32 He shall not complete his time;

· And his branches shall not be green.

33' He shall cast his unripe fruit as the vine, 'And shed his blossoms like the olive.

34 For the community of hypocrites shall be desolate; And fire shall consume the tents of bribery.

1 But Job answered, and said.

2 Many such things as these have I heard! Miserable comforters are ye all!

3 Will there be an end to words of wind?

Or what has provoked thee to answer thus? 4 I also could speak as ye do;

If ye were now in my place

I could string together words against you,
And could shake my head at you.

5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth,
And the moving of my lips should sustain you

6 If I speak, my grief is not staid;

If I forbear, how does it depart from me?

7 For now He hath quite exhausted me;

Thou hast made desolate all my house.

8 For thou hast compressed me, and this is a witness against me And my leanness rises up against me, and accuses me to my face. 9 In his anger he teareth me, and is become my adversary; He gnashes upon me with his teeth;

Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.

10 They gape upon me with their mouth; In scorn they smite my cheek;

They have conspired together against me.

11 God hath made me a captive to the unrighteous;

And into the hands of the wicked hath he delivered me.

12 Happy was I-but he crushed me;

He seized me by the neck, and shook me;

He set me up for a mark.

13 His archers came around me;

He transfixed my reins, and did not spare;

My gall hath he poured out upon the ground. 14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach; He rusheth upon me like a mighty man. 15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin; And degraded my horn in the dust.

16 My face is swollen with grief;

And on my eyelids is the shadow of death. 17 Not because there has been injustice in my hands; And my prayer hath been pure.

18 O earth, cover not my blood,

Let there be no hiding-place for my cry, 19 Also now behold my evidence is in heaven; My witness is on high.

20 My friends are but mockers;

Mine eye looketh with tears unto God.

21 O that a man might be permitted to contend with God As the offspring of man does with his neighbor.

22 For the numbered years pass away,

And I am going the way whence I shall not return.

CHAP. XVII.

1 My spirit is exhausted; My days are at an end;

The grave waits for me.

2 Are there not mockers with me?

And doth not mine eye rest upon their provocations? 3 Lay down now [O God a pledge],

Give security for me [in the controversy] with thee;

Who is he that will strike hands with me?

4 Behold, thou hast hid their heart from understanding; Therefore thou shalt not exalt them.

5 He who discloses his friends to the prey,

The eyes of his children shall fail.

6 Me he has placed for a by-word among the people ;

I am an object of scorn before their face.

7 Mine eye is dim with sorrow,

And all my limbs are like a shadow.

8 The upright shall be amazed at this;

And the innocent will rouse himself against the wicked.

9 The righteous will hold on his way,

And he that hath clean hands will become stronger and stronger

10 As for you all, return, and come, I pray,

And I shall not find among you one wise man

11 My days are passed;

My plans are at an end

The cherished purposes of my heart.

12 Night has become day to me;

The light bordereth on darkness.

13 Truly I look to Sheol as my home;

My bed I spread in the place of darkness. 14 To corruption I say, 'Thou art my father; To the worm, My mother, and my sister.' 15 And where now is my hope?

And who will see my hope fulfilled?

16 To the bars of Sheol they must descend, Yea, we shall descend together to the dust.

CHAPTER XVIII.

The second series of the controversy continued.

THE REPLY OF BILDAD TO JOB,

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: 2 How long will it be ere you make an end of words? Use sound arguments, and then we will speak.

3 Why are we regarded as brutes,

And reputed vile in your sight?

4 O Thou that tearest thyself in thine anger! Must the earth be deserted for thee,

And the rock removed from its place?

5 Behold, the light of the wicked shall be put out; The flame of his fire shall not shine.

6 Light shall turn to darkness in his tent,

And his lamp over him shall be extinguished.

7 His strong steps shall be straitened,

And his own plans shall cast him down.

8 For he is brought into the net by his own feet, And into the pitfall'he walks.

9 The snare takes him by the heel,

And the gin takes fast hold of him.

10 A net is secretly laid for him in the ground, And a trap for him in the pathway.

11 Terrors alarm him on every side,

And harass him at his heels.

12 His strength shall be exhausted by hunger, And destruction shall seize upon his side.

13 It shall devour the vigor of his frame,

The first-born of death shall devour his limbs.

14 His hope shall be rooted out of his tent,

And he shall be brought to the King of Terrors.

15 [Terror] shall dwell in his tent-for it is no longer his;

Sulphur shall be scattered upon his habitation. 16 His roots below, are dried up;

Above, his branches are withered.

17 His memory shall perish from the earth,

And no name shall he have in public places. 18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, And they shall drive him out of the world.

19 He shall have no son or kinsman among the people,
And there shall be no survivor in his dwelling-place.
20 The dwellers in the East shall be astonished at his day;
They in the West shall be struck with horror.

21 Such are the dwellings of the impious man,
And this the place of him that knows not God.

3 These ten times have ye reviled me,

You are not ashamed to stun me [with reproaches].

4 And be it, indeed, that I have erred;

My error remaineth with myself.

5 Since ye do indeed magnify yourselves against me,

And urge vehemently against me this which is [the ground of] my reproach,

6 Know now that it is God who has overthrown me;

He hath encircled me with his net.

7 Lo, I complain of violence, but I receive no answer;

I cry aloud. but there is no justice.

8 My way he hath hedged up so that I cannot pass,