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 31,34 Hiob 31,34
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou {Or, bear witness}speak in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to wrest justice:
But as for the {Hebrew: the man of arm.}mighty man, he had the {Or, land}earth;And {Hebrew: he whose person is accepted.}the honorable man, he dwelt in it.
All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law for him, that he be put to death, except those to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.
The fear of man bringeth a snare;But whoso putteth his trust in Jehovah {Hebrew: shall be set on high.}shall be safe.
That respecteth not the persons of princes,Nor regardeth the rich more than the poor;For they all are the work of his hands.
For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then will relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father's house will perish: and who knoweth whether thou art not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Then the princes said unto the king, Let this man, we pray thee, be put to death; forasmuch as he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.
And he said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Put ye every man his sword upon his thigh, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.
Deliver them that are carried away unto death,And those that are {Hebrew: tottering to the slaughter.}ready to be slain {Or, forbear thou not to deliver}see that thou hold back.
And Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do anything against you.
Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers' house among the Simeonites.
If thou sayest, Behold, we knew not {Or, this man}this;Doth not he that weigheth the hearts consider it?And he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it?And shall not he render to every man according to his work?
So Zedekiah the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, As Jehovah liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life.
And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head of the people of a fathers' house in Midian.
Forasmuch therefore as ye trample upon the poor, and take exactions from him of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink the wine thereof.
For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins— ye that afflict the just, that take a bribe, and that turn aside the needy in the gate from their right.
Therefore he that is prudent shall keep silence in such a time; for it is an evil time.
And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen away to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.
Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the {Or, deputies}rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I held a great assembly against them.
{Or, Both hands are put forth for evil to do it &c.}Their hands are upon that which is evil to do it diligently; the prince asketh, and the judge is ready for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth the evil desire of his soul: thus they weave it together.
Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
But the governor answered and said unto them, Which of the two will ye that I release unto you? And they said, Barabbas.
Pilate saith unto them, What then shall I do unto Jesus who is called Christ? They all say, Let him be crucified.
And he said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out exceedingly, saying, Let him be crucified.
So when Pilate saw that he prevailed nothing, but rather that a tumult was arising, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man; see ye to it.
And all the people answered and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
Then released he unto them Barabbas; but Jesus he scourged and delivered to be crucified.
Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the {Hebrew: chamber.}chambers of the house of our God, being allied unto Tobiah,
had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meal-offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters; and the heave-offerings for the priests.
But in all this time I was not at Jerusalem; for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went unto the king: and after certain days asked I leave of the king,
and I came to Jerusalem, and understood the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.
And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber.
And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me.
Wherefore we henceforth know no man after the flesh: even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.