Job 6 Cross References - BBE

¹ And Job made answer and said, ² If only my passion might be measured, and put into the scales against my trouble! ³ For then its weight would be more than the sand of the seas: because of this my words have been uncontrolled. ⁴ For the arrows of the Ruler of all are present with me, and their poison goes deep into my spirit: his army of fears is put in order against me. ⁵ Does the ass of the fields give out his voice when he has grass? or does the ox make sounds over his food? ⁶ Will a man take food which has no taste without salt? or is there any taste in the soft substance of purslain? ⁷ My soul has no desire for such things, they are as disease in my food. ⁸ If only I might have an answer to my prayer, and God would give me my desire! ⁹ If only he would be pleased to put an end to me; and would let loose his hand, so that I might be cut off! ¹⁰ So I would still have comfort, and I would have joy in the pains of death, for I have not been false to the words of the Holy One. ¹¹ Have I strength to go on waiting, or have I any end to be looking forward to? ¹² Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh brass? ¹³ I have no help in myself, and wisdom is completely gone from me. ¹⁴ He whose heart is shut against his friend has given up the fear of the Ruler of all. ¹⁵ My friends have been false like a stream, like streams in the valleys which come to an end: ¹⁶ Which are dark because of the ice, and the snow falling into them; ¹⁷ Under the burning sun they are cut off, and come to nothing because of the heat. ¹⁸ The camel-trains go out of their way; they go up into the waste and come to destruction. ¹⁹ The camel-trains of Tema were searching with care, the bands of Sheba were waiting for them: ²⁰ They were put to shame because of their hope; they came and their hope was gone. ²¹ So have you now become to me; you see my sad condition and are in fear. ²² Did I say, Give me something? or, Make a payment for me out of your wealth? ²³ Or, Get me out of the power of my hater? or, Give money so that I may be free from the power of the cruel ones? ²⁴ Give me teaching and I will be quiet; and make me see my error. ²⁵ How pleasing are upright words! but what force is there in your arguments? ²⁶ My words may seem wrong to you, but the words of him who has no hope are for the wind. ²⁷ Truly, you are such as would give up the child of a dead man to his creditors, and would make a profit out of your friend. ²⁸ Now then, let your eyes be turned to me, for truly I will not say what is false to your face. ²⁹ Let your minds be changed, and do not have an evil opinion of me; yes, be changed, for my righteousness is still in me. ³⁰ Is there evil in my tongue? is not the cause of my trouble clear to me?

⁷ And the sons of Cush: Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

¹¹ And Abraham said, Because it seemed to me that there was no fear of God in this place, and that they might put me to death because of my wife.

³ And Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. And from Dedan came the Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim.

¹⁵ Hadad and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:

²² Do no wrong to a widow, or to a child whose father is dead. ²³ If you are cruel to them in any way, and their cry comes up to me, I will certainly give ear; ²⁴ And in the heat of my wrath I will put you to death with the sword, so that your wives will be widows and your children without fathers.

¹³ And every meal offering is to be salted with salt; your meal offering is not to be without the salt of the agreement of your God: with all your offerings give salt.

² Say to all the people of Israel, You are to be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.

⁴⁸ After he has given himself he has the right to be made free, for a price, by one of his brothers,

¹⁴ I am not able by myself to take the weight of all this people, for it is more than my strength. ¹⁵ If this is to be my fate, put me to death now in answer to my prayer, if I have grace in your eyes; and let me not see my shame.

²⁰ The Lord will have no mercy on him, but the wrath of the Lord will be burning against that man, and all the curses recorded in this book will be waiting for him, and the Lord will take away his name completely from the earth.

²³ I will send a rain of troubles on them, my arrows will be showered on them. ²⁴ They will be wasted from need of food, and overcome by burning heat and bitter destruction; and the teeth of beasts I will send on them, with the poison of the worms of the dust.

⁴² I will make my arrows red with blood, my sword will be feasting on flesh, with the blood of the dead and the prisoners, of the long-haired heads of my haters.

² No other is holy as the Lord, for there is no other God but you: there is no Rock like our God.

³ Here I am: give witness against me before the Lord and before the man on whom he has put the holy oil: whose ox or ass have I taken? to whom have I been untrue? who has been crushed down by me? from whose hand have I taken a price for the blinding of my eyes? I will give it all back to you.

¹ Now the queen of Sheba, hearing great things of Solomon, came to put his wisdom to the test with hard questions.

¹ And Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, By the living Lord, the God of Israel, whose servant I am, there will be no dew or rain in these years, but only at my word.

¹² Then she said, By the life of the Lord your God, I have nothing but a little meal in my store, and a drop of oil in the bottle; and now I am getting two sticks together so that I may go in and make it ready for me and my son, so that we may have a meal before our death.

⁴ While he himself went a day's journey into the waste land, and took a seat under a broom-plant, desiring for himself only death; for he said, It is enough: now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.

²⁷ And say, It is the king's order that this man is to be put in prison and given prison food till I come again in peace.

⁸ And I said to them, We have given whatever we were able to give, to make our brothers the Jews free, who were servants and prisoners of the nations: and would you now give up your brothers for a price, and are they to become our property? Then they said nothing, answering not a word.

¹⁰ And he said to her, You are talking like one of the foolish women. If we take the good God sends us, are we not to take the evil when it comes? In all this Job kept his lips from sin. ¹¹ And Job's three friends had word of all this evil which had come on him. And they came every one from his place, Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. So they came together to a meeting-place, in order that they might go and make clear to Job their grief for him, and give him comfort. ¹² And lifting up their eyes when they were still far off, it did not seem that the man they saw was Job because of the change in him. And they gave way to bitter weeping, with signs of grief, and put dust on their heads. ¹³ And they took their seats on the earth by his side for seven days and seven nights: but no one said a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

³ Let destruction take the day of my birth, and the night on which it was said, A man child has come into the world. ⁴ That day--let it be dark; let not God take note of it from on high, and let not the light be shining on it; ⁵ Let the dark and the black night take it for themselves; let it be covered with a cloud; let the dark shades of day send fear on it. ⁶ That night--let the thick dark take it; let it not have joy among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. ⁷ As for that night, let it have no fruit; let no voice of joy be sounded in it; ⁸ Let it be cursed by those who put a curse on the day; who are ready to make Leviathan awake. ⁹ Let its morning stars be dark; let it be looking for light, but may it not have any; let it not see the eyes of the dawn. ¹⁰ Because it did not keep the doors of my mother's body shut, so that trouble might be veiled from my eyes. ¹¹ Why did death not take me when I came out of my mother's body, why did I not, when I came out, give up my last breath? ¹² Why did the knees take me, or why the breasts that they might give me milk? ¹³ For then I might have gone to my rest in quiet, and in sleep have been in peace, ¹⁴ With kings and the wise ones of the earth, who put up great houses for themselves; ¹⁵ Or with rulers who had gold, and whose houses were full of silver; ¹⁶ Or as a child dead at birth I might never have come into existence; like young children who have not seen the light. ¹⁷ There the passions of the evil are over, and those whose strength has come to an end have rest. ¹⁸ There the prisoners are at peace together; the voice of the overseer comes not again to their ears. ¹⁹ The small and the great are there, and the servant is free from his master. ²⁰ Why does he give light to him who is in trouble, and life to the bitter in soul;

²⁰ Why does he give light to him who is in trouble, and life to the bitter in soul; ²¹ To those whose desire is for death, but it comes not; who are searching for it more than for secret wealth;

²¹ To those whose desire is for death, but it comes not; who are searching for it more than for secret wealth; ²² Who are glad with great joy, and full of delight when they come to their last resting-place;

²² Who are glad with great joy, and full of delight when they come to their last resting-place;

²² Who are glad with great joy, and full of delight when they come to their last resting-place; ²³ To a man whose way is veiled, and who is shut in by God? ²⁴ In place of my food I have grief, and cries of sorrow come from me like water.

²⁴ In place of my food I have grief, and cries of sorrow come from me like water. ²⁵ For I have a fear and it comes on me, and my heart is greatly troubled. ²⁶ I have no peace, no quiet, and no rest; nothing but pain comes on me.

¹ And Eliphaz the Temanite made answer and said,

³ Truly, you have been a helper to others, and you have made feeble hands strong;

³ Truly, you have been a helper to others, and you have made feeble hands strong; ⁴ He who was near to falling has been lifted up by your words, and you have given strength to bent knees.

⁴ He who was near to falling has been lifted up by your words, and you have given strength to bent knees.

⁴ He who was near to falling has been lifted up by your words, and you have given strength to bent knees. ⁵ But now it has come on you and it is a weariness to you; you are touched by it and your mind is troubled.

⁵ But now it has come on you and it is a weariness to you; you are touched by it and your mind is troubled.

²⁰ When there is need of food he will keep you from death, and in war from the power of the sword.

²⁷ See, we have made search with care, and it is so; it has come to our ears; see that you take note of it for yourself.

⁴ For the arrows of the Ruler of all are present with me, and their poison goes deep into my spirit: his army of fears is put in order against me.

⁶ Will a man take food which has no taste without salt? or is there any taste in the soft substance of purslain?

⁹ If only he would be pleased to put an end to me; and would let loose his hand, so that I might be cut off!

¹¹ Have I strength to go on waiting, or have I any end to be looking forward to? ¹² Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh brass? ¹³ I have no help in myself, and wisdom is completely gone from me.

¹⁵ My friends have been false like a stream, like streams in the valleys which come to an end:

²⁵ How pleasing are upright words! but what force is there in your arguments?

³⁰ Is there evil in my tongue? is not the cause of my trouble clear to me?

⁵ My flesh is covered with worms and dust; my skin gets hard and then is cracked again. ⁶ My days go quicker than the cloth-worker's thread, and come to an end without hope. ⁷ O, keep in mind that my life is wind: my eye will never again see good.

¹⁵ So that a hard death seems better to my soul than my pains. ¹⁶ I have no desire for life, I would not be living for ever! Keep away from me, for my days are as a breath.

² How long will you say these things, and how long will the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?

⁴ He is wise in heart and great in strength: who ever made his face hard against him, and any good came of it?

¹⁷ For I would be crushed by his storm, my wounds would be increased without cause.

¹ My soul is tired of life; I will let my sad thoughts go free in words; my soul will make a bitter outcry. ² I will say to God, Do not put me down as a sinner; make clear to me what you have against me.

²⁰ Are not the days of my life small in number? Let your eyes be turned away from me, so that I may have a little pleasure,

³ Are your words of pride to make men keep quiet? and are you to make sport, with no one to put you to shame?

² No doubt you have knowledge, and wisdom will come to an end with you. ³ But I have a mind as well as you; I am equal to you: yes, who has not knowledge of such things as these?

¹¹ Are not words tested by the ear, even as food is tasted by the mouth?

² The same things are in my mind as in yours; I am equal to you.

⁴ But you put a false face on things; all your attempts to put things right are of no value. ⁵ If only you would keep quiet, it would be a sign of wisdom!

²⁵ Will you be hard on a leaf in flight before the wind? will you make a dry stem go more quickly on its way?

²⁸ Though a man comes to nothing like a bit of dead wood, or like a robe which has become food for the worm.

¹³ If only you would keep me safe in the underworld, putting me in a secret place till your wrath is past, giving me a fixed time when I might come to your memory again!

⁴ Truly, you make the fear of God without effect, so that the time of quiet worship before God is made less by your outcry.

² Such things have frequently come to my ears: you are comforters who only give trouble. ³ May words which are like the wind be stopped? or what is troubling you to make answer to them? ⁴ It would not be hard for me to say such things if your souls were in my soul's place; joining words together against you, and shaking my head at you: ⁵ I might give you strength with my mouth, and not keep back the comfort of my lips.

⁵ I might give you strength with my mouth, and not keep back the comfort of my lips.

¹² I was in comfort, but I have been broken up by his hands; he has taken me by the neck, shaking me to bits; he has put me up as a mark for his arrows. ¹³ His bowmen come round about me; their arrows go through my body without mercy; my life is drained out on the earth. ¹⁴ I am broken with wound after wound; he comes rushing on me like a man of war.

¹ My spirit is broken, my days are ended, the last resting-place is ready for me.

¹⁰ But come back, now, all of you, come; and I will not see a wise man among you.

¹⁴ If I say to the earth, You are my father; and to the worm, My mother and my sister; ¹⁵ Where then is my hope? and who will see my desire? ¹⁶ Will they go down with me into the underworld? Will we go down together into the dust?

¹⁹ All the men of my circle keep away from me; and those dear to me are turned against me.

²¹ Have pity on me, have pity on me, O my friends! for the hand of God is on me.

²⁸ If you say, How cruel we will be to him! because the root of sin is clearly in him:

⁴ As for me, is my outcry against man? is it then to be wondered at if my spirit is troubled?

²⁰ Let his eyes see his trouble, and let him be full of the wrath of the Ruler of all!

³³ The earth of the valley covering his bones is sweet to him, and all men come after him, as there were unnumbered before him. ³⁴ Why then do you give me comfort with words in which there is no profit, when you see that there is nothing in your answers but deceit?

⁹ You have sent widows away without hearing their cause, and you have taken away the support of the child who has no father.

²² Be pleased to take teaching from his mouth, and let his words be stored up in your heart.

² Even today my outcry is bitter; his hand is hard on my sorrow.

¹⁰ For he has knowledge of the way I take; after I have been tested I will come out like gold.

¹² I have never gone against the orders of his lips; the words of his mouth have been stored up in my heart.

³ They send away the ass of him who has no father, they take the widow's ox for debt.

⁹ The child without a father is forced from its mother's breast, and they take the young children of the poor for debt.

¹⁹ Snow waters become dry with the heat: so do sinners go down into the underworld.

²⁵ And if it is not so, now, who will make it clear that my words are false, and that what I say is of no value?

² How have you given help to him who has no power! how have you been the salvation of the arm which has no strength!

⁴ Truly, there is no deceit in my lips, and my tongue does not say what is false.

⁴ Truly, there is no deceit in my lips, and my tongue does not say what is false. ⁵ Let it be far from me! I will certainly not say that you are right! I will come to death before I give up my righteousness. ⁶ I will keep it safe, and will not let it go: my heart has nothing to say against any part of my life.

¹² For I was a saviour to the poor when he was crying for help, to the child with no father, and to him who had no supporter.

¹⁵ Fears have come on me; my hope is gone like the wind, and my well-being like a cloud.

⁶ Let me be measured in upright scales, and let God see my righteousness:

¹⁷ If I kept my food for myself, and did not give some of it to the child with no father;

²¹ If my hand had been lifted up against him who had done no wrong, when I saw that I was supported by the judges;

²³ For the fear of God kept me back, and because of his power I might not do such things.

³ And he was angry with his three friends, because they had been unable to give him an answer, and had not made Job's sin clear.

¹¹ I was waiting for your words, I was giving ear to your wise sayings; while you were searching out what to say,

¹⁵ Fear has overcome them, they have no more answers to give; they have come to an end of words. ¹⁶ And am I to go on waiting while they have nothing to say? while they keep quiet and give no more answers?

¹ And now, O Job, give ear to my words, and take note of all I say.

³ My heart is overflowing with knowledge, my lips say what is true.

⁸ But you said in my hearing, and your voice came to my ears: ⁹ I am clean, without sin; I am washed, and there is no evil in me: ¹⁰ See, he is looking for something against me; in his eyes I am as one of his haters; ¹¹ He puts chains on my feet; he is watching all my ways. ¹² Truly, in saying this you are wrong; for God is greater than man.

³¹ Take note O Job, give ear to me; keep quiet, while I say what is in my mind. ³² If you have anything to say, give me an answer; for it is my desire that you may be judged free from sin. ³³ If not, give attention to me, and keep quiet, and I will give you wisdom.

³ For words are tested by the ear, as food is tasted by the mouth.

³ For words are tested by the ear, as food is tasted by the mouth. ⁴ Let us make the decision for ourselves as to what is right; let us have the knowledge among ourselves of what is good. ⁵ For Job has said, I am upright, and it is God who has taken away my right;

⁵ For Job has said, I am upright, and it is God who has taken away my right; ⁶ Though I am right, still I am in pain; my wound may not be made well, though I have done no wrong. ⁷ What man is like Job, a man who freely makes sport of God, ⁸ And goes in the company of evil-doers, walking in the way of sinners? ⁹ For he has said, It is no profit to a man to take delight in God.

³² (UNTRANSLATED TEXT)

⁴ For truly my words are not false; one who has all knowledge is talking with you.

¹⁹ Make clear to me what we are to say to him; we are unable to put our cause before him, because of the dark. ²⁰ How may he have knowledge of my desire for talk with him? or did any man ever say, May destruction come on me?

² Who is this who makes the purpose of God dark by words without knowledge?

⁵ I have said once, and even twice, what was in my mind, but I will not do so again.

⁸ Will you even make my right of no value? will you say that I am wrong in order to make clear that you are right?

¹⁸ His bones are pipes of brass, his legs are like rods of iron.

²⁴ His heart is as strong as a stone, hard as the lower crushing-stone.

³ Who is this who makes dark the purpose of God by words without knowledge? For I have been talking without knowledge about wonders not to be searched out.

³ Who is this who makes dark the purpose of God by words without knowledge? For I have been talking without knowledge about wonders not to be searched out. ⁴ Give ear to me, and I will say what is in my mind; I will put questions to you, and you will give me the answers. ⁵ Word of you had come to my ears, but now my eye has seen you. ⁶ For this cause I give witness that what I said is false, and in sorrow I take my seat in the dust.

⁶ For this cause I give witness that what I said is false, and in sorrow I take my seat in the dust. ⁷ And it came about, after he had said these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, I am very angry with you and your two friends, because you have not said what is right about me, as my servant Job has.

¹¹ And all his brothers and sisters, and his friends of earlier days, came and took food with him in his house; and made clear their grief for him, and gave him comfort for all the evil which the Lord had sent on him; and they all gave him a bit of money and a gold ring.

¹³ He has made ready for him the instruments of death; he makes his arrows flames of fire.

¹⁵ He has made a hole deep in the earth, and is falling into the hole which he has made

¹⁴ He sent out his arrows, driving them in all directions; by his flames of fire they were troubled.

¹² Who has full knowledge of his errors? make me clean from secret evil.

¹² Their backs will be turned when you make ready the cords of your bow against their faces.

⁴ For the weight of your hand was on me day and night; my body became dry like the earth in summer. Selah.

⁸ I will give you knowledge, teaching you the way to go; my eye will be your guide.

¹ To the chief music-maker. Of the servant of the Lord. Of David. The sin of the evil-doer says in his heart, There is no fear of the Lord before his eyes. ² For he takes comfort in the thought that his sin will not be uncovered and hated. ³ In the words of his mouth are evil and deceit; he has given up being wise and doing good.

³⁰ The mouth of the good man says words of wisdom; the talk of his tongue is of righteousness.

² For your arrows have gone into my flesh, and I am crushed under the weight of your hand.

¹¹ My lovers and my friends keep away from my disease; my relations keep far away.

¹ To the chief music-maker. Of Jeduthun. A Psalm. Of David. I said, I will give attention to my ways, so that my tongue may do no wrong; I will keep my mouth under control, while the sinner is before me. ² I made no sound, I said no word, even of good; and I was moved with sorrow.

⁵ You have made my days no longer than a hand's measure; and my years are nothing in your eyes; truly, every man is but a breath. Selah.

⁵ O Lord my God, great are the wonders which you have done in your thought for us; it is not possible to put them out in order before you; when I would give an account of them, their number is greater than I may say.

⁹ I have given news of righteousness in the great meeting; O Lord, you have knowledge that I have not kept back my words. ¹⁰ Your righteousness has not been folded away in my heart; I have made clear your true word and your salvation; I have not kept secret your mercy or your faith from the great meeting.

⁹ Even my dearest friend, in whom I had faith, who took bread with me, is turned against me.

¹ To the chief music-maker. Maschil. Of the sons of Korah. Like the desire of the roe for the water-streams, so is my soul's desire for you, O God.

⁵ Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's haters; because of them the peoples are falling under you.

⁷ Truly, no man may get back his soul for a price, or give to God the payment for himself; ⁸ Because it takes a great price to keep his soul from death, and man is not able to give it.

¹⁵ But God will get back my soul; for he will take me from the power of death. Selah.

¹² For it was not my hater who said evil of me; that would have been no grief to me; it was not one outside the number of my friends who made himself strong against me, or I would have kept myself from him in a secret place; ¹³ But it was you, my equal, my guide, my well-loved friend. ¹⁴ We had loving talk together, and went to the house of God in company.

⁶ They have made ready a net for my steps; my soul is bent down; they have made a great hole before me, and have gone down into it themselves. Selah.

⁹ Truly men of low birth are nothing, and men of high position are not what they seem; if they are put in the scales together they are less than a breath.

¹⁷ O God, you have been my teacher from the time when I was young; and I have been talking of your works of wonder even till now. ¹⁸ Now when I am old and grey-headed, O God, give me not up; till I have made clear your strength to this generation, and your power to all those to come.

¹⁰ Let the kings of Tarshish and of the islands come back with offerings; let the kings of Sheba and Seba give of their stores.

⁴ You keep my eyes from sleep; I am so troubled that no words come.

³ Give ear to the cause of the poor and the children without fathers; let those who are troubled and in need have their rights.

¹⁵ I have been troubled and in fear of death from the time when I was young; your wrath is hard on me, and I have no strength. ¹⁶ The heat of your wrath has gone over me; I am broken by your cruel punishments.

¹⁸ You have sent my friends and lovers far from me; I am gone from the memory of those who are dear to me.

⁵ (UNTRANSLATED TEXT) ⁶ In the morning it is green; in the evening it is cut down, and becomes dry. ⁷ We are burned up by the heat of your passion, and troubled by your wrath. ⁸ You have put our evil doings before you, our secret sins in the light of your face. ⁹ For all our days have gone by in your wrath; our years come to an end like a breath. ¹⁰ The measure of our life is seventy years; and if through strength it may be eighty years, its pride is only trouble and sorrow, for it comes to an end and we are quickly gone.

⁹ I have had dust for bread and my drink has been mixed with weeping:

²³ He has taken my strength from me in the way; he has made short my days.

¹⁴ For he has knowledge of our feeble frame; he sees that we are only dust. ¹⁵ As for man, his days are as grass: his beautiful growth is like the flower of the field. ¹⁶ The wind goes over it and it is gone; and its place sees it no longer.

¹⁴ He makes the grass come up for the cattle, and plants for the use of man; so that bread may come out of the earth;

² Let those whose cause the Lord has taken up say so, his people whom he has taken out of the hands of their haters;

¹³ With my lips have I made clear all the decisions of your mouth.

⁸¹ CAPH My soul is wasted with desire for your salvation: but I have hope in your word.

¹⁰³ How sweet are your sayings to my taste! truly, they are sweeter than honey in my mouth!

⁷ Be quick in answering me, O Lord, for the strength of my spirit is gone: let me see your face, so that I may not be like those who go down into the underworld.

⁹ Give teaching to a wise man, and he will become wiser; give training to an upright man, and his learning will be increased.

¹⁸ There are some whose uncontrolled talk is like the wounds of a sword, but the tongue of the wise makes one well again.

²¹ The wise-hearted will be named men of good sense: and by pleasing words learning is increased. ²² Wisdom is a fountain of life to him who has it; but the punishment of the foolish is their foolish behaviour. ²³ The heart of the wise man is the teacher of his mouth, and gives increased learning to his lips. ²⁴ Pleasing words are like honey, sweet to the soul and new life to the bones.

¹⁷ A friend is loving at all times, and becomes a brother in times of trouble.

¹⁴ The spirit of a man will be his support when he is ill; but how may a broken spirit be lifted up?

²¹ Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and those to whom it is dear will have its fruit for their food.

⁷ All the brothers of the poor man are against him: how much more do his friends go far from him! (UNTRANSLATED TEXT)

¹⁰ Do not let the landmark of the widow be moved, and do not go into the fields of those who have no father; ¹¹ For their saviour is strong, and he will take up their cause against you.

¹¹ A word at the right time is like apples of gold in a network of silver. ¹² Like a nose-ring of gold and an ornament of the best gold, is a wise man who says sharp words to an ear ready to give attention.

³ A stone has great weight, and sand is crushing; but the wrath of the foolish is of greater weight than these.

¹⁰ The Preacher made search for words which were pleasing, but his writing was in words upright and true. ¹¹ The words of the wise are pointed, and sayings grouped together are like nails fixed with a hammer; they are given by one guide.

²² Have no more to do with man, whose life is only a breath, for he is of no value.

¹⁴ Give water to him who is in need of water; give bread, O men of the land of Tema, to those in flight.

¹¹ Get out of the good way, turning from the right road; do not keep the Holy One of Israel before our minds. ¹² For this cause the Holy One of Israel says, Because you will not give ear to this word, and are looking for help in ways of deceit and evil, and are putting your hope in them:

¹⁰ See, I have been testing you for myself like silver; I have put you through the fire of trouble. ¹¹ For myself, even because of my name, I will do it; for I will not let my name be shamed; and my glory I will not give to another. ¹² Give ear to me, Jacob, and Israel, my loved one; I am he, I am the first and I am the last. ¹³ Yes, by my hand was the earth placed on its base, and by my right hand the heavens were stretched out; at my word they take up their places.

¹⁵ For this is the word of him who is high and lifted up, whose resting-place is eternal, whose name is Holy: my resting-place is in the high and holy place, and with him who is crushed and poor in spirit, to give life to the spirit of the poor, and to make strong the heart of the crushed.

⁴ Let everyone keep watch on his neighbour, and put no faith in any brother: for every brother will certainly be tricking his brother, and every neighbour will go about saying evil. ⁵ Everyone will make sport of his neighbour with deceit, not saying what is true: their tongues have been trained to say false words; they are twisted, hating to come back.

³ Their great men have sent their servants for water: they come to the holes and there is no water to be seen; they come back with nothing in their vessels; they are overcome with shame and fear, covering their heads. ⁴ Those who do work on the land are in fear, for there has been no rain on the land, and the farmers are shamed, covering their heads.

⁶ And the asses of the field on the open hilltops are opening their mouths wide like jackals to get air; their eyes are hollow because there is no grass.

¹⁸ Why is my pain unending and my wound without hope of being made well? Sorrow is mine, for you are to me as a stream offering false hope and as waters which are not certain.

²¹ I will keep you safe from the hands of the evil-doers, and I will give you salvation from the hands of the cruel ones.

⁵ This is what the Lord has said: Cursed is the man who puts his faith in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart is turned away from the Lord. ⁶ For he will be like the brushwood in the upland, and will not see when good comes; but his living-place will be in the dry places in the waste land, in a salt and unpeopled land.

¹³ O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who give you up will be put to shame; those who go away from you will be cut off from the earth, because they have given up the Lord, the fountain of living waters.

²⁰ Is evil to be the reward of good? for they have made a deep hole for my soul. Keep in mind how I took my place before you, to say a good word for them so that your wrath might be turned away from them.

²² Let a cry for help go up from their houses, when you send an armed band on them suddenly: for they have made a hole in which to take me, and have put nets for my feet secretly.

²³ Dedan and Tema and Buz, and all who have the ends of their hair cut;

¹⁴ Your lovers have no more thought for you, they go after you no longer; for I have given you the wound of a hater, even cruel punishment;

⁹ We would have made Babylon well, but she is not made well: give her up, and let us go everyone to his country: for her punishment is stretching up to heaven, and lifted up even to the skies.

¹² With his bow bent, he has made me the mark for his arrows. ¹³ He has let loose his arrows into the inmost parts of my body.

¹⁴ Then I said, Ah, Lord! see, my soul has never been unclean, and I have never taken as my food anything which has come to a natural death or has been broken by beasts, from the time when I was young even till now; no disgusting flesh has ever come into my mouth.

¹⁶ And he said to me, Son of man, see, I will take away from Jerusalem her necessary bread: they will take their bread by weight and with care, measuring out their drinking-water with fear and wonder:

¹⁸ Son of man, take your food with shaking fear, and your water with trouble and care; ¹⁹ And say to the people of the land, This is what the Lord has said about the people of Jerusalem and the land of Israel: They will take their food with care and their drink with wonder, so that all the wealth of their land may be taken from it because of the violent ways of the people living in it.

⁷ In you they have had no respect for father and mother; in you they have been cruel to the man from a strange land; in you they have done wrong to the child without a father and to the widow.

²² The traders of Sheba and Raamah did trade with you; they gave the best of all sorts of spices and all sorts of stones of great price and gold for your goods. ²³ Haran and Canneh and Eden, the traders of Asshur and all the Medes:

³ I had no pleasing food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, and I put no oil on my body till three full weeks were ended.

⁹ I will not put into effect the heat of my wrath; I will not again send destruction on Ephraim; for I am God and not man, the Holy One among you; I will not put an end to you.

¹ Ephraim's food is the wind, and he goes after the east wind: deceit and destruction are increasing day by day; they make an agreement with Assyria, and take oil into Egypt.

¹⁸ What sounds of pain come from the beasts! the herds of cattle are at a loss because there is no grass for them; even the flocks of sheep are no longer to be seen. ¹⁹ O Lord, my cry goes up to you: for fire has put an end to the grass-lands of the waste, and all the trees of the field are burned with its flame. ²⁰ The beasts of the field are turning to you with desire: for the water-streams are dry and fire has put an end to the grass-lands of the waste.

³ And they have put the fate of my people to the decision of chance: giving a boy for the price of a loose woman and a girl for a drink of wine.

³ So now, O Lord, give ear to my prayer and take my life from me; for death is better for me than life.

⁸ Then when the sun came up, God sent a burning east wind: and so great was the heat of the sun on his head that Jonah was overcome, and, requesting death for himself, said, Death is better for me than life.

⁵ Put no faith in a friend, do not let your hope be placed in a relation: keep watch on the doors of your mouth against her who is resting on your breast. ⁶ For the son puts shame on his father, the daughter goes against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's haters are those of his family.

¹⁰ But even she has been taken away, she has gone away as a prisoner: even her young children are smashed to bits at the top of all the streets: the fate of her honoured men is put to the decision of chance, and all her great men are put in chains.

¹² Are you not eternal, O Lord my God, my Holy One? for you there is no death. O Lord, he has been ordered by you for our punishment; and by you, O Rock, he has been marked out to put us right.

³ God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. The heavens were covered with his glory, and the earth was full of his praise.

⁵ And I will come near to you for judging; I will quickly be a witness against the wonder-workers, against those who have been untrue in married life, against those who take false oaths; against those who keep back from the servant his payment, and who are hard on the widow and the child without a father, who do not give his rights to the man from a strange country, and have no fear of me, says the Lord of armies.

¹⁸ Then you will again see how the upright man is different from the sinner, and the servant of God from him who is not.

²⁸ Come to me, all you who are troubled and weighted down with care, and I will give you rest.

³⁷ For by your words will your righteousness be seen, and by your words you will be judged.

³¹ Then said Jesus to them, All of you will be turned away from me this night: for it is said in the Writings, I will put to death the keeper of the sheep, and the sheep of the flock will be put to flight.

⁵⁶ But all this has taken place so that the writings of the prophets might come true. Then all his disciples went from him in flight.

³³ And he took with him Peter and James and John, and grief and great trouble came on him. ³⁴ And he said to them, My soul is very sad, even to death: be here a little time, and keep watch.

³⁴ And at the ninth hour, Jesus said in a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, My God, my God, why are you turned away from me?

³⁴ For salt is good, but if the taste goes from it, of what use is it?

⁴⁰ But the other, protesting, said, Have you no fear of God? for you have a part in the same punishment,

¹⁸ I am not talking of you all: I have knowledge of my true disciples, but things are as they are, so that the Writings may come true, The foot of him who takes bread with me is lifted up against me.

³² See, a time is coming, yes, it is now here, when you will go away in all directions, every man to his house, and I will be by myself: but I am not by myself, because the Father is with me.

²⁰ And how I kept back nothing which might be of profit to you, teaching you publicly and privately,

²⁷ For I have not kept back from you anything of the purpose of God.

³³ I have had no desire for any man's silver or gold or clothing.

⁵ And hope does not put to shame; because our hearts are full of the love of God through the Holy Spirit which is given to us.

³² He who did not keep back his only Son, but gave him up for us all, will he not with him freely give us all things?

³³ As it is said, See, I am putting in Zion a stone causing a fall, and a rock in the way: but he who has faith in him will not be put to shame.

¹⁵ Take part in the joy of those who are glad, and in the grief of those who are sorrowing.

²⁶ And if there is pain in one part of the body, all the parts will be feeling it; or if one part is honoured, all the parts will be glad.

¹² For our glory is in this, in the knowledge which we have that our way of life in the world, and most of all in relation to you, has been holy and true in the eyes of God; not in the wisdom of the flesh, but in the grace of God.

¹¹ Having in mind, then, the fear of the Lord, we put these things before men, but God sees our hearts; and it is my hope that we may seem right in your eyes.

²⁹ Who is feeble and I am not feeble? who is in danger of falling, and I am not angry?

² Take on yourselves one another's troubles, and so keep the law of Christ.

⁴ But let every man make test of his work, and then will his cause for glory be in himself only, and not in his neighbour.

¹⁴ So that we may be no longer children, sent this way and that, turned about by every wind of teaching, by the twisting and tricks of men, by the deceits of error;

⁶ Let your talk be with grace, mixed with salt, so that you may be able to give an answer to everyone.

¹⁶ At my first meeting with my judges, no one took my part, but all went away from me. May it not be put to their account.

¹⁴ But solid food is for men of full growth, even for those whose senses are trained by use to see what is good and what is evil.

⁴ As for those who at one time saw the light, tasting the good things from heaven, and having their part in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ With knowledge of the good word of God, and of the powers of the coming time,

³ Keep in mind those who are in chains, as if you were chained with them, and those who are in trouble, as being yourselves in the body.

¹⁹ You have knowledge of this, dear brothers. But let every man be quick in hearing, slow in words, slow to get angry;

²⁷ The religion which is holy and free from evil in the eyes of our God and Father is this: to take care of children who have no fathers and of widows who are in trouble, and to keep oneself untouched by the world.

² For we all go wrong in a number of things. If a man never makes a slip in his talk, then he is a complete man and able to keep all his body in control.

³ And in their desire for profit they will come to you with words of deceit, like traders doing business in souls: whose punishment has been ready for a long time and their destruction is watching for them. ⁴ For if God did not have pity for the angels who did evil, but sent them down into hell, to be kept in chains of eternal night till they were judged; ⁵ And did not have mercy on the world which then was, but only kept safe Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when he let loose the waters over the world of the evil-doers;

¹² These men are unseen rocks at your love-feasts, when they take part in them with you, keepers of sheep who without fear take the food of the sheep; clouds without water rushing before the wind, wasted trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots,

⁷ And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia say: These things says he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, opening the door so that it may be shut by no one, and shutting it so that it may be open to no one.

⁸ And the four beasts, having every one of them six wings, are full of eyes round about and inside: and without resting day and night, they say, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, Ruler of all, who was and is and is to come.

⁶ And in those days men will be hoping for death, and it will not come to them; and they will have a great desire for death, and death will go in flight from them.

⁹ And the kings of the earth, who made themselves unclean with her, and in her company gave themselves up to evil, will be weeping and crying over her, when they see the smoke of her burning, ¹⁰ Watching from far away, for fear of her punishment, saying, Sorrow, sorrow for Babylon, the great town, the strong town! for in one hour you have been judged.

¹⁷ For in one hour such great wealth has come to nothing. And every shipmaster, and all who are sailing on the sea, and sailors and all who get their living by the sea, were watching from far away, ¹⁸ And crying out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What town is like the great town?