I made a covenant with mine eyes;
How then should I look upon a virgin?
{Or, for what portion should I have of God…And what heritage &c? Is there not calamity &c.?}For what is the portion from God above,
And the heritage from the Almighty on high?
Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,
And disaster to the workers of iniquity?
Doth not he see my ways,
And number all my steps?
If I have walked with falsehood,
And my foot hath hasted to deceit
(Let me be weighed in an even balance,
That God may know mine integrity);
If my step hath turned out of the way,
And my heart walked after mine eyes,
And if any spot hath cleaved to my hands:
Then let me sow, and let another eat;
Yea, let {Or, my offspring Hebrew: my produce.}the produce of my field be rooted out.
If my heart hath been enticed unto a woman,
And I have laid wait at my neighbor's door;
Then let my wife grind unto another,
And let others bow down upon her.
For that were a heinous crime;
Yea, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges:
For it is a fire that consumeth unto {Hebrew: Abaddon. See chapter 26:6}Destruction,
And would root out all mine increase.
If I have despised the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant,
When they contended with me;
What then shall I do when God riseth up?
And when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
Did not he that made me in the womb make him?
And did not one fashion us in the womb?
If I have withheld {Or, aught that the poor desired}the poor from their desire,
Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
Or have eaten my morsel alone,
And the fatherless hath not eaten thereof
(Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,
And her have I guided from my mother's womb);
If I have seen any perish for want of clothing,
Or that the needy had no covering;
If his loins have not blessed me,
And if he hath not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,
Because I saw my help in the gate:
Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade,
And mine arm be broken from the bone.
For calamity from God is a terror to me,
And by reason of his majesty I can do nothing.
If I have made gold my hope,
And have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,
And because my hand had gotten much;
If I have beheld {Hebrew: the light.}the sun when it shined,
Or the moon walking in brightness,
And my heart hath been secretly enticed,
And {Hebrew: my hand hath kissed my mouth.}my mouth hath kissed my hand:
This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
For I should have denied the God that is above.
If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me,
Or lifted up myself when evil found him
(Yea, I have not suffered by {Hebrew: palate.}mouth to sin
By asking his life with a curse);
If the men of my tent have not said,
Who can find one that hath not been filled with his meat?
(The sojourner hath not lodged in the street;
But I have opened my doors to {Hebrew: the way.}the traveller);
If {Or, after the manner of men}like Adam I have covered my transgressions,
By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom,
Because I feared the great multitude,
And the contempt of families terrified me,
So that I kept silence, and went not out of the door—
Oh that I had one to hear me!
(Lo, here is my {Hebrew: mark.}signature, let the Almighty answer me)
And that I had the {Hebrew: book.}indictment which mine adversary hath written!
Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder;
I would bind it unto me as a crown:
I would declare unto him the number of my steps;
As a prince would I {Or, present it to him}go near unto him.
If my land crieth out against me,
And the furrows thereof weep together;
If I have eaten the {Hebrew: strength.}fruits thereof without money,
Or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:
Let {Or, thorns}thistles grow instead of wheat,
And {Or, noisome weeds}cockle instead of barley.
The words of Job are ended.
Querverweise zu Hiob 31,26 Hiob 31,26
And God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth,
and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Jehovah thy God hath allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven.
What is man, that thou art mindful of him?And the son of man, that thou visitest him?
Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
But we will certainly perform every word that is gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of {Hebrew: bread.}victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
and hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
And he put down the {Hebrew: Chemarim. See Hosea 10:5, Zephaniah 1:4.}idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the {Or, twelve signs}planets, and to all the host of heaven.
And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of Jehovah, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
And he brought me into the inner court of Jehovah's house; and behold, at the door of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of Jehovah, and their faces toward the east; and they were worshipping the sun toward the east.