Fragments from the Book of Job #6: chapters 38-42
In his concluding speech in chapter 31, Job did demand that God appear before him, and in a sense, it is somewhat surprising for Elihu to appear instead. But can a man command God to appear? Do we have the right or authority to demand the Most High to appear before us?
Job’s concluding remarks in chapter 31 could unlikely in some way compel the Almighty Elohimto appear.
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Elihu came in between the discussion because he found lots of things said to Job but also about God were not right. He had found that multiple words against God were uttered, charging God of doing nothing about wickedness or even using evil things to vindicate. Though we can find some kind of truth and authority in the words from Job’s three friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, they grated on the nerves of Elihu and angered God. It was not because God kept His silence that He did not listen or did not care, nor lost control over nation or man (Job 34:29-30). Also Elihu had the wrong idea about God working with His people. This sometimes arrogant looking person ends up offering a similar argument to that of the three friends: God is greater than man (Job 33:12) and thus he must have intended to warn or rebuke Job (Job 33: 14–30). He even hopes that Job’s trials will continue either until he recants or, if he does not recant, until he dies (Job 34:36-37) and states Job’s complaint that godliness avails a man nothing (Job 35:1-4). He also declared that God is too lofty to be affected either by godliness or ungodliness, which only affect other people (Job 35:5-8 ). An other fault brought forwards to those who are unlucky is that unanswered prayers would be because of the lack of faith of those who pray and to the emptiness of the prayer (Job 35:-16). Elihu at moments continued to attack Job in the line of the other three older friends (e.g., Job 34: 10-37; 35:16). He also suggested that Job had not recognized and maybe even had ignored the ways in which God had spoken to him (Job 33:14). The continual appeal for Job by the four friends to simply repent of whatever evil he has done is an obvious misdiagnosis, in light of the prologue (chapters 1-2) and on the other elements Job brought forward to plea for his justice, recapitulated by Elihu at the opening of his speech (Job 33:6, 9; 34:5-9).
Elihu, who sometimes handled as if he were thinking to be like a prophet, shed already a further light on the matter that the creator of the universe cannot be unjust (Job 32:18–20; 34:10-28). Perhaps we may be called men of understanding, but there are a lot of things we do not understand and who are to complex to grasp and to get over with. Often we can’t make God out because He is beyond us. We sometimes can’t get His meaning or miss the point of what He says and does. The Spirit God seems difficult to grasp, but He is not so incomprehensible as we think. We just should concentrate more on the essentials of Him.
In the Book of Job we got an idea in what ways evil come to this earth and how evil people suffer as well (Job 15:14-16, 20-35). Failure comes to many. In the many speeches from chapters 3 to 37 we heard the flawless logic but wounding thrusts of those who insisted on the traditional theology that it was indisputable that God is almighty, perfectly just and that no human can be pure in Gods sight. On the other hand we have to face the problem of godly, just people who suffer. In this Book from the Book of Books the author can give us some encouragement by showing us that our suffering provides an occasion like no other for exemplifying what true godliness is for human beings. As in the other books of the Bible we can get a picture of righteous people who suffer ‘unjust’ but, though they have to fight against certain thoughts, still continue to go strong for their beloved Creator and His creation.
Job being answered by God - from Byzantine manuscript - Megisti Lavra Monastery,Codex B. 100, 12th century
When we started this study of the Book of Job we mentioned the accuser of God. Satan, the adversary who brought a radical assault on God and godly people. When God called up the name of Job before the accuser and testified to his righteous, the Almighty is called a fool and His followers even more fools. Is it not that humans prefer to love the gifts of the Creator then the Creator Himself? It is up to men to proof that he not tries to pleases God merely for the sake of his benefits. Job did good things he told us, but not in the hope to get something in return. Are you “religious” and “good” because it pays? Do you want something in return for the good things you do?
That is an other subject tackled in the Book of Job. Which position do we as humans want to take in our life here on earth? How do we want to place ourselves against other people. How do we want to face the One from who we get all this around us? Job faced toward God with anguish, puzzlement, anger and bitter complaints. How do we want to look at our Creator? And when we do not hear our answers, at first, answered how can we cope with that seemingly silent Authority? but are we sure that this God, ruler of the universe, is really silent? We should know that He has given His Words to be with us every day. Most of the answers we have to know are handed over to us. We just have to grasp them. It is to us to take them at hand and to read them, to be able to hear them. So we cannot say God does not give the answers to us. He has given them already to all those who want to have them.
Only we do have to understand that we can not desire to get to know God thoroughly. Longing to know God is very good. But to read Him like a book is not possible. It is not so easy to have God taped in full. We cannot expect hat at the end of our life we shall know everything about God. It would be foolish wisdom to think that. We shall not be able to control everything, because that belongs to God. But He is willing to share parts of His knowledge with us. He is willing to give wisdom to His creatures. However Job’s experience makes bitterly clear to him that his friends “wisdom” cannot fathom the truth of his situation. No, the wisdom we can get does not bring the answers we would like to hear or see. Sometimes it can frustrate us. It can make us hungry. Wisdom and truth is discerned through hearing, just as the quality of food is discerned through tasting (Job 34:3). We better listen today to the Wisdom of God to get some ray of understanding some things and be satisfied with what we already can get for answers at the moment. Patience is a good virtue. We should be pleased already that we can receive enough wisdom to comprehend those difficult creatures around us. And as we saw from the different answers of Job friends we do not always have to go by age, or by popularity. We always should remember that from these creaturely things, we as humans cannot learn all of God’s ways. And who are we mere human beings to to talk back to God? Does any object that is created riposte to its maker or will what is formed say to him who formed it, “why did you make me this way?” (Isaiah 29:16,45:9; Romans 9:20) “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus?” (Romans 9:20 ASV)
Who in the world do we think we are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn’t talk back to the fingers that mould it, saying, “Why did you shape me like this?”
For us it is perhaps best to recognise who is the Superior and not to deny God above (Job 31:28 ), recognising also the fact that our time on earth is also just a temporarily situation, and that the man who responds submissively to God’s dealings with him will regain health and joy (Job 33:25-28 ) Yes the Book of Job sheds also a light on what we might expect after death. When we die we shall all land up in the grave, the oppressors and the oppressed, they all shall perish and we shall not be able to take anything of our wealth or fame into our grave, the place of departure (Job 27:15-23; Psalm 164:4 Isaiah 38:18). For the wealthy as well as the poor, the happy as the sufferers it shall be be as the animals (Ecclesiastes 3:19-20) When God does not look at them any more, or His face is veiled, they shall be troubled; when He takes away their breath, they come to an end, and go back to the dust. “Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; Thou {1} takest away their breath, they die, And return to their dust. {1) Or gatherest in}” (Psalms 104:29 ASV) “and the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7 ASV) Let us take Paul’s words into our hearth: “We speak wisdom, however, among them that are fullgrown: yet a wisdom not of this {1} world, nor of the rulers of this {1} world, who are coming to nought: {1) Or age; and so in verses 7, 8; but not in verse 12}” (1 Corinthians 2:6 ASV)
Job will pass the supreme test of all true godliness, namely, to live by the wisdom God had given him, having the fear of the Most High Jehovah God and to depart from evil (Job 28:28 ), and acknowledging the limits of human wisdom. Are we prepared to be satisfied with the brain we got and with what it can cope?
Elihu repeatedly stated that the purpose of God’s speaking to a person in the way he described is to keep “his soul from the pit” (also Job 33:18, 22, 24, 28, 30). Thus he implies that Job’s suffering may be a corrective of his overall path rather than simply punishment for some hidden sin. Though God does not five a warning finger to Elihu we can find God answer in the rest of the Bible. God response to Job will include some vocabulary and references that are similar to portions of Elihu Barachel (meaning either “may God bless” or “God has blessed”) his speeches, but He does not commend either Elihu’s suggested reasons for Job’s suffering or his anger against Job.
The Holy Spirit = Power of God
Elihu had played on the words “spirit” and “breath” in his early speeches (see also Job 33:4; 34:14) in the way most likely to evoke Job’s earlier plea (Job 27:2–3) as he asserted his own right to speak. But he rightly let us know that God is the Spirit, and it is His breath, the live in Him that brings us His Words. It is this breath or Holy “Spirit” which is the “power” that can enlighten us.
“For he (God) needeth not further to consider a man, That he should go before God in judgment.” (Job 34:23 ASV) So God Almighty will not lay upon man more than right, that he should enter into judgement with God. Let us look at these words of the Lord of lords where He asks what evil or iniquity people have seen in Him that they have gone far from Him, and have walked after what is false, worthless idols, worthlessness, vanity, and are become vain or become themselves nothings?
“thus saith Jehovah, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?” (Jeremiah 2:5 ASV)
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Brenton Translation
1851 by Lancelot Brenton
Job Chapters 38-41
Job 38:1 And after Elius had ceased from speaking, the Lord spoke to Job through the whirlwind and clouds, [saying],
Job 38:2 Who is this that hides counsel from me, and confines words in [his] heart, and thinks to conceal [them] from me?
Job 38:3 Gird thy loins like a man; and I will ask thee, and do thou answer me.
Job 38:4 Where wast thou when I founded the earth? tell me now, if thou hast knowledge,
Job 38:5 who set the measures of it, if thou knowest? or who stretched a line upon it?
Job 38:6 On what are its rings fastened? and who is he that laid the corner-stone upon it?
Job 38:7 When the stars were made, all my angels praised me with a loud voice.
Job 38:8 And I shut up the sea with gates, when it rushed out, coming forth out its mother’s womb.
Job 38:9 And I made a cloud its clothing, and swathed it in mist.
Job 38:10 And I set bounds to it, surrounding it with bars and gates.
Job 38:11 And I said to it, Hitherto shalt thou come, but thou shalt not go beyond, but thy waves shall be confined within thee.
Job 38:12 Or did I order the morning light in thy time; and [did] the morning star [then first] see his appointed place;
Job 38:13 to lay hold of the extremities of the earth, to cast out the ungodly out of it?
Job 38:14 Or didst thou take clay of the ground, and form a living creature, and set it with the power of speech upon the earth?
Job 38:15 And hast thou removed light from the ungodly, and crushed the arm of the proud?
Job 38:16 Or hast thou gone to the source of the sea, and walked in the tracks of the deep?
Job 38:17 And do the gates of death open to thee for fear; and did the porters of hell quake when they saw thee?
Job 38:18 And hast thou been instructed in the breadth of the [whole earth] under heaven? tell me now, what is the extent of it?
Job 38:19 And in what kind of a land does the light dwell? and of what kind is the place of darkness?
Job 38:20 If thou couldest bring me to their [utmost] boundaries, and if also thou knowest their paths;
Job 38:21 I know then that thou wert born at that time, and the number of thy years is great.
Job 38:22 But hast thou gone to the treasures of snow? and hast thou seen the treasures of hail?
Job 38:23 And is there a store [of them], for thee against the time of [thine] enemies, for the day of wars and battle?
Job 38:24 And whence proceeds the frost? or [whence] is the south wind dispersed over the [whole world] under heaven?
Job 38:25 And who prepared a course for the violent rain, and a way for the thunders;
Job 38:26 to rain upon the land where [there is] no man, the wilderness, where there is not a man in it; so as to feed the untrodden and uninhabited [land],
Job 38:27 and cause it to send forth a crop of green herbs?
Job 38:28 Who is the rain’s father? and who has generated the drops of dew?
Job 38:29 And out of whose womb comes the ice? and who has produced the frost in the sky,
Job 38:30 which descends like flowing water? who has terrified the face of the ungodly?
Job 38:31 And dost thou understand the band of Pleias, and hast thou opened the barrier of Orion?
Job 38:32 Or wilt thou reveal Mazuroth in his season, and the evening star with his rays? Wilt thou guide them?
Job 38:33 And knowest thou the changes of heaven, or the events which take place together under heaven?
Job 38:34 And wilt thou call a cloud with thy voice, and will it obey thee with a violent shower of much rain?
Job 38:35 And wilt thou send lightnings, and they shall go? and shall they say to thee, What is [thy pleasure]?
Job 38:36 And who has given to women skill in weaving, or knowledge of embroidery?
Job 38:37 And who is he that numbers the clouds in wisdom, and has bowed the heaven [down] to the earth?
Job 38:38 For it is spread out as dusty earth, and I have cemented it as one hewn stone to another.
Job 38:39 And wilt thou hunt a prey for the lions? and satisfy the desires of the serpents?
Job 38:40 For they fear in their lairs, and lying in wait couch in the woods.
Job 38:41 And who has prepared food for the raven? for its young ones wander and cry to the Lord, in search of food.
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Job 39:1 [Say] if thou knowest the time of the bringing forth of the wild goats of the rock, and [if] thou hast marked the calving of the hinds:
Job 39:2 and [if] thou has hast numbered the full months of their being with young, and [if] thou hast relieved their pangs:
Job 39:3 and hast reared their young without fear; and wilt thou loosen their pangs?
Job 39:4 Their young will break forth; they will be multiplied with offspring: [their young] will go forth, and will not return to them.
Job 39:5 And who is he that sent forth the wild ass free? and who loosed his bands?
Job 39:6 whereas I made his habitation the wilderness, and the salt land his coverts.
Job 39:7 He laughs to scorn the multitude of the city, and hears not the chiding of the tax-gatherer.
Job 39:8 He will survey the mountains [as] his pasture, and he seeks after every green thing.
Job 39:9 And will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or to lie down at thy manger?
Job 39:10 And wilt thou bind his yoke with thongs, or will he plough furrows for thee in the plain?
Job 39:11 And dost thou trust him, because his strength is great? and wilt thou commit thy works to him?
Job 39:12 And wilt thou believe that he will return to thee thy seed, and bring [it] in [to] thy threshing-floor?
Job 39:13 The peacock has a beautiful wing: if the stork and the ostrich conceive, [it is worthy of notice],
Job 39:14 for [the ostrich] will leave her eggs in the ground, and warm them on the dust,
Job 39:15 and has forgotten that the foot will scatter them, and the wild beasts of the field trample them.
Job 39:16 She has hardened [herself] against her young ones, as though [she bereaved] not herself: she labours in vain without fear.
Job 39:17 For God has withholden wisdom from her, and not given her a portion in understanding.
Job 39:18 In her season she will lift herself on high; she will scorn the horse and his rider.
Job 39:19 Hast thou invested the horse with strength, and clothed his neck with terror?
Job 39:20 And hast thou clad him in perfect armour, and made his breast glorious with courage?
Job 39:21 He paws exulting in the plain, and goes forth in strength into the plain.
Job 39:22 He laughs to scorn a king as he meets him, and will by no means turn back from the sword.
Job 39:23 The bow and sword resound against him; and [his] rage will swallow up the ground:
Job 39:24 and he will not believe until the trumpet sounds.
Job 39:25 And when the trumpet sounds, he says, Aha! and afar off he smells the war with prancing and neighing.
Job 39:26 And does the hawk remain steady by thy wisdom, having spread out her wings unmoved, looking toward the region of the south?
Job 39:27 And does the eagle rise at thy command, and the vulture remain sitting over his nest,
Job 39:28 on a crag of a rock, and in a secret [place]?
Job 39:29 Thence he seeks food, his eyes observe from far.
Job 39:30 And his young ones roll themselves in blood, and wherever the carcasses may be, immediately they are found.
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Job 40:1 (39:31) And the Lord God answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2 (39:32) Will [any one] pervert judgment with the Mighty One? and he that reproves God, let him return it for answer.
Job 40:3 (39:33) And Job answered and said to the Lord,
Job 40:4 (39:34) Why do I yet plead? being rebuked even while reproving the Lord: hearing such things, whereas I am nothing: and what shall I answer to these [arguments]? I will lay my hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5 (39:35) I have spoken once; but I will not do so a second time.
Job 40:6 (40:1) And the Lord yet again answered and spoke to Job out of the cloud, [saying],
Job 40:7 (40:2) Nay, gird up now thy loins like a man; and I will ask thee, and do thou answer me.
Job 40:8 (40:3) Do not set aside my judgment: and dost thou think that I have dealt with thee in any other way, than that thou mightest appear to be righteous?
Job 40:9 (40:4) Hast thou an arm like the Lord’s? or dost thou thunder with a voice like his?
Job 40:10 (40:5) Assume now a lofty bearing and power; and clothe thyself with glory and honour.
Job 40:11 (40:6) And send forth messengers with wrath; and lay low every haughty one.
Job 40:12 (40:7) Bring down also the proud man; and consume at once the ungodly.
Job 40:13 (40:8) And hide them together in the earth; and fill their faces with shame.
Job 40:14 (40:9) [Then] will I confess that thy right hand can save [thee].
Job 40:15 (40:10) But now look at the wild beasts with thee; they eat grass like oxen.
Job 40:16 (40:11) Behold now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.
Job 40:17 (40:12) He sets up his tail like a cypress; and his nerves are wrapped together.
Job 40:18 (40:13) His sides are sides of brass; and his backbone is [as] cast iron.
Job 40:19 (40:14) This is the chief of the creation of the Lord; made to be played with by his angels.
Job 40:20 (40:15) And when he has gone up to a steep mountain, he causes joy to the quadrupeds in the deep.
Job 40:21 (40:16) He lies under trees of every kind, by the papyrus, and reed, and bulrush.
Job 40:22 (40:17) And the great trees make a shadow over him with their branches, and [so do] the bushes of the field.
Job 40:23 (40:18) If there should be a flood, he will not perceive it; he trust that Jordan will rush up into his mouth.
Job 40:24 (40:19) [Yet one] shall take him in his sight; [one] shall catch [him] with a cord, and pierce his nose.
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Job 41:1 (40:20) But wilt thou catch the serpent with a hook, and put a halter about his nose?
Job 41:2 (40:21) Or wilt thou fasten a ring in his nostril, and bore his lip with a clasp?
Job 41:3 (40:22) Will he address thee with a petition? softly, with the voice of a suppliant?
Job 41:4 (40:23) And will he make a covenant with thee? and wilt thou take him for a perpetual servant?
Job 41:5 (40:24) And wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or bind him as a sparrow for a child?
Job 41:6 (40:25) And do the nations feed upon him, and the nations of the Phoenicians share him?
Job 41:7 (40:26) And all the ships come together would not be able to bear the mere skin of his tail; neither [shall they carry] his head in fishing-vessels.
Job 41:8 (40:27) But thou shalt lay thy hand upon him [once], remembering the war that is waged by his mouth; and let it not be done any more.
Job 41:9 (41:0) Hast thou not seen him? and hast thou not wondered at the things said [of him]?
Job 41:10 (41:1) Dost thou not fear because preparation has been made by me? for who is there that resists me?
Job 41:11 (41:2) Or who will resist me, and abide, since the whole [world] under heaven is mine?
Job 41:12 (41:3) I will not be silent because of him: though because of his power [one] shall pity his antagonist.
Job 41:13 (41:4) Who will open the face of his garment? and who can enter within the fold of his breastplate?
Job 41:14 (41:5) Who will open the doors of his face? terror is round about his teeth.
Job 41:15 (41:6) His inwards are as brazen plates, and the texture of his [skin] as a smyrite stone.
Job 41:16 (41:7) One [part] cleaves fast to another, and the air cannot come between them.
Job 41:17 (41:8) They will remain united each to the other: they are closely joined, and cannot be separated.
Job 41:18 (41:9) At his sneezing a light shines, and his eyes are [as] the appearance of the morning star.
Job 41:19 (41:10) Out of his mouth proceed as it were burning lamps, and as it were hearths of fire are cast abroad.
Job 41:20 (41:11) Out of his nostrils proceeds smoke of a furnace burning with fire of coals.
Job 41:21 (41:12) His breath is [as] live coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.
Job 41:22 (41:13) And power is lodged in his neck, before him destruction runs.
Job 41:23 (41:14) The flesh also of his body is joined together: [if one] pours [violence] upon him, he shall not be moved.
Job 41:24 (41:15) His heart is firm as a stone, and it stands like an unyielding anvil.
Job 41:25 (41:16) And when he turns, [he is] a terror to the four-footed wild beasts which leap upon the earth.
Job 41:26 (41:17) If spears should come against him, [men] will effect nothing, [either with] the spear or the breast-plate.
Job 41:27 (41:18) For he considers iron as chaff, and brass as rotten wood.
Job 41:28 (41:19) The bow of brass shall not would him, he deems a slinger as grass.
Job 41:29 (41:20) Mauls are counted as stubble; and he laughs to scorn the waving of the firebrand.
Job 41:30 (41:21) His lair is [formed of] sharp points; and all the gold of the sea under him is an immense [quantity of] clay.
Job 41:31 (41:22) He makes the deep boil like a brazen caldron; and he regards the sea as a pot of ointment,
Job 41:32 (41:23) and the lowest part of the deep as a captive: he reckons the deep as [his] range.
Job 41:33 (41:24) There is nothing upon the earth like to him, formed to be sported with by my angels.
Job 41:34 (41:25) He beholds every high thing: and he is king of all that are in the waters.
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Job 42:1 Then Job answered and said to the Lord,
Job 42:2 I know that thou canst do all things, and nothing is impossible with thee.
Job 42:3 For who is he that hides counsel from thee? or who keeps back his words, and thinks to hide them from thee? and who will tell me what I knew not, great and wonderful things which I understood not?
Job 42:4 But hear me, O Lord, that I also may speak: and I will ask thee, and do thou teach me.
Job 42:5 I have heard the report of thee by the ear before; but now mine eye has seen thee.
Job 42:6 Wherefore I have counted myself vile, and have fainted: and I esteem myself dust and ashes.
Job 42:7 And it came to pass after the Lord had spoken all these words to Job, [that] the Lord said to Eliphaz the Thaemanite, Thou hast sinned, and thy two friends: for ye have not said anything true before me, as my servant Job [has].
Job 42:8 Now then take seven bullocks, and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and he shall offer a burnt-offering for you. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will only accept him: for but his sake, I would have destroyed you, for ye have not spoken the truth against my servant Job.
Job 42:9 So Eliphaz the Thaemanite, and Baldad the Sauchite, and Sophar the Minaean, went and did as the Lord commanded them: and he pardoned their sin for the sake of Job.
Job 42:10 And the Lord prospered Job: and when he prayed also for his friends, he forgave them [their] sin: and the Lord gave Job twice as much, even the double of what he had before.
Job 42:11 And all his brethren and his sisters heard all that had happened to him, and they came to him, and [so did] all that had known him from the first: and they ate and drank with him, and comforted him, and wondered at all that the Lord had brought upon him: and each one gave him a lamb, and four drachms’ weight of gold, even of unstamped [gold].
Job 42:12 And the Lord blessed the latter end of Job, [more] than the beginning: and his cattle were fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, a thousand she-asses of the pastures.
Job 42:13 And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
Job 42:14 And he called the first Day, and the second Casia, and the third Amalthaea’s horn.
Job 42:15 And there were not found in comparison with the daughters of Job, fairer [women] than they in all the world: and their father gave them an inheritance among their brethren.
Job 42:16 And Job lived after [his] affliction a hundred and seventy years: and all the years he lived were two hundred and forty: and Job saw his sons and his sons’ sons, the fourth generation.
Job 42:17 And Job died, an old man and full of days: (42:17A) and it is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up. (42:17B) This man is described in the Syriac book [as] living in the land of Ausis, on the borders of Idumea and Arabia: and his name before was Jobab; (42:17C) and having taken an Arabian wife, he begot a son whose name was Ennon. And he himself was the son of his father Zare, one of the sons of Esau, and of his mother Bosorrha, so that he was the fifth from Abraam. (42:17D) And these were the kings who reigned in Edom, which country he also ruled over: first, Balac, the son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dennaba: but after Balac, Jobab, who is called Job, and after him Asom, who was governor out of the country of Thaeman: and after him Adad, the son of Barad, who destroyed Madiam in the plain of Moab; and the name of his city was Gethaim. (42:17E) And [his] friends who came to him were Eliphaz, of the children of Esau, king of the Thaemanites, Baldad sovereign of the Sauchaeans, Sophar king of the Minaeans.
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Continues: Fragments from the Book of Job #7 Epilogue
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“For He will not lay upon man more than right, that he should enter into judgment with God.” (Job 34:23 KJ21)
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Note:
The Holy Spirit is the Author of Scripture; therefore the Word of God is inseparable from the Spirit of God. God is Spirit and the Holy spirit is not on other entity, it is the Power of God itself. The Scriptures introduce the reader to the Holy Spirit and the Spirit applies the truths of the Word to the hearts of the reader. Scripture must be interpreted in the immediate context of personal prayer. The Bible promises over and over that when we seek God, he will be found. The same is true if we seek his power. The “knowledge of God” is an essential feature of Christian attainment, according to the apostolic standard. Those “who know not God” are among those whom vengeance is to overtake (2 Thessalonians 1: 8). Knowledge of God is the basis of sonship to God. Without it, we cannot enter the divine family. How can we love and serve a being whom we do not know? Knowledge is the foundation of all. It is the rock upon which everlasting life itself is built. “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, The Only True God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent” (John 27: 3).
Prayer is the medium that brings individuals into contact with the same Spirit who inspired the writers of the Bible. To hear what the Spirit of the Only One God is saying through the Word you must encounter God through prayer. Prayer is the means that we must use to understand the Word of God. Without the assistance of the Holy Spirit in prayer, our Bible study will be in vain. Let us ask for the Spirit to speak to us through the Word.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 4 so far )Fragments from the Book of Job #4: chapters 27-31
In the previous chapters the rampant evil in the world was described by Job (Job 24:2-24) and we have heard the speeches of Job’s friends who got to accuse him of gaining his now lost wealth by robbing the poor, withholding sustenance from the hungry and even abusing the weaker ones like widows and orphans. (Eliphaz, the most sympathetic and likely the oldest who appeals to experience for authority, in Job 22:6-9). Eliphaz urged Job to submit to obvious discipline from God, who would bless him if he would repent (Job 5:8-27). For the less sensitive Bildad it was clear that Job and his children were suffering because of his sin (Job 8:1-7). As Bildad argued from tradition, the third friend, Zophar rested on orthodox dogma and argued also that there must have been something in Job’s live that had caused all those problems.
Since neither Job nor his wife knew what had transpired between God and His adversaries, they did not know that those adversaries predicted that Job would curse God (Job 1:11; 2:5). Job at certain moments thought that there was a problem with him and God. His wife even concluded that her husband and she were suffering because God was unfair and that the presupposition that God always blesses the righteous and afflicts the wicked has proven faulty. Job called her views foolishness and did not want to curse God (Job 2:9-10) but after some time also wrongly accused God of mauling him as would a beast (Job 16:9) turning him over to wicked or perverse men, evil people (Job 16:11) using him as would an archer for target practice (Job 16:12-13) and attacking him as would a warrior or like a soldier gone mad with hate (Job 16:14). Job was sad he did not receive an answer from God who had seemed to have wronged him (Job 19:6) because he had kept to God’s Law (contrary to Eliphaz’s charge Job 22:22). He also complained that God did not pay attention and does not have fixed times for the punishment of evildoers, so that people could see that the Almighty Elohim punishes evildoers (Job 24:1,12). But he recognises the sovereignty of Jehovah over the various aspects of the universe. (Job 26:5-13) Gods knowledge goes beyond what we can see and hear (Job 26:14).
Many blame God, but for an other reason than Job did (Job 24:1) for the troubles on this earth, and has Job friends they do not seem to see the underlying factors of men’s free will. Also Job gets the feeling that his sufferings are in the Will of God, though the thought troubles him. (Job 23:14-16) He has also difficulties with ancient teachings or traditions, which or not our best sources of knowledge, according to Job. (Job 9:1-10:22) Those who brought us some sources to think about are just as mortal as we are and we always should remember that they grasped perhaps only a part of reality.Who can discover the depth of God? (Job 11:7) Job recognises that he is not inferior to others who have more luck, and that with the others their wisdom shall die as well. (Job 12:2-3, 12-22, 2425; 13:2,4, 8-11; 14:10; 15:9-11, 18-22,31-32)
For Job as for us it seems that at certain moments of trouble, wherever we go we do not seem to find God and therefore could not present our case before the Almighty. (Job 23:8-9) In Fragments from the Book of Job #2: chapters 12-20 a light is already shed on the fact that God knows the way we take. (Job 23:10) We would love to see the evil of the evil-doer come to an end, and find an end to our misery. Sometimes we may think God does not care for us and does not watches us. But God keeps an eye on the world and follows it. In the Old Testament we do find enough examples how He at certain moments came in action and reacted to situation of which He did not agree with. We can also notice how He also gave strength to the upright. At any time men’s minds and hearts are tested by the God of righteousness. Jehovah puts the upright and the sinner to the test, but He has hate in his soul for the lover of violent acts. (Psalms 7:9; 11:5) “For you, O God, have proven us: you have tried us, as silver is tried.” (Psalms 66:10 KJBPNV) Remember: “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith Jehovah, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, Jehovah is my God.” (Zechariah 13:8-9 ASV)
Job’s innocence cries for vindication and asks God not to hide the wrongs done to him. (Job 16:18-21) Like Job we can long for a divine helper (cf 1 John 2:1-2) today we have an advocate with the Father. This comforter is Gods son given to us to help see our ways. this is a better friend than those of Job and a real upright helper. He can plead our case by his Father. In chapter 19 of the Book Job, Fragments from the Book of Job #2: chapters 12-20, we could notice that Job believed in a living god who would vindicate his case even after his death. In the future on the earth. The dust, sand or earth mentioned is referring to the dust of the earth or to the dust of Job’s grave. (Job 19:25-27)
“For I know that my redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” (Job 19:25-27 KJBPNV) We may look forward to Jesus who shall return to the earth and shall look onto what people have done to each other and how they kept to the commandments of God. He shall judge the people before he hands over the Kingdomto his Father.
The 10 commandments of God - A popular image of the Tablets as rounded-off
Though Job looks at Jehovah or Yahweh Yahweh as the redeemer (Heb “goel”) of His people, the Almighty is that one who took care that somebody could speak in the name of men. He first did that with his people in Egypt. “Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am Jehovah, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments:” (Exodus 6:6 ASV)
There is much speculation as to whether Job believed in the resurrection. However we note that Jesus, quoting Job’s words (Matthew 5:8) says that the meek will see God and clearly Jesus is speaking of the blessedness of those who are to be raised from the dead. (Read also: Zechariah 14:1-4,9,16; Isaiah 9:6-7;2:2-4; Matthew 24:3,36,37,44).
Looking for a kinsman-redeemer, ransom, avenge, vindicator, a “daysman” or a mediator Job looked like so many of us a means to obtain justice. That is the theme in these verses of Job 19:25-27, not resurrection, as we gather when we first read them. True justice would demand his bodily presence. Resurrection is thus implied rather than expressed. Job felt that at the resurrection he would be justified. The word flesh Hebrew basar (1320) means flesh, body, person, body, self, etc. while Job 31:14 suggests being called to account at an implied judgement .
“Behold, a day of Jehovah cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall Jehovah go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the mount of Olives shall be cleft in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” (Zechariah 14:1-4 ASV)
“And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall Jehovah be one, and his name one.” (Zechariah 14:9 ASV)
“And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, Jehovah of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.” (Zechariah 14:16 ASV)
“And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting {1} contempt. {1) Or abhorrence}” (Daniel 12:2 ASV)
“Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of {1} herbs, and the earth shall cast forth {2} the dead. {1) Or light 2) Or the shades; Heb Rephaim}” (Isaiah 26:19 ASV)
“For, behold, Jehovah cometh forth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.” (Isaiah 26:21 ASV)
Job sees death as certain “worms destroy this body” (Job 16:22;17:1,14,15,16), “yet in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 14:13-15 - resurrection Gen 13:15) indicates flesh is regenerated; Job’s redeemer is Jehovah (Isaiah 43:14-15;49:7;54:5) Some people take it from there that Jehovah would be the same person as that redeemer Jesus, but Job spoke about the Spirit who was alive in his time. Thus Job was correct when he said his redeemer “liveth” because has always been alive and people forget that Jehovah has redeemed through his servant, the Lord Jesus Christ (Isaiah 49:6-7; Acts 5:31; Hebrews 7:25; 2 Timothy 1:10). Unfortunately, Job does not expound upon this ‘matter of the future’, and so we are left with an incomplete understanding of what he meant. However, Job is accounted righteous, and an example to follow (Ezekiel 14:14,26; James 5:11) and from that we can imagine that he is going to be one of the persons who shall also be in the coming Kingdom of God.
The sarcastic part of Job comes forward now. In Job 27: 7-23 we get Job’s summary of the erroneous arguments of his 3 friends — who urged his guilt. Job talks here as though his three ‘friends’ are trying to persuade him to fall from grace and to fulfil their words as if they were some sort of prophecy against him. Should we not recognise that it in fact not always the wicked ultimately prosper, though they may for a time. Whatever happens and how long it takes we can be sure that they will be condemned (Job 27:8). They shall not have to count on the help of God (Job 237:9-10). We nor they can be assured of passing on their prosperity to their children (Job 27:14-18). Who knows, destruction can come suddenly over the evil man (Job 27:19).
Brenton Translation
1851 by Lancelot Brenton
Job Chapter 27
Job 27:1 And Job further continued and said in his parable,
Job 27:2 [As] God lives, who has thus judge me; and the Almighty, who has embittered my soul;
Job 27:3 verily, while my breath is yet in [me], and the breath of God which remains to me is in my nostrils,
Job 27:4 my lips shall not speak evil words, neither shall my soul meditate unrighteous thoughts.
Job 27:5 Far be it from me that I should justify you till I die; for I will not let go my innocence,
Job 27:6 but keeping fast to [my] righteousness I will by no means let it go: for I am not conscious to myself of having done any thing amiss.
Job 27:7 Nay rather, but let mine enemies be as the overthrow of the ungodly, and they that rise up against me, as the destruction of transgressors.
Job 27:8 For what is the hope of the ungodly, that he holds to it? will he indeed trust in the Lord [and] be saved?
Job 27:9 Will God hear his prayer? or, when distress has come upon him,
Job 27:10 has he any confidence before him? or will [God] hear him as he calls upon him?
Job 27:11 Yet now I will tell you what is in the hand of the Lord: I will not lie concerning the things which are with the Almighty.
Job 27:12 Behold, ye all know that ye are adding vanity to vanity.
Job 27:13 This is the portion of an ungodly man from the Lord, and the possession of oppressors shall come upon them from the Almighty.
Job 27:14 And if their children be many, they shall be for slaughter: and if they grow up, they shall beg.
Job 27:15 And they that survive of him shall utterly perish, and no one shall pity their widows.
Job 27:16 Even if he should gather silver as earth, and prepare gold as clay;
Job 27:17 All these things shall the righteous gain, and the truehearted shall possess his wealth.
Job 27:18 And his house is gone like moths, and like a spider’s web.
Job 27:19 The rich man shall lie down, and shall not continue: he has opened his eyes, and he is not.
Job 27:20 Pains have come upon him as water, and darkness has carried him away by night.
Job 27:21 And a burning wind shall catch him, and he shall depart, and it shall utterly drive him out of his place.
Job 27:22 And [God] shall cast [trouble] upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.
Job 27:23 He shall cause [men] to clap their hands against them, and shall hiss him out of his place.
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Job 28:1 For there is a place for the silver, whence it comes, and a place for the gold, whence it is refined.
Job 28:2 For iron comes out of the earth, and brass is hewn out like stone.
Job 28:3 He has set a bound to darkness, and he searches out every limit: a stone [is] darkness, and the shadow of death.
Job 28:4 There is a cutting off the torrent by reason of dust: so they that forget the right way are weakened; they are removed from [among] men.
Job 28:5 [As for] the earth, out of it shall come bread: under it has been turned up as it were fire.
Job 28:6 Her stones are the place of the sapphire: and [her] dust [supplies] man with gold.
Job 28:7 [There is] a path, the fowl has not known it, neither has the eye of the vulture seen it:
Job 28:8 neither have the sons of the proud trodden it, a lion has not passed upon it.
Job 28:9 He has stretched forth his hand on the sharp [rock], and turned up mountains by the roots:
Job 28:10 and he has interrupted the whirlpools of rivers, and mine eye has seen every precious thing.
Job 28:11 And he has laid bare the depths of rivers, and has brought his power to light.
Job 28:12 But whence has wisdom been discovered? and what is the place of knowledge?
Job 28:13 A mortal has not known its way, neither indeed has it been discovered among men.
Job 28:14 The depth said, It is not in me: and the sea said, It is not with me.
Job 28:15 One shall not give fine gold instead of it, neither shall silver be weighed in exchange for it.
Job 28:16 Neither shall it be compared with gold of Sophir, with the precious onyx and sapphire.
Job 28:17 Gold and crystal shall not be equalled to it, neither shall vessels of gold be its exchange.
Job 28:18 Coral and fine pearl shall not be mentioned: but do thou esteem wisdom above the most precious things.
Job 28:19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be equalled to it; it shall not be compared with pure gold.
Job 28:20 Whence then is wisdom found? and of what kind is the place of understanding?
Job 28:21 It has escaped the notice of every man, and has been hidden from the birds of the sky.
Job 28:22 Destruction and Death said, We have heard the report of it.
Job 28:23 God has well ordered the way of it, and he knows the place of it.
Job 28:24 For he surveys the whole [earth] under heaven, knowing the things in the earth:
Job 28:25 all that he has made; the weight of the winds, the measures of the water.
Job 28:26 When he made [them], thus he saw and numbered them, and made a way for the pealing of the thunder.
Job 28:27 Then he saw it, and declared it: he prepared it [and] traced it out.
Job 28:28 And he said to man, Behold, godliness is wisdom: and to abstain from evil is understanding.
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Job 29:1 And Job continued and said in his parable,
Job 29:2 Oh that I were as in months past, wherein God preserved me!
Job 29:3 As when his lamp shone over my head; when by his light I walked through darkness.
Job 29:4 [As] when I steadfastly pursued my ways, when God took care of my house.
Job 29:5 When I was very fruitful, and my children were about me;
Job 29:6 when my ways were moistened with butter, and the mountains flowed for me with milk.
Job 29:7 When I went forth early in the city, and the seat was placed for me in the streets.
Job 29:8 The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and all the old men stood up.
Job 29:9 And the great men ceased speaking, and laid their finger on their mouth.
Job 29:10 And they that heard [me] blessed me, and their tongue clave to their throat.
Job 29:11 For the ear heard, and blessed me; and the eye saw me, and turned aside.
Job 29:12 For I saved the poor out of the hand of the oppressor, and helped the fatherless who had no helper.
Job 29:13 Let the blessing of the perishing one come upon me; yea, the mouth of the widow has blessed me.
Job 29:14 Also I put on righteousness, and clothed myself with judgment like a mantle.
Job 29:15 I was the eye of the blind, and the foot of the lame.
Job 29:16 I was the father of the helpless; and I searched out the cause which I knew not.
Job 29:17 And I broke the jaw-teeth of the unrighteous; I plucked the spoil out of the midst of their teeth.
Job 29:18 And I said, My age shall continue as the stem of a palm-tree; I shall live a long while.
Job 29:19 [My] root was spread out by the water, and the dew would lodge on my crop.
Job 29:20 My glory was fresh in me, and by bow prospered in his hand.
Job 29:21 [Men] heard me, and gave heed, and they were silent at my counsel.
Job 29:22 At my word they spoke not again, and they were very gland whenever I spoke to them.
Job 29:23 As the thirsty earth expecting the rain, so they [waited for] my speech.
Job 29:24 Were I to laugh on them, they would not believe [it]; and the light of my face has not failed.
Job 29:25 I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the midst of warriors, as one comforting mourners.
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Job 30:1 But now the youngest have laughed me to scorn, now they reprove me in [their] turn, whose fathers I set at nought; whom I did not deem worthy [to be with] my shepherd dogs.
Job 30:2 Yea, why had I the strength of their hands? for them the full term [of life] was lost.
Job 30:3 [One is] childless in want and famine, [such as] they that fled but lately the distress and misery of drought.
Job 30:4 Who compass the salt places on the sounding [shore], who had salt [herbs] for their food, and were dishonorable and of no repute, in want of every good thing; who also ate roots of trees by reason of great hunger.
Job 30:5 Thieves have risen up against me,
Job 30:6 whose houses were the caves of the rocks, who lived under the wild shrubs.
Job 30:7 They will cry out among the rustling [bushes].
Job 30:8 [They are] sons of fools and vile men, [whose] name and glory [are] quenched from off the earth.
Job 30:9 But now I am their music, and they have me for a by-word.
Job 30:10 And they stood aloof and abhorred me, and spared not to spit in my face.
Job 30:11 For he has opened his quiver and afflicted me: they also have cast off the restraint of my presence.
Job 30:12 They have risen up against [me] on the right hand of [their] offspring; they have stretched out their foot, and directed against me the ways of their destruction.
Job 30:13 My paths are ruined; for they have stripped off my raiment: he has shot at me with his weapons.
Job 30:14 And he has pleaded against me as he will: I am overwhelmed with pains.
Job 30:15 My pains return upon [me]; my hope is gone like the wind, and my safety as a cloud.
Job 30:16 Even now my life shall be poured forth upon me; and days of anguish seize me.
Job 30:17 And by night my bones are confounded; and my sinews are relaxed.
Job 30:18 With great force [my disease] has taken hold of my garment: it has compassed me as the collar of my coat.
Job 30:19 And thou hast counted me as clay; my portion in dust and ashes.
Job 30:20 And I have cried to thee, but thou hearest me not: but they stood still, and observed me.
Job 30:21 They attacked me also without mercy: thou hast scourged me with a strong hand.
Job 30:22 And thou hast put me to grief, and hast cast me away from safety.
Job 30:23 For I know that death will destroy me: for the earth is the house [appointed] for every mortal.
Job 30:24 Oh then that I might lay hands upon myself, or at least ask another, and he should do this for me.
Job 30:25 Yet I wept over every helpless man; I groaned when I saw a man in distress.
Job 30:26 But I, when I waited for good things, behold, days of evils came the more upon me.
Job 30:27 My belly boiled, and would not cease: the days of poverty prevented me.
Job 30:28 I went mourning without restraint: and I have stood and cried out in the assembly.
Job 30:29 I am become a brother of monsters, and a companion of ostriches.
Job 30:30 And my skin has been greatly blackened, and my bones are burned with heat.
Job 30:31 My harp also has been turned into mourning, and my song into my weeping.
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Job 31:1 I made a covenant with mine eyes, and I will not think upon a virgin.
Job 31:2 Now what portion has God given from above? and is there an inheritance [given] of the Mighty One from the highest?
Job 31:3 Alas! destruction to the unrighteous, and rejection to them that do iniquity.
Job 31:4 Will he not see my way, and number all my steps?
Job 31:5 But if I had gone with scorners, and if too my foot has hasted to deceit:
Job 31:6 (for I am weighed in a just balance, and the Lord knows my innocence:
Job 31:7 if my foot has turned aside out of the way, or if mine heart has followed mine eye, and if too I have touched gifts with my hands;
Job 31:8 then let me sow, and let others eat; and let me be uprooted on the earth.
Job 31:9 If my heart has gone forth after another man’s wife, and if I laid wait at her doors;
Job 31:10 then let my wife also please another, and let my children be brought low.
Job 31:11 For the rage of anger is not to be controlled, [in the case] of defiling [another] man’s wife.
Job 31:12 For it is a fire burning on every side, and whomsoever it attacks, it utterly destroys.
Job 31:13 And if too I despised the judgment of my servant or [my] handmaid, when they pleaded with me;
Job 31:14 what then shall I do if the Lord should try me? and if also he should at all visit me, can I make an answer?
Job 31:15 Were not they too formed as I also was formed in the womb? yea, we were formed in the same womb.
Job 31:16 But the helpless missed not whatever need they had, and I did not cause the eye of the widow to fail.
Job 31:17 And if too I ate my morsel alone, and did not impart [of it] to the orphan;
Job 31:18 (for I nourished [them] as a father from my youth and guided [them] from my mother’s womb.)
Job 31:19 And if too I overlooked the naked as he was perishing, and did not clothe him;
Job 31:20 and if the poor did not bless me, and their shoulders were [not] warmed with the fleece of my lambs;
Job 31:21 if I lifted my hand against an orphan, trusting that my strength was far superior [to his]:
Job 31:22 let them my shoulder start from the blade-bone, and my arm be crushed off from the elbow.
Job 31:23 For the fear of the Lord constrained me, and I cannot bear up by reason of his burden.
Job 31:24 If I made gold my treasure, and if too I trusted the precious stone;
Job 31:25 and if too I rejoiced when my wealth was abundant, and if too I laid my hand on innumerable [treasures]:
Job 31:26 (do we not see the shining sun eclipsed, and the moon waning? for they have not [power to continue]:)
Job 31:27 and if my heart was secretly deceived, and if I have laid my hand upon my mouth and kissed it:
Job 31:28 let this also then be reckoned to me as the greatest iniquity: for I [should] have lied against the Lord Most High.
Job 31:29 And if too I was glad at the fall of mine enemies, and mine heart said, Aha!
Job 31:30 let then mine ear hear my curse, and let me be a byword among my people in my affliction.
Job 31:31 And if too my handmaids have often said, Oh that we might be satisfied with his flesh; (whereas I was very kind:
Job 31:32 for the stranger did not lodge without, and my door was opened to every one that came:
Job 31:33 or if too having sinned unintentionally, I hid my sin;
Job 31:34 (for I did not stand in awe of a great multitude, so as not to declare boldly before them: ) and if too I permitted a poor man to go out of my door with an empty bosom:
Job 31:35 (Oh that I had a hearer,) and if I had not feared the hand of the Lord; and [as to] the written charge which I had against any one,
Job 31:36 I would place [it] as a chaplet on my shoulders, and read it.
Job 31:37 And if I did not read it and return it, having taken nothing from the debtor:
Job 31:38 If at any time the land groaned against me, and if its furrows mourned together;
Job 31:39 and if I ate its strength alone without price, and if I too grieved the heart of the owner of the soil, by taking [aught] from [him]:
Job 31:40 then let the nettle come up to me instead of wheat, and a bramble instead of barley. And Job ceased speaking.
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Continues: Fragments from the Book of Job #5: chapters 32-37
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 6 so far )Fragments from the Book of Job #2: chapters 12-20
Etymologically the name Job could be related to the Hebrew word for “enemy,” with reference to either Job’s attitude to God or his response to suffering. The name might also be a contracted form of “Where is my father?”
In Fragments from the Book of Job #1: chapters 1-12 we could find the blameless and upright man in character, blessed in family and possessions, whose life embodied the fear of God both for himself and on behalf of his family (1:1–5). But then the adversaries and Job’s three friends (Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite) who came to offer sympathy and comfort, were trying to put the wrong doings from Job at the cause of his problems. These friends represent an oversimplified “orthodoxy,” based on a misreading of the wisdom tradition to the effect that all troubles are punishments for wrongdoing. Their “comfort” consists largely of applying this message to Job, urging him to identify his sin and repent of it. In so doing, these friends serve as a mirror for all readers who might be inclined to say similar things to people in distress.
An early engraving by Blake for the Book of Job
The book tries to to explain evil and placing the Universal deity that is omnibenevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient in it. Throughout the dialogue, Job tries to maintain that he is in the right while also arguing God’s character back to him in lament about why his righteousness and justice do not appear to be borne out in events on earth.
In the previous chapters a light is also shed on the wrong idea that there would be some after life. Job is aware that when we die it is finished and we become put in the ground not being able to do anything. We could look at death as Job describes it, namely as rest from the toil of life. ( Job 3:13–19) When we die we come into a state as if we sleep or as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light (Job 3:16). All cease from troubling, and there the weary can come at rest and be freed from each other and equal in the same position, to become dust. For man, when he is dead, perishes, and consumes away, what becomes of him? So man after he is asleep rises not, he shall not wake till the heavens be no more, nor rise out of his sleep. (Job 14:10-12) Therefore Job longs at a certain moment to be cut off of all his problems. so that he could rest from his suffering, knowing that he had not denied God (6:10). Job found his life unbearable on account of the empty comfort offered by his friends (6:14–30) and what he describes as the continued watchfulness of God (7:11–21).
Eliphaz wonders if Mortal Man can be in the Right before God. Jobs friends are arguing precisely that a righteous person can be in the right before God.
The friends assume that both Job’s circumstances and his response to them are indications that he is in the wrong before God and needs to acknowledge and repent of his sin. However, Job will insist not only that he is not guilty of some hidden iniquity but that it is God who ultimately has allowed and governed his circumstances. So he does not curse God’s name or accuse God of injustice but rather seeks an explanation or an account of his wrong doing.
Bildad wonders how it can be that when a man were blameless, he could show himself to be right before the God of justice (see 9:2)? And if shame and disaster are the fate of the wicked, how is it that the wicked so often appear to prosper in relative safety (see 12:6; 21:7)?
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Coverdale Bible
1535 by Miles Coverdale
Job Chapter 12
Job 12:2 Then (no doute) ye are the men alone, and wysdome shal perish with you.
Job 12:3 But I haue vnderstodinge as well as ye, and am no lesse then ye. Yee who knoweth not these thinges?
Job 12:4 Thus he that calleth vpo God, and whom God heareth, is mocked of his neghboure: the godly & innocent man is laughed to scorne.
Job 12:5 Godlynesse is a light despysed in ye hertes of the rich, & is set for them to stomble vpon.
Job 12:6 The houses of robbers are in wealth and prosperite, & they that maliciously medle agaynst God, dwel without care: yee God geueth all thinges richely with his honde.
Matthew’s Bible
1549 by John Rogers
Job 12:6 The houses of robbers are in wealth & prosperite, and they that maliciously medle agaynst God, dwell without care: ye God geueth all thinges rychely with hys hande.
Job 12:13 Ye with God is wysdome and strength, it is he that hath councell and forknowlege.
Job 12:14 If he breake downe a thinge, who can set it vp agayne? If he shut a thing, who wyll open it?
Job 12:15 Beholde, yf he witholde the waters, they drye vp: Yf he let them go, they destroye the earth.
Job 12:16 With hym is strength and wysdome: he knoweth bothe the disceyuer & hym that is disceyued.
Job 12:17 He caryeth awaye the wyse men, as it were a spoyle, and bringeth the iudges out of their wyttes.
Job 12:18 He lowseth the gyrdle of kynges, and gyrdeth theyr loynes with a bonde.
Job 12:19 He ledeth awaye the Preastes in to captyuyte, and turneth the myghtye vpsyde downe.
Job 12:20 He taketh the verite from out of the mouth, & disapoynteth the aged of their wysdome.
Job 12:21 He poureth out confusyon vpon Princes, and comforteth them that haue bene oppressed.
Job 12:22 Loke what lyeth hyd in darcknesse, he declareth it openly: and the very shadowe of death bringet he to lyght.
Job 12:23 He bothe increaseth the people, and destroyeth them: He maketh them to multiplye and driueth them awaye.
Job 12:24 He chaungeth the herte of the Princes and Kynges of the earth and disapoynteth them: so that they go wandringe out of the waye,
Job 12:25 & grope in the darcke without light, stackeringe to and fro lyke droncken men.
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Brenton Translation
1851 by Lancelot Brenton
Job Chapters 13-20
Job 13:1 Behold, mine eye has seen these things, and mine ear has heard [them].
Job 13:2 And I know all that ye too know; and I have not less understanding than you.
Job 13:3 Nevertheless I will speak to the Lord, and I will reason before him, if he will.
…
Job 13:6 But hear ye the reasoning of my mouth, and attend to the judgment of my lips.
Job 13:7 Do ye not speak before the Lord, and utter deceit before him?
Job 13:8 Or will ye draw back? nay do, ye yourselves be judges.
Job 13:9 For [it were] well if he would thoroughly search you: for though doing all things [in your power] ye should attach yourselves to him,
Job 13:10 he will not reprove you at all the less: but if moreover ye should secretly respect persons,
Job 13:11 shall not his whirlpool sweep you round, and terror from him fall upon you?
Job 13:12 And your glorying shall prove in the end to you like ashes, and your body [like a body] of clay.
…
Job 13:15 Though the Mighty One should lay hand upon me, forasmuch as he has begun, verily I will speak, and plead before him.
Job 13:16 And this shall turn to me for salvation; for fraud shall have no entrance before him.
Job 13:17 Hear, hear ye my words, for I will declare in your hearing.
Job 13:18 Behold, I am near my judgment: I know that I shall appear evidently just.
Job 13:19 For who is he that shall plead with me, that I should now be silent, and expire?
Job 13:20 But grant me two things: then I will not hide myself from thy face.
Job 13:21 Withhold [thine] hand from me: and let not thy fear terrify me.
Job 13:22 Then shalt thou call, and I will hearken to thee: or thou shalt speak, and I will give thee an answer.
Job 13:23 How many are my sins and my transgressions? teach me what they are.
Job 13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thyself from me, and deemest me thine enemy?
Job 13:25 Wilt thou be startled [at me], as [at] a leaf shaken by the wind? or wilt thou set thyself against me as against grass borne upon the breeze?
Job 13:26 for thou hast written evil things against me, and thou hast compassed me with the sins of my youth.
Job 13:27 And thou hast placed my foot in the stocks; and thou hast watched all my works, and hast penetrated my heels.
Job 13:28 [I am as] that which waxes old like a bottle, or like a moth-eaten garment.
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Job 14:1 For a mortal born of a woman [is] short lived, and full of wrath.
Job 14:2 Or he falls like a flower that has bloomed; and he departs like a shadow, and cannot continue.
Job 14:3 Hast thou not taken account even of him, and caused him to enter into judgment before thee?
Job 14:4 For who shall be pure from uncleanness? not even one;
Job 14:5 if even his life should be [but] one day upon the earth: and his months are numbered by him: thou hast appointed [him] for a time, and he shall by no means exceed [it].
Job 14:6 Depart from him, that he may be quiet, and take pleasure in his life, [though] as a hireling.
Job 14:7 For there is hope for a tree, even if it should be cut down, [that] it shall blossom again, and its branch shall not fail.
Job 14:8 For though its root should grow old in the earth, and its stem die in the rock;
Job 14:9 it will blossom from the scent of water, and will produce a crop, as one newly planted.
Job 14:10 But a man that has died is utterly gone; and when a mortal has fallen, he is no more.
Job 14:11 For the sea wastes in [length of] time, and a river fails and is dried up.
Job 14:12 And man that has lain down [in death] shall certainly not rise again till the heaven be dissolved, and they shall not awake from their sleep.
Job 14:13 For oh that thou hadst kept me in the grave, and hadst hidden me until thy wrath should cease, and thou shouldest set me a time in which thou wouldest remember me!
Job 14:14 For if a man should die, shall he live [again], having accomplished the days of his life? I will wait till I exist again?
Job 14:15 Then shalt thou call, and I will hearken to thee: but do not thou reject the work of thine hands.
Job 14:16 But thou hast numbered my devices: and not one of my sins shall escape thee?
Job 14:17 An thou hast sealed up my transgressions in a bag, and marked if I have been guilty of any transgression unawares.
Job 14:18 And verily a mountain falling will utterly be destroyed, and a rock shall be worn out of its place.
Job 14:19 The waters wear the stones, and waters falling headlong [overflow] a heap of the earth: and thou destroyest the hope of man.
Job 14:20 Thou drivest him to an end, and he is gone: thou settest thy face against him, and sendest him away;
Job 14:21 and though his children be multiplied, he knows [it] not; and if they be few, he is not aware.
Job 14:22 But his flesh is in pain, and his soul mourns.
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Job 15:1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,
Job 15:2 Will a wise man give for answer a [mere] breath of wisdom? and does he fill up the pain of his belly,
Job 15:3 reasoning with improper sayings, and with words wherein is no profit?
Job 15:4 Hast not thou moreover cast off fear, and accomplished such words before the Lord?
Job 15:5 Thou art guilty by the words of thy mouth, neither hast thou discerned the words of the mighty.
Job 15:6 Let thine own mouth, and not me, reprove thee: and thy lips shall testify against thee.
Job 15:7 What! art thou the first man that was born? or wert thou established before the hills?
Job 15:8 Or hast thou heard the ordinance of the Lord? or has God used thee as [his] counsellor? and has wisdom come [only] to thee?
Job 15:9 For what knowest thou, that, we know not? or what understandest thou, which we do not also?
Job 15:10 Truly among us [are] both the old and very aged man, more advanced in days than thy father.
Job 15:11 Thou hast been scourged for [but] few of thy sins: thou hast spoken haughtily [and] extravagantly.
Job 15:12 What has thine heart dared? or what have thine eyes [aimed at],
Job 15:13 that thou hast vented [thy] rage before the Lord, and delivered such words from [thy] mouth?
Job 15:14 For who, being a mortal, [is such] that he shall be blameless? or, [who that is] born of a woman, that he should be just?
Job 15:15 Forasmuch as he trusts not his saints; and the heaven is not pure before him.
Job 15:16 Alas then, abominable and unclean is man, drinking unrighteousness as a draught.
Job 15:17 But I will tell thee, hearken to me; I will tell thee now what I have seen;
Job 15:18 things wise men say, and their fathers have not hidden.
Job 15:19 To them alone the earth was given, and no stranger came upon them.
Job 15:20 All the life of the ungodly [is spent] in care, and the years granted to the oppressor are numbered.
Job 15:21 And his terror is in his ears: just when he seems to be at peace, his overthrow will come.
Job 15:22 Let him not trust that he shall return from darkness, for he has been already made over to the power of the sword.
Job 15:23 And he has been appointed to be food for vultures; and he knows within himself that he is doomed to be a carcass: and a dark day shall carry him away as with a whirlwind.
Job 15:24 Distress also and anguish shall come upon him: he shall fall as a captain in the first rank.
Job 15:25 For he has lifted his hands against the Lord, and he has hardened his neck against the Almighty Lord.
Job 15:26 And he has run against him with insolence, on the thickness of the back of his shield.
Job 15:27 For he has covered his face with his fat, and made layers of fat upon his thighs.
Job 15:28 And let him lodge in desolate cities, and enter into houses without inhabitant: and what they have prepared, others shall carry away.
Job 15:29 Neither shall he at all grow rich, nor shall his substance remain: he shall not cast a shadow upon the earth.
Job 15:30 Neither shall he in any wise escape the darkness: let the wind blast his blossom, and let his flower fall off.
Job 15:31 Let him not think that he shall endure; for his end shall be vanity.
Job 15:32 His harvest shall perish before the time, and his branch shall not flourish.
Job 15:33 And let him be gathered as the unripe grape before the time, and let him fall as the blossom of the olive.
Job 15:34 For death is the witness of an ungodly man, and fire shall burn the houses of them that receive gifts.
Job 15:35 And he shall conceive sorrows, and his end shall be vanity, and his belly shall bear deceit.
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Job 16:1 But Job answered and said,
Job 16:2 I have heard many such things: poor comforters are ye all.
Job 16:3 What! is there any reason in vain words? or what will hinder thee from answering?
Job 16:4 I also will speak as ye [do]: if indeed your soul were in my [soul’s] stead, (16:5) then would I insult you with words, and I would shake my head at you.
Job 16:5 (16:6) And would there were strength in my mouth, and I would not spare the movement of my lips.
Job 16:6 (16:7) For if I should speak, I shall not feel the pain of my wound: and if I should be silent, how shall I be wounded the less?
Job 16:7 (16:8) But now he has made me weary, and a worn-out fool; and thou hast laid hold of me.
Job 16:8 (16:9) My falsehood has become a testimony, and has risen up against me: it has confronted me to my face.
Job 16:9 (16:10) In his anger he has cast me down; he has gnashed his teeth upon me: the weapons of his robbers have fallen upon me.
Job 16:10 (16:11) He has attacked me with the keen glances of his eyes; with his sharp [spear] he has smitten me [down] upon my knees; and they have run upon me with one accord.
Job 16:11 (16:12) For the Lord has delivered me into the hands of unrighteous men, and thrown me upon the ungodly.
Job 16:12 (16:13) When I was at peace he distracted me: he took me by the hair of the head, and plucked it out: he set me up as a mark.
Job 16:13 (16:14) They surrounded me with spears, aiming at my reins: without sparing [me] they poured out my gall upon the ground.
Job 16:14 (16:15) They overthrew me with fall upon fall: they ran upon me in [their] might.
Job 16:15 (16:16) They sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and my strength has been spent on the ground.
Job 16:16 (16:17) My belly has been parched with wailing, and darkness is on my eyelids.
Job 16:17 (16:18) Yet there was no injustice in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
Job 16:18 (16:19) Earth, cover not over the blood of my flesh, and let my cry have no place.
Job 16:19 (16:20) And now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high.
Job 16:20 (16:21) Let my supplication come to the Lord, and let mine eye weep before him.
Job 16:21 (16:22) Oh that a man might plead before the Lord, even [as] the son of man with his neighbor!
Job 16:22 (16:23) But my years are numbered and [their end] come, and I shall go by the way by which I shall not return.
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Job 17:1 I perish, carried away by the wind, and I seek for burial, and obtain [it] not.
Job 17:2 Weary I intreat; and what have I done? and strangers have stolen my goods.
Job 17:3 Who is this? let him join hands with me.
Job 17:4 For thou hast hid their heart from wisdom; therefore thou shalt not exalt them.
Job 17:5 He shall promise mischief to [his] companions: but [their] eyes have failed for [their] children.
Job 17:6 But thou has made me a byword amount the nations, and I am become a scorn to them.
Job 17:7 For my eyes are dimmed through pain; I have been grievously beset by all.
Job 17:8 Wonder has seized true men upon this; and let the just rise up against the transgressor.
Job 17:9 But let the faithful hold on his own way, and let him that is pure of hands take courage.
Job 17:10 Howbeit, do ye all strengthen [yourselves] and come now, for I do not find truth in you.
Job 17:11 My days have passed in groaning, and my heart-strings are broken.
Job 17:12 I have turned the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
Job 17:13 For if I remain, Hades is my habitation: and my bed has been made in darkness.
Job 17:14 I have called upon death to be my father, and corruption [to be] my mother and sister.
Job 17:15 Where then is yet my hope? or [where] shall I see my good?
Job 17:16 Will they go down with me to Hades, or shall we go down together to the tomb?
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Job 18:1 Then Baldad the Sauchite answered and said,
Job 18:2 How long wilt thou continue? forbear, that we also may speak.
Job 18:3 For wherefore have we been silent before thee like brutes?
Job 18:4 Anger has possessed thee: for what if thou shouldest die; would [the earth] under heaven be desolate? or shall the mountains be overthrown from their foundations?
Job 18:5 But the light of the ungodly shall be quenched, and their flame shall not go up.
Job 18:6 His light [shall be] darkness in [his] habitation, and his lamp shall be put out with him.
Job 18:7 Let the meanest of men spoil his goods, and let his counsel deceive [him].
Job 18:8 His foot also has been caught in a snare, [and] let it be entangled in a net.
Job 18:9 And let snares come upon him: he shall strengthen those that thirst for his destruction.
Job 18:10 His snare is hid in the earth, and that which shall take him is by the path.
Job 18:11 Let pains destroy him round about, and let many [enemies] come about him,
Job 18:12 [vex him] with distressing hunger: and a signal destruction has been prepared for him.
Job 18:13 Let the soles of his feet be devoured: and death shall consume his beauty.
Job 18:14 And let health be utterly banished from his tabernacle, and let distress seize upon him with a charge from the king.
Job 18:15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle in his night: his excellency shall be sown with brimstone.
Job 18:16 His roots shall be dried up from beneath, and his crop shall fall away from above.
Job 18:17 Let his memorial perish out of the earth, and his name shall be publicly cast out.
Job 18:18 Let [one] drive him from light into darkness.
Job 18:19 He shall not be known among his people, nor his house preserved on the earth.
Job 18:20 But strangers shall dwell in his possessions: the last groaned for him, and wonder seized the first.
Job 18:21 These are the houses of the unrighteous, and this is the place of them that know not the Lord.
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Job 19:1 Then Job answered and said,
Job 19:2 How long will ye vex my soul, and destroy me with words? only know that the Lord has dealt with me thus.
Job 19:3 Ye speak against me; ye do not feel for me, but bear hard upon me.
Job 19:4 Yea verily, I have erred in truth, (but the error abides with myself) (19:4A) in having spoken words which it was not right [to speak]; and my words err, and are unreasonable.
Job 19:5 But alas! for ye magnify yourselves against me, and insult me with reproach.
Job 19:6 Know then that it is the Lord that has troubled [me], and has raised his bulwark against me.
Job 19:7 Behold, I laugh at reproach; I will not speak: [or] I will cry out, but [there is] nowhere judgment.
Job 19:8 I am fenced round about, and can by no means escape: he has set darkness before my face.
Job 19:9 And he has stripped me of my glory, and has taken the crown from my head.
Job 19:10 He has torn me around about, and I am gone: and he has cut off my hope like a tree.
Job 19:11 And he has dreadfully handled me in anger, and has counted me for an enemy.
Job 19:12 His troops also came upon me with one accord, liars in wait compassed my ways.
Job 19:13 My brethren have stood aloof from me; they have recognized strangers [rather] than me: and my friends have become pitiless.
Job 19:14 My nearest of kin have not acknowledged me, and they that knew my name, have forgotten me.
Job 19:15 [As for] my household, and my maid-servants, I was a stranger before them.
Job 19:16 I called my servant, and he hearkened not; and my mouth intreated [him].
Job 19:17 And I besought my wife, and earnestly intreated the sons of my concubines.
Job 19:18 But they rejected me for ever; whenever I rise up, they speak against me.
Job 19:19 They that saw me abhorred me: the very persons whom I had loved, rose up against me.
Job 19:20 My flesh is corrupt under my skin, and my bones are held in [my] teeth.
Job 19:21 Pity me, pity me, O friends; for it is the hand of the Lord that has touched me.
Job 19:22 Wherefore do ye persecute me as also the Lord [does], and are not satisfied with my flesh?
Job 19:23 For oh that my words were written, and that they were recorded in a book forever,
Job 19:24 with an iron pen and lead, or graven in the rocks!
Job 19:25 For I know that he is eternal who is about to deliver me,
Job 19:26 [and] to raise up upon the earth my skin that endures these [sufferings]: for these things have been accomplished to me of the Lord;
Job 19:27 which I am conscious of in myself, which mine eye has seen, and not another, but all have been fulfilled to me in [my] bosom.
Job 19:28 But if ye shall also say, What shall we say before him, and [so] find the root of the matter in him?
Job 19:29 Do ye also beware of deceit: for wrath will come upon transgressors; and then shall they know where their substance is.
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Job 20:1 Then Sophar the Minaean answered and said,
Job 20:2 I did not suppose that thou wouldest answer thus: neither do ye understand more than I.
Job 20:3 I will hear my shameful reproach; and the spirit of my understanding answers me.
Job 20:4 Hast thou [not] known these things of old, from the time that man was set upon the earth?
Job 20:5 But the mirth of the ungodly is a signal downfall, and the joy of transgressors is destruction:
Job 20:6 although his gifts should go up to heaven, and his sacrifice reach the clouds.
Job 20:7 For when he shall seem to be now established, then he shall utterly perish: and they that knew him shall say, Where is he?
Job 20:8 Like a dream that has fled away, he shall not be found; and he has fled like a vision of the night.
Job 20:9 The eye has looked upon him, but shall not [see him] again; and his place shall no longer perceive him.
Job 20:10 Let [his] inferiors destroy his children, and let his hands kindle the fire of sorrow.
Job 20:11 His bones have been filled with [vigour of] his youth, and it shall lie down with him in the dust.
Job 20:12 Though evil be sweet in his mouth, [though] he will hide it under his tongue;
Job 20:13 though he will not spare it, and will not leave it, but will keep it in the midst of his throat:
Job 20:14 yet he shall not at all be able to help himself; the gall of an asp is in his belly.
Job 20:15 [His] wealth unjustly collected shall be vomited up; a messenger [of] [wrath] shall drag him out of his house.
Job 20:16 And let him suck the poison of serpents, and let the serpent’s tongue slay him.
Job 20:17 Let him not see the milk of the pastures, nor the supplies of honey and butter.
Job 20:18 He has laboured unprofitably and in vain, [for] wealth of which he shall not taste: [it is] as a lean thing, unfit for food, which he cannot swallow.
Job 20:19 For he has broken down the houses of many mighty men: and he has plundered an habitation, though he built [it] not.
Job 20:20 There is no security to his possessions; he shall not be saved by his desire.
Job 20:21 There is nothing remaining of his provisions; therefore his goods shall not flourish.
Job 20:22 But when he shall seem to be just satisfied, he shall be straitened; and all distress shall come upon him.
Job 20:23 If by any means he would fill his belly, let [God] send upon him the fury of wrath; let him bring a torrent of pains upon him.
Job 20:24 And he shall by no means escape from the power of the sword; let the brazen bow wound him.
Job 20:25 And let the arrow pierce through his body; and let the stars be against his dwelling-place: let terrors come upon him.
Job 20:26 And let all darkness wait for him: a fire that burns not out shall consume him; and let a stranger plague his house.
Job 20:27 And let the heaven reveal his iniquities, and the earth rise up against him.
Job 20:28 Let destruction bring his house to an end; let a day of wrath come upon him.
Job 20:29 This is the portion of an ungodly man from the Lord, and the possession of his goods [appointed him] by the all-seeing [God].
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° Hades, the underground, Sjeool/Sheol = the grave or the place of : break down, corrupt, decompose, disintegrate, fester, foul, mold, molder, perish, putrefy, rot, spoil, a place where Jesus also went for three days.
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