Job, starting at chapter 16 {16:1} Then Job answered, {16:2} "I have heard many such things. You are all miserable comforters! {16:3} Shall vain words have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer? {16:4} 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, {16:5} but I would strengthen you with my mouth. The solace of my lips would relieve you. {16:6} "Though I speak, my grief is not subsided. Though I forbear, what am I eased? {16:7} But now, God, you have surely worn me out. You have made desolate all my company. {16:8} You have shriveled me up. This is a witness against me. My leanness rises up against me. It testifies to my face. {16:9} 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. {16:10} They have gaped on me with their mouth. They have struck me on the cheek reproachfully. They gather themselves together against me. {16:11} God delivers me to the ungodly, and casts me into the hands of the wicked. {16:12} 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. {16:13} His archers surround me. He splits my kidneys apart, and does not spare. He pours out my gall on the ground. {16:14} He breaks me with breach on breach. He runs on me like a giant. {16:15} I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and have thrust my horn in the dust. {16:16} My face is red with weeping. Deep darkness is on my eyelids. {16:17} Although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure. {16:18} "Earth, don't cover my blood. Let my cry have no place to rest. {16:19} Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven. He who vouches for me is on high. {16:20} My friends scoff at me. My eyes pour out tears to God, {16:21} that he would maintain the right of a man with God, of a son of man with his neighbor! {16:22} For when a few years have come, I shall go the way of no return. {17:1} "My spirit is consumed. My days are extinct, And the grave is ready for me. {17:2} Surely there are mockers with me. My eye dwells on their provocation. {17:3} "Now give a pledge, be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me? {17:4} For you have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore you shall not exalt them. {17:5} He who denounces his friends for a prey, Even the eyes of his children shall fail. {17:6} "But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face. {17:7} My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. All my members are as a shadow. {17:8} Upright men shall be astonished at this. The innocent shall stir up himself against the godless. {17:9} Yet shall the righteous hold on his way. He who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger. {17:10} But as for you all, come on now again; I shall not find a wise man among you. {17:11} My days are past, my plans are broken off, as are the thoughts of my heart. {17:12} They change the night into day, saying 'The light is near' in the presence of darkness. {17:13} If I look for [1>]Sheol[<1] as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness, {17:14} If I have said to corruption, 'You are my father;' to the worm, 'My mother,' and 'my sister;' {17:15} where then is my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it? {17:16} Shall it go down with me to the gates of [2>]Sheol[<2], or descend together into the dust?"
{18:1} Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, {18:2} "How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and afterwards we will speak. {18:3} Why are we counted as animals, which have become unclean in your sight? {18:4} You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed out of its place? {18:5} "Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, The spark of his fire shall not shine. {18:6} The light shall be dark in his tent. His lamp above him shall be put out. {18:7} The steps of his strength shall be shortened. His own counsel shall cast him down. {18:8} For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he wanders into its mesh. {18:9} A snare will take him by the heel. A trap will catch him. {18:10} A noose is hidden for him in the ground, a trap for him in the way. {18:11} Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall chase him at his heels. {18:12} His strength shall be famished. Calamity shall be ready at his side. {18:13} The members of his body shall be devoured. The firstborn of death shall devour his members. {18:14} He shall be rooted out of his tent where he trusts. He shall be brought to the king of terrors. {18:15} There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his. Sulfur shall be scattered on his habitation. {18:16} His roots shall be dried up beneath. Above shall his branch be cut off. {18:17} His memory shall perish from the earth. He shall have no name in the street. {18:18} He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. {18:19} He shall have neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any remaining where he lived. {18:20} Those who come after shall be astonished at his day, as those who went before were frightened. {18:21} Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous. This is the place of him who doesn't know God." ________________________________________________________________________ Footnotes: [1] {17:13} Sheol is the place of the dead. [2] {17:16} Sheol is the place of the dead. ________________________________________________________________________ The World English Bible: Messianic Edition is in the Public Domain. This translation is also known as the Hebrew Names Version. "World English Bible," "World English Bible: Messianic Edition," and "World English Bible" are trademarks of Rainbow Missions, Inc., and may only be used as names for the Bible translations so named and distributed by Rainbow Missions, Inc., and faithful copies thereof. Typo reports are welcome at http://eBible.org/cgi-bin/comment.cgi. Please see http://HNVBible.org for updates. _______________________________________________ This message came to you through the HNV mailing list at your request. You are subscribed as [EMAIL PROTECTED] You may unsubscribe or change your address at: http://lists.ebible.org/mailman/listinfo/hnv Sender: RAINBOW MISSIONS PO BOX 716 BUENA VISTA CO 81211-0716 USA http://RainbowMissions.org