2 Therefore various thoughts succeed 25 The sword is drawn out, and cometh one another in me; and my mind is hurried forth from its scabbard, and glittereth in away to different things. his bitterness: the terrible ones shall go

3 The doctrine with which thou reprov-and come upon him. est me, I will hear; and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me.

4 This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon the earth,

5 That the praise of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.

6 If his pride mount up even to heaven, and his head touch the clouds:

7 In the end he shall be destroyed like a dunghill: and they that had seen him, shall say: Where is he?

8 As a dream that fleeth away he shall not be found; he shall pass as a vision of the night:

9 The eyes that had seen him, shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

10 His children shall be oppressed with

26 All darkness is hid in his secret places: a fire that is not kindled shall devour him: he shall be afflicted when left in his tabernacle.

27 The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.

28 The offspring of his house shall be exposed, he shall be pulled down in the day of God's wrath.

29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his doings from the Lord.

CHAP. XXI.

Job shews that the wicked often prosper in this world, even to the end of their life; but that their judgment is in another world.

THEN Job answered, and said:

want; and his hands shall render to him his 12 Hear, I beseech you, my words, and

sorrow.

11 His bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth; and they shall sleep with him in the dust.

12 For when evil shall be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue. 13 He will spare it, and not leave it; and will hide it in his throat.

14 His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him.

15 The riches which he hath swallowed, he shall vomit up and God shall draw them out of his belly.

16 He shall suck the head of asps; and the viper's tongue shall kill him.

17 (Let him not see the streams of the river, the brooks of honey and of butter.)

do penance.

3 Suffer me, and I will speak; and after, if you please, laugh at my words.

4 Is my debate against man, that I should not have just reason to be troubled?

5 Hearken to me and be astonished; and lay your finger on your mouth.

6 As for me, when I remember, I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.

7 Why then do the wicked live, are they advanced, and strengthened with riches? 8 Their seed continueth before them, a multitude of kinsmen, and of children's children in their sight.

9 Their houses are secure and peaceable: and the rod of God is not upon them. 18 He shall be punished for all that he 10 Their cattle have conceived, and faildid, and yet shall not be consumed: ac-ed not: their cow hath calved, and is not cording to the multitude of his devices,* so deprived of her fruit. also shall he suffer.

19 Because he broke in and stript the poor: he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build.

11 Their little ones go out like a flock; and their children dance and play.

12 They take the timbrel, and the harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. 13 They spend their days in wealth, and

20 And yet his belly was not filled: and when he hath the things he coveted, he in a moment they go down to hell:

shall not be able to possess them.

14 Who have said to God: Depart from 21 There was nothing left of his meatus, we desire not the knowledge of thy and therefore nothing shall continue of his ways. goods:

22 When he shall be filled, he shall be straitened, he shall burn, and every sorrow shall fall upon him.

23 May his belly be filled, that God may send forth the wrath of his indignation upon him, and rain down his war upon him.

24 He shall flee from weapons of iron, and shall fall upon a bow of brass.

15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what doth it profit us if we pray to him?

16 Yet because their good things are not in their hand, may the counsel of the wicked be far from me.

17 How often shall the lamp of the wicked be put out, and a deluge come upon them, and he shall distribute the sorrows of his wrath?

† According to the multitude of his devices. 18 They shall be as chaff before the face That is, his stratagems to gratify his pas-of the wind, and as ashes which the whirlsions, and to oppress and destroy the poor.wind scattereth.

19 God shall lay up the sorrow of the 5 And not for thy manifold wickedness, father for his children: and when he shall and thy infinite iniquities? repay, then shall he know.

6 For thou hast taken away the pledge 20 His eyes shall see his own destruction, of thy brethren without cause, and stript and he shall drink of the wrath of the Al-the naked of their clothing. mighty. 7 Thou hast not given water to the weary; 21 For what is it to him what befalleth thou hast withdrawn bread from the hunhis house after him: and if the number of gry. his months be diminished by one half?

22 Shall any one teach God knowledge, who judgeth those that are high?

23 One man dieth strong and hale, rich|| and happy:

8 In the strength of thy arm thou didst possess the land; and being the most mighty thou holdedst it.

9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless thou hast

24 His bowels are full of fat, and his broken in pieces. bones are moistened with marrow.

10 Therefore art thou surrounded with

25 But another dieth in bitterness of soul snares, and sudden fear troubleth thee. without any riches:

26 And yet they shall sleep together in the dust, and worms shall cover them.

11 And didst thou think that thou shouldst not see darkness, and that thou shouldst not be covered with the violence of overflow.

27 Surely I know your thoughts, and ing waters? your unjust judgments against me.

12 Dost not thou think that God is higher 28 For you say: Where is the house of than heaven, and is elevated above the the prince? and where are the dwelling-height of the stars? places of the wicked?

13 And thou sayst: What doth God 29 Ask any one of them that go by the know? and he judgeth as it were through a way, and you shall perceive that he know-mist. eth these same things.

30 Because the wicked man is reserved to the day of destruction, and he shall be brought to the day of wrath.

31 Who shall reprove his way to his face and who shall repay him what he hath done? 32 He shall be brought to the graves, and shall watch in the heap of the dead.

14 The clouds are his covert; and he doth not consider our things; and he walketh about the poles of heaven.

15 Dost thou desire to keep the path of ages, which wicked men have trodden?

16 Who were taken away before their time, and a flood hath overthrown their foundation:

33 He hath been* acceptable to the gravel 17 Who said to God: Depart from us; of Cocytus; and he shall draw every man and looked upon the Almighty as if he after him, and there are innumerable be- could do nothing:

fore him.

18 Whereas he had filled their houses 34 How then do ye comfort me in vain, with good things; whose way of thinking whereas your answer is shewn to be repug. be far from me. nant to truth?

CHAP. XXII.

19 The just shall see, and shall rejoice: and the innocent shall laugh them to scorn. 20 Is not their exaltation cut down, and hath not fire. devoured the remnants of

Eliphaz falsely imputes many crimes to Job;
but promises him prosperity if he will repent. them?
THEN
HEN Eliphaz the Themanite answer-
ed, and said:

2 Can man be compared with God, even
though he were of perfect knowledge?
3 What doth it profit God if thou be just
or what dost thou give him if thy way be
unspotted?

4 Shall he reprove thee for fear, and come with thee into judgment:

21 Submit thyself then to him, and be at peace and thereby thou shalt have the best fruits.

22 Receive the law of his mouth; and lay up his words in thy heart.

23 If thou wilt return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, and shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle.

24 He shall give for earth flint, and for flint torrents of gold.

25 And the Almighty shall be against thy enemies; and silver shall be heaped together for thee.

Acceptable to the gravel of Cocytus. The Hebrew word, which St. Jerome has here rendered by the name Cocytus (which the poets represent as a river in hell;, signifies 26 Then shalt thou abound in delights in a valley or a torrent: and in this place, is the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face to taken for the low region of death and hell: God.

which willingly, as it were, receives the 27 Thou shalt pray to him, and he will wicked at their death; who are ushered inear thee; and thou shalt pay vows.

by innumerable others that have gone be 28 Thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall fore them, and are followed by multitudes come to thee; and light shall shine in thy above number. ways.

29 For he that hath been humbled shall 4 They have overturned the way of the be in glory and he that shall bow down poor, and have oppressed together the meek his eyes, shall be saved. of the earth.

30 The innocent shall be saved; and he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands. CHAP. XXIII.

Job wishes to be tried at God's tribunal. HEN Job answered, and said: Now also my words are in bitterness and the hand of my scourge is more grievous than my mourning.

5 Others like wild asses in the desert go forth to their work by watching for a prey, they get bread for their children.

:

6 They reap the field that is not their own, and gather the vintage of his vineyard whom by violence they have oppressed.

7 They send men away naked, taking away their clothes who have no covering in the cold:

3 Who will grant me that I might know 8 Who are wet with the showers of the and find him, and come even to his throne? mountains, and having no covering embrace 4 I would set judgment before him, and the stones. would fill my mouth with complaints.

5 That I might know the words that he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me.

6 I would not that he should contend with me with much strength, nor overwhelm me with the weight of his greatness.

7 Let him propose equity against me, and let my judgment come to victory.

9 They have violently robbed the father. less and stript the poor common people.

10 From the naked and them that go without clothing, and from the hungry they have taken away the ears of corn.

11 They have taken their rest at noon among the stores of them, who after having trodden the wine-presses suffer thirst.

12 Out of the cities they have made men 8 But if I go to the east, he appeareth to groan; and the soul of the wounded hath not; if to the west, I shall not understand cried out; and God doth not suffer it to him.

11 My foot hath followed his steps. have kept his way, and have not declined from it.

12 I have not departed from the commandments of his lips: and the words of his mouth I have hid in my bosom.

13 For he is alone, and no man can turn away his thought: and whatsoever his soul hath desired, that hath he done.

14 And when he shall have fulfilled his will in me, many other like things are also at hand with him.

15 And therefore I am troubled at his presence; and when I consider him I am made pensive with fear.

16 God hath softened my heart, and the Almighty hath troubled me.

17 For I have not perished because of the darkness that hangs over me, neither hath the mist covered my face.

CHAP. XXIV.

pass unrevenged.

13 They have been rebellious to the light; they have not known his ways; nei. ther have they returned by his paths.

14 The murderer riseth at the very break of day: he killeth the needy, and the poor man: but in the night he will be as a thief. 15 The eye of the adulterer observeth darkness, saying: No eye shall see me: and The will cover his face.

16 He diggeth through houses in the dark as in the day they had appointed for themselves, and they have not known the light.

17 If the morning suddenly appear, it is to them the shadow of death: and they walk in darkness as if it were in light.

18 He is light upon the face of the water: cursed be his portion on the earth : let him not walk by the way of the vineyards.

19 Let him pass from the snow waters to excessive heat, and his sin even to hell.

20 Let mercy forget him: may worms be his sweetness; let him be remembered no more, but be broken in pieces as an unfruitful tree.

21 For he hath fed the barren that beareth not: and to the widow he hath done no good.

God's providence often suffers the wicked to 22 He hath pulled down the strong by go on a long time in their sins; but punish-his might: and when he standeth up, he eth them in another life. The shall not trust to his life.

IMES are not hid from the Almighty:|| 23 God hath given him place for penance,

Tbut they that know him, know not his and he abuseth it unto pride: but his eyes

days.

are upon his ways.

2 Some have removed land-marks, have 24 They are lifted up for little while, and taken away flocks by force, and fed them. shall not stand, and shall be brought down 3 They have driven away the ass of the as all things, and shall be taken away: and fatherless, and have taken away the widow's as the tops of the ears of corn they shall be ox for a pledge.

lbroken.

25 And if it be not so, who can convince||ways: and seeing we have heard scarce a me that I have lied, and set my words be- little drop of his word, who shall be able to fore God? behold the thunder of his greatness?

CHAP. XXV.

Baldad represents the justice of God, before whom no man can be justified.

CHAP. XXVII.

Job persists in asserting his own innocence, and that hypocrites will be punished in the end.

THEN Baldad the Suhite answered, and JOB also added, taking up his parable,

said:

2 Power and terror are with him, who maketh peace in his high places.

3 Is there any numbering of his soldiers? and upon whom shall not his light arise?

4 Can man be justified compared with God, or he that is born of a woman appear clean?

5 Behold, even the moon doth not shine, and the stars are not pure in his sight.

and said:

2 As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, who hath brought my soul to bitterness:

3 As long as breath remaineth in me, and the Spirit of God in my nostrils,

4 My lips shall not speak iniquity, neither shall my tongue contrive lying.

5 God forbid that I should judge you to be just : till I die I will not depart from my

6 How much less man that is rottenness, innocence. and the son of man who is a worm?

6 My justification, which I have begun to hold, I will not forsake: for my heart doth not reprehend me in all my life.

7 Let my enemy be as the ungodly, and my adversary as the wicked one.

8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, if through covetousness he take by violence, and God deliver not his soul.

9 Will God hear his cry, when distress shall come upon him?

10 Or can he delight himself in the Almighty, and call upon God at all times?

11 I will teach you by the hand of God, what the Almighty hath; and I will not con

5 Behold, the giants groan under the wa-ceal it. ters, and they that dwell with them.

12 Behold you all know it: and why do

6 Hell is naked before him, and there is you speak vain things without cause? no covering for destruction.

13 This is the portion of a wicked man

7 He stretched out the north over the with God, and the inheritance of the vioempty space, and hangeth the earth upon no-lent, which they shall receive of the Althing.

8 He bindeth up the waters in his clouds,

mighty.

14 If his sons be multiplied, they shall be so that they break not out and fall down to-for the sword, and his grandsons shall not gether.

9 He withholdeth the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud over it.

10 He hath set bounds about the waters, till light and darkness come to an end.

be filled with bread.

15 They that shall remain of him, shall be buried in death, and his widows shall not weep.

16 If he shall beap together silver as

11 The pillars of heaven tremble, and||earth, and prepare raiment as clay : dread at his beck.

17 He shall prepare indeed; but the just 12 By his power the seas are suddenly man shall be clothed with it, and the innogathered together, and his wisdom has cent shall divide the silver. struck the proud one.

13 His spirit hath adorned the heavens, and his obstetric hand brought forth the winding serpent:*

14 Lo, these things are said in part of his

18 He hath built his house as a moth; and as a keeper he hath made a booth.

19 The rich man when he shall sleep shall take away nothing with him: he shall open his eyes, and find nothing.

20 Poverty like water shall take hold on His obstetric hund brought forth the wind-him, a tempest shall oppress him in the night: ing serpent. That is, the omnipotent power of 21 A burning wind shall take him up, and God, which brought forth all things created carry him away, and as a whirlwind shall in time, but conceived in the Divine mind snatch him from his place. from all eternity. The winding serpent, a 22 And he shall cast upon him, and shall constellation of fixed stars winding round not spare: out of his hand he would will. the north pole, called Draco. This appears ingly flee. from the foregoing part of the same verse: 23 He shall clasp his hands upon him, His spirit hath adorned the heavens. and shall hiss at him, beholding his place.

CHAP. XXVIII.

25 Who made a weight for the winds,

Man's industry searcheth out many things;and weighed the waters by measure. true wisdom is taught by God alone.

26 When he gave a law for the rain, and

ILVER hath beginnings of its veins; and a way for the sounding storms.

SILVE

gold hath a place wherein it is melted. 2 Iron is taken out of the earth; and stone melted with heat is turned into brass.

27 Then he saw it, and declared, and prepared, and searched it.

28 And he said to man: Behold the fear 3 He hath set a time for darkness, and the of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart end of all things he considereth, the stone from evil is understanding. also that is in the dark, and the shadow of

death.

CHAP. XXIX.

4 The flood divideth from the people Job relates his former happiness, and the resthat are on their journey, those whom the pect that all men shewed him. ов and said:

foot of the needy man hath forgotten, and JOB also added, taking up his parable,

who cannot be come at.

5 The land out of which bread grew in 2 Who will grant me, that I might be acits place, hath been overturned with fire. cording to the months past, according to 6 The stones of it are the place of sap-the days in which God kept me? phires, and the clods of it are gold. 3 When his lamp shined over my head,

7 The bird hath not known the path, nei-and I walked by his light in darkness? ther hath the eye of the vulture beheld it. 8 The children of the merchants have not trodden it; neither hath the lioness passed by it.

4 As I was in the days of my youth, when God was secretly in my tabernacle?

9 He hath stretched forth his hand to the flint: he hath overturned mountains from the roots.

10 In the rocks he hath cut out rivers, and his eye hath seen every precious thing. 11 The depths also of rivers he hath searched and hidden things he hath brought forth to light.

12 But where is wisdom to be found, and where is the place of understanding?

13 Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of them that live in delights.

5 When the Almighty was with me, and my servants round about me?

6 When I washed my feet with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil?

7 When I went out to the gate of the city, and in the street they prepared me a chair?

8 The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the old men rose up and stood. 9 The princes ceased to speak, and laid the finger on their mouth.

10 The rulers held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to their throat.

11 The ear that heard me blessed me; and the eye that saw me gave witness to

14 The depth saith: It is not in me: and me: the sea saith: It is not with me.

15 The finest gold shall not purchase it neither shall silver be weighed in exchange for it.

16 It shall not be compared with the dyed colours of India, or with the most precious stone sardonyx, or the sapphire.

12 Because I had delivered the poor man that cried out, and the fatherless that had no helper.

13 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me and I comforted the heart of the widow.

14 I was clad with justice: and I clothed 17 Gold or crystal cannot equal it; nei-myself with my judgment, as with a robe ther shall any vessels of gold be changed for it.

18 High and eminent things shall not be mentioned in comparison of it: but wisdom is drawn out of secret places.

19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be equal to it; neither shall it be compared to the cleanest dying.

20 Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?

21 It is hid from the eyes of all living, and the fowls of the air know it not.

22 Destruction and death have said: With our ears we have heard the fame thereof.

23 God understandeth the way of it; and he knoweth the place thereof.

24 For he beholdeth the ends of the world and looketh on all things that are under heaven.

:

and a diadem.

15 I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame.

16 I was the father of the poor: and the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently.

17 I broke the jaws of the wicked man: and out of his teeth I took away the prey. 18 And I said: I shall die in my nest, and jas a palm-tree shall multiply my days.

19 My root is opened beside the waters; and dew shall continue in my harvest.

20 My glory shall always be renewed: and my bow in my hand shall be repaired. 21 They that heard me, waited for my sentence, and being attentive held their peace at my counsel.

22 To my words they durst add nothing: and my speech dropped upon them.

23 They waited for me as for rain; and