Book of Job - Ferrar Fenton Bible Translation page 832

The Psalms, Solomon and Sacred Writers

13-8 14—9 II I2 x6 18 20 21 22 26 28 14 IOB. Why utter your falsehoods as His ? For can you His Presence exalt Are you the defenders of GOD? When He searches, will He approve you, If you flatter,·as you flatter men ? Be assured that He will reprove If you flatter by falsehood His state. And should you not reverence His Height ? And should not His dread fall on you E Reflect, that your proverbs are dust, And your maxims are mountains of mud I Keep silent to me while I speak! I, myself, let come on me what may! I am. mad,·~—with my flesh in my teeth, And I put my life into my hand; Let Him kill me; yet I do not care ! In His presence I plead for my course! Perhaps He will save me Himself; For villains dare not seek His facel Listen, listen! to what I can say, And I will explain to your ears, For, now I arrange my defence, I know my acquittal is sure! Who is it against me will plead P I then will be silent and die! Oh! only grant two things for me, Then I will not hide from your face; Remove this affliction away, And let not your terror o'erwhe~lm ; Then summon and I will respond, Or let me speak,——and you can reply. Say what are my vices and sins? Oh ! teach me my frailties and faults. For what do you hide up your face, And think me a foeman of yours? And why do you chase withered leaves, Or hunt after stubble dried up? That you write against me bitter things, And clothe with the sins of my youth ; And fasten my feet in the stocks, And watch to rind my hidden ways, And examine the marks of my feet? And that here I am rotting away Like a garment that moths have consumed! Man-—who is born of a woman, For a few days, and those full of grief, Who springs like a flower, and is cut, Who flies like a shadow unfixed ! On such a thing why set Your eyes, And why call me to judgment with You? To whom is it given to be pure? Not one can exist without stain l His years and his months are decreed; You fix his impassable bound ; Then let him alone,-~let him rest, Till he end like as workman his dayl For the tree has a hope if cut down, For it sprouts, and its shoot does not fail ; Though its roots have grown old in the earth, And its stump may decay in the dust, At the scent of the water it lives, And its boughs grow, as planted anew ; 832
Ferrar Fenton Bible page 0832

The History of the People of Israel