Job 15-17
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
III. Second Cycle of Speeches
Chapter 15
Second Speech of Eliphaz. 1 [a]Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 Does a wise man answer with windy opinions,
or puff himself up with the east wind?
3 Does he argue in speech that does not avail,
and in words that are to no profit?
4 You in fact do away with piety,
you lessen devotion toward God,
5 Because your wickedness instructs your mouth,
and you choose to speak like the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, not I;(A)
your own lips refute you.
7 Were you the first to be born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
8 Do you listen in on God’s council(B)
and restrict wisdom to yourself?
9 What do you know that we do not know,(C)
or understand that we do not?
10 There are gray-haired old men among us,
more advanced in years than your father.
11 Are the consolations of God not enough for you,
and speech that deals gently with you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
13 So that you turn your anger against God
and let such words escape your mouth!
14 How can any mortal be blameless,(D)
anyone born of woman be righteous?(E)
15 If in his holy ones God places no confidence,(F)
and if the heavens are not without blame in his sight,
16 How much less so is the abominable and corrupt:
people who drink in iniquity like water!
17 I will show you, if you listen to me;
what I have seen I will tell—
18 What the wise relate
and have not contradicted since the days of their ancestors,
19 To whom alone the land was given,
when no foreigner moved among them:
20 The wicked is in torment all his days,
and limited years are in store for the ruthless;
21 The sound of terrors is in his ears;
when all is prosperous, a spoiler comes upon him.
22 He despairs of escaping the darkness,
and looks ever for the sword;
23 A wanderer, food for vultures,
he knows destruction is imminent.
24 A day of darkness fills him with dread;
distress and anguish overpower him,
like a king expecting an attack.
25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God
and arrogantly challenged the Almighty,
26 Rushing defiantly against him,
with the stout bosses of his shields.
27 Although he has covered his face with his crassness,
padded his loins with blubber,
28 He shall dwell in ruined cities,
in houses that are deserted,
crumbling into rubble.
29 He shall not be rich, his possessions shall not endure;
his property shall not spread over the land.
30 A flame shall sear his early growth,
and with the wind his blossoms shall disappear.
31 Let him not trust in his height, misled,
even though his height be like the palm tree.[b]
32 He shall wither before his time,
his branches no longer green.
33 He shall be like a vine that sheds its grapes unripened,
like an olive tree casting off its blossom.
34 For the breed of the impious shall be sterile,(G)
and fire shall consume the tents of extortioners.
35 They conceive malice, bring forth deceit,(H)
give birth to fraud.[c]
Chapter 16
Job’s Fourth Reply. 1 Then Job answered and said:
2 I have heard this sort of thing many times.(I)
Troublesome comforters, all of you!
3 Is there no end to windy words?
What sickness makes you rattle on?
4 I also could talk as you do,
were you in my place.
I could declaim over you,
or wag my head at you;
5 I could strengthen you with talk,
with mere chatter give relief.
6 If I speak, my pain is not relieved;
if I stop speaking, nothing changes.
7 But now he has exhausted me;
you have stunned all my companions.
8 You[d] have shriveled me up; it is a witness,
my gauntness rises up to testify against me;
9 His wrath tears and assails me,
he gnashes his teeth against me;
My enemy looks daggers at me.
10 They gape at me with their mouths;
They strike me on the cheek with insults;
they are all enlisted against me.
11 God has given me over to the impious;
into the hands of the wicked he has cast me.
12 I was in peace, but he dislodged me,
seized me by the neck, dashed me to pieces.
He has set me up for a target;
13 his arrows strike me from all directions.
He pierces my sides without mercy,
pours out my gall upon the ground.
14 He pierces me, thrust upon thrust,
rushes at me like a warrior.
15 I have sewn sackcloth on my skin,
laid my horn low in the dust.
16 My face is inflamed with weeping,
darkness covers my eyes,
17 Although my hands are free from violence,
and my prayer sincere.
18 O earth, do not cover my blood,
nor let my outcry come to rest![e]
19 Even now my witness[f] is in heaven,
my advocate is on high.
20 My friends it is who wrong me;
before God my eyes shed tears,
21 That justice may be done for a mortal with God:
as for a man with his neighbor.
22 For my years are numbered,
and I go the road of no return.
Chapter 17
1 My spirit is broken, my days finished,
my burial at hand.
2 Surely mockers surround me,
at their provocation, my eyes grow dim.
3 Put up a pledge for me with you:[g]
who is there to give surety for me?
4 You darken their minds to knowledge;
therefore you will not exalt them.
5 For a share of property he informs on friends,
while the eyes of his children grow dim.
6 I am made a byword of the people;(J)
I am one at whom people spit.
7 My eyes are blind with anguish,
and my whole frame is like a shadow.
8 The upright are astonished at this,
the innocent aroused against the wicked.
9 The righteous holds to his way,
the one with clean hands increases in strength.
10 But turn now, and come on again;
I do not find a wise man among you!
11 My days pass by, my plans are at an end,
the yearning of my heart.
12 They would change the night into day;
where there is darkness they talk of approaching light.
13 [h]If my only hope is dwelling in Sheol,
and spreading my couch in darkness,
14 If I am to say to the pit, “You are my father,”
and to the worm “my mother,” “my sister,”
15 Where then is my hope,
my happiness, who can see it?
16 Will they descend with me into Sheol?
Shall we go down together into the dust?
Footnotes
- 15:1 The tone of Eliphaz’s speech is now much rougher. In vv. 7–9 he ridicules Job’s knowledge with a sarcastic question about whether he was a member of the divine council before creation and thus had unique wisdom (according to Prv 8:22–31, only Woman Wisdom existed before creation). Verses 20–35 are a typical description of the fate of the wicked.
- 15:31 The translation is uncertain.
- 15:35 The plans of the wicked yield nothing but futile results. Cf. Ps 7:15; Is 59:4.
- 16:8 You: God. Job then describes in vv. 9–17 the savage treatment that he has received from God.
- 16:18 As the exposed blood of those who were unjustly slain cries to heaven for vengeance (Gn 4:10; Ez 24:6–9), so Job’s sufferings demand redress.
- 16:19 Witness: refers perhaps to God (is Job appealing to God against God?), or to a mediator (cf. 9:33), or to a personification of Job’s prayer.
- 17:3 Addressed to God; v. 10 to Job’s friends.
- 17:13–16 Job elaborates another of the vivid descriptions of “life” in Sheol; cf. 3:13–23; 10:21–22.
Wisdom 8:1-10
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 8
1 Indeed, she spans the world from end to end mightily
and governs all things well.(A)
Wisdom, the Source of Blessings
2 Her I loved and sought after from my youth;
I sought to take her for my bride[a]
and was enamored of her beauty.(B)
3 She adds to nobility the splendor of companionship with God;
even the Ruler of all loved her.
4 For she leads into the understanding of God,
and chooses his works.(C)
5 If riches are desirable in life,
what is richer than Wisdom, who produces all things?(D)
6 And if prudence is at work,(E)
who in the world is a better artisan than she?
7 Or if one loves righteousness,
whose works are virtues,
She teaches moderation and prudence,
righteousness and fortitude,[b]
and nothing in life is more useful than these.
8 Or again, if one yearns for wide experience,
she knows the things of old, and infers the things to come.
She understands the turns of phrases and the solutions of riddles;
signs and wonders she knows in advance
and the outcome of times and ages.(F)
Wisdom as Solomon’s Counselor and Comfort
9 So I determined to take her to live with me,
knowing that she would be my counselor while all was well,
and my comfort in care and grief.
10 Because of her I have glory among the multitudes,(G)
and esteem from the elders, though I am but a youth.
Footnotes
- 8:2 I loved…my bride: the erotic quality in the pursuit of and living with Woman Wisdom, who is the Lord’s consort (9:4) and loved by him, continues throughout this chapter (vv. 16, 18). It is reflected already in Prv 4:5–9; 7:4–5. See also Sir 15:2–5; 51:13–21.
- 8:7 Moderation…fortitude: known also as the cardinal virtues, and recognized in Greek philosophy (Plato).
Luke 20:27-47
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
27 Some Sadducees,[a] those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to him,(A) 28 [b]saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.’(B) 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. 30 Then the second 31 and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” 34 Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage; 35 but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.[c] 37 That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;(C) 38 and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”(D) 39 Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, you have answered well.” 40 And they no longer dared to ask him anything.(E)
The Question About David’s Son.[d] 41 (F)Then he said to them, “How do they claim that the Messiah is the Son of David? 42 For David himself in the Book of Psalms says:(G)
‘The Lord said to my lord,
“Sit at my right hand
43 till I make your enemies your footstool.”’
44 Now if David calls him ‘lord,’ how can he be his son?”
Denunciation of the Scribes.(H) 45 Then, within the hearing of all the people, he said to [his] disciples, 46 “Be on guard against the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and love greetings in marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets.(I) 47 They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 20:27 Sadducees: see note on Mt 3:7.
- 20:28–33 The Sadducees’ question, based on the law of levirate marriage recorded in Dt 25:5–10, ridicules the idea of the resurrection. Jesus rejects their naive understanding of the resurrection (Lk 20:35–36) and then argues on behalf of the resurrection of the dead on the basis of the written law (Lk 20:37–38) that the Sadducees accept. See also notes on Mt 22:23–33.
- 20:36 Because they are the ones who will rise: literally, “being sons of the resurrection.”
- 20:41–44 After successfully answering the three questions of his opponents, Jesus now asks them a question. Their inability to respond implies that they have forfeited their position and authority as the religious leaders of the people because they do not understand the scriptures. This series of controversies between the religious leadership of Jerusalem and Jesus reveals Jesus as the authoritative teacher whose words are to be listened to (see Lk 9:35). See also notes on Mt 22:41–46.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.