corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves aré ready for me. If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. I have said to corruption, Thou art my father to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.

From the same.

Even to day is my complaint bitter; my stroke is heavier than my groaning. The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat. For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters. For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came. My face is foul with weeping, and on mine eyelids is the shadow of death; not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure. O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place. Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high. My friends scorn me; but mine eye poureth out tears unto God. O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!

VOL. I.

H

When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death; a land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness. There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest. There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master. They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.

From the same.

My soul is weary of my

life;

will leave my

complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say unto God, Do not condemn me. Deliver me from the enemies' hand: redeem me from the hand of the mighty. Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand. Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me. Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again? Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and

holdest me for thine enemy? Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble? Ouly do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee. Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest, with kings and counsellers of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves; or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

From the same.

Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together! For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea therefore my words are swallowed up. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. His archers compass me round about; he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare ; he poureth out my gall upon the ground. Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath

compassed me with his net. Behold, I cry out of wrong, but am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment. He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths. He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree. He hath made me also a byword of the people, and aforetime I was as a tabret. They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me. God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked. I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark. He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me. My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight. I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth. My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body. Yea, young children despised me;

I arose, and they spake against me. All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me. My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away. Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.

From the same.

O that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; when his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness; as I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle; when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me; when I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil; when I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street; The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up. The princes refrained talking, and