[27] He counteth iron as straw,

And brass as rotten wood.

[28] The arrow cannot make him flee:

Sling-stones are turned with him into stubble.

[29] Clubs are counted as stubble:

He laugheth at the rushing of the javelin.

[30] His underparts are like sharp potsherds:

He spreadeth as it were a threshing-wain upon the mire.

[31] He maketh the deep to boil like a pot:

He maketh the sea like a pot of ointment. [32] He maketh a path to shine after him; One would think the deep to be hoary. [33] Upon earth there is not his like, That is made without fear.

[34] He beholdeth every thing that is high: He is king over all the sons of pride.

[1]

XLII

THEN Job answered Jehovah, and said,

[2] I know that thou canst do all things,

And that no purpose of thine can be restrained. [3] Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that which I understood not, Things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.

[4] Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak;

I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. [5] I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; But now mine eye seeth thee:

[6] Wherefore I abhor' myself,

And repent in dust and ashes.

[7] And it was so, that, after Jehovah had spoken these words unto Job, Jehovah said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends; for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as Heb. son of the bow. 1 Or, loathe my words.

my servant Job hath. [8] Now therefore, take unto you seven bullocks and seven ra'ns, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt-offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you; for him will I accept, that I deal not with you after your folly; for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. [9] So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as Jehovah commanded them: and Jehovah accepted Job.

[10] And Jehovah turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: and Jehovah gave Job twice as much as he had before. [11] Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him concerning all the evil that Jehovah had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one a ring of gold. [12] So Jehovah blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: and he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and 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, Jemimah; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch. [15] And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. [16] And after this Job lived a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations. [17] So Job died, being old and full of days.

Heb. kesitah.

(HEBREW)

THE BOOK OF PSALMS

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

THE Book of Psalms is a great collection of the religious lyrics of the Hebrew people. Of unknown authorship, and of uncertain dates, these hymns were gathered and arranged, in part at least, for use in the services of the Temple at Jerusalem; but their profundity of feeling, their simplicity of expression, and the variety of the religious experiences with which they deal have found them a welcome in the hearts of devout people far beyond the limits of Judaism.

The Psalms as they have come down to us are divided into five Books, each ending with a doxology; but it is probable that these divisions are of a later date than the actual collecting of the poems. One hundred of them are attached to individual names; and these names were long supposed to indicate the authors. Thus to David are attributed seventy-three, to Asaph twelve, to Moses one, to Solomon two, to the sons of Korah eleven. These ascriptions are, however, later than the Psalms themselves, and are by no means to be relied on, many of them being demonstrably false. The only poems which are now universally ascribed to David are those in 2 Samuel, I and III; it is doubtful whether he wrote any of the Psalms.

The question of the dates of the Psalms is almost as difficult as that of the authorship. Some have been supposed to be as old as 900 B. C.; none is likely to be later than the beginning of the second century B. C.; and their composition probably extended over more than five hundred years.

The religious moods to which they give utterance are manifold. Adoration and thanksgiving, prayer and penitence and imprecation, history and prophecy, the general worship of a whole people and the intimate impulses of an individual soul-all these and many more are represented in this supreme collection of sacred song.