together and show their sympathy for him and comfort him. But when they saw him in the distance, they did not at first recognize him. Then they all wept aloud and tore their robes and threw dust upon their heads. And they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights without any one saying a word to him, for they saw that his anguish was intense.

THE FIRST CYCLE OF SPEECHES

358. JOB: HUMAN LIFE IS INTOLERABLY UNJUST Then Job began to speak and said:

Let the day perish which gave me birth,

And the night when they said, 'A man child is born!'

Let that day be utter darkness,

Let God not regard it from above.
Let no ray of light shine upon it,
May gloom and darkness claim it.
Let a cloud settle down upon it,

Let all that make black the day frighten it!
That night! Let thick darkness seize it.

Join it not to the days of the year,

From the list of the months exclude it..

That night! let it ever be barren,

May no joyful shout invade it,

For it closed not the doors of my mother's womb,
Nor hid trouble from my eyes.

Why did I not die at birth,

Breathe my last when I came from the womb?

I should then have lain down in quiet,
Should have slept and been at rest
With kings and counsellors of earth,
Who built themselves great pyramids;
With princes rich in gold,

Who filled their houses with silver.

There the wicked cease from troubling,

There the weary are at rest;

Captives too at ease together,

Hearing not the voice of masters.

There the small and great are gathered,
There the slave is free at last.

Why is light given the wretched,

And life to the bitter in soul,

To a man whose way is hid,

To him whom God has hedged in?
For sighs take the place of my food,
And my groans are poured out like water.
For the evil I fear overtakes me,

And whatever I dread comes upon me.

359. ELIPHAZ: NO MAN CAN BE ABSOLUTELY PERFECT; THEREFORE ALL SUFFER

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

If one ventures a word, will it vex you?
But who can restrain from speaking?
See! you have instructed many,
And strengthened the drooping hands.
Your words have upheld the fallen,
Giving strength to tottering knees.

But now that it comes to you, you are impatient,
Now that it touches you, you are dismayed.

Is not your religion your confidence,
Your blameless life your hope? .

Remember! What innocent man ever perished?
Or where were the upright ever destroyed?

Now a message was secretly brought me,
And a whisper of it reached my ear,
In thoughts from the visions of night,
When deep sleep falls upon men;
Fear came upon me, and trembling,
That made my bones all quake.

Then a spirit passed before me,

The hair of my flesh stood on end,

But I could not discern its appearance;

A form was before my eyes;

In the silence I heard a voice:

'Can mortal man be just before God?
Can one be pure before his Maker?
Even his servants he does not trust,
And his angels he charges with error;
How much more those who dwell in clay houses,
Whose very foundation is dust,

Who, like the moth, are crushed,

Between morning and evening destroyed,
Unobserved, they perish for ever.'

360. SUFFERING IS FOR MAN'S DISCIPLINE

Happy the man whom God corrects;
Therefore spurn not the Almighty's chastening.
For he causes pain but to comfort,
And wounds that his hands may heal.
From countless troubles he will deliver you,
Whatever comes, no evil shall touch you;
In famine he will redeem you from death,
In time of war from the might of the sword.
You shall be hid from the scourge of the tongue;
You shall not fear when destruction comes.
At ruin and want you shall laugh,

You shall have no fear of wild beasts,
You shall be in league with the stones,
And at peace with the beasts of the field.
You shall know that your tent is secure,
You shall visit your fold, and miss nothing.

You shall know your descendants are many,
And your offspring as grass of the earth.
You shall die in a ripe old age,

As a sheaf garnered in its season.

361. JOB: SUFFERING IS OFTEN UNDESERVED

Then Job answered:

Oh, that my grief were carefully weighed;

All my calamities laid in the scales!

For they would outweigh the sand of the sea;
Therefore it is that my words have been rash.

For the arrows of God the Almighty have pierced me,
My spirit drinks their deadly poison,

The terrors of God are arrayed against me.
Does the wild ass bray as he munches the grass,

And over their fodder do oxen low?

Can a man eat what is tasteless and saltless?

Is there any taste in the white of an egg?

Oh, that my request might be granted,

And that God would give me my heart's desire,
Even that he would consent to crush me,
Would let loose his hand and cut me off!
Then this would be my consolation,

I would exult amid pain unsparing,

For I denied not the words of the Holy One.

What strength have I, that I should endure?
And what is my future, that I should be patient?
Is my strength the strength of stones,

Or is my body made of brass?

See, I have no help in myself,

And the power to succeed is driven from me?

A friend should be kind to one fainting,
Though he lose his faith in the Almighty.
My brothers have been as a treacherous brook,
As streams that overflow their banks,
Which are turbid because of the melting ice,
And the snow that hides itself within them.
But when it is warm, they vanish,

When hot, their channels are dry.
Caravans turn their course to them,

They go up through the waste, and perish.
Even so you have been to me:

You see the terror and fear.