- 1
- Lo, all [this] haue I seene with mine eye, heard with mine eare, and vnderstande it.
- 2
- What ye knowe, that same do I know also, neither am I inferior vnto you.
- 3
- Neuerthelesse, I talke with the almightie, and my desire is to commune with God.
- 4
- As for you, ye are workmaisters of lyes, and vnprofitable phisitians altogether.
- 5
- Woulde God ye kept your tongue, for then might ye be taken for wise men.
- 6
- Now heare my reasoning, and ponder the argument of my lippes.
- 7
- Wyll you speake wickedlie for gods [defence] and talke deceitfully for his [cause?]
- 8
- Wyll ye accept the person of him?
or wyll ye contende for God?
- 9
- Shall that helpe you when he calleth you to reckening?
For as one man mocketh an other, so do ye mocke him.
- 10
- He shall punishe you, and reproue you, if ye do secretly accept any person.
- 11
- Shall not his excellencie make you afrayde?
Shall not his terrible feare fall vpon you?
- 12
- Your remembraunce is lyke vnto a sparke, and your bodies lyke the claye.
- 13
- Holde your tongues for my sake, that I also may speake, and my sorowe shalbe the lesse.
- 14
- Wherefore do I beare my fleshe in my teeth, and put my soule in myne handes?
- 15
- Lo, though he slay me, yet wyl I trust in him: but I wyll reproue myne owne wayes in his sight.
- 16
- He shalbe my saluation: for there may no hypocrite come before him.
- 17
- Heare diligently my wordes, and ponder my sayinges with your eares.
- 18
- Beholde, now haue I prepared my iudgement, and knowe that I shalbe founde righteous.
- 19
- What is he that wyll go to lawe with me?
if I now holde my tongue I dye.
- 20
- Neuerthelesse, graunt me two thinges, and then wyll I not hide my selfe from thee:
- 21
- Withdrawe thyne hande from me, and let not the fearefull dreade of thee make me afrayde.
- 22
- Then call, and I wyll aunswere: or let me speake, and geue me then an aunswere.
- 23
- How many are my misdeedes and sinnes?
let me knowe my transgressions and offences.
- 24
- Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thyne enemie?
- 25
- Wylt thou breake a leafe driuen to and fro, and wilt thou pursue the drye stubble?
- 26
- For thou layest sharply to my charge, and punishest me for the sinnes of my youth.
- 27
- Thou puttest my feete also in the stockes, and lokest narowly vnto all my pathes, and makest the print thereof in the heeles of my feete:
- 28
- And I as a rotten thing do consume away, as a garment that is moth eaten.
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