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Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
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Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
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They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
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They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
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Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.
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They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
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They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
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They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
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They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
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They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
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Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
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Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
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They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
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The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
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The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
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In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
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For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
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He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
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Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
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The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
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He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
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He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
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Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.
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They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
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And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
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Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
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Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high places.
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Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?
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How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
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Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.
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How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?
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But Job answered and said,
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How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength?
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How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?
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To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?
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Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.
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Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.
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He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.
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He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
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He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.
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He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.
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The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.
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He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.
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By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.
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Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?
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Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
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As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;
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All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;
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My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
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God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
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My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
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Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.
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For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
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Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?
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Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?
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I will teach you by the hand of God: that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.
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Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; why then are ye thus altogether vain?
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This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty.
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If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
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Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep.
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Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay;
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He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver.
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He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.
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The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he is not.
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Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night.
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The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.
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For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.
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Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.
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Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it.
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Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone.
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He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.
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The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.
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As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.
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The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.
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There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen:
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The lion’s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.
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He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.
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He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing.
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He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
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But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?
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Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.
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The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me.
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It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
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It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
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The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.
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No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
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The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
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Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?
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Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.
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Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.
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God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.
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For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven;
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To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure.
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When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder:
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Then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out.
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And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
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