THE DEBATE

Јов

LET the day perish wherein I was born;

THE CURSE

And the night which said, There is a man child conceived! iii, 3-26.

Let that day be darkness;

Let not God regard it from above,

Neither let the light shine upon it!

Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for

their own;

Let a cloud dwell upon it;

Let all that maketh black the day terrify it!

As for that night, let thick darkness seize upon it;
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
Let it not come into the number of the months!
Lo, let that night be barren;

Let no joyful voice come therein !

Let them curse it that curse the day,32

Who are ready to rouse up leviathan! 33

Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark! 34

Let it look for light, but have none;

Neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning:

Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, Nor hid trouble from mine eyes!

Why died I not from the womb?

Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

Why did the knees receive me? 35

Or why the breasts, that I should suck?

For now should I have lien down and been quiet;
I should have slept; then had I been at rest,
With kings and counsellors of the earth,
Which built solitary piles for themselves; 36
Or with princes that had gold,

Who filled their houses with silver;

Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been;
As infants which never saw light.

There the wicked cease from troubling;

And there the weary be at rest.

There the prisoners are at ease together;
They hear not the voice of the taskmaster.
The small and great are there;

And the servant is free from his master.

Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery,
And life unto the bitter in soul?

Which long for death, but it cometh not;
And dig for it more than for hid treasures;
Which rejoice exceedingly,

And are glad when they can find the grave.
Why is light given to a man whose way is hid,
And whom God hath hedged in?

For my sighing cometh before I eat,"

And my roarings are poured out like water.
For the thing which I fear cometh upon me,
And that which I am afraid of cometh unto me,

I am not at ease, neither am I quiet,

Neither have I rest: but trouble cometh!

ELIPHAZ

If one assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? iv, 2—v, 27. But who can withhold himself from speaking?

Behold, thou hast instructed many,

And thou hast strengthened the weak hands.
Thy words have upholden him that was falling,
And thou hast confirmed the feeble knees.

But now it is come unto thee, and thou faintest ;
It toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.

Is not thy fear of God thy confidence,

And thy hope the integrity of thy ways?

THE Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?

FRIENDS'

ACCUSATION

According as I have seen, they that plow iniquity,
And sow trouble, reap the same.

By the breath of God they perish,

And by the blast of his anger are they consumed.

The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce

lion,

And the teeth of the young lions are broken.

The old lion perisheth for lack of prey,

And the whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.

Now a thing was secretly brought to me,
And mine ear received a whisper thereof.

In thoughts from the visions of the night,
When deep sleep falleth on men,
Fear came upon me and trembling,
Which made all my bones to shake.
Then a spirit passed before my face;
The hair of my flesh stood up.

It stood still, but I could not discern the appearance

thereof;

A form was before mine eyes:

There was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,

"Shall mortal man be just before God?

Shall a man be pure before his Maker?

Behold, he putteth no trust in his servants;

And his angels he chargeth with folly:

How much more them that dwell in houses of clay,
Whose foundation is in the dust,

Which are crushed before the moth!

Betwixt morning and evening they are destroyed:
They perish for ever without any regarding it.
Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them?
They die, and that without wisdom."

Call now is there any that will answer thee?
And to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn?
For vexation killeth the foolish man,
And jealousy slayeth the silly one.

I have seen the foolish taking root:
But suddenly I cursed his habitation.
His children are far from safety,
And they are crushed in the gate,38
Neither is there any to deliver them.
Whose harvest the hungry eateth up,

THE FRIENDS' ACCUSATION

-continued.