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JOB.

A NATIONAL DRAMATIC POEM; OR, THE PROBLEM OF EVIL IN

ITS RELATION TO THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL.

About 580-570 B. C. E.

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I.

PROLOGUE.

Job's piety and prosperity. Trials: Poverty, bereavement, sickness. Unshaken piety. Tempted of his wife. The three friends.

THERE was a man in the land of Uz named Job; and that man was blameless and upright, God-fearing, and one that 2. eschewed evil. And his children were seven sons and three daughters; and his substance was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and very many slaves; so that this man was 3. the greatest of all the children of the East. Now his sons were used to hold feast in the house of each in turn; and they would send and bid their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 4. And when the days of feasting were gone about, Job used to send and sanctify them, and rise up early in the morning, and offer whole burnt offerings, one for each; for Job said: It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their 5. thoughts. So was Job used to do continually. 6. And on the day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house, a messenger came to Job, and said: The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them; and the Sabæans fell upon them, and took them, and slew the servants with the sword; and I only am escaped to 7. tell thee. While he yet spake, another came and said: The fire of God fell from heaven, and burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped to tell

8. thee. While he yet spake, another came, and said: The Chaldæans fell upon the camels in three bands, and took them, and slew the servants with the sword; and I only am escaped to tell 9. thee. While he yet spake, another came, and said: Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house; and, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped to tell thee.

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Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshiped, and said: Naked I came forth upon the earth, and naked return I thither; the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken; the name of the LORD be blessed.

And Job was smitten with a sore boil from the sole of his foot unto his crown; so that he took him a potsherd to scrape himself as he sat among the ashes. In all this Job sinned not, 12. and gave God none offense. And his wife said to him: Dost 13. thou still remain blameless? Renounce God, and die. But he

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said to her: Thou speakest like one of the foolish women. Shall we then receive good from God, and the evil shall we not receive? In all this Job sinned not with his lips.

Then Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, and they came each from his place-Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, -and they agreed together to come and bemoan him and com15. fort him. And they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not; and they lifted up their voice, and wept, and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward 16. heaven. And they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him; for they saw that his grief was very great. (Chap I and II abrev.)

1.

II.

JOB'S COMPLAINT.

AFTERWARD Job opened his mouth and cusred his day:

2. Perish the day wherein I was born;

Be that day darkness; let not God above regard it,
Neither the light shine thereon.

3. Let darkness claim it, and deep shadow;

Let clouds dwell upon it, eclipses fill it with dread. 4. Why died I not at my birth; came forth and perished?

5. Else had I lien down and been quiet;
I should have slept; then were I at rest;
6. With kings and counsellors of earth,
That built them mausoleums;

7. Or with princes that had gold,

Whose houses were filled with silver. 8. There the wicked cease from troubling; And there the weary are at rest. 9. There captives likewise are at ease;

They hear not the taskmaster's voice. 10. Both small and great are there;

And the slave is free from his master. 11. Wherefore giveth He light to the wretched, And life to the bitter in soul;

12. That long for death, and it is not;

And dig for it more than hid treasures; 13. That rejoice with great exultation, That are glad when, they find the

14. The man whose way is hid,

Whom God hath hedged in?

grave

15. For my sighing preventeth my food,

And my groanings are poured out like water.

16. What I feared that came upon me,
And that which I dreaded befell me.

17. I was not at ease, I had no peace,
I was not at rest; but trouble came.

(Chap. III.)

1.

III.

FIRST ARGUMENT OF ELIPHAZ.

Job has comforted many. Teaching of religion. Vision of the
night. Unapproachable purity of God. Imperfection of
all creatures. Man's destiny of trouble. Benefic-
ence of God. Chastening, the road to blessing.

THEN answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said: 2. If one assay speech with thee, wilt thou be vexed? And who can refrain from speaking?

3. Behold, thou hast instructed many,

And weak hands thou hast strengthened.

4. Thy words upheld the falling,

And feeble knees thou hast confirmed.

5. But now it cometh to thee, and thou faintest ;
It toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
6. Is not thy religion thy trust?
Thine upright life thy hope?

7. Bethink thee, now, who perished, innocent?
Or when were the upright cut off?
8. As I have seen, plowers of evil,

And sowers of mischief, reap the same. 9. By the breath of God they perish,

By the blast of his anger they are consumed.

10. A word came secretly unto me,

And mine ear received a whisper thereof. 11. In thoughts of the visions of night, When deep sleep falleth on men, 12. Fear came upon me, and trembling, Which made all my bones to shake. 13. A breath passeth before my face; The hair of my flesh shuddereth,

14. It standeth, but I perceive not its look;

A form is before mine eyes; I hear a still voice:

15. Can man be just before God?

A mortal pure before his Maker?

16. Behold He putteth no trust in His servants And chargeth His angels with folly;

17. Much more them that dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust,

That are crushed like the moth!

18. Betwixt morning and evening they are destroyed; They perish forever, none regarding.

19. For affliction cometh not forth from the dust, Neither doth trouble spring out of the ground,

20. But man is born unto trouble,

Even as sparks fly upward.

21. As for me, I would seek unto God, And unto God commit my cause;

22. Who doeth great things, unsearchable;
Marvellous things without number;

23. Who giveth rain on the face of the earth,
And sendeth water upon the fields;
24. That setteth on high those that are low;
And they that mourn are exalted to safety.
25. He that foileth the wiles of the crafty,

That their hands achieve not their aim. 26. He taketh the wise in their craft,

And the counsel of knaves is frustrated.

27. They meet with darkness in the daytime.

And grope at noonday as at night.

28. Behold, happy the man whom God doth correct.

The chastening of the Almighty, thou shalt not despise. 29. Though He make sore, He bindeth up;

He woundeth, and His hands make whole.

30. In six troubles He will deliver thee;

In seven no evil shall touch thee.

31. In famine He shall redeem thee from death;
And in war from the power of the sword.
32. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue;
Nor fear destruction when it cometh.

33. At destruction and dearth shalt thou laugh;

Neither fear the beasts of the earth.

34. For with the stones of the fields thou shalt have a league, And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

35. Thou shalt know that thy tent is in

peace; Thou shalt muster thy fold, and miss nothing. 36. Thou shalt know that thy children are many, Thine offspring like the grass of the earth. 37. Thou shalt come to thy grave in full age, Like a shock of corn in its season.

38. Lo this-we have searched that it is so; Hear, and know it.

(Chap. IV: 1-9, 12-21.)

IV.

JOB'S REPLY.

His terrible affliction. Hopelessness of his lot. Need of sympathy. Treachery of his friends. Innocence. Shortness and misery of life. Remonstrance with God. Pettiness of man and might of God. Yearning for death. Does sin hurt God? Shall God not

spare?

THEN Job answered and said:

2. Oh that my vexation were but weighed,

And my calamity put in the scales therewith' 3. Yea, it would outweigh the sand of the seas; Therefore have my words been rash.

4. For the arrows of the Almighty are with me, The poison whereof my spirit drinketh;

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The terrors of God are marshalled against me.

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