God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me.
You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living.
Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
I go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?
if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands,
For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase.
“If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me,
Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?
“If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it
(for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow),
if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering,
if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,
if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor,
this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above.
“If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him
if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’
(the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler),
because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors—
Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!
let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.
Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God.
He burned with anger also at Job's three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong.
And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger.
And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said: “I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you.
But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.
It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right.
For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me.
Behold, I open my mouth; the tongue in my mouth speaks.
My words declare the uprightness of my heart, and what my lips know they speak sincerely.
The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
“Surely you have spoken in my ears, and I have heard the sound of your words.
he puts my feet in the stocks and watches all my paths.’
In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds,
then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings,
he keeps back his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword.
so that his life loathes bread, and his appetite the choicest food.
His soul draws near the pit, and his life to those who bring death.
If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him,
and he is merciful to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom;
let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;
He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.’
to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life.
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