Will he make a covenant with thee,

That thou shouldest take him for a servant for ever?

Wilt thou play with him as with a bird?

Or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?

Shall the bands of fishermen make traffic of him?
Shall they part him among the merchants?

Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons,
Or his head with fish spears?

Lay thine hand upon him;
Remember the battle,

And do so no more.

Behold, the hope of him is in vain:

Shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?
None is so fierce that he dare stir him up.

Who then is he that can stand before me?

Who hath first given unto me, that I should repay him?
Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.

I will not keep silence concerning his limbs,

Nor his mighty strength, nor his comely proportion.

Who can strip off his outer garment?

Who shall come within his double bridle?

Who can open the doors of his face?

Round about his teeth is terror.

His strong scales are his pride,

Shut up together as with a close seal.

One is so near to another,

12

16

His neesings flash forth light,

And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

Out of his mouth go burning torches,

And sparks of fire leap forth.

Out of his nostrils a smoke goeth,

As of a seething pot and burning rushes.

His breath kindleth coals,

And a flame goeth forth from his mouth.

In his neck abideth strength,

And terror danceth before him.

The flakes of his flesh are joined together:

They are firm upon him, they cannot be moved.

His heart is as firm as a stone;

Yea, firm as the nether millstone.

When he raiseth himself up, the mighty are afraid:

By reason of consternation they are beside themselves.

If one lay at him with the sword, it cannot avail;
Nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.

He counteth iron as straw,

And brass as rotten wood.

The arrow cannot make him flee:

Slingstones are turned with him into stubble.

20

24

28

Clubs are counted as stubble:

He laugheth at the rushing of the javelin.

His underparts are like sharp potsherds:

He spreadeth as it were a threshing wain upon the mire.
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot:

He maketh the sea like ointment.
He maketh a path to shine after him;
One would think the deep to be hoary.
Upon earth there is not his like,

That is made without fear.

He beholdeth everything that is high:
He is king over all the sons of pride.

JOB

[The storm begins to abate.

L

3

And that no purpose of thine can be restrained.

VOICE OUT OF THE WHIRLWIND (retreating)
Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge?

JOB

Therefore have I uttered that which I understood not,
Things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak.

VOICE OUT OF THE WHIRLWIND (more distant)
I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

JOB

5

I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear;

But now mine eye seeth thee:

Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent
In dust and ashes.

[The storm ceases

STORY EPILOGUE

AND it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD 7 said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. Now therefore, take unto you seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you; for him will I accept, that I deal not with you after your folly; for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath."

So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, 9 and did according as the LORD commanded them: and the LORD accepted Job.

And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him concerning all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one a ring of gold.

So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: and he had 12 fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first Jemimah; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch. And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.

And after this Job lived an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his 16 sons' sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days.

BIBLE HISTORY

The New Testament