Font Size
Job 1-11
New International Version
Job 1-11
New International Version
Prologue
1 In the land of Uz(A) there lived a man whose name was Job.(B) This man was blameless(C) and upright;(D) he feared God(E) and shunned evil.(F) 2 He had seven sons(G) and three daughters,(H) 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys,(I) and had a large number of servants.(J) He was the greatest man(K) among all the people of the East.(L)
4 His sons used to hold feasts(M) in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified.(N) Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering(O) for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned(P) and cursed God(Q) in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.
6 One day the angels[a](R) came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan[b](S) also came with them.(T) 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”(U)
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?(V) There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God(W) and shuns evil.”(X)
9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?”(Y) Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge(Z) around him and his household and everything he has?(AA) You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.(AB) 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has,(AC) and he will surely curse you to your face.”(AD)
12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has(AE) is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”(AF)
Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters(AG) were feasting(AH) and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing(AI) nearby, 15 and the Sabeans(AJ) attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens(AK) and burned up the sheep and the servants,(AL) and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans(AM) formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters(AN) were feasting(AO) and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind(AP) swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead,(AQ) and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!(AR)”
20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe(AS) and shaved his head.(AT) Then he fell to the ground in worship(AU) 21 and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.[c](AV)
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;(AW)
may the name of the Lord be praised.”(AX)
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.(AY)
2 On another day the angels[d](AZ) came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them(BA) to present himself before him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”(BB)
3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.(BC) And he still maintains his integrity,(BD) though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”(BE)
4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has(BF) for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones,(BG) and he will surely curse you to your face.”(BH)
6 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands;(BI) but you must spare his life.”(BJ)
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.(BK) 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.(BL)
9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity?(BM) Curse God and die!”(BN)
10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish[e] woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”(BO)
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.(BP)
11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite,(BQ) Bildad the Shuhite(BR) and Zophar the Naamathite,(BS) heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.(BT) 12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him;(BU) they began to weep aloud,(BV) and they tore their robes(BW) and sprinkled dust on their heads.(BX) 13 Then they sat on the ground(BY) with him for seven days and seven nights.(BZ) No one said a word to him,(CA) because they saw how great his suffering was.
Job Speaks
3 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.(CB) 2 He said:
3 “May the day of my birth perish,
and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’(CC)
4 That day—may it turn to darkness;
may God above not care about it;
may no light shine on it.
5 May gloom and utter darkness(CD) claim it once more;
may a cloud settle over it;
may blackness overwhelm it.
6 That night—may thick darkness(CE) seize it;
may it not be included among the days of the year
nor be entered in any of the months.
7 May that night be barren;
may no shout of joy(CF) be heard in it.
8 May those who curse days[f] curse that day,(CG)
those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.(CH)
9 May its morning stars become dark;
may it wait for daylight in vain
and not see the first rays of dawn,(CI)
10 for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me
to hide trouble from my eyes.
11 “Why did I not perish at birth,
and die as I came from the womb?(CJ)
12 Why were there knees to receive me(CK)
and breasts that I might be nursed?
13 For now I would be lying down(CL) in peace;
I would be asleep and at rest(CM)
14 with kings and rulers of the earth,(CN)
who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,(CO)
15 with princes(CP) who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver.(CQ)
16 Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child,(CR)
like an infant who never saw the light of day?(CS)
17 There the wicked cease from turmoil,(CT)
and there the weary are at rest.(CU)
18 Captives(CV) also enjoy their ease;
they no longer hear the slave driver’s(CW) shout.(CX)
19 The small and the great are there,(CY)
and the slaves are freed from their owners.
20 “Why is light given to those in misery,
and life to the bitter of soul,(CZ)
21 to those who long for death that does not come,(DA)
who search for it more than for hidden treasure,(DB)
22 who are filled with gladness
and rejoice when they reach the grave?(DC)
23 Why is life given to a man
whose way is hidden,(DD)
whom God has hedged in?(DE)
24 For sighing(DF) has become my daily food;(DG)
my groans(DH) pour out like water.(DI)
25 What I feared has come upon me;
what I dreaded(DJ) has happened to me.(DK)
26 I have no peace,(DL) no quietness;
I have no rest,(DM) but only turmoil.”(DN)
Eliphaz
4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite(DO) replied:
2 “If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
But who can keep from speaking?(DP)
3 Think how you have instructed many,(DQ)
how you have strengthened feeble hands.(DR)
4 Your words have supported those who stumbled;(DS)
you have strengthened faltering knees.(DT)
5 But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;(DU)
it strikes(DV) you, and you are dismayed.(DW)
6 Should not your piety be your confidence(DX)
and your blameless(DY) ways your hope?
7 “Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished?(DZ)
Where were the upright ever destroyed?(EA)
8 As I have observed,(EB) those who plow evil(EC)
and those who sow trouble reap it.(ED)
9 At the breath of God(EE) they perish;
at the blast of his anger they are no more.(EF)
10 The lions may roar(EG) and growl,
yet the teeth of the great lions(EH) are broken.(EI)
11 The lion perishes for lack of prey,(EJ)
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.(EK)
12 “A word(EL) was secretly brought to me,
my ears caught a whisper(EM) of it.(EN)
13 Amid disquieting dreams in the night,
when deep sleep falls on people,(EO)
14 fear and trembling(EP) seized me
and made all my bones shake.(EQ)
15 A spirit glided past my face,
and the hair on my body stood on end.(ER)
16 It stopped,
but I could not tell what it was.
A form stood before my eyes,
and I heard a hushed voice:(ES)
17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God?(ET)
Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?(EU)
18 If God places no trust in his servants,(EV)
if he charges his angels with error,(EW)
19 how much more those who live in houses of clay,(EX)
whose foundations(EY) are in the dust,(EZ)
who are crushed(FA) more readily than a moth!(FB)
20 Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces;
unnoticed, they perish forever.(FC)
21 Are not the cords of their tent pulled up,(FD)
so that they die(FE) without wisdom?’(FF)
5 “Call if you will, but who will answer you?(FG)
To which of the holy ones(FH) will you turn?
2 Resentment(FI) kills a fool,
and envy slays the simple.(FJ)
3 I myself have seen(FK) a fool taking root,(FL)
but suddenly(FM) his house was cursed.(FN)
4 His children(FO) are far from safety,(FP)
crushed in court(FQ) without a defender.(FR)
5 The hungry consume his harvest,(FS)
taking it even from among thorns,
and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
6 For hardship does not spring from the soil,
nor does trouble sprout from the ground.(FT)
7 Yet man is born to trouble(FU)
as surely as sparks fly upward.
8 “But if I were you, I would appeal to God;
I would lay my cause before him.(FV)
9 He performs wonders(FW) that cannot be fathomed,(FX)
miracles that cannot be counted.(FY)
10 He provides rain for the earth;(FZ)
he sends water on the countryside.(GA)
11 The lowly he sets on high,(GB)
and those who mourn(GC) are lifted(GD) to safety.
12 He thwarts the plans(GE) of the crafty,
so that their hands achieve no success.(GF)
13 He catches the wise(GG) in their craftiness,(GH)
and the schemes of the wily are swept away.(GI)
14 Darkness(GJ) comes upon them in the daytime;
at noon they grope as in the night.(GK)
15 He saves the needy(GL) from the sword in their mouth;
he saves them from the clutches of the powerful.(GM)
16 So the poor(GN) have hope,
and injustice shuts its mouth.(GO)
17 “Blessed is the one whom God corrects;(GP)
so do not despise the discipline(GQ) of the Almighty.[g](GR)
18 For he wounds, but he also binds up;(GS)
he injures, but his hands also heal.(GT)
19 From six calamities he will rescue(GU) you;
in seven no harm will touch you.(GV)
20 In famine(GW) he will deliver you from death,
and in battle from the stroke of the sword.(GX)
21 You will be protected from the lash of the tongue,(GY)
and need not fear(GZ) when destruction comes.(HA)
22 You will laugh(HB) at destruction and famine,(HC)
and need not fear the wild animals.(HD)
23 For you will have a covenant(HE) with the stones(HF) of the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.(HG)
24 You will know that your tent is secure;(HH)
you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing.(HI)
25 You will know that your children will be many,(HJ)
and your descendants like the grass of the earth.(HK)
26 You will come to the grave in full vigor,(HL)
like sheaves gathered in season.(HM)
Job
6 Then Job replied:
2 “If only my anguish could be weighed
and all my misery be placed on the scales!(HP)
3 It would surely outweigh the sand(HQ) of the seas—
no wonder my words have been impetuous.(HR)
4 The arrows(HS) of the Almighty(HT) are in me,(HU)
my spirit drinks(HV) in their poison;(HW)
God’s terrors(HX) are marshaled against me.(HY)
5 Does a wild donkey(HZ) bray(IA) when it has grass,
or an ox bellow when it has fodder?(IB)
6 Is tasteless food eaten without salt,
or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow[h]?(IC)
7 I refuse to touch it;
such food makes me ill.(ID)
8 “Oh, that I might have my request,
that God would grant what I hope for,(IE)
9 that God would be willing to crush(IF) me,
to let loose his hand and cut off my life!(IG)
10 Then I would still have this consolation(IH)—
my joy in unrelenting pain(II)—
that I had not denied the words(IJ) of the Holy One.(IK)
11 “What strength do I have, that I should still hope?
What prospects, that I should be patient?(IL)
12 Do I have the strength of stone?
Is my flesh bronze?(IM)
13 Do I have any power to help myself,(IN)
now that success has been driven from me?
14 “Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend(IO)
forsakes the fear of the Almighty.(IP)
15 But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams,(IQ)
as the streams that overflow
16 when darkened by thawing ice
and swollen with melting snow,(IR)
17 but that stop flowing in the dry season,
and in the heat(IS) vanish from their channels.
18 Caravans turn aside from their routes;
they go off into the wasteland and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema(IT) look for water,
the traveling merchants of Sheba(IU) look in hope.
20 They are distressed, because they had been confident;
they arrive there, only to be disappointed.(IV)
21 Now you too have proved to be of no help;
you see something dreadful and are afraid.(IW)
22 Have I ever said, ‘Give something on my behalf,
pay a ransom(IX) for me from your wealth,(IY)
23 deliver me from the hand of the enemy,
rescue me from the clutches of the ruthless’?(IZ)
24 “Teach me, and I will be quiet;(JA)
show me where I have been wrong.(JB)
25 How painful are honest words!(JC)
But what do your arguments prove?
26 Do you mean to correct what I say,
and treat my desperate words as wind?(JD)
27 You would even cast lots(JE) for the fatherless(JF)
and barter away your friend.
28 “But now be so kind as to look at me.
Would I lie to your face?(JG)
29 Relent, do not be unjust;(JH)
reconsider, for my integrity(JI) is at stake.[i](JJ)
30 Is there any wickedness on my lips?(JK)
Can my mouth not discern(JL) malice?
7 “Do not mortals have hard service(JM) on earth?(JN)
Are not their days like those of hired laborers?(JO)
2 Like a slave longing for the evening shadows,(JP)
or a hired laborer waiting to be paid,(JQ)
3 so I have been allotted months of futility,
and nights of misery have been assigned to me.(JR)
4 When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’(JS)
The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.(JT)
5 My body is clothed with worms(JU) and scabs,
my skin is broken and festering.(JV)
6 “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,(JW)
and they come to an end without hope.(JX)
7 Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath;(JY)
my eyes will never see happiness again.(JZ)
8 The eye that now sees me will see me no longer;
you will look for me, but I will be no more.(KA)
9 As a cloud vanishes(KB) and is gone,
so one who goes down to the grave(KC) does not return.(KD)
10 He will never come to his house again;
his place(KE) will know him no more.(KF)
11 “Therefore I will not keep silent;(KG)
I will speak out in the anguish(KH) of my spirit,
I will complain(KI) in the bitterness of my soul.(KJ)
12 Am I the sea,(KK) or the monster of the deep,(KL)
that you put me under guard?(KM)
13 When I think my bed will comfort me
and my couch will ease my complaint,(KN)
14 even then you frighten me with dreams
and terrify(KO) me with visions,(KP)
15 so that I prefer strangling and death,(KQ)
rather than this body of mine.(KR)
16 I despise my life;(KS) I would not live forever.(KT)
Let me alone;(KU) my days have no meaning.(KV)
17 “What is mankind that you make so much of them,
that you give them so much attention,(KW)
18 that you examine them every morning(KX)
and test them(KY) every moment?(KZ)
19 Will you never look away from me,(LA)
or let me alone even for an instant?(LB)
20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you,(LC)
you who see everything we do?
Why have you made me your target?(LD)
Have I become a burden to you?[j](LE)
21 Why do you not pardon my offenses
and forgive my sins?(LF)
For I will soon lie down in the dust;(LG)
you will search for me, but I will be no more.”(LH)
Bildad
8 Then Bildad the Shuhite(LI) replied:
2 “How long will you say such things?(LJ)
Your words are a blustering wind.(LK)
3 Does God pervert justice?(LL)
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?(LM)
4 When your children sinned against him,
he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.(LN)
5 But if you will seek God earnestly
and plead(LO) with the Almighty,(LP)
6 if you are pure and upright,
even now he will rouse himself on your behalf(LQ)
and restore you to your prosperous state.(LR)
7 Your beginnings will seem humble,
so prosperous(LS) will your future be.(LT)
8 “Ask the former generation(LU)
and find out what their ancestors learned,
9 for we were born only yesterday and know nothing,(LV)
and our days on earth are but a shadow.(LW)
10 Will they not instruct(LX) you and tell you?
Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?(LY)
11 Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh?(LZ)
Can reeds(MA) thrive without water?
12 While still growing and uncut,
they wither more quickly than grass.(MB)
13 Such is the destiny(MC) of all who forget God;(MD)
so perishes the hope of the godless.(ME)
14 What they trust in is fragile[k];
what they rely on is a spider’s web.(MF)
15 They lean on the web,(MG) but it gives way;
they cling to it, but it does not hold.(MH)
16 They are like a well-watered plant in the sunshine,
spreading its shoots(MI) over the garden;(MJ)
17 it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks
and looks for a place among the stones.
18 But when it is torn from its spot,
that place disowns(MK) it and says, ‘I never saw you.’(ML)
19 Surely its life withers(MM) away,
and[l] from the soil other plants grow.(MN)
20 “Surely God does not reject one who is blameless(MO)
or strengthen the hands of evildoers.(MP)
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter(MQ)
and your lips with shouts of joy.(MR)
22 Your enemies will be clothed in shame,(MS)
and the tents(MT) of the wicked will be no more.”(MU)
Job
9 Then Job replied:
2 “Indeed, I know that this is true.
But how can mere mortals prove their innocence before God?(MV)
3 Though they wished to dispute with him,(MW)
they could not answer him one time out of a thousand.(MX)
4 His wisdom(MY) is profound, his power is vast.(MZ)
Who has resisted(NA) him and come out unscathed?(NB)
5 He moves mountains(NC) without their knowing it
and overturns them in his anger.(ND)
6 He shakes the earth(NE) from its place
and makes its pillars tremble.(NF)
7 He speaks to the sun and it does not shine;(NG)
he seals off the light of the stars.(NH)
8 He alone stretches out the heavens(NI)
and treads on the waves of the sea.(NJ)
9 He is the Maker(NK) of the Bear[m] and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.(NL)
10 He performs wonders(NM) that cannot be fathomed,
miracles that cannot be counted.(NN)
11 When he passes me, I cannot see him;
when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.(NO)
12 If he snatches away, who can stop him?(NP)
Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’(NQ)
13 God does not restrain his anger;(NR)
even the cohorts of Rahab(NS) cowered at his feet.
14 “How then can I dispute with him?
How can I find words to argue with him?(NT)
15 Though I were innocent, I could not answer him;(NU)
I could only plead(NV) with my Judge(NW) for mercy.(NX)
16 Even if I summoned him and he responded,
I do not believe he would give me a hearing.(NY)
17 He would crush me(NZ) with a storm(OA)
and multiply(OB) my wounds for no reason.(OC)
18 He would not let me catch my breath
but would overwhelm me with misery.(OD)
19 If it is a matter of strength, he is mighty!(OE)
And if it is a matter of justice, who can challenge him[n]?(OF)
20 Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me;
if I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty.(OG)
21 “Although I am blameless,(OH)
I have no concern for myself;(OI)
I despise my own life.(OJ)
22 It is all the same; that is why I say,
‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’(OK)
23 When a scourge(OL) brings sudden death,
he mocks the despair of the innocent.(OM)
24 When a land falls into the hands of the wicked,(ON)
he blindfolds its judges.(OO)
If it is not he, then who is it?(OP)
25 “My days are swifter than a runner;(OQ)
they fly away without a glimpse of joy.(OR)
26 They skim past(OS) like boats of papyrus,(OT)
like eagles swooping down on their prey.(OU)
27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,(OV)
I will change my expression, and smile,’
28 I still dread(OW) all my sufferings,
for I know you will not hold me innocent.(OX)
29 Since I am already found guilty,
why should I struggle in vain?(OY)
30 Even if I washed myself with soap(OZ)
and my hands(PA) with cleansing powder,(PB)
31 you would plunge me into a slime pit(PC)
so that even my clothes would detest me.(PD)
32 “He is not a mere mortal(PE) like me that I might answer him,(PF)
that we might confront each other in court.(PG)
33 If only there were someone to mediate between us,(PH)
someone to bring us together,(PI)
34 someone to remove God’s rod from me,(PJ)
so that his terror would frighten me no more.(PK)
35 Then I would speak up without fear of him,(PL)
but as it now stands with me, I cannot.(PM)
10 “I loathe my very life;(PN)
therefore I will give free rein to my complaint
and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.(PO)
2 I say to God:(PP) Do not declare me guilty,
but tell me what charges(PQ) you have against me.(PR)
3 Does it please you to oppress me,(PS)
to spurn the work of your hands,(PT)
while you smile on the plans of the wicked?(PU)
4 Do you have eyes of flesh?
Do you see as a mortal sees?(PV)
5 Are your days like those of a mortal
or your years like those of a strong man,(PW)
6 that you must search out my faults
and probe after my sin(PX)—
7 though you know that I am not guilty(PY)
and that no one can rescue me from your hand?(PZ)
8 “Your hands shaped(QA) me and made me.
Will you now turn and destroy me?(QB)
9 Remember that you molded me like clay.(QC)
Will you now turn me to dust again?(QD)
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese,
11 clothe me with skin and flesh
and knit me together(QE) with bones and sinews?
12 You gave me life(QF) and showed me kindness,(QG)
and in your providence(QH) watched over(QI) my spirit.
13 “But this is what you concealed in your heart,
and I know that this was in your mind:(QJ)
14 If I sinned, you would be watching me(QK)
and would not let my offense go unpunished.(QL)
15 If I am guilty(QM)—woe to me!(QN)
Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head,(QO)
for I am full of shame
and drowned in[o] my affliction.(QP)
16 If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion(QQ)
and again display your awesome power against me.(QR)
17 You bring new witnesses against me(QS)
and increase your anger toward me;(QT)
your forces come against me wave upon wave.(QU)
18 “Why then did you bring me out of the womb?(QV)
I wish I had died before any eye saw me.(QW)
19 If only I had never come into being,
or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!(QX)
20 Are not my few days(QY) almost over?(QZ)
Turn away from me(RA) so I can have a moment’s joy(RB)
21 before I go to the place of no return,(RC)
to the land of gloom and utter darkness,(RD)
22 to the land of deepest night,
of utter darkness(RE) and disorder,
where even the light is like darkness.”(RF)
Zophar
11 Then Zophar the Naamathite(RG) replied:
2 “Are all these words to go unanswered?(RH)
Is this talker to be vindicated?(RI)
3 Will your idle talk(RJ) reduce others to silence?
Will no one rebuke you when you mock?(RK)
4 You say to God, ‘My beliefs are flawless(RL)
and I am pure(RM) in your sight.’
5 Oh, how I wish that God would speak,(RN)
that he would open his lips against you
6 and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom,(RO)
for true wisdom has two sides.
Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.(RP)
Footnotes
- Job 1:6 Hebrew the sons of God
- Job 1:6 Hebrew satan means adversary.
- Job 1:21 Or will return there
- Job 2:1 Hebrew the sons of God
- Job 2:10 The Hebrew word rendered foolish denotes moral deficiency.
- Job 3:8 Or curse the sea
- Job 5:17 Hebrew Shaddai; here and throughout Job
- Job 6:6 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
- Job 6:29 Or my righteousness still stands
- Job 7:20 A few manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition and Septuagint; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text I have become a burden to myself.
- Job 8:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- Job 8:19 Or Surely all the joy it has / is that
- Job 9:9 Or of Leo
- Job 9:19 See Septuagint; Hebrew me.
- Job 10:15 Or and aware of
Job 1-11
English Standard Version
Job 1-11
English Standard Version
Job's Character and Wealth
1 There was a man in the land of (A)Uz whose name was (B)Job, and that man was (C)blameless and upright, one who (D)feared God and (E)turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him (F)seven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all (G)the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and (H)consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and (I)offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and (J)cursed[a] God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.
Satan Allowed to Test Job
6 Now there was a day when (K)the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and (L)Satan[b] also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From (M)going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you (N)considered my (O)servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, (P)a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put (Q)a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have (R)blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But (S)stretch out your hand and (T)touch all that he has, and he will (U)curse you (V)to your face.” 12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
Satan Takes Job's Property and Children
13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, 14 and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 and (W)the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants[c] with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, (X)“The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, (Y)“The Chaldeans formed (Z)three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, (AA)“Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, 19 and behold, a great wind came across (AB)the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
20 Then Job arose and (AC)tore his (AD)robe and (AE)shaved his head (AF)and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, (AG)“Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I (AH)return. The Lord (AI)gave, and the Lord has taken away; (AJ)blessed be the name of the Lord.”
22 (AK)In all this Job did not sin or charge God with (AL)wrong.
Satan Attacks Job's Health
2 Again (AM)there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still (AN)holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him (AO)without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But (AP)stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will (AQ)curse you to your face.” 6 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome (AR)sores from (AS)the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took (AT)a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in (AU)the ashes.
9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still (AV)hold fast your integrity? (AW)Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the (AX)foolish women would speak. (AY)Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”[d] (AZ)In all this Job did not (BA)sin with his lips.
Job's Three Friends
11 Now when Job's three (BB)friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz (BC)the Temanite, Bildad (BD)the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to (BE)show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they (BF)tore their robes and sprinkled (BG)dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground (BH)seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
Job Laments His Birth
3 After this Job (BI)opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said:
3 (BJ)“Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said,
‘A man is conceived.’
4 Let that day be darkness!
May God above not seek it,
nor light shine upon it.
5 Let gloom and (BK)deep darkness claim it.
Let clouds dwell upon it;
let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 That night—let thick darkness seize it!
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Behold, let that night be barren;
let no joyful cry enter it.
8 Let those curse it who curse the day,
who are ready to rouse up (BL)Leviathan.
9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it hope for light, but have none,
nor see (BM)the eyelids of the morning,
10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb,
nor hide trouble from my eyes.
11 “Why (BN)did I not die at birth,
come out from the womb and expire?
12 Why did (BO)the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,
14 with kings and counselors of the earth
who (BP)rebuilt ruins for themselves,
15 or with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver.
16 Or why was I not as a hidden (BQ)stillborn child,
as infants who never see the light?
17 There the wicked cease from troubling,
and there the weary are at (BR)rest.
18 There the prisoners are at ease together;
they hear not the voice of (BS)the taskmaster.
19 The small and the great are there,
and the slave is free from his master.
20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery,
and life to (BT)the bitter in soul,
21 who (BU)long for death, but it comes not,
and dig for it more than for (BV)hidden treasures,
22 who rejoice exceedingly
and are glad when they find the grave?
23 Why is light given to a man whose (BW)way is hidden,
whom God has (BX)hedged in?
24 For my sighing comes (BY)instead of[e] my bread,
and my (BZ)groanings are poured out like water.
25 (CA)For the thing that I fear comes upon me,
and what I dread befalls me.
26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, but trouble comes.”
Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prosper
4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
Yet who can keep from speaking?
3 Behold, you have instructed many,
and you have (CB)strengthened the weak hands.
4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,
and you have (CC)made firm the feeble knees.
5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
it touches you, and you are dismayed.
6 (CD)Is not your fear of God[f] your (CE)confidence,
and the integrity of your ways your hope?
7 “Remember: (CF)who that was innocent ever perished?
Or where were the upright cut off?
8 As I have seen, those who (CG)plow iniquity
and sow trouble reap the same.
9 By (CH)the breath of God they perish,
and by (CI)the blast of his anger they are consumed.
10 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,
(CJ)the teeth of the young lions are broken.
11 The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12 “Now a word was brought to me stealthily;
my ear received (CK)the whisper of it.
13 Amid (CL)thoughts from (CM)visions of the night,
when (CN)deep sleep falls on men,
14 dread came upon me, and trembling,
which made all my bones shake.
15 A spirit glided past my face;
the hair of my flesh stood up.
16 It stood still,
but I could not discern its appearance.
(CO)A form was before my eyes;
there was silence, then I heard (CP)a voice:
17 (CQ)‘Can mortal man be in the right before[g] God?
Can a man be pure before his Maker?
18 Even in his servants (CR)he puts no trust,
and his angels he charges with error;
19 how much more those who dwell in houses of (CS)clay,
whose foundation is in (CT)the dust,
who are crushed like[h] (CU)the moth.
20 Between (CV)morning and evening they are beaten to pieces;
they perish forever (CW)without anyone regarding it.
21 Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them,
(CX)do they not die, and that without wisdom?’
5 “Call now; is there anyone who will answer you?
To which of (CY)the holy ones will you turn?
2 Surely vexation kills the fool,
and jealousy slays the simple.
3 (CZ)I have seen the fool taking root,
but suddenly I cursed his dwelling.
4 His children are (DA)far from safety;
they are crushed in (DB)the gate,
and there is no one to deliver them.
5 The hungry eat his harvest,
and he takes it even out of thorns,[i]
and the thirsty pant[j] after his[k] wealth.
6 For affliction does not come from the dust,
nor does trouble sprout from the ground,
7 but man is (DC)born to trouble
as the sparks fly upward.
8 “As for me, I would seek God,
and to God would I commit my cause,
9 who (DD)does great things and (DE)unsearchable,
(DF)marvelous things without number:
10 he gives (DG)rain on the earth
and sends waters on the fields;
11 he (DH)sets on high those who are lowly,
and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12 He (DI)frustrates the devices of the crafty,
so that their hands achieve no success.
13 He (DJ)catches the wise in their own craftiness,
and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.
14 They meet with darkness in the daytime
and (DK)grope at noonday as in the night.
15 But he (DL)saves the needy from the sword of their mouth
and from the hand of the mighty.
16 So the poor have hope,
and (DM)injustice shuts her mouth.
17 “Behold, (DN)blessed is the one whom God reproves;
therefore (DO)despise not the discipline of the (DP)Almighty.
18 For he wounds, but he (DQ)binds up;
he (DR)shatters, but his hands heal.
19 He will (DS)deliver you from six troubles;
in seven no (DT)evil[l] shall touch you.
20 (DU)In famine he will redeem you from death,
and in war from the power of the sword.
21 You shall be (DV)hidden from the lash of the tongue,
and shall not fear destruction when it comes.
22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh,
and shall not fear (DW)the beasts of the earth.
23 For you shall be in league with the stones of the field,
and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.
24 You shall know that your (DX)tent is at peace,
and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.
25 You shall know also that your (DY)offspring shall be many,
and your descendants as (DZ)the grass of the earth.
26 You shall come to your grave in (EA)ripe old age,
like a sheaf gathered up in its season.
27 Behold, this we have (EB)searched out; it is true.
Hear, and know it for your good.”[m]
Job Replies: My Complaint Is Just
6 Then Job answered and said:
2 “Oh that my vexation were weighed,
and all my calamity laid in the balances!
3 For then it would be heavier than (EC)the sand of the sea;
therefore my words have been rash.
4 For (ED)the arrows of the Almighty are in me;
my spirit drinks their poison;
the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
5 Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass,
or the ox low over his fodder?
6 Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt,
or is there any taste in the juice of the mallow?[n]
7 My appetite refuses to touch them;
they are as food that is loathsome to me.[o]
8 “Oh that I might have my request,
and that God would fulfill my hope,
9 that it would (EE)please God to crush me,
that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!
10 This would be my comfort;
I would even exult[p] in pain (EF)unsparing,
for I have not denied the words of (EG)the Holy One.
11 What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should be patient?
12 Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze?
13 Have I any help in me,
when resource is driven from me?
14 “He who (EH)withholds[q] kindness from a (EI)friend
forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
15 My (EJ)brothers are (EK)treacherous as a torrent-bed,
as torrential (EL)streams that pass away,
16 which are dark with ice,
and where the snow hides itself.
17 When they melt, they disappear;
when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
18 The caravans turn aside from their course;
they go up into (EM)the waste and perish.
19 The caravans of (EN)Tema look,
the travelers of (EO)Sheba hope.
20 They are (EP)ashamed because they were confident;
they come there and are (EQ)disappointed.
21 For you have now become nothing;
you see my calamity and are afraid.
22 Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’?
Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’?
23 Or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary's hand’?
Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of (ER)the ruthless’?
24 “Teach me, and I will be silent;
make me understand how I have gone astray.
25 How forceful are upright words!
But what does reproof from you reprove?
26 Do you think that you can reprove words,
when the speech of a despairing man is (ES)wind?
27 You would even (ET)cast lots over the fatherless,
and bargain over your friend.
28 “But now, be pleased to look at me,
for I will not lie to your face.
29 (EU)Please turn; let no injustice be done.
Turn now; my vindication is at stake.
30 Is there any injustice on my tongue?
Cannot my palate discern the cause of calamity?
Job Continues: My Life Has No Hope
7 “Has not man (EV)a hard service on earth,
and are not his (EW)days like the days of a hired hand?
2 Like a slave who longs for (EX)the shadow,
and like (EY)a hired hand who looks for his (EZ)wages,
3 so I am allotted months of (FA)emptiness,
(FB)and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
4 (FC)When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’
But the night is long,
and I am full of tossing till the dawn.
5 My flesh is clothed with (FD)worms and (FE)dirt;
my skin hardens, then (FF)breaks out afresh.
6 My days are (FG)swifter than (FH)a weaver's shuttle
and come to their end without hope.
7 “Remember that my life is a (FI)breath;
my eye will never again see good.
8 (FJ)The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;
while your eyes are on me, (FK)I shall be gone.
9 As (FL)the cloud fades and vanishes,
so he who (FM)goes down to Sheol does not come up;
10 he (FN)returns no more to his house,
nor does his (FO)place know him anymore.
11 “Therefore I will not (FP)restrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will (FQ)complain in (FR)the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I the sea, or (FS)a sea monster,
that you set a guard over me?
13 (FT)When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
my couch will ease my complaint,’
14 then you scare me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
15 so that I would choose strangling
and death rather than my (FU)bones.
16 I (FV)loathe my life; I would not live forever.
(FW)Leave me alone, for my days are (FX)a breath.
17 (FY)What is man, that you make so much of him,
and that you set your heart on him,
18 (FZ)visit him every morning
and (GA)test him every moment?
19 How long will you not (GB)look away from me,
nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
20 If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?
Why have you made me (GC)your mark?
Why have I become a burden to you?
21 Why do you not pardon my transgression
and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in (GD)the earth;
you will (GE)seek me, (GF)but I shall not be.”
Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent
8 Then (GG)Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 “How long will you say these things,
and the words of your mouth be a (GH)great wind?
3 (GI)Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
4 If your (GJ)children have sinned against him,
he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
5 If you will seek God
and (GK)plead with the Almighty for mercy,
6 if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will (GL)rouse himself for you
and (GM)restore your rightful habitation.
7 And though your beginning was small,
(GN)your latter days will be very great.
8 “For (GO)inquire, please, of bygone ages,
and consider what (GP)the fathers have searched out.
9 For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,
for our days on earth are (GQ)a shadow.
10 Will they not teach you and tell you
and utter words out of their understanding?
11 “Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
12 While yet in flower and not cut down,
they (GR)wither before any other plant.
13 Such are the paths of all who (GS)forget God;
(GT)the hope of (GU)the godless shall perish.
14 His confidence is severed,
and his trust is (GV)a spider's web.[r]
15 He leans against his (GW)house, but it does not stand;
he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.
16 He is a lush plant before the sun,
and his (GX)shoots spread over his garden.
17 His roots entwine the stone heap;
he looks upon a house of stones.
18 If he is destroyed from his (GY)place,
then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never (GZ)seen you.’
19 Behold, this is the joy of his way,
and out of (HA)the soil others will spring.
20 “Behold, God will not reject a blameless man,
nor take the hand of evildoers.
21 He will yet (HB)fill your mouth with laughter,
and your lips with shouting.
22 Those who hate you will be (HC)clothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”
Job Replies: There Is No Arbiter
9 Then Job answered and said:
2 “Truly I know that it is so:
But how can a man be (HD)in the right before God?
3 If one wished to (HE)contend with him,
one could not answer him once in a thousand times.
4 He is (HF)wise in heart and mighty in strength
—who has (HG)hardened himself against him, and succeeded?—
5 he who removes mountains, and they know it not,
when he overturns them in his anger,
6 who (HH)shakes the earth out of its place,
and (HI)its pillars tremble;
7 who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
who seals up the stars;
8 who alone (HJ)stretched out the heavens
and trampled the waves of the sea;
9 who (HK)made (HL)the Bear and (HM)Orion,
the Pleiades (HN)and the chambers of the south;
10 who does (HO)great things beyond searching out,
and marvelous things beyond number.
11 Behold, he passes by me, and I (HP)see him not;
he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
12 Behold, he snatches away; (HQ)who can turn him back?
(HR)Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
13 “God will not turn back his anger;
beneath him bowed the helpers of (HS)Rahab.
14 (HT)How then can I (HU)answer him,
choosing my words with him?
15 (HV)Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him;
I must (HW)appeal for mercy to my accuser.[s]
16 If I summoned him and he answered me,
I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
17 For he crushes me with a tempest
and multiplies my wounds (HX)without cause;
18 he will not let me get my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.
19 If it is a contest of (HY)strength, behold, he is mighty!
If it is a matter of justice, who can (HZ)summon him?[t]
20 Though I am in the right, (IA)my own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
21 I am (IB)blameless; I regard not myself;
I (IC)loathe my life.
22 It is all one; therefore I say,
‘He (ID)destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
23 When (IE)disaster brings sudden death,
he mocks at the calamity[u] of the innocent.
24 (IF)The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
he (IG)covers the faces of its judges—
(IH)if it is not he, who then is it?
25 “My (II)days are swifter than (IJ)a runner;
they flee away; they see no good.
26 They go by like (IK)skiffs of reed,
like (IL)an eagle swooping on the prey.
27 If I say, (IM)‘I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad face, and (IN)be of good cheer,’
28 I become (IO)afraid of all my suffering,
for I know you will not (IP)hold me innocent.
29 I shall be (IQ)condemned;
why then do I labor in vain?
30 If I wash myself with snow
and (IR)cleanse my hands with lye,
31 yet you will plunge me into a pit,
and my own clothes will (IS)abhor me.
32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should (IT)come to trial together.
33 (IU)There is no[v] arbiter between us,
who might lay his hand on us both.
34 (IV)Let him take his (IW)rod away from me,
and let (IX)not dread of him terrify me.
35 Then I would speak without fear of him,
for I am not so in myself.
Job Continues: A Plea to God
10 “I (IY)loathe my life;
I will give free utterance to my (IZ)complaint;
I will speak in (JA)the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God, Do not (JB)condemn me;
let me know why you (JC)contend against me.
3 (JD)Does it seem good to you to oppress,
to despise (JE)the work of your hands
(JF)and favor the designs of the wicked?
4 Have you (JG)eyes of flesh?
(JH)Do you see as man sees?
5 Are your days as the days of man,
or your (JI)years as a man's years,
6 that you (JJ)seek out my iniquity
and search for my sin,
7 although you (JK)know that I am not guilty,
and there is (JL)none to deliver out of your hand?
8 (JM)Your hands fashioned and made me,
and now you have destroyed me altogether.
9 Remember that you have made me like (JN)clay;
and will you return me to the (JO)dust?
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You have granted me life and steadfast love,
and your care has preserved my spirit.
13 Yet these things you hid in your heart;
I know that (JP)this was your purpose.
14 If I sin, you (JQ)watch me
and do not (JR)acquit me of my iniquity.
15 (JS)If I am guilty, woe to me!
If I am (JT)in the right, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace
and (JU)look on my affliction.
16 And were my head lifted up,[w] you would hunt me like (JV)a lion
and again work (JW)wonders against me.
17 You renew your (JX)witnesses against me
and increase your vexation toward me;
you (JY)bring fresh troops against me.
18 (JZ)“Why did you bring me out from the womb?
Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
19 (KA)and were as though I had not been,
carried from the womb to the grave.
20 (KB)Are not my days few?
(KC)Then cease, and leave me alone, (KD)that I may find a little cheer
21 before I go—and (KE)I shall not return—
to the land of (KF)darkness and (KG)deep shadow,
22 the land of gloom like thick darkness,
like deep shadow without any order,
where light is as thick darkness.”
Zophar Speaks: You Deserve Worse
11 Then (KH)Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
2 “Should (KI)a multitude of words go unanswered,
and a man full of talk be judged right?
3 Should your babble silence men,
and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
4 For (KJ)you say, ‘My (KK)doctrine is pure,
and I am clean in God's[x] eyes.’
5 But oh, that God would speak
and open his lips to you,
6 and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!
For he is manifold in (KL)understanding.[y]
Know then that God (KM)exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.
7 (KN)“Can you find out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
8 It is (KO)higher than heaven[z]—what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
9 Its measure is longer than the earth
and broader than the sea.
10 If he (KP)passes through and (KQ)imprisons
and summons the court, who can (KR)turn him back?
11 For he knows (KS)worthless men;
when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?
Footnotes
- Job 1:5 The Hebrew word bless is used euphemistically for curse in 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9
- Job 1:6 Hebrew the Accuser or the Adversary; so throughout chapters 1–2
- Job 1:15 Hebrew the young men; also verses 16, 17
- Job 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11
- Job 3:24 Or like; Hebrew before
- Job 4:6 Hebrew lacks of God
- Job 4:17 Or more than; twice in this verse
- Job 4:19 Or before
- Job 5:5 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
- Job 5:5 Aquila, Symmachus, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew could be read as and the snare pants
- Job 5:5 Hebrew their
- Job 5:19 Or disaster
- Job 5:27 Hebrew for yourself
- Job 6:6 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
- Job 6:7 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
- Job 6:10 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
- Job 6:14 Syriac, Vulgate (compare Targum); the meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
- Job 8:14 Hebrew house
- Job 9:15 Or to my judge
- Job 9:19 Or who can grant me a hearing?
- Job 9:23 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
- Job 9:33 Or Would that there were an
- Job 10:16 Hebrew lacks my head
- Job 11:4 Hebrew your
- Job 11:6 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
- Job 11:8 Hebrew The heights of heaven
Job 1-21
New American Standard Bible
Job 1-21
New American Standard Bible
Job’s Character and Wealth
1 There was a man in the (A)land of Uz whose name was (B)Job; and that man was (C)blameless, upright, (D)fearing God and (E)turning away from evil. 2 (F)Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. 3 (G)His possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and very many servants; and that man was (H)the greatest of all the [a]men of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send word and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send word to them and consecrate them, getting up early in the morning and offering (I)burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “(J)Perhaps my sons have sinned and (K)cursed God in their hearts.” Job did so continually.
6 (L)Now there was a day when the [b](M)sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and [c]Satan also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “(N)From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” 8 The Lord said to Satan, “Have you [d]considered (O)My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, (P)a blameless and upright man, [e]fearing God and turning away from evil.” 9 Then (Q)Satan answered the [f]Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 (R)Have You not made a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? (S)You have blessed the work of his hands, and his (T)possessions have increased in the land. 11 (U)But reach out with Your hand now and (V)touch all that he has; he will certainly curse You to Your face.” 12 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your [g]power; only do not reach out and put your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.
Satan Allowed to Test Job
13 Now on the day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the female donkeys feeding beside them, 15 and [h]the (W)Sabeans [i]attacked and took them. They also [j]killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and [k]I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “(X)The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The (Y)Chaldeans formed three units and made a raid on the camels and took them, and [l]killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
20 Then Job got up, (Z)tore his robe, and shaved his head; then he fell to the ground and worshiped. 21 He said,
“(AA)Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked I shall return there.
The (AB)Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
22 (AC)Despite all this, Job did not sin, nor did he [m]blame God.
Job Loses His Health
2 (AD)Again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and [n]Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. 2 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” 3 The Lord said to Satan, “Have you [o]considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man [p]fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still (AE)holds firm to his integrity, although you incited Me against him to [q]ruin him without cause.” 4 Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has, he will give for his life. 5 (AF)However, reach out with Your hand now, and (AG)touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face!” 6 So the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your [r]power, only spare his life.”
7 Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with (AH)severe boils from the sole of his foot to the top of his head. 8 And Job took a piece of pottery to scrape himself while (AI)he was sitting in the ashes.
9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold firm your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 But he said to her, “You are speaking as one of the foolish women speaks. (AJ)Shall we actually accept good from God but not accept adversity?” (AK)Despite all this, Job did not sin with his lips.
11 Now when Job’s three friends heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, they came, each one from his own place—Eliphaz the (AL)Temanite, Bildad the (AM)Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to (AN)sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they [s]looked from a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them (AO)tore his robe, and they (AP)threw dust over their heads toward the sky. 13 (AQ)Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.
Job’s Lament
3 Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed [t]the day of his birth. 2 And Job [u]said,
3 “(AR)May the day on which I was to be born perish,
As well as the night which said, ‘A [v]boy is conceived.’
4 May that day be darkness;
May God above not care for it,
Nor light shine on it.
5 May (AS)darkness and black gloom claim it;
May a cloud settle on it;
May the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 As for that night, may darkness seize it;
May it not rejoice among the days of the year;
May it not come into the number of the months.
7 Behold, may that night be barren;
May no joyful shout enter it.
8 May those curse it who curse the day,
Who are [w]prepared to (AT)disturb Leviathan.
9 May the stars of its twilight be darkened;
May it wait for light but have none,
And may it not see the [x]breaking dawn;
10 Because it did not shut the opening of my mother’s womb,
Or hide trouble from my eyes.
11 “(AU)Why did I not die [y]at birth,
Come out of the womb and pass away?
12 Why were the knees there in front of me,
And why the breasts, that I would nurse?
13 For now I (AV)would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept then, I would have been at rest,
14 With (AW)kings and (AX)counselors of the earth,
Who rebuilt (AY)ruins for themselves;
15 Or with (AZ)rulers (BA)who had gold,
Who were filling their houses with silver.
16 Or like a miscarriage which is [z]hidden, I would not exist,
As infants that never saw light.
17 There the wicked cease from raging,
And there the [aa]weary are at (BB)rest.
18 The prisoners are at ease together;
They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.
19 The small and the great are there,
And the slave is free from his master.
20 “Why is (BC)light given to one burdened with grief,
And life to the bitter of soul,
21 Who [ab](BD)long for death, but there is none,
And dig for it more than for (BE)hidden treasures;
22 Who are filled with jubilation,
And rejoice when they find the grave?
23 Why is light given to a man (BF)whose way is hidden,
And whom (BG)God has shut off?
24 For (BH)my groaning comes at the sight of my food,
And (BI)my cries pour out like water.
25 For [ac](BJ)what I fear comes upon me,
And what I dread [ad]encounters me.
26 I (BK)am not at ease, nor am I quiet,
And I am not at rest, but turmoil comes.”
Eliphaz Says the Innocent Do Not Suffer
4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded,
2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you become impatient?
But (BL)who can refrain [ae]from speaking?
3 Behold, (BM)you have taught many,
And you have strengthened weak hands.
4 Your words have helped the stumbling to stand,
And you have strengthened [af]feeble knees.
5 But now it comes to you, and you (BN)are impatient;
It (BO)touches you, and you are horrified.
6 Is your [ag](BP)fear of God not (BQ)your confidence,
And the integrity of your ways your hope?
7 “Remember now, (BR)who ever perished being innocent?
Or where were the upright destroyed?
8 According to what I have seen, (BS)those who [ah]plow wrongdoing
And those who sow trouble harvest it.
9 By (BT)the breath of God they perish,
And (BU)by the [ai]blast of His anger they come to an end.
10 The (BV)roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion,
And the teeth of the young lions are broken out.
11 The (BW)lion perishes for lack of prey,
And the (BX)cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12 “Now a word (BY)was brought to me secretly,
And my ear received a (BZ)whisper of it.
13 Amid disquieting (CA)thoughts from visions of the night,
When deep sleep falls on people,
14 Dread came upon me, and trembling,
And made [aj]all my bones shake.
15 Then a [ak]spirit passed by my face;
The hair of my flesh stood up.
16 Something was standing still, but I could not recognize its appearance;
A form was before my eyes;
There was silence, then I heard a voice:
17 ‘Can (CB)mankind be righteous [al]before God?
Can a man be pure [am]before his (CC)Maker?
18 (CD)He puts no trust even in His servants;
And He accuses His angels of error.
19 How much more those who live in (CE)houses of clay,
Whose (CF)foundation is in the dust,
Who are crushed before the moth!
20 (CG)Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces;
Unregarded, they (CH)perish forever.
21 Is their (CI)tent-cord not pulled out within them?
They die, yet (CJ)without wisdom.’
God Is Just
5 “Call now, is there anyone who will answer you?
And to which of the (CK)holy ones will you turn?
2 For (CL)irritation kills the fool,
And jealousy brings death to the simple.
3 I have seen the (CM)fool taking root,
And I (CN)cursed his home immediately.
4 His (CO)sons are far from safety,
They are also [an]oppressed at the gate,
And there is no one to save them.
5 [ao]The hungry devour his harvest
And take it to a place of thorns,
And the [ap](CP)schemer is eager for their wealth.
6 For (CQ)disaster does not come from the dust,
Nor does trouble sprout from the ground,
7 For (CR)man is born for trouble,
As sparks fly upward.
8 “But as for me, I would (CS)seek God,
And I would make my plea before God,
9 Who (CT)does great and unsearchable things,
[aq]Wonders without number.
10 He (CU)gives rain on the earth,
And sends water on the fields,
11 So that (CV)He sets on high those who are lowly,
And those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12 He (CW)frustrates the schemes of the shrewd,
So that their hands cannot attain success.
13 He (CX)captures the wise by their own cleverness,
And the advice of the cunning is quickly thwarted.
14 By day they (CY)meet with darkness,
And grope at noon as in the night.
15 But He saves from (CZ)the sword of their mouth,
And (DA)the poor from the hand of the strong.
16 So the helpless has hope,
And (DB)injustice has shut its mouth.
17 “Behold, (DC)happy is the person whom God disciplines,
So do not reject the (DD)discipline of [ar]the Almighty.
18 For (DE)He inflicts pain, and [as]gives relief;
He wounds, but His hands also heal.
19 In six troubles (DF)He will save you;
Even in seven, (DG)evil will not touch you.
20 In (DH)famine He will redeem you from death,
And (DI)in war, from the power of the sword.
21 You will be (DJ)hidden [at]from the scourge of the tongue,
(DK)And you will not be afraid of violence when it comes.
22 You will (DL)laugh at violence and hunger,
(DM)And you will not be afraid of [au]wild animals.
23 For you will be in league with the stones of the field,
And (DN)the animals of the field will be at peace with you.
24 You will know that your (DO)tent is secure,
For you will visit your home and [av]have nothing missing.
25 You will also know that your [aw](DP)descendants will be many,
And (DQ)your offspring as the grass of the earth.
26 You will (DR)come to the grave at a ripe age,
Like the stacking of grain in its season.
27 Behold this; we have investigated it, and so it is.
Hear it, and know for yourself.”
Job’s Friends Are No Help
6 Then Job responded,
2 “(DS)Oh if only my grief were actually weighed
And laid in the balances together with my disaster!
3 For then it would be (DT)heavier than the sand of the seas;
For that reason my words have been rash.
4 For the (DU)arrows of the Almighty are within me,
[ax]My spirit drinks their (DV)poison;
The (DW)terrors of God line up against me.
5 Does the (DX)wild donkey bray over his grass,
Or does the ox low over his feed?
6 Can something tasteless be eaten without salt,
Or is there any taste in the [ay]juice of an alkanet plant?
7 My soul (DY)refuses to touch them;
They are like loathsome food to me.
8 “Oh, that my request might come to pass,
And that God would grant my hope!
9 Oh, that God would (DZ)decide to crush me,
That He would let loose His hand and cut me off!
10 But it is still my comfort,
And I rejoice in unsparing pain,
That I (EA)have not [az]denied the words of the Holy One.
11 What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should [ba](EB)endure?
12 Is my strength the strength of stones,
Or is my flesh bronze?
13 Is it that my (EC)help is not within me,
And that a (ED)good outcome is driven away from me?
14 “For the (EE)despairing man there should be kindness from his friend;
So that he does not (EF)abandon the [bb]fear of the Almighty.
15 My brothers have acted (EG)deceitfully like a [bc]wadi,
Like the torrents of [bd]wadis which drain away,
16 Which are darkened because of ice,
And into which the snow [be]melts.
17 When (EH)they dry up, they vanish;
When it is hot, they disappear from their place.
18 The [bf]paths of their course wind along,
They go up into wasteland and perish.
19 The caravans of (EI)Tema looked,
The travelers of (EJ)Sheba hoped for them.
20 They (EK)were put to shame, for they had trusted,
They came there and were humiliated.
21 Indeed, you have now become such,
(EL)You see terrors and are afraid.
22 Have I said, ‘Give me something,’
Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth,’
23 Or, ‘Save me from the hand of the enemy,’
Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the tyrants’?
24 “Teach me, and (EM)I will be silent;
And show me how I have done wrong.
25 How painful are honest words!
But what does your argument prove?
26 Do you intend to rebuke my words,
When the (EN)words of one in despair belong to the wind?
27 You would even (EO)cast lots for (EP)the orphans,
And (EQ)barter over your friend.
28 Now please look at me,
And see if I am (ER)lying to your face.
29 Please turn away, let there be no injustice;
Turn away, (ES)my righteousness is still in it.
30 Is there injustice on my tongue?
Does (ET)my palate not discern disasters?
Job’s Life Seems Futile
7 “[bg]Is a person not (EU)forced to labor on earth,
And are his days not like the days of (EV)a hired worker?
2 As a slave pants for the shade,
And as a hired worker who eagerly waits for his wages,
3 So I am allotted worthless months,
And (EW)nights of trouble are apportioned to me.
4 When I (EX)lie down, I say,
‘When shall I arise?’
But the night continues,
And I am continually tossing until dawn.
5 My (EY)flesh is clothed with maggots and a crust of dirt,
My skin hardens and [bh]oozes.
6 My days are (EZ)swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
And they come to an end (FA)without hope.
7 “Remember that my life (FB)is a mere breath;
My eye will (FC)not see goodness again.
8 The (FD)eye of him who sees me will no longer look at me;
Your eyes will be on me, but (FE)I will not exist.
9 When a (FF)cloud vanishes, it is gone;
In the same way (FG)one who goes down to [bi](FH)Sheol does not come up.
10 He will not return to his house again,
Nor will (FI)his place know about him anymore.
11 “Therefore (FJ)I will not restrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit,
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I the sea, or (FK)the sea monster,
That You set a guard over me?
13 If I say, ‘(FL)My couch will comfort me,
My bed will [bj]ease my complaint,’
14 Then You frighten me with dreams,
And terrify me by visions,
15 So that my soul would choose suffocation,
Death rather than my [bk]pains.
16 I [bl](FM)waste away; I will not live forever.
Leave me alone, (FN)for my days are only a breath.
17 (FO)What is man that You exalt him,
And that You [bm]are concerned about him,
18 That (FP)You examine him every morning
And put him to the test every moment?
19 [bn](FQ)Will You never turn Your gaze away from me,
Nor leave me alone until I swallow my spittle?
20 (FR)Have I sinned? What have I done to You,
(FS)Watcher of mankind?
Why have You made me Your target,
So that I am a burden to myself?
21 Why then (FT)do You not forgive my wrongdoing
And take away my [bo]guilt?
For now I will (FU)lie down in the dust;
And You will search for me, (FV)but I will no longer exist.”
Bildad Says God Rewards the Good
8 Then Bildad the Shuhite responded,
2 “How long will you say these things,
And the (FW)words of your mouth be a mighty wind?
3 Does (FX)God pervert justice?
Or does [bp]the Almighty pervert what is right?
4 (FY)If your sons sinned against Him,
Then He turned them over to the [bq]power of their wrongdoing.
5 If you will (FZ)search for God
And implore the compassion of [br]the Almighty,
6 If you are pure and upright,
Surely now (GA)He will stir Himself for you
And restore your righteous [bs](GB)estate.
7 Though your beginning was insignificant,
Yet your (GC)end will increase greatly.
8 “Please (GD)inquire of past generations,
And consider the things searched out by their fathers.
9 For we are only of yesterday and know nothing,
Because (GE)our days on earth are as a shadow.
10 Will they not teach you and tell you,
And bring forth words from their minds?
11 “Can papyrus grow tall without a marsh?
Can the rushes grow without water?
12 While it is still green and not cut down,
Yet it withers before any other [bt]plant.
13 So are the paths of (GF)all who forget God;
And the (GG)hope of the godless will perish,
14 His confidence is fragile,
And his trust is a (GH)spider’s [bu]web.
15 He depends on his (GI)house, but it does not stand;
He holds on to it, but it does not endure.
16 He (GJ)flourishes before the sun,
And his (GK)shoots spread out over his garden.
17 His roots wrap around a rock pile,
He [bv]grasps a house of stones.
18 If he is [bw]removed from (GL)his place,
Then it will deny him, saying, ‘(GM)I never saw you.’
19 Behold, (GN)this is the joy of His way;
And out of the dust others will spring.
20 Behold, (GO)God will not reject a person of integrity,
Nor (GP)will He [bx]help evildoers.
21 He will yet fill (GQ)your mouth with laughter,
And your lips with joyful shouting.
22 Those who hate you will be (GR)clothed with shame,
And the (GS)tent of the wicked will no longer exist.”
Job Says There Is No Arbitrator between God and Mankind
9 Then Job responded,
2 “In truth I know that this is so;
But how can a (GT)person be in the right with God?
3 If one wished to (GU)dispute with Him,
He could not answer Him once in a thousand times.
4 (GV)Wise in heart and (GW)mighty in strength,
Who has [by](GX)defied Him [bz]without harm?
5 (GY)It is God who removes the mountains, and they do not know how,
When He overturns them in His anger.
6 It is He who (GZ)shakes the earth from its place,
And its (HA)pillars tremble;
7 Who commands the (HB)sun [ca]not to shine,
And puts a seal on the stars;
8 Who alone (HC)stretches out the heavens,
And [cb](HD)tramples down the waves of the sea;
9 Who makes the (HE)Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,
And the [cc](HF)constellations of the south.
10 It is He who (HG)does great things, [cd]the unfathomable,
And wondrous works without number.
11 If He were to pass by me, (HH)I would not see Him;
Were He to move past me, I would not perceive Him.
12 If He were to snatch away, who could (HI)restrain Him?
Who could say to Him, ‘(HJ)What are You doing?’
13 “God will not turn back His anger;
Beneath Him the helpers of [ce](HK)Rahab cower.
14 How then can (HL)I [cf]answer Him,
And choose my words [cg]before Him?
15 For (HM)though I were right, I could not [ch]answer;
I would have to (HN)implore the mercy of my Judge.
16 If I called and He answered me,
I could not believe that He was listening to my voice.
17 For He (HO)bruises me with a storm
And multiplies my wounds without cause.
18 He will (HP)not allow me to get my breath,
But He saturates me with (HQ)bitterness.
19 If it is a matter of power, (HR)behold, He is the strong one!
And if it is a matter of justice, who can summon [ci]Him?
20 (HS)Though I am righteous, my mouth will (HT)condemn me;
Though I am guiltless, He will declare me guilty.
21 I am (HU)guiltless;
I do not take notice of myself;
I (HV)reject my life.
22 It is all one; therefore I say,
‘He (HW)destroys the guiltless and the wicked.’
23 If the whip kills suddenly,
He (HX)mocks the despair of the innocent.
24 The earth (HY)is handed over to the wicked;
He (HZ)covers the faces of its judges.
If it is not He, then who is it?
25 “Now (IA)my days are swifter than a runner;
They flee away, (IB)they see no good.
26 They slip by like (IC)reed boats,
Like an (ID)eagle that swoops on [cj]its prey.
27 Though I say, ‘I will forget (IE)my complaint,
I will [ck]put my face in order and be cheerful,’
28 I am (IF)afraid of all my pains,
I know that (IG)You will not acquit me.
29 I am (IH)guilty,
Why then should I struggle in vain?
30 If I (II)washed myself with snow,
And cleansed (IJ)my hands with lye,
31 Then You would plunge me into the pit,
And my own clothes would loathe me.
32 For (IK)He is not a man, as I am, that (IL)I may answer Him—
That we may go to [cl]court together!
33 There is no (IM)arbitrator between us,
Who can place his hand upon us both.
34 Let Him (IN)remove His rod from me,
And let not the dread of Him terrify me.
35 Then I (IO)would speak and not fear Him;
But I am not like that in myself.
Job Despairs of God’s Dealings
10 “[cm](IP)I am disgusted with my own life;
I will express (IQ)my complaint freely;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God, ‘(IR)Do not condemn me;
Let me know why You contend with me.
3 Is it [cn]right for You indeed to (IS)oppress,
To reject (IT)the work of Your hands,
And [co]to look favorably on (IU)the plan of the wicked?
4 Do You have eyes of flesh?
Or do You (IV)see as mankind sees?
5 Are Your days like the days of a mortal,
Or (IW)Your years like a man’s year,
6 That (IX)You should search for my guilt
And carefully seek my sin?
7 According to Your knowledge (IY)I am indeed not guilty,
Yet there is (IZ)no one to save me from Your hand.
8 ‘(JA)Your hands fashioned and made me [cp]altogether,
(JB)Yet would You destroy me?
9 Remember that You have made me as (JC)clay;
Yet would You (JD)turn me into dust again?
10 Did You not pour me out like milk,
And curdle me like cheese,
11 Clothe me with skin and flesh,
And intertwine me with bones and tendons?
12 You have (JE)granted me life and [cq]goodness;
And Your care has guarded my spirit.
13 Yet You have concealed (JF)these things in Your heart;
I know that this is within You:
14 If I have sinned, You will (JG)take note of me,
And (JH)will not acquit me of my guilt.
15 If (JI)I am wicked, woe to me!
But if (JJ)I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head.
I am full of shame, and [cr]conscious of my misery.
16 And should my head be high, (JK)You would hunt me like a lion;
And You would show Your (JL)power against me again.
17 You renew (JM)Your witnesses against me
And increase Your anger toward me;
[cs](JN)Hardship after hardship is with me.
18 ‘(JO)Why then did You bring me out of the womb?
If only I had died and no eye had seen me!
19 I should have been as though I had not been,
Brought from womb to tomb.’
20 Would He not leave (JP)my few days alone?
[ct](JQ)Withdraw from me so that I may have a little cheerfulness
21 Before I go—(JR)and I shall not return—
(JS)To the land of darkness and (JT)deep shadow,
22 The land of utter gloom like darkness itself,
Of deep shadow without order,
And it shines like darkness.”
Zophar Rebukes Job
11 Then Zophar the Naamathite responded,
2 “Shall a multitude of words go unanswered,
And a (JU)talkative man be acquitted?
3 Shall your boasts silence people?
And will you (JV)scoff, and no one rebuke?
4 For (JW)you have said, ‘My teaching is pure,
And (JX)I am innocent in your eyes.’
5 But if only God would speak,
And open His lips against you,
6 And show you the secrets of wisdom!
For sound wisdom [cu](JY)has two sides.
Know then that God [cv]forgets part of (JZ)your guilt.
7 “(KA)Can you discover the depths of God?
Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?
8 They are as (KB)high as [cw]the heavens; what can you do?
Deeper than [cx](KC)Sheol; what can you know?
9 Its measurement is longer than the earth
And broader than the sea.
10 If He passes by or apprehends people,
Or calls an assembly, (KD)who can restrain Him?
11 For (KE)He knows false people,
And He (KF)sees injustice [cy]without investigating.
12 [cz](KG)An idiot will become intelligent
When a (KH)wild donkey is born a human.
13 “(KI)If you would (KJ)direct your heart rightly
And (KK)spread out your hands to Him,
14 If wrongdoing is in your hand, (KL)put it far away,
And do not let malice dwell in your tents;
15 Then, indeed, you could (KM)lift up your face without moral blemish,
And you would be firmly established and (KN)not fear.
16 For you would (KO)forget your trouble;
Like (KP)waters that have passed by, you would remember it.
17 Your [da]life would [db]be (KQ)brighter than noonday;
Darkness would be like the morning.
18 Then you would trust, because there is hope;
And you would look around and rest securely.
19 You would (KR)lie down and none would disturb you,
And many would [dc](KS)flatter you.
20 But the (KT)eyes of the wicked will fail,
And [dd]there will (KU)be no escape for them;
And their (KV)hope is [de](KW)to breathe their last.”
Job Chides His Accusers
12 Then Job responded,
2 “Truly then (KX)you are the people,
And with you wisdom will die!
3 But (KY)I have intelligence as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
And [df]who does not know such things as these?
4 I am a (KZ)joke to [dg]my friends,
The one who called on God and He answered him;
The just and (LA)blameless man is a joke.
5 [dh]He who is at ease holds disaster in contempt,
As prepared for those whose feet slip.
6 The (LB)tents of the destroyers prosper,
And those who provoke God (LC)are secure,
[di]Whom God brings (LD)into their power.
7 “But just ask the animals, and have them teach you;
And the birds of the sky, and have them tell you.
8 Or speak to the earth, and have it teach you;
And have the fish of the sea tell you.
9 Who among all these does not know
That (LE)the hand of the Lord has done this,
10 (LF)In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And (LG)the breath of all mankind?
11 Does (LH)the ear not put words to the test,
As the palate [dj]tastes its food?
12 Wisdom is with the (LI)aged,
And with [dk]long life comes understanding.
Job Speaks of the Power of God
13 “(LJ)Wisdom and (LK)might are with Him;
Advice and (LL)understanding belong to Him.
14 Behold, He (LM)tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt;
He [dl](LN)imprisons a person, and [dm]there is no release.
15 Behold, He (LO)restrains the waters, and they dry up;
And He (LP)sends them out, and they [dn]inundate the earth.
16 Strength and sound wisdom are with Him.
One who (LQ)goes astray and one who leads astray belong to Him.
17 He makes (LR)advisers walk [do]barefoot
And makes fools of (LS)judges.
18 He (LT)undoes the binding of kings,
And ties a loincloth around their waist.
19 He makes priests walk [dp]barefoot,
And overthrows (LU)the secure ones.
20 He deprives the trusted ones of speech,
And (LV)takes away the discernment of the elders.
21 He (LW)pours contempt on nobles,
And (LX)loosens the belt of the strong.
22 He (LY)reveals mysteries from the darkness,
And brings the deep darkness into light.
23 He (LZ)makes the nations great, then destroys them;
He [dq]enlarges the nations, then leads them away.
24 He (MA)deprives the leaders of the earth’s people of [dr]intelligence
And makes them wander in a pathless wasteland.
25 They (MB)grope in darkness with no light,
And He makes them (MC)stagger like a drunken person.
Job Says His Friends’ Proverbs Are Ashes
13 “(MD)Behold, my eye has seen all this,
My ear has heard and understood it.
2 (ME)What you know I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
3 “But (MF)I would speak to [ds]the Almighty,
And I desire to (MG)argue with God.
4 But you (MH)smear me with lies;
You are all (MI)worthless physicians.
5 Oh that you would (MJ)be completely silent,
And that it would become your wisdom!
6 Please hear my argument,
And give your attention to the contentions of my lips.
7 Will you (MK)speak what is unjust for God,
And speak what is deceitful for Him?
8 Will you (ML)show partiality for Him?
Will you contend for God?
9 Will it go well when He examines you?
Or (MM)will you deceive Him as one deceives a man?
10 He will certainly punish you
If you secretly (MN)show partiality.
11 Will (MO)His [dt]majesty not terrify you,
And the dread of Him fall upon you?
12 Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes,
Your defenses are defenses of clay.
Job Is Sure He Will Be Vindicated
13 “(MP)Be silent before me so that I may speak;
Then let come upon me what may.
14 Why should I take my flesh in my teeth,
And (MQ)put my life in my [du]hands?
15 (MR)Though He slay me,
I will [dv]hope in Him.
Nevertheless I (MS)will argue my ways [dw]before Him.
16 This also will be my (MT)salvation,
For (MU)a godless person cannot come before His presence.
17 Listen carefully to my speech,
And let my declaration fill your ears.
18 Behold now, I have (MV)prepared my case;
I know that (MW)I will be vindicated.
19 (MX)Who could contend with me?
For then I would be silent and (MY)die.
20 “Only two things I ask that You do not do to me,
Then I will not hide from Your face:
21 (MZ)Remove Your [dx]hand from me,
And may the dread of You not terrify me.
22 Then call and (NA)I will answer;
Or let me speak, then reply to me.
23 (NB)How many are my guilty deeds and sins?
Make known to me my wrongdoing and my sin.
24 Why do You (NC)hide Your face
And consider me (ND)Your enemy?
25 Will You scare away a (NE)scattered leaf?
Or will You pursue the dry (NF)chaff?
26 For You write (NG)bitter things against me
And (NH)make me inherit the guilty deeds of my youth.
27 You (NI)put my feet in the stocks
And watch all my paths;
You [dy]set a limit for the soles of my feet,
28 While [dz]I am decaying like a (NJ)rotten thing,
Like a garment that is moth-eaten.
Job Speaks of the Finality of Death
14 “(NK)Man, who is born of woman,
Is [ea]short-lived and (NL)full of turmoil.
2 (NM)Like a flower he comes out and withers.
He also flees like (NN)a shadow and does not remain.
3 You also (NO)open Your eyes on him
And (NP)bring [eb]him into judgment with Yourself.
4 (NQ)Who can make the clean out of the unclean?
No one!
5 Since his days are determined,
The (NR)number of his months is with You;
And You have [ec]set his limits so that he cannot pass.
6 (NS)Look away from him so that he may [ed]rest,
Until he [ee]fulfills his day like a hired worker.
7 “For there is hope for a tree,
When it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
And its shoots will not [ef]fail.
8 Though its roots grow old in the ground,
And its stump dies in the dry soil,
9 At the scent of water it will flourish
And produce sprigs like a plant.
10 But (NT)a man dies and lies prostrate.
A person (NU)passes away, and where is he?
11 As (NV)water [eg]evaporates from the sea,
And a river becomes parched and dried up,
12 So (NW)a man lies down and does not rise.
Until the heavens no longer exist,
[eh]He will not awake nor be woken from [ei]his sleep.
13 “Oh that You would hide me in [ej]Sheol,
That You would conceal me (NX)until Your wrath returns to You,
That You would set a limit for me and remember me!
14 If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my struggle I will wait
Until my relief comes.
15 You will call, and I will answer You;
You will long for (NY)the work of Your hands.
16 For now You (NZ)number my steps,
You do not (OA)observe my sin.
17 My wrongdoing is (OB)sealed up in a bag,
And You cover over my [ek]guilt.
18 “But the falling mountain [el]crumbles away,
And the rock moves from its place;
19 Water wears away stones,
Its torrents wash away the dust of the earth;
So You (OC)destroy a man’s hope.
20 You forever overpower him and he (OD)departs;
You change his appearance and send him away.
21 His sons achieve honor, but (OE)he does not know it;
Or they become insignificant, and he does not perceive it.
22 However, his [em]body pains him,
And his soul mourns for himself.”
Eliphaz Says Job Presumes Much
15 Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded,
2 “Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge,
(OF)And fill [en]himself with the east wind?
3 Should he argue with useless talk,
Or with words which do not benefit?
4 Indeed, you do away with [eo]reverence,
And hinder meditation before God.
5 For (OG)your wrongdoing teaches your mouth,
And you choose the language of (OH)the cunning.
6 Your (OI)own mouth condemns you, and not I;
And your own lips testify against you.
7 “Were you the first person to be born,
Or (OJ)were you brought forth before the hills?
8 Do you hear the (OK)secret discussion of God,
And limit wisdom to yourself?
9 (OL)What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that [ep]we do not?
10 Both the (OM)gray-haired and the aged are among us,
Older than your father.
11 Are (ON)the consolations of God too little for you,
Or the (OO)word spoken gently to you?
12 Why does your (OP)heart take you away?
And why do your eyes wink,
13 That you can turn your spirit against God
And produce such words from your mouth?
14 What is man, that (OQ)he would be pure,
Or (OR)he who is born of a woman, that he would be righteous?
15 Behold, He has no trust in His (OS)holy ones,
And the (OT)heavens are not pure in His sight;
16 How much less one who is (OU)detestable and corrupt:
A person who (OV)drinks [eq]malice like water!
What Eliphaz Has Seen of Life
17 “I will tell you, listen to me;
And what I have seen I will also declare;
18 What wise people have told,
And have not concealed from (OW)their fathers,
19 To whom alone the land was given,
And no stranger passed among them.
20 The wicked person writhes (OX)in pain all his days,
And the [er]years (OY)reserved for the ruthless are numbered.
21 [es]Sounds of (OZ)terror are in his ears;
(PA)While he is at peace the destroyer comes upon him.
22 He does not believe that he will (PB)return from darkness,
And he is destined for (PC)the sword.
23 He wanders about for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that a day of (PD)darkness is [et]at hand.
24 Distress and anguish terrify him,
They overpower him like a king ready for the attack,
25 Because he has reached out with his hand against God,
And is (PE)arrogant toward [eu]the Almighty.
26 He rushes [ev]headlong at Him
With his [ew]massive shield.
27 For he has (PF)covered his face with his fat,
And [ex]put fat on his waist.
28 He has (PG)lived in desolate cities,
In houses no one would inhabit,
Which are destined to become [ey]ruins.
29 He (PH)will not become rich, nor will his wealth endure;
And his property will not stretch out on the earth.
30 He will (PI)not [ez]escape from darkness;
The (PJ)flame will dry up his shoot,
And he will go away by (PK)the breath of His mouth.
31 Let him not (PL)trust in emptiness, deceiving himself;
For his [fa]reward will be emptiness.
32 It will be accomplished (PM)before his time,
And his palm (PN)branch will not be green.
33 He will drop off his unripe grape like the vine,
And will (PO)cast off his flower like the olive tree.
34 For the company of (PP)the godless is barren,
And fire consumes (PQ)the tents of [fb]the corrupt.
35 They (PR)conceive [fc]harm and give birth to wrongdoing,
And their [fd]mind prepares deception.”
Job Says Friends Are Miserable Comforters
16 Then Job responded,
2 “I have heard many things like these;
[fe](PS)Miserable comforters are you all!
3 Is there no end to (PT)windy words?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
4 I too could speak like you,
If only [ff]I were in your place.
I could compose words against you
And (PU)shake my head at you.
5 Or I could strengthen you with my mouth,
And the condolence of my lips could lessen your pain.
Job Says God Shattered Him
6 “If I speak, (PV)my pain is not lessened,
And if I refrain, what pain leaves me?
7 But now He has (PW)exhausted me;
You have laid (PX)waste all my group of loved ones.
8 And you have shriveled me up,
[fg](PY)It has become a witness;
And my (PZ)infirmity rises up against me,
It testifies to my face.
9 His anger has (QA)torn me and [fh]hunted me down,
He has (QB)gnashed at me with His teeth;
My (QC)enemy [fi]glares at me.
10 They have (QD)gaped at me with their mouths,
They have [fj](QE)slapped me on the cheek with contempt;
They have (QF)massed themselves against me.
11 God hands me over to criminals,
And tosses me into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, but (QG)He shattered me,
And He has grasped me by my neck and shaken me to pieces;
He has also set me up as His (QH)target.
13 His (QI)arrows surround me.
He splits my kidneys open without mercy;
He pours out (QJ)my bile on the ground.
14 He (QK)breaks through me with breach after breach;
He (QL)runs at me like a warrior.
15 I have sewed (QM)sackcloth over my skin,
And (QN)thrust my horn in the dust.
16 My face is flushed from (QO)weeping,
(QP)And deep darkness is on my eyelids,
17 Although there is no (QQ)violence in my hands,
And (QR)my prayer is pure.
18 “Earth, do not cover my blood,
And may there be no resting place for my cry.
19 Even now, behold, (QS)my witness is in heaven,
And my [fk]advocate is (QT)on high.
20 My friends are my scoffers;
(QU)My eye weeps to God,
21 That one might plead for a man with God
As a son of man with his neighbor!
22 For when a few years are past,
I shall go the way (QV)of no return.
Job Says He Has Become a Proverb
17 “My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished,
The [fl](QW)grave is ready for me.
2 (QX)Mockers are certainly with me,
And my eye [fm]gazes on their provocation.
3 “Make a pledge (QY)for me with Yourself;
Who is there that will [fn]be my guarantor?
4 For You have [fo](QZ)kept their hearts away from understanding;
Therefore You will not exalt them.
5 He who (RA)informs against friends for a share of the spoils,
The (RB)eyes of his children also will perish.
6 “But He has made me a (RC)proverb among the people,
And I am [fp]one at whom people (RD)spit.
7 My eye has also become (RE)inexpressive because of grief,
And all my (RF)body parts are like a shadow.
8 The upright will be appalled at this,
And the (RG)innocent will stir himself up against the godless.
9 Nevertheless (RH)the righteous will hold to his way,
And (RI)the one who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
10 But come again all of [fq]you now,
For I (RJ)do not find a wise man among you.
11 My (RK)days are past, my plans are torn apart,
The wishes of my heart.
12 They make night into day, saying,
‘The light is near,’ in the presence of darkness.
13 If I hope for [fr](RL)Sheol as my home,
I [fs]make my bed in the darkness;
14 If I call to the (RM)grave, ‘You are my father’;
To the (RN)maggot, ‘my mother and my sister’;
15 Where then is (RO)my hope?
And who looks at my hope?
16 [ft]Will it go down with me to Sheol?
Shall we together (RP)go down into the dust?”
Bildad Speaks of the Wicked
18 Then Bildad the Shuhite responded,
2 “How long will you hunt for words?
Show understanding, and then we can talk.
3 Why are we (RQ)regarded as animals,
As stupid in your eyes?
4 [fu]You who tear yourself in your anger—
Should the earth be abandoned for your sake,
Or the rock moved from its place?
5 “Indeed, the (RR)light of the wicked goes out,
And the spark from his fire does not shine.
6 The light in his tent is (RS)darkened,
And his lamp goes out above him.
7 His [fv]vigorous stride is shortened,
And his (RT)own plan brings him down.
8 For he is (RU)thrown into the net by his own feet,
And he steps on the webbing.
9 A snare seizes him by the heel,
And a trap snaps shut on him.
10 A noose for him is hidden in the ground,
And a trap for him on the pathway.
11 All around (RV)sudden terrors frighten him,
And (RW)harass him at every step.
12 His strength is (RX)famished,
And disaster is ready at his side.
13 [fw]It devours parts of his skin,
The firstborn of death (RY)devours his [fx]limbs.
14 He is (RZ)torn from [fy]the security of his tent,
And [fz]they march him before the king of (SA)terrors.
15 [ga]Nothing of his dwells in his tent;
(SB)Brimstone is scattered on his home.
16 His (SC)roots are dried below,
And his (SD)branch withers above.
17 (SE)The memory of him perishes from the earth,
And he has no name abroad.
18 [gb]He is driven from light (SF)into darkness,
And (SG)chased from the inhabited world.
19 He has no (SH)offspring or descendants among his people,
Nor any survivor where he resided.
20 Those in the west are appalled at (SI)his [gc]fate,
And those in the east are seized with horror.
21 Certainly these are the (SJ)dwellings of the wicked,
And this is the place of him who does not know God.”
Job Feels Insulted
19 Then Job responded,
2 “How long will you torment [gd]me
And crush me with words?
3 These ten times you have insulted me;
You are not ashamed to wrong me.
4 Even if I have truly done wrong,
My error stays with me.
5 If indeed you (SK)exalt yourselves against me
And prove my disgrace to me,
6 Know then that (SL)God has wronged me
And has surrounded me with (SM)His net.
Everything Is Against Him
7 “Behold, (SN)I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I get no answer;
I shout for help, but there is no justice.
8 He has (SO)blocked my way so that I cannot pass,
And He has put (SP)darkness on my paths.
9 He has (SQ)stripped my honor from me
And removed the (SR)crown from my head.
10 He (SS)breaks me down on every side, and I am gone;
And He has uprooted my (ST)hope (SU)like a tree.
11 He has also (SV)kindled His anger against me
And (SW)considered me as His enemy.
12 His (SX)troops come together
And (SY)build up their [ge]way against me
And camp around my tent.
13 “He has (SZ)removed my brothers far from me,
And my (TA)acquaintances have completely turned away from me.
14 My relatives have failed,
And my (TB)close friends have forgotten me.
15 Those who live in my house and my servant women consider me a stranger.
I am a foreigner in their sight.
16 I call to my servant, but he does not answer;
I have to implore his favor with my mouth.
17 My breath is offensive to my wife,
And I am loathsome to my own brothers.
18 Even young children despise me;
I stand up and they speak against me.
19 All [gf]my (TC)associates loathe me,
And those I love have turned against me.
20 My (TD)bone clings to my skin and my flesh,
And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.
21 Pity me, pity me, you friends of mine,
For the (TE)hand of God has struck me.
22 Why do you (TF)persecute me as God does,
And are not satisfied with my flesh?
Job Says My Redeemer Lives
23 “Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were (TG)recorded in a book!
24 That with an iron stylus and lead
They were engraved in the rock forever!
25 Yet as for me, I know that (TH)my Redeemer lives,
And at the last, He will take His stand on the [gg]earth.
26 Even after my skin [gh]is destroyed,
Yet from my flesh I will (TI)see God,
27 Whom I, on my part, shall behold for myself,
And whom my eyes will see, and not another.
My [gi]heart (TJ)faints [gj]within me!
28 If you say, ‘How shall we (TK)persecute him?’
And ‘[gk]What pretext for a case against him can we find?’
29 Then be afraid of (TL)the sword for yourselves,
For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
So that you may know (TM)there is judgment.”
Zophar Says the Rejoicing of the Wicked Is Short
20 Then Zophar the Naamathite responded,
2 “Therefore my disquieting thoughts make me [gl]respond,
Even because of my [gm]inward agitation.
3 I listened to (TN)the reprimand which insults me,
And the spirit of my understanding makes me answer.
4 Do you know this from (TO)ancient times,
From the establishment of mankind on earth,
5 That the (TP)rejoicing of the wicked is short,
And (TQ)the joy of the godless momentary?
6 Though his arrogance [gn](TR)reaches the heavens,
And his head touches the clouds,
7 He (TS)perishes forever like his refuse;
Those who have seen him (TT)will say, ‘Where is he?’
8 He flies away like a (TU)dream, and they cannot find him;
Like a vision of the night he is (TV)chased away.
9 The (TW)eye which saw him sees him no longer,
And (TX)his place no longer beholds him.
10 His (TY)sons [go]favor the poor,
And his hands (TZ)give back his wealth.
11 His (UA)bones are full of his youthful strength,
But it lies down with him [gp]in the dust.
12 “Though (UB)evil tastes sweet in his mouth
And he hides it under his tongue,
13 Though he [gq]desires it and will not let it go,
But holds it (UC)in his [gr]mouth,
14 Yet his food in his stomach is changed
To the [gs]venom of cobras within him.
15 He swallows riches,
But will (UD)vomit them up;
God will expel them from his belly.
16 He sucks (UE)the poison of cobras;
The viper’s tongue kills him.
17 He does not look at (UF)the streams,
The rivers flowing with honey and curds.
18 He (UG)returns the product of his labor
And cannot swallow it;
As to the riches of his trading,
He cannot even enjoy them.
19 For he has (UH)oppressed and neglected the poor;
He has seized a house which he has not built.
20 “Because he knew no quiet [gt]within him,
He does (UI)not retain anything he desires.
21 Nothing remains [gu]for him to devour,
Therefore (UJ)his prosperity does not endure.
22 In the fullness of his excess he will be cramped;
The (UK)hand of everyone who suffers will come against him.
23 When he (UL)fills his belly,
God will send His fierce anger on him
And (UM)rain it on him [gv]while he is eating.
24 He may (UN)flee from the iron weapon,
But the bronze bow will pierce him.
25 It is drawn and comes out of his back,
Even the flashing point from (UO)his gallbladder;
(UP)Terrors come upon him,
26 Complete (UQ)darkness is held in reserve for his treasures,
And unfanned (UR)fire will devour him;
It will consume the survivor in his tent.
27 The (US)heavens will reveal his guilt,
And the earth will rise up against him.
28 The (UT)increase of his house will disappear;
His possessions will flow away (UU)on the day of His anger.
29 This is a wicked person’s (UV)portion from God,
The inheritance decreed to him by God.”
Job Says God Will Deal with the Wicked
21 Then Job responded,
2 “Listen carefully to my speech,
And let this be your way of consolation.
3 Bear with me that I may speak;
Then after I have spoken, you may (UW)mock me.
4 As for me, is (UX)my complaint [gw]to a mortal?
Or (UY)why should [gx]I not be impatient?
5 Look at me, and be astonished,
And (UZ)put your hand over your mouth.
6 Even when I remember, I am disturbed,
And (VA)horror takes hold of my flesh.
7 Why (VB)do the wicked still live,
Grow old, and also become very [gy](VC)powerful?
8 Their [gz](VD)descendants endure with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes,
9 Their houses (VE)are safe from fear,
And the [ha]rod of God is not on them.
10 His ox mates [hb]without fail;
His cow calves and does not miscarry.
11 They send out their boys like the flock,
And their children dance.
12 They [hc]sing with the tambourine and harp,
And rejoice at the sound of the flute.
13 They (VF)spend their days in prosperity,
And [hd]suddenly they go down to [he]Sheol.
14 Yet they say to God, ‘(VG)Go away from us!
We do not even desire the knowledge of Your ways.
Footnotes
- Job 1:3 Lit sons
- Job 1:6 I.e., prob. angels
- Job 1:6 Heb ha-satan; i.e., the adversary, and so throughout the ch
- Job 1:8 Lit set your heart on
- Job 1:8 Or revering
- Job 1:9 Lit Lord and said
- Job 1:12 Lit hand
- Job 1:15 Lit Sheba
- Job 1:15 Lit fell upon
- Job 1:15 Lit struck
- Job 1:15 Lit only I alone, and so also vv 16, 17, 19
- Job 1:17 Lit struck
- Job 1:22 Lit ascribe unseemliness to
- Job 2:1 Heb ha-satan; i.e., the adversary, and so throughout the ch
- Job 2:3 Lit set your heart to
- Job 2:3 Or revering
- Job 2:3 Lit swallow him up
- Job 2:6 Lit hand
- Job 2:12 Lit raised their eyes
- Job 3:1 Lit his day
- Job 3:2 Lit answered and said
- Job 3:3 Lit man-child
- Job 3:8 Or skillful
- Job 3:9 Lit eyelids of dawn
- Job 3:11 Lit from the womb
- Job 3:16 I.e., buried
- Job 3:17 Lit weary of strength
- Job 3:21 Lit wait
- Job 3:25 Lit I fear a fear, and it comes
- Job 3:25 Lit comes to me
- Job 4:2 Lit in words
- Job 4:4 Lit knees giving way
- Job 4:6 Or reverence for
- Job 4:8 I.e., devise
- Job 4:9 Lit wind
- Job 4:14 Lit the multitude of
- Job 4:15 Or wind passed over
- Job 4:17 Lit from
- Job 4:17 Lit from
- Job 5:4 Lit crushed
- Job 5:5 Lit Whose harvest the hungry devour
- Job 5:5 Ancient versions thirsty
- Job 5:9 Or Miracles
- Job 5:17 Heb Shaddai, and so throughout ch 6
- Job 5:18 Lit binds
- Job 5:21 Lit at
- Job 5:22 Lit animals of the earth
- Job 5:24 Lit not miss
- Job 5:25 Lit seed
- Job 6:4 Lit Whose poison my spirit drinks
- Job 6:6 Heb hallamuth, meaning uncertain
- Job 6:10 Lit hidden
- Job 6:11 Lit prolong my soul
- Job 6:14 Or reverence for
- Job 6:15 I.e., dry stream bed(s), except in the rainy season
- Job 6:15 I.e., dry stream bed(s), except in the rainy season
- Job 6:16 Lit hides itself
- Job 6:18 Or caravans turn from their course, they go up into the waste and perish
- Job 7:1 Lit Has not man compulsory labor
- Job 7:5 Lit melts
- Job 7:9 I.e., the netherworld
- Job 7:13 Lit bear
- Job 7:15 Lit bones
- Job 7:16 Or loathe
- Job 7:17 Lit set Your heart on
- Job 7:19 Lit How long will You not
- Job 7:21 Or unjust deed
- Job 8:3 Heb Shaddai
- Job 8:4 Lit hand
- Job 8:5 Heb Shaddai
- Job 8:6 Lit place
- Job 8:12 Lit reed
- Job 8:14 Lit house
- Job 8:17 Heb sees
- Job 8:18 Lit swallowed up
- Job 8:20 Lit strengthen the hand of
- Job 9:4 Lit stiffened his neck against
- Job 9:4 Lit and remained safe
- Job 9:7 Lit and it does not shine
- Job 9:8 Lit treads upon the heights of
- Job 9:9 Lit chambers
- Job 9:10 Lit until there is no searching out
- Job 9:13 I.e., a sea monster, not to be confused with Rahab in Joshua 2
- Job 9:14 Or plead my case
- Job 9:14 Lit with
- Job 9:15 Or plead my case
- Job 9:19 As in LXX; Heb me
- Job 9:26 Lit food
- Job 9:27 I.e., improve the look
- Job 9:32 Lit judgment
- Job 10:1 Lit My soul loathes
- Job 10:3 Lit good
- Job 10:3 Lit You shine forth
- Job 10:8 Lit together round about
- Job 10:12 See Job 1:1-2
- Job 10:15 Lit see
- Job 10:17 Lit Changes and warfare are with me
- Job 10:20 Lit Put
- Job 11:6 Lit is double
- Job 11:6 Lit causes to be forgotten for you
- Job 11:8 Lit the heights of heaven
- Job 11:8 I.e., the netherworld
- Job 11:11 Or and does not investigate
- Job 11:12 Lit A hollow man
- Job 11:17 Lit lifespan
- Job 11:17 Lit rise above noonday
- Job 11:19 Lit soften your face
- Job 11:20 Lit escape has perished from them
- Job 11:20 Lit the expiring of the soul
- Job 12:3 Lit with whom is there not like these?
- Job 12:4 Lit his
- Job 12:5 Lit Contempt for calamity is the thought of him who is at ease
- Job 12:6 Or He who brings God into his hand.
- Job 12:11 Lit tastes food for itself
- Job 12:12 Lit length of days
- Job 12:14 Lit shuts against
- Job 12:14 Lit it is not opened
- Job 12:15 Lit overturn
- Job 12:17 Or stripped
- Job 12:19 Or stripped
- Job 12:23 Or spreads out
- Job 12:24 Lit heart
- Job 13:3 Heb Shaddai
- Job 13:11 Lit exaltation
- Job 13:14 Lit palm
- Job 13:15 Lit wait for
- Job 13:15 Lit to His face
- Job 13:21 Lit palm
- Job 13:27 Lit carve for
- Job 13:28 Lit he is
- Job 14:1 Lit short of days
- Job 14:3 As in some ancient versions; MT me
- Job 14:5 Lit made
- Job 14:6 Lit cease
- Job 14:6 Lit makes acceptable
- Job 14:7 Or cease
- Job 14:11 Lit disappears
- Job 14:12 Lit They
- Job 14:12 Lit their
- Job 14:13 I.e., the netherworld
- Job 14:17 Or unjust deed
- Job 14:18 Lit withers
- Job 14:22 Lit flesh
- Job 15:2 Lit his belly
- Job 15:4 Lit fear
- Job 15:9 Lit is not within us?
- Job 15:16 Or injustice
- Job 15:20 Lit number of years are reserved for
- Job 15:21 Lit A sound of terrors is
- Job 15:23 Lit ready at his hand
- Job 15:25 Heb Shaddai
- Job 15:26 Lit with a stiff neck
- Job 15:26 Lit thick-bossed shields
- Job 15:27 Lit made
- Job 15:28 Or heaps
- Job 15:30 Lit turn aside
- Job 15:31 Lit exchange
- Job 15:34 Lit a bribe
- Job 15:35 Or pain
- Job 15:35 Lit belly
- Job 16:2 Lit Comforters of trouble
- Job 16:4 Lit your soul were in place of my soul
- Job 16:8 I.e., Job’s condition
- Job 16:9 Lit borne a grudge against me
- Job 16:9 Lit sharpens his eyes
- Job 16:10 Lit struck
- Job 16:19 Or witness
- Job 17:1 Lit graves are
- Job 17:2 Lit dwells
- Job 17:3 Lit strike hands with me
- Job 17:4 Lit hidden
- Job 17:6 Lit a spitting to the faces
- Job 17:10 As in some mss and ancient versions; MT them
- Job 17:13 I.e., the netherworld
- Job 17:13 Lit spread out
- Job 17:16 As in LXX; Heb possibly Let my limbs sink down to Sheol, since there is rest in the dust for all.
- Job 18:4 Lit The one who tears himself in his
- Job 18:7 Lit steps of his strength
- Job 18:13 Another reading is His skin is devoured by illness
- Job 18:13 Or parts
- Job 18:14 Lit his tent his trust
- Job 18:14 Lit you march or she marches
- Job 18:15 Another reading is Fire dwells in his tent
- Job 18:18 Lit They drive him...And chase him
- Job 18:20 Lit day
- Job 19:2 Lit my soul
- Job 19:12 I.e., siege ramp
- Job 19:19 Lit the men of my council
- Job 19:25 Lit dust
- Job 19:26 Lit which they have cut off
- Job 19:27 Lit kidneys
- Job 19:27 Lit in my loins
- Job 19:28 Or the root of the matter is found in him
- Job 20:2 Lit return
- Job 20:2 Lit haste within me
- Job 20:6 Lit goes up to
- Job 20:10 Or seek the favor of
- Job 20:11 Lit on
- Job 20:13 Lit spares it
- Job 20:13 Lit palate
- Job 20:14 Lit gall
- Job 20:20 Lit in his belly
- Job 20:21 Or of what he devours
- Job 20:23 Or as his food
- Job 21:4 Or against
- Job 21:4 Lit my spirit
- Job 21:7 Or superior
- Job 21:8 Lit seed
- Job 21:9 I.e., punishment
- Job 21:10 Lit and does not fail
- Job 21:12 Lit lifted up the voice
- Job 21:13 Or in peacefulness
- Job 21:13 I.e., the netherworld
Job 1-40
New King James Version
Job 1-40
New King James Version
Job and His Family in Uz
1 There was a man (A)in the land of Uz, whose name was (B)Job; and that man was (C)blameless and upright, and one who (D)feared God and [a]shunned evil. 2 And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. 3 Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the [b]people of the East.
4 And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and [c]sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning (E)and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and (F)cursed[d] God in their hearts.” Thus Job did regularly.
Satan Attacks Job’s Character
6 Now (G)there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and [e]Satan also came among them. 7 And the Lord said to [f]Satan, “From where do you come?”
So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From (H)going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you [g]considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and [h]shuns evil?”
9 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 (I)Have You not [i]made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? (J)You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 (K)But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely (L)curse[j] You to Your face!”
12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your [k]power; only do not lay a hand on his person.”
So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
Job Loses His Property and Children
13 Now there was a day (M)when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house; 14 and a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 when the [l]Sabeans [m]raided them and took them away—indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
16 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and [n]consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
17 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
18 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, (N)“Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and suddenly a great wind came from [o]across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
20 Then Job arose, (O)tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he (P)fell to the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said:
(Q)“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked shall I return there.
The Lord (R)gave, and the Lord has (S)taken away;
(T)Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
22 (U)In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
Satan Attacks Job’s Health
2 Again (V)there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?”
(W)Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”
3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, (X)a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he (Y)holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, (Z)to [p]destroy him without cause.”
4 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. 5 (AA)But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his (AB)bone and his flesh, and he will surely [q]curse You to Your face!”
6 (AC)And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.”
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils (AD)from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself (AE)while he sat in the midst of the ashes.
9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? [r]Curse God and die!”
10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. (AF)Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (AG)In all this Job did not (AH)sin with his lips.
Job’s Three Friends
11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place—Eliphaz the (AI)Temanite, Bildad the (AJ)Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come (AK)and mourn with him, and to comfort him. 12 And when they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and (AL)sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven. 13 So they sat down with him on the ground (AM)seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.
Job Deplores His Birth
3 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job [s]spoke, and said:
3 “May(AN) the day perish on which I was born,
And the night in which it was said,
‘A male child is conceived.’
4 May that day be darkness;
May God above not seek it,
Nor the light shine upon it.
5 May darkness and (AO)the shadow of death claim it;
May a cloud settle on it;
May the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 As for that night, may darkness seize it;
May it not [t]rejoice among the days of the year,
May it not come into the number of the months.
7 Oh, may that night be barren!
May no joyful shout come into it!
8 May those curse it who curse the day,
Those (AP)who are ready to arouse Leviathan.
9 May the stars of its morning be dark;
May it look for light, but have none,
And not see the [u]dawning of the day;
10 Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb,
Nor hide sorrow from my eyes.
11 “Why(AQ) did I not die at birth?
Why did I not [v]perish when I came from the womb?
12 (AR)Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
13 For now I would have lain still and been quiet,
I would have been asleep;
Then I would have been at rest
14 With kings and counselors of the earth,
Who (AS)built ruins for themselves,
15 Or with princes who had gold,
Who filled their houses with silver;
16 Or why was I not hidden (AT)like a stillborn child,
Like infants who never saw light?
17 There the wicked cease from troubling,
And there the [w]weary are at (AU)rest.
18 There the prisoners [x]rest together;
(AV)They do not hear the voice of the oppressor.
19 The small and great are there,
And the servant is free from his master.
20 “Why(AW) is light given to him who is in misery,
And life to the (AX)bitter of soul,
21 Who (AY)long[y] for death, but it does not come,
And search for it more than (AZ)hidden treasures;
22 Who rejoice exceedingly,
And are glad when they can find the (BA)grave?
23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
(BB)And whom God has hedged in?
24 For my sighing comes before [z]I eat,
And my groanings pour out like water.
25 For the thing I greatly (BC)feared has come upon me,
And what I dreaded has happened to me.
26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, for trouble comes.”
Eliphaz: Job Has Sinned
4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 “If one attempts a word with you, will you become weary?
But who can withhold himself from speaking?
3 Surely you have instructed many,
And you (BD)have strengthened weak hands.
4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,
And you (BE)have strengthened the [aa]feeble knees;
5 But now it comes upon you, and you are weary;
It touches you, and you are troubled.
6 Is not (BF)your reverence (BG)your confidence?
And the integrity of your ways your hope?
7 “Remember now, (BH)who ever perished being innocent?
Or where were the upright ever cut off?
8 Even as I have seen,
(BI)Those who plow iniquity
And sow trouble reap the same.
9 By the blast of God they perish,
And by the breath of His anger they are consumed.
10 The roaring of the lion,
The voice of the fierce lion,
And (BJ)the teeth of the young lions are broken.
11 (BK)The old lion perishes for lack of prey,
And the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12 “Now a word was secretly brought to me,
And my ear received a whisper of it.
13 (BL)In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night,
When deep sleep falls on men,
14 Fear came upon me, and (BM)trembling,
Which made all my bones shake.
15 Then a spirit passed before my face;
The hair on my body stood up.
16 It stood still,
But I could not discern its appearance.
A form was before my eyes;
There was silence;
Then I heard a voice saying:
17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God?
Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
18 If He (BN)puts no trust in His servants,
If He charges His angels with error,
19 How much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
Whose foundation is in the dust,
Who are crushed before a moth?
20 (BO)They are broken in pieces from morning till evening;
They perish forever, with no one regarding.
21 Does not their own excellence go away?
They die, even without wisdom.’
Eliphaz: Job Is Chastened by God
5 “Call out now;
Is there anyone who will answer you?
And to which of the holy ones will you turn?
2 For wrath kills a foolish man,
And envy slays a simple one.
3 (BP)I have seen the foolish taking root,
But suddenly I cursed his dwelling place.
4 His sons are (BQ)far from safety,
They are crushed in the gate,
And (BR)there is no deliverer.
5 Because the hungry eat up his harvest,
[ab]Taking it even from the thorns,
[ac]And a snare snatches their [ad]substance.
6 For affliction does not come from the dust,
Nor does trouble spring from the ground;
7 Yet man is (BS)born to [ae]trouble,
As the sparks fly upward.
8 “But as for me, I would seek God,
And to God I would commit my cause—
9 Who does great things, and unsearchable,
Marvelous things without number.
10 (BT)He gives rain on the earth,
And sends waters on the fields.
11 (BU)He sets on high those who are lowly,
And those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12 (BV)He frustrates the devices of the crafty,
So that their hands cannot carry out their plans.
13 He catches the (BW)wise in their own craftiness,
And the counsel of the cunning comes quickly upon them.
14 They meet with darkness in the daytime,
And grope at noontime as in the night.
15 But (BX)He saves the needy from the sword,
From the mouth of the mighty,
And from their hand.
16 (BY)So the poor have hope,
And injustice shuts her mouth.
17 “Behold,(BZ) happy is the man whom God corrects;
Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.
18 (CA)For He bruises, but He binds up;
He wounds, but His hands make whole.
19 (CB)He shall deliver you in six troubles,
Yes, in seven (CC)no evil shall touch you.
20 (CD)In famine He shall redeem you from death,
And in war from the [af]power of the sword.
21 (CE)You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue,
And you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes.
22 You shall laugh at destruction and famine,
And (CF)you shall not be afraid of the (CG)beasts of the earth.
23 (CH)For you shall have a covenant with the stones of the field,
And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.
24 You shall know that your tent is in peace;
You shall visit your dwelling and find nothing amiss.
25 You shall also know that (CI)your descendants shall be many,
And your offspring (CJ)like the grass of the earth.
26 (CK)You shall come to the grave at a full age,
As a sheaf of grain ripens in its season.
27 Behold, this we have (CL)searched out;
It is true.
Hear it, and know for yourself.”
Job: My Complaint Is Just
6 Then Job answered and said:
2 “Oh, that my grief were fully weighed,
And my calamity laid with it on the scales!
3 For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea—
Therefore my words have been rash.
4 (CM)For the arrows of the Almighty are within me;
My spirit drinks in their poison;
(CN)The terrors of God are arrayed (CO)against me.
5 Does the (CP)wild donkey bray when it has grass,
Or does the ox low over its fodder?
6 Can flavorless food be eaten without salt?
Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
7 My soul refuses to touch them;
They are as loathsome food to me.
8 “Oh, that I might have my request,
That God would grant me the thing that I long for!
9 That it would please God to crush me,
That He would loose His hand and (CQ)cut me off!
10 Then I would still have comfort;
Though in anguish I would exult,
He will not spare;
For (CR)I have not concealed the words of (CS)the Holy One.
11 “What strength do I have, that I should hope?
And what is my end, that I should prolong my life?
12 Is my strength the strength of stones?
Or is my flesh bronze?
13 Is my help not within me?
And is success driven from me?
14 “To(CT) him who is [ag]afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend,
Even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
15 (CU)My brothers have dealt deceitfully like a brook,
(CV)Like the streams of the brooks that pass away,
16 Which are dark because of the ice,
And into which the snow vanishes.
17 When it is warm, they cease to flow;
When it is hot, they vanish from their place.
18 The paths of their way turn aside,
They go nowhere and perish.
19 The caravans of (CW)Tema look,
The travelers of (CX)Sheba hope for them.
20 They are (CY)disappointed[ah] because they were confident;
They come there and are confused.
21 For now (CZ)you are nothing,
You see terror and (DA)are afraid.
22 Did I ever say, ‘Bring something to me’?
Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth’?
23 Or, ‘Deliver me from the enemy’s hand’?
Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of oppressors’?
24 “Teach me, and I will hold my tongue;
Cause me to understand wherein I have erred.
25 How forceful are right words!
But what does your arguing prove?
26 Do you intend to rebuke my words,
And the speeches of a desperate one, which are as wind?
27 Yes, you overwhelm the fatherless,
And you (DB)undermine your friend.
28 Now therefore, be pleased to look at me;
For I would never lie to your face.
29 (DC)Yield now, let there be no injustice!
Yes, concede, my (DD)righteousness [ai]still stands!
30 Is there injustice on my tongue?
Cannot my [aj]taste discern the unsavory?
Job: My Suffering Is Comfortless
7 “Is there not (DE)a time of hard service for man on earth?
Are not his days also like the days of a hired man?
2 Like a servant who [ak]earnestly desires the shade,
And like a hired man who eagerly looks for his wages,
3 So I have been allotted (DF)months of futility,
And wearisome nights have been appointed to me.
4 (DG)When I lie down, I say, ‘When shall I arise,
And the night be ended?’
For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn.
5 My flesh is (DH)caked with worms and dust,
My skin is cracked and breaks out afresh.
6 “My(DI) days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
And are spent without hope.
7 Oh, remember that (DJ)my life is a breath!
My eye will never again see good.
8 (DK)The eye of him who sees me will see me no more;
While your eyes are upon me, I shall no longer be.
9 As the cloud disappears and vanishes away,
So (DL)he who goes down to the grave does not come up.
10 He shall never return to his house,
(DM)Nor shall his place know him anymore.
11 “Therefore I will (DN)not restrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will (DO)complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I a sea, or a sea serpent,
That You set a guard over me?
13 (DP)When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
My couch will ease my complaint,’
14 Then You scare me with dreams
And terrify me with visions,
15 So that my soul chooses strangling
And death rather than [al]my body.
16 (DQ)I loathe my life;
I would not live forever.
(DR)Let me alone,
For (DS)my days are but [am]a breath.
17 “What(DT) is man, that You should exalt him,
That You should set Your heart on him,
18 That You should [an]visit him every morning,
And test him every moment?
19 How long?
Will You not look away from me,
And let me alone till I swallow my saliva?
20 Have I sinned?
What have I done to You, (DU)O watcher of men?
Why (DV)have You set me as Your target,
So that I am a burden [ao]to myself?
21 Why then do You not pardon my transgression,
And take away my iniquity?
For now I will lie down in the dust,
And You will seek me diligently,
But I will no longer be.”
Bildad: Job Should Repent
8 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 “How long will you speak these things,
And the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?
3 (DW)Does God subvert judgment?
Or does the Almighty pervert justice?
4 If (DX)your sons have sinned against Him,
He has cast them away [ap]for their transgression.
5 (DY)If you would earnestly seek God
And make your supplication to the Almighty,
6 If you were pure and upright,
Surely now He would [aq]awake for you,
And prosper your rightful dwelling place.
7 Though your beginning was small,
Yet your latter end would (DZ)increase abundantly.
8 “For(EA) inquire, please, of the former age,
And consider the things discovered by their fathers;
9 For (EB)we were born yesterday, and know [ar]nothing,
Because our days on earth are a shadow.
10 Will they not teach you and tell you,
And utter words from their heart?
11 “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh?
Can the reeds flourish without water?
12 (EC)While it is yet green and not cut down,
It withers before any other plant.
13 So are the paths of all who (ED)forget God;
And the hope of the (EE)hypocrite shall perish,
14 Whose confidence shall be cut off,
And whose trust is [as]a spider’s web.
15 (EF)He leans on his house, but it does not stand.
He holds it fast, but it does not endure.
16 He grows green in the sun,
And his branches spread out in his garden.
17 His roots wrap around the rock heap,
And look for a place in the stones.
18 (EG)If he is destroyed from his place,
Then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’
19 “Behold, this is the joy of His way,
And (EH)out of the earth others will grow.
20 Behold, (EI)God will not [at]cast away the blameless,
Nor will He uphold the evildoers.
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughing,
And your lips with [au]rejoicing.
22 Those who hate you will be (EJ)clothed with shame,
And the dwelling place of the wicked [av]will come to nothing.”
Job: There Is No Mediator
9 Then Job answered and said:
2 “Truly I know it is so,
But how can a (EK)man be (EL)righteous before God?
3 If one wished to [aw]contend with Him,
He could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
4 (EM)God is wise in heart and mighty in strength.
Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?
5 He removes the mountains, and they do not know
When He overturns them in His anger;
6 He (EN)shakes the earth out of its place,
And its (EO)pillars tremble;
7 He commands the sun, and it does not rise;
He seals off the stars;
8 (EP)He alone spreads out the heavens,
And [ax]treads on the [ay]waves of the sea;
9 (EQ)He made [az]the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,
And the chambers of the south;
10 (ER)He does great things past finding out,
Yes, wonders without number.
11 (ES)If He goes by me, I do not see Him;
If He moves past, I do not perceive Him;
12 (ET)If He takes away, [ba]who can hinder Him?
Who can say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’
13 God will not withdraw His anger,
(EU)The allies of [bb]the proud lie prostrate beneath Him.
14 “How then can I answer Him,
And choose my words to reason with Him?
15 (EV)For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him;
I would beg mercy of my Judge.
16 If I called and He answered me,
I would not believe that He was listening to my voice.
17 For He crushes me with a tempest,
And multiplies my wounds (EW)without cause.
18 He will not allow me to catch my breath,
But fills me with bitterness.
19 If it is a matter of strength, indeed He is strong;
And if of justice, who will appoint my day in court?
20 Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me;
Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse.
21 “I am blameless, yet I do not know myself;
I despise my life.
22 It is all one thing;
Therefore I say, (EX)‘He destroys the blameless and the wicked.’
23 If the scourge slays suddenly,
He laughs at the plight of the innocent.
24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked.
He covers the faces of its judges.
If it is not He, who else could it be?
25 “Now (EY)my days are swifter than a runner;
They flee away, they see no good.
26 They pass by like [bc]swift ships,
(EZ)Like an eagle swooping on its prey.
27 (FA)If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad face and wear a smile,’
28 (FB)I am afraid of all my sufferings;
I know that You (FC)will not hold me innocent.
29 If I am condemned,
Why then do I labor in vain?
30 (FD)If I wash myself with snow water,
And cleanse my hands with [bd]soap,
31 Yet You will plunge me into the pit,
And my own clothes will [be]abhor me.
32 “For (FE)He is not a man, as I am,
That I may answer Him,
And that we should go to court together.
33 (FF)Nor is there any mediator between us,
Who may lay his hand on us both.
34 (FG)Let Him take His rod away from me,
And do not let dread of Him terrify me.
35 Then I would speak and not fear Him,
But it is not so with me.
Job: I Would Plead with God
10 “My (FH)soul loathes my life;
I will [bf]give free course to my complaint,
(FI)I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;
Show me why You contend with me.
3 Does it seem good to You that You should oppress,
That You should despise the work of Your hands,
And smile on the counsel of the wicked?
4 Do You have eyes of flesh?
Or (FJ)do You see as man sees?
5 Are Your days like the days of a mortal man?
Are Your years like the days of a mighty man,
6 That You should seek for my iniquity
And search out my sin,
7 Although You know that I am not wicked,
And there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?
8 ‘Your(FK) hands have made me and fashioned me,
An intricate unity;
Yet You would (FL)destroy me.
9 Remember, I pray, (FM)that You have made me like clay.
And will You turn me into dust again?
10 (FN)Did You not pour me out like milk,
And curdle me like cheese,
11 Clothe me with skin and flesh,
And knit me together with bones and sinews?
12 You have granted me life and favor,
And Your care has preserved my spirit.
13 ‘And these things You have hidden in Your heart;
I know that this was with You:
14 If I sin, then (FO)You mark me,
And will not acquit me of my iniquity.
15 If I am wicked, (FP)woe to me;
(FQ)Even if I am righteous, I [bg]cannot lift up my head.
I am full of disgrace;
(FR)See my misery!
16 If my head is exalted,
(FS)You hunt me like a fierce lion,
And again You show Yourself awesome against me.
17 You renew Your witnesses against me,
And increase Your indignation toward me;
Changes and war are ever with me.
18 ‘Why(FT) then have You brought me out of the womb?
Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me!
19 I would have been as though I had not been.
I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20 (FU)Are not my days few?
Cease! (FV)Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort,
21 Before I go to the place from which I shall not return,
(FW)To the land of darkness (FX)and the shadow of death,
22 A land as dark as darkness itself,
As the shadow of death, without any order,
Where even the light is like darkness.’ ”
Zophar Urges Job to Repent
11 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
2 “Should not the multitude of words be answered?
And should [bh]a man full of talk be vindicated?
3 Should your empty talk make men [bi]hold their peace?
And when you mock, should no one rebuke you?
4 For you have said,
(FY)‘My doctrine is pure,
And I am clean in your eyes.’
5 But oh, that God would speak,
And open His lips against you,
6 That He would show you the secrets of wisdom!
For they would double your prudence.
Know therefore that (FZ)God [bj]exacts from you
Less than your iniquity deserves.
7 “Can(GA) you search out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?
8 They are higher than heaven—what can you do?
Deeper than [bk]Sheol—what can you know?
9 Their measure is longer than the earth
And broader than the sea.
10 “If(GB) He passes by, imprisons, and gathers to judgment,
Then who can [bl]hinder Him?
11 For (GC)He knows deceitful men;
He sees wickedness also.
Will He not then consider it?
12 For an (GD)empty-headed man will be wise,
When a wild donkey’s colt is born a man.
13 “If you would (GE)prepare your heart,
And (GF)stretch out your hands toward Him;
14 If iniquity were in your hand, and you put it far away,
And (GG)would not let wickedness dwell in your tents;
15 (GH)Then surely you could lift up your face without spot;
Yes, you could be steadfast, and not fear;
16 Because you would (GI)forget your misery,
And remember it as waters that have passed away,
17 And your life (GJ)would be brighter than noonday.
Though you were dark, you would be like the morning.
18 And you would be secure, because there is hope;
Yes, you would dig around you, and (GK)take your rest in safety.
19 You would also lie down, and no one would make you afraid;
Yes, many would court your favor.
20 But (GL)the eyes of the wicked will fail,
And they shall not escape,
And (GM)their hope—[bm]loss of life!”
Job Answers His Critics
12 Then Job answered and said:
2 “No doubt you are the people,
And wisdom will die with you!
3 But I have [bn]understanding as well as you;
I am not (GN)inferior to you.
Indeed, who does not know such things as these?
4 “I(GO) am one mocked by his friends,
Who (GP)called on God, and He answered him,
The just and blameless who is ridiculed.
5 A [bo]lamp is despised in the thought of one who is at ease;
It is made ready for (GQ)those whose feet slip.
6 (GR)The tents of robbers prosper,
And those who provoke God are secure—
In what God provides by His hand.
7 “But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
And the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you;
And the fish of the sea will explain to you.
9 Who among all these does not know
That the hand of the Lord has done this,
10 (GS)In whose hand is the [bp]life of every living thing,
And the (GT)breath of [bq]all mankind?
11 Does not the ear test words
And the [br]mouth taste its food?
12 Wisdom is with aged men,
And with [bs]length of days, understanding.
13 “With Him are (GU)wisdom and strength,
He has counsel and understanding.
14 If (GV)He breaks a thing down, it cannot be rebuilt;
If He imprisons a man, there can be no release.
15 If He (GW)withholds the waters, they dry up;
If He (GX)sends them out, they overwhelm the earth.
16 With Him are strength and prudence.
The deceived and the deceiver are His.
17 He leads counselors away plundered,
And makes fools of the judges.
18 He loosens the bonds of kings,
And binds their waist with a belt.
19 He leads [bt]princes away plundered,
And overthrows the mighty.
20 (GY)He deprives the trusted ones of speech,
And takes away the discernment of the elders.
21 (GZ)He pours contempt on princes,
And [bu]disarms the mighty.
22 He (HA)uncovers deep things out of darkness,
And brings the shadow of death to light.
23 (HB)He makes nations great, and destroys them;
He [bv]enlarges nations, and guides them.
24 He takes away the [bw]understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth,
And (HC)makes them wander in a pathless wilderness.
25 (HD)They grope in the dark without light,
And He makes them (HE)stagger like a drunken man.
Job Defends Himself
13 “Behold, my eye has seen all this,
My ear has heard and understood it.
2 (HF)What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
3 (HG)But I would speak to the Almighty,
And I desire to reason with God.
4 But you forgers of lies,
(HH)You are all worthless physicians.
5 Oh, that you would be silent,
And (HI)it would be your wisdom!
6 Now hear my reasoning,
And heed the pleadings of my lips.
7 (HJ)Will you speak [bx]wickedly for God,
And talk deceitfully for Him?
8 Will you show partiality for Him?
Will you contend for God?
9 Will it be well when He searches you out?
Or can you mock Him as one mocks a man?
10 He will surely rebuke you
If you secretly show partiality.
11 Will not His [by]excellence make you afraid,
And the dread of Him fall upon you?
12 Your platitudes are proverbs of ashes,
Your defenses are defenses of clay.
13 “Hold[bz] your peace with me, and let me speak,
Then let come on me what may!
14 Why (HK)do I take my flesh in my teeth,
And put my life in my hands?
15 (HL)Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.
(HM)Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.
16 He also shall be my salvation,
For a (HN)hypocrite could not come before Him.
17 Listen carefully to my speech,
And to my declaration with your ears.
18 See now, I have prepared my case,
I know that I shall be (HO)vindicated.
19 (HP)Who is he who will contend with me?
If now I hold my tongue, I perish.
Job’s Despondent Prayer
20 “Only(HQ) two things do not do to me,
Then I will not hide myself from You:
21 (HR)Withdraw Your hand far from me,
And let not the dread of You make me afraid.
22 Then call, and I will (HS)answer;
Or let me speak, then You respond to me.
23 How many are my iniquities and sins?
Make me know my transgression and my sin.
24 (HT)Why do You hide Your face,
And (HU)regard me as Your enemy?
25 (HV)Will You frighten a leaf driven to and fro?
And will You pursue dry stubble?
26 For You write bitter things against me,
And (HW)make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.
27 (HX)You put my feet in the stocks,
And watch closely all my paths.
You [ca]set a limit for the [cb]soles of my feet.
28 “Man[cc] decays like a rotten thing,
Like a garment that is moth-eaten.
Job Speaks of Life’s Woes
14 “Man who is born of woman
Is of few days and (HY)full of [cd]trouble.
2 (HZ)He comes forth like a flower and fades away;
He flees like a shadow and does not continue.
3 And (IA)do You open Your eyes on such a one,
And (IB)bring [ce]me to judgment with Yourself?
4 Who (IC)can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
No one!
5 (ID)Since his days are determined,
The number of his months is with You;
You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass.
6 (IE)Look away from him that he may [cf]rest,
Till (IF)like a hired man he finishes his day.
7 “For there is hope for a tree,
If it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
And that its tender shoots will not cease.
8 Though its root may grow old in the earth,
And its stump may die in the ground,
9 Yet at the scent of water it will bud
And bring forth branches like a plant.
10 But man dies and [cg]is laid away;
Indeed he [ch]breathes his last
And where is (IG)he?
11 As water disappears from the sea,
And a river becomes parched and dries up,
12 So man lies down and does not rise.
(IH)Till the heavens are no more,
They will not awake
Nor be roused from their sleep.
13 “Oh, that You would hide me in the grave,
That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past,
That You would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my hard service (II)I will wait,
Till my change comes.
15 (IJ)You shall call, and I will answer You;
You shall desire the work of Your hands.
16 For now (IK)You number my steps,
But do not watch over my sin.
17 (IL)My transgression is sealed up in a bag,
And You [ci]cover my iniquity.
18 “But as a mountain falls and crumbles away,
And as a rock is moved from its place;
19 As water wears away stones,
And as torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
So You destroy the hope of man.
20 You prevail forever against him, and he passes on;
You change his countenance and send him away.
21 His sons come to honor, and (IM)he does not know it;
They are brought low, and he does not perceive it.
22 But his flesh will be in pain over it,
And his soul will mourn over it.”
Eliphaz Accuses Job of Folly
15 Then (IN)Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 “Should a wise man answer with empty knowledge,
And fill [cj]himself with the east wind?
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk,
Or by speeches with which he can do no good?
4 Yes, you cast off fear,
And restrain [ck]prayer before God.
5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
And you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6 (IO)Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
Yes, your own lips testify against you.
7 “Are you the first man who was born?
(IP)Or were you made before the hills?
8 (IQ)Have you heard the counsel of God?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9 (IR)What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not in us?
10 (IS)Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,
Much older than your father.
11 Are the consolations of God too small for you,
And the word spoken [cl]gently with you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away,
And [cm]what do your eyes wink at,
13 That you turn your spirit against God,
And let such words go out of your mouth?
14 “What(IT) is man, that he could be pure?
And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous?
15 (IU)If God puts no trust in His saints,
And the heavens are not pure in His sight,
16 (IV)How much less man, who is abominable and filthy,
(IW)Who drinks iniquity like water!
17 “I will tell you, hear me;
What I have seen I will declare,
18 What wise men have told,
Not hiding anything received (IX)from their fathers,
19 To whom alone the [cn]land was given,
And (IY)no alien passed among them:
20 The wicked man writhes with pain all his days,
(IZ)And the number of years is hidden from the oppressor.
21 [co]Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
(JA)In prosperity the destroyer comes upon him.
22 He does not believe that he will (JB)return from darkness,
For a sword is waiting for him.
23 He (JC)wanders about for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows (JD)that a day of darkness is ready at his hand.
24 Trouble and anguish make him afraid;
They overpower him, like a king ready for [cp]battle.
25 For he stretches out his hand against God,
And acts defiantly against the Almighty,
26 Running stubbornly against Him
With his strong, embossed shield.
27 “Though(JE) he has covered his face with his fatness,
And made his waist heavy with fat,
28 He dwells in desolate cities,
In houses which no one inhabits,
Which are destined to become ruins.
29 He will not be rich,
Nor will his wealth (JF)continue,
Nor will his possessions overspread the earth.
30 He will not depart from darkness;
The flame will dry out his branches,
And (JG)by the breath of His mouth he will go away.
31 Let him not (JH)trust in futile things, deceiving himself,
For futility will be his reward.
32 It will be accomplished (JI)before his time,
And his branch will not be green.
33 He will shake off his unripe grape like a vine,
And cast off his blossom like an olive tree.
34 For the company of hypocrites will be barren,
And fire will consume the tents of bribery.
35 (JJ)They conceive trouble and bring forth futility;
Their womb prepares deceit.”
Job Reproaches His Pitiless Friends
16 Then Job answered and said:
2 “I have heard many such things;
(JK)Miserable[cq] comforters are you all!
3 Shall [cr]words of wind have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
4 I also could speak as you do,
If your soul were in my soul’s place.
I could heap up words against you,
And (JL)shake my head at you;
5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth,
And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.
6 “Though I speak, my grief is not relieved;
And if I remain silent, how am I eased?
7 But now He has (JM)worn me out;
You (JN)have made desolate all my company.
8 You have shriveled me up,
And it is a (JO)witness against me;
My leanness rises up against me
And bears witness to my face.
9 (JP)He tears me in His wrath, and hates me;
He gnashes at me with His teeth;
(JQ)My adversary sharpens His gaze on me.
10 They (JR)gape at me with their mouth,
They (JS)strike me reproachfully on the cheek,
They gather together against me.
11 God (JT)has delivered me to the ungodly,
And turned me over to the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, but He has (JU)shattered me;
He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces;
He has (JV)set me up for His target,
13 His archers surround me.
He pierces my [cs]heart and does not pity;
He pours out my gall on the ground.
14 He breaks me with wound upon wound;
He runs at me like a [ct]warrior.
15 “I have sewn sackcloth over my skin,
And (JW)laid my [cu]head in the dust.
16 My face is [cv]flushed from weeping,
And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
17 Although no violence is in my hands,
And my prayer is pure.
18 “O earth, do not cover my blood,
And (JX)let my cry have no resting place!
19 Surely even now (JY)my witness is in heaven,
And my evidence is on high.
20 My friends scorn me;
My eyes pour out tears to God.
21 (JZ)Oh, that one might plead for a man with God,
As a man pleads for his [cw]neighbor!
22 For when a few years are finished,
I shall (KA)go the way of no return.
Job Prays for Relief
17 “My spirit is broken,
My days are extinguished,
(KB)The grave is ready for me.
2 Are not mockers with me?
And does not my eye [cx]dwell on their (KC)provocation?
3 “Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself.
Who is he who (KD)will shake hands with me?
4 For You have hidden their heart from (KE)understanding;
Therefore You will not exalt them.
5 He who speaks flattery to his friends,
Even the eyes of his children will (KF)fail.
6 “But He has made me (KG)a byword of the people,
And I have become one in whose face men spit.
7 (KH)My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow,
And all my members are like shadows.
8 Upright men are astonished at this,
And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite.
9 Yet the righteous will hold to his (KI)way,
And he who has (KJ)clean hands will be stronger and stronger.
10 “But please, (KK)come back again, [cy]all of you,
For I shall not find one wise man among you.
11 (KL)My days are past,
My purposes are broken off,
Even the [cz]thoughts of my heart.
12 They change the night into day;
‘The light is near,’ they say, in the face of darkness.
13 If I wait for the grave as my house,
If I make my bed in the darkness,
14 If I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’
And to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister,’
15 Where then is my (KM)hope?
As for my hope, who can see it?
16 Will they go down (KN)to the gates of [da]Sheol?
Shall we have (KO)rest together in the dust?”
Bildad: The Wicked Are Punished
18 Then (KP)Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 “How long till you put an end to words?
Gain understanding, and afterward we will speak.
3 Why are we counted (KQ)as beasts,
And regarded as stupid in your sight?
4 (KR)You[db] who tear yourself in anger,
Shall the earth be forsaken for you?
Or shall the rock be removed from its place?
5 “The(KS) light of the wicked indeed goes out,
And the flame of his fire does not shine.
6 The light is dark in his tent,
(KT)And his lamp beside him is put out.
7 The steps of his strength are shortened,
And (KU)his own counsel casts him down.
8 For (KV)he is cast into a net by his own feet,
And he walks into a snare.
9 The net takes him by the heel,
And (KW)a snare lays hold of him.
10 A noose is hidden for him on the ground,
And a trap for him in the road.
11 (KX)Terrors frighten him on every side,
And drive him to his feet.
12 His strength is starved,
And (KY)destruction is ready at his side.
13 It devours patches of his skin;
The firstborn of death devours his [dc]limbs.
14 He is uprooted from (KZ)the shelter of his tent,
And they parade him before the king of terrors.
15 They dwell in his tent who are none of his;
Brimstone is scattered on his dwelling.
16 (LA)His roots are dried out below,
And his branch withers above.
17 (LB)The memory of him perishes from the earth,
And he has no name [dd]among the renowned.
18 [de]He is driven from light into darkness,
And chased out of the world.
19 (LC)He has neither son nor posterity among his people,
Nor any remaining in his dwellings.
20 Those [df]in the west are astonished (LD)at his day,
As those [dg]in the east are frightened.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked,
And this is the place of him who (LE)does not know God.”
Job Trusts in His Redeemer
19 Then Job answered and said:
2 “How long will you torment my soul,
And break me in pieces with words?
3 These ten times you have [dh]reproached me;
You are not ashamed that you [di]have wronged me.
4 And if indeed I have erred,
My error remains with me.
5 If indeed you (LF)exalt yourselves against me,
And plead my disgrace against me,
6 Know then that (LG)God has wronged me,
And has surrounded me with His net.
7 “If I cry out concerning [dj]wrong, I am not heard.
If I cry aloud, there is no justice.
8 (LH)He has [dk]fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass;
And He has set darkness in my paths.
9 (LI)He has stripped me of my glory,
And taken the crown from my head.
10 He breaks me down on every side,
And I am gone;
My (LJ)hope He has uprooted like a tree.
11 He has also kindled His wrath against me,
And (LK)He counts me as one of His enemies.
12 His troops come together
And build up their road against me;
They encamp all around my tent.
13 “He(LL) has removed my brothers far from me,
And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
14 My relatives have failed,
And my close friends have forgotten me.
15 Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants,
Count me as a stranger;
I am an alien in their sight.
16 I call my servant, but he gives no answer;
I beg him with my mouth.
17 My breath is offensive to my wife,
And I am [dl]repulsive to the children of my own body.
18 Even (LM)young children despise me;
I arise, and they speak against me.
19 (LN)All my close friends abhor me,
And those whom I love have turned against me.
20 (LO)My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh,
And I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 “Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends,
For the hand of God has struck me!
22 Why do you (LP)persecute me as God does,
And are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 “Oh, that my words were written!
Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!
24 That they were engraved on a rock
With an iron pen and lead, forever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
26 And after my skin is [dm]destroyed, this I know,
That (LQ)in my flesh I shall see God,
27 Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my [dn]heart yearns within me!
28 If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’—
Since the root of the matter is found in me,
29 Be afraid of the sword for yourselves;
For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
That you may know there is a judgment.”
Zophar’s Sermon on the Wicked Man
20 Then (LR)Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
2 “Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer,
Because of the turmoil within me.
3 I have heard the rebuke [do]that reproaches me,
And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.
4 “Do you not know this of (LS)old,
Since man was placed on earth,
5 (LT)That the triumphing of the wicked is short,
And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a (LU)moment?
6 (LV)Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens,
And his head reaches to the clouds,
7 Yet he will perish forever like his own refuse;
Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
8 He will fly away (LW)like a dream, and not be found;
Yes, he (LX)will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9 The eye that saw him will see him no more,
Nor will his place behold him anymore.
10 His children will seek the favor of the poor,
And his hands will restore his wealth.
11 His bones are full of (LY)his youthful vigor,
(LZ)But it will lie down with him in the dust.
12 “Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
And he hides it under his tongue,
13 Though he spares it and does not forsake it,
But still keeps it in his [dp]mouth,
14 Yet his food in his stomach turns sour;
It becomes cobra venom within him.
15 He swallows down riches
And vomits them up again;
God casts them out of his belly.
16 He will suck the poison of cobras;
The viper’s tongue will slay him.
17 He will not see (MA)the streams,
The rivers flowing with honey and cream.
18 He will restore that for which he labored,
And will not swallow it down;
From the proceeds of business
He will get no enjoyment.
19 For he has [dq]oppressed and forsaken the poor,
He has violently seized a house which he did not build.
20 “Because(MB) he knows no quietness in his [dr]heart,
He will not save anything he desires.
21 Nothing is left for him to eat;
Therefore his well-being will not last.
22 In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress;
Every hand of [ds]misery will come against him.
23 When he is about to fill his stomach,
God will cast on him the fury of His wrath,
And will rain it on him while he is eating.
24 (MC)He will flee from the iron weapon;
A bronze bow will pierce him through.
25 It is drawn, and comes out of the body;
Yes, (MD)the glittering point comes out of his [dt]gall.
(ME)Terrors come upon him;
26 Total darkness is reserved for his treasures.
(MF)An unfanned fire will consume him;
It shall go ill with him who is left in his tent.
27 The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
And the earth will rise up against him.
28 The increase of his house will depart,
And his goods will flow away in the day of His (MG)wrath.
29 (MH)This is the portion from God for a wicked man,
The heritage appointed to him by God.”
Job’s Discourse on the Wicked
21 Then Job answered and said:
2 “Listen carefully to my speech,
And let this be your [du]consolation.
3 Bear with me that I may speak,
And after I have spoken, keep (MI)mocking.
4 “As for me, is my complaint against man?
And if it were, why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me and be astonished;
(MJ)Put your hand over your mouth.
6 Even when I remember I am terrified,
And trembling takes hold of my flesh.
7 (MK)Why do the wicked live and become old,
Yes, become mighty in power?
8 Their descendants are established with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear,
(ML)Neither is [dv]the rod of God upon them.
10 Their bull breeds without failure;
Their cow calves (MM)without miscarriage.
11 They send forth their little ones like a flock,
And their children dance.
12 They sing to the tambourine and harp,
And rejoice to the sound of the flute.
13 They (MN)spend their days in wealth,
And [dw]in a moment go down to the [dx]grave.
14 (MO)Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us,
For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.
15 (MP)Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?
And (MQ)what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’
16 Indeed [dy]their prosperity is not in their hand;
(MR)The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
How often does their destruction come upon them,
The sorrows God (MS)distributes in His anger?
18 (MT)They are like straw before the wind,
And like chaff that a storm [dz]carries away.
19 They say, ‘God [ea]lays up [eb]one’s iniquity (MU)for his children’;
Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.
20 Let his eyes see his destruction,
And (MV)let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what does he care about his household after him,
When the number of his months is cut in half?
22 “Can(MW) anyone teach God knowledge,
Since He judges those on high?
23 One dies in his full strength,
Being wholly at ease and secure;
24 His [ec]pails are full of milk,
And the marrow of his bones is moist.
25 Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul,
Never having eaten with pleasure.
26 They (MX)lie down alike in the dust,
And worms cover them.
27 “Look, I know your thoughts,
And the schemes with which you would wrong me.
28 For you say,
‘Where is the house of the prince?
And where is [ed]the tent,
The dwelling place of the wicked?’
29 Have you not asked those who travel the road?
And do you not know their signs?
30 (MY)For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom;
They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.
31 Who condemns his way to his face?
And who repays him for what he has done?
32 Yet he shall be brought to the grave,
And a vigil kept over the tomb.
33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him;
(MZ)Everyone shall follow him,
As countless have gone before him.
34 How then can you comfort me with empty words,
Since [ee]falsehood remains in your answers?”
Eliphaz Accuses Job of Wickedness
22 Then (NA)Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 “Can(NB) a man be profitable to God,
Though he who is wise may be profitable to himself?
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous?
Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless?
4 “Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you,
And enters into judgment with you?
5 Is not your wickedness great,
And your iniquity without end?
6 For you have (NC)taken pledges from your brother for no reason,
And stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You have not given the weary water to drink,
And you (ND)have withheld bread from the hungry.
8 But the [ef]mighty man possessed the land,
And the honorable man dwelt in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty,
And the [eg]strength of the fatherless was crushed.
10 Therefore snares are all around you,
And sudden fear troubles you,
11 Or darkness so that you cannot see;
And an abundance of (NE)water covers you.
12 “Is not God in the height of heaven?
And see the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13 And you say, (NF)‘What does God know?
Can He judge through the deep darkness?
14 (NG)Thick clouds cover Him, so that He cannot see,
And He walks above the circle of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the old way
Which wicked men have trod,
16 Who (NH)were cut down before their time,
Whose foundations were swept away by a flood?
17 (NI)They said to God, ‘Depart from us!
What can the Almighty do to [eh]them?’
18 Yet He filled their houses with good things;
But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 “The(NJ) righteous see it and are glad,
And the innocent laugh at them:
20 ‘Surely our [ei]adversaries are cut down,
And the fire consumes their remnant.’
21 “Now acquaint yourself with Him, and (NK)be at peace;
Thereby good will come to you.
22 Receive, please, (NL)instruction from His mouth,
And (NM)lay up His words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up;
You will remove iniquity far from your tents.
24 Then you will (NN)lay your gold in the dust,
And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.
25 Yes, the Almighty will be your [ej]gold
And your precious silver;
26 For then you will have your (NO)delight in the Almighty,
And lift up your face to God.
27 (NP)You will make your prayer to Him,
He will hear you,
And you will pay your vows.
28 You will also declare a thing,
And it will be established for you;
So light will shine on your ways.
29 When they cast you down, and you say, ‘Exaltation will come!’
Then (NQ)He will save the humble person.
30 He will even deliver one who is not innocent;
Yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands.”
Job Proclaims God’s Righteous Judgments
23 Then Job answered and said:
2 “Even today my (NR)complaint is bitter;
[ek]My hand is listless because of my groaning.
3 (NS)Oh, that I knew where I might find Him,
That I might come to His seat!
4 I would present my case before Him,
And fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know the words which He would answer me,
And understand what He would say to me.
6 (NT)Would He contend with me in His great power?
No! But He would take note of me.
7 There the upright could reason with Him,
And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.
8 “Look,(NU) I go forward, but He is not there,
And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
9 When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him;
When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.
10 But (NV)He knows the way that I take;
When (NW)He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
11 (NX)My foot has held fast to His steps;
I have kept His way and not turned aside.
12 I have not departed from the (NY)commandment of His lips;
(NZ)I have treasured the words of His mouth
More than my [el]necessary food.
13 “But He is unique, and who can make Him change?
And whatever (OA)His soul desires, that He does.
14 For He performs what is (OB)appointed for me,
And many such things are with Him.
15 Therefore I am terrified at His presence;
When I consider this, I am afraid of Him.
16 For God (OC)made my heart weak,
And the Almighty terrifies me;
17 Because I was not (OD)cut off [em]from the presence of darkness,
And He did not hide deep darkness from my face.
Job Complains of Violence on the Earth
24 “Since (OE)times are not hidden from the Almighty,
Why do those who know Him see not His (OF)days?
2 “Some remove (OG)landmarks;
They seize flocks violently and feed on them;
3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;
They (OH)take the widow’s ox as a pledge.
4 They push the needy off the road;
All the (OI)poor of the land are forced to hide.
5 Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert,
They go out to their work, searching for food.
The wilderness yields food for them and for their children.
6 They gather their fodder in the field
And glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They (OJ)spend the night naked, without clothing,
And have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains,
And (OK)huddle around the rock for want of shelter.
9 “Some snatch the fatherless from the breast,
And take a pledge from the poor.
10 They cause the poor to go naked, without (OL)clothing;
And they take away the sheaves from the hungry.
11 They press out oil within their walls,
And tread winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
12 The dying groan in the city,
And the souls of the wounded cry out;
Yet God does not charge them with wrong.
13 “There are those who rebel against the light;
They do not know its ways
Nor abide in its paths.
14 (OM)The murderer rises with the light;
He kills the poor and needy;
And in the night he is like a thief.
15 (ON)The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
(OO)Saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
And he [en]disguises his face.
16 In the dark they break into houses
Which they marked for themselves in the daytime;
(OP)They do not know the light.
17 For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death;
If someone recognizes them,
They are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
18 “They should be swift on the face of the waters,
Their portion should be cursed in the earth,
So that no one would turn into the way of their vineyards.
19 As drought and heat [eo]consume the snow waters,
So [ep]the grave consumes those who have sinned.
20 The womb should forget him,
The worm should feed sweetly on him;
(OQ)He should be remembered no more,
And wickedness should be broken like a tree.
21 For he [eq]preys on the barren who do not bear,
And does no good for the widow.
22 “But God draws the mighty away with His power;
He rises up, but no man is sure of life.
23 He gives them security, and they rely on it;
Yet (OR)His eyes are on their ways.
24 They are exalted for a little while,
Then they are gone.
They are brought low;
They are [er]taken out of the way like all others;
They dry out like the heads of grain.
25 “Now if it is not so, who will prove me a liar,
And make my speech worth nothing?”
Bildad: How Can Man Be Righteous?
25 Then (OS)Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 “Dominion and fear belong to Him;
He makes peace in His high places.
3 [es]Is there any number to His armies?
Upon whom does (OT)His light not rise?
4 (OU)How then can man be righteous before God?
Or how can he be (OV)pure who is born of a woman?
5 If even the moon does not shine,
And the stars are not pure in His (OW)sight,
6 How much less man, who is (OX)a maggot,
And a son of man, who is a worm?”
Job: Man’s Frailty and God’s Majesty
26 But Job answered and said:
2 “How have you helped him who is without power?
How have you saved the arm that has no strength?
3 How have you counseled one who has no wisdom?
And how have you declared sound advice to many?
4 To whom have you uttered words?
And whose spirit came from you?
5 “The dead tremble,
Those under the waters and those inhabiting them.
6 (OY)Sheol is naked before Him,
And Destruction has no covering.
7 (OZ)He stretches out the north over empty space;
He hangs the earth on nothing.
8 (PA)He binds up the water in His thick clouds,
Yet the clouds [et]are not broken under it.
9 He covers the face of His throne,
And spreads His cloud over it.
10 (PB)He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters,
At the boundary of light and darkness.
11 The pillars of heaven tremble,
And are [eu]astonished at His rebuke.
12 (PC)He stirs up the sea with His power,
And by His understanding He breaks up [ev]the storm.
13 (PD)By His Spirit He adorned the heavens;
His hand pierced (PE)the fleeing serpent.
14 Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?”
Job Maintains His Integrity
27 Moreover Job continued his discourse, and said:
2 “As God lives, (PF)who has taken away my justice,
And the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
3 As long as my breath is in me,
And the breath of God in my nostrils,
4 My lips will not speak wickedness,
Nor my tongue utter deceit.
5 Far be it from me
That I should say you are right;
Till I die (PG)I will not put away my integrity from me.
6 My righteousness I (PH)hold fast, and will not let it go;
(PI)My heart shall not [ew]reproach me as long as I live.
7 “May my enemy be like the wicked,
And he who rises up against me like the unrighteous.
8 (PJ)For what is the hope of the hypocrite,
Though he may gain much,
If God takes away his life?
9 (PK)Will God hear his cry
When trouble comes upon him?
10 (PL)Will he delight himself in the Almighty?
Will he always call on God?
11 “I will teach you [ex]about the hand of God;
What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
12 Surely all of you have seen it;
Why then do you behave with complete nonsense?
13 “This(PM) is the portion of a wicked man with God,
And the heritage of oppressors, received from the Almighty:
14 (PN)If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword;
And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
15 Those who survive him shall be buried in death,
And (PO)their[ey] widows shall not weep,
16 Though he heaps up silver like dust,
And piles up clothing like clay—
17 He may pile it up, but (PP)the just will wear it,
And the innocent will divide the silver.
18 He builds his house like a [ez]moth,
(PQ)Like a [fa]booth which a watchman makes.
19 The rich man will lie down,
[fb]But not be gathered up;
He opens his eyes,
And he is (PR)no more.
20 (PS)Terrors overtake him like a flood;
A tempest steals him away in the night.
21 The east wind carries him away, and he is gone;
It sweeps him out of his place.
22 It hurls against him and does not (PT)spare;
He flees desperately from its [fc]power.
23 Men shall clap their hands at him,
And shall hiss him out of his place.
Job’s Discourse on Wisdom
28 “Surely there is a mine for silver,
And a place where gold is refined.
2 Iron is taken from the [fd]earth,
And copper is smelted from ore.
3 Man puts an end to darkness,
And searches every recess
For ore in the darkness and the shadow of death.
4 He breaks open a shaft away from people;
In places forgotten by feet
They hang far away from men;
They swing to and fro.
5 As for the earth, from it comes bread,
But underneath it is turned up as by fire;
6 Its stones are the source of sapphires,
And it contains gold dust.
7 That path no bird knows,
Nor has the falcon’s eye seen it.
8 The [fe]proud lions have not trodden it,
Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.
9 He puts his hand on the flint;
He overturns the mountains [ff]at the roots.
10 He cuts out channels in the rocks,
And his eye sees every precious thing.
11 He dams up the streams from trickling;
What is hidden he brings forth to light.
12 “But(PU) where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13 Man does not know its (PV)value,
Nor is it found in the land of the living.
14 (PW)The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 It (PX)cannot be purchased for gold,
Nor can silver be weighed for its price.
16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx or sapphire.
17 Neither (PY)gold nor crystal can equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for [fg]jewelry of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of [fh]coral or quartz,
For the price of wisdom is above (PZ)rubies.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in pure (QA)gold.
20 “From(QB) where then does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
And concealed from the birds of the [fi]air.
22 (QC)Destruction[fj] and Death say,
‘We have heard a report about it with our ears.’
23 God understands its way,
And He knows its place.
24 For He looks to the ends of the earth,
And (QD)sees under the whole heavens,
25 (QE)To establish a weight for the wind,
And apportion the waters by measure.
26 When He (QF)made a law for the rain,
And a path for the thunderbolt,
27 Then He saw [fk]wisdom and declared it;
He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out.
28 And to man He said,
‘Behold, (QG)the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
And to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”
Job’s Summary Defense
29 Job further continued his discourse, and said:
2 “Oh, that I were as in months (QH)past,
As in the days when God (QI)watched over me;
3 (QJ)When His lamp shone upon my head,
And when by His light I walked through darkness;
4 Just as I was in the days of my prime,
When (QK)the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;
5 When the Almighty was yet with me,
When my children were around me;
6 When (QL)my steps were bathed with [fl]cream,
And (QM)the rock poured out rivers of oil for me!
7 “When I went out to the gate by the city,
When I took my seat in the open square,
8 The young men saw me and hid,
And the aged arose and stood;
9 The princes refrained from talking,
And (QN)put their hand on their mouth;
10 The voice of nobles was hushed,
And their (QO)tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
11 When the ear heard, then it blessed me,
And when the eye saw, then it approved me;
12 Because (QP)I delivered the poor who cried out,
The fatherless and the one who had no helper.
13 The blessing of a perishing man came upon me,
And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14 (QQ)I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
My justice was like a robe and a turban.
15 I was (QR)eyes to the blind,
And I was feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the poor,
And (QS)I searched out the case that I did not know.
17 I broke (QT)the fangs of the wicked,
And plucked the victim from his teeth.
18 “Then I said, (QU)‘I shall die in my nest,
And multiply my days as the sand.
19 (QV)My root is spread out (QW)to the waters,
And the dew lies all night on my branch.
20 My glory is fresh within me,
And my (QX)bow is renewed in my hand.’
21 “Men listened to me and waited,
And kept silence for my counsel.
22 After my words they did not speak again,
And my speech settled on them as dew.
23 They waited for me as for the rain,
And they opened their mouth wide as for (QY)the spring rain.
24 If I mocked at them, they did not believe it,
And the light of my countenance they did not cast down.
25 I chose the way for them, and sat as chief;
So I dwelt as a king in the army,
As one who comforts mourners.
Job’s Wealth Now Poverty
30 “But now they mock at me, men [fm]younger than I,
Whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock.
2 Indeed, what profit is the strength of their hands to me?
Their vigor has perished.
3 They are gaunt from want and famine,
Fleeing late to the wilderness, desolate and waste,
4 Who pluck [fn]mallow by the bushes,
And broom tree roots for their food.
5 They were driven out from among men,
They shouted at them as at a thief.
6 They had to live in the clefts of the [fo]valleys,
In [fp]caves of the earth and the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they brayed,
Under the nettles they nestled.
8 They were sons of fools,
Yes, sons of vile men;
They were scourged from the land.
9 “And(QZ) now I am their taunting song;
Yes, I am their byword.
10 They abhor me, they keep far from me;
They do not hesitate (RA)to spit in my face.
11 Because (RB)He has loosed [fq]my bowstring and afflicted me,
They have cast off restraint before me.
12 At my right hand the rabble arises;
They push away my feet,
And (RC)they raise against me their ways of destruction.
13 They break up my path,
They promote my calamity;
They have no helper.
14 They come as broad breakers;
Under the ruinous storm they roll along.
15 Terrors are turned upon me;
They pursue my honor as the wind,
And my prosperity has passed like a cloud.
16 “And(RD) now my soul is (RE)poured out because of my plight;
The days of affliction take hold of me.
17 My bones are pierced in me at night,
And my gnawing pains take no rest.
18 By great force my garment is disfigured;
It binds me about as the collar of my coat.
19 He has cast me into the mire,
And I have become like dust and ashes.
20 “I (RF)cry out to You, but You do not answer me;
I stand up, and You regard me.
21 But You have become cruel to me;
With the strength of Your hand You (RG)oppose me.
22 You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride on it;
You spoil my success.
23 For I know that You will bring me to death,
And to the house (RH)appointed for all living.
24 “Surely He would not stretch out His hand against a heap of ruins,
If they cry out when He destroys it.
25 (RI)Have I not wept for him who was in trouble?
Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 (RJ)But when I looked for good, evil came to me;
And when I waited for light, then came darkness.
27 [fr]My heart is in turmoil and cannot rest;
Days of affliction confront me.
28 (RK)I go about mourning, but not in the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.
29 (RL)I am a brother of jackals,
And a companion of ostriches.
30 (RM)My skin grows black and falls from me;
(RN)My bones burn with fever.
31 My harp is turned to mourning,
And my flute to the voice of those who weep.
Job Defends His Righteousness
31 “I have made a covenant with my eyes;
Why then should I [fs]look upon a (RO)young woman?
2 For what is the (RP)allotment of God from above,
And the inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
3 Is it not destruction for the wicked,
And disaster for the workers of iniquity?
4 (RQ)Does He not see my ways,
And count all my steps?
5 “If I have walked with falsehood,
Or if my foot has hastened to deceit,
6 [ft]Let me be weighed on honest scales,
That God may know my (RR)integrity.
7 If my step has turned from the way,
Or (RS)my heart walked after my eyes,
Or if any spot adheres to my hands,
8 Then (RT)let me sow, and another eat;
Yes, let my harvest be [fu]rooted out.
9 “If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
Or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,
10 Then let my wife grind for (RU)another,
And let others bow down over her.
11 For that would be wickedness;
Yes, (RV)it would be iniquity deserving of judgment.
12 For that would be a fire that consumes to destruction,
And would root out all my increase.
13 “If I have (RW)despised the cause of my male or female servant
When they complained against me,
14 What then shall I do when (RX)God rises up?
When He punishes, how shall I answer Him?
15 (RY)Did not He who made me in the womb make them?
Did not the same One fashion us in the womb?
16 “If I have kept the poor from their desire,
Or caused the eyes of the widow to (RZ)fail,
17 Or eaten my morsel by myself,
So that the fatherless could not eat of it
18 (But from my youth I reared him as a father,
And from my mother’s womb I guided [fv]the widow);
19 If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
Or any poor man without covering;
20 If his [fw]heart has not (SA)blessed me,
And if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
21 If I have raised my hand (SB)against the fatherless,
When I saw I had help in the gate;
22 Then let my arm fall from my shoulder,
Let my arm be torn from the socket.
23 For (SC)destruction from God is a terror to me,
And because of His magnificence I cannot endure.
24 “If(SD) I have made gold my hope,
Or said to fine gold, ‘You are my confidence’;
25 (SE)If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,
And because my hand had gained much;
26 (SF)If I have observed the [fx]sun when it shines,
Or the moon moving in brightness,
27 So that my heart has been secretly enticed,
And my mouth has kissed my hand;
28 This also would be an iniquity deserving of judgment,
For I would have denied God who is above.
29 “If(SG) I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me,
Or lifted myself up when evil found him
30 (SH)(Indeed I have not allowed my mouth to sin
By asking for a curse on his [fy]soul);
31 If the men of my tent have not said,
‘Who is there that has not been satisfied with his meat?’
32 (SI)(But no sojourner had to lodge in the street,
For I have opened my doors to the [fz]traveler);
33 If I have covered my transgressions (SJ)as[ga] Adam,
By hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
34 Because I feared the great (SK)multitude,
And dreaded the contempt of families,
So that I kept silence
And did not go out of the door—
35 (SL)Oh, that I had one to hear me!
Here is my mark.
Oh, (SM)that the Almighty would answer me,
That my [gb]Prosecutor had written a book!
36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder,
And bind it on me like a crown;
37 I would declare to Him the number of my steps;
Like a prince I would approach Him.
38 “If my land cries out against me,
And its furrows weep together;
39 If (SN)I have eaten its [gc]fruit without money,
Or (SO)caused its owners to lose their lives;
40 Then let (SP)thistles grow instead of wheat,
And weeds instead of barley.”
The words of Job are ended.
Elihu Contradicts Job’s Friends
32 So these three men ceased answering Job, because he was (SQ)righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel the (SR)Buzite, of the family of Ram, was aroused against Job; his wrath was aroused because he (SS)justified himself rather than God. 3 Also against his three friends his wrath was aroused, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.
4 Now because they were years older than he, Elihu had waited [gd]to speak to Job. 5 When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his wrath was aroused.
6 So Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, answered and said:
“I am (ST)young in years, and you are very old;
Therefore I was afraid,
And dared not declare my opinion to you.
7 I said, [ge]‘Age should speak,
And multitude of years should teach wisdom.’
8 But there is a spirit in man,
And (SU)the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.
9 (SV)Great[gf] men are not always wise,
Nor do the aged always understand justice.
10 “Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me,
I also will declare my opinion.’
11 Indeed I waited for your words,
I listened to your reasonings, while you searched out what to say.
12 I paid close attention to you;
And surely not one of you convinced Job,
Or answered his words—
13 (SW)Lest you say,
‘We have found wisdom’;
God will vanquish him, not man.
14 Now he has not [gg]directed his words against me;
So I will not answer him with your words.
15 “They are dismayed and answer no more;
Words escape them.
16 And I have waited, because they did not speak,
Because they stood still and answered no more.
17 I also will answer my part,
I too will declare my opinion.
18 For I am full of words;
The spirit within me compels me.
19 Indeed my [gh]belly is like wine that has no [gi]vent;
It is ready to burst like new wineskins.
20 I will speak, that I may find relief;
I must open my lips and answer.
21 Let me not, I pray, show partiality to anyone;
Nor let me flatter any man.
22 For I do not know how to flatter,
Else my Maker would soon take me (SX)away.
Elihu Contradicts Job
33 “But please, Job, hear my speech,
And listen to all my words.
2 Now, I open my mouth;
My tongue speaks in my mouth.
3 My words come from my upright heart;
My lips utter pure knowledge.
4 (SY)The Spirit of God has made me,
And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
5 If you can answer me,
Set your words in order before me;
Take your stand.
6 (SZ)Truly I am [gj]as your spokesman before God;
I also have been formed out of clay.
7 (TA)Surely no fear of me will terrify you,
Nor will my hand be heavy on you.
8 “Surely you have spoken [gk]in my hearing,
And I have heard the sound of your words, saying,
9 ‘I(TB) am pure, without transgression;
I am innocent, and there is no iniquity in me.
10 Yet He finds occasions against me,
(TC)He counts me as His enemy;
11 (TD)He puts my feet in the stocks,
He watches all my paths.’
12 “Look, in this you are not righteous.
I will answer you,
For God is greater than man.
13 Why do you (TE)contend with Him?
For He does not give an accounting of any of His words.
14 (TF)For God may speak in one way, or in another,
Yet man does not perceive it.
15 (TG)In a dream, in a vision of the night,
When deep sleep falls upon men,
While slumbering on their beds,
16 (TH)Then He opens the ears of men,
And seals their instruction.
17 In order to turn man from his deed,
And conceal pride from man,
18 He keeps back his soul from the Pit,
And his life from [gl]perishing by the sword.
19 “Man is also chastened with pain on his (TI)bed,
And with strong pain in many of his bones,
20 (TJ)So that his life abhors (TK)bread,
And his soul [gm]succulent food.
21 His flesh wastes away from sight,
And his bones stick out which once were not seen.
22 Yes, his soul draws near the Pit,
And his life to the executioners.
23 “If there is a messenger for him,
A mediator, one among a thousand,
To show man His uprightness,
24 Then He is gracious to him, and says,
‘Deliver him from going down to the Pit;
I have found [gn]a ransom’;
25 His flesh shall be young like a child’s,
He shall return to the days of his youth.
26 He shall pray to God, and He will delight in him,
He shall see His face with joy,
For He restores to man His righteousness.
27 Then he looks at men and (TL)says,
‘I have sinned, and perverted what was right,
And it (TM)did not profit me.’
28 He will (TN)redeem [go]his soul from going down to the Pit,
And his life shall see the light.
29 “Behold, God works all these things,
Twice, in fact, three times with a man,
30 (TO)To bring back his soul from the Pit,
That he may be enlightened with the light of life.
31 “Give ear, Job, listen to me;
Hold your peace, and I will speak.
32 If you have anything to say, answer me;
Speak, for I desire to justify you.
33 If not, (TP)listen to me;
[gp]Hold your peace, and I will teach you wisdom.”
Elihu Proclaims God’s Justice
34 Elihu further answered and said:
2 “Hear my words, you wise men;
Give ear to me, you who have knowledge.
3 (TQ)For the ear tests words
As the palate tastes food.
4 Let us choose justice for ourselves;
Let us know among ourselves what is good.
5 “For Job has said, (TR)‘I am righteous,
But (TS)God has taken away my justice;
6 (TT)Should I lie concerning my right?
My [gq]wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’
7 What man is like Job,
(TU)Who drinks [gr]scorn like water,
8 Who goes in company with the workers of iniquity,
And walks with wicked men?
9 For (TV)he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing
That he should delight in God.’
10 “Therefore listen to me, you [gs]men of understanding:
(TW)Far be it from God to do wickedness,
And from the Almighty to commit iniquity.
11 (TX)For He repays man according to his work,
And makes man to find a reward according to his way.
12 Surely God will never do wickedly,
Nor will the Almighty (TY)pervert justice.
13 Who gave Him charge over the earth?
Or who appointed Him over the whole world?
14 If He should set His heart on it,
If He should (TZ)gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath,
15 (UA)All flesh would perish together,
And man would return to dust.
16 “If you have understanding, hear this;
Listen to the sound of my words:
17 (UB)Should one who hates justice govern?
Will you (UC)condemn Him who is most just?
18 (UD)Is it fitting to say to a king, ‘You are worthless,’
And to nobles, ‘You are wicked’?
19 Yet He (UE)is not partial to princes,
Nor does He regard the rich more than the poor;
For (UF)they are all the work of His hands.
20 In a moment they die, (UG)in the middle of the night;
The people are shaken and pass away;
The mighty are taken away without a hand.
21 “For(UH) His eyes are on the ways of man,
And He sees all his steps.
22 (UI)There is no darkness nor shadow of death
Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
23 For He need not further consider a man,
That he should go before God in judgment.
24 (UJ)He breaks in pieces mighty men without inquiry,
And sets others in their place.
25 Therefore He knows their works;
He overthrows them in the night,
And they are crushed.
26 He strikes them as wicked men
In the open sight of others,
27 Because they (UK)turned back from Him,
And (UL)would not consider any of His ways,
28 So that they (UM)caused the cry of the poor to come to Him;
For He (UN)hears the cry of the afflicted.
29 When He gives quietness, who then can make trouble?
And when He hides His face, who then can see Him,
Whether it is against a nation or a man alone?—
30 That the hypocrite should not reign,
Lest the people be ensnared.
31 “For has anyone said to God,
‘I have borne chastening;
I will offend no more;
32 Teach me what I do not see;
If I have done iniquity, I will do no more’?
33 Should He repay it according to your terms,
Just because you disavow it?
You must choose, and not I;
Therefore speak what you know.
34 “Men of understanding say to me,
Wise men who listen to me:
35 ‘Job(UO) speaks without knowledge,
His words are without wisdom.’
36 Oh, that Job were tried to the utmost,
Because his answers are like those of wicked men!
37 For he adds (UP)rebellion to his sin;
He claps his hands among us,
And multiplies his words against God.”
Elihu Condemns Self-Righteousness
35 Moreover Elihu answered and said:
2 “Do you think this is right?
Do you say,
‘My righteousness is more than God’s’?
3 For (UQ)you say,
‘What advantage will it be to You?
What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?’
4 “I will answer you,
And (UR)your companions with you.
5 (US)Look to the heavens and see;
And behold the clouds—
They are higher than you.
6 If you sin, what do you accomplish (UT)against Him?
Or, if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him?
7 (UU)If you are righteous, what do you give Him?
Or what does He receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness affects a man such as you,
And your righteousness a son of man.
9 “Because(UV) of the multitude of oppressions they cry out;
They cry out for help because of the arm of the mighty.
10 But no one says, (UW)‘Where is God my Maker,
(UX)Who gives songs in the night,
11 Who (UY)teaches us more than the beasts of the earth,
And makes us wiser than the birds of heaven?’
12 (UZ)There they cry out, but He does not answer,
Because of the pride of evil men.
13 (VA)Surely God will not listen to empty talk,
Nor will the Almighty regard it.
14 (VB)Although you say you do not see Him,
Yet justice is before Him, and (VC)you must wait for Him.
15 And now, because He has not (VD)punished in His anger,
Nor taken much notice of folly,
16 (VE)Therefore Job opens his mouth in vain;
He multiplies words without knowledge.”
Elihu Proclaims God’s Goodness
36 Elihu also proceeded and said:
2 “Bear with me a little, and I will show you
That there are yet words to speak on God’s behalf.
3 I will fetch my knowledge from afar;
I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
4 For truly my words are not false;
One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.
5 “Behold, God is mighty, but despises no one;
(VF)He is mighty in strength [gt]of understanding.
6 He does not preserve the life of the wicked,
But gives justice to the (VG)oppressed.
7 (VH)He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous;
But (VI)they are on the throne with kings,
For He has seated them forever,
And they are exalted.
8 And (VJ)if they are bound in [gu]fetters,
Held in the cords of affliction,
9 Then He tells them their work and their transgressions—
That they have acted [gv]defiantly.
10 (VK)He also opens their ear to [gw]instruction,
And commands that they turn from iniquity.
11 If they obey and serve Him,
They shall (VL)spend their days in prosperity,
And their years in pleasures.
12 But if they do not obey,
They shall perish by the sword,
And they shall die [gx]without (VM)knowledge.
13 “But the hypocrites in heart (VN)store up wrath;
They do not cry for help when He binds them.
14 (VO)They[gy] die in youth,
And their life ends among the [gz]perverted persons.
15 He delivers the poor in their affliction,
And opens their ears in oppression.
16 “Indeed He would have brought you out of dire distress,
(VP)Into a broad place where there is no restraint;
And (VQ)what is set on your table would be full of (VR)richness.
17 But you are filled with the judgment due the (VS)wicked;
Judgment and justice take hold of you.
18 Because there is wrath, beware lest He take you away with one blow;
For (VT)a large ransom would not help you avoid it.
19 (VU)Will your riches,
Or all the mighty forces,
Keep you from distress?
20 Do not desire the night,
When people are cut off in their place.
21 Take heed, (VV)do not turn to iniquity,
For (VW)you have chosen this rather than affliction.
22 “Behold, God is exalted by His power;
Who teaches like Him?
23 (VX)Who has assigned Him His way,
Or who has said, ‘You have done (VY)wrong’?
Elihu Proclaims God’s Majesty
24 “Remember to (VZ)magnify His work,
Of which men have sung.
25 Everyone has seen it;
Man looks on it from afar.
26 “Behold, God is great, and we (WA)do not know Him;
(WB)Nor can the number of His years be discovered.
27 For He (WC)draws up drops of water,
Which distill as rain from the mist,
28 (WD)Which the clouds drop down
And pour abundantly on man.
29 Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds,
The thunder from His canopy?
30 Look, He (WE)scatters His light upon it,
And covers the depths of the sea.
31 For (WF)by these He judges the peoples;
He (WG)gives food in abundance.
32 (WH)He covers His hands with lightning,
And commands it to [ha]strike.
33 (WI)His thunder declares it,
The cattle also, concerning [hb]the rising storm.
God’s Works and Wisdom
37 “At this also my heart trembles,
And leaps from its place.
2 Hear attentively the thunder of His voice,
And the rumbling that comes from His mouth.
3 He sends it forth under the whole heaven,
His [hc]lightning to the ends of the earth.
4 After it (WJ)a voice roars;
He thunders with His majestic voice,
And He does not restrain them when His voice is heard.
5 God thunders marvelously with His voice;
(WK)He does great things which we cannot comprehend.
6 For (WL)He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth’;
Likewise to the [hd]gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength.
7 He seals the hand of every man,
(WM)That (WN)all men may know His work.
8 The beasts (WO)go into dens,
And remain in their lairs.
9 From the chamber of the south comes the whirlwind,
And cold from the scattering winds of the north.
10 (WP)By the breath of God ice is given,
And the broad waters are frozen.
11 Also with moisture He saturates the thick clouds;
He scatters His [he]bright clouds.
12 And they swirl about, being turned by His guidance,
That they may (WQ)do whatever He commands them
On the face of [hf]the whole earth.
13 (WR)He causes it to come,
Whether for [hg]correction,
Or (WS)for His land,
Or (WT)for mercy.
14 “Listen to this, O Job;
Stand still and (WU)consider the wondrous works of God.
15 Do you know when God [hh]dispatches them,
And causes the light of His cloud to shine?
16 (WV)Do you know how the clouds are balanced,
Those wondrous works of (WW)Him who is perfect in knowledge?
17 Why are your garments hot,
When He quiets the earth by the south wind?
18 With Him, have you (WX)spread out the (WY)skies,
Strong as a cast metal mirror?
19 “Teach us what we should say to Him,
For we can prepare nothing because of the darkness.
20 Should He be told that I wish to speak?
If a man were to speak, surely he would be swallowed up.
21 Even now men cannot look at the light when it is bright in the skies,
When the wind has passed and cleared them.
22 He comes from the north as golden splendor;
With God is awesome majesty.
23 As for the Almighty, (WZ)we cannot find Him;
(XA)He is excellent in power,
In judgment and abundant justice;
He does not oppress.
24 Therefore men (XB)fear Him;
He shows no partiality to any who are (XC)wise of heart.”
The Lord Reveals His Omnipotence to Job(XD)
38 Then the Lord answered Job (XE)out of the whirlwind, and said:
2 “Who(XF) is this who darkens counsel
By (XG)words without knowledge?
3 (XH)Now [hi]prepare yourself like a man;
I will question you, and you shall answer Me.
4 “Where(XI) were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements?
Surely you know!
Or who stretched the [hj]line upon it?
6 To what were its foundations fastened?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
7 When the morning stars sang together,
And all (XJ)the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 “Or(XK) who shut in the sea with doors,
When it burst forth and issued from the womb;
9 When I made the clouds its garment,
And thick darkness its swaddling band;
10 When (XL)I fixed My limit for it,
And set bars and doors;
11 When I said,
‘This far you may come, but no farther,
And here your proud waves (XM)must stop!’
12 “Have you (XN)commanded the morning since your days began,
And caused the dawn to know its place,
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
And (XO)the wicked be shaken out of it?
14 It takes on form like clay under a seal,
And stands out like a garment.
15 From the wicked their (XP)light is withheld,
And (XQ)the [hk]upraised arm is broken.
16 “Have you (XR)entered the springs of the sea?
Or have you walked in search of the depths?
17 Have (XS)the gates of death been [hl]revealed to you?
Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18 Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth?
Tell Me, if you know all this.
19 “Where is the way to the dwelling of light?
And darkness, where is its place,
20 That you may take it to its territory,
That you may know the paths to its home?
21 Do you know it, because you were born then,
Or because the number of your days is great?
22 “Have you entered (XT)the treasury of snow,
Or have you seen the treasury of hail,
23 (XU)Which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
For the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is light [hm]diffused,
Or the east wind scattered over the earth?
25 “Who (XV)has divided a channel for the overflowing water,
Or a path for the thunderbolt,
26 To cause it to rain on a land where there is no one,
A wilderness in which there is no man;
27 (XW)To satisfy the desolate waste,
And cause to spring forth the growth of tender grass?
28 (XX)Has the rain a father?
Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
And the (XY)frost of heaven, who gives it birth?
30 The waters harden like stone,
And the surface of the deep is (XZ)frozen.[hn]
31 “Can you bind the cluster of the (YA)Pleiades,[ho]
Or loose the belt of Orion?
32 Can you bring out [hp]Mazzaroth in its season?
Or can you guide [hq]the Great Bear with its cubs?
33 Do you know (YB)the ordinances of the heavens?
Can you set their dominion over the earth?
34 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
That an abundance of water may cover you?
35 Can you send out lightnings, that they may go,
And say to you, ‘Here we are!’?
36 (YC)Who has put wisdom in [hr]the mind?
Or who has given understanding to the heart?
37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom?
Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven,
38 When the dust hardens in clumps,
And the clods cling together?
39 “Can(YD) you hunt the prey for the lion,
Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 When they crouch in their dens,
Or lurk in their lairs to lie in wait?
41 (YE)Who provides food for the raven,
When its young ones cry to God,
And wander about for lack of food?
God Continues to Challenge Job
39 “Do you know the time when the wild (YF)mountain goats bear young?
Or can you mark when (YG)the deer gives birth?
2 Can you number the months that they fulfill?
Or do you know the time when they bear young?
3 They bow down,
They bring forth their young,
They deliver their [hs]offspring.
4 Their young ones are healthy,
They grow strong with grain;
They depart and do not return to them.
5 “Who set the wild donkey free?
Who loosed the bonds of the [ht]onager,
6 (YH)Whose home I have made the wilderness,
And the [hu]barren land his dwelling?
7 He scorns the tumult of the city;
He does not heed the shouts of the driver.
8 The range of the mountains is his pasture,
And he searches after (YI)every green thing.
9 “Will the (YJ)wild ox be willing to serve you?
Will he bed by your manger?
10 Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes?
Or will he plow the valleys behind you?
11 Will you trust him because his strength is great?
Or will you leave your labor to him?
12 Will you trust him to bring home your [hv]grain,
And gather it to your threshing floor?
13 “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly,
But are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork’s?
14 For she leaves her eggs on the ground,
And warms them in the dust;
15 She forgets that a foot may crush them,
Or that a wild beast may break them.
16 She (YK)treats her young harshly, as though they were not hers;
Her labor is in vain, without [hw]concern,
17 Because God deprived her of wisdom,
And did not (YL)endow her with understanding.
18 When she lifts herself on high,
She scorns the horse and its rider.
19 “Have you given the horse strength?
Have you clothed his neck with [hx]thunder?
20 Can you [hy]frighten him like a locust?
His majestic snorting strikes terror.
21 He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength;
(YM)He gallops into the clash of arms.
22 He mocks at fear, and is not frightened;
Nor does he turn back from the sword.
23 The quiver rattles against him,
The glittering spear and javelin.
24 He devours the distance with fierceness and rage;
Nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded.
25 At the blast of the trumpet he says, ‘Aha!’
He smells the battle from afar,
The thunder of captains and shouting.
26 “Does the hawk fly by your wisdom,
And spread its wings toward the south?
27 Does the (YN)eagle mount up at your command,
And (YO)make its nest on high?
28 On the rock it dwells and resides,
On the crag of the rock and the stronghold.
29 From there it spies out the prey;
Its eyes observe from afar.
30 Its young ones suck up blood;
And (YP)where the slain are, there it is.”
God’s Power and Wisdom
40 Moreover the Lord (YQ)answered Job, and said:
2 “Shall (YR)the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him?
He who (YS)rebukes God, let him answer it.”
Job’s Response to God
3 Then Job answered the Lord and said:
4 “Behold,(YT) I am vile;
What shall I answer You?
(YU)I lay my hand over my mouth.
5 Once I have spoken, but I will not answer;
Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”
Footnotes
- Job 1:1 Lit. turned away from
- Job 1:3 Lit. sons
- Job 1:5 consecrate
- Job 1:5 Lit. blessed, but in an evil sense; cf. Job 1:11; 2:5, 9
- Job 1:6 Lit. the Adversary
- Job 1:7 Lit. the Adversary
- Job 1:8 Lit. set your heart on
- Job 1:8 Lit. turns away from
- Job 1:10 Protected him
- Job 1:11 Lit. bless, but in an evil sense; cf. Job 1:5
- Job 1:12 Lit. hand
- Job 1:15 Lit. Sheba; cf. Job 6:19
- Job 1:15 Lit. fell upon
- Job 1:16 destroyed
- Job 1:19 LXX omits across
- Job 2:3 Lit. consume
- Job 2:5 Lit. bless, but in an evil sense; cf. Job 1:5
- Job 2:9 Lit. Bless, but in an evil sense; cf. Job 1:5
- Job 3:2 Lit. answered
- Job 3:6 LXX, Syr., Tg., Vg. be joined
- Job 3:9 eyelids of the dawn
- Job 3:11 expire
- Job 3:17 Lit. weary of strength
- Job 3:18 are at ease
- Job 3:21 Lit. wait
- Job 3:24 Lit. my bread
- Job 4:4 Lit. bending
- Job 5:5 LXX They shall not be taken from evil men; Vg. And the armed man shall take him by violence
- Job 5:5 LXX The might shall draw them off; Vg. And the thirsty shall drink up their riches
- Job 5:5 wealth
- Job 5:7 labor
- Job 5:20 Lit. hand
- Job 6:14 Or despairing
- Job 6:20 Lit. ashamed
- Job 6:29 Lit. is in it
- Job 6:30 palate
- Job 7:2 Lit. pants for
- Job 7:15 Lit. my bones
- Job 7:16 Without substance, futile
- Job 7:18 attend to
- Job 7:20 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX, Jewish tradition to You
- Job 8:4 Lit. into the hand of their transgression
- Job 8:6 arise
- Job 8:9 Lit. not
- Job 8:14 Lit. a spider’s house
- Job 8:20 reject
- Job 8:21 Lit. shouts of joy
- Job 8:22 Lit. will not be
- Job 9:3 argue
- Job 9:8 walks
- Job 9:8 Lit. heights
- Job 9:9 Heb. Ash, Kesil, and Kimah
- Job 9:12 Lit. who can turn Him back?
- Job 9:13 Heb. rahab
- Job 9:26 Lit. ships of reeds
- Job 9:30 lye
- Job 9:31 loathe
- Job 10:1 Lit. leave on myself
- Job 10:15 Lit. will not
- Job 11:2 Lit. a man of lips
- Job 11:3 be silent
- Job 11:6 Lit. forgets some of your iniquity for you
- Job 11:8 The abode of the dead
- Job 11:10 restrain
- Job 11:20 Lit. the breathing out of life
- Job 12:3 Lit. a heart
- Job 12:5 Or disaster
- Job 12:10 Or soul
- Job 12:10 Lit. all flesh of men
- Job 12:11 palate
- Job 12:12 Long life
- Job 12:19 Lit. priests, but not in a technical sense
- Job 12:21 loosens the belt of
- Job 12:23 Lit. spreads out
- Job 12:24 Lit. heart
- Job 13:7 unrighteously
- Job 13:11 Lit. exaltation
- Job 13:13 Be silent
- Job 13:27 Lit. inscribe a print
- Job 13:27 Lit. roots
- Job 13:28 Lit. He
- Job 14:1 turmoil
- Job 14:3 LXX, Syr., Vg. him
- Job 14:6 Lit. cease
- Job 14:10 lies prostrate
- Job 14:10 expires
- Job 14:17 Lit. plaster over
- Job 15:2 Lit. his belly
- Job 15:4 meditation or complaint
- Job 15:11 Or a secret thing
- Job 15:12 Or why do your eyes flash
- Job 15:19 Or earth
- Job 15:21 Terrifying
- Job 15:24 attack
- Job 16:2 Troublesome
- Job 16:3 Empty words
- Job 16:13 Lit. kidneys
- Job 16:14 Vg. giant
- Job 16:15 Lit. horn
- Job 16:16 Lit. red
- Job 16:21 friend
- Job 17:2 Lit. lodge
- Job 17:10 So with some Heb. mss., LXX, Syr., Vg.; MT, Tg. all of them
- Job 17:11 desires
- Job 17:16 The abode of the dead
- Job 18:4 Lit. one who tears his soul
- Job 18:13 parts
- Job 18:17 Lit. before the outside, i.e., the distinguished or famous
- Job 18:18 Or They drive him
- Job 18:20 Lit. who came after
- Job 18:20 Lit. who have gone before
- Job 19:3 shamed or disgraced
- Job 19:3 A Jewish tradition make yourselves strange to me
- Job 19:7 violence
- Job 19:8 walled off my way
- Job 19:17 Lit. strange
- Job 19:26 Lit. struck off
- Job 19:27 Lit. kidneys
- Job 20:3 Lit. of my insulting correction
- Job 20:13 Lit. palate
- Job 20:19 crushed
- Job 20:20 Lit. belly
- Job 20:22 Or the wretched or sufferer
- Job 20:25 Gallbladder
- Job 21:2 comfort
- Job 21:9 The rod of God’s chastisement
- Job 21:13 Without lingering
- Job 21:13 Or Sheol
- Job 21:16 Lit. their goal
- Job 21:18 steals away
- Job 21:19 stores up
- Job 21:19 Lit. his
- Job 21:24 LXX, Vg. bowels; Syr. sides; Tg. breasts
- Job 21:28 Vg. omits the tent
- Job 21:34 faithlessness
- Job 22:8 Lit. man of arm
- Job 22:9 Lit. arms
- Job 22:17 LXX, Syr. us
- Job 22:20 LXX substance is
- Job 22:25 Ancient vss. suggest defense; MT gold, as in v. 24
- Job 23:2 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX, Syr. His
- Job 23:12 Lit. appointed portion
- Job 23:17 Or by or before
- Job 24:15 Lit. puts a covering on his face
- Job 24:19 Lit. seize
- Job 24:19 Or Sheol
- Job 24:21 Lit. feeds on
- Job 24:24 Lit. gathered up
- Job 25:3 Can His armies be counted?
- Job 26:8 do not break
- Job 26:11 amazed
- Job 26:12 Heb. rahab
- Job 27:6 reprove
- Job 27:11 Or by
- Job 27:15 Lit. his
- Job 27:18 So with MT, Vg.; LXX, Syr. spider (cf. 8:14); Tg. decay
- Job 27:18 Temporary shelter
- Job 27:19 So with MT, Tg.; LXX, Syr. But shall not add (i.e., do it again); Vg. But take away nothing
- Job 27:22 Lit. hand
- Job 28:2 Lit. dust
- Job 28:8 Lit. sons of pride, figurative of the great lions
- Job 28:9 At the base
- Job 28:17 vessels
- Job 28:18 Heb. ramoth
- Job 28:21 heaven
- Job 28:22 Heb. Abaddon
- Job 28:27 Lit. it
- Job 29:6 So with ancient vss. and a few Heb. mss. (cf. Job 20:17); MT wrath
- Job 30:1 Lit. of fewer days
- Job 30:4 A plant of the salty marshes
- Job 30:6 wadis
- Job 30:6 Lit. holes
- Job 30:11 So with MT, Syr., Tg.; LXX, Vg. His
- Job 30:27 I seethe inside
- Job 31:1 look intently or gaze
- Job 31:6 Lit. Let Him weigh me
- Job 31:8 uprooted
- Job 31:18 Lit. her
- Job 31:20 Lit. loins
- Job 31:26 Lit. light
- Job 31:30 Or life
- Job 31:32 So with LXX, Syr., Tg., Vg.; MT road
- Job 31:33 Or as men do
- Job 31:35 Lit. Accuser
- Job 31:39 Lit. strength
- Job 32:4 Vg. till Job had spoken
- Job 32:7 Lit. Days, i.e., years
- Job 32:9 Or Men of many years
- Job 32:14 ordered
- Job 32:19 bosom
- Job 32:19 opening
- Job 33:6 Lit. as your mouth
- Job 33:8 Lit. in my ears
- Job 33:18 Lit. passing
- Job 33:20 desirable
- Job 33:24 an atonement
- Job 33:28 Kt. my
- Job 33:33 Keep silent
- Job 34:6 Lit. arrow
- Job 34:7 derision
- Job 34:10 men of heart
- Job 36:5 of heart
- Job 36:8 chains
- Job 36:9 proudly
- Job 36:10 discipline
- Job 36:12 MT as one without knowledge
- Job 36:14 Lit. Their soul dies
- Job 36:14 Heb. qedeshim, those practicing sodomy or prostitution in religious rituals
- Job 36:32 strike the mark
- Job 36:33 Lit. what is rising
- Job 37:3 Or light
- Job 37:6 Lit. shower of rain
- Job 37:11 clouds of light
- Job 37:12 Lit. the world of the earth
- Job 37:13 Lit. a rod
- Job 37:15 places them
- Job 38:3 Lit. gird up your loins like
- Job 38:5 measuring line
- Job 38:15 Lit. high
- Job 38:17 Lit. opened
- Job 38:24 Lit. divided
- Job 38:30 Lit. imprisoned
- Job 38:31 Or the Seven Stars
- Job 38:32 Lit. Constellations
- Job 38:32 Or Arcturus
- Job 38:36 Lit. the inward parts
- Job 39:3 Lit. pangs
- Job 39:5 A species of wild donkey
- Job 39:6 Lit. salt land
- Job 39:12 Lit. seed
- Job 39:16 Lit. fear
- Job 39:19 Or a mane
- Job 39:20 make him spring
Job 1-42
The Message
Job 1-42
The Message
A Man Devoted to God
1 1-3 Job was a man who lived in Uz. He was honest inside and out, a man of his word, who was totally devoted to God and hated evil with a passion. He had seven sons and three daughters. He was also very wealthy—seven thousand head of sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred teams of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and a huge staff of servants—the most influential man in all the East!
4-5 His sons used to take turns hosting parties in their homes, always inviting their three sisters to join them in their merrymaking. When the parties were over, Job would get up early in the morning and sacrifice a burnt offering for each of his children, thinking, “Maybe one of them sinned by defying God inwardly.” Job made a habit of this sacrificial atonement, just in case they’d sinned.
The First Test: Family and Fortune
6-7 One day when the angels came to report to God, Satan, who was the Designated Accuser, came along with them. God singled out Satan and said, “What have you been up to?”
Satan answered God, “Going here and there, checking things out on earth.”
8 God said to Satan, “Have you noticed my friend Job? There’s no one quite like him—honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil.”
9-10 Satan retorted, “So do you think Job does all that out of the sheer goodness of his heart? Why, no one ever had it so good! You pamper him like a pet, make sure nothing bad ever happens to him or his family or his possessions, bless everything he does—he can’t lose!
11 “But what do you think would happen if you reached down and took away everything that is his? He’d curse you right to your face, that’s what.”
12 God replied, “We’ll see. Go ahead—do what you want with all that is his. Just don’t hurt him.” Then Satan left the presence of God.
13-15 Sometime later, while Job’s children were having one of their parties at the home of the oldest son, a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys grazing in the field next to us when Sabeans attacked. They stole the animals and killed the field hands. I’m the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened.”
16 While he was still talking, another messenger arrived and said, “Bolts of lightning struck the sheep and the shepherds and fried them—burned them to a crisp. I’m the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened.”
17 While he was still talking, another messenger arrived and said, “Chaldeans coming from three directions raided the camels and massacred the camel drivers. I’m the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened.”
18-19 While he was still talking, another messenger arrived and said, “Your children were having a party at the home of the oldest brother when a tornado swept in off the desert and struck the house. It collapsed on the young people and they died. I’m the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened.”
20 Job got to his feet, ripped his robe, shaved his head, then fell to the ground and worshiped:
21 Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
naked I’ll return to the womb of the earth.
God gives, God takes.
God’s name be ever blessed.
22 Not once through all this did Job sin; not once did he blame God.
The Second Test: Health
2 1-3 One day when the angels came to report to God, Satan also showed up. God singled out Satan, saying, “And what have you been up to?” Satan answered God, “Oh, going here and there, checking things out.” Then God said to Satan, “Have you noticed my friend Job? There’s no one quite like him, is there—honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil? He still has a firm grip on his integrity! You tried to trick me into destroying him, but it didn’t work.”
4-5 Satan answered, “A human would do anything to save his life. But what do you think would happen if you reached down and took away his health? He’d curse you to your face, that’s what.”
6 God said, “All right. Go ahead—you can do what you like with him. But mind you, don’t kill him.”
7-8 Satan left God and struck Job with terrible sores. Job was ulcers and scabs from head to foot. They itched and oozed so badly that he took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself, then went and sat on a trash heap, among the ashes.
9 His wife said, “Still holding on to your precious integrity, are you? Curse God and be done with it!”
10 He told her, “You’re talking like an empty-headed fool. We take the good days from God—why not also the bad days?”
Not once through all this did Job sin. He said nothing against God.
Job’s Three Friends
11-13 Three of Job’s friends heard of all the trouble that had fallen on him. Each traveled from his own country—Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuhah, Zophar from Naamath—and went together to Job to keep him company and comfort him. When they first caught sight of him, they couldn’t believe what they saw—they hardly recognized him! They cried out in lament, ripped their robes, and dumped dirt on their heads as a sign of their grief. Then they sat with him on the ground. Seven days and nights they sat there without saying a word. They could see how rotten he felt, how deeply he was suffering.
Job Cries Out
What’s the Point of Life?
3 1-2 Then Job broke the silence. He spoke up and cursed his fate:
3-10 “Obliterate the day I was born.
Blank out the night I was conceived!
Let it be a black hole in space.
May God above forget it ever happened.
Erase it from the books!
May the day of my birth be buried in deep darkness,
shrouded by the fog,
swallowed by the night.
And the night of my conception—the devil take it!
Rip the date off the calendar,
delete it from the almanac.
Oh, turn that night into pure nothingness—
no sounds of pleasure from that night, ever!
May those who are good at cursing curse that day.
Unleash the sea beast, Leviathan, on it.
May its morning stars turn to black cinders,
waiting for a daylight that never comes,
never once seeing the first light of dawn.
And why? Because it released me from my mother’s womb
into a life with so much trouble.
11-19 “Why didn’t I die at birth,
my first breath out of the womb my last?
Why were there arms to rock me,
and breasts for me to drink from?
I could be resting in peace right now,
asleep forever, feeling no pain,
In the company of kings and statesmen
in their royal ruins,
Or with princes resplendent
in their gold and silver tombs.
Why wasn’t I stillborn and buried
with all the babies who never saw light,
Where the wicked no longer trouble anyone
and bone-weary people get a long-deserved rest?
Prisoners sleep undisturbed,
never again to wake up to the bark of the guards.
The small and the great are equals in that place,
and slaves are free from their masters.
20-23 “Why does God bother giving light to the miserable,
why bother keeping bitter people alive,
Those who want in the worst way to die, and can’t,
who can’t imagine anything better than death,
Who count the day of their death and burial
the happiest day of their life?
What’s the point of life when it doesn’t make sense,
when God blocks all the roads to meaning?
24-26 “Instead of bread I get groans for my supper,
then leave the table and vomit my anguish.
The worst of my fears has come true,
what I’ve dreaded most has happened.
My repose is shattered, my peace destroyed.
No rest for me, ever—death has invaded life.”
Eliphaz Speaks Out
Now You’re the One in Trouble
4 1-6 Then Eliphaz from Teman spoke up:
“Would you mind if I said something to you?
Under the circumstances it’s hard to keep quiet.
You yourself have done this plenty of times, spoken words
that clarify, encouraged those who were about to quit.
Your words have put stumbling people on their feet,
put fresh hope in people about to collapse.
But now you’re the one in trouble—you’re hurting!
You’ve been hit hard and you’re reeling from the blow.
But shouldn’t your devout life give you confidence now?
Shouldn’t your exemplary life give you hope?
7-11 “Think! Has a truly innocent person ever ended up on the scrap heap?
Do genuinely upright people ever lose out in the end?
It’s my observation that those who plow evil
and sow trouble reap evil and trouble.
One breath from God and they fall apart,
one blast of his anger and there’s nothing left of them.
The mighty lion, king of the beasts, roars mightily,
but when he’s toothless he’s useless—
No teeth, no prey—and the cubs
wander off to fend for themselves.
12-16 “A word came to me in secret—
a mere whisper of a word, but I heard it clearly.
It came in a scary dream one night,
after I had fallen into a deep, deep sleep.
Dread stared me in the face, and Terror.
I was scared to death—I shook from head to foot.
A spirit glided right in front of me—
the hair on my head stood on end.
I couldn’t tell what it was that appeared there—
a blur . . . and then I heard a muffled voice:
17-21 “‘How can mere mortals be more righteous than God?
How can humans be purer than their Creator?
Why, God doesn’t even trust his own servants,
doesn’t even cheer his angels,
So how much less these bodies composed of mud,
fragile as moths?
These bodies of ours are here today and gone tomorrow,
and no one even notices—gone without a trace.
When the tent stakes are ripped up, the tent collapses—
we die and are never the wiser for having lived.’”
Don’t Blame Fate When Things Go Wrong
5 1-7 “Call for help, Job, if you think anyone will answer!
To which of the holy angels will you turn?
The hot temper of a fool eventually kills him,
the jealous anger of an idiot does her in.
I’ve seen it myself—seen fools putting down roots,
and then, suddenly, their houses are cursed.
Their children out in the cold, abused and exploited,
with no one to stick up for them.
Hungry people off the street plunder their harvests,
cleaning them out completely, taking thorns and all,
insatiable for everything they have.
Don’t blame fate when things go wrong—
trouble doesn’t come from nowhere.
It’s human! Mortals are born and bred for trouble,
as certainly as sparks fly upward.
What a Blessing When God Corrects You!
8-16 “If I were in your shoes, I’d go straight to God,
I’d throw myself on the mercy of God.
After all, he’s famous for great and unexpected acts;
there’s no end to his surprises.
He gives rain, for instance, across the wide earth,
sends water to irrigate the fields.
He raises up the down-and-out,
gives firm footing to those sinking in grief.
He aborts the schemes of conniving crooks,
so that none of their plots come to term.
He catches the know-it-alls in their conspiracies—
all that intricate intrigue swept out with the trash!
Suddenly they’re disoriented, plunged into darkness;
they can’t see to put one foot in front of the other.
But the downtrodden are saved by God,
saved from the murderous plots, saved from the iron fist.
And so the poor continue to hope,
while injustice is bound and gagged.
17-19 “So, what a blessing when God steps in and corrects you!
Mind you, don’t despise the discipline of Almighty God!
True, he wounds, but he also dresses the wound;
the same hand that hurts you, heals you.
From one disaster after another he delivers you;
no matter what the calamity, the evil can’t touch you—
20-26 “In famine, he’ll keep you from starving,
in war, from being gutted by the sword.
You’ll be protected from vicious gossip
and live fearless through any catastrophe.
You’ll shrug off disaster and famine,
and stroll fearlessly among wild animals.
You’ll be on good terms with rocks and mountains;
wild animals will become your good friends.
You’ll know that your place on earth is safe,
you’ll look over your goods and find nothing amiss.
You’ll see your children grow up,
your family lovely and graceful as orchard grass.
You’ll arrive at your grave ripe with many good years,
like sheaves of golden grain at harvest.
27 “Yes, this is the way things are—my word of honor!
Take it to heart and you won’t go wrong.”
Job Replies to Eliphaz
God Has Dumped the Works on Me
6 1-7 Job answered:
“If my misery could be weighed,
if you could pile the whole bitter load on the scales,
It would be heavier than all the sand of the sea!
Is it any wonder that I’m howling like a caged cat?
The arrows of God Almighty are in me,
poison arrows—and I’m poisoned all through!
God has dumped the whole works on me.
Donkeys bray and cows moo when they run out of pasture—
so don’t expect me to keep quiet in this.
Do you see what God has dished out for me?
It’s enough to turn anyone’s stomach!
Everything in me is repulsed by it—
it makes me sick.
Pressed Past the Limits
8-13 “All I want is an answer to one prayer,
a last request to be honored:
Let God step on me—squash me like a bug,
and be done with me for good.
I’d at least have the satisfaction
of not having blasphemed the Holy God,
before being pressed past the limits.
Where’s the strength to keep my hopes up?
What future do I have to keep me going?
Do you think I have nerves of steel?
Do you think I’m made of iron?
Do you think I can pull myself up by my bootstraps?
Why, I don’t even have any boots!
My So-Called Friends
14-23 “When desperate people give up on God Almighty,
their friends, at least, should stick with them.
But my brothers are fickle as a gulch in the desert—
one day they’re gushing with water
From melting ice and snow
cascading out of the mountains,
But by midsummer they’re dry,
gullies baked dry in the sun.
Travelers who spot them and go out of their way for a drink
end up in a waterless gulch and die of thirst.
Merchant caravans from Tema see them and expect water,
tourists from Sheba hope for a cool drink.
They arrive so confident—but what a disappointment!
They get there, and their faces fall!
And you, my so-called friends, are no better—
there’s nothing to you!
One look at a hard scene and you shrink in fear.
It’s not as though I asked you for anything—
I didn’t ask you for one red cent—
Nor did I beg you to go out on a limb for me.
So why all this dodging and shuffling?
24-27 “Confront me with the truth and I’ll shut up,
show me where I’ve gone off the track.
Honest words never hurt anyone,
but what’s the point of all this pious bluster?
You pretend to tell me what’s wrong with my life,
but treat my words of anguish as so much hot air.
Are people mere things to you?
Are friends just items of profit and loss?
28-30 “Look me in the eyes!
Do you think I’d lie to your face?
Think it over—no double-talk!
Think carefully—my integrity is on the line!
Can you detect anything false in what I say?
Don’t you trust me to discern good from evil?”
There’s Nothing to My Life
7 1-6 “Human life is a struggle, isn’t it?
It’s a life sentence to hard labor.
Like field hands longing for quitting time
and working stiffs with nothing to hope for but payday,
I’m given a life that meanders and goes nowhere—
months of aimlessness, nights of misery!
I go to bed and think, ‘How long till I can get up?’
I toss and turn as the night drags on—and I’m fed up!
I’m covered with maggots and scabs.
My skin gets scaly and hard, then oozes with pus.
My days come and go swifter than the click of knitting needles,
and then the yarn runs out—an unfinished life!
7-10 “God, don’t forget that I’m only a wisp of air!
These eyes have had their last look at goodness.
And your eyes have seen the last of me;
even while you’re looking, there’ll be nothing left to look at.
When a cloud evaporates, it’s gone for good;
those who go to the grave never come back.
They don’t return to visit their families;
never again will friends drop in for coffee.
11-16 “And so I’m not keeping one bit of this quiet,
I’m laying it all out on the table;
my complaining to high heaven is bitter, but honest.
Are you going to put a muzzle on me,
the way you quiet the sea and still the storm?
If I say, ‘I’m going to bed, then I’ll feel better.
A little nap will lift my spirits,’
You come and so scare me with nightmares
and frighten me with ghosts
That I’d rather strangle in the sheets
than face this kind of life any longer.
I hate this life! Who needs any more of this?
Let me alone! There’s nothing to my life—it’s nothing
but smoke.
17-21 “What are mortals anyway, that you bother with them,
that you even give them the time of day?
That you check up on them every morning,
looking in on them to see how they’re doing?
Let up on me, will you?
Can’t you even let me spit in peace?
Even suppose I’d sinned—how would that hurt you?
You’re responsible for every human being.
Don’t you have better things to do than pick on me?
Why make a federal case out of me?
Why don’t you just forgive my sins
and start me off with a clean slate?
The way things are going, I’ll soon be dead.
You’ll look high and low, but I won’t be around.”
Bildad’s Response
Does God Mess Up?
8 1-7 Bildad from Shuhah was next to speak:
“How can you keep on talking like this?
You’re talking nonsense, and noisy nonsense at that.
Does God mess up?
Does God Almighty ever get things backward?
It’s plain that your children sinned against him—
otherwise, why would God have punished them?
Here’s what you must do—and don’t put it off any longer:
Get down on your knees before God Almighty.
If you’re as innocent and upright as you say,
it’s not too late—he’ll come running;
he’ll set everything right again, reestablish your fortunes.
Even though you’re not much right now,
you’ll end up better than ever.
To Hang Your Life from One Thin Thread
8-19 “Put the question to our ancestors,
study what they learned from their ancestors.
For we’re newcomers at this, with a lot to learn,
and not too long to learn it.
So why not let the ancients teach you, tell you what’s what,
instruct you in what they knew from experience?
Can mighty pine trees grow tall without soil?
Can luscious tomatoes flourish without water?
Blossoming flowers look beautiful before they’re cut or picked,
but without soil or water they wither more quickly than grass.
That’s what happens to all who forget God—
all their hopes come to nothing.
They hang their life from one thin thread,
they hitch their fate to a spider web.
One jiggle and the thread breaks,
one jab and the web collapses.
Or they’re like weeds springing up in the sunshine,
invading the garden,
Spreading everywhere, overtaking the flowers,
getting a foothold even in the rocks.
But when the gardener rips them out by the roots,
the garden doesn’t miss them one bit.
The sooner the godless are gone, the better;
then good plants can grow in their place.
20-22 “There’s no way that God will reject a good person,
and there is no way he’ll help a bad one.
God will let you laugh again;
you’ll raise the roof with shouts of joy,
With your enemies thoroughly discredited,
their house of cards collapsed.”
Job Continues
How Can Mere Mortals Get Right with God?
9 1-13 Job continued by saying:
“So what’s new? I know all this.
The question is, ‘How can mere mortals get right with God?’
If we wanted to bring our case before him,
what chance would we have? Not one in a thousand!
God’s wisdom is so deep, God’s power so immense,
who could take him on and come out in one piece?
He moves mountains before they know what’s happened,
flips them on their heads on a whim.
He gives the earth a good shaking up,
rocks it down to its very foundations.
He tells the sun, ‘Don’t shine,’ and it doesn’t;
he pulls the blinds on the stars.
All by himself he stretches out the heavens
and strides on the waves of the sea.
He designed the Big Dipper and Orion,
the Pleiades and Alpha Centauri.
We’ll never comprehend all the great things he does;
his miracle-surprises can’t be counted.
Somehow, though he moves right in front of me, I don’t see him;
quietly but surely he’s active, and I miss it.
If he steals you blind, who can stop him?
Who’s going to say, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’
God doesn’t hold back on his anger;
even dragon-bred monsters cringe before him.
14-20 “So how could I ever argue with him,
construct a defense that would influence God?
Even though I’m innocent I could never prove it;
I can only throw myself on the Judge’s mercy.
If I called on God and he himself answered me,
then, and only then, would I believe that he’d heard me.
As it is, he knocks me about from pillar to post,
beating me up, black-and-blue, for no good reason.
He won’t even let me catch my breath,
piles bitterness upon bitterness.
If it’s a question of who’s stronger, he wins, hands down!
If it’s a question of justice, who’ll serve him the subpoena?
Even though innocent, anything I say incriminates me;
blameless as I am, my defense just makes me sound worse.
If God’s Not Responsible, Who Is?
21-24 “Believe me, I’m blameless.
I don’t understand what’s going on.
I hate my life!
Since either way it ends up the same, I can only conclude
that God destroys the good right along with the bad.
When calamity hits and brings sudden death,
he folds his arms, aloof from the despair of the innocent.
He lets the wicked take over running the world,
he installs judges who can’t tell right from wrong.
If he’s not responsible, who is?
25-31 “My time is short—what’s left of my life races off
too fast for me to even glimpse the good.
My life is going fast, like a ship under full sail,
like an eagle plummeting to its prey.
Even if I say, ‘I’ll put all this behind me,
I’ll look on the bright side and force a smile,’
All these troubles would still be like grit in my gut
since it’s clear you’re not going to let up.
The verdict has already been handed down—‘Guilty!’—
so what’s the use of protests or appeals?
Even if I scrub myself all over
and wash myself with the strongest soap I can find,
It wouldn’t last—you’d push me into a pigpen, or worse,
so nobody could stand me for the stink.
32-35 “God and I are not equals; I can’t bring a case against him.
We’ll never enter a courtroom as peers.
How I wish we had an arbitrator
to step in and let me get on with life—
To break God’s death grip on me,
to free me from this terror so I could breathe again.
Then I’d speak up and state my case boldly.
As things stand, there is no way I can do it.”
To Find Some Skeleton in My Closet
10 “I can’t stand my life—I hate it!
I’m putting it all out on the table,
all the bitterness of my life—I’m holding back nothing.”
2-7 Job prayed:
“Here’s what I want to say:
Don’t, God, bring in a verdict of guilty
without letting me know the charges you’re bringing.
How does this fit into what you once called ‘good’—
giving me a hard time, spurning me,
a life you shaped by your very own hands,
and then blessing the plots of the wicked?
You don’t look at things the way we mortals do.
You’re not taken in by appearances, are you?
Unlike us, you’re not working against a deadline.
You have all eternity to work things out.
So what’s this all about, anyway—this compulsion
to dig up some dirt, to find some skeleton in my closet?
You know good and well I’m not guilty.
You also know no one can help me.
8-12 “You made me like a handcrafted piece of pottery—
and now are you going to smash me to pieces?
Don’t you remember how beautifully you worked my clay?
Will you reduce me now to a mud pie?
Oh, that marvel of conception as you stirred together
semen and ovum—
What a miracle of skin and bone,
muscle and brain!
You gave me life itself, and incredible love.
You watched and guarded every breath I took.
13-17 “But you never told me about this part.
I should have known that there was more to it—
That if I so much as missed a step, you’d notice and pounce,
wouldn’t let me get by with a thing.
If I’m truly guilty, I’m doomed.
But if I’m innocent, it’s no better—I’m still doomed.
My belly is full of bitterness.
I’m up to my ears in a swamp of affliction.
I try to make the best of it, try to brave it out,
but you’re too much for me,
relentless, like a lion on the prowl.
You line up fresh witnesses against me.
You compound your anger
and pile on the grief and pain!
18-22 “So why did you have me born?
I wish no one had ever laid eyes on me!
I wish I’d never lived—a stillborn,
buried without ever having breathed.
Isn’t it time to call it quits on my life?
Can’t you let up, and let me smile just once
Before I die and am buried,
before I’m nailed into my coffin, sealed in the ground,
And banished for good to the land of the dead,
blind in the final dark?”
Zophar’s Counsel
How Wisdom Looks from the Inside
11 1-6 Now it was the turn of Zophar from Naamath:
“What a flood of words! Shouldn’t we put a stop to it?
Should this kind of loose talk be permitted?
Job, do you think you can carry on like this and we’ll say nothing?
That we’ll let you rail and mock and not step in?
You claim, ‘My doctrine is sound
and my conduct impeccable.’
How I wish God would give you a piece of his mind,
tell you what’s what!
I wish he’d show you how wisdom looks from the inside,
for true wisdom is mostly ‘inside.’
But you can be sure of this,
you haven’t gotten half of what you deserve.
7-12 “Do you think you can explain the mystery of God?
Do you think you can diagram God Almighty?
God is far higher than you can imagine,
far deeper than you can comprehend,
Stretching farther than earth’s horizons,
far wider than the endless ocean.
If he happens along, throws you in jail
then hauls you into court, can you do anything about it?
He sees through vain pretensions,
spots evil a long way off—
no one pulls the wool over his eyes!
Hollow men, hollow women, will wise up
about the same time mules learn to talk.
Reach Out to God
13-20 “Still, if you set your heart on God
and reach out to him,
If you scrub your hands of sin
and refuse to entertain evil in your home,
You’ll be able to face the world unashamed
and keep a firm grip on life, guiltless and fearless.
You’ll forget your troubles;
they’ll be like old, faded photographs.
Your world will be washed in sunshine,
every shadow dispersed by dawn.
Full of hope, you’ll relax, confident again;
you’ll look around, sit back, and take it easy.
Expansive, without a care in the world,
you’ll be hunted out by many for your blessing.
But the wicked will see none of this.
They’re headed down a dead-end road
with nothing to look forward to—nothing.”
Job Answers Zophar
Put Your Ear to the Earth
12 1-3 Job answered:
“I’m sure you speak for all the experts,
and when you die there’ll be no one left to tell us how to live.
But don’t forget that I also have a brain—
I don’t intend to play second fiddle to you.
It doesn’t take an expert to know these things.
4-6 “I’m ridiculed by my friends:
‘So that’s the man who had conversations with God!’
Ridiculed without mercy:
‘Look at the man who never did wrong!’
It’s easy for the well-to-do to point their fingers in blame,
for the well-fixed to pour scorn on the strugglers.
Crooks reside safely in high-security houses,
insolent blasphemers live in luxury;
they’ve bought and paid for a god who’ll protect them.
7-12 “But ask the animals what they think—let them teach you;
let the birds tell you what’s going on.
Put your ear to the earth—learn the basics.
Listen—the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.
Isn’t it clear that they all know and agree
that God is sovereign, that he holds all things in his hand—
Every living soul, yes,
every breathing creature?
Isn’t this all just common sense,
as common as the sense of taste?
Do you think the elderly have a corner on wisdom,
that you have to grow old before you understand life?
From God We Learn How to Live
13-25 “True wisdom and real power belong to God;
from him we learn how to live,
and also what to live for.
If he tears something down, it’s down for good;
if he locks people up, they’re locked up for good.
If he holds back the rain, there’s a drought;
if he lets it loose, there’s a flood.
Strength and success belong to God;
both deceived and deceiver must answer to him.
He strips experts of their vaunted credentials,
exposes judges as witless fools.
He divests kings of their royal garments,
then ties a rag around their waists.
He strips priests of their robes,
and fires high officials from their jobs.
He forces trusted sages to keep silence,
deprives elders of their good sense and wisdom.
He dumps contempt on famous people,
disarms the strong and mighty.
He shines a spotlight into caves of darkness,
hauls deepest darkness into the noonday sun.
He makes nations rise and then fall,
builds up some and abandons others.
He robs world leaders of their reason,
and sends them off into no-man’s-land.
They grope in the dark without a clue,
lurching and staggering like drunks.”
I’m Taking My Case to God
13 1-5 “Yes, I’ve seen all this with my own eyes,
heard and understood it with my very own ears.
Everything you know, I know,
so I’m not taking a backseat to any of you.
I’m taking my case straight to God Almighty;
I’ve had it with you—I’m going directly to God.
You graffiti my life with lies.
You’re a bunch of pompous quacks!
I wish you’d shut your mouths—
silence is your only claim to wisdom.
6-12 “Listen now while I make my case,
consider my side of things for a change.
Or are you going to keep on lying ‘to do God a service’?
to make up stories ‘to get him off the hook’?
Why do you always take his side?
Do you think he needs a lawyer to defend himself?
How would you fare if you were in the witness stand?
Your lies might convince a jury—but would they convince God?
He’d reprimand you on the spot
if he detected a bias in your witness.
Doesn’t his splendor put you in awe?
Aren’t you afraid to speak cheap lies before him?
Your wise sayings are knickknack wisdom,
good for nothing but gathering dust.
13-19 “So hold your tongue while I have my say,
then I’ll take whatever I have coming to me.
Why do I go out on a limb like this
and take my life in my hands?
Because even if he killed me, I’d keep on hoping.
I’d defend my innocence to the very end.
Just wait, this is going to work out for the best—my salvation!
If I were guilt-stricken do you think I’d be doing this—
laying myself on the line before God?
You’d better pay attention to what I’m telling you,
listen carefully with both ears.
Now that I’ve laid out my defense,
I’m sure that I’ll be acquitted.
Can anyone prove charges against me?
I’ve said my piece. I rest my case.
Why Does God Stay Hidden and Silent?
20-27 “Please, God, I have two requests;
grant them so I’ll know I count with you:
First, lay off the afflictions;
the terror is too much for me.
Second, address me directly so I can answer you,
or let me speak and then you answer me.
How many sins have been charged against me?
Show me the list—how bad is it?
Why do you stay hidden and silent?
Why treat me like I’m your enemy?
Why kick me around like an old tin can?
Why beat a dead horse?
You compile a long list of mean things about me,
even hold me accountable for the sins of my youth.
You hobble me so I can’t move about.
You watch every move I make,
and brand me as a dangerous character.
28 “Like something rotten, human life fast decomposes,
like a moth-eaten shirt or a mildewed blouse.”
If We Die, Will We Live Again?
14 1-17 “We’re all adrift in the same boat:
too few days, too many troubles.
We spring up like wildflowers in the desert and then wilt,
transient as the shadow of a cloud.
Do you occupy your time with such fragile wisps?
Why even bother hauling me into court?
There’s nothing much to us to start with;
how do you expect us to amount to anything?
Mortals have a limited life span.
You’ve already decided how long we’ll live—
you set the boundary and no one can cross it.
So why not give us a break? Ease up!
Even ditchdiggers get occasional days off.
For a tree there is always hope.
Chop it down and it still has a chance—
its roots can put out fresh sprouts.
Even if its roots are old and gnarled,
its stump long dormant,
At the first whiff of water it comes to life,
buds and grows like a sapling.
But men and women? They die and stay dead.
They breathe their last, and that’s it.
Like lakes and rivers that have dried up,
parched reminders of what once was,
So mortals lie down and never get up,
never wake up again—never.
Why don’t you just bury me alive,
get me out of the way until your anger cools?
But don’t leave me there!
Set a date when you’ll see me again.
If we humans die, will we live again? That’s my question.
All through these difficult days I keep hoping,
waiting for the final change—for resurrection!
Homesick with longing for the creature you made,
you’ll call—and I’ll answer!
You’ll watch over every step I take,
but you won’t keep track of my missteps.
My sins will be stuffed in a sack
and thrown into the sea—sunk in deep ocean.
18-22 “Meanwhile, mountains wear down
and boulders break up,
Stones wear smooth
and soil erodes,
as you relentlessly grind down our hope.
You’re too much for us.
As always, you get the last word.
We don’t like it and our faces show it,
but you send us off anyway.
If our children do well for themselves, we never know it;
if they do badly, we’re spared the hurt.
Body and soul, that’s it for us—
a lifetime of pain, a lifetime of sorrow.”
Eliphaz Attacks Again
You Trivialize Religion
15 1-16 Eliphaz of Teman spoke a second time:
“If you were truly wise, would you sound so much like a
windbag, belching hot air?
Would you talk nonsense in the middle of a serious argument,
babbling baloney?
Look at you! You trivialize religion,
turn spiritual conversation into empty gossip.
It’s your sin that taught you to talk this way.
You chose an education in fraud.
Your own words have exposed your guilt.
It’s nothing I’ve said—you’ve incriminated yourself!
Do you think you’re the first person to have to deal with these things?
Have you been around as long as the hills?
Were you listening in when God planned all this?
Do you think you’re the only one who knows anything?
What do you know that we don’t know?
What insights do you have that we’ve missed?
Gray beards and white hair back us up—
old folks who’ve been around a lot longer than you.
Are God’s promises not enough for you,
spoken so gently and tenderly?
Why do you let your emotions take over,
lashing out and spitting fire,
Pitting your whole being against God
by letting words like this come out of your mouth?
Do you think it’s possible for any mere mortal to be sinless in God’s sight,
for anyone born of a human mother to get it all together?
Why, God can’t even trust his holy angels.
He sees the flaws in the very heavens themselves,
So how much less we humans, smelly and foul,
who lap up evil like water?
Always at Odds with God
17-26 “I’ve a thing or two to tell you, so listen up!
I’m letting you in on my views;
It’s what wise men and women have always taught,
holding nothing back from what they were taught
By their parents, back in the days
when they had this land all to themselves:
Those who live by their own rules, not God’s, can expect nothing but trouble,
and the longer they live, the worse it gets.
Every little sound terrifies them.
Just when they think they have it made, disaster strikes.
They despair of things ever getting better—
they’re on the list of people for whom things always turn out for the worst.
They wander here and there,
never knowing where the next meal is coming from—
every day is doomsday!
They live in constant terror,
always with their backs up against the wall
Because they insist on shaking their fists at God,
defying God Almighty to his face,
Always and ever at odds with God,
always on the defensive.
27-35 “Even if they’re the picture of health,
trim and fit and youthful,
They’ll end up living in a ghost town
sleeping in a hovel not fit for a dog,
a ramshackle shack.
They’ll never get ahead,
never amount to much of anything.
And then death—don’t think they’ll escape that!
They’ll end up shriveled weeds,
brought down by a puff of God’s breath.
There’s a lesson here: Whoever invests in lies,
gets lies for interest,
Paid in full before the due date.
Some investment!
They’ll be like fruit frost-killed before it ripens,
like buds sheared off before they bloom.
The godless are fruitless—a barren crew;
a life built on bribes goes up in smoke.
They have sex with sin and give birth to evil.
Their lives are wombs for breeding deceit.”
Job Defends Himself
If You Were in My Shoes
16 1-5 Then Job defended himself:
“I’ve had all I can take of your talk.
What a bunch of miserable comforters!
Is there no end to your windbag speeches?
What’s your problem that you go on and on like this?
If you were in my shoes,
I could talk just like you.
I could put together a terrific tirade
and really let you have it.
But I’d never do that. I’d console and comfort,
make things better, not worse!
6-14 “When I speak up, I feel no better;
if I say nothing, that doesn’t help either.
I feel worn down.
God, you have wasted me totally—me and my family!
You’ve shriveled me like a dried prune,
showing the world that you’re against me.
My gaunt face stares back at me from the mirror,
a mute witness to your treatment of me.
Your anger tears at me,
your teeth rip me to shreds,
your eyes burn holes in me—God, my enemy!
People take one look at me and gasp.
Contemptuous, they slap me around
and gang up against me.
And God just stands there and lets them do it,
lets wicked people do what they want with me.
I was contentedly minding my business when God beat me up.
He grabbed me by the neck and threw me around.
He set me up as his target,
then rounded up archers to shoot at me.
Merciless, they shot me full of arrows;
bitter bile poured from my gut to the ground.
He burst in on me, onslaught after onslaught,
charging me like a mad bull.
15-17 “I sewed myself a shroud and wore it like a shirt;
I lay facedown in the dirt.
Now my face is blotched red from weeping;
look at the dark shadows under my eyes,
Even though I’ve never hurt a soul
and my prayers are sincere!
The One Who Represents Mortals Before God
18-22 “O Earth, don’t cover up the wrong done to me!
Don’t muffle my cry!
There must be Someone in heaven who knows the truth about me,
in highest heaven, some Attorney who can clear my name—
My Champion, my Friend,
while I’m weeping my eyes out before God.
I appeal to the One who represents mortals before God
as a neighbor stands up for a neighbor.
“Only a few years are left
before I set out on the road of no return.”
17 1-2 “My spirit is broken,
my days used up,
my grave dug and waiting.
See how these mockers close in on me?
How long do I have to put up with their insolence?
3-5 “O God, pledge your support for me.
Give it to me in writing, with your signature.
You’re the only one who can do it!
These people are so useless!
You know firsthand how stupid they can be.
You wouldn’t let them have the last word, would you?
Those who betray their own friends
leave a legacy of abuse to their children.
6-8 “God, you’ve made me the talk of the town—
people spit in my face;
I can hardly see from crying so much;
I’m nothing but skin and bones.
Decent people can’t believe what they’re seeing;
the good-hearted wake up and insist I’ve given up on God.
9 “But principled people hold tight, keep a firm grip on life,
sure that their clean, pure hands will get stronger and stronger!
10-16 “Maybe you’d all like to start over,
to try it again, the bunch of you.
So far I haven’t come across one scrap
of wisdom in anything you’ve said.
My life’s about over. All my plans are shattered,
all my hopes are snuffed out—
My hope that night would turn into day,
my hope that dawn was about to break.
If all I have to look forward to is a home in the graveyard,
if my only hope for comfort is a well-built coffin,
If a family reunion means going six feet under,
and the only family that shows up is worms,
Do you call that hope?
Who on earth could find any hope in that?
No. If hope and I are to be buried together,
I suppose you’ll all come to the double funeral!”
Bildad’s Second Attack
Plunged from Light into Darkness
18 1-4 Bildad from Shuhah chimed in:
“How monotonous these word games are getting!
Get serious! We need to get down to business.
Why do you treat your friends like slow-witted animals?
You look down on us as if we don’t know anything.
Why are you working yourself up like this?
Do you want the world redesigned to suit you?
Should reality be suspended to accommodate you?
5-21 “Here’s the rule: The light of the wicked is put out.
Their flame dies down and is extinguished.
Their house goes dark—
every lamp in the place goes out.
Their strong strides weaken, falter;
they stumble into their own traps.
They get all tangled up
in their own red tape,
Their feet are grabbed and caught,
their necks in a noose.
They trip on ropes they’ve hidden,
and fall into pits they’ve dug themselves.
Terrors come at them from all sides.
They run dazed and confused.
The hungry grave is ready
to gobble them up for supper,
To lay them out for a gourmet meal,
a treat for ravenous Death.
They are snatched from their home sweet home
and marched straight to the death house.
Their lives go up in smoke;
acid rain soaks their ruins.
Their roots rot
and their branches wither.
They’ll never again be remembered—
nameless in unmarked graves.
They are plunged from light into darkness,
banished from the world.
And they leave empty-handed—not one single child—
nothing to show for their life on this earth.
Westerners are aghast at their fate,
easterners are horrified:
‘Oh no! So this is what happens to perverse people.
This is how the God-ignorant end up!’”
Job Answers Bildad
I Call for Help and No One Bothers
19 1-6 Job answered:
“How long are you going to keep battering away at me,
pounding me with these harangues?
Time after time after time you jump all over me.
Do you have no conscience, abusing me like this?
Even if I have, somehow or other, gotten off the track,
what business is that of yours?
Why do you insist on putting me down,
using my troubles as a stick to beat me?
Tell it to God—he’s the one behind all this,
he’s the one who dragged me into this mess.
7-12 “Look at me—I shout ‘Murder!’ and I’m ignored;
I call for help and no one bothers to stop.
God threw a barricade across my path—I’m stymied;
he turned out all the lights—I’m stuck in the dark.
He destroyed my reputation,
robbed me of all self-respect.
He tore me apart piece by piece—I’m ruined!
Then he yanked out hope by the roots.
He’s angry with me—oh, how he’s angry!
He treats me like his worst enemy.
He has launched a major campaign against me,
using every weapon he can think of,
coming at me from all sides at once.
I Know That God Lives
13-20 “God alienated my family from me;
everyone who knows me avoids me.
My relatives and friends have all left;
houseguests forget I ever existed.
The servant girls treat me like a deadbeat off the street,
look at me like they’ve never seen me before.
I call my attendant and he ignores me,
ignores me even though I plead with him.
My wife can’t stand to be around me anymore.
I’m repulsive to my family.
Even street urchins despise me;
when I come out, they taunt and jeer.
Everyone I’ve ever been close to abhors me;
my dearest loved ones reject me.
I’m nothing but a bag of bones;
my life hangs by a thread.
21-22 “Oh, friends, dear friends, take pity on me.
God has come down hard on me!
Do you have to be hard on me, too?
Don’t you ever tire of abusing me?
23-27 “If only my words were written in a book—
better yet, chiseled in stone!
Still, I know that God lives—the One who gives me back my life—
and eventually he’ll take his stand on earth.
And I’ll see him—even though I get skinned alive!—
see God myself, with my very own eyes.
Oh, how I long for that day!
28-29 “If you’re thinking, ‘How can we get through to him,
get him to see that his trouble is all his own fault?’
Forget it. Start worrying about yourselves.
Worry about your own sins and God’s coming judgment,
for judgment is most certainly on the way.”
Zophar Attacks Job—The Second Round
Savoring Evil as a Delicacy
20 1-3 Zophar from Naamath again took his turn:
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing!
You’ve put my teeth on edge, my stomach in a knot.
How dare you insult my intelligence like this!
Well, here’s a piece of my mind!
4-11 “Don’t you even know the basics,
how things have been since the earliest days,
when Adam and Eve were first placed on earth?
The good times of the wicked are short-lived;
godless joy is only momentary.
The evil might become world famous,
strutting at the head of the celebrity parade,
But still end up in a pile of dung.
Acquaintances look at them with disgust and say, ‘What’s that?’
They fly off like a dream that can’t be remembered,
like a shadowy illusion that vanishes in the light.
Though once notorious public figures, now they’re nobodies,
unnoticed, whether they come or go.
Their children will go begging on skid row,
and they’ll have to give back their ill-gotten gain.
Right in the prime of life,
and youthful and vigorous, they’ll die.
12-19 “They savor evil as a delicacy,
roll it around on their tongues,
Prolong the flavor, a dalliance in decadence—
real gourmets of evil!
But then they get stomach cramps,
a bad case of food poisoning.
They gag on all that rich food;
God makes them vomit it up.
They gorge on evil, make a diet of that poison—
a deadly diet—and it kills them.
No quiet picnics for them beside gentle streams
with fresh-baked bread and cheese, and tall, cool drinks.
They spit out their food half-chewed,
unable to relax and enjoy anything they’ve worked for.
And why? Because they exploited the poor,
took what never belonged to them.
20-29 “Such God-denying people are never content with what they have or who they are;
their greed drives them relentlessly.
They plunder everything
but they can’t hold on to any of it.
Just when they think they have it all, disaster strikes;
they’re served up a plate full of misery.
When they’ve filled their bellies with that,
God gives them a taste of his anger,
and they get to chew on that for a while.
As they run for their lives from one disaster,
they run smack into another.
They’re knocked around from pillar to post,
beaten to within an inch of their lives.
They’re trapped in a house of horrors,
and see their loot disappear down a black hole.
Their lives are a total loss—
not a penny to their name, not so much as a bean.
God will strip them of their sin-soaked clothes
and hang their dirty laundry out for all to see.
Life is a complete wipeout for them,
nothing surviving God’s wrath.
There! That’s God’s blueprint for the wicked—
what they have to look forward to.”
Job’s Response
Why Do the Wicked Have It So Good?
21 1-3 Job replied:
“Now listen to me carefully, please listen,
at least do me the favor of listening.
Put up with me while I have my say—
then you can mock me later to your heart’s content.
4-16 “It’s not you I’m complaining to—it’s God.
Is it any wonder I’m getting fed up with his silence?
Take a good look at me. Aren’t you appalled by what’s happened?
No! Don’t say anything. I can do without your comments.
When I look back, I go into shock,
my body is racked with spasms.
Why do the wicked have it so good,
live to a ripe old age and get rich?
They get to see their children succeed,
get to watch and enjoy their grandchildren.
Their homes are peaceful and free from fear;
they never experience God’s disciplining rod.
Their bulls breed with great vigor
and their cows calve without fail.
They send their children out to play
and watch them frolic like spring lambs.
They make music with fiddles and flutes,
have good times singing and dancing.
They have a long life on easy street,
and die painlessly in their sleep.
They say to God, ‘Get lost!
We’ve no interest in you or your ways.
Why should we have dealings with God Almighty?
What’s there in it for us?’
But they’re wrong, dead wrong—they’re not gods.
It’s beyond me how they can carry on like this!
17-21 “Still, how often does it happen that the wicked fail,
or disaster strikes,
or they get their just deserts?
How often are they blown away by bad luck?
Not very often.
You might say, ‘God is saving up the punishment for their children.’
I say, ‘Give it to them right now so they’ll know what they’ve done!’
They deserve to experience the effects of their evil,
feel the full force of God’s wrath firsthand.
What do they care what happens to their families
after they’re safely tucked away in the grave?
Fancy Funerals with All the Trimmings
22-26 “But who are we to tell God how to run his affairs?
He’s dealing with matters that are way over our heads.
Some people die in the prime of life,
with everything going for them—
fat and sassy.
Others die bitter and bereft,
never getting a taste of happiness.
They’re laid out side by side in the cemetery,
where the worms can’t tell one from the other.
27-33 “I’m not deceived. I know what you’re up to,
the plans you’re cooking up to bring me down.
Naively you claim that the castles of tyrants fall to pieces,
that the achievements of the wicked collapse.
Have you ever asked world travelers how they see it?
Have you not listened to their stories
Of evil men and women who got off scot-free,
who never had to pay for their wickedness?
Did anyone ever confront them with their crimes?
Did they ever have to face the music?
Not likely—they’re given fancy funerals
with all the trimmings,
Gently lowered into expensive graves,
with everyone telling lies about how wonderful they were.
34 “So how do you expect me to get any comfort from your nonsense?
Your so-called comfort is a tissue of lies.”
Eliphaz Attacks Job—The Third Round
Come to Terms with God
22 1-11 Once again Eliphaz the Temanite took up his theme:
“Are any of us strong enough to give God a hand,
or smart enough to give him advice?
So what if you were righteous—would God Almighty even notice?
Even if you gave a perfect performance, do you think
he’d applaud?
Do you think it’s because he cares about your purity
that he’s disciplining you, putting you on the spot?
Hardly! It’s because you’re a first-class moral failure,
because there’s no end to your sins.
When people came to you for help,
you took the shirts off their backs, exploited their helplessness.
You wouldn’t so much as give a drink to the thirsty,
or food, not even a scrap, to the hungry.
And there you sat, strong and honored by everyone,
surrounded by immense wealth!
You turned poor widows away from your door;
heartless, you crushed orphans.
Now you’re the one trapped in terror, paralyzed by fear.
Suddenly the tables have turned!
How do you like living in the dark, sightless,
up to your neck in flood waters?
12-14 “You agree, don’t you, that God is in charge?
He runs the universe—just look at the stars!
Yet you dare raise questions: ‘What does God know?
From that distance and darkness, how can he judge?
He roams the heavens wrapped in clouds,
so how can he see us?’
15-18 “Are you going to persist in that tired old line
that wicked men and women have always used?
Where did it get them? They died young,
flash floods sweeping them off to their doom.
They told God, ‘Get lost!
What good is God Almighty to us?’
And yet it was God who gave them everything they had.
It’s beyond me how they can carry on like this!
19-20 “Good people see bad people crash, and call for a celebration.
Relieved, they crow,
‘At last! Our enemies—wiped out.
Everything they had and stood for is up in smoke!’
21-25 “Give in to God, come to terms with him
and everything will turn out just fine.
Let him tell you what to do;
take his words to heart.
Come back to God Almighty
and he’ll rebuild your life.
Clean house of everything evil.
Relax your grip on your money
and abandon your gold-plated luxury.
God Almighty will be your treasure,
more wealth than you can imagine.
26-30 “You’ll take delight in God, the Mighty One,
and look to him joyfully, boldly.
You’ll pray to him and he’ll listen;
he’ll help you do what you’ve promised.
You’ll decide what you want and it will happen;
your life will be bathed in light.
To those who feel low you’ll say, ‘Chin up! Be brave!’
and God will save them.
Yes, even the guilty will escape,
escape through God’s grace in your life.”
Job’s Defense
I’m Completely in the Dark
23 1-7 Job replied:
“I’m not letting up—I’m standing my ground.
My complaint is legitimate.
God has no right to treat me like this—
it isn’t fair!
If I knew where on earth to find him,
I’d go straight to him.
I’d lay my case before him face-to-face,
give him all my arguments firsthand.
I’d find out exactly what he’s thinking,
discover what’s going on in his head.
Do you think he’d dismiss me or bully me?
No, he’d take me seriously.
He’d see a straight-living man standing before him;
my Judge would acquit me for good of all charges.
8-9 “I travel East looking for him—I find no one;
then West, but not a trace;
I go North, but he’s hidden his tracks;
then South, but not even a glimpse.
10-12 “But he knows where I am and what I’ve done.
He can cross-examine me all he wants, and I’ll pass the test with honors.
I’ve followed him closely, my feet in his footprints,
not once swerving from his way.
I’ve obeyed every word he’s spoken,
and not just obeyed his advice—I’ve treasured it.
13-17 “But he is singular and sovereign. Who can argue with him?
He does what he wants, when he wants to.
He’ll complete in detail what he’s decided about me,
and whatever else he determines to do.
Is it any wonder that I dread meeting him?
Whenever I think about it, I get scared all over again.
God makes my heart sink!
God Almighty gives me the shudders!
I’m completely in the dark,
I can’t see my hand in front of my face.”
An Illusion of Security
24 1-12 “But if Judgment Day isn’t hidden from the Almighty,
why are we kept in the dark?
There are people out there getting by with murder—
stealing and lying and cheating.
They rip off the poor
and exploit the unfortunate,
Push the helpless into the ditch,
bully the weak so that they fear for their lives.
The poor, like stray dogs and cats,
scavenge for food in back alleys.
They sort through the garbage of the rich,
eke out survival on handouts.
Homeless, they shiver through cold nights on the street;
they’ve no place to lay their heads.
Exposed to the weather, wet and frozen,
they huddle in makeshift shelters.
Nursing mothers have their babies snatched from them;
the infants of the poor are kidnapped and sold.
They go about patched and threadbare;
even the hard workers go hungry.
No matter how backbreaking their labor,
they can never make ends meet.
People are dying right and left, groaning in torment.
The wretched cry out for help
and God does nothing, acts like nothing’s wrong!
13-17 “Then there are those who avoid light at all costs,
who scorn the light-filled path.
When the sun goes down, the murderer gets up—
kills the poor and robs the defenseless.
Sexual predators can’t wait for nightfall,
thinking, ‘No one can see us now.’
Burglars do their work at night,
but keep well out of sight through the day.
They want nothing to do with light.
Deep darkness is morning for that bunch;
they make the terrors of darkness their companions in crime.
18-25 “They are scraps of wood floating on the water—
useless, cursed junk, good for nothing.
As surely as snow melts under the hot, summer sun,
sinners disappear in the grave.
The womb has forgotten them, worms have relished them—
nothing that is evil lasts.
Unscrupulous,
they prey on those less fortunate.
However much they strut and flex their muscles,
there’s nothing to them. They’re hollow.
They may have an illusion of security,
but God has his eye on them.
They may get their brief successes,
but then it’s over, nothing to show for it.
Like yesterday’s newspaper,
they’re used to wrap up the garbage.
You’re free to try to prove me a liar,
but you won’t be able to do it.”
Bildad’s Third Attack
Even the Stars Aren’t Perfect in God’s Eyes
25 1-6 Bildad the Shuhite again attacked Job:
“God is sovereign, God is fearsome—
everything in the cosmos fits and works in his plan.
Can anyone count his angel armies?
Is there any place where his light doesn’t shine?
How can a mere mortal presume to stand up to God?
How can an ordinary person pretend to be guiltless?
Why, even the moon has its flaws,
even the stars aren’t perfect in God’s eyes,
So how much less, plain men and women—
slugs and maggots by comparison!”
Job’s Defense
God Sets a Boundary Between Light and Darkness
26 1-4 Job answered:
“Well, you’ve certainly been a great help to a helpless man!
You came to the rescue just in the nick of time!
What wonderful advice you’ve given to a mixed-up man!
What amazing insights you’ve provided!
Where in the world did you learn all this?
How did you become so inspired?
5-14 “All the buried dead are in torment,
and all who’ve been drowned in the deep, deep sea.
Hell is ripped open before God,
graveyards dug up and exposed.
He spreads the skies over unformed space,
hangs the earth out in empty space.
He pours water into cumulus cloud-bags
and the bags don’t burst.
He makes the moon wax and wane,
putting it through its phases.
He draws the horizon out over the ocean,
sets a boundary between light and darkness.
Thunder crashes and rumbles in the skies.
Listen! It’s God raising his voice!
By his power he stills sea storms,
by his wisdom he tames sea monsters.
With one breath he clears the sky,
with one finger he crushes the sea serpent.
And this is only the beginning,
a mere whisper of his rule.
Whatever would we do if he really raised his voice!”
No Place to Hide
27 1-6 Having waited for Zophar, Job now resumed his defense:
“God-Alive! He’s denied me justice!
God Almighty! He’s ruined my life!
But for as long as I draw breath,
and for as long as God breathes life into me,
I refuse to say one word that isn’t true.
I refuse to confess to any charge that’s false.
There is no way I’ll ever agree to your accusations.
I’ll not deny my integrity even if it costs me my life.
I’m holding fast to my integrity and not loosening my grip—
and, believe me, I’ll never regret it.
7-10 “Let my enemy be exposed as wicked!
Let my adversary be proven guilty!
What hope do people without God have when life is cut short?
when God puts an end to life?
Do you think God will listen to their cry for help
when disaster hits?
What interest have they ever shown in the Almighty?
Have they ever been known to pray before?
11-12 “I’ve given you a clear account of God in action,
suppressed nothing regarding God Almighty.
The evidence is right before you. You can all see it for yourselves,
so why do you keep talking nonsense?
13-23 “I’ll quote your own words back to you:
“‘This is how God treats the wicked,
this is what evil people can expect from God Almighty:
Their children—all of them—will die violent deaths;
they’ll never have enough bread to put on the table.
They’ll be wiped out by the plague,
and none of the widows will shed a tear when they’re gone.
Even if they make a lot of money
and are resplendent in the latest fashions,
It’s the good who will end up wearing the clothes
and the decent who will divide up the money.
They build elaborate houses
that won’t survive a single winter.
They go to bed wealthy
and wake up poor.
Terrors pour in on them like flash floods—
a tornado snatches them away in the middle of the night,
A cyclone sweeps them up—gone!
Not a trace of them left, not even a footprint.
Catastrophes relentlessly pursue them;
they run this way and that, but there’s no place to hide—
Pummeled by the weather,
blown to smithereens by the storm.’”
Where Does Wisdom Come From?
28 1-11 “We all know how silver seams the rocks,
we’ve seen the stuff from which gold is refined,
We’re aware of how iron is dug out of the ground
and copper is smelted from rock.
Miners penetrate the earth’s darkness,
searching the roots of the mountains for ore,
digging away in the suffocating darkness.
Far from civilization, far from the traffic,
they cut a shaft,
and are lowered into it by ropes.
Earth’s surface is a field for grain,
but its depths are a forge
Firing sapphires from stones
and chiseling gold from rocks.
Vultures are blind to its riches,
hawks never lay eyes on it.
Wild animals are oblivious to it,
lions don’t know it’s there.
Miners hammer away at the rock,
they uproot the mountains.
They tunnel through the rock
and find all kinds of beautiful gems.
They discover the origins of rivers,
and bring earth’s secrets to light.
12-19 “But where, oh where, will they find Wisdom?
Where does Insight hide?
Mortals don’t have a clue,
haven’t the slightest idea where to look.
Earth’s depths say, ‘It’s not here’;
ocean deeps echo, ‘Never heard of it.’
It can’t be bought with the finest gold;
no amount of silver can get it.
Even famous Ophir gold can’t buy it,
not even diamonds and sapphires.
Neither gold nor emeralds are comparable;
extravagant jewelry can’t touch it.
Pearl necklaces and ruby bracelets—why bother?
None of this is even a down payment on Wisdom!
Pile gold and African diamonds as high as you will,
they can’t hold a candle to Wisdom.
20-22 “So where does Wisdom come from?
And where does Insight live?
It can’t be found by looking, no matter
how deep you dig, no matter how high you fly.
If you search through the graveyard and question the dead,
they say, ‘We’ve only heard rumors of it.’
23-28 “God alone knows the way to Wisdom,
he knows the exact place to find it.
He knows where everything is on earth,
he sees everything under heaven.
After he commanded the winds to blow
and measured out the waters,
Arranged for the rain
and set off explosions of thunder and lightning,
He focused on Wisdom,
made sure it was all set and tested and ready.
Then he addressed the human race: ‘Here it is!
Fear-of-the-Lord—that’s Wisdom,
and Insight means shunning evil.’”
When God Was Still by My Side
29 1-6 Job now resumed his response:
“Oh, how I long for the good old days,
when God took such very good care of me.
He always held a lamp before me
and I walked through the dark by its light.
Oh, how I miss those golden years
when God’s friendship graced my home,
When the Mighty One was still by my side
and my children were all around me,
When everything was going my way,
and nothing seemed too difficult.
7-20 “When I walked downtown
and sat with my friends in the public square,
Young and old greeted me with respect;
I was honored by everyone in town.
When I spoke, everyone listened;
they hung on my every word.
People who knew me spoke well of me;
my reputation went ahead of me.
I was known for helping people in trouble
and standing up for those who were down on their luck.
The dying blessed me,
and the bereaved were cheered by my visits.
All my dealings with people were good.
I was known for being fair to everyone I met.
I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame,
Father to the needy,
and champion of abused aliens.
I grabbed street thieves by the scruff of the neck
and made them give back what they’d stolen.
I thought, ‘I’ll die peacefully in my own bed,
grateful for a long and full life,
A life deep-rooted and well-watered,
a life limber and dew-fresh,
My soul soaked through with glory
and my body robust until the day I die.’
21-25 “Men and women listened when I spoke,
hung expectantly on my every word.
After I spoke, they’d be quiet,
taking it all in.
They welcomed my counsel like spring rain,
drinking it all in.
When I smiled at them, they could hardly believe it;
their faces lit up, their troubles took wing!
I was their leader, establishing the mood
and setting the pace by which they lived.
Where I led, they followed.”
The Pain Never Lets Up
30 1-8 “But no longer. Now I’m the butt of their jokes—
young thugs! whippersnappers!
Why, I considered their fathers
mere inexperienced pups.
But they are worse than dogs—good for nothing,
stray, mangy animals,
Half-starved, scavenging the back alleys,
howling at the moon;
Homeless ragamuffins
chewing on old bones and licking old tin cans;
Outcasts from the community,
cursed as dangerous delinquents.
Nobody would put up with them;
they were driven from the neighborhood.
You could hear them out there at the edge of town,
yelping and barking, huddled in junkyards,
A gang of beggars and no-names,
thrown out on their ears.
9-15 “But now I’m the one they’re after,
mistreating me, taunting and mocking.
They abhor me, they abuse me.
How dare those scoundrels—they spit in my face!
Now that God has undone me and left me in a heap,
they hold nothing back. Anything goes.
They come at me from my blind side,
trip me up, then jump on me while I’m down.
They throw every kind of obstacle in my path,
determined to ruin me—
and no one lifts a finger to help me!
They violate my broken body,
trample through the rubble of my ruined life.
Terrors assault me—
my dignity in shreds,
salvation up in smoke.
16-19 “And now my life drains out,
as suffering seizes and grips me hard.
Night gnaws at my bones;
the pain never lets up.
I am tied hand and foot, my neck in a noose.
I twist and turn.
Thrown facedown in the muck,
I’m a muddy mess, inside and out.
What Did I Do to Deserve This?
20-23 “I shout for help, God, and get nothing, no answer!
I stand to face you in protest, and you give me a blank stare!
You’ve turned into my tormenter—
you slap me around, knock me about.
You raised me up so I was riding high
and then dropped me, and I crashed.
I know you’re determined to kill me,
to put me six feet under.
24-31 “What did I do to deserve this?
Did I ever hit anyone who was calling for help?
Haven’t I wept for those who live a hard life,
been heartsick over the lot of the poor?
But where did it get me?
I expected good but evil showed up.
I looked for light but darkness fell.
My stomach’s in a constant churning, never settles down.
Each day confronts me with more suffering.
I walk under a black cloud. The sun is gone.
I stand in the congregation and protest.
I howl with the jackals,
I hoot with the owls.
I’m black-and-blue all over,
burning up with fever.
My fiddle plays nothing but the blues;
my mouth harp wails laments.”
What Can I Expect from God?
31 1-4 “I made a solemn pact with myself
never to undress a girl with my eyes.
So what can I expect from God?
What do I deserve from God Almighty above?
Isn’t calamity reserved for the wicked?
Isn’t disaster supposed to strike those who do wrong?
Isn’t God looking, observing how I live?
Doesn’t he mark every step I take?
5-8 “Have I walked hand in hand with falsehood,
or hung out in the company of deceit?
Weigh me on a set of honest scales
so God has proof of my integrity.
If I’ve strayed off the straight and narrow,
wanted things I had no right to,
messed around with sin,
Go ahead, then—
give my portion to someone who deserves it.
9-12 “If I’ve let myself be seduced by a woman
and conspired to go to bed with her,
Fine, my wife has every right to go ahead
and sleep with anyone she wants to.
For disgusting behavior like that,
I’d deserve the worst punishment you could hand out.
Adultery is a fire that burns the house down;
I wouldn’t expect anything I count dear to survive it.
13-15 “Have I ever been unfair to my employees
when they brought a complaint to me?
What, then, will I do when God confronts me?
When God examines my books, what can I say?
Didn’t the same God who made me, make them?
Aren’t we all made of the same stuff, equals before God?
16-18 “Have I ignored the needs of the poor,
turned my back on the indigent,
Taken care of my own needs and fed my own face
while they languished?
Wasn’t my home always open to them?
Weren’t they always welcome at my table?
19-20 “Have I ever left a poor family shivering in the cold
when they had no warm clothes?
Didn’t the poor bless me when they saw me coming,
knowing I’d brought coats from my closet?
21-23 “If I’ve ever used my strength and influence
to take advantage of the unfortunate,
Go ahead, break both my arms,
cut off all my fingers!
The fear of God has kept me from these things—
how else could I ever face him?
If Only Someone Would Give Me a Hearing!
24-28 “Did I set my heart on making big money
or worship at the bank?
Did I boast about my wealth,
show off because I was well-off?
Was I ever so awed by the sun’s brilliance
and moved by the moon’s beauty
That I let myself become seduced by them
and worshiped them on the sly?
If so, I would deserve the worst of punishments,
for I would be betraying God himself.
29-30 “Did I ever gloat over my enemy’s ruin?
Or get excited over my rival’s bad luck?
No, I never said a word of detraction,
never cursed them, even under my breath.
31-34 “Didn’t those who worked for me say,
‘He fed us well. There were always second helpings’?
And no stranger ever had to spend a night in the street;
my doors were always open to travelers.
Did I hide my sin the way Adam did,
or conceal my guilt behind closed doors
Because I was afraid what people would say,
fearing the gossip of the neighbors so much
That I turned myself into a recluse?
You know good and well that I didn’t.
35-37 “Oh, if only someone would give me a hearing!
I’ve signed my name to my defense—let the Almighty One answer!
I want to see my indictment in writing.
Anyone’s welcome to read my defense;
I’ll write it on a poster and carry it around town.
I’m prepared to account for every move I’ve ever made—
to anyone and everyone, prince or pauper.
38-40 “If the very ground that I farm accuses me,
if even the furrows fill with tears from my abuse,
If I’ve ever raped the earth for my own profit
or dispossessed its rightful owners,
Then curse it with thistles instead of wheat,
curse it with weeds instead of barley.”
The words of Job to his three friends were finished.
Elihu Speaks
God’s Spirit Makes Wisdom Possible
32 1-5 Job’s three friends now fell silent. They were talked out, stymied because Job wouldn’t budge an inch—wouldn’t admit to an ounce of guilt. Then Elihu lost his temper. (Elihu was the son of Barakel the Buzite from the clan of Ram.) He blazed out in anger against Job for pitting his righteousness against God’s. He was also angry with the three friends because they had neither come up with an answer nor proved Job wrong. Elihu had waited with Job while they spoke because they were all older than he. But when he saw that the three other men had exhausted their arguments, he exploded with pent-up anger.
6-10 This is what Elihu, son of Barakel the Buzite, said:
“I’m a young man,
and you are all old and experienced.
That’s why I kept quiet
and held back from joining the discussion.
I kept thinking, ‘Experience will tell.
The longer you live, the wiser you become.’
But I see I was wrong—it’s God’s Spirit in a person,
the breath of the Almighty One, that makes wise human insight possible.
The experts have no corner on wisdom;
getting old doesn’t guarantee good sense.
So I’ve decided to speak up. Listen well!
I’m going to tell you exactly what I think.
11-14 “I hung on your words while you spoke,
listened carefully to your arguments.
While you searched for the right words,
I was all ears.
And now what have you proved? Nothing.
Nothing you say has even touched Job.
And don’t excuse yourselves by saying, ‘We’ve done our best.
Now it’s up to God to talk sense into him.’
Job has yet to contend with me.
And rest assured, I won’t be using your arguments!
15-22 “Do you three have nothing else to say?
Of course you don’t! You’re total frauds!
Why should I wait any longer,
now that you’re stopped dead in your tracks?
I’m ready to speak my piece. That’s right!
It’s my turn—and it’s about time!
I’ve got a lot to say,
and I’m bursting to say it.
The pressure has built up, like lava beneath the earth.
I’m a volcano ready to blow.
I have to speak—I have no choice.
I have to say what’s on my heart,
And I’m going to say it straight—
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
I was never any good at bootlicking;
my Maker would make short work of me if I started in now!”
33 1-4 “So please, Job, hear me out,
honor me by listening to me.
What I’m about to say
has been carefully thought out.
I have no ulterior motives in this;
I’m speaking honestly from my heart.
The Spirit of God made me what I am,
the breath of God Almighty gave me life!
God Always Answers, One Way or Another
5-7 “And if you think you can prove me wrong, do it.
Lay out your arguments. Stand up for yourself!
Look, I’m human—no better than you;
we’re both made of the same kind of mud.
So let’s work this through together;
don’t let my aggressiveness overwhelm you.
8-11 “Here’s what you said.
I heard you say it with my own ears.
You said, ‘I’m pure—I’ve done nothing wrong.
Believe me, I’m clean—my conscience is clear.
But God keeps picking on me;
he treats me like I’m his enemy.
He’s thrown me in jail;
he keeps me under constant surveillance.’
12-14 “But let me tell you, Job, you’re wrong, dead wrong!
God is far greater than any human.
So how dare you haul him into court,
and then complain that he won’t answer your charges?
God always answers, one way or another,
even when people don’t recognize his presence.
15-18 “In a dream, for instance, a vision at night,
when men and women are deep in sleep,
fast asleep in their beds—
God opens their ears
and impresses them with warnings
To turn them back from something bad they’re planning,
from some reckless choice,
And keep them from an early grave,
from the river of no return.
19-22 “Or, God might get their attention through pain,
by throwing them on a bed of suffering,
So they can’t stand the sight of food,
have no appetite for their favorite treats.
They lose weight, wasting away to nothing,
reduced to a bag of bones.
They hang on the cliff-edge of death,
knowing the next breath may be their last.
23-25 “But even then an angel could come,
a champion—there are thousands of them!—
to take up your cause,
A messenger who would mercifully intervene,
canceling the death sentence with the words:
‘I’ve come up with the ransom!’
Before you know it, you’re healed,
the very picture of health!
26-28 “Or, you may fall on your knees and pray—to God’s delight!
You’ll see God’s smile and celebrate,
finding yourself set right with God.
You’ll sing God’s praises to everyone you meet,
testifying, ‘I messed up my life—
and let me tell you, it wasn’t worth it.
But God stepped in and saved me from certain death.
I’m alive again! Once more I see the light!’
29-30 “This is the way God works.
Over and over again
He pulls our souls back from certain destruction
so we’ll see the light—and live in the light!
31-33 “Keep listening, Job.
Don’t interrupt—I’m not finished yet.
But if you think of anything I should know, tell me.
There’s nothing I’d like better than to see your name cleared.
Meanwhile, keep listening. Don’t distract me with interruptions.
I’m going to teach you the basics of wisdom.”
Elihu’s Second Speech
It’s Impossible for God to Do Evil
34 1-4 Elihu continued:
“So, my fine friends—listen to me,
and see what you think of this.
Isn’t it just common sense—
as common as the sense of taste—
To put our heads together
and figure out what’s going on here?
5-9 “We’ve all heard Job say, ‘I’m in the right,
but God won’t give me a fair trial.
When I defend myself, I’m called a liar to my face.
I’ve done nothing wrong, and I get punished anyway.’
Have you ever heard anything to beat this?
Does nothing faze this man Job?
Do you think he’s spent too much time in bad company,
hanging out with the wrong crowd,
So that now he’s parroting their line:
‘It doesn’t pay to try to please God’?
10-15 “You’re veterans in dealing with these matters;
certainly we’re of one mind on this.
It’s impossible for God to do anything evil;
no way can the Mighty One do wrong.
He makes us pay for exactly what we’ve done—no more, no less.
Our chickens always come home to roost.
It’s impossible for God to do anything wicked,
for the Mighty One to subvert justice.
He’s the one who runs the earth!
He cradles the whole world in his hand!
If he decided to hold his breath,
every man, woman, and child would die for lack of air.
God Is Working Behind the Scenes
16-20 “So, Job, use your head;
this is all pretty obvious.
Can someone who hates order, keep order?
Do you dare condemn the righteous, mighty God?
Doesn’t God always tell it like it is,
exposing corrupt rulers as scoundrels and criminals?
Does he play favorites with the rich and famous and slight the poor?
Isn’t he equally responsible to everybody?
Don’t people who deserve it die without notice?
Don’t wicked rulers tumble to their doom?
When the so-called great ones are wiped out,
we know God is working behind the scenes.
21-28 “He has his eyes on every man and woman.
He doesn’t miss a trick.
There is no night dark enough, no shadow deep enough,
to hide those who do evil.
God doesn’t need to gather any more evidence;
their sin is an open-and-shut case.
He deposes the so-called high and mighty without asking questions,
and replaces them at once with others.
Nobody gets by with anything; overnight,
judgment is signed, sealed, and delivered.
He punishes the wicked for their wickedness
out in the open where everyone can see it,
Because they quit following him,
no longer even thought about him or his ways.
Their apostasy was announced by the cry of the poor;
the cry of the afflicted got God’s attention.
Because You Refuse to Live on God’s Terms
29-30 “If God is silent, what’s that to you?
If he turns his face away, what can you do about it?
But whether silent or hidden, he’s there, ruling,
so that those who hate God won’t take over
and ruin people’s lives.
31-33 “So why don’t you simply confess to God?
Say, ‘I sinned, but I’ll sin no more.
Teach me to see what I still don’t see.
Whatever evil I’ve done, I’ll do it no more.’
Just because you refuse to live on God’s terms,
do you think he should start living on yours?
You choose. I can’t do it for you.
Tell me what you decide.
34-37 “All right-thinking people say—
and the wise who have listened to me concur—
‘Job is an ignoramus.
He talks utter nonsense.’
Job, you need to be pushed to the wall and called to account
for wickedly talking back to God the way you have.
You’ve compounded your original sin
by rebelling against God’s discipline,
Defiantly shaking your fist at God,
piling up indictments against the Almighty One.”
Elihu’s Third Speech
When God Makes Creation a Classroom
35 1-3 Elihu lit into Job again:
“Does this kind of thing make any sense?
First you say, ‘I’m perfectly innocent before God.’
And then you say, ‘It doesn’t make a bit of difference
whether I’ve sinned or not.’
4-8 “Well, I’m going to show you
that you don’t know what you’re talking about,
neither you nor your friends.
Look up at the sky. Take a long hard look.
See those clouds towering above you?
If you sin, what difference could that make to God?
No matter how much you sin, will it matter to him?
Even if you’re good, what would God get out of that?
Do you think he’s dependent on your accomplishments?
The only ones who care whether you’re good or bad
are your family and friends and neighbors.
God’s not dependent on your behavior.
9-15 “When times get bad, people cry out for help.
They cry for relief from being kicked around,
But never give God a thought when things go well,
when God puts spontaneous songs in their hearts,
When God sets out the entire creation as a science classroom,
using birds and beasts to teach wisdom.
People are arrogantly indifferent to God—
until, of course, they’re in trouble,
and then God is indifferent to them.
There’s nothing behind such prayers except panic;
the Almighty pays them no mind.
So why would he notice you
just because you say you’re tired of waiting to be heard,
Or waiting for him to get good and angry
and do something about the world’s problems?
16 “Job, you talk sheer nonsense—
nonstop nonsense!”
Those Who Learn from Their Suffering
36 1-4 Here Elihu took a deep breath, but kept going:
“Stay with me a little longer. I’ll convince you.
There’s still more to be said on God’s side.
I learned all this firsthand from the Source;
everything I know about justice I owe to my Maker himself.
Trust me, I’m giving you undiluted truth;
believe me, I know these things inside and out.
5-15 “It’s true that God is all-powerful,
but he doesn’t bully innocent people.
For the wicked, though, it’s a different story—
he doesn’t give them the time of day,
but champions the rights of their victims.
He never takes his eyes off the righteous;
he honors them lavishly, promotes them endlessly.
When things go badly,
when affliction and suffering descend,
God tells them where they’ve gone wrong,
shows them how their pride has caused their trouble.
He forces them to heed his warning,
tells them they must repent of their bad life.
If they obey and serve him,
they’ll have a good, long life on easy street.
But if they disobey, they’ll be cut down in their prime
and never know the first thing about life.
Angry people without God pile grievance upon grievance,
always blaming others for their troubles.
Living it up in sexual excesses,
virility wasted, they die young.
But those who learn from their suffering,
God delivers from their suffering.
Obsessed with Putting the Blame on God
16-21 “Oh, Job, don’t you see how God’s wooing you
from the jaws of danger?
How he’s drawing you into wide-open places—
inviting you to feast at a table laden with blessings?
And here you are laden with the guilt of the wicked,
obsessed with putting the blame on God!
Don’t let your great riches mislead you;
don’t think you can bribe your way out of this.
Did you plan to buy your way out of this?
Not on your life!
And don’t think that night,
when people sleep off their troubles,
will bring you any relief.
Above all, don’t make things worse with more evil—
that’s what’s behind your suffering as it is!
22-25 “Do you have any idea how powerful God is?
Have you ever heard of a teacher like him?
Has anyone ever had to tell him what to do,
or correct him, saying, ‘You did that all wrong!’?
Remember, then, to praise his workmanship,
which is so often celebrated in song.
Everybody sees it;
nobody is too far away to see it.
No One Can Escape from God
26 “Take a long, hard look. See how great he is—infinite,
greater than anything you could ever imagine or figure out!
27-33 “He pulls water up out of the sea,
distills it, and fills up his rain-cloud cisterns.
Then the skies open up
and pour out soaking showers on everyone.
Does anyone have the slightest idea how this happens?
How he arranges the clouds, how he speaks in thunder?
Just look at that lightning, his sky-filling light show
illumining the dark depths of the sea!
These are the symbols of his sovereignty,
his generosity, his loving care.
He hurls arrows of light,
taking sure and accurate aim.
The High God roars in the thunder,
angry against evil.”
37 1-13 “Whenever this happens, my heart stops—
I’m stunned, I can’t catch my breath.
Listen to it! Listen to his thunder,
the rolling, rumbling thunder of his voice.
He lets loose his lightnings from horizon to horizon,
lighting up the earth from pole to pole.
In their wake, the thunder echoes his voice,
powerful and majestic.
He lets out all the stops, he holds nothing back.
No one can mistake that voice—
His word thundering so wondrously,
his mighty acts staggering our understanding.
He orders the snow, ‘Blanket the earth!’
and the rain, ‘Soak the whole countryside!’
No one can escape the weather—it’s there.
And no one can escape from God.
Wild animals take shelter,
crawling into their dens,
When blizzards roar out of the north
and freezing rain crusts the land.
It’s God’s breath that forms the ice,
it’s God’s breath that turns lakes and rivers solid.
And yes, it’s God who fills clouds with rainwater
and hurls lightning from them every which way.
He puts them through their paces—first this way, then that—
commands them to do what he says all over the world.
Whether for discipline or grace or extravagant love,
he makes sure they make their mark.
A Terrible Beauty Streams from God
14-18 “Job, are you listening? Have you noticed all this?
Stop in your tracks! Take in God’s miracle-wonders!
Do you have any idea how God does it all,
how he makes bright lightning from dark storms,
How he piles up the cumulus clouds—
all these miracle-wonders of a perfect Mind?
Why, you don’t even know how to keep cool
on a sweltering hot day,
So how could you even dream
of making a dent in that hot-tin-roof sky?
19-22 “If you’re so smart, give us a lesson in how to address God.
We’re in the dark and can’t figure it out.
Do you think I’m dumb enough to challenge God?
Wouldn’t that just be asking for trouble?
No one in his right mind stares straight at the sun
on a clear and cloudless day.
As gold comes from the northern mountains,
so a terrible beauty streams from God.
23-24 “Mighty God! Far beyond our reach!
Unsurpassable in power and justice!
It’s unthinkable that he’d treat anyone unfairly.
So bow to him in deep reverence, one and all!
If you’re wise, you’ll most certainly worship him.”
God Confronts Job
Have You Gotten to the Bottom of Things?
38 1-11 And now, finally, God answered Job from the eye of a violent storm. He said:
“Why do you confuse the issue?
Why do you talk without knowing what you’re talking about?
Pull yourself together, Job!
Up on your feet! Stand tall!
I have some questions for you,
and I want some straight answers.
Where were you when I created the earth?
Tell me, since you know so much!
Who decided on its size? Certainly you’ll know that!
Who came up with the blueprints and measurements?
How was its foundation poured,
and who set the cornerstone,
While the morning stars sang in chorus
and all the angels shouted praise?
And who took charge of the ocean
when it gushed forth like a baby from the womb?
That was me! I wrapped it in soft clouds,
and tucked it in safely at night.
Then I made a playpen for it,
a strong playpen so it couldn’t run loose,
And said, ‘Stay here, this is your place.
Your wild tantrums are confined to this place.’
12-15 “And have you ever ordered Morning, ‘Get up!’
told Dawn, ‘Get to work!’
So you could seize Earth like a blanket
and shake out the wicked like cockroaches?
As the sun brings everything to light,
brings out all the colors and shapes,
The cover of darkness is snatched from the wicked—
they’re caught in the very act!
16-18 “Have you ever gotten to the true bottom of things,
explored the labyrinthine caves of deep ocean?
Do you know the first thing about death?
Do you have one clue regarding death’s dark mysteries?
And do you have any idea how large this earth is?
Speak up if you have even the beginning of an answer.
19-21 “Do you know where Light comes from
and where Darkness lives
So you can take them by the hand
and lead them home when they get lost?
Why, of course you know that.
You’ve known them all your life,
grown up in the same neighborhood with them!
22-30 “Have you ever traveled to where snow is made,
seen the vault where hail is stockpiled,
The arsenals of hail and snow that I keep in readiness
for times of trouble and battle and war?
Can you find your way to where lightning is launched,
or to the place from which the wind blows?
Who do you suppose carves canyons
for the downpours of rain, and charts
the route of thunderstorms
That bring water to unvisited fields,
deserts no one ever lays eyes on,
Drenching the useless wastelands
so they’re carpeted with wildflowers and grass?
And who do you think is the father of rain and dew,
the mother of ice and frost?
You don’t for a minute imagine
these marvels of weather just happen, do you?
31-33 “Can you catch the eye of the beautiful Pleiades sisters,
or distract Orion from his hunt?
Can you get Venus to look your way,
or get the Great Bear and her cubs to come out and play?
Do you know the first thing about the sky’s constellations
and how they affect things on Earth?
34-35 “Can you get the attention of the clouds,
and commission a shower of rain?
Can you take charge of the lightning bolts
and have them report to you for orders?
What Do You Have to Say for Yourself?
36-38 “Who do you think gave weather-wisdom to the ibis,
and storm-savvy to the rooster?
Does anyone know enough to number all the clouds
or tip over the rain barrels of heaven
When the earth is cracked and dry,
the ground baked hard as a brick?
39-41 “Can you teach the lioness to stalk her prey
and satisfy the appetite of her cubs
As they crouch in their den,
waiting hungrily in their cave?
And who sets out food for the ravens
when their young cry to God,
fluttering about because they have no food?”
39 1-4 “Do you know the month when mountain goats give birth?
Have you ever watched a doe bear her fawn?
Do you know how many months she is pregnant?
Do you know the season of her delivery,
when she crouches down and drops her offspring?
Her young ones flourish and are soon on their own;
they leave and don’t come back.
5-8 “Who do you think set the wild donkey free,
opened the corral gates and let him go?
I gave him the whole wilderness to roam in,
the rolling plains and wide-open places.
He laughs at his city cousins, who are harnessed and harried.
He’s oblivious to the cries of teamsters.
He grazes freely through the hills,
nibbling anything that’s green.
9-12 “Will the wild buffalo condescend to serve you,
volunteer to spend the night in your barn?
Can you imagine hitching your plow to a buffalo
and getting him to till your fields?
He’s hugely strong, yes, but could you trust him,
would you dare turn the job over to him?
You wouldn’t for a minute depend on him, would you,
to do what you said when you said it?
13-18 “The ostrich flaps her wings futilely—
all those beautiful feathers, but useless!
She lays her eggs on the hard ground,
leaves them there in the dirt, exposed to the weather,
Not caring that they might get stepped on and cracked
or trampled by some wild animal.
She’s negligent with her young, as if they weren’t even hers.
She cares nothing about anything.
She wasn’t created very smart, that’s for sure,
wasn’t given her share of good sense.
But when she runs, oh, how she runs,
laughing, leaving horse and rider in the dust.
19-25 “Are you the one who gave the horse his prowess
and adorned him with a shimmering mane?
Did you create him to prance proudly
and strike terror with his royal snorts?
He paws the ground fiercely, eager and spirited,
then charges into the fray.
He laughs at danger, fearless,
doesn’t shy away from the sword.
The banging and clanging
of quiver and lance don’t faze him.
He quivers with excitement, and at the trumpet blast
races off at a gallop.
At the sound of the trumpet he neighs mightily,
smelling the excitement of battle from a long way off,
catching the rolling thunder of the war cries.
26-30 “Was it through your know-how that the hawk learned to fly,
soaring effortlessly on thermal updrafts?
Did you command the eagle’s flight,
and teach her to build her nest in the heights,
Perfectly at home on the high cliff face,
invulnerable on pinnacle and crag?
From her perch she searches for prey,
spies it at a great distance.
Her young gorge themselves on carrion;
wherever there’s a roadkill, you’ll see her circling.”
40 1-2 God then confronted Job directly:
“Now what do you have to say for yourself?
Are you going to haul me, the Mighty One, into court and press charges?”
Job Answers God
I’m Ready to Shut Up and Listen
3-5 Job answered:
“I’m speechless, in awe—words fail me.
I should never have opened my mouth!
I’ve talked too much, way too much.
I’m ready to shut up and listen.”
God’s Second Set of Questions
I Want Straight Answers
6-7 God addressed Job next from the eye of the storm, and this is what he said:
“I have some more questions for you,
and I want straight answers.
8-14 “Do you presume to tell me what I’m doing wrong?
Are you calling me a sinner so you can be a saint?
Do you have an arm like my arm?
Can you shout in thunder the way I can?
Go ahead, show your stuff.
Let’s see what you’re made of, what you can do.
Unleash your outrage.
Target the arrogant and lay them flat.
Target the arrogant and bring them to their knees.
Stop the wicked in their tracks—make mincemeat of them!
Dig a mass grave and dump them in it—
faceless corpses in an unmarked grave.
I’ll gladly step aside and hand things over to you—
you can surely save yourself with no help from me!
15-24 “Look at the land beast, Behemoth. I created him as well as you.
Grazing on grass, docile as a cow—
Just look at the strength of his back,
the powerful muscles of his belly.
His tail sways like a cedar in the wind;
his huge legs are like beech trees.
His skeleton is made of steel,
every bone in his body hard as steel.
Most magnificent of all my creatures,
but I still lead him around like a lamb!
The grass-covered hills serve him meals,
while field mice frolic in his shadow.
He takes afternoon naps under shade trees,
cools himself in the reedy swamps,
Lazily cool in the leafy shadows
as the breeze moves through the willows.
And when the river rages he doesn’t budge,
stolid and unperturbed even when the Jordan goes wild.
But you’d never want him for a pet—
you’d never be able to housebreak him!”
I Run This Universe
41 1-11 “Or can you pull in the sea beast, Leviathan, with a fly rod
and stuff him in your creel?
Can you lasso him with a rope,
or snag him with an anchor?
Will he beg you over and over for mercy,
or flatter you with flowery speech?
Will he apply for a job with you
to run errands and serve you the rest of your life?
Will you play with him as if he were a pet goldfish?
Will you make him the mascot of the neighborhood children?
Will you put him on display in the market
and have shoppers haggle over the price?
Could you shoot him full of arrows like a pin cushion,
or drive harpoons into his huge head?
If you so much as lay a hand on him,
you won’t live to tell the story.
What hope would you have with such a creature?
Why, one look at him would do you in!
If you can’t hold your own against his glowering visage,
how, then, do you expect to stand up to me?
Who could confront me and get by with it?
I’m in charge of all this—I run this universe!
12-17 “But I’ve more to say about Leviathan, the sea beast,
his enormous bulk, his beautiful shape.
Who would even dream of piercing that tough skin
or putting those jaws into bit and bridle?
And who would dare knock at the door of his mouth
filled with row upon row of fierce teeth?
His pride is invincible;
nothing can make a dent in that pride.
Nothing can get through that proud skin—
impervious to weapons and weather,
The thickest and toughest of hides,
impenetrable!
18-34 “He snorts and the world lights up with fire,
he blinks and the dawn breaks.
Comets pour out of his mouth,
fireworks arc and branch.
Smoke erupts from his nostrils
like steam from a boiling pot.
He blows and fires blaze;
flames of fire stream from his mouth.
All muscle he is—sheer and seamless muscle.
To meet him is to dance with death.
Sinewy and lithe,
there’s not a soft spot in his entire body—
As tough inside as out,
rock-hard, invulnerable.
Even angels run for cover when he surfaces,
cowering before his tail-thrashing turbulence.
Javelins bounce harmlessly off his hide,
harpoons ricochet wildly.
Iron bars are so much straw to him,
bronze weapons beneath notice.
Arrows don’t even make him blink;
bullets make no more impression than raindrops.
A battle ax is nothing but a splinter of kindling;
he treats a brandished harpoon as a joke.
His belly is armor-plated, inexorable—
unstoppable as a barge.
He roils deep ocean the way you’d boil water,
he whips the sea like you’d whip an egg into batter.
With a luminous trail stretching out behind him,
you might think Ocean had grown a gray beard!
There’s nothing on this earth quite like him,
not an ounce of fear in that creature!
He surveys all the high and mighty—
king of the ocean, king of the deep!”
Job Worships God
I Babbled On About Things Far Beyond Me
42 1-6 Job answered God:
“I’m convinced: You can do anything and everything.
Nothing and no one can upset your plans.
You asked, ‘Who is this muddying the water,
ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?’
I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me,
made small talk about wonders way over my head.
You told me, ‘Listen, and let me do the talking.
Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.’
I admit I once lived by rumors of you;
now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears!
I’m sorry—forgive me. I’ll never do that again, I promise!
I’ll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor.”
God Restores Job
I Will Accept His Prayer
7-8 After God had finished addressing Job, he turned to Eliphaz the Temanite and said, “I’ve had it with you and your two friends. I’m fed up! You haven’t been honest either with me or about me—not the way my friend Job has. So here’s what you must do. Take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my friend Job. Sacrifice a burnt offering on your own behalf. My friend Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer. He will ask me not to treat you as you deserve for talking nonsense about me, and for not being honest with me, as he has.”
9 They did it. Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did what God commanded. And God accepted Job’s prayer.
10-11 After Job had interceded for his friends, God restored his fortune—and then doubled it! All his brothers and sisters and friends came to his house and celebrated. They told him how sorry they were, and consoled him for all the trouble God had brought him. Each of them brought generous housewarming gifts.
12-15 God blessed Job’s later life even more than his earlier life. He ended up with fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand teams of oxen, and one thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first daughter Dove, the second, Cinnamon, and the third, Darkeyes. There was not a woman in that country as beautiful as Job’s daughters. Their father treated them as equals with their brothers, providing the same inheritance.
16-17 Job lived on another 140 years, living to see his children and grandchildren—four generations of them! Then he died—an old man, a full life.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
English Standard Version (ESV) 
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) 
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
New King James Version (NKJV) 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson