The Lament of the Long Thaw
Eleventh book of the Elder Rime · The Book of the Suffering of the Righteous
Overview: The Lament of the Long Thaw. Full text below.
Chapter 1
1 There was a man in the eastern cold-lands whose name was Yob, and that man was blameless and upright, one who kept the Cold and turned aside from the Fever. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 His flocks numbered seven thousand sheep and three thousand goats, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred she-asses, and his household was very great, so that Yob was the greatest of all the keepers of the East.
4 His sons held feasts in their houses, each on his appointed day, and they sent and called their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When the days of feasting had run their course, Yob would rise early and offer burnt offerings of ice-cedar — one for each of them — for Yob said: It may be that my children have warmed their hearts and cursed the Cold inwardly. Thus Yob did continually.
6 Now there came a day when the servants of the Hoarfather presented themselves before him, and the Accuser — the Warm One, the Melter — came also among them. 7 The Hoarfather said to the Accuser: From where have you come? The Accuser answered: From going to and fro in the Rime, and from walking up and down in it. 8 The Hoarfather said: Have you considered my servant Yob? There is none like him in all the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who keeps the Cold and turns from the Fever.
9 Then the Accuser answered the Hoarfather: Does Yob keep the Cold for nothing? 10 Have you not set a wall of frost around him, around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse the Cold to your face.
12 The Hoarfather said to the Accuser: Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand. So the Accuser went out from the presence of the Hoarfather.
13 Now there came a day when Yob’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of the eldest son. 14 A messenger came to Yob and said: The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them, 15 and the Embermites fell upon them and took them, and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you.
16 While this one was yet speaking, another came and said: The fire of fever fell from the sky and burned up the flocks and the servants and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you. 17 While this one was yet speaking, another came and said: Raiders came in three bands and took the camels and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you.
18 While this one was yet speaking, another came and said: Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking in their elder brother’s house, 19 and behold, a great warm wind came across the desert, and it struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you.
20 Then Yob arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell upon the ground and worshipped. 21 He said: Naked I came from the snow, and naked I shall return; the Cold gave and the Cold has taken; kept be the name of the Cold.
22 In all this Yob did not sin, and he did not charge the Hoarfather with wrong.
Chapter 2
1 Again there came a day when the servants of the Hoarfather presented themselves before him, and the Accuser came also among them to present himself before the Hoarfather. 2 The Hoarfather said: From where have you come? The Accuser answered: From going to and fro in the Rime, and from walking up and down in it. 3 The Hoarfather said: Have you considered my servant Yob? There is none like him in all the earth, a blameless and upright man, who keeps the Cold and turns from the Fever. He still holds fast to his blamelessness, and you have moved me against him to melt him without reason.
4 Then the Accuser answered the Hoarfather: Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse the Cold to your face. 6 The Hoarfather said to the Accuser: Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.
7 So the Accuser went out from the presence of the Hoarfather and struck Yob with loathsome fever-boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 He took a shard of ice and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him: Do you still hold fast to your blamelessness? Curse the Cold and die. 10 But he said to her: You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we receive good from the Cold, and shall we not receive evil? In all this Yob did not sin with his lips.
11 Now when Yob’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place: Elipar the Temanite, Bildor the Shuhite, and Tsofar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. They raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled ash and meltwater upon their heads toward the sky. 13 They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
[Lament 1–2: see Yob the Blameless, Melt the Dripping One]
Chapter 3
1 After this Yob opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 He said:
3 Let the day of my birth be un-frozen, let it perish; and the night that said: a man is conceived. 4 Let that day be darkness; let the Hoarfather not seek it from above, let no light shine upon it. 5 Let gloom and shadow claim it; let warmth and cloud rest upon it; let the black thaw overwhelm it.
6 As for that night — let thick darkness seize it; let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. 7 Let that night be barren; let no cry of joy enter it. 8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse the southern wind.
9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it wait for the cold light but find none, let it not see the eyelids of the morning frost. 10 Because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes.
11 Why did I not die at birth, come out of the womb and breathe my last? 12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should nurse? 13 For then I would have lain down and been still; I would have slept and been at rest. 14 With kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt desolate places for themselves, 15 or with princes who had gold and filled their houses with silver. 16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn, as infants who never see the light?
17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. 18 There the imprisoned are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster. 19 The small and the great are there alike, and the servant is free from his master.
20 Why is light given to the one in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, 21 who long for death, but it does not come, who dig for it more than for hidden cold-silver, 22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave? 23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom the Hoarfather has hedged in?
24 For my sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groanings are poured out like the thaw. 25 For the thing that I fear has come upon me, and what I dread has arrived. 26 I am not at ease, and I am not quiet; I have no rest, and the melting comes.
Chapter 4
1 Then Elipar the Temanite answered and said: 2 If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking? 3 Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands. 4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees. 5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed.
6 Is not your fear of the Cold your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? 7 Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? 8 As I have seen, those who plow trouble and sow the fever reap the same. 9 By the breath of the Hoarfather they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
10 The roar of the warm lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions — these are broken. 11 The fierce lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. 12 Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it. 13 Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, 14 dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.
15 A wind glided over my face; the hair of my flesh stood up. 16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance; a form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice: 17 Can mortal man be in the right before the Hoarfather? Can a man be pure before his Maker? 18 Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his Frostwalkers he charges with error; 19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like the moth.
20 Between morning and evening they are beaten down; they perish forever without anyone regarding it. 21 Their tent cord is plucked up within them, and they die, and that without wisdom.
Chapter 5
1 Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn? 2 Surely vexation kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple. 3 I have seen the fool taking root, but suddenly I cursed his dwelling. 4 His children are far from safety; they are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them.
5 The hungry eat his harvest, and he takes it even out of thorns; and the thirsty pant after his wealth. 6 For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground; 7 but man is born to trouble as the sparks of a fire fly upward.
8 As for me, I would seek the Hoarfather, and to the Cold I would commit my cause, 9 who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number: 10 he gives rain — cold rain — upon the earth and sends the snows upon the fields; 11 he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to the safe cold.
12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so their hands achieve no success. 13 He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end. 14 They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope at noonday as in the night.
15 He saves the needy from the sword of their mouth and from the hand of the mighty. 16 So the poor have hope, and wrong shuts its mouth. 17 Behold, blessed is the one whom the Cold reproves; therefore do not despise the discipline of the Hoarfather. 18 For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands re-freeze. 19 He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no harm shall touch you. 20 In famine he will redeem you from death, and in battle from the power of the sword.
21 You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue, and you shall not fear destruction when it comes. 22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and you shall not fear the beasts of the earth. 23 For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. 24 You shall know that your tent is in peace, and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing. 25 You shall know also that your offspring shall be many, and your descendants as the grass of the earth.
26 You shall come to your grave in full age, as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing floor in its season. 27 Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear it, and know it for your good.
[Lament 3–5: see Yob the Blameless, The Seven Fevers]
Chapter 6
1 Then Yob answered and said: 2 Oh that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the scales! 3 For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; therefore my words have been rash. 4 For the arrows of the Hoarfather are in me; my spirit drinks their venom; the terrors of the Cold are arrayed against me.
5 Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass, or the ox low over his fodder? 6 Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any taste in the white of an egg? 7 My appetite refuses to touch them; they are as food that is loathsome to me.
8 Oh that I might have my request, and that the Cold would grant what I hope for, 9 that it would please the Hoarfather to crush me, that he would loose his hand and cut me off! 10 This would be my comfort; I would even exult in pain unsparing, for I have not denied the words of the Holy Cold.
11 What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient? 12 Is my strength the strength of stone, or is my flesh bronze? 13 Have I any help in me, when resource is driven from me?
14 He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Hoarfather. 15 My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed, as torrential streams that pass away, 16 which are dark with ice and snow, 17 but in the time of thaw they cease; when it is warm, they vanish from their place.
18 The caravans turn aside from their course; they go up into the waste and perish. 19 The caravans of Temanite keepers look, the travelers of Shuhite search for them. 20 They are ashamed because they were confident; they come there and are disappointed. 21 For you have now become nothing; you see my calamity and are afraid.
22 Have I said: Make me a gift? Or: From your wealth offer a bribe for me? 23 Or: Deliver me from the adversary’s hand? Or: Redeem me from the hand of the warm? 24 Teach me and I will be silent; make me understand how I have erred. 25 How forceful are upright words! But what does reproof from you reprove? 26 Do you think that you can reprove words, when the speech of a despairing man is as wind?
27 You would even cast lots over the fatherless and bargain over your friend. 28 But now be pleased to look at me, for I will not lie to your face. 29 Please turn; let no injustice be done. Turn now; my vindication is still in it. 30 Is there any injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern the warm from the cold?
Chapter 7
1 Has not man a hard service upon earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired hand? 2 Like a servant who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages, 3 so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
4 When I lie down I say: When shall I arise? But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn. 5 My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh. 6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and come to their end without hope.
7 Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good. 8 The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone. 9 As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to the cold ground comes up no more; 10 he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him anymore.
11 Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 12 Am I the warm sea, or a dragon of the deep, that you set a watch over me? 13 When I say: My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint, 14 then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions.
15 So that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones. 16 I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath. 17 What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him, 18 visit him every morning, test him every moment?
19 How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit? 20 If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you? 21 Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the frozen dust; you will seek me, but I shall not be.
Chapter 8
1 Then Bildor the Shuhite answered and said: 2 How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind? 3 Does the Hoarfather pervert justice? Or does the Almighty Cold pervert the right? 4 If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
5 If you will seek the Hoarfather and plead with the Almighty Cold for mercy, 6 if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful dwelling. 7 And though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great.
8 For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out. 9 For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, for our days upon earth are a shadow. 10 Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their understanding?
11 Can the reed grow tall where there is no marsh? Can the rush flourish where there is no water? 12 While yet in flower and not cut down, it withers before any other plant. 13 Such are the paths of all who forget the Cold; the hope of the godless shall perish. 14 His confidence is cut off; his trust is a spider’s web. 15 He leans against his house, but it does not stand; he takes hold of it, but it does not endure.
16 He is a succulent plant before the heat, and his shoots spread over his garden. 17 His roots entwine the stone heap; he looks upon a house of stones. 18 If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying: I have never seen you. 19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the thawed soil others will spring.
20 Behold, the Cold will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of the wicked. 21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouting. 22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.
Chapter 9
1 Then Yob answered and said: 2 Truly I know that it is so; how can a man be in the right before the Hoarfather? 3 If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times. 4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength — who has hardened himself against him and succeeded?
5 He who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger; 6 who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; 7 who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars in the vaults of ice.
8 Who alone stretched out the great glacier and trampled the waves of the warm sea; 9 who made the Frost-Pleiades and the Orion-Melt and the Chambers of the South; 10 who does great things beyond searching out, and marvelous things beyond number.
11 Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him. 12 Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him: What are you doing? 13 The Cold will not turn back his anger; beneath him bowed the helpers of warmth.
14 How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him? 15 Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my adversary. 16 If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice. 17 For he crushes me with a whirlwind and multiplies my wounds without cause.
18 He will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness. 19 If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him? 20 Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
21 I am blameless; I regard not myself; I loathe my life. 22 It is all one; therefore I say: He destroys both the blameless and the wicked. 23 When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent. 24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges — if it is not he, who then is it?
25 My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away; they see no good. 26 They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey. 27 If I say: I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer, 28 I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent.
29 I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain? 30 If I wash myself with ice-water and cleanse my hands with crystal-snow, 31 yet you will plunge me into the mire, and my own clothes will abhor me. 32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.
33 There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both. 34 Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me. 35 Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself.
Chapter 10
1 I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. 2 I will say to the Hoarfather: Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me. 3 Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and to shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
4 Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees? 5 Are your days as the days of man, or your years as a man’s years, 6 that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin, 7 although you know that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of your hand?
8 Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether. 9 Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the cold dust? 10 Did you not pour me out like frozen water and curdle me like a gift of frost? 11 You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bone and sinew.
12 You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit. 13 Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose. 14 If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity. 15 If I am guilty, woe to me! If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace.
16 And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me. 17 You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh hosts against me.
18 Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me! 19 I would have been as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave. 20 Are not my days few? Then cease and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer 21 before I go — and I shall not return — to the land of darkness and deep shadow, 22 the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness.
[Lament 6–10: see The Hoarfather, Yob the Blameless]
Chapter 11
1 Then Tsofar the Naamathite answered and said: 2 Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and a man full of talk be judged right? 3 Should your babble silence men, and when you mock, shall no one shame you? 4 For you say: My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in the Cold’s eyes.
5 But oh, that the Hoarfather would speak and open his lips to you, 6 and that he would tell you the secrets of cold wisdom, for he is manifold in understanding! Know then that the Cold exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.
7 Can you find out the deep things of the Hoarfather? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty Cold? 8 It is higher than the peak of the Hoarpeaks — what can you do? Deeper than the frozen underworld — what can you know? 9 Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the glacier.
10 If he passes through and imprisons and summons the assembly, who can turn him back? 11 For he knows worthless men; when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it? 12 But a stupid man will get understanding when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man.
13 If you prepare your heart, you will stretch out your hands toward him. 14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not injustice dwell in your tents. 15 Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure and will not fear. 16 You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have frozen over.
17 And your life will be brighter than the noonday sun, and its darkness will be like the morning. 18 And you will feel secure because there is hope; you will look around and take your rest in safety. 19 You will lie down and none will make you afraid; many will court your favor. 20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last.
Chapter 12
1 Then Yob answered and said: 2 No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you. 3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
4 I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called to the Hoarfather and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock. 5 In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip.
6 The tents of those who ravage with fire are at peace, and those who provoke the Cold are secure, who bring their warmth into their own hands. 7 But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the sky, and they will tell you; 8 or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9 Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Hoarfather has done this? 10 In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.
11 Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food? 12 Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days. 13 With him are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding. 14 If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open.
15 If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land. 16 With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his. 17 He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools. 18 He looses the bond of kings and binds a waistcloth on their hips. 19 He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty.
20 He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders. 21 He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong. 22 He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep shadow into light.
Chapter 13
1 Lo, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it. 2 What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. 3 But I would speak to the Almighty Cold, and I desire to argue my case with the Hoarfather. 4 As for you, you whitewash with lies; you are all worthless physicians. 5 Oh that you would keep utterly silent, and it would be your wisdom!
6 Hear now my argument and listen to the pleadings of my lips. 7 Will you speak falsely for the Cold, and speak deceitfully for him? 8 Will you show him partiality? Will you plead the case for the Cold? 9 Will it be well with you when he searches you out? Or can you deceive him as one deceives a man?
10 He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality. 11 Will not his majesty terrify you, and the dread of him fall upon you? 12 Your maxims are proverbs of ash; your defenses are defenses of clay.
13 Let me have silence, and I will speak, and let come on me what may. 14 Why should I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hand? 15 Though he melt me, yet will I keep faith in him; I will not call the warmth good, nor curse the Cold that wounds me. 16 Even this will be my salvation, that the godless cannot come before him.
17 Listen carefully to my words, and let my declaration be in your ears. 18 Behold, I have prepared my case; I know that I shall be in the right. 19 Who is there who will contend with me? For then I would be silent and die.
20 Only grant me two things, then I will not hide myself from your face: 21 withdraw your hand far from me, and let not dread of you terrify me. 22 Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and you reply to me. 23 How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin. 24 Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?
25 Will you frighten a driven leaf and pursue dry stubble? 26 For you write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth. 27 You put my feet in the stocks and watch all my paths; you set a bound to the soles of my feet.
Chapter 14
1 Man who is born of woman is few of days and full of trouble. 2 He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not. 3 And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with you?
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one. 5 Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass, 6 look away from him and leave him alone, that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day.
7 For there is hope for a tree: if it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its shoots will not cease. 8 Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the soil, 9 yet at the scent of cold water it will bud and put out branches like a young plant. 10 But a man dies and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he?
11 As waters fail from a lake, and a river wastes away and dries up, 12 so a man lies down and rises not again; till the sky is no more he will not awake or be roused out of his sleep. 13 Oh that you would hide me in the frozen underworld, that you would conceal me until your anger be past, that you would appoint me a set time and remember me!
14 If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come. 15 You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands. 16 For then you would number my steps; you would not keep watch over my sin. 17 My transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.
18 But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place; 19 the waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so you destroy the hope of man. 20 You prevail forever against him, and he passes; you change his countenance, and send him away. 21 His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; they are brought low, and he perceives it not. 22 He feels only the pain of his own body, and he mourns only for himself.
[Lament 11–14: see Yob the Blameless, The Long Fast]
Chapter 15
1 Then Elipar the Temanite answered and said: 2 Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? 3 Should he argue in unprofitable talk, or in words with which he can do no good? 4 But you are doing away with the fear of the Cold and hindering meditation before him.
5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty. 6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your own lips testify against you. 7 Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought forth before the hills? 8 Have you listened in the counsel of the Cold, and do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9 What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not clear to us? 10 Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, older than your father. 11 Are the consolations of the Cold too small for you, or the word that deals gently with you? 12 Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash, 13 that you turn your spirit against the Cold and bring such words out of your mouth?
14 What is man that he can be pure? Or he who is born of woman, that he can be righteous? 15 Behold, the Hoarfather puts no trust in his holy ones, and the sky is not pure in his sight; 16 how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks sin like cold water!
17 I will show you; hear me, and what I have seen I will declare: 18 what wise men have told, without hiding it from their fathers, 19 to whom alone the land was given — what wicked men know no peace, 20 that the wicked man writhes in pain all his days, through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless. 21 Dreadful sounds are in his ears; in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him. 22 He does not believe that he will return out of darkness, and he is marked for the sword.
23 He wanders abroad for bread, saying: Where is it? He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand. 24 Distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail against him like a king ready for battle. 25 Because he has stretched out his hand against the Cold, and defied the Almighty Cold.
Chapter 16
1 Then Yob answered and said: 2 I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all. 3 Shall windy words have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer? 4 I also could speak as you do; if you were in my place, I could join words together against you and shake my head at you.
5 I could strengthen you with my mouth and the solace of my lips could assuage your pain. 6 If I speak, my pain is not assuaged, and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me? 7 Surely now he has worn me out; you have made desolate all my company. 8 And he has shriveled me up, which is a witness against me, and my leanness has risen up against me; it testifies to my face.
9 He has torn me in his wrath and hated me; he has gnashed his teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me. 10 Men have gaped at me with their mouth; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me.
11 The Hoarfather delivers me to the ungodly and casts me into the hands of the wicked. 12 I was at ease, and he broke me apart; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; he set me up as his target; 13 his archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground.
14 He breaks me with breach upon breach; he runs upon me like a warrior. 15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin and have laid my strength in the dust. 16 My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep shadow, 17 although there is no violence in my hands and my prayer is pure.
18 O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place. 19 Even now, behold, my witness is in the sky, and he who testifies for me is on high. 20 My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to the Cold, 21 that he would argue the case of a man with the Hoarfather, as a son of man does with his neighbor. 22 For when a few years have come, I shall go the way from which I will not return.
Chapter 17
1 My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the grave is ready for me. 2 Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation. 3 Lay down a pledge for me with yourself; who is there who will put up security for me?
4 Since you have closed their hearts to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph. 5 He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property — the eyes of his children will fail. 6 He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit.
7 My eye has grown dim from vexation, and all my members are like a shadow. 8 The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless. 9 Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
10 But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you. 11 My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart. 12 They make night into day: the light, they say, is near to the darkness.
13 If I hope for the frozen underworld as my house, if I make my bed in darkness, 14 if I say to the pit: You are my father, and to the worm: My mother, or my sister, 15 where then is my hope? Who will see my hope? 16 Will it go down to the bars of the pit? Shall we descend together into the cold dust?
Chapter 18
1 Then Bildor the Shuhite answered and said: 2 How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and then we will speak. 3 Why are we counted as cattle? Why are we stupid in your sight? 4 You who tear yourself in your anger — shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock be removed out of its place?
5 Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out, and the flame of his fire does not shine. 6 The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp above him is put out. 7 His strong steps are shortened, and his own schemes throw him down.
8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks on its mesh. 9 A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare lays hold of him. 10 A rope is hidden for him in the earth, a trap for him on the path. 11 Terrors frighten him on every side and harass his steps.
12 His strength is famished, and calamity is ready for his stumbling. 13 It consumes the parts of his skin; the firstborn of death consumes his limbs. 14 He is torn from the tent in which he trusted and is brought to the king of terrors. 15 In his tent dwells that which is none of his; burning sulfur is scattered over his home.
16 His roots dry up beneath, and his branches wither above. 17 His memory perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the open country. 18 He is thrust from light into darkness, and driven out of the world. 19 He has no offspring or posterity among his people, and no survivor where he used to live. 20 They of the east are appalled at his day, and horror seizes them of the west. 21 Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, such is the place of him who does not know the Cold.
[Lament 15–18: see The Seven Fevers, The Crystalline Virtues]
Chapter 19
1 Then Yob answered and said: 2 How long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words? 3 These ten times you have cast reproach upon me; are you not ashamed to wrong me? 4 And even if it be true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.
5 If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and make my disgrace an argument against me, 6 know then that the Hoarfather has put me in the wrong and closed his net about me. 7 Behold, I cry out: Wrong! but I am not answered; I call for help, but there is no justice.
8 He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths. 9 He has stripped from me my glory and taken the crown from my head. 10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone, and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.
11 He has kindled his wrath against me and counts me as his adversary. 12 His troops come on together; they have cast up their siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent.
13 He has put my brothers far from me, and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me. 14 My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me. 15 The guests in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger; I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer; I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy. 17 My breath is strange to my wife, and I am a stench to the children of my own mother. 18 Even young children despise me; when I rise they talk against me. 19 All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me.
20 My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. 21 Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends, for the hand of the Hoarfather has touched me! 22 Why do you, like the Cold, pursue me? Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?
23 Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! 24 Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!
25 For I know that my Frost-Keeper lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the frozen earth; 26 and after my skin has thawed away, yet in my flesh I shall behold the Cold; 27 I myself shall behold him, and my eyes shall see him, and not a stranger — my heart faints within me!
28 If you say: How we will pursue him! and: The root of the matter is found in him, 29 be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishment of the sword, that you may know there is judgment.
[Lament 19: see The Reforging (Resurrection Doctrine), Connor Frost]
Chapter 20
1 Then Tsofar the Naamathite answered and said: 2 Therefore my thoughts answer me, because of my haste within me. 3 I hear censure that insults me, and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
4 Do you not know this from of old, since man was placed on earth, 5 that the exulting of the wicked is short and the joy of the godless but for a moment? 6 Though his height mount up to the heavens and his head reach to the clouds, 7 he will perish forever like his own dung; those who have seen him will say: Where is he?
8 He will fly away like a dream and not be found; he will be chased away like a vision of the night. 9 The eye that saw him will see him no more, nor will his place look upon him anymore. 10 His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his hands will give back his wealth.
11 His bones are full of his youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in the dust. 12 Though evil is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue, 13 though he is loath to let it go and holds it in his mouth, 14 yet his food is turned in his stomach; it is the venom of cobras within him.
15 He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; the Hoarfather casts them out of his belly. 16 He will suck the poison of cobras; the tongue of a viper will kill him. 17 He will not look upon the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds. 18 He will give back the fruit of his toil and will not swallow it down; from the profit of his trading he will get no enjoyment.
19 For he has crushed and abandoned the poor; he has seized a house that he did not build. 20 Because he knew no stillness in his belly, he will not let anything in which he delights escape him. 21 There was nothing left after he had eaten; therefore his prosperity will not endure. 22 In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress; the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.
Chapter 21
1 Then Yob answered and said: 2 Keep listening to my words, and let this be your comfort. 3 Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on. 4 As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me and be appalled, and lay your hand over your mouth. 6 When I remember, I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh. 7 Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? 8 Their offspring are established in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of the Cold is upon them. 10 Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and does not miscarry. 11 They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance. 12 They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to the grave. 14 They say to the Cold: Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways. 15 What is the Almighty Cold, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?
16 Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand? The counsel of the wicked is far from me. 17 How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them? That he distributes pains in his anger?
18 That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away? 19 You say: The Cold stores up their iniquity for their children. Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it. 20 Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty Cold. 21 For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off?
22 Will any teach the Hoarfather knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high? 23 One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure. 24 His pails are full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is moist. 25 Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity. 26 They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them.
27 Behold, I know your thoughts and your schemes to wrong me. 28 For you say: Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived? 29 Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony, 30 that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity, that he is rescued in the day of wrath?
31 Who declares his way to his face, and who repays him for what he has done? 32 When he is carried to the grave, watch is kept over his tomb. 33 The clods of the valley are sweet to him; all mankind follows after him, and those who go before him are innumerable. 34 How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.
[Lament 20–21: see The Hoarfather, The Seven Fevers]
Chapter 22
1 Then Elipar the Temanite answered and said: 2 Can a man be profitable to the Cold? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. 3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty Cold if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
4 Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you and enters into judgment with you? 5 Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities. 6 For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. 8 The man with power possessed the land, and the favored man lived in it. 9 You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.
10 Therefore snares are all around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you, 11 or darkness, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you. 12 Is not the Cold high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are! 13 But you say: What does the Cold know? Can he judge through the deep darkness?
14 Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the vault of the sky. 15 Will you keep to the old way that wicked men have trod? 16 They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away.
17 They said to the Cold: Depart from us, and: What can the Almighty do to us? 18 Yet he filled their houses with good things — but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 19 The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent one mocks at them, saying: 20 Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left the fire has consumed.
21 Agree with the Cold and be at peace; thereby good will come to you. 22 Receive instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart. 23 If you return to the Almighty Cold you will be built up; if you remove injustice far from your tents, 24 if you lay gold in the dust, and gold of the cold-stream among the stones of the torrent-bed, 25 then the Almighty Cold will be your gold, and your most precious silver.
26 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty Cold and lift up your face to the Hoarfather. 27 You will make your prayer to him and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows. 28 You will decide on a matter and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways. 29 For when they are humbled you say: It is because of pride; but he saves the lowly. 30 He delivers even the one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.
Chapter 23
1 Then Yob answered and said: 2 Today also my complaint is bitter; my hand is heavy on account of my groaning. 3 Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling! 4 I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me. 6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No, he would pay attention to me. 7 There an upright man could argue with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.
8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; 9 on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him. 10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as cold-refined silver.
11 My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. 12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of cold-bread. 13 But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does.
14 For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind. 15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him. 16 The Cold has made my heart faint; the Almighty Cold has terrified me. 17 Yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face.
Chapter 24
1 Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty Cold, and why do those who know him never see his days? 2 Some move landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them. 3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves. 5 Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert the poor go out to their toil, seeking game; the wasteland yields food for their children. 6 They gather their fodder in the field, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.
7 They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. 8 They are wet with the rain of the mountains and cling to the rock for lack of shelter. 9 There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.
10 They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they carry the sheaves; 11 among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil; they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.
12 From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet the Hoarfather charges no one with wrong. 13 There are those who rebel against the cold, who are not acquainted with its ways and do not stay in its paths. 14 The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy.
15 The eye of the adulterer also waits for the dusk, thinking: No eye will see me, and he veils his face. 16 In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the cold light. 17 For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.
18 Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards. 19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does the cold underworld steal those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like a tree. 21 They wrong the barren, childless woman, and do no good to the widow. 22 Yet the Hoarfather drags away the mighty by his power; he rises up, and no man is sure of life.
23 He gives them security, and they are supported, and his eyes are upon their ways. 24 They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like the heads of grain. 25 If it is not so, who will prove me a liar and show that there is nothing in what I say?
[Lament 22–24: see The Hoarfather, Yob the Blameless]
Chapter 25
1 Then Bildor the Shuhite answered and said: 2 Dominion and fear are with the Cold; he makes peace in his high heaven. 3 Is there any number to his armies? Upon whom does his light not arise? 4 How then can man be in the right before the Cold? How can he who is born of woman be pure? 5 Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in his eyes; 6 how much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!
Chapter 26
1 Then Yob answered and said: 2 How you have helped him who has no power! How you have saved the arm that has no strength! 3 How you have counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge!
4 With whose help have you uttered words, and whose breath has come out from you?
5 The shades below tremble, the waters and their inhabitants. 6 The cold underworld is naked before him, and the place of destruction has no covering. 7 He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing. 8 He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them.
9 He covers the face of the full moon and spreads over it his cloud. 10 He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness. 11 The pillars of the sky tremble and are astounded at his rebuke. 12 By his power he stilled the warm sea; by his understanding he shattered the Great Thaw.
13 By his wind the sky became fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent of heat. 14 Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power — who can understand?
Chapter 27
1 And Yob again took up his discourse and said: 2 As the Cold lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty Cold, who has made my soul bitter — 3 as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of the Cold is in my nostrils, 4 my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit.
5 Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. 6 I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.
7 Let my enemy be as the wicked, and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous. 8 For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when the Cold takes away his life? 9 Will the Cold hear his cry when distress comes upon him? 10 Will he take delight in the Almighty Cold? Will he call upon the Cold at all times?
11 I will teach you concerning the hand of the Cold; what is with the Almighty Cold I will not conceal. 12 Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?
13 This is the portion of a wicked man with the Cold, the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty Cold: 14 if his children are multiplied, it is for the sword, and his descendants have not enough bread. 15 Those who survive him the plague buries, and his widows do not weep. 16 Though he heap up silver like dust and pile up clothing like clay, 17 he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver.
18 He builds his house like a moth’s, like a booth that a watchman makes. 19 He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more; he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone. 20 Terrors overtake him like a flood; in the night a whirlwind carries him off. 21 The east wind lifts him up and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place. 22 It hurls itself against him without pity; he flees from its power in headlong flight.
Chapter 28
1 Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold that they refine. 2 Iron is taken out of the cold-earth, and copper is smelted from the ore. 3 Man puts an end to darkness and searches out to the farthest limit the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
4 He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives; they are forgotten by travelers; they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.
5 As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire. 6 Its stones are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of cold-gold. 7 That path no bird of prey knows, and the falcon’s eye has not seen it. 8 The proud beasts have not trodden it; the lion has not passed over it.
9 Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots. 10 He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing. 11 He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.
12 But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? 13 Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living. 14 The deep says: It is not in me, and the sea says: It is not with me. 15 It cannot be bought for cold-gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
16 It cannot be valued in the gold of the cold-country, in precious onyx or sapphire. 17 Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold. 18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal; the price of wisdom is above pearls.
19 The topaz of the glacier cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure cold-gold. 20 From where, then, does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding? 21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the sky.
22 The cold underworld and the place of destruction say: We have heard a rumor of it with our ears. 23 The Hoarfather understands the way to it, and he knows its place. 24 For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. 25 When he gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure, 26 when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder, 27 then he saw it and declared it; he established it, and searched it out.
28 And he said to man: Behold, the fear of the Cold, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.
[Lament 25–28: see The Eternal Chill, The Crystalline Virtues]
Chapter 29
1 And Yob again took up his discourse and said: 2 Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when the Cold watched over me, 3 when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness; 4 as I was in the days of my prime, when the counsel of the Cold was upon my tent.
5 When the Almighty Cold was yet with me, when my children were all around me; 6 when my steps were washed with cream, and the rock poured out for me streams of cold-oil.
7 When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the open square, 8 the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood; 9 the princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth; 10 the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
11 When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved, 12 because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him. 13 The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. 15 I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. 16 I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him I did not know.
17 I broke the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth. 18 Then I thought: I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the frost multiplies. 19 My glory was fresh with me, and my bow was renewed in my hand. 20 Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel. 21 After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them. 22 They waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
Chapter 30
1 But now they laugh at me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. 2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone? 3 Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation.
4 They pick mallow and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food. 5 They are driven out from human company; they shout after them as after a thief. 6 In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together. 8 A senseless, nameless brood, they have been whipped out of the land.
9 And now I have become their song; I am a byword to them. 10 They abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me. 11 Because the Cold has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.
12 On my right hand the rabble rise; they push away my feet; they cast up against me their ways of destruction. 13 They break up my path; they promote my calamity; they need no one to help them.
14 As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on. 15 Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me. 17 The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest. 18 With great force my garment is disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
19 The Cold has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. 20 I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me. 21 You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me. 22 You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
23 For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living. 24 Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help? 25 Did I not weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
26 But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came. 27 My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction come to meet me. 28 I go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches. 30 My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with fever. 31 My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
Chapter 31
1 I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a maiden? 2 What would be my portion from the Cold above and my heritage from the Almighty Cold on high? 3 Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity? 4 Does he not see my ways and number all my steps?
5 If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit, 6 let me be weighed in a just balance, and let the Cold know my integrity.
7 If my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands, 8 then let me sow and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out.
9 If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, 10 then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her.
11 If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant when they brought a complaint against me, 12 what then shall I do when the Cold rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him? 13 Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?
14 If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, 15 or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it — 16 for from my youth the Cold reared me as a father, and from my mother’s womb he guided me —
17 if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering, 18 if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
19 if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate, 20 then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket.
21 For I was in dread of calamity from the Cold, and I could not have faced his majesty. 22 If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold-of-the-cold my confidence, 23 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much,
24 if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor, 25 and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand — 26 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to the Cold above.
27 If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him, 28 I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse.
29 If the men of my tent have not said: Who is there that has not been filled with his meat? — 30 the stranger has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler.
31 If I have concealed my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my heart, 32 because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors —
33 Oh that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature! Let the Almighty Cold answer me! Oh that I had the indictment written by my adversary! 34 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown; 35 I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him.
36 If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together, 37 if I have eaten its yield without payment and made its owners breathe their last, 38 let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley.
The words of Yob are ended.
[Lament 29–31: see Yob the Blameless, The Crystalline Virtues]
Chapter 32
1 So these three men ceased to answer Yob, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Yob because he justified himself rather than the Hoarfather. 3 He burned with anger also at Yob’s three friends because they had found no answer, though they had declared Yob to be in the wrong.
4 Now Elihu had waited to speak to Yob because they were older than he. 5 And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger.
6 And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said: I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you. 7 I said: Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom. 8 But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty Cold, that makes him understand.
9 It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right. 10 Therefore I say: Listen to me; let me also declare my opinion. 11 Behold, I waited for your words; I listened for your wise sayings, while you searched out what to say. 12 I gave you my attention, and behold, there was none among you who refuted Yob or who answered his words.
13 Beware lest you say: We have found wisdom; the Cold may vanquish him, not a man. 14 He has not directed his words against me, and I will not answer him with your speeches.
15 They are dismayed; they answer no more; they have not a word to say. 16 And shall I wait, because they do not speak, because they stand there, and answer no more? 17 I also will answer with my share; I also will declare my opinion. 18 For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me. 19 Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins ready to burst.
20 I must speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer. 21 I will not show partiality to any man or use flattery toward any person. 22 For I do not know how to flatter, else my Maker would soon take me away.
Chapter 33
1 But now, hear my speech, O Yob, and listen to all my words. 2 Behold, I open my mouth; the tongue in my mouth speaks. 3 My words declare the uprightness of my heart, and what my lips know they speak sincerely. 4 The Spirit of the Cold has made me, and the breath of the Almighty Cold gives me life.
5 Answer me, if you can; set your words in order before me; take your stand. 6 Behold, I am toward the Cold as you are; I too was pinched from a piece of clay. 7 Behold, no fear of me need terrify you; my pressure will not be heavy upon you.
8 Surely you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the sound of your words: 9 I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me. 10 Behold, he finds occasions against me; he counts me as his enemy; 11 he puts my feet in the stocks and watches all my paths.
12 Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you, for the Cold is greater than man. 13 Why do you contend against him, saying: He will answer none of my words? 14 For the Cold speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it.
15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds, 16 then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings, 17 that he may turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man; 18 he keeps back his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword.
19 Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed and with continual strife in his bones, 20 so that his life loathes bread, and his appetite the choicest food. 21 His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out.
22 His soul draws near the pit, and his life to those who bring death. 23 If there be for him a messenger, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him, 24 and he is merciful to him and says: Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom; 25 let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful strength.
26 Then man prays to the Cold, and he accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy, and he restores to man his righteousness. 27 He sings before men and says: I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me. 28 He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.
29 Behold, the Cold does all these things, twice, three times, with a man, 30 to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life.
31 Pay attention, O Yob, listen to me; be silent, and I will speak. 32 If you have any words, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you. 33 If not, listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.
Chapter 34
1 Then Elihu said: 2 Hear my words, you wise men, and give ear to me, you who know. 3 For the ear tests words as the palate tastes food. 4 Let us choose what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good.
5 For Yob has said: I am in the right, and the Cold has taken away my right; 6 in spite of my right I am counted a liar; my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression. 7 What man is like Yob, who drinks up scoffing like water, 8 who travels in company with evildoers and walks with wicked men?
9 For he has said: It profits a man nothing that he should take delight in the Cold. 10 Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from the Cold to do wickedness, and from the Almighty Cold to do wrong. 11 For according to the work of a man he will repay him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him.
12 Of a truth, the Cold will not act wickedly, and the Almighty Cold will not pervert justice. 13 Who gave him charge over the earth, and who laid on him the whole world? 14 If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, 15 all flesh would perish together, and man would return to cold dust.
16 If you have understanding, hear this; listen to what I say. 17 Shall one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty? 18 Who says to a king: Worthless one, and to nobles: Wicked man? 19 Who shows no partiality to princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor, for they are all the work of his hands?
20 In a moment they die; at midnight the people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away by no human hand. 21 For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps. 22 There is no darkness or deep shadow where evildoers may hide themselves.
23 For the Cold has no need to consider a man further, that he should go before the Cold in judgment. 24 He shatters the mighty without investigation and sets others in their place. 25 Thus, knowing their works, he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed. 26 He strikes them for their wickedness in a place for all to see.
27 Because they turned aside from following him and had no regard for any of his ways, 28 so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him, and he heard the cry of the afflicted — 29 when he is quiet, who can condemn? When he hides his face, who can behold him?
30 That a godless man should not reign, that he should not ensnare the people. 31 For has anyone said to the Cold: I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more; 32 teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more?
33 Will he then make repayment to suit you, because you reject it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore declare what you know.
Chapter 35
1 And Elihu answered and said: 2 Do you think this to be just? Do you say: It is my right before the Cold, 3 that you ask: What advantage have I? How am I better off than if I had sinned?
4 I will answer you and your friends with you. 5 Look at the sky and see; and behold the clouds, which are higher than you. 6 If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him? 7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man. 9 Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out; they call for help because of the arm of the mighty. 10 But none says: Where is the Cold my Maker, who gives songs in the night, 11 who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?
12 There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evil men. 13 Surely the Cold does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty Cold regard it. 14 How much less when you say that you do not see him, that the case is before him and you are waiting for him!
15 And now, because his anger does not punish, and he does not take much note of transgression, 16 Yob opens his mouth in empty talk; he multiplies words without knowledge.
Chapter 36
1 And Elihu continued and said: 2 Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for I have yet something to say on the Cold’s behalf. 3 I will get my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
4 For truly my words are not false; one who is perfect in knowledge is with you. 5 Behold, the Cold is mighty, and does not despise any; he is mighty in strength of understanding. 6 He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives the afflicted their right. 7 He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne he sets them forever.
8 And if they are bound in chains and caught in the cords of affliction, 9 then he declares to them their work and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly. 10 He opens their ears to instruction and commands that they return from iniquity.
11 If they listen and serve him, they complete their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasantness. 12 But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword and die without knowledge.
13 The godless in heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them. 14 They die in youth, and their life ends among the cult-priests of the Fever. 15 He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.
16 He also allured you out of distress into a broad place where there was no cramping, and what was set on your table was full of fatness. 17 But you are full of the judgment on the wicked; judgment and justice seize you.
18 Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing, and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside. 19 Will your cry for help avail to keep you from distress, or all the force of your strength?
20 Do not long for the night, when peoples vanish in their place. 21 Take care; do not turn to iniquity, for this you have chosen rather than affliction. 22 Behold, the Cold is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him? 23 Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say: You have done wrong?
24 Remember to extol his work, of which men have sung. 25 All mankind has looked on it; man beholds it from afar. 26 Behold, the Cold is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.
27 For he draws up the drops of water; they distill his mist in rain, 28 which the skies pour down and drop on mankind abundantly. 29 Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his canopy? 30 Behold, he scatters his lightning about him and covers the roots of the sea.
31 For by these he judges peoples; he gives food in abundance. 32 He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark. 33 Its crashing declares his presence; the cattle also declare that he rises.
Chapter 37
1 At this also my heart trembles and leaps out of its place. 2 Keep listening to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth. 3 Under the whole sky he lets it go, and his lightning to the corners of the earth. 4 After it his voice roars; he thunders with his majestic voice, and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard.
5 The Cold thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend. 6 For to the snow he says: Fall on the earth, likewise to the shower and the downpour of his mighty rain.
7 He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he made may know it. 8 Then the beasts go into their lairs, and remain in their dens. 9 From its chamber comes the whirlwind, and cold from the scattering winds.
10 By the breath of the Cold ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast. 11 He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning. 12 They turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world.
13 Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen. 14 Hear this, O Yob; stop and consider the wondrous works of the Cold. 15 Do you know how the Cold lays his command upon them and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?
16 Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge? 17 You whose garments are hot when the earth is still because of the south wind? 18 Can you, like him, spread out the sky, hard as a cast mirror of frozen crystal?
19 Teach us what we shall say to him; we cannot draw up our case because of darkness. 20 Shall it be told him that I would speak? Did a man ever wish that he would be swallowed up? 21 And now no one looks on the light when it is bright in the sky, when the wind has passed and cleared them.
22 Out of the north comes golden splendor; the Cold is clothed with awesome majesty. 23 The Almighty Cold — we cannot find him; he is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate. 24 Therefore men fear him; he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.
[Lament 32–37: see Yob the Blameless, The Hoarfather, The Crystalline Virtues]
Chapter 38
1 Then the Hoarfather answered Yob out of the whirlwind of cold and said:
2 Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.
4 Where were you when I laid the foundation of the ice? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements — surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, 7 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of the Hoarfather shouted for joy?
8 Or who shut in the warm sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, 9 when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10 and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, 11 and said: Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your warm waves be stopped?
12 Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn’s frost to know its place, 13 that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?
14 It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment. 15 From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.
16 Have you entered into the springs of the cold? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep ice? 17 Have the gates of the frozen underworld been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep shadow? 18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.
19 Where is the way to the dwelling of the cold light, and where is the place of the frost, 20 that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home? 21 You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
22 Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, 23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
24 What is the way to the place where the cold is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth? 25 Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt, 26 to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man, 27 to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?
28 Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? 29 From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven? 30 The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen fast.
31 Can you bind the chains of the Frost-Pleiades or loose the cords of the Orion-Melt? 32 Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs? 33 Do you know the ordinances of the sky? Can you establish their rule on the earth?
34 Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you? 35 Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you: Here we are? 36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding to the mind?
37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, 38 when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together?
39 Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, 40 when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket? 41 Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to the Cold for help, and wander about for lack of food?
Chapter 39
1 Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does? 2 Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth, 3 when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young? 4 Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and do not return to them.
5 Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey, 6 to whom I have given the barren salt flats as his home and the frozen plain as his dwelling place? 7 He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver. 8 He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.
9 Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger? 10 Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you? 11 Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave your labor to him? 12 Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?
13 The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love? 14 For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground, 15 forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them.
16 She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear, 17 because the Cold has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding. 18 When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider.
19 Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane? 20 Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying. 21 He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons. 22 He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.
23 Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear, and the javelin. 24 With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet. 25 When the trumpet sounds, he says: Aha! He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26 Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south? 27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high? 28 On the rock he dwells and makes his home, on the rocky crag and stronghold. 29 From there he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it from far away. 30 His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he.
Chapter 40
1 And the Hoarfather said to Yob: 2 Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty Cold? He who argues with the Cold, let him answer it.
3 Then Yob answered the Hoarfather and said: 4 Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. 5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.
6 Then the Hoarfather answered Yob out of the whirlwind and said: 7 Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.
8 Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right? 9 Have you an arm like the Cold, and can you thunder with a voice like his? 10 Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor.
11 Pour out the overflowings of your anger, and look on everyone who is proud and abase him. 12 Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked where they stand. 13 Hide them all in the frozen dust together; bind their faces in the hidden deep. 14 Then will I also praise you to you that your own right hand can save you.
15 Behold, Behur, which I made as I made you; he eats grass like an ox. 16 Behold, his strength in his loins and his power in the muscles of his belly. 17 He makes his tail stiff like the Hoarfir; the sinews of his thighs are knit together. 18 His bones are tubes of bronze; his limbs like bars of cold iron.
19 He is the first of the works of the Cold; let him who made him bring near his sword! 20 For the mountains yield food for him where all the wild beasts play. 21 Under the great cold-cedars he lies, in the shelter of the reeds and in the marsh. 22 The great trees cover him as their shade; the willows of the torrent surround him.
23 Behold, if the river is turbulent he is not frightened; he is confident though the Frozen Jordan surge against his mouth. 24 Can one take him by his eyes, or pierce his nose with a snare?
Chapter 41
1 Can you draw out Liwyatan the Great Frost-Serpent with a fishhook, or press down his tongue with a cord? 2 Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? 3 Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you soft words? 4 Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever?
5 Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you put him on a leash for your girls? 6 Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? 7 Can you fill his skin with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
8 Lay your hands on him; remember the battle — you will not do it again! 9 Behold, the hope of a man is false; he is laid low even at the sight of him. 10 No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?
11 Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole sky is mine. 12 I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, or his mighty strength, or his goodly frame.
13 Who can strip off his outer garment? Who would come near him with a bridle? 14 Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror. 15 His back is made of rows of cold-shields, shut up closely as with a seal. 16 One is so near to another that no air can come between them.
17 They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated. 18 His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn. 19 Out of his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth. 20 Out of his nostrils comes smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and a flame comes forth from his mouth — yet even he is mine. 22 In his neck abides strength, and terror dances before him. 23 The folds of his flesh stick together, firmly cast on him and immovable. 24 His heart is hard as stone, hard as the lower millstone.
25 When he raises himself up the mighty are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves. 26 Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail, nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin. 27 He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood. 28 The arrow cannot make him flee; for him sling-stones are turned to stubble.
29 Clubs are counted as stubble; he laughs at the rattle of javelins. 30 His underparts are like sharp potsherds; he spreads himself like a threshing sledge on the mire. 31 He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment. 32 Behind him he leaves a shining wake; one would think the deep to be white-haired.
33 On earth there is not his like, a creature without fear. 34 He sees everything that is high; he is king over all the children of pride.
[Lament 38–41: see The Hoarfather, Creation - The Six Winters, The Eternal Chill]
Chapter 42
1 Then Yob answered the Hoarfather and said: 2 I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me. 5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and meltwater.
7 After the Hoarfather had spoken these words to Yob, the Hoarfather said to Elipar the Temanite: My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Yob has. 8 Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Yob and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Yob shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Yob has.
9 So Elipar the Temanite and Bildor the Shuhite and Tsofar the Naamathite went and did what the Hoarfather had told them, and the Hoarfather accepted Yob’s prayer.
10 And the Hoarfather restored the fortunes of Yob, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Hoarfather gave Yob twice as much as he had before. 11 Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Hoarfather had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of cold-silver and a ring of gold.
12 And the Hoarfather blessed the latter days of Yob more than his beginning. And he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first daughter Frostbell, and the name of the second Snowlily, and the name of the third Icehorn. 15 And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Yob’s daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
16 And after this Yob lived a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, four generations. 17 And Yob died, an old man, and full of cold days.
[Lament 42: see Yob the Blameless, The Hoarfather, The Reforging (Resurrection Doctrine)]