his flesh on him has pain,and his soul within him mourns."
Job 15:1-35
1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
2. "Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge,and fill himself with the east wind?
3. Should he reason with unprofitable talk,or with speeches with which he can do no good?
4. Yes, you do away with fear,and hinder devotion before God.
5. For your iniquity teaches your mouth,and you choose the language of the crafty.
6. Your own mouth condemns you, and not I.Yes, your own lips testify against you.
7. "Are you the first man who was born?Or were you brought out before the hills?
8. Have you heard the secret counsel of God?Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9. What do you know, that we don't know?What do you understand, which is not in us?
10. With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men,much elder than your father.
11. Are the consolations of God too small for you,even the word that is gentle toward you?
12. Why does your heart carry you away?Why do your eyes flash,
13. That you turn your spirit against God,and let such words go out of your mouth?
14. What is man, that he should be clean?What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15. Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones.Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight;
16. how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,a man who drinks iniquity like water!
17. "I will show you, listen to me;that which I have seen I will declare
18. (which wise men have told by their fathers,and have not hidden it;
19. to whom alone the land was given,and no stranger passed among them):
20. the wicked man writhes in pain all his days,even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
21. A sound of terrors is in his ears.In prosperity the destroyer shall come on him.
22. He doesn't believe that he shall return out of darkness.He is waited for by the sword.
23. He wanders abroad for bread, saying, 'Where is it?'He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
24. Distress and anguish make him afraid.They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
25. Because he has stretched out his hand against God,and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty;
26. he runs at him with a stiff neck,with the thick shields of his bucklers;
27. because he has covered his face with his fatness,and gathered fat on his thighs.
28. He has lived in desolate cities,in houses which no one inhabited,which were ready to become heaps.
29. He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue,neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.
30. He shall not depart out of darkness.The flame shall dry up his branches.By the breath of God's mouth shall he go away.
31. Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself;for emptiness shall be his reward.
32. It shall be accomplished before his time.His branch shall not be green.
33. He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine,and shall cast off his flower as the olive tree.
34. For the company of the godless shall be barren,and fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
35. They conceive mischief, and produce iniquity.Their heart prepares deceit."
Job 16:1-22
1. Then JOB answered,
2. "I have heard many such things.You are all miserable comforters!
3. Shall vain words have an end?Or what provokes you that you answer?
4. I also could speak as you do.If your soul were in my soul's place,I could join words together against you,and shake my head at you,
5. but I would strengthen you with my mouth.The solace of my lips would relieve you.
6. "Though I speak, my grief is not subsided.Though I forbear, what am I eased?
7. But now, God, you have surely worn me out.You have made desolate all my company.
8. You have shriveled me up. This is a witness against me.My leanness rises up against me.It testifies to my face.
9. He has torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me.He has gnashed on me with his teeth.My adversary sharpens his eyes on me.
10. They have gaped on me with their mouth.They have struck me on the cheek reproachfully.They gather themselves together against me.
11. God delivers me to the ungodly,and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12. I was at ease, and he broke me apart.Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces.He has also set me up for his target.
13. His archers surround me.He splits my kidneys apart, and does not spare.He pours out my gall on the ground.
14. He breaks me with breach on breach.He runs on me like a giant.
15. I have sewed sackcloth on my skin,and have thrust my horn in the dust.
16. My face is red with weeping.Deep darkness is on my eyelids.
17. Although there is no violence in my hands,and my prayer is pure.
18. "Earth, don't cover my blood.Let my cry have no place to rest.
19. Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven.He who vouches for me is on high.
20. My friends scoff at me.My eyes pour out tears to God,
21. that he would maintain the right of a man with God,of a son of man with his neighbor!
22. For when a few years have come,I shall go the way of no return.
Job 17:1-16
1. "My spirit is consumed.My days are extinct,And the grave is ready for me.
2. Surely there are mockers with me.My eye dwells on their provocation.
3. "Now give a pledge, be collateral for me with yourself.Who is there who will strike hands with me?
4. For you have hidden their heart from understanding,Therefore you shall not exalt them.
5. He who denounces his friends for plunder,Even the eyes of his children shall fail.
6. "But he has made me a byword of the people.They spit in my face.
7. My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow.All my members are as a shadow.
8. Upright men shall be astonished at this.The innocent shall stir up himself against the godless.
9. Yet shall the righteous hold on his way.He who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger.
10. But as for you all, come on now again;I shall not find a wise man among you.
11. My days are past, my plans are broken off,as are the thoughts of my heart.
12. They change the night into day,saying 'The light is near' in the presence of darkness.
13. If I look for Sheol as my house,if I have spread my couch in the darkness,
14. If I have said to corruption, 'You are my father;'to the worm, 'My mother,' and 'my sister;'
15. where then is my hope?as for my hope, who shall see it?
16. Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol,or descend together into the dust?"