more the awful fate of the wicked is portrayed in familiar language. The 'king of terrors' is death personified.

Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, How long wilt thou set snares for words? Understand, and then we will speak. Wherefore are we counted as beasts,

And reputed unclean in thy sight?
Shall the earth be unpeopled for thee?

And shall the rock be removed out of its place?
Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out,
And the flame of his fire shall not shine.
The light shall be dark in his tent,

And his lamp shall be extinguished over him.
The steps of his strength shall be straitened,
And his own counsel shall cast him down.
For his foot is driven into a net,

And he walketh upon meshes.
The gin shall take him by the heel,
And the trap layeth hold of him.

His snare is hidden for him in the ground,
His trap upon the way. (?)

Terrors shall make him afraid on every side,
And press hard upon his feet.

His strength shall be hunger-bitten,

And destruction is ready for his fall.

His skin is consumed by disease,

The firstborn of death devoureth his limbs.

He shall be plucked out of the tent wherein he trusted,
And he shall be brought to the king of terrors. (?)

Brimstone shall be scattered upon his homestead.
His roots shall be dried up beneath,

And above shall his branch be cut off.
His remembrance shall perish from the earth,
And he shall have no name in the street.

He shall be driven from light into darkness,
And chased out of the world.

He shall neither have offshoot nor offspring among his people,
Nor any remaining in his dwelling.

They of the west shall be astonied at his day,

And they of the east shall be seized with horror.

'THE KING OF TERRORS

Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked,

And such the place of him that knoweth not God.

155

God

§ 21. Job's fifth reply.-Bildad's violence irritates Job. In impassioned words he insists that God is guilty of violence while he himself is innocent. He then enters upon a fresh portrayal of his afflictions, and beseeches his friends to show him pity. Then there follows a famous passage, which unfortunately is very obscure: the text also is corrupt. Job wishes that his words were written down as a permanent witness of his innocence. And then the faith behind his doubts comes to his rescue. is his true Vindicator, and God even before his death will appear as his friend and not as his enemy, and respond to the intensity of his desire (My reins are consumed within me'). God will vindicate his innocence. The author makes Job anticipate in a paroxysm of faith the dénouement which is to ensue. Finally, Job turns on his friends and threatens them with the very retribution which they have so often declared to be the fate of the wicked.

Then Job answered and said,

How long will ye persecute my soul,

And crush me with words?

These ten times have ye reproached me:
Ye are not ashamed to rail against me.
If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me,
And prove against me my reproach:
Know then that God hath perverted my right,
And hath compassed me with his net.

Behold, I cry out Violence, but I am not heard:
I cry aloud, but there is no judgement.
He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass,
And he hath set darkness in my path.

He hath stripped me of my glory,

And taken the crown from my head.

He breaketh me down on every side, and I am gone:
And he uprooteth mine hope like a tree.

He hath kindled his wrath against me,

And he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.

His troops come together, and raise up their way against

me,

And encamp round about my tent.

My brethren are removed far from me,

And mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me. My kinsfolk have failed,

And my familiar friends have forgotten me. They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, Count me for a stranger:

I am an alien in their sight.

I call my servant, and he giveth me no answer;
I must entreat him with my mouth.
My breath is offensive to my wife,

I am loathsome to my own brothers.
Yea, young children despise me;

When I arise, they speak against me. All my inward friends abhor me:

And they whom I loved are turned against me.

My bone cleaveth to my skin,

And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth. (?)

Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends,
For the hand of God hath touched me.

Why do ye persecute me as God,

And are not satisfied with my flesh?

Oh that my words were written!

Oh that they were inscribed in a book! That with a pen of iron and of lead

They were graven in the rock for ever!

But I know that my Vindicator liveth ;

And at the last (?) he shall appear upon the ground: (?) And...

And from out my flesh (?) I shall see God.

Whom I shall see to my own good,

And mine eyes shall see him and not as one estranged; (??) My reins are consumed within me.

If ye say, How we will pursue him,

Be

Ånd find in him the root of the matter: (??) ye afraid of the sword,

For

'And find the root of the matter in him' seems to mean, 'If you intend to prove and make me confess that my sins are the cause of my afflictions, then,' &c.

'MY VINDICATOR LIVETH'

157

It has been supposed from ancient times that Job in this passage has worked his way up to a belief in a future life in our sense of the words (i.e. a life different from and opposed to the shadowy and joyless life in Sheol). But neither the wording nor the connexion, nor the previous or subsequent speeches of Job, seem to warrant this interpretation. My translation follows that of Professor Budde, though I am not nearly as confident of its correctness as he is, and two lines at least seem to me hopeless. In view of the importance and fame of the passage I give here the rendering of the Revised Version, with the marginal readings in brackets.

But I know that my redeemer [vindicator] liveth, And that he shall stand up at the last upon the earth: And after my skin hath been thus destroyed, [And after my skin hath been destroyed, this shall be, even from &c., or, And though after my skin this body be destroyed, yet from &c.]

Yet from [without] my flesh shall I see God:
Whom I shall see for myself [on my side],

And mine eyes shall behold, and not another [as a stranger].
My reins are consumed within me.

Next to this rendering of the Revised Version I will place the attempt of Professor Cheyne to give by emendation the original text. He thinks that not only are many words corrupt, but that 'the passage has plainly been edited and re-edited to gratify the very natural longing of a later age for references to the resurrection of the body.'

But I know that my Avenger lives,

And that at last he will appear above (my) grave; My witness will bring to pass my desire,

And a curse will take hold of my foes.

My inner man is consumed with longing,

For ye say, How (keenly) we will persecute him! Have terror because of the sword,

For (God's) anger falls on the unjust.

§ 22. Zophar's second speech.-Zophar's speech contains no shred of novelty. It is merely a violent and somewhat coarse picture of the doom of the wicked. The Hebrew is very obscure, and probably very corrupt.

Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, Therefore do my thoughts reply unto me,

And because of this there is haste within me : A reproof which shameth me I have to hear, And ...

Knowest thou not this of old,

Since man was placed upon earth,

That the triumphing of the wicked is short,
And the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
Though his excellency mount up to the heavens,
And his head reach unto the clouds;

Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung:

They which have seen him shall say, 'Where is he?' He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. The eye which saw him shall see him no more;

Neither shall his place any more behold him.
His children shall seek the favour of the poor,
And his hands shall give back his wealth.
Albeit his bones were full of youth,

It shall lie down with him in the dust.
Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth,
Though he hide it under his tongue;
Though he cherish it, and forsake it not;
But keep it still within his mouth:
Yet his meat in his bowels is turned,
The gall of asps is within him.
He hath swallowed down riches,

And he shall vomit them up again :
God shall cast them out of his belly.
He shall suck the poison of asps:
The viper's tongue shall slay him.
He shall not see the brooks,

The streams of honey and butter.

Because he oppressed and forsook the poor;

He robbed an house which he shall not inhabit.

Because he knew no rest in his greed,

His desirable things shall not save him. (?)

Nothing escaped his voracity;

Therefore shall his prosperity not endure.