Part 376

30:13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.

30:14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.

30:15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.

30:16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

30:17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.

30:18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

30:19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

30:20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.

30:21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.

30:22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.

30:23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

30:24 Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

30:25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor? 30:26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

30:27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.

30:28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.

30:29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

30:30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

30:31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.

31:1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? 31:2 For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? 31:3 Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? 31:4 Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps? 31:5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; 31:6 Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity.

31:7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands; 31:8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.

31:9 If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door; 31:10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

31:11 For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.

31:12 For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.

31:13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me; 31:14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? 31:15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb? 31:16 If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; 31:17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; 31:18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother’s womb;) 31:19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; 31:20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; 31:21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: 31:22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

31:23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.

31:24 If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; 31:25 If I rejoice because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much; 31:26 If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; 31:27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: 31:28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.

31:29 If I rejoice at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him: 31:30 Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.

31:31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.