Part 569

29:17. I broke the jaws of the wicked man, and out of his teeth I took away the prey.

29:18. And I said: I shall die in my nest, and as a palm tree shall multiply my days.

29:19. My root is opened beside the waters, and dew shall continue in my harvest.

29:20. My glory shall always be renewed, and my bow in my hand shall be repaired.

29:21. They that heard me, waited for my sentence, and being attentive held their peace at my counsel.

29:22. To my words they durst add nothing, and my speech dropped upon them.

29:23. They waited for me as for rain, and they opened their mouth as for a latter shower.

29:24. If at any time I laughed on them, they believed not, and the light of my countenance fell not on earth.

29:25. If I had a mind to go to them, I sat first, and when I sat as a king, with his army standing about him, yet I was a comforter of them that mourned.

Job Chapter 30

Job shews the wonderful change of his temporal estate, from welfare to great calamity.

30:1. But now the younger in time scorn me, whose fathers I would not have set with the dogs of my flock:

But now the younger in time.... That is, younger than I am, and as it were obscure, when I was conspicuous and in magnificence; they now look down on me.

30:2. The strength of whose hands was to me as nothing, and they were thought unworthy of life itself.

30:3. Barren with want and hunger, who gnawed in the wilderness, disfigured with calamity and misery.

30:4. And they ate grass, and barks of trees, and the root of junipers was their food.

30:5. Who snatched up these things out of the valleys, and when they had found any of them, they ran to them with a cry.

30:6. They dwelt in the desert places of torrents, and in caves of earth, or upon the gravel.

30:7. They pleased themselves among these kind of things, and counted it delightful to be under the briers.

30:8. The children of foolish and base men, and not appearing at all upon the earth.

30:9. Now I am turned into their song, and am become their byword.

30:10. They abhor me, and flee far from me, and are not afraid to spit in my face.

30:11. For he hath opened his quiver, and hath afflicted me, and hath put a bridle into my mouth.

30:12. At the right hand of my rising, my calamities forthwith arose: they have overthrown my feet, and have overwhelmed me with their paths as with waves.

30:13. They have destroyed my ways, they have lain in wait against me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help.

30:14. They have rushed in upon me, as when a wall is broken, and a gate opened, and have rolled themselves down to my miseries.

30:15. I am brought to nothing: as a wind thou hast taken away my desire: and my prosperity hath passed away like a cloud.

30:16. And now my soul fadeth within myself, and the days of affliction possess me.