Should he reason with unprofitable talk,

Or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?

Yea, thou doest away with fear,

And restrainest devotion before God.

For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth,
And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I;
Yea, thine own lips testify against thee.

Art thou the first man that was born?

Or wast thou brought forth before the hills? Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God?

And dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?

What knowest thou, that we know not?

What understandest thou, which is not in us?

THE

FRIENDS'

CLAIM OF

With us are both the graybeaded and the very aged men, AUTHORITY Much elder than thy father.

Are the consolations of God too small for thee,

And the word that dealeth gently with thee?

Why doth thine heart carry thee away?
And why do thine eyes wink?

That thou turnest thy spirit against God,
And lettest such words go out of thy mouth.

What is man, that he should be clean?

And he which is born of a woman, that he should be

righteous ?

Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones;

Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight:

How much less one that is abominable and corrupt,

A man that drinketh iniquity like water!

I will shew thee, hear thou me;

And that which I have seen I will declare:

(Which wise men have told from their fathers, and

have not hid it;

Unto whom alone the land was given,

And no stranger passed among them :)

The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days,
Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor,

A sound of terrors is in his ears;

In prosperity the spoiler shall come upon him:

He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness,

And he is waited for of the sword:

He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it?

He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand: Distress and anguish make him afraid;

They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle:

Because he hath stretched out his hand against God,
And behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty;
He runneth upon him with a stiff neck,

With the thick bosses of his bucklers:

Because he hath covered his face with his fatness,

And made collops of fat on his flanks;
And he hath dwelt in desolate cities,
In houses which no man inhabited,

Which were ready to become heaps.

He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, Neither shall their produce bend to the earth.

He shall not depart out of darkness ;

The flame shall dry up his branches,

And by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself:
For vanity shall be his recompense.

It shall be accomplished before his time,
And his branch shall not be green.

He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine,
And shall cast off his flower as the olive.

For the company of the godless shall be barren,
And fire shall consume the tents of bribery.

They conceive mischief,

And bring forth iniquity,

And their belly prepareth deceit.

Јов

xvi, 2-xvii, I have heard many such things: Miserable comforters are ye all.

16.

Shall vain words have an end?

Or what provoketh thee that thou answerest?
I also could speak as ye do;

If your soul were in my

soul's stead,

I could join words together against you,

And shake mine head at you.

But I would strengthen you with my mouth,

And the solace of my lips should assuage your grief.

Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged:
And though I forbear, what am I eased?
But now he hath made me weary:

Thou hast made desolate all my company.

And thou hast laid fast hold on me, which is a witness

against me:

And my leanness riseth up against me, it testifieth to my

face.

He hath torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me;

He hath gnashed upon me with his teeth:
Mine adversary sharpeneth his eyes upon me.

They have gaped upon me with their mouth;
They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully:
They gather themselves together against me.
God delivereth me to the ungodly,

And casteth me into the hands of the wicked.

I was at ease, and he brake me asunder;

Yea, he hath taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces:

He hath also set me up for his mark.

His archers compass me round about,

He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare;

He poureth out my gall upon the ground.

He breaketh me with breach upon breach;

He runneth upon me like a giant.
I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin,
And have laid my horn in the dust.
My face is foul with weeping,

And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
Although there is no violence in mine hands,
And my prayer is pure.

O earth, cover not thou my blood,
And let my cry have no resting place.