Gen, XLIX.

32.

Gen. L.

1-21.

Jacob's Death.-And when he had ended the commandments, wherewith he instructed his sons, he drew up his feet upon the bed, and died: and he was gathered to his people.

And when Joseph saw this, he fell upon his father's face, weeping and kissing him. And he commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father.

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And while they were fulfilling his commands, there passed forty days for this was the manner with bodies that were embalmed, and Egypt mourned for him seventy days. And the time of the mourning being expired, Joseph spoke to the family of Pharao: If I have found favour in your sight, speak in the ears of Pharao: for my father made me swear to him, saying : Behold I die: thou shalt bury me in my sepulchre which I have digged for myself in the land of Canaan. So I will go up and bury my father, and return.

And Pharao said to him: Go up and bury thy father according as he made thee swear. So he went up, and there went with him all the ancients of Pharao's house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt; and the house of Joseph with his brethren, except their children, and their flocks and herds, which they left in the land of Gessen. He had also in his train chariots and horsemen and it was a great company. And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is situated beyond the Jordan: where celebrating the exequies with a great and vehement lamentation, they spent full seven days.

And when the inhabitants of Canaan saw this, they said: This is a great mourning to the Egyptians. And therefore the name of that place was called, The mourning of Egypt. So the sons of Jacob did as he had commanded them. And carrying him into the land of Canaan, they buried him in the double cave which Abraham had bought together with the field for a possession of a burying place, of Ephron the Hethite overagainst Mambre.

And Joseph returned into Egypt with his brethren, and all that were in his company, after he had buried his father. Now he being dead, his brethren were afraid, and talked one with another Lest perhaps he should remember the wrong he suffered, and requite us all the evil that we did to him. And they sent a message to him, saying: Thy father commanded us before he died, that we should say thus much to thee from him: I beseech thee to forget the wickedness of thy brethren, and the sin and malice they practised against thee: we also pray thee to forgive the servants of the God of thy father this wickedness. And when Joseph heard this he wept.

And his brethren came to him: and worshipping prostrate on the ground they said: We are thy servants. And he answered them: Fear not: can we resist the will of God? You thought evil against me: but God turned it into good, that He might exalt me, as at present you see, and might save many people. Fear not: I will feed you and your children. he comforted them, and spoke gently and mildly.

And

B.C. 1635.

22-25.

Joseph's Death.-And he dwelt in Egypt, with all his Gen. L. father's house and lived a hundred and ten years. And he saw the children of Ephraim to the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Manasses were borne on Joseph's knees. After which he told his brethren: God will visit you after my death, and will make you go up out of this land, to the land which He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he made them swear to him, saying: God will visit you, carry my bones with you out of this place.

And he died, being a hundred and ten years old. And being embalmed he was laid in a coffin in Egypt.

THE BOOK OF JOB.

This book takes its name from the holy man of whom it treats; who, according to the more probable opinion, was of the race of Esau. It is uncertain who was the writer of it. Some attribute it to Job himself; others to Moses, or some one of the prophets. It is considered to be of great antiquity, but the exact time in which Job lived is not known.

SECT. XXI. JOB'S PROSPERITY. HE IS TRIED BY AFFLICTIONS.

B.C. 1500.

1-12.

Job's Prosperity.-There was a man in the land of Hus,* Job 1. whose name was Job, and that man was simple and upright, and fearing God, and avoiding evil. And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters. And his possession was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred sheasses, and a family exceeding great and this man was great among all the people of the east. And his sons went, and made a feast by houses every one in his day. And sending they called their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of their feasting were gone about, Job sent to them, and sanctified them: and rising up early offered holocausts for every

*It is not known where this was. Some think it to have been part of Idumea,

Job I.

one of them. For he said: Lest perhaps my sons have sinned, and have blessed* God in their hearts. So did Job all days.

Now on a certain day when the sons of God† came to stand before the Lord, Satan also was present among them. And the Lord said to him: Whence comest thou? And he answered and said: I have gone round about the earth, and walked through it. And the Lord said to him: Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a simple and upright man, and fearing God, and avoiding evil? And Satan answering, said: Doth Job fear God in vain? Hast not Thou made a fence for him, and his house, and all his substance round about, blessed the works of his hands, and his possession hath increased on the earth? But stretch forth Thy

hand a little, and touch all that he hath, and see if he blesseth Thee not to Thy face. Then the Lord said to Satan: Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand: only put not forth thy hand upon his person. And Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. His Afflictions.-Now upon a certain day when his sons and 13-22. daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother, there came a messenger to Job, and said: The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them, and the Sabeans rushed in, and took all away, and slew the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell thee. And while he was yet speaking, another came, and said: The fire of God fell from heaven, and striking the sheep and the servants, hath consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell thee. And while he also was yet speaking, there came another, and said: The Chaldeans made three troops, and have fallen upon the camels, and taken them; moreover they have slain the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell thee. He was yet speaking, and behold another came in, and said: Thy sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their elder brother. A violent wind came on a sudden from the side of the desert, and shook the four corners of the house, and it fell upon thy children and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell thee.

*Blessed. For greater horror of the very thought of blasphemy, the Scripture, both here and ver. 11, and in the following chapter, ver. 5 and 9, uses the word bless to signify its contrary. DOUAY BIBLE.

The sons of God-the angels. This passage represents to us in a figure, accommodated to the ways and understandings of men, 1. The restless endeavours of Satan against the servants of God. 2. That he can do nothing without God's permission. 3. That God doth not permit him to tempt them above their strength: but assists them by His divine grace in such manner, that the vain efforts of the enemy only serve to illustrate their virtue and increase their merit. DOUAY BIBLE.

Then Job rose up, and rent his garments, and having shaven his head fell down upon the ground and worshipped, and said: Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done: blessed be the name of the Lord. In all these things Job sinned not by his lips, nor spoke he any foolish thing against God.

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1-6.

And it came to pass when on a certain day the sons of God Job II. came, and stood before the Lord, and Satan came among them, and stood in His sight, that the Lord said to Satan: Whence comest thou? And he answered, and said: I have gone round about the earth, and walked through it. And the Lord said to Satan Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a man simple, and upright, and fearing God, and avoiding evil, and still keeping his innocence? But thou hast moved Me against him, that I should afflict him without cause. And Satan answered, and said: Skin for skin, and all that a man hath he will give for his life but put forth Thy hand, and touch his bone and his flesh, and then Thou shalt see that he will bless Thee to Thy face. And the Lord said to Satan: Behold he is in thy hand, but yet save his life.

7-23.

Job's Patience. So Satan went forth from the presence of Job II. the Lord, and struck Job with a very grievous ulcer, from the sole of the foot even to the top of his head. And he took a potsherd and scraped the corrupt matter, sitting on a dunghill. And his wife said to him: Dost thou still continue in thy simplicity? bless God and die. And he said to her: Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish women: if we have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil? In all these things Job did not sin with his lips.

Now when Job's three friends heard all the evil that had befallen him, they came every one from his own place, Eliphaz the Themanite, and Baldad the Suhite, and Sophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment to come together and visit him, and comfort him. And when they had lift up their eyes afar off, they knew him not; and crying out they wept, and rending their garments they sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no man spoke to him a word for they saw that his grief was very great.

Job IV. 1-21.

SECT. XXII. ELIPHAZ REBUKES JOB. JOB'S ANSWER TO HIS FRIENDS.

Eliphaz's Reproof. Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:

If we begin to speak to thee, perhaps thou wilt take it ill, but who can withhold the words he hath conceived?

Behold thou hast taught many, and thou hast strengthened the weary hands:

Thy words have confirmed them that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling knees :

But now the scourge is come upon thee, and thou faintest : it hath touched thee, and thou art troubled.

Where is thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?

Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or when were the just destroyed?

On the contrary I have seen those who work iniquity, and sow sorrows, and reap them,

Perishing by the blast of God, and consumed by the spirit of His wrath.

The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelps of lions are broken:

The tiger hath perished for want of prey, and the young lions are scattered abroad.

Now there was a word spoken to me in private, and my ears by stealth as it were received the veins of its whisper.

In the horror of a vision by night, when deep sleep is wont to hold men,

Fear seized upon me, and trembling, and all my bones were affrighted :

And when a spirit passed before me, the hair of my flesh stood up.

There stood one whose countenance I knew not, an image before my eyes, and I heard the voice as it were of a gentle wind:

Shall man be justified in comparison of God, or shall a man be more pure than his Maker?

Behold they that serve Him are not stedfast, and in His angels He found wickedness :

How much more shall they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation, be consumed as with the moth?

From morning till evening they shall be cut down and because no one understandeth, they shall perish for ever.