American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
Howbeit doth not one stretch out the hand in his fall?Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
Did not I weep for him that was in trouble?Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
When I looked for good, then evil came;And when I waited for light, there came darkness.
My heart is troubled, and resteth not;Days of affliction are come upon me.
And Job again took up his parable, and said,
Oh that I were as in the months of old,As in the days when God watched over me;
When his lamp shined {Or, above}upon my head,And by his light I walked through darkness;
As I was in {Hebrew: my days of autumn.}the ripeness of my days,When the {Or, counsel}friendship of God was upon my tent;
When the Almighty was yet with me,And my children were about me;
When my steps were washed with butter,And the rock poured me out streams of oil!
When I went forth to the gate unto the city,When I prepared my seat in the {Or, broad place}street,
The young men saw me and hid themselves,And the aged rose up and stood;
The princes refrained from talking,And laid their hand on their mouth;
The voice of the nobels was {Hebrew: hid.}hushed,And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me;And when the eye saw me, it gave witness unto me:
Because I delivered the poor that cried,The fatherless also, {Or, and him that had &c.}that had none to help him.
The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me;And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
I put on righteousness, and it {Or, clothed itself with me}clothed me:My justice was as a robe and a {Or, turban.}diadem.
I was eyes to the blind,And feet was I to the lame.
I was a father to the needy:And {Or, the cause which i knew not}the cause of him that I knew not I searched out.
And I brake the {Hebrew: great teeth.}jaws of the unrighteous,And plucked the prey out of his teeth.
Then I said, I shall die {Or, beside Hebrew: with.}in my nest,And I shall multiply my days as the sand:
My root is {Hebrew: opened.}spread out {Or, by}to the waters,And the dew lieth all night upon my branch;
My glory is fresh in me,And my bow is renewed in my hand.
Unto me men gave ear, and waited,And kept silence for my counsel.
After my words they spake not again;And my speech distilled upon them.
And they waited for me as for the rain;And they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
I smiled on them, when they had no confidence;And the light of my countenance they cast not down.
I chose out their way, and sat as chief,And dwelt as a king in the army,As one that comforteth the mourners.
But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth:I afflicted my soul with fasting;And my prayer {Or, shall return}returned into mine own bosom.
Rejoice with them that rejoice; weep with them that weep.
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
and if thou {Or, bestow on the hungry that which thy soul desireth}draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall thy light rise in darkness, and thine obscurity be as the noonday;
Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am {Or, sore sick}full of heaviness:And I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;And for comforters, but I found none.
Wherefore my heart soundeth like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-heres.