X. 1909-14. The Book of Job. The Harvard Classics

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The Book of Job.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.


[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 say unto God, Do not condemn me; Show me wherefore thou contendest with me.
[3]	Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, That thou shouldest despise the work 1 of thy hands, And shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
[4]	Hast thou eyes of flesh? Or seest thou as man seeth?
[5]	Are thy days as the days of man, Or thy years as man’s days,
[6]	That thou inquirest after mine iniquity, And searchest after my sin,
[7]	Although thou knowest that I am not wicked, And there is none that can deliver out of thy hand?

[8]	Thy hands have framed me and fashioned me Together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
[9]	Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast fashioned me as clay; And wilt thou bring me into dust again?
[10]	Hast thou not poured me out as milk, And curdled me like cheese?
[11]	Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews.
[12]	Thou hast granted me life and lovingkindness; And thy visitation 2 hath preserved my spirit.
[13]	Yet these things thou didst hide in thy heart; I know that this is with thee:
[14]	If I sin, then thou markest me, And thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.
[15]	If I be wicked, woe unto me; And if I be righteous, yet shall I not lift up my head Being 3 filled with ignominy, And looking upon mine affliction.
[16]	And if my head exalt itself, thou huntest me as a lion; And again thou showest thyself marvellous upon me.
[17]	Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, And increasest thine indignation upon me: Changes 4 and warfare are with me.

[18]	Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? I had given up the ghost, 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]	Are not my days few? cease 5 then, And let me alone, that I may take 6 comfort a little,
[21]	Before I go whence I shall not return, Even to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
[22]	The land dark as midnight, 7 The land of the shadow of death, without any order, And where the light is as midnight. 8

Note 1. Heb. labor. [back]

Note 2. Or, care. [back]

Note 3. Or, I am filled with ignominy, but look thou … for it increaseth: thou &c. [back]

Note 4. Or, Host after host is against me. [back]

Note 5. Another reading is, let him cease, and leave me alone. [back]

Note 6. Heb. brighten up. [back]

Note 7. Heb. thick darkness. [back]

Note 8. Heb. thick darkness. [back]

CONTENTS · BOOK CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

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