1 Sam. 25:24‑44• 24and fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.
25Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.
26Now therefore, my lord, as Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing Jehovah hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, {i}and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal{/i}.
27And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord.
28I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for Jehovah will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of Jehovah, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.
29Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul; {i}but{/i} the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with Jehovah thy God. And the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling{i}.
30And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel,
31that this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when Jehovah shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.
32And David said to Abigail, Blessed be Jehovah God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me.
33And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.
34For in very deed, as Jehovah God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light a single soul.
35So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.
36{i}And Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was drunken to excess; so she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.{/i}
37{i}And it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things; and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.{/i}
38{i}And it came to pass in about ten days that Jehovah smote Nabal, and he died.{/i}
39{i}And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be Jehovah, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil; but Jehovah has returned Nabal's evil upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her as his wife.{/i}
40{i}And the servants of David came to Abigail to Carmel, and spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to thee, to take thee as his wife.{/i}
41{i}And she arose and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thy handmaid be a bondwoman to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.{/i}
42{i}And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.{/i}
43{i}David had also taken Ahinoam of Jizreel; and they became, even both of them, his wives.{/i}
44{i}But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.{/i} (1 Sam. 25:24‑44)
Job 32:4‑37:24• 4And Elihu had waited for Job in words [that is, till Job had spoken], because they [were] older than he in days;
5and Elihu saw that [there was] no answer in the mouth of the three men, and his anger burned.
6And Elihu, son of Barachel the Buzite, answered and said,
7I said, Let days speak,{HR}And the multitude of years teach wisdom.
8Surely the spirit [it is] in mortal man,{HR}And the breath of Shaddai giveth them wit.
9Not the great [in years] are wise,{HR}Nor do the aged understand judgment.
10Therefore I say, Hearken to me;{HR}I will declare my knowledge, even I,
11Lo! I have waited for your words,{HR}I gave ear to your reasons,{HR}Until ye might search out replies,
12And to you I gave attention;{HR}And, behold, there is none that refuteth Job,{HR}That among you answereth his sayings,
13Lest ye should say, We have found wisdom.{HR}God [El] shall drive him away, not man.
14But at me he directed no word,{HR}And with your words I answer him not.
15They broke down, they answer not again,{HR}Words are fled away from them;
16And I waited, but they did not speak,{HR}For they ceased, they answered no more.
17I also will answer my part,{HR}I also will declare mine opinion.
18For I am full of words;{HR}The spirit of my inwards constraineth me.
19Behold, my inwards [are] like wine not opened,{HR}Like fresh wine-skins it is working.
20I will speak, that I may be refreshed,{HR}I will open my lips, and answer.
21Let me not, I pray you, accept anyone’s face.{HR}Neither to man will I give flattering titles.
22For I know not to give flattering titles;{HR}[Else] my Maker would soon take me away.
1Notwithstanding, Job I pray thee, hear my speech,{HR}And hearken to my every word.
2Behold, I pray thee, I opened my mouth,{HR}My tongue speaketh in my palate.
3My words [shall be] the uprightness of my heart,{HR}And my knowledge shall my lips utter purely.
4The Spirit of God [El] hath made me,{HR}And the breath of Shaddai gave me life.
5If thou canst, answer me;{HR}Draw up before me, take thy stand.
6Lo! I am God’s, [El] as thou;{HR}Out of clay was I also formed.
7Behold, my terror will not affright thee,{HR}And my hand shall not be heavy on thee.
8Surely thou hast said in mine ears,{HR}And I heard the voice of the words:
9I am pure, without transgression,{HR}I [am] clean, and have no iniquity:
10Lo! He findeth hostilities against me,{HR}He counteth me as his enemy;
11He putteth my feet into the stocks;{HR}He watcheth all my ways.
12Behold, in this thou art not right, I answer thee;{HR}For God [Eloah] is greater than a mortal.
13Why hast thou contended against him?{HR}For he answereth not of all his matters.
14When God [El] speaketh once, and twice —{HR}[Man] regardeth it not —
15In a dream, in a vision of the night,{HR}When deep sleep falleth on mortals,{HR}In slumberings on the bed;
16Then he openeth the ear of mortals,{HR}And sealeth up their instruction,
17To withdraw man [from] doing;{HR}And pride from man he concealeth.
18He keepeth back his soul from corruption,{HR}And his life from passing away by the dart.
19He is also chastised with pains on his bed,{HR}And the strife of his bones [is] lasting.
20And his life loatheth bread,{HR}And his soul meat of desire.
21His flesh wasteth out of sight,{HR}And his bones that were not seen stand out,
22And his soul draweth near to corruption,{HR}And his life to the destroyers.
23If there be by him a messenger,{HR}An interpreter, one of a thousand,{HR}To declare to man his uprightness;
24And he is gracious to him, and saith,{HR}Deliver him from going down to corruption:{HR}I have found a ransom.
25His flesh [is] fresher than childhood,{HR}He returneth to the days of his youth.
26He supplicateth God [Eloah],{HR}And he accepteth him.{HR}And he shall see his face with rejoicing,{HR}And he requiteth to mortal man his righteousness.
27He singeth before mortals, and saith,{HR}I sinned and perverted right, and it satisfied me not.
28He ransomed my soul from passing to corruption,{HR}And my life looketh on the light.
29Lo! all these worketh God [El] twice, thrice, with man,
30To bring back his soul from corruption,{HR}That he may be enlightened with the light of life.
31Attend, O Job, hearken to me;{HR}Be silent, and I shall speak.
32If thou hast words, answer me —{HR}Speak, for I have a desire to justify thee.
33If not, hearken thou unto me;{HR}Keep silence, and I will teach thee wisdom.
1And Elihu answered and said,
2Hear, ye wise men, my words,{HR}And ye men of knowledge give ear to me.
3For the ear trieth words, and the palate tasteth food.
4Let us choose for ourselves judgment,{HR}Let us know among ourselves what [is] good.
5For Job hath said, I am righteous,{HR}And God [El] hath turned aside my right:
6Against my right I shall lie.{HR}My wound [is] mortal, without transgression.
7Who [is] a man like Job?{HR}He drinketh mockery like water,
8And goeth in company with workers of iniquity,{HR}So as to go with men of wickedness;
9For he hath said, It profiteth not a man{HR}That he should delight himself with God.
10Therefore, hear me, ye men of heart;{HR}Far be it from God [El] to do wickedness,{HR}And [from] Shaddai to do perverseness.
11For the work of man he reporteth to him,{HR}And causeth each to find according to his way.
12Yea, verily, God [El] doth not act wickedly,{HR}And Shaddai doth not pervert the right.
13Who committed to him the earth?{HR}And who established the whole world?
14If he should set his heart on himself —{HR}Gather to himself his spirit and his breath,
15All flesh would expire together,{HR}And man return to dust.
16And if [thou hast] understanding, hear this,{HR}Give ear to the voice of my words.
17Yea, doth a hater of right govern?{HR}And wilt thou condemn the mighty just One?
18Shall one to a king say, Belial; to princes, Wicked?
19Who accepteth not the person of princes,{HR}Nor hath known the rich before the poor?{HR}For the work of his hands [are] they all;
20In a moment they die; even at midnight{HR}Is a people shaken, and passeth away,{HR}And the mighty are removed without hand.
21For his eyes [are] on the ways of a man,{HR}And he seeth all his steps.
22There is no darkness nor death-shade,{HR}Where the workers of iniquity may hide.
23For he doth not regard man more,{HR}That he should go to God [El] in judgment;
24He breaketh the mighty without inquiry,{HR}And he setteth up others in their stead.
25Therefore he knoweth their works,{HR}And overthroweth them in the night, and they are bruised.
26As wicked did he strike them publicly,
27Who purposely turned aside from after him,{HR}And attended not to any of his ways,
28So that the cry of the poor should come to him,{HR}And the cry of the oppressed he heareth.
29And he giveth rest, and who can disturb?{HR}And hideth his face, and who beholdeth it?{HR}Whether as to a nation or to a man, the same,
30That a corrupt man reign not,{HR}Nor snares [be] to the people.
31For had man [but] said to God [El],{HR}I have suffered, I will not offend:
32Things beyond [what] I see teach me:{HR}I have done iniquity — I will not do it again.
33According to thy judgment shall he requite him?{HR}Nay, but thou hast rejected,{HR}Thou hast chosen, and not I.{HR}And what thou knowest, speak.
34Let men of heart tell me,{HR}And let a wise man hear me:
35Job hath not spoken with knowledge,{HR}And his words [were] not with wisdom.
36Would that Job were proved to the uttermost,{HR}Because of replies like men of iniquity;
37For he addeth to his sin rebellion,{HR}In the midst of us he mocketh,{HR}And multiplieth his words against God [El].
1And Elihu answered and said,
2Hast thou counted this for judgment,{HR}[That] thou hast said, I am more right than God?
3For thou askest what is the gain to thee,{HR}What profit shall I have, more than by my sin?
4I will answer thee words, and with thee thy friends.
5Look at the heavens, and see,{HR}And behold the clouds — they are higher than thee.
6If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him?{HR}Thy transgressions are multiplied, what doest thou to him?
7If thou art righteous, what givest thou to him?{HR}Or what receiveth he from thy hand?
8Thy wickedness [is] to man like thyself,{HR}And thy righteousness to a son of man.
9Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out,{HR}They cry because of the arm of the mighty.
10But no man saith, Where [is] God [Eloah] my maker,{HR}That giveth songs in the night,
11That teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth,{HR}And maketh us wiser than the fowls of the heavens?
12There they cry, but he answereth not,{HR}Because of the haughtiness of the wicked.
13Surely God [El] doth not hear vanity,{HR}And the Almighty [Shaddia] beholdeth it not.
14Though thou say thou seest him not,{HR}Judgment [is] before him, and wait thou on him.
15And now, because his anger hath not punished aught,{HR}Doth he not very much regard insolence?
16Therefore Job openeth his mouth to vanity,{HR}He multiplieth words without knowledge.
1And Elihu added, and said,
2Wait for me a little, and I will show thee;{HR}For [there are] yet words for God [Eloah].
3I will fetch my knowledge from afar,{HR}And will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
4For truly my words [shall] not [be] falsehood:{HR}One upright in knowledge [is] with thee.
5Lo! God [El] [is] great, and despiseth not,{HR}Great in strength — in heart.
6He letteth not the ungodly live,{HR}And giveth the afflicted their right.
7He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous,{HR}And with kings on the throne, yea,{HR}He establisheth them forever,{HR}And they are exalted.
8And if, bound in fetters,{HR}They be held with cords of affliction,
9Then he showeth them their work,{HR}And their transgressions that they have been mighty;
10And he openeth their ear to the instruction,{HR}And saith to them, that they turn back from vanity.
11If they hear and serve, they end their days in good,{HR}And their years in pleasantness;
12But if they hear not, their soul passes by the dart,{HR}And expireth in want of knowledge;
13And the impious in heart lay up wrath,{HR}They cry not when he bindeth them;
14Their soul dieth like that of youths,{HR}And their life among the polluted.
15He delivereth the afflicted by his affliction,{HR}And he uncovereth their ear by trouble;
16And thee, too, he lureth out of the jaws of distress,{HR}A wide place, on the site of which [is] no straitness,{HR}And the setting of thy table fullness of fatness.
17But hast thou filled up the judgment of the wicked?{HR}Judgment and justice will take hold.
18For beware, lest wrath stir thee against the blow,{HR}And a great ransom turn not the scale in thy favour.
19Will he value thy wealth?{HR}Not gold, nor all the powers of might.
20Desire not the might, the going up of nations on the spot.
21Take heed — look not to sin,{HR}So that thou wouldest choose this rather than affliction.
22Lo! God exalteth by his power:{HR}Who is a teacher like him?
23Who hath assigned to him his way?{HR}And who hath said, Thou doest wrong?
24Remember that thou magnify his work,{HR}Which mortals behold;
25All men looked on it;{HR}Mortal man looketh attentively from afar.
26Lo! God [is] great — we know not;{HR}As for the number of his years, [there is] no searching.
27When he draineth off the drops of water,{HR}They condense into rain in place of its mist,
28So that clouds drop, they distil copiously on man.
29Yea, doth one understand the spreading of the cloud?{HR}The noises of his tabernacle?
30Lo! He hath spread over it his light,{HR}And hath covered the depths of the sea.
31For by them he judgeth the nations;{HR}He giveth, food in abundance.
32On both hands he covereth lightning,{HR}And giveth it a charge in striking.
33The noise of it announceth concerning him,{HR}Store of wrath against perversity.
1Yea, at this my heart trembleth,{HR}And it standeth up from out of its place.
2Hear, O hear, the roar of his voice,{HR}And the rumbling that goeth forth out of his mouth.
3Under the whole heaven he directeth it,{HR}And his light into the borders of the earth.
4After it roareth a voice,{HR}He thundereth with the voice of his majesty,{HR}And restraineth them not when his voice is heard.
5God thundereth marvellously with his voice,{HR}Doing great things which we know not.
6For to the snow he saith, Fall to the earth,{HR}And to the small rain, and to the rains of his strength.
7The hand of every man he sealeth up,{HR}That all mortals of his work may come to knowledge.
8And the wild beast goeth into lair,{HR}And continueth in his abodes.
9Out of its chamber cometh the hurricane,{HR}And cold out of scatterings.
10From the breath of God frost is given,{HR}And the breadth of the waters is compressed.
11And he loadeth with moisture the cloud,{HR}He scattereth the cloud of his light,
12Round about it turneth itself by his counsels,{HR}That they may do all for which he commandeth them{HR}On the face of the world — earth.
13Whether for a scourge, or for his earth (or land),{HR}Or for mercy, he causeth it to come.
14Hear this, O Job; stand and consider the wonders of God.
15Knowest thou how God charged them,{HR}And he maketh the lightning of his cloud to flash?
16Knowest thou the balancings of a cloud,{HR}The marvels of him that is perfect in knowledge,
17Thou, whose garments are warm,{HR}When the earth becomes still from the south?
18Dost thou with him spread out the sky,{HR}Firm as a molten mirror?
19Teach us what we shall say to him?{HR}We cannot set forth because of darkness.
20Shall it be told him that I would speak?{HR}Did he say that he would be destroyed?
21And now indeed one seeth not the light{HR}Which shineth brightly in the skies;{HR}But a wind passeth by, and cleareth them away.
22From the north cometh forth gold:{HR}With God [is] terrible splendour.
23The Almighty! we do not find him out;{HR}Great in power and judgment,{HR}And great in righteousness, he will not give answer.
24Therefore men fear him:{HR}He looketh not on all the wise of heart. (Job 32:4‑37:24)