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IX]
JOB
- How much less shall I answer him,
- And choose out my words to reason with him?
- Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer,
- But I would make supplication to my judge.
- If I had called, and he had answered me;
- Yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.
- For he breaketh me with a tempest,
- And multiplieth my wounds without cause.
- He will not suffer me to take my breath,
- But filleth me with bitterness.
- If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong:
- And if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?
- If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me:
- If I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
- Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul:
- I would despise my life.
- This is one thing, therefore I said it.
- He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
- If the scourge slay suddenly,
- He will laugh at the trial of the innocent.
- The earth is given into the hand of the wicked:
- He covereth the faces of the judges thereof;
- If not, where, and who is he?
- Now my days are swifter than a post:
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