Day 233 of 730

¹Job again took up his parable, and said,

²"Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;

³when his lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,

⁴as I was in the ripeness of my days, when the friendship of God was in my tent,

⁵when the Almighty was yet with me, and my children were around me,

⁶when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out streams of oil for me,

⁷when I went forth to the city gate, when I prepared my seat in the street.

⁸The young men saw me and hid themselves. The aged rose up and stood.

⁹The princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.

¹⁰The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

¹¹For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it commended me:

¹²Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had none to help him,

¹³the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a diadem.

¹⁵I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the needy. The cause of him who I did not know, I searched out.

¹⁷I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the prey out of his teeth.

¹⁸Then I said, 'I shall die in my own house, I shall number my days as the sand.

¹⁹My root is spread out to the waters. The dew lies all night on my branch.

²⁰My glory is fresh in me. My bow is renewed in my hand.'

²¹"Men listened to me, waited, and kept silence for my counsel.

²²After my words they did not speak again. My speech fell on them.

²³They waited for me as for the rain. Their mouths drank as with the spring rain.

²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence. They did not reject the light of my face.

²⁵I chose out their way, and sat as chief. I lived as a king in the army, as one who comforts the mourners.

¹"But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.

²Of what use is the strength of their hands to me, men in whom ripe age has perished?

³They are gaunt from lack and famine. They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation.

⁴They pluck salt herbs by the bushes. The roots of the broom are their food.

⁵They are driven out from the midst of men. They cry after them as after a thief;

⁶So that they dwell in frightful valleys, and in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

⁷Among the bushes they bray; and under the nettles they are gathered together.

⁸They are children of fools, yes, children of base men. They were flogged out of the land.

⁹"Now I have become their song. Yes, I am a byword to them.

¹⁰They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and do not hesitate to spit in my face.

¹¹For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me; and they have thrown off restraint before me.

¹²On my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet, They cast up against me their ways of destruction.

¹³They mar my path, They set forward my calamity, without anyone's help.

¹⁴As through a wide breach they come, in the midst of the ruin they roll themselves in.

¹⁵Terrors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.

¹⁶"Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold on me.

¹⁷In the night season my bones are pierced in me, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.

¹⁸By great force is my garment disfigured. It binds me about as the collar of my coat.

¹⁹He has cast me into the mire. I have become like dust and ashes.

²⁰I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me.

²¹You have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me.

²²You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You dissolve me in the storm.

²³For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.

²⁴"However doesn't one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?

²⁵Did I not weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn't my soul grieved for the needy?

²⁶When I looked for good, then evil came; When I waited for light, there came darkness.

²⁷My heart is troubled, and doesn't rest. Days of affliction have come on me.

²⁸I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.

²⁹I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.

³⁰My skin grows black and peels from me. My bones are burned with heat.

³¹Therefore my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.

¹God, do not keep silent. Do not keep silent, and do not be still, God.

²For, behold, your enemies are stirred up. Those who hate you have lifted up their heads.

³They conspire with cunning against your people. They plot against your cherished ones.

⁴"Come," they say, "and let's destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more."

⁵For they have conspired together with one mind. They form an alliance against you.

⁶The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab, and the Hagrites;

⁷Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;

⁸Assyria also is joined with them. They have helped the children of Lot. Selah.

⁹Do to them as you did to Midian, as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the river Kishon;

¹⁰who perished at Endor, who became as dung for the earth.

¹¹Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb; yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna;

¹²who said, "Let us take possession of God's pasturelands."

¹³My God, make them like tumbleweed; like chaff before the wind.

¹⁴As the fire that burns the forest, as the flame that sets the mountains on fire,

¹⁵so pursue them with your tempest, and terrify them with your storm.

¹⁶Fill their faces with confusion, that they may seek your name, Lord.

¹⁷Let them be disappointed and dismayed forever. Yes, let them be confounded and perish;

¹⁸that they may know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.

¹The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

²All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weighs the motives.

³Commit your deeds to the Lord, and your plans shall succeed.

⁴The Lord has made everything for its own end- yes, even the wicked for the day of evil.

⁵Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: they shall certainly not be unpunished.

⁶By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for. By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.

⁷When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

⁸Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues with injustice.

⁹A man's heart plans his course, but the Lord directs his steps.

¹⁰Inspired judgments are on the lips of the king. He shall not betray his mouth.

¹¹Honest balances and scales are the Lord's; all the weights in the bag are his work.

¹²It is an abomination for kings to do wrong, for the throne is established by righteousness.

¹³Righteous lips are the delight of kings. They value one who speaks the truth.

¹⁴The king's wrath is a messenger of death, but a wise man will pacify it.

¹⁵In the light of the king's face is life. His favor is like a cloud of the spring rain.

¹⁶How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! Yes, to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

¹⁷The highway of the upright is to depart from evil. He who keeps his way preserves his soul.

¹⁸Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

¹⁹It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor, than to divide the plunder with the proud.

²⁰He who heeds the Word finds prosperity. Whoever trusts in the Lord is blessed.

²¹The wise in heart shall be called prudent. Pleasantness of the lips promotes instruction.

²²Understanding is a fountain of life to one who has it, but the punishment of fools is their folly.

²³The heart of the wise instructs his mouth, and adds learning to his lips.

²⁴Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

²⁵There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

²⁶The appetite of the laboring man labors for him; for his mouth urges him on.

²⁷A worthless man devises mischief. His speech is like a scorching fire.

²⁸A perverse man stirs up strife. A whisperer separates close friends.

²⁹A man of violence entices his neighbor, and leads him in a way that is not good.

³⁰One who winks his eyes to plot perversities, one who compresses his lips, is bent on evil.

³¹Gray hair is a crown of glory. It is attained by a life of righteousness.

³²One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty; one who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city.

³³The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.