¹And Job answered and said,

²No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.

³But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?

⁴I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.

⁵He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.

⁶The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.

⁷But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:

⁸Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.

⁹Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?

¹⁰In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

¹¹Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?

¹²With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.

¹³With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.

¹⁴Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.

¹⁵Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.

¹⁶With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.

¹⁷He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools.

¹⁸He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle.

¹⁹He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty.

²⁰He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged.

²¹He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.

²²He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.

²³He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again.

²⁴He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

²⁵They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.

¹Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it.

²What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you.

³Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.

⁴But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.

⁵O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.

⁶Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.

⁷Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?

⁸Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?

⁹Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him?

¹⁰He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.

¹¹Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?

¹²Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.

¹³Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will.

¹⁴Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?

¹⁵Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

¹⁶He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.

¹⁷Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.

¹⁸Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.

¹⁹Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.

²⁰Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee.

²¹Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.

²²Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.

²³How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.

²⁴Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?

²⁵Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?

²⁶For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.

²⁷Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.

²⁸And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.

¹Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.

²He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

³And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?

⁴Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.

⁵Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;

⁶Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.

⁷For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

⁸Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;

⁹Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.

¹⁰But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?

¹¹As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:

¹²So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.

¹³O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!

¹⁴If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

¹⁵Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.

¹⁶For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?

¹⁷My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.

¹⁸And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place.

¹⁹The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.

²⁰Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.

²¹His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.

²²But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.

¹Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:

²Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

⁴Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

⁵For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

⁶And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

⁷And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

⁸For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:

⁹But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

¹⁰Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;

¹¹Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

¹²For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.

¹³For we write none other things unto you, than what ye read or acknowledge; and I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end;

¹⁴As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁵And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit;

¹⁶And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judaea.

¹⁷When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay?

¹⁸But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.

¹⁹For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.

²⁰For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

²¹Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;

²²Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

²³Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth.

²⁴Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.