Job Presents His Case

1So Iob answered, and sayde:

2Then (no doute) ye are the men alone, and wysdome shal perish with you.

3But I haue vnderstodinge as well as ye, and am no lesse then ye. Yee who knoweth not these thinges?

4Thus he that calleth vpo God, and whom God heareth, is mocked of his neghboure: the godly & innocent man is laughed to scorne.

5Godlynesse is a light despysed in ye hertes of the rich, & is set for them to stomble vpon.

6The houses of robbers are in wealth and prosperite, & they that maliciously medle agaynst God, dwel without care: yee God geueth all thinges richely with his honde.

7Axe the catell, & they shal enfourme the: the foules of the ayre, and they shall tell ye:

8Speake to the earth, and it shall shewe the: Or to the fyshes of the see, and they shal certifie the.

9What is he, but he knoweth, that ye hode of the LORDE made all these?

10In whose honde is the soule of euery lyuynge thinge, and the breth of all men.

11Haue not the eares pleasure in hearinge, and the mouth in tastinge the thinge that it eateth?

12Amonge olde personnes there is wysdome, and amonge the aged is vnderstodinge.

13Yee with God is wysdome and strength, it is he that hath councell & foreknowlege.

14Yf he breake downe a thinge, who can set it vp agayne? Yf he shutt a thinge, who wil open it?

15Beholde, yf he witholde the waters, they drye vp: Yf he let the go, they destroye the earth.

16With him is strength and wysdome: he knoweth both the disceauer, and him that is disceaued.

17He carieth awaye the wyse men, as it were a spoyle, and bryngeth the iudges out of their wyttes.

18He lowseth the gyrdle of kynges, and gyrdeth their loynes with a bonde.

19he ledeth awaye the prestes into captiuyte, and turneth the mightie vp syde downe.

20He taketh the verite from out of the mouth, & disapoynteth ye aged of their wysdome.

21He poureth out confucion vpon prynces, and coforteth them that haue bene oppressed.

22Loke what lyeth hyd in darcknesse, he declareth it opely: and the very shadowe of death bringeth he to light.

23He both increaseth the people, and destroyeth them: He maketh them to multiplie, and dryueth them awaye.

24He chaungeth the herte of the prynces and kynges of the earth, and disapoynteth them: so that they go wadringe out of the waye,

25and grope in the darke without light, stackeringe to and fro like droncken men.