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¹⁷For the shadow of death is to all of them as the morning;

For they know the terrors of the shadow of death.

 

¹⁸He is swift upon the face of the waters;

Their portion is cursed in the earth;

He turneth not by the way of the vineyards.

¹⁹Drought and heat consume the snow waters;

So doth the nether-world those that have sinned.

²⁰The womb forgetteth him; the worm feedeth sweetly on him;

He shall be no more remembered;

And unrighteousness is broken as a tree.

²¹He devoureth the barren that beareth not;

And doeth not good to the widow.

²²He draweth away the mighty also by his power;

He riseth up, and he trusteth not his own life.

²³Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth,

Yet His eyes are upon their ways.

²⁴They are exalted for a little while, and they are gone;

Yea, they are brought low, they are gathered in as all others,

And wither as the tops of the ears of corn.

²⁵And if it be not so now, who will prove me a liar,

And make my speech nothing worth?

25 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said:

²Dominion and fear are with Him;

He maketh peace in His high places.

³Is there any number of His armies?

And upon whom doth not His light arise?

⁴How then can man be just with God?

Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?

⁵Behold, even the moon hath no brightness,

And the stars are not pure in His sight;

⁶How much less man, that is a worm!

And the son of man, that is a maggot!

26 Then Job answered and said:

²How hast thou helped him that is without power!

How hast thou saved the arm that hath no strength!

³How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom,

And plentifully declared sound knowledge!

⁴With whose help hast thou uttered words?

And whose spirit came forth from thee?

 

⁵The shades tremble

Beneath the waters and the inhabitants thereof.

⁶The nether-world is naked before Him,

And Destruction hath no covering.

⁷He stretcheth out the north over the empty space,

And hangeth the earth over nothing.

⁸He bindeth up the waters in His thick clouds;

And the cloud is not rent under them.

⁹He closeth in the face of His throne,

And spreadeth His cloud upon it.

¹⁰He hath described a boundary upon the face of the waters,

Unto the confines of light and darkness.

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