“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.
    What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
        men whose vigor is gone?
    Through want and hard hunger
        they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation;
    they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,
        and the roots of the broom tree for their food.
    They are driven out from human company;
        they shout after them as after a thief.
    In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,
        in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
    Among the bushes they bray;
        under the nettles they huddle together.
    A senseless, a nameless brood,
        they have been whipped out of the land.
    
    
    “And now I have become their song;
        I am a byword to them.
    They abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
        they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
    Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,
        they have cast off restraint in my presence.
    On my right hand the rabble rise;
        they push away my feet;
        they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
    They break up my path;
        they promote my calamity;
        they need no one to help them.
    As through a wide breach they come;
        amid the crash they roll on.
    Terrors are turned upon me;
        my honor is pursued as by the wind,
        and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.
    
    
    “And now my soul is poured out within me;
        days of affliction have taken hold of me.
    The night racks my bones,
        and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
    With great force my garment is disfigured;
        it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
    God has cast me into the mire,
        and I have become like dust and ashes.
    I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;
        I stand, and you only look at me.
    You have turned cruel to me;
        with the might of your hand you persecute me.
    You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,
        and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
    For I know that you will bring me to death
        and to the house appointed for all living.
    
    
    “Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand,
        and in his disaster cry for help?
    Did not I weep for him whose day was hard?
        Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
    But when I hoped for good, evil came,
        and when I waited for light, darkness came.
    My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;
        days of affliction come to meet me.
    I go about darkened, but not by the sun;
        I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
    I am a brother of jackals
        and a companion of ostriches.
    My skin turns black and falls from me,
        and my bones burn with heat.
    My lyre is turned to mourning,
        and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
    
    
        “I have made a covenant with my eyes;
        how then could I gaze at a virgin?
    What would be my portion from God above
        and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
    Is not calamity for the unrighteous,
        and disaster for the workers of iniquity?
    Does not he see my ways
        and number all my steps?
    
    
    “If I have walked with falsehood
        and my foot has hastened to deceit;
    (Let me be weighed in a just balance,
        and let God know my integrity!)
    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,
    then let me sow, and another eat,
        and let what grows for me be rooted out.
    
    
    “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,
        and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,
    then let my wife grind for another,
        and let others bow down on her.
    For that would be a heinous crime;
        that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
    for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon,
        and it would burn to the root all my increase.
    
    
    “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant,
        when they brought a complaint against me,
    what then shall I do when God rises up?
        When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
    Did not he who made me in the womb make him?
        And did not one fashion us in the womb?
    
    
    “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,
        or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
    or have eaten my morsel alone,
        and the fatherless has not eaten of it
    (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father,
        and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow),
    if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
        or the needy without covering,
    if his body has not blessed me,
        and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
    if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
        because I saw my help in the gate,
    then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
        and let my arm be broken from its socket.
    For I was in terror of calamity from God,
        and I could not have faced his majesty.
    
    
    “If I have made gold my trust
        or called fine gold my confidence,
    if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant
        or because my hand had found much,
    if I have looked at the sun when it shone,
        or the moon moving in splendor,
    and my heart has been secretly enticed,
        and my mouth has kissed my hand,
    this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
        for I would have been false to God above.
    
    
    “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me,
        or exulted when evil overtook him
    (I have not let my mouth sin
        by asking for his life with a curse),
    if the men of my tent have not said,
        ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’
    (the sojourner has not lodged in the street;
        I have opened my doors to the traveler),
    if I have concealed my transgressions as others do
        by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
    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—
    Oh, that I had one to hear me!
        (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!)
        Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!
    Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;
        I would bind it on me as a crown;
    I would give him an account of all my steps;
        like a prince I would approach him.
    
    
    “If my land has cried out against me
        and its furrows have wept together,
    if I have eaten its yield without payment
        and made its owners breathe their last,
    let thorns grow instead of wheat,
        and foul weeds instead of barley.”
    
    
      The words of Job are ended. (ESV)

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load.

  Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

  See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.

  From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen. (ESV)