The Bible, Douay-Rheims Part 307

2:7. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with a very grievous ulcer, from the sole of the foot even to the top of his head:

2:8. And he took a potsherd and sc.r.a.ped the corrupt matter, sitting on a dunghill.

2:9. And his wife said to him: Dost thou still continue in thy simplicity? bless G.o.d and die.

2:10. And he said to her: Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish women: If we have received good things at the hand of G.o.d, why should we not receive evil? In all these things Job did not sin with his lips.

2:11. Now when Job's three friends heard all the evil that had befallen him, they came every one from his own place, Eliphaz, the Themanite, and Baldad, the Suhite, and Sophar, the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment to come together and visit him, and comfort him.

2:12. And when they had lifted up their eyes afar off, they knew him not, and crying out, they wept, and rending their garments, they sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.

2:13. And they sat with him on the ground seven day and seven nights and no man spoke to him a word: for they saw that his grief was very great.

Job Chapter 3

3:1. After this, Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day,

Cursed his day... Job cursed the day of his birth, not by way of wis.h.i.+ng evil to any thing of G.o.d's creation; but only to express in a stronger manner his sense of human miseries in general, and of his own calamities in particular.

3:2. And he said:

3:3. Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said: A man child is conceived.

3:4. Let that day be turned into darkness, let not G.o.d regard it from above, and let not the light s.h.i.+ne upon it.

3:5. Let darkness, and the shadow of death, cover it, let a mist overspread it, and let it be wrapped up in bitterness.

3:6. Let a darksome whirlwind seize upon that night, let it not be counted in the days of the year, nor numbered in the months.

3:7. Let that night be solitary, and not worthy of praise.

3:8. Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to raise up a leviathan:

3:9. Let the stars be darkened with the mist thereof: let it expect light, and not see it, nor the rising of the dawning of the day:

3:10. Because it shut not up the doors of the womb that bore me, nor took away evils from my eyes.

3:11. Why did I not die in the womb? why did I not perish when I came out of the belly?

3:12. Why received upon the knees? why suckled at the b.r.e.a.s.t.s?

3:13. For now I should have been asleep and still, and should have rest in my sleep:

3:14. With kings and consuls of the earth, who build themselves solitudes:

3:15. Or with princes, that possess gold, and fill their houses with silver:

3:16. Or as a hidden untimely birth, I should not be; or as they that, being conceived, have not seen the light.

3:17. There the wicked cease from tumult, and there the wearied in strength are at rest.

3:18. And they sometime bound together without disquiet, have not heard the voice of the oppressor.

3:19. The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master.

3:20. Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to them that are in bitterness of soul?

3:21. That look for death, and it cometh not, as they that dig for a treasure:

3:22. And they rejoice exceedingly when they have found the grave?

3:23. To a man whose way is hidden, and G.o.d hath surrounded him with darkness?

3:24. Before I eat I sigh: and as overflowing waters, so is my roaring:

3:25. For the fear which I feared, hath come upon me: and that which I was afraid of, hath befallen me.

3:26. Have I not dissembled? have I not kept silence? have I not been quiet? and indignation is come upon me.

Job Chapter 4

4:1. Then Eliphaz, the Themanite, answered, and said:

4:2. If we begin to speak to thee, perhaps thou wilt take it ill; but who can withhold the words he hath conceived?

4:3. Behold thou hast taught many, and thou hast strengthened the weary hands:

4:4. Thy words have confirmed them that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling knees:

4:5. But now the scourge is come upon thee, and thou faintest: It hath touched thee, and thou art troubled.

4:6. Where is thy fear, thy fort.i.tude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?

4:7. Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or when were the just destroyed?

4:8. On the contrary, I have seen those who work iniquity, and sow sorrows, and reap them,

4:9. Peris.h.i.+ng by the blast of G.o.d, and consumed by the spirit of his wrath.

4:10. The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelps of lions, are broken:

4:11. The tiger hath perished for want of prey, and the young lions are scattered abroad.

4:12. Now there was a word spoken to me in private, and my ears by stealth, as it were, received the veins of its whisper.

4:13. In the horror of a vision by night, when deep sleep is wont to hold men,

4:14. Fear seized upon me, and trembling, and all my bones were affrighted: