THE 
 
 BOOK OF JOB; 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE HEBREW, 
 
 BY THE LATE 
 
 MISS ELIZABETH SMITH, 
 
 Author of '^ Fragments in Prose and Verse** 
 
 WITH A 
 
 PREFACE, AND ANNOTATIONS, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. R RANDOLPH, D. D. 
 
 Second Edition. 
 
 PRINTED BT 
 
 RfCHAKD CRUTTWELL, ST. JAMEs's-STREET, BATH; 
 
 AND SOLD BY 
 
 CADELL AND DA VIES, STRAND, HATCH ARD, PICCADILLY, 
 
 LONDON; AND S. CHEYNE, EDINBURGH. 
 
 1810.
 
 33 
 
 TO THE RIGHT REVEREND I ^ j Q^ 
 
 THOMAS /^/O 
 
 LORD BISHOP OF ST. DAVID's. 
 
 MY LOUD, 
 
 THE approbation you have 
 bestoAved on the Writings of Miss Smith, 
 and the zeal with which you are endeavouring 
 to promote the knowledge of the Hebrew 
 Scriptures, induce me to think that I am 
 offering to your Lordship no unwelcome gift, 
 in presenting you with the following Trans- 
 lation. And I am happy also to avail myself 
 of the opportunity which is thus afforded me, 
 of conveying my earnest wishes for success 
 in your Lordship's truly episcopal labours, and 
 the high esteem with which I have the honour 
 to subscribe myself, 
 
 Your Lordship's 
 Most obedient humble Servant, 
 
 F. RANDOLPH. 
 
 JAN. 18, 1810. 
 
 a/irvl * )6
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ^ I ^HE following work, to be duly appreciated, ought 
 to be regarded, not as a commentary on the Book 
 of Job, but simply as the religious exercise of the 
 accomplished author, to familiarise herself with the 
 Hebrew language, and more fully to acquaint herself 
 with the word of God. If it should be thought to 
 rank amongst the best of our English versions, it should 
 also be remembered, that it was not written in oppo- 
 sition to them; that the translator was only occupied 
 in confirming her own sentiments, not in combating 
 those of others ; and so far from its being intended for 
 publication, or as a display of her critical ability, I most 
 
 a
 
 11 PREFACE. 
 
 conscientiously believe, that had it pleased God to havr 
 spared her life, few, even of her dearest friends, would 
 ever have known the beauties of the composition. If 
 I have no hesitation in saying, that, as a translation, 
 it fears no comparison, I would also expressly state, 
 that (except with the context of the venerable book 
 from which it was formed) it calls for none. It is not a 
 trial of skill, but the document of an humble and dis- 
 ciplined understanding; an effort of intellect, that must 
 always command the admiration of the learned ; and 
 the transcript of a mind, that will ever interest the 
 affections of the good. Such a mind, and employed in 
 such a manner, without a duty neglected, or a necessary 
 occupation postponed, may prove a blessing to the 
 world. It may contribute to heighten the standard of 
 female excellence, not by stripping it of any accom- 
 plishment, but by combining the strongest menial 
 habits, with the fairest external captivations: and the 
 example set by Miss Smith, if it should not serve to 
 awaken the trifling and the gay from their dream of 
 vanitv, may serve to lift the serious and the thoughtful 
 into d higher order of distinction; may carry them 
 into a career, in which they will suffer no disappoint-
 
 PREFACE. IJl 
 
 ment, will experience no mortification, will have to 
 dread no rivalship, and in which they will be sure 
 to triumph. 
 
 The task of editing this last specimen of Miss 
 Smith's talents, that is intended for publication, has 
 devolved upon me ; and let me be allowed to say, that in 
 the prosecution of it, great has been my reward. More 
 happy, or more instructive hours have I never passed 
 than those in which I was occupied in following the 
 steps of my dear departed friend along the paths of 
 Hebrew literature; and so many, and so new, were 
 the beauties which daily unfolded themselves, that I 
 felt like a careless traveller, taken back to scenes he 
 had visited before, and led by the hand of taste to 
 different points of view, the better to observe and 
 admire the rich variety of prospect. 
 
 From knowing little of the progress Miss Smith had 
 made in the study of the Hebrew language, nothing 
 could exceed my astonishment, wdien the following 
 translation was first submitted to my perusal. Not 
 having time, perhaps I might more justly say, not 
 
 a 2
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 deeming myself competent to decide critically upon 
 its merits, I sent it to a friend, upon whose judgment I 
 could rely, before I ventured to hazard any opinion of 
 my own.* That judgment has been pronounced, and 
 under the sanction of it, I am authorised to produce 
 this version of the Book of Job, not as a work that 
 claims indulgence, from the youth or sex of the author ; 
 or which might plead the disadvantages under which it 
 was prosecuted, in extenuation of its faults and errors ; 
 but as a work of intrinsic and superior excellence, and 
 " conveying," as my friend expresses himself, " more 
 '* of the true character and meaning of the Hebrew, 
 " with fewer departures from the idiom of the English, 
 ^' than any other translation whatever that we possess." 
 As such, I do produce it ; and so far as a diligent and 
 accurate comparison of this translation, partially or 
 wholl}^ with almost every other extant, (at least with 
 all I could procure, or read,) may entitle me to make 
 the assertion, I scruple not to pronounce it to be, upon 
 
 * Vide Dr. Magee's letter to me on the subjeft, in the 1st vol. 
 of Fragments. A subsequent and most honourable testimony 
 which he has borne to it, may be found also in his new edition 
 of the Do(^rine of Atonement, vol. ii. p. 393.
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 the whole, more clear and satisfactory, more gram* 
 matically accurate, more closely expressive of the li- 
 teral meaning, and, though preserving a native lustre 
 of its own, more distinctly reflecting the brightness of 
 its glorious original, than any which have fallen under 
 my observation. 
 
 It may, and must ever, be deeply regretted, that Miss 
 Smith did not live to render her work more perfect, by 
 such judicious alterations, as a more enlarged enquiry, 
 and maturer deliberation, might have inclined her to 
 make; and that on a few dubious and difficult passages 
 she had not had the opportunity of consulting the opi- 
 nions of some of our most learned and able commen- 
 tators. But if she had no other helps than those 
 which are common to, and lie within the reach of, 
 every Hebrew student, must it not afford matter of 
 triumph as well as of encouragement to him, to find 
 what a proficiency may be made in the sacred lan- 
 guage, with the bare assistance of a Grammar and 
 Lexicon ? and that, by the same helps and guidance, if 
 he will take the pains to search the Hebrew Scriptures, 
 he may hope, and without the aid of Rabbinical in-
 
 VI- PEEFACE. 
 
 terpretations, or even the acquirement of other branches 
 of oriental learning, to search thera with the greatest 
 profit to himself, if not to unlock their hidden stores 
 for the edification of others. 
 
 I do not mean by this to depreciate the value of 
 these attainments; and perhaps a previous insight into 
 the formation and structure of the Arabic and Persian 
 languages may have given to Miss Smith a greater de- 
 gree of facility and precision in her Hebrew researches. 
 But ornamental as a general acquaintance with oriental 
 learning must ever be to the biblical scholar^ and 
 occasionally useful as it may be found in supplying, or 
 in strengthening conjectural emendation, I would be 
 cautious of annexing to it a greater importance than it 
 deserves. If none of the Rabbinical writings (proper!}- 
 so called) are of a more antient* date than the tenth 
 century, when there was almost an universal decay of 
 the knowledge of the Hebrew tongue, and when also, 
 
 * Of course I rank on'y under this description those which 
 were commenced by Rabbi .jaadias A, D. 927, and which were 
 continued by the Rabbinical commentators, Juda, Jona, David 
 Kimchi, Aben Ezra, &c. &c.
 
 PREFACE. VU 
 
 by the confession of the Rjibbins themselves, it was as 
 much a dead language to them, as it is now to us; upon 
 what are founded their pretensions of being the best 
 interpreters of scripture? If, moreover, their boasted 
 points afford no fixed criterion to determine whether 
 the explanation be right or wrong; if they who pro- 
 fess to be guided by them, frequently labour under the 
 greatest uncertainties, and shew the most notorious 
 disagreement among themselves : may not the blind, 
 if we listen only to them, he leading the blind ? And 
 is it not our duty to endeavour (as far as we are 
 able) to rescue the sacred text from the errors and mis- 
 conceptions of their glosses and comments ? Suppose 
 it also to be conceded, that the oriental languages, 
 from their affinity to each other, may afford help in 
 discoverina; the lead in 2: idea of some words, and 
 partly supply the place of cotemporary writings in the 
 Hebrew tongue : must it not also be acknowledged, 
 that if all otlier languages are subsequent to the 
 Hebrew, no Hebrew word can,* etymologically, be 
 
 • For this, and some of the foregoing remarks, I am indebted 
 to a small pamphlet, which was published under the form of Four 
 Letters on the Study of the Hebrew Scriptures, in the year 1755,
 
 VIU PREFACE. 
 
 derived from any of them ? Or bow is it to be ascer- 
 tained (from the great and numberless changes which 
 language has undergone, through the diversified habits 
 
 when the disputes about the vowel points were at the highest. 
 To corroborate what is here advanced, there is subjoined the 
 following note : 
 
 " That D'^Dli^ and Vl^ are names of God's own imposing, 
 <* appears from Gen. i. 8 — 10. Even that D'^^7^^ is so, may be 
 ** concluded from the third chapter of G^inesis; where Satan 
 *' makes use of this word as a name well known and familiar to 
 ** Eve : and yet Dr. Pococke, in compliance with the Rabbins, 
 " in Not. Miscell. p. 34<, derives Aleim from the Arabic Alalia 
 *' coluit J Shemim from Samaj to be above ; and Aratz from 
 " Arada to be beneath,'' 
 
 The reader, however, who may have dipped only into the 
 Rabbinical bible of Buxtorf, the TtiT\^ ^^"lp/2 of the Jews, 
 will want no other proof of the justice of these observations; since 
 nothing can be more discordant than the Rabbinical expositions 
 of every doubtful passage; and even Schultens, whom every 
 scholar must name with reverence, and who desei"vedly ranks 
 among the first of biblical critics, in his laborious and learned 
 commentary on this very book of Job, more strongly confirms the 
 opinion ; for after having collected together most of the Rabbinical 
 interpretations, and shewn his reasons for dissenting from them, 
 how often, when he fancies he has hit the mark (his favourite 
 phrase) by the discovery of an Arabic roor, does he explain the 
 ignotum per ignot'ius.
 
 PREFACE ix 
 
 and pursuits of human society, from the introduction 
 of new terms, or from the affixing new meanings to 
 those ah'eady in use) that the radical basis has remained 
 unaltered, or that the letters which compose the Arabic 
 roots, precisely answer to their respective letters in the 
 Hebrew ? So that all these languages, in a derivative 
 point of view, can only be considered as so many 
 copious and diverging streams, issuing from the same 
 parent source, — mixing with, and polluted indeed by 
 other currents, the farther they are distant from it, and 
 more and more discolouring the waters of eternal life. 
 To what have come all the expectations raised, and 
 the great discoveries promised, from a knowledge of 
 Arabic literature ? Only to a confession, I believe, that 
 its explications rest upon very doubtful authorit}' ; 
 and notwithstanding the boast of one of its most 
 learned professors, vix intricatiorem occurrere voculam 
 in sacra scriptura cui Arabia non aliquid afferre lucis, 
 it is evident, that we must borrow this scriptural light 
 from the spurious and corrupted language of the Koran. 
 
 It is not my wish to press this question into discus- 
 sion farther than as it bears upon this translation.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Certain it is that Miss Smith had read none of the 
 Rabbinical comments ; and as certain, the reader may 
 perhaps be inclined to think, that she had no need of 
 them. 
 
 In her seventeenth year, she acquired some know- 
 ledge of the Arabic and Persian languages, when a 
 very fine dictionary and grammar, in the possession of 
 her brother, led her thoughts to oriental literature f 
 and in a letter written in the following year, (1794,) 
 she mentions her intention to begin the study of 
 Hebrew. In February 179<5, she says, ''As to Persian^ 
 " all my books are at Bath, so that T shall most pro- 
 " bably forget the little I knew, when I saw you last." 
 These books were never afterwards in her possession; 
 but it appears, that, in the course of a few months, she 
 had made good use of them, for among her manuscripts 
 was found a large collection of Hebrew words,t com- 
 pared with the Arabic, or Persian, to shew the resem- 
 
 * See FragmeniSj vol. i. page 32. 
 
 t This Collection v.'iil, I bcjicve, he printed by the Bishop 
 of St. D..vid's as a sequel to his Arabic Alphabet.
 
 PREFACE. Xi 
 
 blaiicc between those languages ; with an explanation 
 of the Arabic names of many of the stars, and other 
 observations upon that languge. In 1799, she writes 
 to her friend, " If you want to consult the Syriac trans- 
 ^ lation of the New Testament on any particular pas- 
 " sage, let me know it. Mr. Claxton has a very fine 
 " one, printed in Hebrew characters; and the language 
 " is so very like the Hebrew, and where it differs from 
 ^' that, so like the x^rabic, that 1 can read it very well.'* 
 What faciHty of comprehension (as it has been before 
 stated) Miss Smith may have brought to her Hebrew 
 studies, from these prior investigations, cannot now be 
 ascertained; but never, at any period of her life, did 
 she derive from any person the smallest assistance in 
 the pursuit of them. She had frequent access to an 
 Hebrew bible, and for several years before her death 
 it was constantly in her possession. 
 
 Mr. Claxton gave her a little book, which contained 
 maxims and opinions of the Rabbins, and sundry roots 
 of Hebrew words; and his library furnished also a col- 
 lection of prayers, used in the Jewish synagogue. She 
 had also Buy ley's Hebrew grammar, and when she
 
 Xli PllEFACE. 
 
 began to study that language, she had an opportunity 
 of consulting Leigh's Dictionary. These appear to 
 have been all the helps she had, till the year 1801, 
 when shew as put in possession of Parkhurst's Lexicon : 
 and during her residence at Coniston, where she 
 had access to no other book from which she Qould 
 derive any assistance, the translation of Job was the 
 employment of her solitary hours, and was finished in 
 November 1803. 
 
 In a letter written in 1805, she says, '* I never read 
 " Peters on Job, nor any thing about the Hebrew lan- 
 " guage, except the book of Dr. Kennicot, wliich you 
 " lent me, and Lowth's Praflections. Parkhurst has been 
 " my only guide, but T fancy he is a very good one." 
 
 A few chapters of Genesis, many of the Psalms, and 
 some parts of the Prophets, filled some scattered leaves 
 among her papers, and exhibit proofs of her unwearied 
 application to the study of the holy writings. It may 
 fiiirly therefore be alleged, that with the aid she expe- 
 ric:iced IVom the Grammar and Lexicon of Parkhurst, 
 and without anv other direction than what she collected
 
 PREFACE. Xlil 
 
 from aa accurate investigation of the roots, and then 
 following and considering the connection between 
 them and their derivatives; from making, in short, the 
 Hebrew language explicative of itself; she has ex- 
 tracted from this inexhaustible mine of divine know- 
 ledge (for siich it may be truly called) the rich ore of 
 learning, on which she has so happily stamped a value 
 by her own exquisite skill and judgment. 
 
 Through the vrhole of her remarks and alterations, 
 she never alludes to, and, I am confident, never saw, 
 any other version but that of our Bible ; and although 
 in her occasional deviations from it, there is, in many 
 passages, a similarity of construction with that of 
 some or other of our best commentators, there is also 
 a certain dissimilarity in the turn of thought, or the 
 mode of expression, which peculiarly marks it to be 
 her own, and removes any suspicion of her having 
 borrowed from them, or o\ having been biassed by 
 any pre-conceived opinion. 
 
 As to the Book of Job itself, either with regard to 
 the reality of the history, the form and character of
 
 XIV PREFACE. 
 
 the poem, the antiquity of its origin, or tlie person 
 of its supposed author, no traces of Miss Smith's 
 opinion were discovered among her papers. But as 
 in various parts of the body of the translation, her sen- 
 timents may be inferred ; as she, directly or indirectly^ 
 brings an accession of evidence to many of these 
 controverted points, and more firmly strengthens the 
 position, on which rests the grand article of our faith, 
 " that the Old Testament is not contrary to the Nezv ; 
 '•' that the patriarchal belief was that of Christianity, 
 " in type and figure ; and that Job, like Abrahanv 
 "rejoiced to see his Saviour's day, and was glad;" 
 I thought it best to affix any remarks I had to offer, to 
 the different passages as they occurred, and which the 
 reader will find in the subjoined Appendix. He will 
 have to lament, indeed, that the notes are far less 
 valuable than I hoped to make them, from the 
 want of many observations, I had reason to expect, 
 from the pen of my learned friend Dr. iMagee ; but 
 which the labours of his official situation, in the. first 
 instance, and a serious accident and indisposition 
 afterwards, when time was more at his disposal, ren- 
 dered him unable to supply. Tiiis also has occasioned
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 some delay in the publication, which must in no wise 
 be attributed to any proposed, or completed, alteration 
 of Miss Smith's manuscript. Not a single phrase or 
 word has undergone correction, though in a few places 
 the scholar, as well as the friend, will be filled with 
 sorrow, that the hand is cold, which alone could be 
 authorized to make it. 
 
 Of my own few animadversions, I trust, with all mj 
 partiality, I may truly say, upon this subject, amicus 
 Plato, sed ma gis arnica Veritas; and whatever I may 
 have urged in vindication of some bold and beautiful 
 illustrations of this extraordinary book, it has not been 
 without the most diligent comparison and research, 
 and from the fullest conviction, that if my friend be 
 wise, she is not wise beyond what is written. On this 
 ground 1 stand, not in her defence, for that were need- 
 less, but to offer a tribute of affection to her memory, 
 to write an inscription upon her tomb, that time will 
 never efface, and which religion and virtue will care- 
 fully preserve, for the example and instruction of 
 future ages.
 
 The Notes that are inserted with the text, were all 
 written by Miss Smith.
 
 THE 
 
 BOOK OF JOB. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1 *^ I ^HERE was a man in the land of Uz, Job was 
 
 -^ his name, and this man was perfect and 
 upright, fearing God, and turning aside from evil. 
 
 2 And there were born to him seven sons and three 
 
 3 daughters. And his property was seven thousand 
 sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred 
 yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a great 
 multitude of servants. And this man was greater 
 
 4 than all the sons of the east. And his sons made a 
 feast, eacb at his own house, in turn, and they sent 
 and called their three sisters to eat and to drink 
 
 5 with them. And it was when the days of their 
 feasting were going about, that Job sanctified them; 
 he arose early in the morning, and offered a burnt- 
 offering for each of them ; for he said, Lest my sons 
 
 B
 
 t JOB. 
 
 should sin, and bless the gods in their hearts. Thus 
 6 did Job each day. And the day was, and the 
 sons of perdition''^ came to set themselves against 
 Jehovah, and the Satan [enemy] also came among 
 1 them. And Jehovah said to the Satan, From 
 whence comest thou : And the Satan answered 
 Jehovah, and said. From wandering to and tVo 
 
 8 in the earth, and from walkinsj thiou^'h it. And 
 Jehovah said to the Satan, I last thou set thy heart 
 upon [observed] my servant Job? for there is none 
 Hke him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, 
 
 9 fearing God, and avoiding evil. And the Satan 
 answered Jehovah, and said. Doth Job fear God 
 
 10 for nought? Hast thou not fenced around him, 
 and his house, and around all that belongs to him ^ 
 The work of his hands thou hast blessed, and his 
 
 i 1 cattle are scattered over the earth. But if thou wilt 
 now put forth thy hand, and smite all that is his, 
 
 * A^ote, ^'^T^'m^n ^2^ The sons of God would have been 
 C^H/i^ ^'^D 2S it occurs in many passages of scripture. I do 
 not know that the article H appears any where else, prefixed to 
 Elohim, in regimcne, except in the 6th chapter of Genesis, which, 
 perhaps, might not be less inttlligible thus translated, than as it 
 now stands. It is well known that son does not always imply 
 a father, as for instance, " sons of the east ;" which might as 
 well be translated, sons of former times.
 
 JOB. S 
 
 whether to thy face he will not bless thee? [curse 
 
 12 thee.] And Jehovah said to the Satan, Behold, all 
 that is his is in thy hand, only put not forth thy 
 hand upon himself. And the Satan went out from 
 
 13 the presence of Jehovah. And the day was when 
 Job's sons and his daughters were eating and 
 drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother, 
 
 14 That a messenger came to Job, and said, The oxen 
 were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them: 
 
 15 And the Sabeans fell upon them and took them ; 
 and slew the young men with the edge of the sword, 
 
 16 and I only have escaped alone to tell thee. This - 
 was yet speaking, when another came, and said. The 
 fire of God lias fallen from heaven, and burnt among 
 the sheep and among the young men, and con- 
 sumed them, and I only am escaped alone to tell 
 
 17 thee. He was yet speaking, when another came, 
 end said, The Chaldeans made three parties, and 
 rushed forth upon the camels and took them, and 
 the young men they slew with the edge of the 
 sword, and 1 only have escaped alone to tell thee. 
 
 18 He was yet speaking, when another came, and said, 
 Thy sons and thy daughters were eaUng and drink- 
 
 19 ing wine in their eldest brother's house: And io! 
 a great wind came from across the desert, and smote 
 the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the 
 
 R '2
 
 4 JOB. 
 
 young people, and they died, and I only am escaped 
 CO alone to tell thee. And Job arose, and rent his 
 
 mantle, and tore the hair from his head, and fell on 
 <>1 the earth, and prostrated himself, and said, Naked 
 
 came I from ray mother's womb, and naked shall I 
 
 return thither ! J ehovah gave, and Jehovah took, 
 22 be the name of Jehovah blessed. In alf this Job 
 
 did not sin, and did not render folly to Jehovah. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 1 AYD the day was that the sons of perdition came 
 t set* themselves against Jehovah, and there 
 came also the Satan amongst them, to set himself 
 
 2 aarainst Jehovah. And Jehovah said to the 
 Satan, From whence comest thou : And the Satan 
 answered Jehovah, and said. From going to and 
 fro in the earth, and from walking through it. 
 
 3 And Jehovah said to the Satan, Hast thou set thy 
 heart to my servant Job? for there is none like him 
 in the earth, a man perfect and upright, fearing 
 God, and avoiding evil : and he yet holdeth fast 
 
 * Not merely to stand, hut io set theynsehes as pillars. Must 
 not this mean, that they came in a rebellious, hostile manner ?
 
 JOB. 5 
 
 his integrity, though thou hast roused me agcainst 
 
 4 him, to swallow him up for nothing. And the 
 Satan answered Jehovah, and said. Skin afierskin, 
 and all that a man hath, he will give for his life ; 
 
 5 But put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone 
 and his flesli, will he not curse thee to thy face? 
 
 6 And Jehovah said to theSatan, Beliold, he is in 
 
 7 thy hand, only preserve his life. And the Satan 
 went out from the presence of Jehovah, and smote 
 Job with burning boils* from the sole of his foot 
 
 S to the crown of his head. And he took a potsherd 
 to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes. 
 9 And his wife said to him, Dost thou still hold fast 
 iO thy integrity, blessing God, and dying? ^\nd he 
 said to her, Thou speakest to me like one of the 
 foolish women. Tlie good is received from God> 
 and the evil shall it not be received? In all this 
 
 11 Job sinned not with his lips. And three friends of 
 Job heard of all tliis evil that was come upon him, 
 and they came each from his place, Eliphaz the 
 Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the 
 Namathite; and they appointed together to come 
 
 12 to console him, and comfort him, 2\nd they lift up 
 
 * Supposed, from the description, to be the distemper now 
 known by the name of Elephantiasis.
 
 JOB. 
 
 their eyes from afar, and they knew him not, and 
 they raised their voices and wept, and they tore 
 each man his mantle, and they sprinkled dust on 
 13 their heads towards heaven. And they sat with 
 him on the earth seven days and seven nights, and 
 none spake to him a word, for they saw that the 
 affliction was very great. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 i AFTER this Job opened his mouth, and cursed 
 his day. 
 
 '2 And Job spake and said, — 
 
 3 Perish the day in which T was born, 
 
 And the night when it was said a man is brought forth. 
 
 4 Let that day be darkness; 
 
 May God not regard it from above, 
 Nor cause a ray of light to shine on it. 
 
 .3 Let darkness claim it, and the shade of death ; 
 Let clouds dwell on it, 
 And mttke it dreadful as a day of bitterness.
 
 JOB. 
 
 6 That night — let thick darkness seize it ; 
 Let it not be joined to the days of the year, 
 Into the number of the moons let it not come. 
 
 7 Lo ! that night shall be a desolate rock * 
 No voice of mirth shall enter it. 
 
 8 It shall be cursed, as the (natal) day 
 
 Of him who is about to rouze the crocodile.-f- 
 
 9 Be darkened the stars of its morning breeze; 
 Let it expect light, and there is none, 
 
 And let it not see the eyelids of the dawn : 
 
 10 Because it shut not the doors of the womb, 
 To hide affliction from mine eyes. 
 
 11 Why did I not die from the womb? 
 Come forth, and expire? 
 
 * Let (the darkness of) that night be (solid as) as a rock. 
 Let not a vibration (of light) enter it. Parkhurst. 
 
 f Let them curse it who curse the day. 
 
 Of those who are about to rouze the crocodile.
 
 s JOB. 
 
 12 Why did the knees prevent me? 
 
 And why the breasts, that I should suck? 
 
 13 For then I should liave been still, and been at peace, 
 I should have slept, — then had I been at rest: 
 
 14 (With kings and rulers of the earth, 
 
 AVho build for themselves great sepulchres: 
 
 15 Or with princes who have store of gold, 
 Who fill their houses with silver; 
 
 16 Or like an untimely birth, I had not been, 
 Like children which never see the light:) 
 
 17 There the wicked cease to trouble. 
 And there the weary rest. 
 
 18 The prisoners sleep together, 
 
 They hear not the voice of the oppressor. 
 
 19 The small and tlie great are there, 
 And the servant is free from his master. 
 
 CO ^^ hy is light given to the afflicted ? 
 s\m\ life to the bitter in soul?
 
 JOB. 9 
 
 £1 (Who long for death, and it is not, 
 
 They vvov.id dig for it rather than for hidden treasure; 
 
 22 Who rejoice, and shake with joy, 
 When they have found the grave:) 
 
 23 To the man whose way is hid. 
 And God hath hedged him in? 
 
 24 My sighing is instead of bread. 
 
 And my complaint is poured out like water. 
 
 25 For I feared a fear, and it approached me. 
 And what I shrunk from came upon me. 
 
 26 Was I not in safety ? Was I not at peace ? 
 Was I not at rest? — Yet trouble came. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 1 AND Eliphaz the Temanite spake and said, 
 
 2 If one attempt to speak, wilt not thou be weary? 
 Yet who can restrain his words ?
 
 10 JOB. 
 
 3 Behold, thou hast corrected many. 
 And strengthened the feehle hands; 
 
 4 The stumhhng, thy words have set up. 
 
 And the bending knees, thou hast invigorated: 
 
 5 But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest ; 
 It has reached even to thee, and thou art terrified. 
 
 6 Is this thy reverence, thy confidence. 
 
 Thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways? 
 
 7 Call to mind now, who is the innocent that perished ? 
 And when were the righteous cut off? 
 
 8 So far as I have seen, they who plough wickedness 
 And sow affliction, reap the same: 
 
 9 By the blast of God they perish, 
 
 By the breath of his nostrils they are consumed. 
 
 10 The roaring oftheliun, and the voice of the black lion, 
 And the teeth of the young lions are disappointed ; 
 
 1 1 The old lion perish eth for lack of prey, 
 And the sons of the lioness are scattered.
 
 JOB. ] 1 
 
 12 And to me was a word spoken in secret, 
 Mine ear received a murmuring thereof; 
 
 15 In the ecstacy of visions of the night, 
 When deep sleep falleth on men, 
 
 14 Palpitation came on me, and trembling, 
 And the multitude of my bones did shake; 
 
 15 And a spirit passed before my face, 
 (The pile of my flesh stood on end.) 
 
 16 It stood — but I could not distinguish its form, 
 A figure before mine eyes — 
 
 Silence then I heard a voice — 
 
 17 Shall a mortal be righteous before God? ' 
 Shall man be pure before his Maker ? 
 
 18 Lo! in his servants he hath not trusted. 
 Nor given glory to his angels. 
 
 19 How then to the dwellers in houses of clay ? 
 Whose foundation is in the dust. 
 
 They are sooner crushed than the moth-worm :
 
 12: JOB. 
 
 20 Between morning and evening they are destroyed. 
 Because they are not made for continuance, they 
 perish. 
 
 SI Shall not their excellence pass away ? 
 They shall die — and \Yithout wisdom. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 1 DECLARE no\v if thou hast any sin, 
 
 And to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn r 
 
 2 Tor the stupid rich man anger kills. 
 And the silly poor one dies of envy. 
 
 3 I saw the fool taking root, 
 
 And I pronounced his dwelling accursed. 
 
 4 His children shall be far from safety, 
 
 They shall be oppressed in the gate,* and have no 
 protector. 
 
 * The gate of the city, where causes were tried ; hence the 
 gate often stands for judgment.
 
 JOB. 13 
 
 }} Tlie hungry (Arab of the desert) shall devour their 
 harvest, 
 He shall glean it even to the thorns, 
 And the thirsty shall swallow up their store, 
 
 6 Doth not labour grow out of the dustf 
 And trouble sprout from the earth r 
 
 7 For man is born to trouble, 
 
 And the sons of ilame fiy upward. 
 
 8 Therefore i would seek to God, 
 
 And to the Almighty would I commit my ranse- 
 
 9 ^Vho doeth great things, and there is no searching. 
 And wonderful, till there is no number. 
 
 10 VriiG giveth rain on the face of the earth, 
 And sendeth water upon the face of the desert^ 
 
 11 VViio setteth the lowly on high, 
 And exalteth the mourners in safety^ 
 
 Hi Breaking the devices of the crafty, 
 
 That their hands can make nothin<i[ substantial;
 
 14 JOB. 
 
 15 He catcheth the wise in their cunning. 
 
 And overturneth the counsels of the plotters ; 
 
 14 By day, they meet vvitli darkness, 
 
 And like night, grope about at noon-day : 
 
 15 But he will save the oppressed, from tlic sword, 
 From their mouth, and from the hand of the strong, 
 
 16 There shall be hope for the lowly. 
 And pride shall shut up her mouth. 
 
 17 Lo! happy is the man whom God reproveth. 
 Despise not the instruction of the Almighty: 
 
 18 For he afflicteth, and he comforteth, 
 He woundeth, and his hand healeth. 
 
 19 In six dangers he will protect thee, 
 And in seven, evil shall not touch thee. 
 
 20 In famine, he will deliver thee from death, 
 And in battle, from the power of the sword; 
 
 21 From the scourge of the tongue thou shalt be hid. 
 Thou shalt not fear desolation when it cometh.
 
 JOB. 15 
 
 r 
 
 22 At desolation and famine thou shalt laugh, 
 
 Thou shalt not be afraid of the wild beasts of the earth, 
 
 23 For thou hast a covenant with the stones of the field, 
 And the wild beasts of the field have made peace 
 
 with thee. 
 
 24 Thou shalt be sure that thy tent is in safety, 
 Thou shalt dwell in thy habitation, and not be 
 
 mistaken. 
 
 25 Thou shalt know tliat thy seed will be multiplied^ 
 And thy offspring as the grass of the earth. 
 
 26 Tliou shalt come witii wrinkles to the grave, 
 * As a heap of corn cometh up in its season, 
 
 27 Behold, we have searched this out, and so it is, 
 Hear it, and understand It for thy good. 
 
 * The corn was left in heaps in the field, till it was dry enough 
 to be brought up to the threshing-floor, which was some level spot, 
 generally on ths top of a hill, for the sake of being exposed to the 
 wind in winnowing. The meaning of this verse therefore is, — 
 Thou shalt not come to the grave till extreme old age, as a heap of 
 corn when fully ripe, and even dried, comes up to the threshing- 
 £oor to be threshed.
 
 16 JOB. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 1 AND Job spake and said, 
 
 2 O that my vexation and mine afRiction were weighed. 
 Lifted up together in the scales ! 
 
 3 For now it is heavier than the sand of the sea, 
 Therefore my words fail. 
 
 4 The arrows of the Almighty are in me. 
 Their poison drinketh up my spirit ; 
 
 The hoi'rors of God array themselves against me 
 
 5 * Doth the wild ass bray over the grass 
 Or the ox low over his fodder r 
 
 6 Will the insipid be eaten, because there is no salt: 
 Is there any taste in the drivel of dreams ? 
 
 * So, Should I complain if nothing ailed me? And shall I 
 take the insipid comfort you offer me, for want of better ? No.
 
 JOB. 17 
 
 7 My soul refuses to touch them : 
 They are hke insipid food. 
 
 8 O that my earnest request might be fulfilled, 
 And that God would grant my desire ! 
 
 9 That God would resolve, and crush me;. 
 Turn his hand, and destroy me! 
 
 10 Then should f have comfort again^ 
 I would exult in my agony. 
 
 Let him not spare, because I have not concealed 
 The words of the Holy One, 
 
 11 What is my strength, that I should endure? 
 
 And what my end, that 1 should lengthen out my lifei' 
 
 12 Is my strength as the strength of stones .f* 
 Is my flesh brass.-* 
 
 13 Verily my help is not in me, 
 My substance is fled from me. 
 
 14 To him who despiseth his friend, it is a reproach, 
 And he will forsake the fear of the ALMiGHTY. 
 
 c
 
 IS j6b. 
 
 15 My brethren have deceived like a torrent, 
 
 Like the overflowing of torrents have they passed 
 away; 
 
 16 Which come black''^ from the ice. 
 The snow is concealed in their depths ; 
 
 J 7 What time they wax warm, they vanish, 
 In the heat they fail from their place; 
 
 18 The paths of their way are dried up. 
 
 They are risen into space, and have perished : 
 
 19 The caravans of Tema look eagerly, 
 The travellers of Saba long for them ; 
 
 20 They are confounded, for it was their hope, 
 
 ^ They came there — and their countenance fell. 
 
 21 So ye aY-e become nothing. 
 
 Ye shall see destruction, and ye shall fear. 
 
 2'2 Is it because I said. Bring to me (a present) 
 Or of your substance, give a bribe for me ? 
 
 ♦ Black, because deep.
 
 JOB. 19 
 
 23 And deliver me from the band of the oppressor, 
 And from the hand of the terrible, redeem me ? 
 
 24 Teach me, and I will be silent. 
 
 Make me to discern wherein I have erred. 
 
 25 How forcible are upright w^ords. 
 But what doth your arguing reprove ? 
 
 26 Do ye think to reprove (empty) words ? 
 
 And speeches (uttered only) to give vent to grief f 
 
 27 Certainly ye fall upon the innocent, 
 And compass about your friend. 
 
 28 But now come between,* look upon me, 
 And on your faces, whether I lye. 
 
 29 Return now, let there be no offence, 
 And 1 will turn again, I am sincere. 
 
 30 Is there arrogance on my tongue ? 
 Can my palatef not discern an insult f 
 
 * Come between — as an impartial judge. 
 
 f The palate's discernment of tastes is a figure for the mind*s 
 discernment of ideas. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 JOB. 
 
 CHAP. Vll. 
 
 lis not man a soldier on earth .' 
 And his days like the days of an hireUng? 
 
 2 As the servant panting for the shade of night, 
 And as the hirehng longing for the reward of his 
 labour, 
 
 S So am I made to inherit months of vanity, 
 And nights of trouble are numbered me. 
 
 4 If I lie down, I say, When shall I arise.? 
 And the evening is lengthened out. 
 
 And I am weary with tossing till the morning breeze. 
 
 5 The clothing of my flesh is worms, and dust that 
 
 cleaves to it. 
 My skin cracks, and peels off. 
 
 6 My days are swifter than a shuttle. 
 They are finished for want of thread.
 
 JOB. 31 
 
 7 Remembering that my life is wind. 
 Never again shall mine eye see good. 
 
 8 The eye of the beholder shall dwell on me no more, 
 Thine eye is upon me— and I am not. 
 
 9 The cloud is finished and gone, 
 
 So he that descends to the grave shall never arise: 
 
 10 He shall not return to his house, 
 
 An d his place shall know him no more. 
 
 1 1 Moreover I will not refrain my lips, 
 
 I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; 
 I will complain in the bitterness of my soul, 
 
 12 Am 1 a serpent* of the water. 
 That thou settest over me a watch ? 
 
 13 For I said, My mattress shall comfort me. 
 My bed shall ease my complaint ; 
 
 * Serpent — Crocodile. It was customary in Egypt, when a 
 crocodile appeared, to set a watch over him, to give notice where 
 the danger was.
 
 22 JOB. 
 
 14 And thou destroyed St mc in dreams, 
 And with visions didst thou terrify me. 
 
 15 And my soul prefers strangling, 
 Death, rather than these bones. 
 
 16 I am disgusted — I would not live for ever. 
 Cease from me, for my days are vanity. 
 
 17 What is man that thou shouldst magnify him? 
 That thou shouldst set thy heart against him ? 
 
 18 And shouldst visit him every morning, 
 And try him every moment? 
 
 19 How long w ilt thou not look from me, 
 Nor remit while I swallow my spittle ?=^ 
 
 120 If I have sinned, what have 1 done to thee, O thou 
 watcher of men ? 
 Why hast thou set me for thy mark ? 
 And made me a hurden to myself? 
 
 * Swallow my spittle. — A proverbial expression, still used In 
 Arabia, as we say the twinkling of an eye, to denote the smallest 
 portion of lime.
 
 JOB. 23 
 
 21 And why dost thou not take away my transgression. 
 And make mine iniquity pass over ? 
 For now I shall lie down in the dust, 
 They shall seek me before the dawn,* and I am not. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 1 AND Bildad the Shuhite spake and said, 
 
 2 How long wilt thou talk thus ? 
 
 And the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind? 
 
 3 Doth God pervert judgment ? 
 
 Will the Almighty pervert righteousness? 
 
 4 Perhaps thy children have sinned against him, 
 And he has cast them off on account of their trans* 
 
 gressions, 
 
 5 If thou wouldst seek earnestly to God, 
 And make supplication to the Almighty, 
 
 * Before the dawn. — To do any thing early in the morning, 
 means to do it diligently, as if impatient to begin.
 
 24 JOB. 
 
 6 (If thou be pure and upright,) 
 Surely now he would arise for thee, 
 
 And make prosperous the abode of thy righteousness. 
 
 7 And thy beginning should seem small. 
 
 For thy latter end should be greatly exalted. 
 
 8 Enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, 
 And prepare for the search of their fathers ; 
 
 9 (For we are of yesterday, and know nothing. 
 Our days are a shadow on the earth,) 
 
 10 Shall not they teach thee ? They will admonish thee. 
 And from their hearts they will bring forth sentences. 
 
 11 Will the papyrus grow without mud ? 
 Can the reed thrive without water? 
 
 12 It is yet in its swelling, — it is not cut down, 
 And before all herbs it withers. 
 
 13 Such are the ways of all who forget God, 
 And the hope of the wicked shall perish: 
 
 14 Whose support is abomination. 
 And his trust the house of the spider.
 
 JOB. 25 
 
 15 He leaneth on bis house, but he shall not stand, 
 He catcheth hold of it, but he shall not rise : 
 
 16 He is full of sap before the sun, 
 
 He putteth forth his suckers in his garden : 
 
 17 His roots are interwoven on a mound. 
 He lays hold on a house of stone: 
 
 18 When he is swallowed up from his place, 
 It fails him " I never saw thee." 
 
 19 Behold this is the joy of his way, 
 And from the dust shall another spring. 
 
 20 Behold, God despiseth not a perfect man. 
 But he will not take the hand of the wicked. 
 
 21 He would even fill thy mouth with laughter, 
 And thy lips with shouting : 
 
 22 Thy haters should put on shame, 
 
 But the tent of the wicked it is not.
 
 JOB. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 1 AND Job spake and said, 
 
 2 Of a truth, 1 know that so it is, 
 
 But how shall a mortal be justified with God? 
 
 3 If it be his pleasure to contend with us, 
 Not one in a thousand can answer him. 
 
 4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength; 
 Who hath rebelled against him and prospered ? 
 
 5 It is he who removeth the mountains, and they 
 
 know not. 
 For he has reduced them to dust in his anger : 
 
 6 Who shaketh the earth from her place, 
 The pillars thereof tremble : 
 
 7 Who commandeth the light of the sun, and it i* 
 
 not dispersed, 
 Who scaleth up the influence of the stars:
 
 JOB. 27 
 
 8 Re hath spread out the heavens alone, 
 He walketh on the high waves of the sea: 
 
 9 He maketh the bhght, the cold, and the genial 
 
 warmth, 
 And prepareth the store-houses'*^ of the south : 
 
 10 He doeth great things, past our searching out, 
 And wonderful things past numbering. 
 
 1 1 Lo ! he goeth over me, and I see not ; 
 He passeth, but I perceive him not. 
 
 12 Behold ! he snatcheth away, who shall prevent him? 
 Who shall say to him, What dost thou.'' 
 
 13 If God turn not away from his wrath. 
 
 The supporters of pride shall fall before him. 
 
 14 How then shall I answer him, 
 
 And make good my cause against him, 
 
 15 Whom, if I were upright, I could not answer, 
 But make supplication to my judge ? 
 
 * Store-houses. — Black clouds, full of rain.
 
 •88 JOB. 
 
 16 If I had called, and lie had answered me, 
 
 I would not believe that he had hearkened to my 
 voice. 
 
 17 He wlio overuhelmeth me with his storm, 
 And multiplieth my wounds without a cause. 
 
 18 He will not suffer me to take my breath, 
 For he hath filled me with bitterness. 
 
 19 If in strength (I would contend with him) behold 
 
 he is mighty. 
 If in judgment, 3'oa will appoint me the timer* 
 
 20 If 1 justify myself, my own mouth will condemn me* 
 (If I say) I am perfect, it will prove me perverse. 
 
 21 I know not perfection. 
 My soul loatbs life. 
 
 €2 She is broken with grief, and therefore I said. 
 He destroyeth both tlie perfect and the wicked. 
 
 * Appoint me the time. — Summon him and me to meet before 
 them, at a certain tiir.c, to have the cause tried.
 
 JOB. 29 
 
 23 If the scourge slay suddenly, 
 
 They mock at the consuming of the innocent. 
 
 24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked j 
 The faces of the judges are veiled, 
 
 That they turn not to say, who is it ?t 
 
 ^5 My days are swifter than a running messenger, 
 They flee away, seeing no good ; 
 
 25 They pass like the ships with swelling sails, 
 Like an eagle pouncing on his prey. 
 
 27 If I say I will forget my cares, 
 
 I will change my countenance, and smile, 
 
 28 I shrink back into all my sorrows. 
 
 For 1 know that thou wile not hold me innocent. 
 
 29 If T have done wickedly, 
 Why dc^ I thus labour in vain f 
 
 30 If I wash in the water of the snow, 
 And make my hands clean in the well, 
 
 I Who is it — that has done evil ? — They wink at crimes.
 
 30 JOB. 
 
 31 Thou wilt plunge me in the ditch, 
 And make filthy my garments. 
 
 32 For thou art not a man like myself, that I should 
 
 answer him, 
 That we should go together into judgment: 
 
 S3 There is no umpire between us, 
 To lay his hand upon us both. 
 
 34 Let him remove his rod from off me. 
 And let not his terrors alarm me ; 
 
 35 Then will I speak, and not fear him ; 
 But now I stand not upon equal terms. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 1 MY soul is disgusted with life, 
 
 I will cease to meditate with myself, 
 I will speak in the bitterness of my soul ; 
 
 2 I will sa}^ unto God, Pronounce me not guilty, 
 Let me know what is thy suit against me.
 
 JOB. SI 
 
 S Is it pleasing to thee to oppress, 
 To make vile the work of thy hands, 
 And let thy light shine on the counsels of the wicked ? 
 
 4 Hast thou eyes of flesh? 
 
 Or seest thou with the sight of mortals ? 
 
 5 Are thy days as the days of a mortal ; 
 Or thy years as the days of man ? 
 
 Q That thou seekest out mine iniquity, 
 And enquirest for my sin. 
 
 7 Thou knowest I have done no wrong, 
 But there is no protector from thy hand. 
 
 8 Thy hands formed me and finished me at once. 
 And wilt thou swallow me up ? 
 
 9 Remember now that thou hast moulded me like clay, 
 And wilt thou return me to the dust ? 
 
 10 Hast thou not poured me out like milk, 
 And curdled me like cheese ? 
 
 1 1 With skin and flesh hast thou clothed me. 
 And fenced me with bones and sinews.
 
 S2 JOB. 
 
 12 Thou gavest me life and abundance, 
 And thy providence preserved my soul. 
 
 13 And these things hast thou hid in thy heart,* 
 I know that thus it is with thee. 
 
 14 If I have sinned, thou hast watched me. 
 
 And from mine iniquity thou wilt not acquit me. 
 
 15 If I were wicked, wo to me! 
 
 When being righteous I dare not Hft up my head, 
 Full of coni'usioii and depression of countenance. 
 
 16 Afflicting, thou huntest me hke a Hon, 
 And magnitiest thyself against me again. 
 
 17 Thou renewest thy witnesses before me. 
 And increasesi thine indignation against me. 
 Successive attacks, and war continually. 
 
 18 Why didst thou bring me forth of the womb ? 
 O that I had expired, and no eye seen me ! 
 
 19 That I had been as though I never lived, 
 Carried from the womb to the grave ! 
 
 * Hid in thy heart. — Put them out of the way, to be forgotten.
 
 JOB. S3 
 
 ^0 Will not my days soon cease ? 
 
 Let me alone then, that I may smile for a while ; 
 
 21 Before T go, not to return. 
 
 To the land of darkness, and the shades of death, 
 
 22 A land, light as thick darkness, 
 The shade of death, and no rays, 
 It shines like darkness itself. 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 1 AND Zophar the Naamathite spake and said, 
 
 2 Shall a multitude of words not be answered? 
 
 Or shall a man be justified for his much talking? 
 
 3 At thy self-sufficiency shall men keep silence? 
 And shalt thou mock, and none make thee ashamed ? 
 
 4 Shalt thou say, " My doctrine is pure, 
 
 " And I have been clean in thine eyes?"— -
 
 54 JOB. 
 
 5 O that God would speak. 
 And open his hps before thee ! 
 
 6 And shew thee the secrets of wisdom. 
 For they are double in substance ; 
 
 Then wouldst thou know that God is more gentle 
 than thine iniquity deserves. 
 
 7 Canst thou, by searching, find out God? 
 
 Or even discover the boundaries of the Almighty ! 
 
 8 They are higher than heaven, what canst thou do ? 
 They are deeper than hell, what dost thou know ? 
 
 9 Their measure is longer than the earth, 
 And broader than the sea. 
 
 10 If he change, and shut up, 
 
 And gather together, who can prevent him ? 
 
 1 1 He knoweth vain mortals ; 
 
 And shall he see wickedness, and not distinguish it; 
 
 12 But a vain man (a fool) will become wise, 
 When the wild ass's colt is born a man.
 
 JOB. 35 
 
 13 If thou have prepared thy heart, 
 And spread out thy hands to him ; 
 
 14 If iniquity be in thy hand, put it far away, 
 And let not perverseness dwell in thy tents ; 
 
 15 For then shalt thou lift up thy face, without spot, 
 Thou shalt be firm and not afraid : 
 
 16 Thou shalt forget thy sorrows. 
 
 The remembrance shall be as waters that have 
 passed away : 
 
 17 And thine old age shall stand before thy noon-day. 
 Its brightness shall be as the morning : 
 
 18 And thou shalt feel secure, for thy hope is substantial. 
 Thou shalt dig wells, and sleep in safety : 
 
 19 Thou shalt lie down, and none shall disturb thee, 
 And multitudes shall sue^ for thy favour. 
 
 £0 But the fountains of the wicked shall fail, 
 
 * Sue. — Literally, make thy countenance faint — wear thee out 
 with continual supplication. 
 
 D 2
 
 S6 JOB. 
 
 And escape is pe rished from them, 
 
 And their hope vanishes before a puff of breath. 
 
 , CHAP. XII. 
 
 1 AND Job spake and said, 
 
 Q Verily ye are deep, 
 
 And wisdom shall die with you^ 
 
 3 I also have understanding, like yon> 
 I am not your inferior, 
 
 And who knoweth not such things as these f 
 
 4 But shall I be the mocker of his neighbours, 
 Who called upon God, and he answered him, 
 " Let the righteous mock at the perfect ?" 
 
 5 As a contemptible torch, to the splendours of the 
 
 prosperous, 
 Is he who is ready to slip with his foot. 
 
 6 While the tents of the destroyers are at peace. 
 And they who provoke God are in safety. 
 
 To whom God bringeth (abundance) in his hand-
 
 JOB. 37 
 
 7 But ask now the beasts, and they will teach thee, 
 And the birds of heaven, and they will tell thee; 
 
 8 Or the reptiles of the earth, and they will inform thee, 
 And the fish of the sea shall declare unto theej 
 
 9 Who among all these knoweth not. 
 That the hand of Jehovah made them? 
 
 10 In whose hand is the breath of all living, 
 And the spirits of all flesh of man, 
 
 1 1 Doth not the ear try words ? 
 
 And the palate taste food for itself? 
 
 12 Is wisdom in the ancient ? 
 
 And discernment in length of days? 
 
 33 With him is wisdom and strength, 
 Counsel and discernment are his. 
 
 14 Behold he pulleth down, and none shall rebuild ; 
 He shutteth against a man, and none shall open ; 
 
 15 He restraineth the waters, and they dry up, 
 
 He sendeth them forth, and they overturn the earth.
 
 5S JOB. 
 
 16 With hiin is strength and reahty, 
 
 Error* and deception are at his command. 
 
 17 Who leadeth counsellors captive, 
 And maketh j udges reel ;t 
 
 18 Who looseth the bond of kings, 
 And bindeth a girdle on their loins: 
 
 19 Who leadeth princes captives, 
 And overthroweth the mighty : 
 
 20 Who stoppeth the lips of the trusty, 
 
 . And taketh away the discernment of the aged 
 
 21 Who poureth contempt upon nobles, 
 And looseneth the girdle of the powerful: 
 
 22 Discovering deep things from darkness, 
 
 And bringing out to light the shades of death 
 
 23 Exalting the nations, and destroying them ; 
 Scattering the people, and fixing them : 
 
 * Error — That which causes to err. 
 t Reel. — Stagger, and run about hke madmen.
 
 JOB. ^ 
 
 24 Taking away understanding from the. chiefs of the 
 
 people, 
 And making them wander in a desert without road : 
 
 25 Thej grope in the dark, and find no light, 
 They are bewildered like a drunken man. 
 
 CHAP, XliL 
 
 i BEHOLD mine eye hath seen all this. 
 Mine ear hath heard, and discerned it for itself. 
 
 2 Like your knowledge, I also know 
 I am not your inferior, 
 
 5 I desire earnestly to speak to the Almighty, 
 I should rejoice to reason with God.* 
 
 4 But ye are stupid, stringers of lies, 
 Worthless physicians, all of ye. 
 
 * Nevertheless I will speak to the Almighty, 
 It is my pleasure to reason with God.
 
 40 JOB, 
 
 5 O that ye would meditate in silence ! 
 And it sliould be to you for wisdom. 
 
 6 Hear now my reasoning, 
 
 And attexid to the pleadings of my lips. 
 
 7 Will ye say unrighteous things for God r 
 And for him will ye speak deceit? 
 
 8 Will ye lift up his face?* 
 Or will ye contend for him? 
 
 9 Will it be well when he searcheth you out. 
 
 If you have trifled with him, like trifling with a man? 
 
 10 Severely will he rebuke ye, 
 
 If in secret ye judge unjustly .f 
 
 31 Doth not his majesty alarm you? 
 And the dread of him fall on you? 
 
 12 Your maxims are parables of ashes, 
 Your swelling words are heaps of mire. 
 
 * Lift up his face — Shew undue favour. 
 \ Judge unjustly. — Lift up faces.
 
 JOB. 41 
 
 13 Be silent and I will speak, 
 Whatsoever come upon me: 
 
 14 On the chance, I will take my flesh in my teeth, 
 And put my soul in my hand. 
 
 15 Behold he will slay me, I shall not endure, 
 Yet will I prove my way to his face. 
 
 16 Also he will be my salvation. 
 
 For one polluted shall not enter into his presence. 
 
 17 Hear with attention my speech, 
 And my declaration with your ears. 
 
 18 Behold now, I have arranged for judgment, 
 I know that I shall be justified. 
 
 J9 Who is he that contends with me? 
 For then will I be silent and expire, : 
 
 ^0 Only two things do not with me^ . 
 Then will I not hide from thy face : 
 
 21 Keep thy hand off me. 
 
 And let not thy terrors disturb me;
 
 42 JOB. 
 
 S2 Then call, and I will answer ; 
 Or I will speak, and thou reply. 
 
 £3 How many are my iniquities and my sins? 
 
 Make me to know my transgressions and mistakes. 
 
 24 Why dost thou hide thy face. 
 And treat me as thine enemy ? 
 
 25 Will thou shake a fallen leaf? 
 Wilt thou persecute the dry stubble r 
 
 26 For thou writest bitter things against me, 
 
 And makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth, 
 
 27 And thou puttest my foot in a clog,* 
 Thou watchest all my goings. 
 
 Thou settest thy mark on the soles of my feet.f 
 
 * Clog.— A punishment for a slave. 
 
 f Was it ever the custom to mark slaves on the feet? Or, does 
 it mean the bastinado ?
 
 JOB. 43 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 1 MAN born of a woman, 
 
 Short are his days, and full of affliction. 
 
 2 He Cometh forth like a flower, and is cut off, 
 
 He flitteth away like a shadow, and remaineth not. 
 
 3 He moulders like a thing rotten. 
 
 Like a garment which the moth has eaten.* 
 
 4 Even upon such an one, wilt thou open thine eyes ?t 
 And bring me into judgment with thee? 
 
 5 Who is there pure. 
 
 Free from pollution r not one. 
 
 6 If his days be cut short. 
 
 The number of his months be with thee. 
 And thou have traced his line which he may not 
 pass over, 
 
 * The moth has eaten. — These two lines are transposed fror« 
 the end of the preceding chapter, where they seem to have no 
 connexion. 
 
 f Open thine eyes. — Look attentively : examine.
 
 44 JOB. 
 
 7 Look from off him, that he may rest, 
 Till he loiter away his day, like a hireling, 
 
 g For there is hope of a tree; 
 If it be cut down, it may revive, 
 And its suckers will not fail : 
 
 9 Though its root be grown old in the earth. 
 And its stump be dead in the dust, 
 
 10 From the vapour of water will it bud. 
 And put out fresh branches like a plant: 
 
 11 But the strong man dieth, and is cast out. 
 The son of earth expires, and where is hef 
 
 12 The waters fail from the sea, 
 The rivers waste and dry up: 
 
 13 So man lieth down, and shall not arise. 
 
 Till there be no heavens he shall not be awakened. 
 He shall not be disturbed from his sleep. 
 
 14 O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave! 
 Conceal me till thy wrath be turned away. 
 Set a mark on me and remember me!
 
 JOB. 45 
 
 15 If a man die, shall he live again? 
 
 All the days of my appointed time will I wait; 
 Till my renovation come: 
 
 16 Then thou wilt call, and 1 will answer thee, 
 Thou wilt have compassion^ on the work of thy 
 
 hands. 
 
 17 Though now thou numberest my steps, 
 Dost thou not watcla over my sins ? 
 
 18 Sealing my transgrest^ion in a bundle,t 
 And tying up my iniquity. 
 
 19 Like as the mountain falling wasteth awa}^ 
 When the rock is torn up from its place. 
 
 20 As the waters dash in pieces the stones, 
 
 And the dust of the earth overwhelms its produce. 
 So thou destroyest the hope of man : 
 
 * Thou wilt have compassion. — Literally, Thou wilt turn pale. 
 
 f A bundle. — The record of my transgression, to preserve it 
 against the day of judgment.
 
 46 JOB. 
 
 21 Thou goest round him continually, and he passeth 
 away, 
 Chan^ini^ his face,^' thou easiest him out : 
 
 €12 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth not, 
 They are brought low, but he perceiveth it not: 
 
 23 Only his flesh upon him corrupts, 
 And his soul mourns over it. 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 1 AND Eliphaz the Temanite spake and said, 
 
 2 Shall a wise man be answered with windy knowledge? 
 And will the east wind fill his belly? 
 
 3 O thou who arguest in words not treasured, 
 
 And sentences in which there is no profit. 
 
 4 Surely thou wouldst destroy religion. 
 And diminish submission before God; 
 
 Changing his face. — In death.
 
 JOB. 47 
 
 5 For thine iniquity guideth thy mouth. 
 
 And thou hast chosen the tongue of the crafty, 
 
 6 Thine own mouth condemns thee, not I, 
 And thy lips make answer against thee. 
 
 7 Wert thou born the first of men ? 
 
 And wert thou brought forth before the hills? 
 
 8 Hast thou overheard the secret of God? 
 And dost thou confine wisdom to thyself? 
 
 9 What dost thou know, and we know not? 
 Or thou understand, and it is not with us? 
 
 10 Even the grey-headed and the bowed-down are 
 
 among us, 
 More abundant in days than thy father. 
 
 1 1 Are the consolations of God beneath thee? 
 And does intelligence lie hid with thee? 
 
 12 Why does thy heart carry thee away? 
 And why do thine eyes scowl ? 
 
 ■ r' 
 
 13 AVhile thou turnest thy breath against God, 
 And bringest speeches out of thy mouth.
 
 48 JOB. 
 
 14 What is man, that he should be pure? 
 
 And the offspring of woman, that he should be justs 
 
 15 Behold in his holy ones* he trusteth not, 
 And the heavens are not pure in his sight. 
 
 16 Surely then man is abominable and corrupted, 
 Who drinketh iniquity like water. 
 
 17 I will shew thee, if thou listen 
 
 And these which I have scen,^ I will relate ; 
 
 18 AVhich wise men have noted, 
 
 (And have not hid) — Irom their fathers ; 
 
 19 To tb.em alone the land was given, 
 A stranger passed not among them, 
 
 GO ^^ All the days of the vvicked, he prevaileth with pain. 
 " And many years are laid up for terrors : 
 
 21 " The voice of alarm is in his ears, 
 
 " In peace, the destroyer cometh upon him. 
 
 G2 '^ He believeth not in a return from darkness, 
 " And he is watched for by the sword : 
 
 * Holy onis.—Qudre, Angels. f Seen.— Meaning, heard.
 
 JOB. 4d 
 
 ^3 " He wandereth about, seeking bread> 
 
 " He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at 
 " his hand: 
 
 24 " Trouble and anguish terrify him, 
 
 " They surround him, like a king prepared for the 
 " attack, 
 
 2o " Because he stretched out his hand against God, 
 " And pretended to be strong against the Almighty ^ 
 
 26 " He will run against him bending 
 
 ^' With the thick bosses of his shields : 
 
 27 " For he has covered his face in his fat, 
 " And put suet upon his loins. 
 
 28 '' And he shall dwell in destroyed cities, 
 " In houses not habitable, 
 
 " Which are ready to become ruinous heaps. 
 
 29 " He shall not grow rich, and his wealth shall not 
 
 " endure, 
 " And his prosperity shall not spread abroad in the 
 " earth :
 
 ^0 JOB. 
 
 SO " He shall not remove out of darkness, 
 
 " The flame shall dry up his suckers, 
 "And God shall turn him aside with the breath of 
 " his mouth. 
 
 31 " Let him not trust in prosperity, being deceived, 
 " For his palm trees* shall be vanity : 
 
 32 " Before his time he shall be cut down, 
 
 " And his bending branches shall not flourish : 
 
 33 " He shall cut off his unripe fruit, as the vine, 
 " And drop like the olive his blossom : 
 
 34 " For the congregation of a profligate is a barren 
 
 " rock, 
 " And the tents of bribery, a consuming fire : 
 
 • His palm tree — that wherein he trusts. The palm tree is re- 
 markable for its height, straightness, longevity, fecundity, and the 
 permanence of its leaves ; it was also nn emblem of light, and of 
 viftory. — The same word too signifies an upright pillar. The 
 succeeding verses may relate either to the palm, or to the wicked 
 niun ; but I rather think to the latter, and that the mention of the 
 tree only suggested the idea of describing him under that figure.
 
 JOB. 51 
 
 35 ''Conceiving mischief and bringing forth iniquity, 
 " And their belly prepareth deceit."* 
 
 CHAP. XVI. 
 
 1 AND Job spake and said, 
 
 2 Many such things have 1 heard, 
 Irksome comforters are ye all. 
 
 3 Will there never be an end of empty words ? 
 Or what emboldens thee to answer ? 
 
 4 I too could talk as you do, 
 If ye were in my place ; 
 
 I could tack old sayings together against you, 
 I could shake my head at you ; 
 
 5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth. 
 And the wagging of my lips should be restrained, 
 
 • In the above speech, the plural number occurs several times, 
 promiscuously with the singular, to denote the wicked ; as, The^ 
 shall dwell in fenced cities, &c. ; but English grammar does not 
 admit of a plural relative to an antecedent in the singular. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 JOB. 
 
 6 If I speak, my grief is not assuaged: 
 And if I cease, what comes to me of ht 
 
 i Surely now thou hast wearied me out, 
 Thou hast banished all my friends. 
 
 S And thou hast laid hold on me to be witnessed against j 
 And he that belieth me, riseth up against me, 
 He answers to my face, — his wrath is furious :* 
 
 9 And he who spites me, gnasheth upon me with his 
 teeth, 
 Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes at me : 
 
 10 They gape upon me with their mouths, 
 Repioachfully they smite my cheeks ; 
 They glut their rage against me. 
 
 1 1 God has given me into the custody of the perverse,. 
 And turned me over into the hand of the wicked. 
 
 12 I was at rest, and he shattered me in pieces. 
 
 He took me by the neck, and shook me to atoms ; 
 He set me up for his mark. 
 
 • Furious. — Teareth in pieces, as a wild beast his prey^
 
 JOB, ^3 
 
 13 His multitudes encompass me. 
 
 He cleaveth my reins asunder, and pitieth not, 
 He poureth my gall upon the earth; 
 
 14 He breaketh me, with blow upon blow. 
 And runneth upon me like a man of war. 
 
 15 I have sewed sack-cloth on my skin, 
 And covered my horn with dustj 
 
 16 My face is disfigured with weeping. 
 
 And on my eyelids hangs the shade of death. 
 
 17 Because there is no violence in my hands, 
 And my prayer is pure, 
 
 18 Earth cover not* thou my blood, 
 And be there no place for my cry ! 
 
 19 Yet now behold ! in heaven, is my witness. 
 And he who knoweth my actions, on lugh ; 
 
 ^0 My mediator, my friend, 
 To God his eyes drop tears. 
 
 * Cover not.— Let it not be confined.
 
 54 JOB. 
 
 21 And he pleadeth for man with God, 
 As the son of man for his friend * 
 
 22 Por a i'ew years shall come, 
 
 And I shall go the way whence there is no return 
 
 23 My breath is opprest, 
 My days are extinct, 
 
 The sepulchral cells are mine.f 
 
 CHAP. XVIT. 
 
 1 ARE there not mockers with me? 
 
 Doth not mine eye rest on their bitterness ? 
 
 2 Appoint now my surety with thee ;J 
 
 Who is he that will strike hands§ with me ? 
 
 rTo God, eyes trickling, 
 J And arguing for man to G 
 /And the son of man for hi? 
 
 f The last three lines make the beginning of the next chapter, 
 but surely the sense conneds them with this. 
 
 :J: That I may stand trial with thee, or thou with me. 
 § Strike hands. — Make a bargain.
 
 JOB. 56 
 
 3 For their heart thou hast hid from prudence. 
 Therefore thou wilt not exalt them. 
 
 4 He who flattereth his friends, 
 
 The fountains'*^ of his children shall fail. 
 
 5 But hef hath set me for a proverh among thepeople> 
 And I shall be an example before them : 
 
 6 The upright will be astonished at it, 
 
 And the innocent will rouze against the polluted : 
 
 7 The just will hold on his way, 
 
 And the pure in hands will gain strength. 
 
 8 But you all, turn and go now, I pray. 
 
 For I have not found a wise man among you. 
 
 9 Mine eye is wasted with sorrow, 
 
 And my features like a shadow, all of them.J 
 
 * Fountain. — The same word means eyes, and is so translated 
 here, and in many similar passages ; but does not fountain better 
 express their dependence, their hope, their support, which a fountain 
 literally is in a dry laud? f But he, — EHphaz. 
 
 X Mine eye, &c. — These two lines are removed from their place 
 between the fifth and sixth verses, where they appear to interj-upt 
 the sense.
 
 5$ JOB. 
 
 10 My days are passed over, 
 My schemes are broken off, 
 The possessors of my heart : 
 
 1 1 Which put night for day, 
 
 " Light is near from the face of darkness." 
 
 12 Shall I hope ? the grave is my house ; 
 In darkness have I spread out my bed ; 
 
 IS To corruption have I cried, my father ! 
 
 Thou art my mother and my sister, to the worm, 
 
 14 And now where is my hope? 
 
 And my wishes who hath beheld them ? 
 
 15 To the cells of the vault shall they descend ? 
 Shall they rest together on the dust ? 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 1 AND Bildad the Shuhite spake and said, 
 
 ? How long will you set snares of words ? 
 Understand us, and then we will speak,
 
 JOB. 57 
 
 3 Why arc we considered as beasts ? 
 Why are we unclean in your eyes? 
 
 4 O thou that tearest himself, in his fury ! 
 
 Will the earth be left desolate because of thee? 
 Will the rock be torn up from its place ? 
 
 5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall go out, 
 And his lamp before him shall not shine: 
 
 6 The light shall be darkened in his tent. 
 And his lamp before him shall go out: 
 
 7 The steps of his activity shall be confined. 
 And his own strength shall throw him down: 
 
 8 For he is cast into the net, by his own feet, 
 And he walketh on the meshes : 
 
 9 The snare shall catch him by the heel, 
 The starvelings* shall prevail against him : 
 
 10 The toil is hid for him in the earth. 
 And the trap on the path : 
 
 * The starvelings. — The starved Arabs of the desert.
 
 5B JOB. 
 
 1 1 All around, destructions terrify him, 
 Aad his deliverance is only in his feet : 
 
 12 The fruit of his labour shall be famine, 
 And ruin prepared at his side: 
 
 13 The first-born of death* shall feed on the fulness of 
 
 his skin, 
 Shall consume his plumpness : 
 
 14 He shall be plucked up from his tent, his security, 
 And devastation, like a king, shall march against him: 
 
 15 It shall dwell in his tent, because he is not. 
 Brimstone shall be scattered on iiis abode: 
 
 16 From beneath, his roots shall dry up, 
 And above, his young branches be cut off: 
 
 17 His remembrance is perished from the earth. 
 
 And there is no name for him on the face of the 
 field :t 
 
 * The first-born of death. — The worm. 
 
 f The face of the field. — The burial-ground.
 
 JOB. 59 
 
 18 He is thrust from light to darkness, 
 He is banished from the world. 
 
 19 He has no son, nor grandson, among his people, 
 There is no remnant in his liabitation : 
 
 20 Posterity shall be astonished at his life. 
 And the elders shall be seized with horror.* 
 
 21 Surely such are the dwellings of the perverse. 
 And such the place of him who knowelh not God. 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 
 1 AND Job spake and said, 
 
 2 How long will ye vex my soul, 
 And overwhelm me with words ? 
 
 3 These ten times have ye reviled me, 
 
 Ye are not ashamed, ye are so hardened against me. 
 
 • The last, and the first.
 
 60 JOB. 
 
 4 And if indeed I have erred, 
 Mine error remaineth with myself. 
 
 5 But certainly ye magnify it against me, 
 And prove against me my reproach. 
 
 6 Know now that God hath timedf me 
 And encompassed me with his toils : 
 
 7 Behold I cry violence, and he answereth not, 
 I cry aloud, but there is no redress : 
 
 8 He has walled up my road, that I cannot pass. 
 And upon my paths hath he cast darkness : 
 
 9 My glory hath he stripped from off me, 
 And taken away the diadem of my head : 
 
 10 He pierceth me all round, and I pass away, 
 And my hope, like a tree, is blown down: 
 
 1 1 His wrath is inflamed against me. 
 And he considers me as his foe : 
 
 t Timed me. — As a hunter watches for a wild beast, to drirc 
 him into his net.
 
 JOB. 61 
 
 12 His troops come together, 
 
 They cast up their bank against me, 
 And encamp around my tent. 
 
 13 He hath removed my brethren far from me, 
 And even mine acquaintance are estranged : 
 
 14 My near ones have ceased, 
 
 And by those who knew me am I forgotten : 
 
 15 The dwellers in my house, and my maid-servants, 
 
 treat me as a stranger, 
 I am become an alien in their eyes : 
 
 16 To my man servant I called, and he answered not, 
 In my command I entreated him: 
 
 17 My voice is become strange to my wife, 
 But I love her on account of my children : 
 
 18 Even the young children despise me, 
 I rise up and they talk of me: 
 
 19 All my intimates abhor me. 
 
 And those I loved are turned against me :
 
 6^ JOB. 
 
 20 To my skin and to my flesh the bone cleaveth, 
 And I am bald on the skin of my teeth.'* 
 
 21 Sparc mo!— spare me, O my friends! 
 For the hand of God hath smitten me. 
 
 «2 Why do ye pursue me like a deer ? 
 And are not satisfied with my flesh ? 
 
 23 O that my words were written in a book If 
 And engraved with an iron pen and lead;| 
 That they were cut in the rock for ever! 
 
 24 But I know that my redeemer liveth, 
 And at last he shall arise over the dust : 
 
 25 Then shall my skin encompass this, (body) 
 And from my flesh shall I behold God: 
 
 26 Whom 1 shall gaze upon myself, 
 
 * Skin of my teeth. — The beard is fallen from the lip, which 
 is so wasted as to be merely a skin over the teeth. 
 
 f In a book. — In a memorial. 
 
 X An iron pen and lead. — With an iron instrument upoo t 
 sheet of lead.
 
 JOB. 65^ 
 
 Mine own eye shall see him, and not another, 
 My reuis will consume within me. 
 
 27 Then will ye say, how did we persecute him! 
 When the root of the matter is discovered in me. 
 
 28 Fear for yourselves the destroyer, 
 
 For the defence of the wicked shall be laid waste, 
 That ye may know there is a judgment. 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 1 AND Zophar the Naamathite spake and said, 
 
 2 Therefore my maddening thoughts impel me to 
 
 answer, 
 And for this do they agitate me ; 
 
 3 I hear the doctrine of my reproach, 
 
 And the spirit of my understanding forces me to reply, 
 
 4 Hast thou not known this of old. 
 
 From the placing of man upon the earth, 
 
 5 That the exultation of the wicked is short. 
 The rejoicing of the polluted but a moment.^
 
 64 JOB. 
 
 6 Though his greatness rise to heaven, 
 Though his head should touch the cloud, 
 
 7 Like his dung he shall perish for ever, 
 
 They who have seen him, shall say, Where is he? 
 
 8 Like a dream he shall fly, and shall not be found ; 
 He shall flit away as a vision of night: 
 
 9 The eye glanced at him, but it shall not again, 
 And his place shall behold him no more. 
 
 10 His children shall seek to please the poor. 
 
 To his hands shall be rendered the reward of his 
 deeds. 
 
 1 1 His bones are filled with his youth, 
 And with him shall lie on the dust. 
 
 12 Though evil be sweet in his mouth, 
 And he hide it under his tongue; 
 
 13 Though he have pity on it, and will not leave it. 
 But retaineth it under his palate, 
 
 14 Yet his food in his bowels is turned. 
 As the bitter of asps within him.
 
 JOB. 65 
 
 \5 He swallowed down wealth, but shall vomit it up, 
 God shall snatch his possessions from within him. 
 
 J 6 He shall suck the poison of asps; 
 
 The tongue of the viper shall slay him. 
 
 17 He shall not behold the flowing streams, 
 The torrents of honey and butter-milk. 
 
 18 What he has touched, he shall return, he shall not 
 
 swallow it, 
 Though his palm-trees be rich, he shall not rejoice, 
 
 19 Because he oppressed and forsook the poor. 
 Plundered the house, and built it not ; 
 
 20 Therefore his mind shall know no ease. 
 
 Of the things he desired there shall none remain. 
 
 ^1 There was nothing left from his greediness: 
 Therefore his wealth shall not endure. 
 
 £2 While clapping his hands in the fulness of joy, 
 tribulation comes on him. 
 Every hand shall bring him affliction.
 
 66 JOB. 
 
 23 While about to fill his belly, 
 
 God will send forth his burning wrath against him, 
 And rain upon him in his meal. 
 
 24 He shall flee from the clashing of arms, 
 The brazen bow shall pierce him : 
 
 25 It is drawn — it cometh forth from his body. 
 And glittering with his gall, it passes on. 
 Terrors are upon him. 
 
 26 Darkness is laid up for him in store, 
 A fire not blown shall consume him, 
 What is left in his tent shall be broken. 
 
 27 The heavens shall reveal his wickedness, 
 
 And the earth shall raise herself up against him. 
 
 28 The increase of his house shall roll away, 
 As torrents in the day of His wrath. 
 
 29 This is the portion of the wicked man from God, 
 The inheritance decreed for him by the Almighty.
 
 JOB. 67 
 
 CHAP. XXL 
 
 1 AN D Job spake and said, 
 
 2 Hear attentively my words, 
 
 And let this be for your consolations. 
 
 3 Let me be quiet, and I will speak, 
 
 And after I have spoken, ye may mock. 
 
 4 Shall I (make) my complaint to man? 
 And ask, Why is not my soul cut off? 
 
 5 Look upon me, and be confounded, 
 And lay your hand on your mouth. 
 
 6 When I recollect, I am frightened, 
 And trembling seizes my flesh. 
 
 7 Why do the wicked live, grow old, 
 Yea, become mighty in power? 
 
 8 Their seed is established in their presence, 
 And their offspring before their eyes: 
 
 F 2
 
 68 JOB. 
 
 9 Their houses are safe from fear, 
 
 And the rod of God is not upon them : 
 
 10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not, 
 Their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf; 
 
 11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, 
 Their children skip and dance: 
 
 12 They take up the timbrel and harp. 
 They rejoice in the sound of the organ: 
 
 13 They wear out their days in good fortune, 
 In a moment they are struck to the grave. 
 
 14 And they have said unto God, " Depart from us, 
 
 *' We have no pleasure in the knowledge of thy 
 " ways : 
 
 15 "What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? 
 " Or what should we gain, if we prayed unto him ?" 
 
 16 *Yet he filleth their houses with good, 
 
 But far be the counsel of the wicked from me ! 
 
 * This verse is brought from the next chapter, in exchange for 
 six verses which seem to belong to that chapter.
 
 JOB. 69 
 
 J 7 Shall knowledge be taught to God 5 
 To him who judgeth the exalted? 
 
 18 This (man) he maketh to die, in the strength of his 
 
 perfection, 
 (While he is) all prosperous and at rest ; 
 
 19 His intestines are full of fat, 
 And marrow moistens his bones: 
 
 20 And this shall die with a bitter soul, 
 He never tasted of good : 
 
 21 Thej lie down together on the dust, 
 And the worms cover them both. 
 
 22 Behold, I know your imaginations, 
 
 And the schemes ye unjustly contrive against me: 
 
 23 For ye say, " Where is the house of the noble i* 
 "And where is the tent, the habitation of the wicked ? 
 
 24 Have ye not asked the travelling Hebrews,* 
 And of their signs ye are not ignorant ; 
 
 * As Hehrenu signifies passenger^ this certainly may be trans- 
 lated those luho pass hy the waij-» or the travelling passengers ; but
 
 70 JOB. 
 
 25 That to the day of desolation he reserveth the wicked, 
 To the day of fury his destruction ? 
 
 26 (But) who shall declare his way before his face ? 
 And for what he hath done who shall repay him ? 
 
 27 While he wastes in the sepulchre, 
 And they watch over his toinb,t 
 
 They make sweet to him the clods of the pit. 
 
 28 And after him shall every man lie down, 
 As before him not a few. 
 
 29 Now why do ye give me vain comfort? 
 
 And why are your answers the leaven of deceit ? 
 
 is it not more likely that the Hebrews, on their way from Egypt, 
 passing through part of Arabia, should be enquired of on such a 
 subjed, than any chance traveller who might pass along the road? 
 The next hemistich agrees with this idea, the word translated 
 sigm, means miraculous signsy tokens ; and the Hebrews had such 
 fresh in their memory, and exadly to the present purpose, in the 
 destrudion of Pharaoh and his host. See chap. xxvi. If this 
 interpretation be admitted, it will fix Job's sera. 
 
 f Over his tomb. — It is still customary in the east to watch 
 over the tomb of a person lately dead, and to plant flowers and 
 flowering shrubs on the earth which covers him.
 
 JOB. 71 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 
 1 AND Eliphaz the Temanite spake and said, 
 
 2 Can a man profit God, 
 
 As the wise may profit himself? 
 
 3 Is it pleasure to the Almighty that thou be justified ? 
 Is it gain to him that thou make perfect thy ways ? 
 
 4 For fear of thee will he argue with thee r 
 Will he enter with thee into judgment? 
 
 5 Are not thy sins numerous ? 
 And thine iniquities without end ! 
 
 6 Hast thou not taken a pledge from thy brethren for 
 nought? 
 And stripped the ill-clad of his garment? 
 
 7 Hast thou not failed to refresh the weary with water? 
 And from the hungry withholden bread? 
 
 8 But the mighty man the earth is his, 
 
 And he with the lofty countenance dwelleth in it.
 
 72 JOB. 
 
 9 Thou hast sent widows empty away, 
 And crushed the arms of the orphans ;* 
 
 10 Therefore snares "encompass thee, 
 And sudden fear confounds thee. 
 
 11 Thou wishest for darkness that thou mayst not br 
 
 seen, 
 And a dehige of water to cover thee. 
 
 12 Is not God on high in the heavens ? 
 
 And see the elevation of the stars, for they are high, 
 
 13 And thou say est, What knoweth God .'^ 
 Can he judge behind the thick darkness ? 
 
 14 The clouds conceal him, he will not see. 
 And he walketh on the circuit of the heavens. 
 
 15 Hast thou observed the path of old, 
 Which wicked men have trod r 
 
 16 Who are seized on before their time, 
 
 Like a flood poured out in their habitation : 
 
 * Arms of the oi-phans. — Afiu is put for strength.
 
 JOB. 73 
 
 17 Who say to God, '^ Depart from us, 
 
 " And what can the Almighty do to us? * 
 
 18 " Behold, their good is not in their own hand; 
 " Far be the counsel of the wicked from me ! 
 
 19 " How doth he extinguish the lamp of the wicked!. 
 " And bring calamities upon them, 
 
 " Portioning out miseries in his anger ! 
 
 20 " They shall be like straw before the wind, 
 
 " Like chaff which the whirl- wind scattereth. 
 
 21 " God will lay up for his children, his earnings, 
 
 " He will recompense them, then will he^understand: 
 
 22 " For what is his pleasure in his house after him, 
 " When the number of his months is reckoned ? 
 
 * Then follows, " And he hath filled their houses with good," 
 which evidently does not belong to this place, but to the last 
 chapter, where it stands with only the variation of hand for house. 
 The mistake must have originated in the similarity of the two pas- 
 sages, "Who say unto God, Depart from us;" and it looks 
 more like an error of memory than the mistake of a transcriber. 
 
 The verses marked with inverted commas are taken from the 
 last chapter.
 
 74 JOB. 
 
 •23 " His eyes shall behold his destruction, 
 
 '* He shall drink of the \yrath of the Almighty ; ^ 
 
 24 The righteous shall see it and rejoice, 
 And the innocent shall laugh him to scorn : 
 
 25 * " Shall not they be removed who rise up against us J 
 " And the fii'e consume their abundance ? 
 
 26 Lay up now an interest with him, and be at peace: 
 Thereby shall good come to thee. 
 
 27 Receive now the law from his mouth. 
 And put his decrees in thy heart. 
 
 28 If thou turn to the Almighty, thou shalt be built^ 
 If thou put away iniquity from thy tents : 
 
 29 And thou shalt set treasure on the dust, 
 And gold with the pebbles of the torrent :t 
 
 30 The Almighty shall be thy defence, 
 And glittering sliver shall be thine: 
 
 * Shall not they, &c. — As if the righteous and the innocent 
 said thus. 
 
 f The pebbles of the torrent. — Set it at no higher rate, it shall 
 be so plentiful.
 
 JOB. 75. 
 
 31 For then in the Almighty wilt thou delight, 
 And wilt lift up thy face to God; 
 
 32 Thou wilt open to him (thy soul) and he will hear 
 
 thee, 
 And thy vows thou wilt perform : 
 
 23 Thou shalt make a decree, and it shall stand, 
 And on thy paths the light shall shine. 
 
 35 If (any) be abased, thou shalt say restore him, 
 And to the lowly-eyed, salvation : 
 
 35 The dwelling of the innocent shall escape, 
 It is delivered by the pureness of thy hands. 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 1 AND Job spake and said, 
 
 2 Still is my complaint rebellion ? 
 My hand is heavy on my sighs. 
 
 3 O that I knew^ where to find him, 
 
 I would go even to his judgment-seat
 
 76 JOB. 
 
 14 I would arrange my cause before him, 
 And fill my mouth with arguments: 
 
 5 I would know the words he would answer me, 
 And discover what he would say to me. 
 
 6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his 
 
 strength ? 
 No, surely he hath put in me permanent existence : 
 
 7 Then might I dispute with him, upright, 
 
 1 should come forth with victory from judgment. 
 
 8 Behold, I go forward, and he is not there. 
 And backward, but 1 discern him not ; 
 
 9 To the left, on his splendour I cannot gaze; 
 
 He hides in darkness on the right, and I see pot. 
 
 10 But he knovveth my ways; 
 
 When he trieth me, like gold I shall come forth. 
 
 11 My foot hath been firm in his steps, 
 
 I have kept his path and have not turned aside: 
 
 12 I have not receded from the comtnaad of his lips.
 
 JOB. 77 
 
 I have treasured the words of his mouth above my 
 daily bread. 
 
 13 But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him? 
 His soul desireth, and he doth : 
 
 14 So he will fulfil my destination, 
 And many ministers are with him : 
 
 15 Therefore am T terrified from his presence, 
 I perceive, and I tremble before him : 
 
 Id And God hath made faint my heart, 
 
 The Almighty hath overcome me with fear; 
 
 17 For I am not veiled from the face of darkness, 
 Nor from my face is the thick gloom concealed. 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 1 WHY are not times appointed by God? (for 
 punishment.) 
 And why do those who know him not, behold his 
 days ?
 
 78 JOB. 
 
 2 They remove the land-marks, 
 They seize the flock and feed it ; 
 
 3 They drive away the ass of the orphan, 
 They take the widow's ox for a pledge; 
 
 4 They turn the needy out of the way, 
 
 The oppressed of the earth hide themselves together, 
 
 5 Behold, like wild-asses in the desert, 
 
 They go forth to their labour, before the dawn, 
 
 To tear up in the wilderness. 
 
 Food for themselves and their children. 
 
 6 They reap in a field not their own. 
 And gather the vintage for the wicked : 
 
 7 They pass the night naked, for want of clothes, 
 And have no covering in the frost: 
 
 8 They are wet with the mountain storm, 
 And cling to the rock for shelter : 
 
 9 Tlie fatherless is torn from the breast, 
 And from the poor a pledge is taken?
 
 JOB. 79 
 
 10 They go naked, for they have no cloathing, 
 And from the hungry the sheaf is snatched : 
 
 11 ^Between their walls they labour at noon-day, 
 They tread the wine-press, and are thirsty. 
 
 12 Men groan from the city, 
 
 The voice of the wounded cries aloud, 
 But God sends no intercessor. 
 
 13 They are of those who rebel against the light, 
 They know not his ways, and remain not in his paths. 
 
 14 The murderer, rising with the light, 
 Slayeth the oppressed and needy, 
 And by night he is like a thief. 
 
 15 The eye of the adulterer watches the evening breeze 
 Saying, no eye will observe me ; 
 
 And he puts concealment on his face. 
 
 * Between their walls. — In the walled vineyards of the oppres- 
 sors, the poor labour, even at noon-day, when in that country it 
 is too hot to be at all exposed to the sun, particularly between 
 walls, where the heat is increased by reflexion.
 
 80 JOB. 
 
 16 They dig through houses* in the dark, 
 
 By day they had marked them for themselves ; 
 They know not the Hght ; 
 
 17 For the morning dawn is to them as the shade of 
 
 death , 
 To be known is the horror of death's shade. 
 
 18 They are swift on the face of the waters, 
 They hasten their smooth way on land, 
 They turn not the way of the vineyards.f 
 
 19 Drought and heat shall absorb the waters of the snow, 
 Hell, sinners. 
 
 20 The womb shall forget him, 
 He is sweet to the worm; 
 
 He shall be no more remembered : 
 
 Atid perverseness shall be shivered like a tree: 
 
 ♦ They dig through houses. — The walls being of mud, and 
 very thick. 
 
 f The way of the vlneyirds. — To avoid the obstrudlion of 
 walls, when they are escaping v/iih their booty.
 
 JOB. 81 
 
 ^l For he wronged the barren that beareth not. 
 And did no good to the widow. 
 
 •22 And he draweth down the mighty in his strength, 
 He riseth up, and there is no security among the 
 living. 
 
 ^3 He gave them (to dwell) in confidence and safety, 
 But his eyes were on their ways : 
 
 124 He exalted them for a while, and they are not. 
 They decay like all that are shut up, (in the grave) 
 And like the ears of corn they are cut off. 
 
 25 And if it be not so, who will convict me of falsehood. 
 And set my words at nought ? 
 
 CHAP, XXV. 
 
 1 AND Bildad the Shuhite spake and said, 
 
 2 Are not dominion and terror with him ? 
 Preparing retribution in his heights ?
 
 Si JOB, 
 
 3 Is there any number to his troops r 
 And on whom ariseth not his iight r 
 
 4 How should a mortal be justified with God ? 
 Or how the son of a woman be cleansed ? 
 
 5 Behold ! even the moon, her abode is not fixed, 
 And the stars are not pure in his sight. 
 
 6 How then man ? — a worm ! 
 
 And the son of the earth ? — a reptile ! 
 
 CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 1 AND Job spake and said, 
 
 <2 How hast thou helped him who hath no power^ 
 And delivered .the arm without strength! 
 
 3 How hast thou counselled him who hath no wisdom. 
 And instructed him who aboundeth in knowledge?
 
 JOB. S3 
 
 4 W^hose sayings hast thou repeated ? 
 ^Viid whose breath came from thee?- 
 
 6 The dust of the dead trembles from beneath, 
 The waters, and their inhabitants ; 
 
 tj Hell is naked before him, 
 And there is no covering to destruction. 
 
 7 He spread out the sky upon emptiness, 
 And hung the eartli on a balance : 
 
 8 He confined the waters in his thick vapours, 
 And the cloud is not rent under them: 
 
 9 Laying hold on the face of the cauppy, 
 He spread his clouds over it. 
 
 10 He hath described a circle on the face of the water*, 
 Even to the boundary of light and darkness : 
 
 1 1 The pillars of heaven tremble, 
 And are astonished at his restraint : 
 
 12 In his strength, he divided the sea, 
 
 And in his discernment, plunged in the proud : 
 G 2
 
 84 JOB. 
 
 13 At his breath the heavens become serene, 
 His hand hath slain the strait serpent * 
 
 14 Behold, these are parts of his ways, 
 
 But what a whispering of a word do we hear of hiniy 
 And the thunder of his fury, who can understand ? 
 
 CHAP. xxvn. 
 
 1 AND Job resumed his speech, and said, 
 
 2 As God liveth, who deprives me of my just awards 
 And the Almighty, who embitters my soul ; 
 
 3 So, while my breath is in me, 
 
 And the spirit of God in my nostrils, 
 
 4 My lips shall not speak perverseness, 
 Nor my tongue utter deceit. 
 
 * The strait sei-pent. — The crocodile, for which Pharaoh 
 is another name. Does not this allude to the passage of the 
 Red Sea?
 
 JOB. 85 
 
 5 Far be it from me, to justify myself with you, 
 Till I expire, I will not put away mine integrity. 
 
 6 I have laid hold on my righteousness, and will not 
 
 let it go, 
 My heart shall not reproach me, from my (latter) days* 
 
 7 The semblance of wickedness shall be mine enemy, 
 And the appearance of perverseness my foe. 
 
 8 For what is the hope of the polluted, though he 
 
 have gained. 
 When God demandeth his soul? 
 
 9 Will God attend to his cry, 
 When distress cometh on him ; 
 
 10 Unless he delight in the Almighty, 
 And call upon God at all times.'' 
 
 Ill will instruct you in the power of God, 
 
 What is with the Almighty, will I not conceal. 
 
 12 Behold! ye have all seen, 
 
 And why do ye thus trifle with vanity .''
 
 m JOB. 
 
 13 This is the portion of the wicked man with God, 
 The inheritance the tenible shall receive from the 
 
 Almighty. 
 
 14 If his children be multiplied, desolation awaits them. 
 And hi? offspring shall not be satisfied with bread. 
 
 15 His relicks shall be buried among tlie dead. 
 But his widows shall not weep. 
 
 ^6 If h'e heap up silver, as dust, 
 
 And as the mud, prepare raiment; 
 
 17 Let him prepare, but the just shall put it on, 
 And the silver, the innocent shall inherit. 
 
 18 He hath built his house, like the moth, 
 And like the booth* the watchman maketh. 
 
 19 He lieth down a rich man, but he shall not again, 
 He openetli his eyes, — and it is not.f 
 
 * The booth.— Of the boughs of trees to shelter him from the 
 sun, while he is watching in a field of vegetables, 
 f It is nbt. — His wealth is gone.
 
 JOB. ^7 
 
 ^0 Terrors toss him like the waters, 
 By night the whirlwind steals him : 
 
 21 The east wind taketh him up, and he goeth, 
 And it storms him from his place. 
 
 '22 He hath stricken him, and he pitieth not, 
 From his hand he would flee swiftly. 
 
 23 (The people) clap their hands at him, 
 And hiss him from his place. 
 
 CHAP. XXVHl. 
 
 1 THERE is, for silver, a mine, 
 
 And a place for the gold they have refined 
 
 2 Iron is taken from the dust. 
 
 And the stone poureth out copper : 
 
 3 (The miner) feels in the ctark, 
 And all around he seeks 
 
 For the stones of darkness, 
 And the shadow of death :
 
 .^g JOB. 
 
 4 A flood breaks in upon the forgotten inhabitants,* 
 It is drained by the foot,t it is removed by man : 
 
 5 The earth from beneath produces bread. 
 
 And her inward parts are turned over as by fire. 
 
 6 Her stones are the place of the sapphire. 
 And it has the dust of gold : 
 
 7 The path, no fowl kndwetb it. 
 
 Nor has the vulture's eye glaneed at it; 
 
 8 The sons of the fierce have not trodden it, 
 The lion hath not passed over it : 
 
 9 Against the hard stone he putteth forth his hand. 
 Overturning the mountains from their roots : 
 
 10 In the rocks he scoopeth rivers, 
 
 And every shining thing his eye seeth : 
 
 1 1 He stoppeth the oozings of the streams. 
 
 And the hidden things he briugeth forth to light : 
 
 * A torrent burst forth from the rubbish unexpectedly, 
 f Drained by the foot. — There is a machine now nscd in 
 Egypt for draining, which is worked by the foot.
 
 JOB. 89 
 
 1 2 But wisdom, from whence is she brought? 
 And where is the place of understanding? 
 
 13 Man knoweth not her equal, 
 
 And she is not to be found in the land of the living: 
 
 14 The abyss saith, she is not in me, 
 And the sea saith, neither with me ; 
 
 15 Solid gold cannot be given for her, 
 Nor can silver be weighed for her price; 
 
 16 She shall not be placed beside stamped ophir,* 
 The precious onyx, or the sapphire: 
 
 1 7 She shall not be compared with gold and glass,f 
 Nor balanced with vessels of pure gold: 
 
 * Stamped ophir. — The method of traffic in the east still is, 
 for the purchaser to bring his commodity and set it beside that 
 which he wishes to purchase ; if it is not thought enough, he 
 brings more. 
 
 f Glass was very scarce in the time of Job, and of course very- 
 valuable. It is supposed to have been first made on the coast of 
 Palestine.
 
 n90 job. 
 
 18 Coral and pearls shall not be reckoned, 
 
 And wisdom is more attractive than the load-stoiic :* 
 
 19 She shall not be valued with the topaz of Ethiopia, 
 Nor bartered for pure stamped gold. 
 
 20 Now wisdom, whence cometh she? 
 
 And where is the place of understanding: 
 
 21 For she is hidden from the eyes of all living, 
 Even from the birds of heaven is she concealed : 
 
 22 Destruction and death say, 
 
 "\\'ith our ears v/e have heard her fame. 
 
 23 Gob discerneth her way. 
 And he kiiov.eth her abode: 
 
 24 For he looketh to the extremities of the earth. 
 Under the whole lieaven lie seeth ; 
 
 2o To prepare the wind by weight, 
 
 And regulate the v.aters bv measure. 
 
 'o- 
 
 * The load-stone. — It is a disputed point whether thi8 be 
 intended for the load-stone or not; but I think the meaning of the 
 word, which is turningy can apply to nothing else.
 
 JOB. 91 
 
 26 When he made a decree for the rain, 
 
 And a way for the hghtning of the thunder ; 
 
 27 Then he saw her, and declared her. 
 He prepared her, and searched her out. 
 
 28 And he said unto man, — Behold ! 
 The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. 
 And departure from evil, understanding. 
 
 CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 1 AND Job resumed his speech, and said, 
 
 2 O that 1 were, as in former months! 
 
 As in the days when God protected me; 
 
 3 When he made his lamp to shine on my head, 
 By his light I walked through darkness: 
 
 4 As I was in the days of my vintage,* 
 
 When God made firm the foundations of my 
 dwelling ; 
 
 * Vintage. — Autumn. The year began in autumn, therefore 
 it in some measure answered to our spring as the early part of life;
 
 g% JOB. 
 
 5 When the Almiguty yet was with me, 
 And my children were around me : 
 
 6 When [ washed my steps in wine,** 
 
 And the stone poured out with me rivers of oil.* 
 
 7 When 1 went out to the gate above the city. 
 And prepared my seat in the council ;t 
 
 8 The young men saw me, and hid themselves, 
 And the aged rose up, — they stood, 
 
 9 The chiefs restrained their words, 
 They laid their hands on their mouths; 
 
 10 The voice of the leaders was hid. 
 Their tongue cleaved to their palate; 
 
 but the word does not convey to our ears the idea of joy and pros- 
 perity, which is meant to be conveyed : I therefore thought it best 
 to adopt that word which to us sets autumn in the most lively 
 point of view, particularly as it has its Hebrew name from the 
 stripping of fruits. 
 
 * Rivers ef oil. — Treading the wijie-press, and cmshing the 
 olives. 
 
 -j- The council. — In the street, or some place without. But as 
 he was to sit there in councilt is it not fair to introduce the v/ord ?
 
 JOB. 93 
 
 1 1 For the ear that heard, blessed me, 
 
 And the eye that saw, bore witness to me: 
 
 12 Because 1 delivered the oppressed, who cried, 
 The orphan and the helpless : 
 
 IS The blessing of the perishing fell on me, 
 And I made leap the widow's heart. 
 
 14 I put on righteousness, and it cloathed me, 
 My justice was a mantle and a turban.* 
 
 15 T was eyes to the blind, 
 And feet to the lame was I; 
 
 16 1 was father to the indigent, 
 
 And the cause I knew not, I searched out : 
 
 17 I broke the grinders of the unjust. 
 And from his teeth tore out the prey. 
 
 18 And I said, in my nest T shall expire, 
 As the sand shall I multiply days : 
 
 19 My roots are spread out to the waters, 
 And the dew abides on my branches : 
 
 * Mantle and turban. — Ensigns of royalty.
 
 94^ JOB. 
 
 <iiO My glory is continually fiesh^ 
 
 And my bow will renew in my hand : 
 
 21 They hear me, and wait, 
 
 And my council puts them to silence : 
 
 tI2 After my speec^h, they speak not again, 
 My words distil on them (like dew) : 
 
 '■23 They expect me as a shower, 
 
 They open their mouths, as for the latter rain :* 
 
 24 If 1 smile on them, they scarcely believe it. 
 
 And the light of my countenance, they will never 
 cast down : 
 
 25 I shall choose their way, and sit chief: 
 I shall dwell as a king among troops, 
 As a comforter among mourners. 
 
 * The latter rain. — The rain Imi^icdiately preceding the har- 
 vest, on which depended the goodness of the crop.
 
 JOB. 93 
 
 CHAP. XXX. 
 
 % BUT now, those less in years than myself, make 
 game of me, 
 Whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of 
 my flock. 
 
 *2 Yea what was the strength of their hands to mer 
 Upon them old age was lost,* 
 
 ci In the want and the hunger of desolation, 
 
 They gnawed tiie desert yesterday laid waste and 
 desolate. 
 
 4 They cropped the helimusf on the bush, 
 And the root of the genistaj was their bread; 
 
 5 From society they were driven, 
 
 Men cried agaitist them as against a thief; 
 
 * Old age was lost. — They were such contemptible characters, 
 that even old age could not procure them respect, 
 f Helimus. — some salt bitter plant. 
 J Genista. — ^Therootis supposed to be genista,or Spanish broom.
 
 96 JOB, 
 
 6 To dwell ill the gullies of" lorrents, 
 In holes of the earth, and in caverns. 
 
 7 Between the bushes they roared (for hunger,) 
 Beneath the brambles they were gathered together. 
 
 8 Sons of contempt, — yea, sons without a name, 
 They were scourged from the earth. 
 
 9 And now am I become their butt. 
 And 1 shall be their proverb. 
 
 10 They despise me, they flee from me, 
 They refrain not to spit before my face.* 
 
 1 1 Because He hath let go his bow-string, and 
 
 afflicted me, 
 They too have thrown off the rein before me. 
 
 12 The youths rise up, on the rightjt 
 They trip up my feet, and cast up 
 Against me their bank of destruction. 
 
 * To spit before my face. A great insult. 
 
 f The youths rise up, on the right. — Another offence.
 
 JOB. 97 
 
 13 They have demolished my paths, 
 They rejoice in my afflictions. 
 There is not a helper among them. 
 
 14 As at a wide breach, they come in, 
 Instead of desolation, they roll on. 
 
 15 Consternation is turned upon me. 
 
 My dignity is chased away like the wind, 
 And my security passed like a cloud. 
 
 16 And now will my life be poured out, 
 The days of affliction take hold on me. 
 
 17 By night, is my substance corroded from off me, 
 And never do my gnawing pains take rest. 
 
 18 With force must my garment be stripped off. 
 The hollows of my coat adhere to me. 
 
 19 He hath set me upright in the mud. 
 And I am become like dust and ashes. 
 
 20 I cry unto thee, but thou wilt not answer, 
 I stand, neither dost thou regard me.
 
 98 JOB» 
 
 31 AVilt thou turn to be cruel to me ? 
 
 In the strength of thy hand wilt thou oppose me? 
 
 22 Wilt thou lift me to the wind? 
 Wilt thou make me to ride on it ? 
 And wilt thou dissolve me to nothing ? 
 
 23 For 1 know thou wilt turn me to death, 
 To the house of assembly for all living; 
 
 24 Yet stretch not forth thy hand against the grave, 
 Surely in my destruction they would shout. 
 
 25 Did I not weep for the afflicted f 
 My soul lament for the indigent ? 
 
 26 Therefore I expected good, but evil came, 
 
 I waited for ligdt, and there came darkness. 
 
 27 My bowels boil, and cease not. 
 
 The days of my affliction are before me: 
 
 28 T go mourning for want of the sun, 
 
 I staiiJ in tlie congregation, and cry alaud :
 
 JOB. Q& 
 
 29 I am become brother to the dragons, ,• 
 
 And companion to the daughters of lamentation :^ 
 
 30 My skin peeleth from off me, 
 
 And my substance is burnt with heat : 
 
 31 My harp is turned to mourning, 
 
 And my organ to the voice of weepers. 
 
 CHAR XXXI. 
 
 1 I Made a covenant with mine eyes, 
 Why then should 1 look upon a maid? 
 
 2 For what is the portion of God from above, 
 
 And the inheritance of the Almighty from on high? 
 
 S Is it not ruin to the perverse, 
 And alienation to the workers of iniquity ? 
 
 4 Doth he not see my way, 
 And number ail my steps? 
 
 * Daughters of lamentation. — ^The Ostrich. 
 H 2
 
 i(y) JOB. 
 
 5 Have T walked with vanity? 
 
 Or hath my foot gone in silence to deceit? 
 
 f) Let me be weighed in scales of justice, 
 And God shall know mine integrity. 
 
 7 If my step have turned out of the way, 
 And my heart walked after mine eyes, 
 And if any blot have cleaved to my hands : 
 
 8 Then let me sow, and another eat, 
 And let mine offspring be rooted out. 
 
 9 If my heart have been deceived by a woman, 
 Or I have lain wait at my neighbour's door: 
 
 10 Let my wife grind for another. 
 And let others bow down upon her. 
 
 11 For that (is) a wicked imagination, 
 And this iniquity (before) the judges. 
 
 12 For it is a fire consuming even to destruction, 
 And would root out all mine increase. 
 
 S3 Have i despised the cause of my servant, 
 
 Or my maid, when they contended before me r
 
 JOB. 101 
 
 i4 What then should I do, when God arose? 
 
 And when he visited, what should I answer him ? 
 
 15 Did not He that made rne in the womb make him ? 
 And did not One fashion us in the womb ? 
 
 lO Have I withheld the poor from their desire, 
 Or caused the widow's eyes to fail ? 
 
 17 Or eaten my morsel alone, 
 
 And the orphan not eaten thereof? 
 
 18 When he brought me up, like a father, 
 And led me from my mother's womb : 
 
 J 9 If I saw any perishing for want of clothes. 
 And the poor without a covering; 
 
 20 Have not his loins blessed me ? 
 
 And was he not warmed with the fleece of my sheep ? 
 
 21 If I have lilt up my hand against the fatherless, 
 When I saw my power in the gate, 
 
 22 Let mine arm fall from the shoulder, 
 And be broken from its socket.
 
 102 JOB. 
 
 23 For the power of God was a terror to me, 
 And by his Majesty was 1 over-awed. 
 
 24 Have T set gold for my strength, 
 
 Or said unto stamped gold, Thou art my confidence r 
 
 25 Have I rejoiced because my wealth was great, 
 Aad because my hand had found abundance? 
 
 26 Have I looked at the sun when it shone, 
 Or the moon increasing in brightness ; 
 
 27 And my heart been secretly enticed, 
 And my hand kissed my mouth ? 
 
 28 Even this were an iniquity (before) my judge, 
 For I had denied the God that is abore. 
 
 29 Have I rejoiced at the destruction of mine enemy, 
 Or lift up myself, when evil found him : 
 
 30 1 did not ever give my mouth to sin, 
 By wishing a curse to his soul. 
 
 31 Did not the men of my tent say, 
 
 Who will give us of his flesh ? we are not satisfied.
 
 JOB. 103 
 
 32 The stranger never lodged without, 
 I opened my doors to tlie traveller. 
 
 35 If I have covered my transgression, like a mean man 
 By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom ; 
 
 34 Let me be terrified at the great assembly,*' 
 
 And let the contempt of the clans strike me down » 
 Let me be cut off, and never go out at the door. 
 
 55 O that he would hear me ! 
 
 Behold my gage,t — let the Almighty answer me, 
 And let mine adversary write a memorial, 
 
 36 Would I not bear it on my shoulder ? 
 I would bind it to me as a diadem. 
 
 37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps, 
 As a prince would I approach him. 
 
 38 If my land cry out against me, 
 And its furrows weep together: 
 
 * Assembly. ~ Of the Arab tribes, for judgment, 
 t My g^g^* — A mark or gage for standing trial with an ad- 
 versary.
 
 104 JOB. 
 
 39 If r have eaten its strength without silver, 
 And made the breath of its masters to pant;* 
 
 40 Instead of wheat, may it bring forth brambles, 
 And instead of barley, aconite f 
 
 The words of Job (ire finished. 
 
 CHxVP. XXXII. 
 
 1 AND these three men ceased from answering Job, 
 
 £ because he was righteous in his own eyes. And 
 
 the wrath was kindled of Elihu the son of Barachel 
 
 the Buzite, of the clan of Ram ; against Job was his 
 
 wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather 
 
 3 than God. And against his three friends was his 
 wrath kindled, because they found not an answer, 
 
 4 nor proved Job guilty. Now Elihu had waited for 
 Job during the dispute, because they were older 
 
 * Its masters. — Those who overcame it by working it. 
 
 :{; Aconite. — Or hoary nightshade ; the name imports some 
 stinking plant.
 
 JOB. 105 
 
 5 than him in days; But Elihu saw that there was no 
 answer in the mouth of the three men, and his wrath 
 was kindled. 
 
 — And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite spake 
 and said, 
 
 6 I am of a few days, and ye are very old, 
 Therefore I was ashamed and feared to shew my 
 
 opinion to you. 
 
 7 I said, let days speak, 
 
 And the multitude of years teach wisdom. 
 
 8 (But) certainly it is the spirit in man. 
 
 And the inspiration of the Almighty that informs 
 them: 
 
 9 It is not the great that are wise. 
 
 Nor the old, that understand judgment : 
 
 10 Therefore I said, hear me, 
 
 I will declare my opinion— even I. 
 
 11 Behold I waited for your words, 
 
 I hearkened to your reasonings and your arguments ;
 
 106 JOB, 
 
 12 And I understood you — and behold there is none 
 
 among you, 
 To convince Job by answering his words. 
 
 13 Now lest ye should say, we have found wisdom, 
 God will rebuke him, not man. 
 
 14 He did not direct his words to me. 
 Neither will I answer him in your speeches. 
 
 \5 They were confounded — they answered no more 
 
 They put away words from them. 
 
 16 And I waited, because they spake not, 
 For they stood — and answered not again. 
 
 17 (Then said I) 1 also will speak my part. 
 I will declare my opinion — even I. 
 
 18 For I am full of words. 
 
 The spirit within me oppresseth me. 
 
 19 Behold my heart is like wine, not opened, 
 Like bottles of new wine'* it will burst. 
 
 * Bottles of new wine. — Skin bottles..
 
 JOB. lot 
 
 £0 1 will speak, and give it vent, 
 I will open my lips, and answer. 
 
 21 I will not shew favour to any one. 
 Nor give flattering titles to a man : 
 
 22 For I understand not flattery, 
 
 For a little while my Maker exalteth me, 
 
 CHAP. XXXUl. 
 
 1 AND now, Job, hear my words. 
 And attend to all my sayings. 
 
 o 
 
 Behold now I have opened my mouth, 
 
 My tongue shall pronounce within my palate : 
 
 3 (In) the rectitude of my heart will I speak, 
 And my lips shall utter knowledge clearly. 
 
 4 The spirit of God doth actuate me. 
 
 The inspiration of the Almighty animates me.
 
 108 JOB. 
 
 ^ If thou be able to answer me, 
 
 * Prepare— set thyself before me (as an antagonist.) 
 
 6 Behold me according to thy wish, instead of God, 
 Kneaded from the clay, — even I. 
 
 7 Lo 1 my terrors will not alarm thee, 
 
 And if I lay my hand on thee, it is not heavy. 
 
 8 Surely thou hast said in mine ears, 
 And I heard the sound of the words: 
 
 9 " I am pure, without transgression, 
 
 " I am wrapped (in innocence), and no iniquity is 
 
 10 " Behold ! he findeth occasions against me, 
 " He considereth me as his enemv. 
 
 1 1 " He hath put my foot in a clog, 
 " He v^aicheth all my ways." 
 
 * Prepare. — Arrange, as forces for battle. "Set thyself before,'' 
 Is the expression used in the first chapter for Satan &c. v/hen they 
 appeared before Jehovah ; and this passage may serve to illustrate 
 its meaning there.
 
 JOB. 109 
 
 12 Lo! in this thou art not just ; 
 
 I will answer thee, that God may be exalted aboveman. 
 
 13 Why dost thou strive with Him? 
 
 For he answereth not for any of his acts. 
 
 14 Indeed God speaketh once, 
 
 Yea twice to him who regarded it not; 
 
 15 In dreams, the vision of the night, 
 When deep sleep falleth on men, 
 In slumberings on the bed; 
 
 \6 Then he openeth the ear of man, 
 And seals up his instruction : 
 
 1 7 To turn away man from his action. 
 And he hideth firmness from the strong. 
 
 18 He restrains his soul from the pit. 
 
 And his life from passing on the javelin: 
 
 19 And he reproveth him by sickness on his bed. 
 When the multitude of his bones is yet strong : 
 
 ^0 I'hen his stomach abhorreth bread 
 And his soul, desirable food :
 
 110 JOB. 
 
 21 His flesh wastes from the sight, 
 
 And his, once invisible, bones are craggy: 
 
 22 His soul approaches the grave, 
 
 And his life draweth nigh to the dead. 
 
 23 If there be over him an angel, 
 A mediator,* one of a thousand, 
 To shew unto man his duty ; 
 
 24 Then will he be gracious unto him, and say, 
 Deliver him from going down to the pit, 
 
 I have found a propitiation. 
 
 25 His flesh shall become fresher than a child's. 
 He shall return to the days of his youth : 
 
 26 He shall turn to God, and he will be favourable 
 
 to him, 
 And he shall see his face with joy. 
 And he will return to man (according to) his right- 
 eousness: 
 
 27 He shall sing before men and say, 
 
 * A mediator. — Perhaps this might be rendered a teacher^ one 
 who has the power of guiding.
 
 JOB. Ill 
 
 '^ I have sinned, and made crooked the straight,t 
 " And it was not made even to me. 
 
 ^8 " He hath delivered my soul from passing through 
 " corruption, 
 " And my Ufe shall yet see light." 
 
 S9 Behold ! all these worketh God 
 Twice, yea thrice with man : 
 
 SO To restore his soul from the grave, 
 
 To be enlightened in the light of the living* 
 
 31 Attend, O Job ! hearken to me^ 
 Be silent, and I will speak. 
 
 32 If thou have words to return me, speak. 
 For I should rejoice in thy righteousness ; 
 
 S3 If not, do thou hear me. 
 
 Be silent, and I will teach thee wisdom. 
 
 f Made crooked the straight. — Perverted righteousness, and 
 the balance was not made even. I have not received the punish- 
 ment due to me.
 
 il2 JOB. 
 
 CHAP. XXXIV. 
 1 AND Elihu spake and said, 
 
 £ Hear my words, O ye wise men ! 
 And ye learned give ear to me. 
 
 3 For the ear should try words. 
 As the palate tasteth food. 
 
 4 Let us choose a judgment for ourselves, 
 
 Let us know, among ourselves, what is good. 
 
 5 For Job hath said, " I am righteous, 
 
 " And God hath deprived me of justice. 
 
 6 " 1 am made to fail in my judgment,*' 
 
 " A man cut off without transgression." 
 
 7 AMiat man is like Job .^ 
 Drinking scoffing like water: 
 
 * Made to fail in my judgment. — Cast in my cause.
 
 JOB. 113 
 
 8 Travelling in company with workers of iniquity, 
 And walking with wicked men. 
 
 9 For he hath said, " A man gaineth nothing, 
 ** By delighting in God." 
 
 10 Therefore ye men of understanding, hearken tome; 
 Far be it from God to do evil, 
 
 From the Almighty to commit iniquity. 
 
 11 For he will repay a man for his work, 
 
 And according to the way of each, shall we find. 
 
 12 Yea, verily God will not do wrong. 
 Neither will the Almighty pervert judgment. 
 
 13 Who gave him charge over the earth ? 
 And who hath disposed the whole world ? 
 
 14 If he set his heart on it. 
 
 He can recall his spirit, and his breath; 
 
 15 All flesh will expire together, 
 And man will return to dust. 
 
 \6 Now if ye have understanding, hear this, 
 Attend to the voice of my words.
 
 114 JOB. 
 
 17 Shall he who hateth right govern ? 
 
 And wilt thou condemn him who aboundeth in 
 justice? 
 
 18 Who saith to the king, thou art unprofitable. 
 Wicked, to the nobles : 
 
 19 Who lifteth not up the faces of princes, 
 Nor turneth away from the cry of the poor; 
 For they are all the work of his hands. 
 
 20 In a moment, they shall die, 
 
 At midnight, the people shall tremble and pass away, 
 And the mighty shall be removed without a hand : 
 
 ^1 For his eyes are on the ways of man, 
 And he seeth all his steps : 
 
 22 There is no darkness and no shade of death, 
 To conceal the workers of iniquity. 
 
 23 F6r on no man hath it yet been put, 
 To walk with God in judgment. 
 
 24 He breaketh the mighty — no search, (they cannot br 
 
 found) 
 And setteth up others in their stead.
 
 JOB. 115 
 
 "2.5 Because he knowetli their works, 
 
 Tliey are overturned in the night — they are crushed. 
 
 2(i lie striketh them, like culprits, 
 In the place of beholders. 
 
 27 Because they turned from behind him, 
 And would not follow ail his ways. 
 
 28 Bringing before him the cry of the poor, 
 And he heard the cry of the oppressed. 
 
 29 He acquitteth, and who shall condemn? 
 
 He hideth faces,* and who shall behold them ? 
 
 30 He doth the same on a people, and on a man, 
 From reigning (he deposeth) a polluted man, 
 Lest he ensnare the people. 
 
 31 Is it to be said to God, 
 
 I have suffered what I was not bound to i^f 
 
 * Hideth faces.— As the face of a culprit was covered as sood 
 as he was condemned. 
 
 t Not bound to.— What 1 did not deserve. 
 I 2
 
 116 JOB. 
 
 32 I look behind me, do thou shew me, 
 If I have done evil, 1 will not again. 
 
 33 Thy works he hath requited thee. 
 
 But thou hast despised (his correction.) 
 For thou choosest,* and not I, 
 And what thou knowest say. 
 
 34 Let men of understanding speak to me. 
 And a wise man listen to me. 
 
 35 Job hath spoken without knowledge. 
 And his words are without prudence. 
 
 36 I am willing that Job should be tried even to victory, 
 Because of his answers for wicked men. 
 
 37 For lie has added to his sin, transgression, 
 He has clapped his hands among us, 
 And multiplied his words against God. 
 
 * Thou choosest. — Perhaps this should be, so thou shah 
 choose^ viz. words : it is now thy turn to speak.
 
 JOB. 117 
 
 CHAP. XXXV. 
 
 1 AND Elihu spake and said, 
 
 2 Ha^ thou tholight rightly in this ? 
 
 Thou saldst, " I am more just than God." 
 
 3 Because thou saidst, "What should I profit by thee } 
 " What should I gain more than by my sin f 
 
 4 I will return thee an answer. 
 And thy companions with thee. 
 
 5 Look at the heavens, and behold. 
 
 And observe the conflicting (ethers,) they are higher 
 than thou^ 
 
 6 If thou sin, how dost thou aiFect hira ? 
 
 If thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou 
 unto him ? 
 
 7 If thou be righteous, what dost thou give him ? 
 Or what will he take at thy hand ?
 
 118 JOB. 
 
 8 To man like thyself is thine iniquity, 
 And to the son of earth, thy righteousness. 
 
 9 From the multitude of oppressors, they complain, 
 They cry aloud, from the arm of the mighty. 
 
 10 But none saith. Where is God my maker? 
 Who giveth imaginations in the night; 
 
 1 1 Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, 
 And makcth us wiser than the fowls of heaven. 
 
 12 Then they cry, and he answereth not, 
 Because of the swelling of the wicked. 
 
 15 Surely God will not listen to vanity, 
 And the Almighty will not behold it. 
 
 14 Though thou say, "He will not see us/' 
 .Indgment is before him, and he will execute it. 
 
 15 But now because he hath not visited his anger. 
 Nor taken notice of his great excess ; 
 
 16 Job ppeneth his mouth in vanity, 
 
 And multiplieth words without knowledge.
 
 JOB. 119 
 
 CHAP. XXXVI. 
 
 1 AND Elihu added and said, 
 
 2 Attend to me awhile, 
 
 And I will shew thee there are yet words for God. 
 
 3 1 will bring my knowledge of distant things, 
 And ascribe righteousness to my Maker. 
 
 4 i'br verily my words are not false, 
 
 They are perfect in knowledge with thee, 
 
 5 Behold! God is abundant, and will not despise, 
 Abundant in strength bf understanding. 
 
 OHe wil 1 not preserve the life of the wicked, 
 And he will give justice to the oppressed. 
 
 7 He will not withhold his eyes from the righteous, 
 But with kings on the throne (doth he place them,) 
 And establish them for a continuance, and they are 
 exalted.
 
 120 JOB. 
 
 8 And if they be bound in fetters, 
 Or holden in cords of affliction; 
 
 9 Then he declareth to them their works, 
 
 And their transgressions, wherein they have rebelled; 
 
 10 And he openeth their ears to instruction, 
 
 And commandetii that they return from iniquity. 
 
 11 If they obe3% and serve him, 
 
 He will fill up their days with good, 
 And their years with pleasures. 
 
 4 
 
 12 But if they obey not, they shall pass on the javelin, 
 They shall expire for want of knowledge. 
 
 13 The polluted in heart heap up wrath, 
 They cry not when he bindeth them: 
 
 14 Their souls shall die in youth, 
 And their lives among the unclean. 
 
 15 He delivereth the afflicted in his affliction. 
 And openeth their ears in oppression. 
 
 16 And surely he would have turned thee away from 
 
 the strait.
 
 JOB. 121 
 
 And set thee in a wide place witliout confinement, 
 And what was set on tliy table should have been 
 full of fat. 
 
 17 But thou hast filled up the measure of wickedness, 
 Judgment and justice shall lay hold (on thee.) 
 
 18 Because there is wrath, (take heed,) lest thou irritate 
 
 to explosion, 
 Then a multitude of atonements will not remove (it.) 
 
 19 Will thy riches stand in array ? Not treasure, 
 Nor all the strength of thy wealth : 
 
 20 Dost thou not pant, in the night, 
 
 For the people coming up on account of them ? 
 
 21 Keep thyself from turning to wickedness, 
 
 For this thou hast chosen rather than affliction. 
 
 22 Behold! God is exalted in power. 
 Who directeth like him ? 
 
 23 Who visiteth his way ? 
 
 Or saith, thou hast done evil ?
 
 122 JOB. 
 
 24 Remember that thou exalt his \vork§, v- 
 He wh():u men shall behold. 
 
 25 Every man shall gaze on him, 
 A moriai shall look from afar. 
 
 26 Behold! God is great, beyond our knowledge; 
 His years are numerous beyond our search. 
 
 27 For he maketh small the drops of water. 
 They are strained ofl[»(for) the rain of his vapour 
 
 28 Which the heavens let fall, 
 And drop on man abundantly. 
 
 29 Also can any understand the spreadings of the 
 
 clouds ? 
 The high abodes of his silence. 
 
 30 Behold, he spreads on it his light, 
 
 And tne bottom of the sea is covered (with the 
 reflected light.) 
 
 vSl For by them he judsfPih the people, 
 He giveth food in abundance.
 
 JOB. 125 
 
 32 The light overspreads the vault (of heaven,) 
 
 And he commandeth it concerning liim that prayeth: 
 
 S3 He telleth, concerning him, his thunder, 
 Commissioned with wrath against arrogance. 
 
 CHAP. XXXVIL 
 
 1 VERILY, for this my heart flutters, 
 And beats beyond its place. 
 
 2 Hark ! hear the thundering of his voice, 
 And the muttering that issues from his mouth. 
 
 3 His flash is beneath the whole heaven, 
 And his light on the extremities of the earth. 
 
 4 After it roars the thunder, 
 
 He thunders with the voice of his majesty, 
 And he will not stay them, for his voice shall be 
 heard. 
 
 5 God thunders with his voice; 
 
 He doeth mighty wonders, and we understand not,
 
 124 JOB. 
 
 6 For to the snow he saith, Be on the earth ; 
 
 And he pours out the rain, he pours out the showers 
 of his strength. 
 
 7 Seahng up the hand of every man, 
 That all may know his works. 
 
 8 And the wild beast retires to his covert, 
 And in their dens do they abide. 
 
 9 From the black cloud comes the whirlwind, 
 And from condensed air, ice. 
 
 10 From the breath of God, the ice gives, 
 And the waters run wide in the thaw. 
 
 1 1 Also the pure (ether) dissolves the thick vapour. 
 Its light breaks through the cloud : 
 
 12 And they turn round according to his counsels. 
 
 To perf(Hm all that he commands them on the face 
 of the earth : 
 
 13 Whether he cause it to fall on the sceptre, 
 Or on his land, or for abundance.
 
 JOB. 125 
 
 14 Hearken to this, O Job! 
 
 Stop, and consider the wonders of God. 
 
 15 Dost thou know how God disposes them, 
 And causes the light of his cloud to irradiate ? 
 
 16 Dost thou understand the rollings of the vapours? 
 Wonders perfect in knowledge. 
 
 17 Why thy garments are hot, 
 
 When he quieteth the earth from the south ? 
 
 18 Hast thou spread out with him the ether, 
 Bright as a molten mirror? 
 
 19 Teach us what we shall say to him, 
 
 We cannot arrange (our speech,) because of the 
 darkness (of ignorance.) 
 
 20 Shall it be told him that I speak, 
 That a man speaks, who will vanish ? 
 
 21 And now we cannot look at the resplendent lights 
 
 of the sky, 
 When the wind hath passed and cleared it. 
 When bright weather cometh from the north.
 
 126 JOB. 
 
 22 With God is terribly dazzling majesty. 
 We cannot find out the Almighty. 
 
 23 Magnificent in power and in judgment, 
 And plenteous in justice, he will not afflict. 
 
 *>4 Therefore let men fear him, 
 
 He looketh not on any that are wise in heart. 
 
 CHAP. XXXVIH. 
 
 i AND Jehovah spake to Job out of the storm, 
 and said, 
 
 2 Who is this that darkeneih counsel, 
 In words without knowledge? 
 
 3 Gird up now thy loins Uke a strong man, 
 And I will ask thee, and do thou inform me. 
 
 4 Where wert thou when I founded the earth ? 
 Tell me, if thou know understanding.
 
 JOB. 127 
 
 5 Who fixed the measure ? if thou know : 
 Or who stretched over her the line? 
 
 d In what were her bases struck ? 
 Or who laid her corner-stone? 
 
 7 While the stars of the morning snng together, 
 And all the sons of God gave a shout. 
 
 8 And who shut up the sea with doors, 
 When it burst forth from the womb ? 
 
 9 When I put the cloud for its garment, 
 And thick darkness for its swathing band : 
 
 10 And I broke for it my decreed (place,) 
 And put bars and doors: 
 
 11 And I said, thus far shalt thoii come, but no further, 
 And this *hall stop the swellnig ot thy waves. 
 
 12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days ? 
 And taught the dawn to know its place ? 
 
 IS To lay hold on the extremities of the earth, 
 And the wicked are shaken (at the sight) :
 
 128 JOB. 
 
 14 *It is changed, as clay by the seal, 
 And they stand as ashamed. 
 
 15 And the light of the wicked shall be withdrawn, 
 And the uplifted arm shall be broken. 
 
 16 Hast thou gone even to the springs of the sea ? 
 And in searching hast thou walked through the deep? 
 
 17 Have the gates of death been disclosed to thee ? 
 And hast thou seen the horrors of death's shade ? 
 
 IS Hast thou discerned to the extent of the earth r 
 Declare if thou knowest it all. 
 
 19 Which is the road to the dwelling of light r 
 And darkness where is its place? 
 
 20 When God described its boundary, 
 Didst thou mark the paths to its house ? 
 
 21 Thou knowest, for thou wert then born, 
 And the number of thy days is great. 
 
 * It is changed. — In the dark, it was as clay without impres- 
 sion 3 the liglit shewing all the objeds, the earth seems as if newly 
 stamped by a seal.
 
 JOB. 129 
 
 '32 Hast thou entered the treasuries of snow ? 
 And the treasuries of haii hast thou beheld r 
 
 2^ Wliich I reserve for the time of tribulation, 
 For the day of assault and battle. 
 
 24 By what way is the light divided: 
 Tlie east wind scattered on the earth r 
 
 25 Who made a course for the overflowing shower? 
 Or a road for the thundering lightning? 
 
 26 To cause rain on the earth, where there is no man, 
 On the wilderness, where no one dwelleth ? 
 
 27 To saturate the waste and desolate (places), 
 And to make sprout the bud of the grass. 
 
 28 Is there any father to the rain.'* 
 
 Or who brought forth the drops of dew ? 
 
 29 From whose womb came the ice ? 
 
 And the hoar frost of heaven, who produced it? 
 
 30 The waters are like a stone, they hide themselves, 
 And the face of the deep is confined.
 
 ISO JOB. 
 
 31 Canst thou restrain the softening powers of warmthi' 
 Or relax the contractions of cold ? 
 
 32 Canst thou bring forth the simoom in his season? 
 And lead along the blight, with its sons? 
 
 53 Dost thou know the ordinances of heaven ? (the 
 atmosphere) 
 Or canst thou fix its power on the earth ? 
 
 34, Canst thou lift up thy voice to the sky, 
 And a deluge of water will cover thee ? 
 
 o5 Canst thou send forth lightnings, and they go, 
 And say to thee, here we are? 
 
 56 Who hath put wisdom in the inner parts? 
 And who hath given sight to the imagination? 
 
 57 Who, in his wisdom, shall number the particles 
 
 of ether? 
 And who shall lay along the pourers of heaven?* 
 
 * Pouros of heaven. — A kind of large jar, which has its 
 Hebrew name from pouring out ; but the word jar, not having 
 the same signification, does not so well apply to the clouds.
 
 JOB. 131 
 
 ."^8 VVlien the dust is melted into a mass, 
 And the clods cleave tojjether. 
 
 'O' 
 
 39 Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion ? 
 And fill the stomach of his whelps? 
 
 40 When they couch in their dens. 
 
 And remain in their covert, their ambush. 
 
 41 Who will provide for the raven his game, 
 When his young ones cr}^ to God, 
 
 And are famishing for want of food ? 
 
 CHAP. XXXIX. 
 
 I KNOWEST thou the time when the wild goats* of 
 the rock bring forth ? 
 Canst thou mark when the hinds calve ? 
 
 £ Canst thou number the months they fulfil ? 
 
 Or knowest thou the time when they bring forth ? 
 
 5 They bow themselves, they bring forth their young, 
 They cast out their sorrows. 
 
 * Wild Goat.— The Ibex. 
 K 9.
 
 i:f2 JOB. 
 
 4 Their young ones break away, they thrive in the 
 
 desert, 
 They go forth, and return not unto them. 
 
 5 Who hath sent out the wild ass* free ? 
 
 And who hath loosed the bands of the brayer ? 
 
 6 Whose house J have made the wilderness, 
 And the salt places, his habitations. 
 
 7 He scorneth the throng of the city, 
 He hears not the voice of the oppressor. 
 
 8 His pasture is the range of the mountains, 
 And he seeks after every green twig. 
 
 9 Is the wild bull willing to serve thee ? 
 Or will he remain at thy crib ? 
 
 10 Will a rope keep him bound in the furrow ?i 
 Or after thee will he shatter the clods ?;}: 
 
 * Wild ass. — The Onager. 
 
 f In the furrow. — The first ploughing. 
 
 X Shatter the clods. — The second ploughing, instead of har- 
 rowing, which was not then in use.
 
 JOB. 13 
 
 11 On him wilt thou depend for his strength? 
 Wilt thou leave him thy work to perform r 
 
 12 Wilt thou trust him to bring home thy seed, 
 And lay it on the floor to be threshed? 
 
 13 The wing of the ostrich is fluttered, 
 
 But is it the wing of the stork and its plumage? 
 
 14 For she leaveth her eggs on the earth. 
 She leaveth them warm on the sand ; 
 
 15 And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, 
 The beast of the field may stamp them. 
 
 16 She is hard against her young, as though they were 
 
 not her's. 
 Her labour is vain for want of precaution. 
 
 17 Because God hath deprived her of wisdom. 
 
 He hath not given her a portion of understanding, 
 
 18 When she lifteth herself up on high. 
 She scorneth the horse and his rider. 
 
 19 Hast thou given strength to the horse? 
 
 Hast thou cloathed his neck with the shaking mane? 
 
 i 
 
 »
 
 134 JOB. 
 
 0.0 Hast thou made him dreadful as the locust? 
 The noise of his snorting is terrihle. 
 
 '21 He paweth deep the ground, he rejoiceth in his 
 
 strength, 
 He rushes forth to meet the clash (of arms.) 
 
 22 He laugheth at fear, he is never dismayed, 
 
 He turncth not aside from the face of the svvoid. 
 
 23 Against him the quiver may rattle. 
 The head of the spear and tiie javelin. 
 
 24 With quivering, and shaking, he swallowcth thr 
 
 ground, 
 And scarce believes the trumpet sounds. 
 
 25 He saith, among the trumpets, ha, ha ! 
 From afar he scents the battle ; 
 
 The thunder of the singers, and the shouting. 
 
 26 Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom ? 
 Spreading her wings toward the south. 
 
 27 At thy command doth the eagle soar ? 
 And build her nest on high.
 
 JOB. IS& 
 
 28 She dwelleth on the rock, 
 
 She sitteth on the craggy point, 
 And watcheth for her prey : 
 
 (29 From thence, she pierceth her food, 
 Her eyes behold it afar. 
 
 30 Her young ones swallow blood, 
 And where the slain are, there is she. 
 
 CHAP. XL. 
 
 1 AND Jehovah spake to Job, and said, 
 
 2 Does he who contends with the Almighty draVr 
 
 back ? 
 He that reproveth God, let him answer it. 
 
 3 And Job answered Jehovah, and said, 
 
 4 Behold I am vile, what can I answer thee? 
 I have laid my hand on my mouth. 
 
 5 Once have I spoken, but I will not answer, 
 And a second time, but I will not again.
 
 13(5 JOB. 
 
 6 And Jehovah spake to Job from the whirlwind, 
 
 and said, 
 
 7 Bind now like a strong man thy loins, 
 I will ask thee, and do thou inform me. 
 
 8 Wilt thou indeed break my judgment? 
 
 Wilt thou condemn me, that thou maycst bejustified ? 
 
 9 Hast thou an arm like God ^ 
 
 And canst thou thunder with a voice like his ': 
 
 10 Put on now dignity and grandeur, 
 
 And clothe thyself with majesty and glory : 
 
 1 1 Scatter the violence of thy wrath, 
 
 And look on every proud one and abase him : 
 
 12 Behold every one that is elated, and lay him low, 
 And tread down the wicked in their place : 
 
 IS Hide them in the dust together. 
 Bind their facc.^* in concealment. 
 
 * Bind their faces — As is usually done to the dead. Conceal, 
 ment is put for tiie grave.
 
 JOB. 137 
 
 14 Then even I will confess thee, 
 
 For thine own right hand may save thee. 
 
 1 5 Behold now the river horse which I made with thee, 
 He eateth grass like an ox. 
 
 16 Behold now his strength is in his loins, 
 
 And his active force in the navel of his helly. 
 
 17 He bendeth his tail like a cedar, 
 
 The sinews of his stones are wrapt together. 
 
 18 His small bones are compact bars of brass. 
 His large bones like a forged bar of iron. 
 
 19 He is the chief of the works of God, 
 
 He that made him hath made fast his weapon. 
 
 20 For the mountains bring him forth food, 
 And all the beasts of the field play there. 
 
 2 1 He lieth beneath the shady trees. 
 In the covert of the reeds and mud. 
 
 22 The shady trees hide him with their shadow. 
 The willows of the brook hang over him.
 
 158 , JOB. 
 
 £3 Behold the stream may press, he is not alarmed, 
 He is secure though Jordan rush against his mouth. 
 
 ^ Let him be taken in his sight, 
 
 And let them bore his nose with cords. 
 
 CHAP. XLl. 
 
 I CANST thou draw the crocodile with a fish-hook? 
 And his tongue with a cord which thou sinkest ? 
 
 S Wilt thou put a rope in his nose. 
 
 And witli a ring wilt thou bore through his cheeks?* 
 
 5 Will he multiply supplications unto thee ? 
 And will he say to thee soft things ^ 
 
 4 Will he make with thee a covenant, 
 To take him for thy servant for ever i 
 
 5 Wilt thou play with him as with a bird.'^ 
 And wilt thou bind him for thy children: 
 
 * Bore through his cheek: — And put a ring for the rope to pass 
 through, by which to lead him.
 
 JOB. 139 
 
 6 Will the travellers surround him ? 
 
 Will they divide him among the merchants? 
 
 7 Wilt thou put his skin in the booth: 
 And his head in the fish hut ? 
 
 8 Lay thy hand on him, 
 
 Remember the battle, — thou wilt not again. 
 
 9 Behold the hope of him faileth, 
 
 Doth not even the sight of him cast thee down ? 
 
 10 Is he not cruel when he is roused ? 
 
 And who is he that will set himself before me ? 
 
 1 1 Who is my senior? and I will restore 
 
 All under the whole heaven, — mine, — his. 
 
 12 I will not pass over in silence his limbs, 
 
 And I will tell of his strength and the comeliness 
 of his form. 
 
 13 Who will strip off his garment before him, 
 And enter into his gaping jaws? 
 
 14 Who will open the doors of his mouth ? 
 l}is teeth are terrible around.
 
 140 JOB. 
 
 15 Noble are ilie compact plates of his shields, 
 Shut as with a close seal ; 
 
 16 They pass one on another, 
 
 And the air cannot enter betw een : 
 
 17 Each cleaves to his brother, 
 
 They lay hold on each other, and cannot be 
 divided. 
 
 18 His sneezings throw out light. 
 
 And his eyes are like the eye-lids of the dawn. 
 
 19 Flashes come out of his mouth, 
 Like the sparks of Hre they escape. 
 
 20 Out of his nostrils goeth smoke. 
 Like a pot boiling and a cauldron. 
 
 21 His breath is like burning coals, 
 And flame issues from his mouth. 
 
 22 Strength dwelleth on his neck, 
 And fainting dances before him. 
 
 23 The flakes of his flcsli cleave together, 
 
 They are pressed upon him, they will no? give way.
 
 JOB. 141 
 
 24 His lieart is molten like a stone, 
 Molten as the nether mill-stone, 
 
 25 When he setteth up himself, the valiant shrink, 
 They are dismayed at the breakers. 
 
 Q6 The sword that would reach him, standeth not, 
 The missive spear, nor the javelin. 
 
 27 He esteemeth iron as straw. 
 And brass as rotten wood. 
 
 28 The son of the bow cannot put him to flight, 
 The stones of the sling are turned into stubble. 
 
 •29 As stubble, he considers the club, 
 
 And he laughs at the shaking of the spear. 
 
 30 Under him are sphnters like potsherds. 
 
 He spreadeth fragments of rocks for his bed, on the 
 mire. 
 
 31 He causeth the deep to boil as a pot. 
 
 He maketh the sea like a vessel of perfume.*' 
 
 * Perfume.— The crocodile smells of musk.
 
 14S JOB. 
 
 32 After him his path shineth, 
 Tiie deep appears as if hoar3\ 
 
 S3 There is not on the earth his hke, 
 
 Of those who are made not to be daunted. 
 
 34 He looketh on all that are exalted. 
 
 He is King over all the sons of the fierce. 
 
 CHAP. XLH. 
 
 1 AND Job answered Jehovah, and said, 
 
 ^2 I know that thou art able to do all things. 
 And that no device of thine can be hindered. 
 
 3 By the hearing of the ear had I heard of thee, 
 But now mine eye sceth thee ; 
 
 4 So I spake what [ understood not, 
 
 Things too wonderful for me, which 1 knew not.
 
 JOB. 14S 
 
 5 Therefore I abhor myself, 
 And repent in dust and ashes.* 
 
 (> Anc\ it was after Jehovah had spoken these words 
 to Job, that Jehovah said to EliphaztheTemanite, 
 
 7 My wrath is kindled against thee and against thy 
 two friends, for ye have not spoken to me respect- 
 
 8 fully, like my servant Job. And now take to your- 
 selves seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my 
 servant Job, and offer them up as a burnt-offering 
 for yourselves, and Job my servant will intercede 
 for you, if so be that I will shew favour unto him 
 not to cast you off, because ye did not speak to me 
 submissively, like my servant Job. 
 
 9 And they went, Eliphaz the Teraanite, and Bildad 
 the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and did 
 as Jehovah had said unto them. And Jehovah 
 
 10 shewed favour to Job. And Jehovah turned the 
 captivity of Job on account of his intercession for 
 
 * This passage is totally unintelligible as it stands in the Bible. 
 Verses 3 and 4 seem to have crept in from the beginning of Je- 
 hovah's address to Job. 
 
 Verse 3. Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge ? 
 
 Verse 4. Hear me and I will speak, 
 
 I will ask thee, and do thou inform me.
 
 144 JOB. 
 
 his friends, and Jehovah added to all that was 
 
 1 1 Job's two-fold. And there came to him all his 
 brethren, and all his sisters, and all his former ac- 
 quaintance, and they eat bread with him in his house, 
 and condoled with him and comforted him for all 
 the evil that Jehovah had brought upon him. 
 And each gave him a piece of money, and each an 
 
 12 ornament of gold. And Jehovah blessed the latter 
 end of Job more than his beginning, and he had 
 fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, 
 and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she 
 
 13 asses. And he had seven sons and three daughters. 
 
 14 And he called the name of the one Jemima, and the 
 name of the second Ketsia,* and the name of the 
 
 15 third Kerenhappuck.f And there were not found 
 women beautiful as the daughters of Job, in all the 
 land. And their father gave them a portion among 
 their brethren. 
 
 \G And Job lived after this an hundred and forty years. 
 
 And he saw liis sons and his son's sons; four gene- 
 
 17 rations. And Job died, old and satisfied with days 
 
 * Kctsia. — Cassia. f Kerenhappuck. — A twisted horn.
 
 NOTES
 
 NOTES 
 
 PAGE 2. VERSE 5. 
 
 Bless the Gods in their hearts. 
 
 ly TISS Smith has here followed the interpretation of 
 '^ Parkhurst, and which I conceive to be the right 
 one: but more of this hereafter. 
 
 VERSE 6. 
 
 The sons of perdition. 
 
 This is a bold variation from the generally admitted 
 sense of the Hebrew phrase ; but 1 am convinced, after 
 the most mature consideration, that the conception of 
 the passage is no less just, than it is original. It cer- 
 tainly is defensible upon the strongest ground, though 
 not precisely upon that which the translator has chosen. 
 
 L 2
 
 148 NOTES. 
 
 In her opinion, that the article H appears no where 
 else, prefixed in regiminey except in the 6th chapter 
 of" Genesis, Miss Smith is not quite correct. This usage 
 of it is not uncommon, and particularly in 1 Samuel 
 ix. 10, we find D^1^i^n:^''^^ the man of God. It 
 might however have been fairly urged, that except in 
 these two passages, the article is no where applied in 
 reghnine to these specific words; and that universally, 
 D^H/i^ ^^^ is the expression used to denote the Y;o/ ©e« 
 sons of God, those, whom the New Testament calls 
 born of God, begotten again by his word, and resem- 
 bling their heavenly Father in their dispositions and 
 actions. The emphatic H prefixed, gives therefore 
 great weight to her interpretation, and more especially 
 from its being expressly used to contrast the false gods 
 with the great Jehovah. D^n'7lSn ^^'7iS'7 HIH O 
 srive thanks unto the God of all £:ods : Psalm cxxx. 2. 
 The sense then will be, the sons of perdition, (viz.) 
 those who, from their idolatrous apostacy, were deserving 
 of, or liable to perdition, came to set themselves against 
 Jehovah. And surely nothing can be more drama- 
 tically beautiful, than the placing Satan at the head of 
 these his apostate followers ; not to mention, that the 
 subsequent question, hast thou considered my servant 
 Job f whom thou hast not been able to seduce from 
 my service, becomes more peculiarly apposite.
 
 NOTES. 149 
 
 In reference also to what is said on the passage in 
 Genesis, would not the same construction there, sup- 
 posing it, in this place, to be well founded, go to clear 
 up an ambiguity of expression ? for though the meaning 
 be evident, still, literally speaking, all were sons of 
 God. If therefore the prefixed article will allow uS 
 to render the words according to Miss Smith's sug- 
 gestion, they will then mark the sons of idolatry, or 
 apostate descendants of Cain, in contradistinction to 
 the religious females of the offspring of Seth ; the sense 
 as to the impure mixture will be the same ; the vir- 
 tuous intermarried with the vicious, and hence arose 
 the corruptions which finally brought the deluge upon 
 the earth ; and hence also, in the separation of God's 
 people from the idolatrous nations, we have a cause 
 assigned, as it were, for the severe prohibitions against 
 any connubial intercourse with them, which afterwards 
 took place in the Jewish law. 
 
 PAGE 3. VERSE 11. 
 
 Whether to thy face He will not bless thee, 
 (curse thee.) 
 
 It is evident from her mode of rendering this pas- 
 sage, that Miss Smith is unwilling to abandon the inva- 
 riable signification of the word "jl^ to bless, where it
 
 130 NOTES. 
 
 is applied to express any intercourse betwixt God 
 and man ; and when it is considered, that there arc 
 only six* passages, in which it can be made, or even 
 supposed to deviate, in the smallest degree, from this 
 its first and original meaning, that its secondary sense 
 oigenuftectere is derived from kneeling, in the act of 
 worship to God ; and that the more remote application 
 of it, in which it is sometimes used, to signify piscina, 
 may fairly be deduced from a sense of the^?'^fl^ blessing 
 experienced in those hot dry countries from the pre- 
 servation of the rain water in large pools or reservoirs ; 
 I shall not be accused of presumption for endeavouring 
 (under the authority of Mr. Parkhurst) to support the 
 consistency of adhering to the primitive signification 
 of the word; and for wishing, if it be possible, not to 
 change it; since from the nature of the Hebrew lan- 
 guage, doubts must arise, and difficulties increase, with 
 every variation of the radical term. 
 
 To get rid of the direct opposition of bless and curse 
 in the same word 7")^, Schultens has undoubtedly 
 offered a most ingenious solution; and which, if no 
 better could be found, one would, for the same reason, 
 
 * The 5th and 11th verses of this chapter, 5th and 9th of the 
 2d chapter, and 10th and ISdi verses of 21st chapter 1 Kings.
 
 NOTES. 151 
 
 readily adopt. 1 must confess, howevec, that his valer^ 
 jubtns, and x^^^fiu eav, or, according to our language, 
 bidding farewell to, and thus renouncing God, has ever 
 appeared to me rather as an effort of genius to sur- 
 mount a ditiiculty, than any explanation of the truth ; 
 and that it was moreover torturing a word into a meai^- 
 ing that it apparently never was designed to bear. 
 
 D^^ as a particle, denotes a supposition, on which the 
 truth of a proposition is siista,i«'^d, and in various pl^es 
 precedes an ellipsis; might not therefore the construc- 
 tion be, But if thou wilt now put forth thy hand, and 
 smite all that is his? D^, if so, supposing this were to 
 happen, I^IT "V^IT'^V ^^7 not to thy face will 
 he bless thee, will no longer worship or acknowledge 
 thee. Or taking D^ in another sense, as a particle of 
 affirmation, ;;':^1 m^H h\^'pT\ D^^ surely thou wilt slay 
 the wicked, OLord, Ps.cxxxix. 19; might it not then 
 be rendered, in truth, or most assuredly, he will not bless 
 thee to thy face. 1 offer thes^ conjecture^ with great 
 diffidence, and am sensible that objections may be made 
 to the disjunction of the particles J^'^'Di^, and also to 
 the use of the negative particle at such a distance from 
 the verb. But still I think, that by removing the con- 
 necting hyphen, and making QJi^ a separate and distinct 
 particle, a much greater difficulty and inconsistency is
 
 152 NOTES. 
 
 avoided. If this separation be deemed inadmissible, 
 may not another mode of construction be adopted, even 
 if the compound particle be reserved ? The most pre- 
 valent use of ^^yD^ is, according to Noldius (Concord, 
 art. 440, page 1Q\) Jnnon, and so the sense will run ; 
 Do thus, and see whether or not he will then bless 
 thee, whether he will continue openly to avow himself 
 a worshipper of thee ? It is worthy also of remark, that 
 in this, and the 5th verse of the 2d chapter, the Sep- 
 tuagint version has resumed the primitive signification 
 of the word ^IH and rendered it by si/Aoyea;. 
 
 In the two remaining passages of Job (chapter ii. 
 5, 9) the same construction will hold good ; and 
 in the latter verse, blessing God, and dying, gives not 
 only better sense, but additional strength and beauty. 
 Dying was no necessary consequence of cursing God. 
 But the taunt. Will you continue still to bless God, 
 who thus afflicts you ? Will you still hold fast your 
 integrity to him, who will not stretch out his hand to 
 help you ? is poignant and cutting, and well deserving 
 the answer given to it. 
 
 These directly opposite significations of the word 
 1*112 have given rise to a curious anomaly in a modern 
 language; the word segnen which, in German, invariably
 
 NOTES. 155 
 
 signifies to bless, and is, throughout the Bible, as in- 
 variably applied to explain the Hebrew term in its holy 
 meaning, follows it also in its deviation from it; and 
 the dictionaries tell us, upon the credit of these six 
 passages, that it sometimes signifies to curse. It would 
 sound harshly in our ears, if the same liberty had been 
 taken with our language ; that the world bless had been 
 indiscriminately used; and then Johnson had told us, 
 that in these passages it had a directly opposite signi- 
 fication 
 
 In the two places of the 2d Book of Kings, where 
 the same difficulty occurs, I cannot but think it wholly 
 removed by the interpretation of Mr. Parkhurst. It 
 must be allowed (he says) that Jezebel herself was an 
 abominable idolatress; but her object was to destro}-- 
 Naboth ; and she could not have devised a more safe, 
 as well as effectual method of destroying him, than 
 under the sanction and form of law. That of Moses 
 w^as still in force, and therefore by accusing Naboth 
 of worshipping the heathen Aleim, and Molock, she 
 subjected him, through the testimony of two suborned 
 witnesses, to the penalty of immediate death. Vide 
 Deuteronomy xvii. 7; where immediate execution by 
 the hands of the people is awarded against those who
 
 154 NOTES. 
 
 were found guilty of idolatry. And the destruction of 
 Baal's prophets on Mount Caniiel is a convincing 
 proof, that however Jezebel might have derided, or 
 rebelled herself against this law, still when the people 
 were awakened to a sense of their duty, that it remained, 
 and was executed against idolatrous transgressors with 
 the utmost severity. 
 
 I am aware that many forcible arguments may be 
 brought against what has been advanced on Job i. 5, 
 which Miss Smith has rendered bless the gods in their 
 hearts. It mav be said, that all the ancient versions 
 (excepting the Vulgate) render the word "jlH in an 
 unfavourable sense; that DTI/k^^ (without any excep- 
 tion) is translated in the singular number ; and that 
 in all cases, where (with any expression in the con- 
 text, directing to such an application) it is applied to 
 idols or false gods, it is carefully rendered by the Sep- 
 tuagint in the plural ©joj. Besides, if it be allowed to 
 apply to idols in this verse, how can the arbitrary de- 
 parture from this sense be justified, in the next chapter 
 at the 9th verse, where the word stands coupled, pre- 
 cisely as it does here, with 113; and can D^n'7>^ t")I} be 
 rendered bless the false gods in one chapter, and bles.^ 
 the true one iu tl^o verv next?
 
 NOTES. loo 
 
 These objections are, without doubt, formidable ; and 
 backed, also, as they are, by the authority of the Vulgate, 
 Septuagint, Chaldee, Syriac^ and Arabic versions, it 
 may be presumptuous to think my ground tenable 
 against them. Butif nothing further could be advanced 
 in defence of Miss Smith's supposition, the question 
 might fairly be admitted; whether the sense she gives to 
 the word D'^H/k^, in this particular instance, be not more 
 conformable to the sound principlesof the language, than 
 is the arbitrary assumption of a contradictory meaning 
 to the same word, and the revolting idea is also avoided 
 of making us bless and curse Gou, if 1 may so say, 
 in the same breath.? VV^ouId not also the same ques- 
 tion tend to break down the strong position assumed, 
 that D^*17^ Tin cannot signify in one place bless the 
 false gods, and in another bless the true 07ie, by asking, 
 why the same word "|"lill should signify in one chapter 
 to bless God, and iti another to curse Him? If it be 
 alleged that the context requires it; is not that plea 
 equally good on the side of those, who are for preserving 
 the favourable construction ? In the case, for example, 
 before us, Job could not have offered atonement for his 
 sons, but under the impression of their having com- 
 mitted some sin against God: and that of false worship 
 was probably the most to be dreaded, from the cor- 
 rupted habits of those with whom they might associatet
 
 156 NOTES. 
 
 It is impossible to imagine, that Job should fear lest 
 his children should curse God: whereas, to fear lest, 
 in their moments of convivial gaiety, his sons should so 
 far forget the reverence due to their Maker, as to say 
 or to do something that was not consistent with the pu- 
 rity of his religion, or that shewed an acquiescence of 
 heart in any idolatrous* proposal, is the natural anxiety 
 of a fond and devout parent— perhaps what many a 
 father is now feeling for his child, and who (like Job) 
 may be offering up prayers for his safety, amidst the 
 free opinions and seducing pleasures of immoral society. 
 For the reasons here assigned, and which have led me 
 into a long digression, I cannot help leaning to the 
 ingenious alteration of the translator. 
 
 PAGE 9- CHAP. III. VER. 26. 
 
 Was I not in safety ? &c. 
 
 This pathetic appeal, in an interrogatory form, to his 
 former state of ease and prosperity, greatly heightens 
 the beauty of the passage; and which, though Miss 
 Smith could not know it, is thus rendered by Piscator. 
 
 * \'ide Job's exculpation of himself, c. xxxi. v. 26 — 7.
 
 NOTES. 157 
 
 PAGE 11. CHAP. IV. VER. 18. 
 
 Nor given glory. 
 
 From the root Si with the formative fl vid. Park- 
 hurst; which, notwithstanding the objections of Schul- 
 tens, seems to me the most preferable version. Miss 
 Smith has judiciously appHed the negative t^^ to both 
 sides of the verse, as it is in Deut. xxxiii. 6; Ps. ix. 19- 
 page 12. chap. IV. VER. 20. 
 
 Because they *are not made for continuance, 
 they perish. 
 
 In this ingenious and quite new construction, the 
 translator has evinced a very superior taste and judg- 
 ment. By uniting Tl'^J? to the participle ITti/D she 
 has avoided the error into which all our commentators 
 have fallen, by joining it to 1*73^^^ and who have thus 
 been obliged to supply a word, to make out the mean- 
 ing: They perish eternallj/f Meshim {leb.), without 
 man's putting it to heart \ or, as our version renders it, 
 without any regarding it: whereas by combining 
 TV^'h with D'^J^rj the sense is far better, and word for 
 word rendered with the most grammatical accuracy. 
 
 * Or, (God) has not made them.
 
 ^oS NOTES. 
 
 CHAP. V. VER. 1. 
 
 Declare now, if thou hast any sin. 
 Here again ]Miss Smith seems to have avoided 
 another error (if such it may be called) of our trans- 
 slators. Considering ]!]; as the Benoni participle of 
 n^if* to answer, they have uniformly given it this signi- 
 fication ; but Miss Smith, by forming it from the root 
 mi/ to commit iniquity, has greatly improved the 
 passage, by annexing to it a meaning congenial with 
 the reproachful spirit of the speaker ; vid. 6th, 7th, 
 and 8th verses of the preceding chapter: and Eliphaz 
 still continuing his upbraiding exhortations to repent- 
 ance^ is thus represented as summoning Job to the 
 confession of his guilt, and to declare before God his 
 secret offences. 
 
 PAGE 13. CHAP. V. VER. 23. 
 
 For thou hast a covenant with the stones of 
 thefidd. 
 This is, without doubt, the literal, and I ma}^ add, 
 universal translation of the Hebrew words, though the 
 
 * Even from the root T\1]^ Miss Smith's version might be 
 defended ; for in Hosea x. 10, what our translators have rendered 
 furrows DrO^V ^*1I^V tlicir two furrows, Abarbanel explains 
 by their tivo iniquities.
 
 NOTES. 15^ 
 
 <iifferenccs of opinion about the meaning they convey 
 are numberless. The best interpretation that I can 
 put on tbem is, The stones that mark, or bound, your 
 property _, are held sacred, so that no one will break in to 
 spoil or destroy it. I would suggest, however, that in 
 a comment upon this passage, Jarchi says, that ]Ili^ in 
 the Talmudical language, sometimes signifies a wild 
 savage man: and on farther examination, I found 
 that it was customary in Spain for all the Rabbins, and 
 such as were acquainted with Arabic, to take the sir- 
 name of Ah en ^ R. Abraham Aben Ezra ; Aben being 
 the same in Arabic as Ben in Hebrew, a son. Vid. 
 Levi's Dictionary on ]ni^. Might not this sense of the 
 word lead to a better construction .^ 
 
 Thou hast a covenant with the sons of the field -^ that 
 is, with the wild Arabs, who are described, in the 5th 
 verse, as devouring the iiarvest, and gleaning it even to 
 the thorns. 
 
 PAGE \o. VERSE 24. 
 
 And not be mistaken 
 
 From ^^T\ in its primitive sense, to deviate from 
 or miss a mark; and as it is used Judges xx. l6; 
 1 Kin2:s i. 21.
 
 160 NOTES. 
 
 PAGE 16. CHAP. VI. VER. 6. 
 
 Will the insipid be eaten, because there is 
 
 no salt ? 
 
 This construction is not quite correct; Miss Smith 
 evidently wishes so preserve the force of v2D vvhich 
 clearly implies causation. It had been better there- 
 fore to have put it thus : Can one eat what is insipid 
 from want of salt? thus coupling the want of salt with 
 the insipidity occasioned by that want. The latter part 
 of the verse, the drivel of dreamSj is derived from 
 Parkhurst ; vid. his Dictionary on ulT]. It is certainly 
 no very favourable amendment; but Schultens, who 
 supports the idea, makes by far the best defence of 
 it. The babardi:r of the VvenQ\\,/utiUa et absurdapro- 
 /(?rre is a happy illustration. 
 
 PAGE 17. VERSE 13. 
 
 Verily my help is not in me, &c. 
 
 I3y construing uKH interrogatively, the translators 
 of our version have failed in giving the meaning of 
 this piuisage. .Job is urging that he cannot contend 
 with (Jod; aiid in the preceding verse, shews how little 
 qualified man was to endure his anger and indignation,
 
 NOTES* 161 
 
 and here he more emphatically subjoins, Verily, I can 
 afford 7iiysclf no help ; for my substance, the little 
 strength and health that I had, is departed from me. 
 If the interrogative form be preserved, and the root 
 T^W*^ instead of substance, be made to signify wisdom, 
 then Schultens has rendered it in the most intelligible 
 manner : If there be no help in me, u wisdom also 
 driven from vie ? i. e. are my faculties impaired ? but 
 Miss Smith's version is much more simple, and 
 preferable. 
 
 VERSE 14. 
 
 It is a reproach. 
 Vid. Parkhurst on HDD Art. 6. 
 
 PAGE 18. VERSE 18. 
 
 The paths of their way are dried up. 
 
 The sense is plain, and applying it to the waters, 
 beautifully correct. The word 11^7, however, cannot 
 be fairly rendered dried up. It is, to turn aside ; and 
 thus, indeed, the waters may be said to have forsaken, 
 and left dry, their channels. Mercerus, as quoted by 
 
 M
 
 ak NOTES. 
 
 Schultens on ihis passage, says, Qui cum deficerc ince^ 
 peru7ity (namely, these summer torrents,) hac iliac dis- 
 torquetur eorum cursus, nee certo ac consueto Jertur 
 alveo, aliis aquis hue, aliis illuc dilabentibusy donee 
 ■paulatim omnes consumantur, et evanescant : and 
 Cocceius thus confirms the same idea, retrahuntur 
 magis viagisque in sese, aqute illte, nee amplius pro- 
 currunt. These opinions are perfectly in unison with 
 that of Miss Smith. 
 
 PAGE 19. VERSE 26. 
 
 And speeches (uttered only) to give vent to 
 grief. 
 
 Ty\u the infinitive mood, put gerundiallij ; venti- 
 larCf to winnow ; to sift, as it were, the words of the 
 distracted. 
 
 VERSE 29. 
 And I will turn again. 
 
 Our trar.slators have taken the marginal reading 
 ^2^1J'^. Miss Smith has abided by the text ^Z^X 
 So Schultens,
 
 NOTES. 163 
 
 PAGE 20. CHAP. VII. VER. 6. 
 
 For want of thread. 
 
 Evidently right. T\)'p is often used in this sense ; 
 and the metaphor of the shuttle is preserved, 
 
 PAGE 23. VERSE 21. 
 
 They shall seek me. 
 A mistake for thou shalt. 
 
 PAGE 24. CHAP. VIH. VER, 8, 9, 10. 
 
 I cannot here forbear transcribing the opinion of a 
 most learned and ingenious writer, who adduces this 
 passage of Job, both in proof of the antiquity of the 
 book, and as an evidence of the transmitted knowledge 
 of the antediluvian world to the patriarchal age. 
 
 " The interlocutors in this most ancient book," says 
 the truly modest and sagacious Mr. Davis,=* " either 
 ^ expressly mention, or clearly allude to, every science, 
 " and every laudable art, which has usually been placed 
 " to the account of the Babylonians, iEgyptians^ 
 
 * Celtic Researches, p. 11. 
 M 2
 
 164 NOTES. 
 
 " Phoenicians, or Indians ; and it is remarkable that 
 " Job and his friends ascribe their whole stock of know- 
 " ledge, whether of religion and morality, of the works 
 " of nature, or of civil arts, not to the exertion of 
 " their own genius, or to the successful enquiry of any 
 " particular societ}^ which had recently emerged from 
 " barbarism, but purely to the tradition of the first 
 " patriarclis of the first age of the world. 
 
 " For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and 
 ^' prepare thyself for the search of their fathers^ (for 
 " we are but of yesterday j and know nothing y seeing our 
 " days on earth are as a shadow,) shall they not teach 
 "thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their 
 " heart." 
 
 From this, and other passages, one of which he also 
 quotes from the 15th chapter, Mr. Davis infers, (and 
 with much more than probability on his side,) that " a 
 *' general stock of knowledge had been treasured up 
 " by the great patriarchs, for the benefit of their pos- 
 " terity, and that good men amongst the descendants of 
 " Noah, for several generations, regarded it as their 
 " greatest wisdom to learn and attend to these tradi- 
 ** tions of their fathers, who lived many days upon the 
 " earth."
 
 NOTES. 165 
 
 PAGE 25. VERSE 17. 
 
 He lays hold on a house of stone. 
 
 Probably, I think, in the sense of the seed falling oa 
 stony ground, and perishing from lack of moisture; and 
 ntn^ shall lay hold of, must be formed from the root 
 T^^^ with a deficient J^, as it is used in 2 Sam. xx. 9- 
 
 VERSE 18. 
 
 It fails him. 
 
 Vid. Parkhurst on ti^HD, the whole of whose version 
 ought to have been given here, for though the mean- 
 ing be evident, the expression, as it stands, is imperfect; 
 
 Then it will fail him, (saying,) I have not seen him. 
 
 PAGE 26. CHAP. IX. VER. 3. 
 
 Contend with 21s, 
 Mistake for xvith hinu 
 
 PAGE 27. VERSE 9. 
 
 Here Miss Smith has entirely followed Parkhurst: 
 but I doubt whether the idea of stars ought to be 
 relinquished.
 
 166 NOTES, 
 
 PAGE 28. VER. 22. 
 
 She is hroke?2 with grief. 
 
 This application of T\T\^ to the soul, is highly poe- 
 tical, and the change of J>^ for H in the causive conju- 
 gation, justified by frequent usage. The verb T\T\ to 
 break, would in Hiphil be T^Hil, as in Is. ix. 4 : For 
 thou hast broken the yoke, &c. and here ^^ is prefixed 
 in the passive, instead of the il as it is in Psalm Ixxvi. 6^ 
 and 3^ "^T^DK I^^IH^i^i^ the stout-hearted are spoiled ; 
 and again in 2 Chron. xx. 35, ■)3^T^^^ did join himself 
 instead of ISnrin. 
 
 PAGE 29. VER. 2G. 
 
 With swelling sails. 
 
 This verse has been generally understood to mean 
 boats made of the T^yA or ^Egyptian papyrus ; and as 
 Schultens observes, navibus ariindinej vel papyro Nilo- 
 ticd text is J nil velocius, so far justice is done to the 
 simile. Miss Smith, conceiving that the metaphor 
 might be heightened by the svyiftness of flight, has 
 taken the root 3^^ to swell, distend ; and thus given us 
 the picture of a vessel in full sail ; from which also 
 n3i^ is derived. Vid. chap. viii. 12.
 
 NOTES. 157 
 
 PAGE SO. VKR. 35, 
 
 But now I stand not upon equal* terms. 
 
 Instead of construing ^1^]^ as a compound particle 
 and pronoun, (with mej Miss Smith takes it from 
 *TQy to stand : my standing. And ]D which our 
 translators have rendered adverbially, she takes as a 
 noun, signifying base, or foundation ; thus, I am not 
 on the same base, or level, in my standing. 
 
 PAGE 34. CHAP, XI. VER. 6, 
 
 Double in substance. 
 Double as to, or in wisdom. Vid. Parkhurst on T)W^» 
 
 PAGE 37. CHAP. XII. VER. S. 
 
 Or the reptiles of the earth. 
 
 V!^t^ from the root T\^ to incline, or bow down, 
 signifies a bramble, or any low shrub ; and, from the 
 verb being sometimes employed to describe an abject, 
 creeping posture, may not perhaps he inaptly used in 
 the sense Miss Smith has here affixed to it. The 
 sudden appeal to the earth itself, in the midst of a 
 personification of its various productions, and then
 
 168 NOTES. 
 
 reverting to the fishes of the sea, is not only highly 
 unpoetical, but has no peculiar agreement with the 
 two succeeding verses. Whereas, the bringing the 
 testimony of Jehovah's power from the voice of every 
 living creature that moves upon the earth, in the hea- 
 vens above, in the earth beneath, or in the waters under 
 the earth, gives a life and spirit to the picture, that 
 is partly lost in our version. Schultens' opinion per- 
 fectly coincides with that of Miss Smith, though with 
 a far more forced construction. Magna me tenet sus- 
 ptciOf says this learned commentator^ Vl^ terravi hie 
 positam esse pro reptilibus terr^, quando quatuor mem, 
 bra rotundius exibunt ; et quicquid graditur, volat, 
 repit, natat, exhibebunt tanquam tcdidem enarratoresy et 
 prcecones infinitiBy per quayn suntj vigejit, et moventiirt 
 virtutis, 
 
 PAGE 41. CHAP. XIII. VER. 14. 
 
 On the chance. 
 
 Come what will. A repetition of his determination, 
 in the same words that he uses in the very preceding 
 sentence, and as they are used in 2 Sam. xviii. 23. 
 
 PAGE 44. CHAP. XIV. VER. 12, K*3, &C. 
 
 It seems to me scarcely possible for words to paint 
 more beautifully, or more strongly, a belief and hope
 
 NOTES. 169 
 
 in a future resurrection and judgment: and yet, strange 
 to tell, this passage has been adduced in direct proof 
 of the contrary. What then means Job's wish to have 
 a mark set on him when he was in the grave, that he 
 might be remembered? or, to what alludes his waiting 
 after death his appointed time, till his renovation come? 
 "^jID vH his renewal \ something that was to succeed his 
 old form; for that is the precise meaning of the word: 
 and then exulting in the thought, that xvhen the hea- 
 vens shall be no more, — when, in the more explicit 
 language of our Saviour, heaven and earth have passed 
 away, — he should be called upon by GoD,and beenabled 
 to rise up again, and answer him: but there will be vari- 
 ous occasions offer, as we proceed, of pursuing this 
 subject farther. 
 
 PAGE 46. VERSE 21. 
 
 Thou goest round him, &c. 
 
 Instead of the root '^pH, Miss Smith has taken the 
 root P\p^ or t^p^ in Hithpael, forgetting that in this 
 conjugation the first radical letter is never quiescent 
 or defective; however, there is one exception to this 
 rule, which Kimchi mentions, in Exodus ii. 4, U^nm 
 stood afar off, from radix 3^"^.
 
 17« NOTES. 
 
 PAGE 50. CHAP. XV. VER. 30. 
 
 And God shall turn him aside. 
 
 I have no doubt of this being the true sense of the 
 passage; but Miss Smith, probably from mistaking the 
 penuhima ^ for ^, has made a transitive of an intran- 
 sitive verb, and thus not strictly abided by the rules of 
 grammar. She appears to have read I^D^I instead of 
 mO^V Jarchi coincides with her in the idea of God 
 being the immediate agent of the destruction here 
 threatened ; and the construction will be. He shall be 
 turned away by the breath of (God's) mouth. 
 
 VERSE 31. 
 
 And his palm trees shall be vanity. 
 
 Our translators have explained the word IJlll.^n 
 for TD to exchange; but Miss Smith, instead of the 
 n formative, makes it a radical part of IDn, from 
 whence mOi^ a palm tree. 
 
 PAGE iC. CHAP. XVI. VER. 8. 
 
 Thou hast laid hold on. 
 
 V' id. Parkhurston DDp. The Targum also, on Pro- 
 verbs V. 22, interprets the Hebrew word I^TDT, his 
 own iniquities sJiall (take) the wicked, by TlODP-
 
 NOTES. 171 
 
 PAGE 53. CHAP. XVI. VER. 20, 21. 
 
 My Mediator, my friend, &c. 
 
 For the singularly beautiful, and, let me add, literal 
 version of this passage. Miss Smith is partly indebted 
 to Mr. Parkhurst; and, unless the correctness of the 
 translation be disputed, it doubtless contains another 
 explicit avowal of Job's trust and confidence in a 
 Redeemer, who was to come, mighty to save. One 
 exception, however, must be made, (unless she read 1 
 final for ^) to her changing the person of the possessive 
 pronoun ; which in conformity to grammar, and per- 
 haps also in point of taste, had better remain unaltered ; 
 ^y^ ^V'7D my mediator or advocate, ni}^ friend ; and 
 why render ^^^J/ terminating with the same pronoun, AzV 
 eyeSy and which very word also, in the 9th verse of the 
 succeeding chapter, she justly translates mine eyes. 
 Had it not been better to have done the same here ? 
 for it would not have varied the act of intercession, but 
 only the mode and urgency of the suit. The whole 
 then would read thus. 
 
 Yet now behold ! in heaven is my witness. 
 
 And He, who knoweth my actions, on high ; 
 
 My Mediator — my Friend — 
 
 To God mine eye droppeth tears, 
 
 (/. .1 pour forth my lamentations to God,) 
 
 And He (vid. my Mediator) pleadeth for man, &c.
 
 17® NOTES. 
 
 PAGE 55. CHAP. XVII. VER. 5. 
 
 And I shall he an example before them. 
 Vid. Parkhurst under Hsi^. 
 
 PAGE 56. VER. 15. 
 
 To the cells of the vault. 
 
 However opinions may vary as to the precise figure 
 under which it is conveyed, the meaning is one and the 
 same, They shall descend to the grave. DH^, for instance, 
 does not properly signify cells, but branches shooting 
 off from the stem of a tree, and things made of such 
 branches, as staves or poles ; and thus, as Parkhurst 
 observes, best rendered perhaps by Scott, as sepulchral 
 cells, branching off from the main sepulchral grot. It 
 mav be mentioned, however, as matter of curious 
 remark, if nothing else, that to this day, the Jews in 
 Poland* bury their dead under a sort of lattice work, of 
 cross wooden bars or staves, which they form over the 
 corpse, and thus the word may aptly be rendered, as in 
 our version, bars of the pit. These bars are covered 
 
 * I am indebted, for the substance of this note, to Mr Joseph, 
 ofB?ah, teacher of the Hebrew language ; from whose perfect 
 knowledge of the Hebrew Sciiptnres I have gained much valuable 
 Information.
 
 NOTES. 17S 
 
 with thin planks, to prevent the earth from falhng on 
 the body : and it is a singular circumstance, that Aben 
 Ezra, in his comment on this passage, supposes the 
 meaning of it to be the staves will give way^ and the 
 body mix with the earth. 
 
 PAGE 56. CHAP. XVin. VER. 2. 
 
 Set snares of words : 
 Vid. Parkhurst on pp. 
 
 PAGE 57. VER. 7. 
 
 And his own strength. 
 From nyy to fix, make firm, or steady. 
 
 PAGE 58. VER 11. 
 
 His deliverance, &c. 
 
 Our translators have made inVSMl a verb in Hiphil 
 from r^i. Miss Smith has formed a substantive of 
 it from the root HVD with the mutable H unchanged, 
 as in the formation ^nly his leaf. Psalm i. 3.
 
 174 NOTES. 
 
 PAGE 58. VEE. 13- 
 
 First-born of death, &c. 
 
 In allusion to the word "TH in the preceding chapter, 
 ver. 15. It might have been better to have rendered it 
 here, The first-born of death shall devour his members; 
 which, to man, are in the same relation as the branches 
 to a tree. INay, some commentators have thought 
 that Tin denoted his children^ which are his branches, 
 and the subsequent verses, particularly the 19th, give 
 no small weight to such a supposition. 
 
 VERSE 14. 
 
 Devastation like a king. 
 Vid. Parkhurst on "y^^. 
 
 PAGE 6l. CHAP. XIX. VER. 17- 
 
 But I love her on account of my children. 
 Parkhurst, on the word ]n. 
 
 PAGE 62. VER. 22. 
 
 Why do ye pursue me like a deer. 
 
 This translation is wholly iruid.nissible; and is evi- 
 dently occasioned by Miss Smith's reading '7^Xfo^^^^.; 
 Why do you persecute me as God, is certainly a strange
 
 NOTES. 175 
 
 expression to apply to the persecutions of man ; and 
 Miss Smith is not singular in her opinion, that 7^^ here 
 did not signify God, for one of the best rabbinical 
 commentators, R. Levi Ben Gerschom, prefers taking 
 7K for the pronoun nl^ these, with the H deficient, as 
 it is used in 1 Chron. xx. 8, Why do you persecute me 
 like these, alluding to the 18th and 19th verses. 
 
 PAGE 62. VER. 23. 
 
 Oh that my words were written, kc* 
 
 By those who consider the work of redemption 
 as a superstructure raised unto holiness by the opera- 
 tion of heavenly love, and who behold in every part, 
 and at each period of its building, the hand of the 
 divine Artificer ; by those, who, from the primaeval 
 assurance of pardon, have been taught to follow' the 
 evangelical Restorer of the human race, from age to 
 age, from prophecy to prophecy, through the remote 
 or more distinct revelations of his advent, till he comes 
 as Saviour of the world, to ratify to fallen man his 
 deed of covenanted mercy, there will be found nothing 
 improbable in this noble avowal of Job; nothing 
 inconsistent with the knowledge of the age in which
 
 176 NOTES. 
 
 he may be supposed lo have lived ; nothing that does 
 not rather cast around both the book, and the writer of 
 it, a greater degree of holy authel■lticit3^ They will see 
 no larger proportion of light afforded ia this great 
 m3'stery, than what, upon sundry occasions, had been 
 poured forth by God, upon the hearts of his faithful 
 servants ; and tae religious confidence here expressed 
 will appear to them no more e.\traordinar\', than does 
 that of many ether pious expectants and sufferers^ 
 who, as the Apostle tells us, all died in faitli^ not 
 having received the promises^ but having seen them afar 
 off, xvere persuaded of, and embraced them. 
 
 After the paradox he had attempted to maintain, it 
 Avas necessary that Warburton should endeavour to 
 throw over this singularly beautiful passage the veil of 
 doubt and difficulty ; and, if possible, to remove out of 
 sight what woLdd have effectually impeded the march 
 of his svstem. He never would have been able, with 
 this weight pressing him dowji, to have soared to that 
 adventurous height, to which his learning and genius 
 carried him; but it was only to receive a greater fall, 
 from vviience, one may venture to [)rouounce, he will 
 never, as a theologian, again rise. With the general 
 process of Dr. Warburton's argument, and indeed, with 
 the a[)[)licalion of it to this particular passage, few;
 
 JNOTES. 177 
 
 Vfho read these pages, can be acquainted ; and it might 
 be difficult also now to reply to it, without repeating or 
 quoting from some of the able answers which have 
 been given to it. In confirmation, however, of Miss 
 Smith's opinion, and which the reader, from various 
 parts of the work, must have previousl}^ anticipated, 
 I would again simply ask the objectors to it, (if any 
 such are to be found,) whether there be any thing 
 absolutely incredible in Job's belief of a Redeemer to 
 come, (for this they are called upon fully to prove,) and 
 if not, whether from the fairest construction, from the 
 most literal version of the original Hebrew, from the 
 closest comparison of language with language, we are 
 not authorised to apply the expressions of Job to a 
 direct acknowledgment of such belief; and whether it 
 may not be confidently asserted, that (whatever inter- 
 pretation may be put upon the words,) no just trans- 
 lation of them ever has or can be given, to exclude 
 the notion of a resurrection; — unless it be denied that 
 the faith of Abraham, to which Christ himself alludes, 
 as leading him to rejoice in seeing the day of sal- 
 vation, implies any future expectation ;— unless our 
 Saviour's own words, and which he spake to the un- 
 believing Jews, " Search the scriptures,/or in ihemyc 
 " think ye have eternal lifey" be refused as evidence; 
 unless it be proved th%t no such meaning is annexed,
 
 178 NOTES. 
 
 and no such blessing referred to, in the prophetic 
 writings ; or that St. Paul, when he turned the charge 
 of his accusers against themselves, as being apostates 
 from the received faith and religion of their ancestors, 
 urged a falsehood in his own defence,* or an argument 
 that his countrymen could not possibly comprehend ; 
 the declaration of Job then stands upon ground that 
 cannot be shaken. 
 
 I forbear entering into a farther series of proofs, 
 because every scriptural testimony of the earliest belief 
 
 * In his defence before Felix: — "I confess unto thee," says 
 he, " that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the 
 " God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the 
 " law and the prophets : and have hope towards God, which 
 '* they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurredion of 
 '* the dead, both of the just and unjust." Adts xxiv. 14-, 15. And 
 in a still stronger manner before Agrippa, he complains that he 
 " is judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto 
 " their fathers : unto which promise their twelve tribes instandy 
 " serving God day and night hope to come." Every part of his 
 defence rests upon his appeal to this the national faith ; but I feel 
 myself upon this subjed so often quoting/row rnyselft that I trust 
 there will be no vanity in referring the reader to a volume of 
 Sermons, preached a few years since, during the season of Advent, 
 and wherein I have entered into a full discussion of this important 
 f]uestion.-' " -
 
 NOTES. 179 
 
 in a future state has been brought forwards in a late 
 publication/}- with such clear deduction, and such an 
 irresistible force of reasoning, that, without detracting 
 from the merit of other works, it seems to have col- 
 lected, and brought together, all that has been or can 
 be said upon the subject. One question, perhaps, 
 remains to be asked. Why do the Jews, if they did not 
 believe in a resurrection before the coming of Christ, 
 believe in it now} Life and immortality was certainly 
 not brought to light to them, through the gospel ; and 
 supposing our Saviour to have proposed it as an entirely 
 new doctrine, the Jews, to this day, would have no 
 reason for embracing it, nor indeed till they should 
 see their errors, and acknowledge their Christian Law- 
 giver. It surely is an idle subterfuge to talk of the 
 doctrine of a future retribution being occasionally 
 revealed by God to his chosen servants, the fathers and 
 leaders of the Jewish nation, (but if so, why might not 
 Job have been thus signally honoured ?) or that the 
 dawning of it was gradually opened by the prophets to 
 the people ; for then the question recurs, when did this 
 dawn of light shine forth unto perfect day ? and from 
 what documents did the Jews receive their belief in a 
 
 f Vid. Lc6lures on the four last books of the Pentateuch, by 
 the Rey. Dr. Graves, particularly vol. ii. part 3, ledl. 3d and 4th. 
 
 N 21
 
 180 NOTES. 
 
 resurrection from the dead, (which is no less firmly 
 established among them than among Christians,) though 
 a confirmation, and the power of it, through Jesus 
 Christ, be rejected ? Can any answer be so satisfac- 
 tory as that which is given by the Articles of our 
 Church? The Old Testament is 7iot contrary to the 
 New. That the Jewish people have followed, and 
 still continue in, the faith of their forefathers,* and 
 when the veil shall be taken from their hearts, they 
 will not have to see and believe in the doctrine of a 
 resurrection, but in the resurrection of their Messiah 
 from the dead, whom they ignorantly crucified ; who 
 thus became tlie Conqueror of death, the atoning Re- 
 deemer, the merciful King of Israel, the Mediator of 
 the new covenant, the Jesus in Jehovah, the everlast- 
 ing Saviour, the Prince of Peace. 
 
 * It is worthy of remark, that, in some passages of holy 
 writ, the Jewish commentators liave even gone out of the way of 
 common constmction to inculcate this faith. In Deut. xxxi. 16, 
 
 tiDi^n Dpi 
 
 which our translators have, perhaps, justly, rendered '^ And the 
 " LojiD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy 
 *' fathers : and this people will rise upy &c." the I'argum by 
 CGnneding the verb Qp*^ with the foregoing part of the sentence, 
 renders it, Tliou shalt sleep tvitk thy fathers, and rise again.
 
 NOTES, 181 
 
 Let us now consider the state of the internal evidence 
 of this disputed passage. The friends of Job had con- 
 fined the exercise of God's justice within the scene of 
 this world ; they make his sufferings the consequence 
 of his iniquity, and as a just punishment from God, 
 for his crimes and hypocrisy. Asserting his innocence 
 m vain, and wearied out with their reproaches, Job 
 casts himself upon God ; whom, though He thus afflicts 
 him, and as the agony of his feeling describes it, 
 unjustly so, the unhappy sufferer still finds to be the 
 only one that can or will comfort him. He looks to 
 Him therefore for another appointed time of justice : 
 Oh that Thou wouldest hide me in the grave, says he, 
 (addressing himself to God, ch. xiv. ver. 13,) that Thou 
 wouldest keep me secr^et until thy wrath be past ; that 
 Thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me. 
 To their continued revilings against him for encoura- 
 ging any such hopes ; to their cruel insinuations, that 
 no such time should happen unto him, no such consola- 
 tion be given to the wicked, whose light should be put 
 out, and the spark of his fire no more shine, (ch. xviii. 
 ver. S, 4, 5;) Job nobly resumes his confidence, and in 
 this sublime passage, appeals, in conscious integrity, 
 from them, to the just judgment of God. Nothing 
 can exceed the solemnity of the exordium. He is for 
 preserving the memorial of his confidence to future
 
 182 NOTES. 
 
 ages: he wishes that it should be written in a book; 
 engraven on lead ; inscribed on the rock :* evidently 
 three modes (as Miss Smith justly remarks) of descri- 
 bing events, rising in fine climax, and each differing 
 from the other in supposed degrees of durability. Such 
 a preface, to announce the expectation of being again 
 restored to health and prosperity ; and a wish, thus 
 passionately expressed of rendering his complaints 
 immortal, and which, moreover, according to this 
 supposition, were shortly to be removed ; instead of 
 having any vigour, or dignified propriety, has hardly 
 any sense. 
 
 But does the record which Job was so desirous of 
 leaving to posterity warrant any such conclusion ? Was 
 it any important truth for them to know thathe believed 
 there was a God, able and willing to restore him to 
 health ? And do such expressions as these, 
 " 1 know that my Redeemer liveth, 
 " And at last he shall arise over the dust," 
 literal also, as the words of one language can render 
 those of another, seem to convey no farther meaning? 
 
 * The written mountains in Arabia, described by Harmer, vol. ii. 
 p. 142, leave no doubt as the pradicability and use of this 
 mode of record.
 
 NOTES. rss 
 
 The word 7^^^^ which is here translated Redeemei^ is 
 (be it observed) universally applied to denote this 
 peculiar office of the Deity. Thus saith Jehovah, the 
 king of Israel, {T\^T\'^ l/KJI) and his Redeemer Jehovah 
 (Isaiah xliv. (5.) Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, 
 (^37^^J) our Redeemer, 8cc. (Isaiah Ixiii. 16.) It is the 
 Av\^oj\yis, according to the Septuagint version, of the Old 
 Testament, the O Kv\ovyi.ivos »'S\ovs Kvq%os of the New, who 
 was to appear at last, or the last, or in the latter day, 
 (no matter which,) to pay the dreadful price of sin, to 
 redeem them from death and the grave, and to avenge 
 him on Satan, his spiritual enemy. As a prophetic 
 explication, therefore, of the coming of the great Re- 
 deemer, these words identify the character and faith of 
 Job with that of those holy men recorded by St. Paul 
 in the. 11th chapter of Hebrews: whereas, if they are 
 considered as expressive only of his hope of temporal 
 deliverance, they lose all dignity, and exhibit a pom_ 
 pous parade of expression, without any appropriate 
 signification. So far therefore is it from being true, 
 that our translators (who were in the other opinion) 
 have, as Dr. Warburton boldly observes, given a force 
 to their expr essions, which the origiiial will by no means 
 hear I that, on the contrary, the supporters of his- 
 hypothesis may justly be accused of changing direct
 
 184 NOTES 
 
 affirmation into probable queries, and suggestions ; of 
 not being guided by the plain sense of the words, but 
 by the spirit of their own persuasions; and of supply- 
 ing, by ingenious conjecture, what is jiot sufficient 
 to answer their purpose in the immediate expression. 
 
 Thus, because the Redeemer of Job could not be the 
 great Redeetmr of the world, he that was to bruise the 
 serpent's heady the object of faith, the subject of pro- 
 phccy, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day^ 
 and for ever; because, the final redemption of God's 
 faithful people could not be made known to Job so long 
 before the mystery was revealed, and accomplished in 
 Christ Jesus; the Redeemer who was to come, the 
 ikXvvv fx£X\u;v, as the Septuagint renders it, and who wa^ 
 at last to arise over the dust; means nothing more, in 
 Job's conception, than that God should in the end vin- 
 dicate his cause, restore him again to health, and rise 
 up over fa thing like himj buried in the dust. 
 
 If there can remain a doubt upon the reader's mind, 
 another incidental proof might be brought from the 
 peculiar use of the word IDJ?. This signifies not only 
 dust, (and, though it is rarely, if ever, used in that sense, 
 here rendered by our translators as equivalent to the
 
 NOTES. 185 
 
 earth,) but is specially/ employed to denote the dust, 
 out of which man was made, and to which he is to 
 return, (Gen. iii. 19.) And in a subsequent passage of 
 of this very book, EUhu, in reproving Job for charging 
 God with injustice, " All flesh shall perish together,'' 
 says he, " and man shall turn again unto OW) dust." 
 The inference therefore is fair, from the significant use 
 of this term, that Job meant to express his perfect con- 
 fidence, that although he was returning to his primitive 
 dust, yet that God could as easily raise him from the 
 dust, into which he was falling, as he could at first 
 have formed man out of it. 
 
 After what has been advanced, little need be said on 
 the latter part of Job's declaration: whatever form of 
 construction the words are made to assume, they evi- 
 dently denote a restoration from a corrupted to an 
 incorrupted state, from misery to happiness ; and the 
 question can only be about here or hereafter. But 
 although the version of Miss Smith, Then shall my 
 skin encompass this (body) is fairly defensible, and even 
 supported by the Vulgate, circumdabor pclle med\ lam 
 inclined to prefer our Bible translation, " and though 
 " after my skin worms destroy this bodj/y yet in my 
 " flesh shall I see God." .
 
 186 NOTES, 
 
 This (though in a periphrasis) I conceive to be the 
 just meaning of" the words ; the verb is in the plural, 
 and according to Miss Smith's version, (vid. Parkhurst 
 on ^^2) skin, as he justly observes, must be taken in a 
 distributive sense, to govern it : and is it not better to 
 construe the passage literally, '* and after (they) have 
 " destroyed this skin of mine, or my skin in this man^ 
 " ner, &c." and then to ask the question, to whom, the 
 nominative pronoun understood, refers? the answer 
 could be no other than that which our translation has 
 made, the worms, (vid. chap. vii. ver. 5 \) and might it 
 not even add to the beauty of the passage, to suppose 
 Job, in allusion to this part of his complaint, pointing 
 to his own miserable situation, and crying, 
 
 " And after the worms have thus destroyed my skin, 
 
 " Yet in mv flesh, Sec. 
 
 PAGE (yo. CHAP. XX. VER. CO, 
 
 Therefore his mind shall know no ease. 
 
 )C03 signifies not only belly, but the inmost part, or 
 mind of man ; and the uniform adherence of all our com- 
 mentators to the former meaning has produced many 
 expositions that border upon the ridiculous.
 
 NOTES. 187 
 
 PAGE 70. CHAP. XXI. VER. 27. 
 
 While he wastes in the sepulchre. 
 
 Miss Smith here seems to have read w2,'> for *l731i 
 and thus derived it from the root n?!2, to waste, or 
 consume, instead of 73\ the word used in Job x. 19, 
 for being carried to the grave. 
 
 PAGE 75. CHAP. XXIII. VERSE 2. 
 
 My hand presses heavy on my sighs. 
 
 That is, My hand presses heavy upon tm/ groaning 
 heart. Our translation is objectionable from giving a 
 sense to ^1^ that it v/ill not fairly bear. The Septu- 
 agint, to get rid of the difficulty, changes "^^^ into ^1^, 
 and renders the passage >? x^'f °^^'^^ ^x^eia. yiyonv tv ti^u 
 sEvayiJLaj. But Miss Smith's vcrsion gives a natural 
 description of a man oppressed with pain and grief, 
 without recurring to any alteration. 
 
 VERSE 6. 
 
 No, surely he hath put in me permanent 
 existence. 
 
 The disciples of the Warburtonian school will object 
 to this version, because it militates strongly against their 
 
 \
 
 ISB NOTES. 
 
 system, if it do not completely overturn it. The con- 
 struction, however, if KIH be allowed to take this sub- 
 stantive form, (vid, Parkhurst,) i& no less accurate than 
 beautiful. It avoids an ellipsis, and gives a sublimity 
 of idea to the passage, perfectly consistent with the 
 religious sentiments Job had before avowed, " He will 
 not utterly destroy me :" Non omnis moriar, 
 
 VERSE 9. 
 
 To the left, on his splendo.ufi. 
 From n&^5; instead of r^W- 
 
 VERSE 14. 
 
 And many ministers are with him. 
 
 Instead of the pronoun, with the '^ to mark simili- 
 tude. Miss Smith has taken it from ]niD. 
 
 PAGE 78. CHAP. XXIV. VER. 6. 
 
 They reap in a field not their own. 
 
 Dividing the word 17" vl3 not to him, instead of taking 
 it as our translators have done in one word ttI'2 from 
 rl'2 provender. It is thus divided in the Targum of 
 Jonathan.
 
 NOTES. 18^ 
 
 VERSE 7. 
 
 They pass the night. 
 
 Miss Smith, instead of the causive conjugation, h^s 
 rendered I^Sl in Kal. 
 
 PAGE 82. CHAP. XXV. VER. 5. 
 
 Her abode is not fixed. 
 
 Not taking it from ^n\ to shine ; but btli^, to pitch 
 or spread a tent. 
 
 PAGE 83. CHAP. XXVI. VER. 5. 
 
 The dust of the dead trembles, &c. 
 
 I should deprive the reader of a great pleasure in 
 not referring them to a note on this passage in Dr. 
 Magee's new edition of the Doctrines of Atonement 
 and Sacrifice,''^ (yol i. p. 373.) There is little difference 
 between his translation and that of Miss Smith. Both 
 
 * In calling the reader's attention to this most excellent pub- 
 lication, I cannot forbear mentioning, that should he wish to be 
 acquainted with the learned controversy (if it may be so called) on 
 the book of Job, in no work that is extant, will he find the evidence 
 on both sides so ably detailed, and so ingeniously discussed. 
 
 ■\
 
 ISO NOTES. 
 
 convey the same idea, and precisely that which the word 
 D^^^D") is made to give, Psalm Ixxxviii. 11, Shall the 
 dead arise ? and Isaiah xiv. 9, He stirreth up the dead, 
 
 VERSE 7. 
 
 Hung the earth on a balance. 
 Vid. Parkhurst on D^3. 
 
 PAGE 85. CHAP. XXVII. VER. 8. 
 
 God shall demand his soul. 
 
 1^ is used in this sense, 1 Sam. i. 17; God shall 
 grant QJl^t^nK) thy request. It looks more like a 
 mistake for '^Nt^. 
 
 VERSE 19. 
 
 Shall not again. 
 
 From ^ID^ to repeat, or do again, with an i^, to com- 
 pensate for the quiescent % as in Exodus v. 7, and 
 1 Sam. xviii. 29. 
 
 PAGE 87. CHAP. XXVIII. VER. 3. 
 
 The mme.r feels in the dark. 
 
 This can never stand without a very forced construc- 
 tion, making Vp, extremity, or end to signify the ex-
 
 NOTES. 191 
 
 fremiti/ of the hand', Dli^Tp, extremitates posuit^felt 
 round about. I rather think Miss Smith wrote frets, 
 for in her manuscript the real word is hardly distin- 
 guishable,) in the sense that Rachael uses it^^iHH "^TOp, 
 I am weary of my life : so in this place DI^ ypj there 
 the miner wearies himself in the dark. One can only 
 say, that this is as good as He putteth an end to 
 darkness, 
 
 VER. 4. 
 
 A flood breaks in upon the forgotten inhahitants. 
 
 By the simple construction of 1^ with D^HDti^iil, 
 the forgotten inhabitants^ an admirable sense is given 
 to a very difficult and disputed passage; in other words, 
 the Jlood breaks in upon the miners, which is drained by 
 the foot, &c. 
 
 PAGE 91. CHAP. XXIX. VER. 4. 
 
 When God made firm the foundations of my 
 dwelling. 
 
 Miss Smith has here taken the root *ID^ instead 
 of ID.
 
 192 NOTES. 
 
 PAGE 92. VER. 6. 
 
 Washed my steps with wine 
 
 From DH, vid. Parkhurst; and thus avoiding the 
 deficient J^, H^nn for n^^HD. But surely butter- 
 milk is a much more preferable version, as correspond- 
 ing more with the custom and manners of the country. 
 Vid. Harmer, vol iii. p. 173; and Burder's Oriental 
 Customs, p. 108. 
 
 PAGE 92* VER. 1. 
 
 Prepare my seat in the council. 
 
 In the street, or forum, according to the original, had 
 been better; and Harmer explains the meaning, from 
 the custom that people of quaHty had, of causing 
 cushions or carpets to be carried for them, to repose 
 upon whenever they pleased, vol. ii. p. 59. 
 
 PAGE 9o. CHAP. XXX. VER. 4. 
 
 They cropped the halimus on the bush, 
 And the root of the genista was their bread. 
 
 Vid. Parkhurst on TS112 and DHI. The latter word 
 however, being used in Psalm cxx, 4. to express a
 
 NOTES. 193 
 
 shrub, which served for fuel D^^H") vHJ Di^, with hot 
 burning coals., Ralbag, in aUusion to this very passage, 
 (and perhaps justly,) gives a far different interpretation ; 
 They take the root of the juniper D^Pl'? to warm 
 themselves ; making 7 a preposition. 
 
 PAGE 97. VERSE 18. 
 
 The hollows of my coat, &c. 
 
 This is admirably and significantly rendered : but is 
 not ]nD rather the tuiiicy or inner garment, and would 
 here perhaps be better thus used. 
 
 PAGE 101. CHAP. XXXI. VER. 18. 
 
 And led me from my mother's womb. 
 
 This is evidently an error; the formative pronoun J^ 
 in (linDi^, from nPl^ to lead, must signify / led, or 
 guided, her; and cannot be transferred to the third 
 person. The Bible version is therefore the best, and 
 fully explains the meaning, that Job had brought up 
 the orphan from his youth upwards, as if he had been 
 his own father ; and that he had guided the female 
 orphan from her mother's womb.
 
 m NOTES. 
 
 VERSE 23. 
 
 For the power of God. 
 
 Here again I think our version preferable; from Ti^ 
 destruction; that is, I never thought I could escape the 
 divine vengeance^ if I did such things. 
 
 VERSE 27. 
 
 And my heart been secretly enticed. 
 Does not this seem to strengthen the idea of blessing 
 the gods in their hearts? 
 
 PAGE 112. CHAP. XXXIV. VER. G. 
 
 A man cut off without transgression. 
 
 Miss Smith, by transposing the order of construc- 
 tion which our translators, and indeed, all the com- 
 mentators, have followed, and by making Ci^l^t^ the 
 7iotm, and ^VH the verb, has thrown a new light on this 
 difficult passage. A similar use, also, of the verb TViiT\y 
 to divide, or separate, will be found in chap. xxiv. 21, 
 The number of his months is cut off. 
 
 VERSE 17. 
 
 Shall he who hateth right govr : n, &c. 
 
 Upon the twelve following verses I must spare myself 
 any comment; and as I consider the admirable one
 
 NOTES. 195 
 
 given by Dr. Magee, though so happily introduced 
 into his own work, as in some measure belonging to 
 mine, (vid. Preface,) I must assume tlie liberty of tran- 
 scribing and substituting his observations, in the room 
 of any I might otherwise have been inclined to make. 
 
 After the most flattering testimony borne to the 
 genius and talents of Miss Smith, and in proof of it, 
 confronting this part of her translation with that of the 
 Bible version, he thus remarks upon it: — 
 
 " On a comparison with the original, this will be 
 *' found more faithful, in many parts, than the received 
 " version ; particularly in that very difficult passage in 
 " the 1 8th and 19th verses^ in which the latter demands 
 " so large an ellipsis as is found in Italics in the common 
 '* Bible, our fair translator has, by a close adherence to 
 " the original, given excellent sense to the whole. She 
 " was not aware, that she coincided with high autho- 
 *' rities, in giving this turn to the original: — see Schnur- 
 ic y,Qy Dissert, PhiloL p. 279j * Ilium qui regem adeo 
 '' compellat hominem nequam ; vivos primarios, impro- 
 " bos ? Nan respicit principes, S(c &(c. Bishop Stock 
 " has also taken the same view of the construction. 
 " The LXX and Vulg. render it in like manner, ' qui 
 " dicit ;' and one MS. of De Rossi's reads IDIb^n 
 
 o 2
 
 196 NOTES. 
 
 '^ fixing it in this sense. The 23d verse too, — whose 
 " difficulty is so great, that Schultens has reckoned up 
 ** nineteen different meanings assigned to it, whilst 
 " Schnuner has added several others, (p. 280 ;) in whicli 
 " also our common version makes out the sense by an 
 " ellipsis, and Bishop Stock by introducing a change in 
 " the original text, (supposing TV to be put for 71]/) — ■ 
 " we have, here, rendered naturally as to the context, 
 *' and simpl}^ and accurately as to the original, without 
 " supposing any change in the text, or putting any force 
 " upon the words. The sense of the entire passage 
 '^ may, agreeably to this translation, be now thus 
 " unfolded : — The wicked are at once and suddenly 
 " punished; inasmuch as no darkness can conceal them 
 " from the all-seeing eye : and as it has not been 
 ^' allotted to man to enter into judgment, and discuss 
 " the right of the case with his God ; so, without the 
 " dela}' of any judicial process, he breaketh the mighty 
 " at once^ because without any such form of judicial 
 " discussion he knoweth their works, S(c. A marginal 
 " reading on the 24th verse in the common Bible goes 
 " to strengthen this interpretation; * without searching 
 " out,' exactly expressing the absence of that formal 
 " and inquisitorial examination,which the omniscience 
 " of the Deity renders unnecessary. Perhaps Miss 
 " Smith meant this by the words ' no search,' which
 
 NOTES. 197 
 
 " she has added as another rendering for that which 
 " she has paraphrased by the expression '■ they cannot 
 '' he found! 
 
 " There is another line in the above extract from this 
 " lady's version, which deserves to be noticed : ' Nor 
 " turneth away from the cry of the poor/ ver. IQ- Here 
 " the word J71Ii^, which in the common translation is 
 " rendered * the rich,' has been taken in its ordinary 
 " and familiar acceptation ^ crjj : ' and I find that Pag- 
 ^' ninuSj in his version of the passage, has used it in the 
 " same sense. To render the original exactly then, 
 '' according to this meaning of the term, it would be, 
 " * Nor turneth away from the cry at the face of the 
 *' poor.' ^ The cry at the face of the poor,' for ' the 
 ^' cry of the poor,' certainly appears a harsh construc- 
 *^ tion, but yet is not irreconcileable with the Hebrew 
 " idiom. The parallelism in the 19th verse is undoubt- 
 " edly better preserved by this translation, than by the 
 *' common one: the poor in the second line being con- 
 " trasted with the princes in the first; whereas, in the 
 " usual way of rendering {]jy^ being taken to signify 
 " the 7'ich) the same description of persons that are 
 " spoken of in the first line, are again introduced into 
 " the second, so as to disturb the simplicity of the
 
 rgs NOTES. 
 
 " contrast, by naming twice over one of the subjects 
 " of the opposition."* 
 
 PAGE 116. CHAP. XXXTV. VER. S3. 
 
 Thy works he hath requited. 
 Literally, that which proceedeth fiom thee. 
 
 PAGE 118. CHAP. XXXV. VER. 10. 
 
 Who giveth imaginations in the night. 
 
 This does not give a better sense than that of our 
 present version, who giveth songs; nor indeed can it be 
 reconciled with the Hebrew, unless the root IDT be 
 changed into DT, which I rather suspect, from inadver- 
 tence, to have been the case. The best construction 
 put upon this passage seems to me to be that of Aben 
 Ezra, who applies the negative to both parts of the 
 verse : 
 
 ^' None saith, where is God my Maker? 
 
 " And none singeth praises to him in the night." 
 
 * Do(5trine of Atonement and Sacrifice, by Dr. Magee, vol. ii. 
 p. 393, et seq-
 
 NOTES. r99 
 
 VERSE 14. 
 
 Judgment is before Him, and He will 
 execute it. 
 
 Literally, judgment is before Him, and 77inm it 
 shall be executed, (viz. Judgment.) 
 
 PAGE 121. CHAP. XXXVI. VER. 20. 
 
 Dost thou not pant in the night, 
 
 For the people coming up on account of them i^ 
 
 This literal and simple version has cleared up a most 
 obscure passage, and given a beautiful meaning to 
 what is perfectly unintelligible in our Bible. It is a 
 curious circumstance, that Schultens has rendered the 
 first part of the verse the same as Miss Smith, Ne 
 anheles noctem\ and the latter part of it corresponds 
 with the versions of the Vulgate and Septuagint, ut 
 ascendant populi, pro eis; in xvotQ-nvaci Kotus uvluv. 
 
 VERSE 29. 
 
 The high abodes of his silence. 
 
 Miss Smith has not lilDD taken from the radix ^D, 
 with the formative Jl, but made the Jl radical PiDD
 
 ooo NOl'ES. 
 
 and thus to signify silence, as in Deut. xxvii. 9, n^DH 
 yDl^l, take heed, be silent, and hearken. 
 
 PAGE 124. CHAP. XXXVIi; VER. 10. 
 
 From the breath of God, the ice gives, 
 And the waters run wide in the thaw. 
 
 Supposing that the former verse described the frost. 
 Miss Smith construes this as denoting a subsequent 
 thaw. She makes mp (ice) the nominative case to the 
 verb ; and instead of forming p^IDH from pV, to com- 
 press, or straiten, has taken the root p^\ to pour out 
 as liquids. 
 
 PAGE 128. CHAP. XXXVIII. VER. 20. 
 
 When God described its boundary. 
 
 This cannot be right : ^^npH must signify ut capias^ 
 and therefore the present version seems to be the 
 right one. 
 
 VERSE 32. 
 
 Vid. Parkhurst on"l?/0.
 
 NOTES. 201 
 
 PAGE 133. CHAP. XXXIX. VER. IQ. 
 
 Hast thou cloathed his neck with the shaking 
 mane. 
 
 This certainly reads not so poetical as, Hast thou 
 cloathed his neck with thunder; and which the word 
 nOI^") will undoubtedly signify. But is not this one 
 of those noble and sublime expressions, of which one 
 dares not question the meaning ? Otherwise it might 
 be asked, how can a neck be cloathed with thunder; 
 and are we not impressed with the terror, rather than 
 with the justness, of the simile. Besides the descrip- 
 tion, here, is of the horse's strength and beauty ; the 
 latter of which greatly consists in the flowing mane. 
 What says Homerj quoted by Parkhurst? 
 
 — — OHX,^t OS ^<Xll/Z(y 
 
 Clfji.Ois ciKTdOvlai. 
 
 His mane dishevell'd o'er his shoulder flies. 
 What says Virgil? 
 
 *^ Luduntq; jub{v per colla per ar^mos." 
 
 To reconcile the metaphor, Scott, whose translation, 
 
 generally speaking, is very grand, has rendered it worse. 
 
 " Hast thou with prowess fill'd the martial horse, 
 
 *' Thou toii'd his throat with roaring thunder's force*'*
 
 202 NOTES. 
 
 This keeps nearer the image of thunder as to sound ; 
 but not as to sense: for the comparison of neighing 
 with thunder is to the highest degree hyperboUcal, 
 Schultens renders it, convestis cervicem ejus tremor e 
 alacri, Vulgate — circumdabis colloejushinnitum. Sep- 
 tuagint — snova-d)) ^£ r^oiy^nXu ixvlov (poQov. Chaldcc — indues 
 collurn ejus furore. In none, is thunder ever aUuded 
 to; and better than all these is the picture of the 
 shaking and flowing mane. 
 
 VERSE 20. 
 
 Hast thou made him dreadful as the locust? 
 
 What sense can be annexed to our version, " Canst 
 '^ thou moke hmi afraid as a grass-hopper:" whereas 
 Miss Smith preserves the terrific image of the pro- 
 phet's description, " the appearance of them (locusts) is 
 " as the appearance of horses," Joel ii. 4; and that of 
 St. John, in the Revelations ix. 7, " and the shapes of 
 *' the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto 
 " battle." 
 
 The noise of his snorting is terrible. 
 
 One knows not liow to substitute this for The glory 
 of his nostrils i and yet it is the literal version : and 
 the very word is translated, Jerem. viii. l6, the snorting
 
 NOTES. 203 
 
 of his horses was heard from Dan. Scott also has 
 rendered it, His snorting with majestic terror sounds, 
 
 VERSE 24, 
 
 With quivering, and shaking, be swallowetli the 
 
 ground, 
 And scarce believes tbe trumpet sounds. 
 
 Every nerve of the horse seems to shake ; but would 
 it not have been better to have continued the idea of 
 impatience and eagerness, by rendering ]''D^^^ " and he 
 "is not steady (will not stand still) when he hears the 
 '' sound of the trumpet." 
 
 VERSE 25. 
 
 The thunder of the singers. 
 
 The same word signifying singers and captains, 
 Miss Smith has preferred the idea of martial music 
 the sounding to the charge. 
 
 PAGE 138. CHAP. XL. VER. 23. 
 
 Behold tbe stream may press, he is not alarmed, 
 He is secure, though Jordan rush against his 
 mouth. 
 
 This is literally rendered, and gives excellent sense. 
 Vid. Parkhurst on pJi^J/: No sudden rising of the
 
 204 NOTES. 
 
 river gives him any alarm : he is not borne away with 
 the violence or rapidity of the stream, but enjoys him- 
 self the same as if the river ran with its usual flow. 
 
 VERSE 24. 
 
 Let him be taken in his sight. 
 
 In the same meaning which Bochart has given to the 
 passage, JVho will take him with his ej/es f that is, 
 whilst he sees him, or is sensible of w^hat they are 
 about. 
 
 PAGE 139. CHAP. XLI. VERSE 6. 
 
 Will the travellers surround him. 
 
 (Vid. Parkhurst on ID,) Will those, who find him on 
 the land, surround him, to take him, lest he should 
 escape : and then follows naturally the sarcasm, aiid 
 when you have caught him^ 
 
 ^' Wilt thou put his skin in the booth? 
 
 " And his head in the fish hut ? 
 Vid. Parkhurst on ^V.
 
 NOTES. 205 
 
 VERSE 10. 
 
 Is he not cruel, &c. 
 
 Our version, corresponding with that of Grotius, 
 certainly gives better sense : " If there be none bold 
 " enough to contend with one of my creatures, if one 
 " of them be so terrible, how dares man to provoke 
 " me, his Maker?" 
 
 VERSE 22. 
 
 And fainting dances before him. 
 
 This is a singular expression, to denote die terror 
 his approach inspires. Fainting, or faintness, by a 
 bold personification, is supposed to exult at the power 
 the presence of the crocodile enables her to exert over 
 the strength of man. As soon as men see him, they 
 immediately faint. 
 
 PAGE 143. LINE 6. 
 
 1 cannot help thinking that the w^ord H^IIDi here 
 means much more than respectfully y and indeed Job 
 may be said to have spoken more disrespectfully of 
 God than his accusing friends; but Job had spoken
 
 2O0 NOTES. 
 
 rightly and truly of the mercy and justice that should 
 take place hereafter: and the necessary atonemejit was 
 meant, as all sacrifices were, to typify and preserve the 
 remembrance of the great atonement that was to be 
 made. The Vidgate renders it non locuti estis coram 
 me rectum; the Septuagint, Ov y-f sXoiXno-xic Bvwnt'j-^ ^y 
 uKv^Bs ov^sv, and Schultens paraphrases it, non locuti estis 
 ad me, (i. e. de me,) meisque viis HJIDli rectum, firmum, 
 solidiS) et incoticussis principiis fundata dogmata. 
 
 PrinteJ bv Richard Cruttwcll, 
 St. Jamcs's-Strcet, Batli.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below.
 
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