Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Then shalt thou forget thy misery,

And remember it as waters that have passed away:
And thy life shall be clearer than the noonday;
The darkness shall be as the morning.

And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope;
Thou shalt look around and take thy rest in safety.
Thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid;
Yea, many shall make suit unto thee.

But the eyes of the wicked shall fail,

[ocr errors]

And they shall not escape,

And their only hope shall be the giving up of the ghost.

Then must thou acknowledge': a doubtful verse and line, seeming to mean that so far from God punishing Job more than he deserves, he has punished him less. But the Hebrew is very harsh, the text probably corrupt, and the thought elicited seems too exaggerated and violent.

§17. Job's third reply.-Hitherto whatever Job has said has been consistent and in keeping with his part. Here for the first time there is a difficulty. The beginning of his speech is unfortunately very obscure, but he seems to say that while everybody is familiar with the generalities preached by the friends, the facts of life belie them. For evil-doers are not punished; they are in peace. Then follows a passage in brackets which sets forth in the manner of the friends the unfathomable power and wisdom of God. It can be regarded as authentic on the supposition that Job wishes to show that he can easily outdo the friends at their own generalities, but as its connexion with they that provoke God are secure' is obscure and harsh, it is more probably a substitution by some orthodox editor or copier of certain words put by the original author in Job's mouth which seemed too impious or heretical. [There is another defence of the passage (or of most of it) put forward by Duhm, who points out that almost all the divine actions alluded to are instances of arbitrary power, tending to the injury of those persons upon whom that power is exercised. Job would then argue: I know my case is not peculiar. I know that there are countless instances of God's power exercised arbitrarily and injuriously.] Job proceeds to urge that the arguments of the friends are but partial pleading. God (whom Job cannot help sometimes regarding as essentially just in spite of appearances) will not desire the partialities of an advocate even in his own defence. Whatever befall him, Job will defend his innocence, and if God will admit him to plead, this very permission will be a sign of his innocency.

POWER UNRESTRAINED

145

Only let the pressure and horror of his disease be first removed. What are his sins? Is it the errors of an unripe youth that are being so relentlessly brought home to him? Then once more he breaks forth into a general lament over the miseries of human lot; surely such a frail creature as man does not merit and cannot sustain the persistent wrath of God. For he soon passes away and returns no more. Would that it were not so! Would that God would bring him back from Sheol to a renewed and happy life! But this cannot be. Whatever seems most permanent passes away: much more is man's hope destroyed for ever; and for what goes on upon earth after him, even though it affect his dearest, he has no concern.

And Job answered and said,
No doubt but ye are clever people,
And wisdom shall die with you.

But I have understanding as well as you;

Yea, who knoweth not such things as these?

I am

[ocr errors]

The careless man despiseth the Almighty's times of doom;
At the appointed season his foot remaineth firm. (?)
The tents of robbers are at peace,

And they that provoke God are secure.

[But ask now the cattle, and they shall teach thee; And the birds of the air, and they shall tell thee, Or the beasts of the earth, and they shall teach thee,

And the fishes of the sea shall declare it unto thee. Behold, in his hand is the soul of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind.

With him is wisdom and strength,

He hath counsel and understanding.

Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again:
He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.
Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up:
Also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
With him is strength and wisdom:

The deceived and the deceiver are his.
He leadeth counsellors away stripped,
And maketh the judges fools.

He looseth the bonds of kings,

And girdeth their loins with a waistcloth.

He leadeth priests away stripped,

And overthroweth the firmly rooted. He withdraweth the speech of the trusty,

And taketh away the understanding of the aged. He poureth contempt upon princes,

And looseth the girdle of the mighty.

He increaseth the peoples, and destroyeth them :

He spreadeth out the nations, and banisheth them.

He taketh away the mind of the chiefs of the earth,

And causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there

is no way.

They grope in the dark without light,

And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.

Lo, mine eye hath seen all this,

Mine ear hath heard and understood it.

What ye know, the same do I know also:
I am not inferior unto you.]

Notwithstanding I would speak to the Almighty,
And I desire to reason with God.

But ye are plasterers of lies,

Ye are all patchers of nothingness.

O that ye would altogether hold your peace,
And it should be your wisdom!

Hear now my rebuke,

And hearken to the reproofs of my lips.

Would ye speak wickedly for God?

And talk deceitfully for him?

Would ye take his side?

Would ye play the advocate for God?

Were it well for you that he should search you out?
As one man mocketh another, will ye so mock him?
He will surely reprove you,

If ye do secretly accept his person.

Shall not his excellency make you afraid?

And his dread fall upon you?

Your maxims are proverbs of ashes,

Your bulwarks are bulwarks of clay.

Hold your peace that I may speak,
Let come on me what will.

I will take my flesh in my teeth,
And put my life in mine hand.

THE FLOWER THAT WITHERETH

Behold, though he slay me, and delay not,
Yet will I defend my ways to his face!
This also shall be my salvation,

For the impious may not come before him.
Behold I have ordered my cause;

now,

I know that I shall be justified.

[Who is he that will plead with me?

147

For then would I hold my tongue and give up the ghost.]

Two things only do unto me:

Then will I not hide myself from thee. Withdraw thine hand far from me:

And let not thy dread make me afraid. Then call thou, and I will answer:

Or let me speak, and answer thou me.

How many are mine iniquities and sins?

Make me to know my transgression and my sin. Wherefore hidest thou thy face,

And holdest me for thine enemy?

Wilt thou harass a driven leaf,

And wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?

That thou decreest bitter things against me,

And makest me to inherit the iniquities of my youth.

Thou puttest my feet in the stocks,

And lookest narrowly unto all my paths;

Thou drawest thee a line around the soles of my

Man that is born of a woman

Is of few days and full of trouble.

He cometh forth like a flower, and withereth:

He fleeth as a shadow, and continueth not.

As a rotten thing he wasteth away,

As a garment that is moth-eaten.

feet.

And dost thou keep thine eyes open against such an one,
And bringest him into judgement with thee,

Seeing that his days are determined,

That the number of his months is with thee,

That thou hast fixed his set time which he cannot overpass?

Look away from him, let him alone,

That he may enjoy, as an hireling, his day.

For a tree hath hope; if it be cut down, it will sprout again,
And the sapling thereof will not cease.
Though the roof thereof wax old in the earth,
And the stock thereof die in the ground;
Yet through the scent of water it will bud,
And bring forth boughs like a plant.
But man dieth, and passeth away,

Yea, he giveth up the ghost, and where is he?

As the waters fail from the lake,

And the river decayeth and drieth up:

So man lieth down, and riseth not:

Till the heavens are worn away, he shall not awake,
Nor be raised out of his sleep.

O that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol,

That thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past,

That thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!

If a man die, can he live again?

All the days of my appointed service would I wait, till my relief should come.

Thou wouldest call, and I would answer thee:

Thou wouldest yearn towards the work of thine hands. For now thou numberest my steps;

Thou passest not over my sin.

My transgression is sealed up in a bag,
And thou plasterest up mine iniquity.

But surely even the mountain will fall,

And the rock is removed out of its place. The waters wear the stones :

The sweeping rain washeth away the dust of the earth:
So destroyest thou the hope of man.

Thou overwhelmest him for ever, and he passeth away,
Thou changest his countenance, and dismissest him.
His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not;
And they are brought low, but he regardeth it not;

Only in his own flesh hath he pain,

And his soul mourneth but for himself. (?)

'Only in his own flesh': a very doubtful verse, which can only mean that man's shadowy body and soul in Sheol have a limited

« AnteriorContinuar »