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Bildad Speaks: God Punishes the Wicked

18 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

“How long will you hunt for words?
    Consider, and then we shall speak.
Why are we counted as cattle?
    Why are we stupid in your sight?
You who tear yourself in your anger—
    shall the earth be forsaken because of you,
    or the rock be removed out of its place?

“Surely the light of the wicked is put out,
    and the flame of their fire does not shine.
The light is dark in their tent,
    and the lamp above them is put out.
Their strong steps are shortened,
    and their own schemes throw them down.
For they are thrust into a net by their own feet,
    and they walk into a pitfall.
A trap seizes them by the heel;
    a snare lays hold of them.
10 A rope is hid for them in the ground,
    a trap for them in the path.
11 Terrors frighten them on every side,
    and chase them at their heels.
12 Their strength is consumed by hunger,[a]
    and calamity is ready for their stumbling.
13 By disease their skin is consumed,[b]
    the firstborn of Death consumes their limbs.
14 They are torn from the tent in which they trusted,
    and are brought to the king of terrors.
15 In their tents nothing remains;
    sulfur is scattered upon their habitations.
16 Their roots dry up beneath,
    and their branches wither above.
17 Their memory perishes from the earth,
    and they have no name in the street.
18 They are thrust from light into darkness,
    and driven out of the world.
19 They have no offspring or descendant among their people,
    and no survivor where they used to live.
20 They of the west are appalled at their fate,
    and horror seizes those of the east.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly,
    such is the place of those who do not know God.”

Job Replies: I Know That My Redeemer Lives

19 Then Job answered:

“How long will you torment me,
    and break me in pieces with words?
These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
    are you not ashamed to wrong me?
And even if it is true that I have erred,
    my error remains with me.
If indeed you magnify yourselves against me,
    and make my humiliation an argument against me,
know then that God has put me in the wrong,
    and closed his net around me.
Even when I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I am not answered;
    I call aloud, but there is no justice.
He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,
    and he has set darkness upon my paths.
He has stripped my glory from me,
    and taken the crown from my head.
10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone,
    he has uprooted my hope like a tree.
11 He has kindled his wrath against me,
    and counts me as his adversary.
12 His troops come on together;
    they have thrown up siegeworks[c] against me,
    and encamp around my tent.

13 “He has put my family far from me,
    and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
14 My relatives and my close friends have failed me;
15     the guests in my house have forgotten me;
my serving girls count me as a stranger;
    I have become an alien in their eyes.
16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
    I must myself plead with him.
17 My breath is repulsive to my wife;
    I am loathsome to my own family.
18 Even young children despise me;
    when I rise, they talk against me.
19 All my intimate friends abhor me,
    and those whom I loved have turned against me.
20 My bones cling 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 touched me!
22 Why do you, like God, pursue me,
    never satisfied with my flesh?

23 “O that my words were written down!
    O that they were inscribed in a book!
24 O that with an iron pen and with lead
    they were engraved on a rock forever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer[d] lives,
    and that at the last he[e] will stand upon the earth;[f]
26 and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
    then in[g] my flesh I shall see God,[h]
27 whom I shall see on my side,[i]
    and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
    My heart faints within me!
28 If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’
    and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him’;
29 be afraid of the sword,
    for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
    so that you may know there is a judgment.”

Zophar Speaks: Wickedness Receives Just Retribution

20 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:

“Pay attention! My thoughts urge me to answer,
    because of the agitation within me.
I hear censure that insults me,
    and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me.
Do you not know this from of old,
    ever since mortals were placed on earth,
that the exulting of the wicked is short,
    and the joy of the godless is but for a moment?
Even though they mount up high as the heavens,
    and their head reaches to the clouds,
they will perish forever like their own dung;
    those who have seen them will say, ‘Where are they?’
They will fly away like a dream, and not be found;
    they will be chased away like a vision of the night.
The eye that saw them will see them no more,
    nor will their place behold them any longer.
10 Their children will seek the favor of the poor,
    and their hands will give back their wealth.
11 Their bodies, once full of youth,
    will lie down in the dust with them.

12 “Though wickedness is sweet in their mouth,
    though they hide it under their tongues,
13 though they are loath to let it go,
    and hold it in their mouths,
14 yet their food is turned in their stomachs;
    it is the venom of asps within them.
15 They swallow down riches and vomit them up again;
    God casts them out of their bellies.
16 They will suck the poison of asps;
    the tongue of a viper will kill them.
17 They will not look on the rivers,
    the streams flowing with honey and curds.
18 They will give back the fruit of their toil,
    and will not swallow it down;
from the profit of their trading
    they will get no enjoyment.
19 For they have crushed and abandoned the poor,
    they have seized a house that they did not build.

20 “They knew no quiet in their bellies;
    in their greed they let nothing escape.
21 There was nothing left after they had eaten;
    therefore their prosperity will not endure.
22 In full sufficiency they will be in distress;
    all the force of misery will come upon them.
23 To fill their belly to the full
    God[j] will send his fierce anger into them,
    and rain it upon them as their food.[k]
24 They will flee from an iron weapon;
    a bronze arrow will strike them through.
25 It is drawn forth and comes out of their body,
    and the glittering point comes out of their gall;
    terrors come upon them.
26 Utter darkness is laid up for their treasures;
    a fire fanned by no one will devour them;
    what is left in their tent will be consumed.
27 The heavens will reveal their iniquity,
    and the earth will rise up against them.
28 The possessions of their house will be carried away,
    dragged off in the day of God’s[l] wrath.
29 This is the portion of the wicked from God,
    the heritage decreed for them by God.”

Footnotes

  1. Job 18:12 Or Disaster is hungry for them
  2. Job 18:13 Cn: Heb It consumes the limbs of his skin
  3. Job 19:12 Cn: Heb their way
  4. Job 19:25 Or Vindicator
  5. Job 19:25 Or that he the Last
  6. Job 19:25 Heb dust
  7. Job 19:26 Or without
  8. Job 19:26 Meaning of Heb of this verse uncertain
  9. Job 19:27 Or for myself
  10. Job 20:23 Heb he
  11. Job 20:23 Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain
  12. Job 20:28 Heb his

11 I shall be found keen in judgment,
and in the sight of rulers I shall be admired.
12 When I am silent they will wait for me,
and when I speak they will give heed;
if I speak at greater length,
they will put their hands on their mouths.
13 Because of her I shall have immortality,
and leave an everlasting remembrance to those who come after me.
14 I shall govern peoples,
and nations will be subject to me;
15 dread monarchs will be afraid of me when they hear of me;
among the people I shall show myself capable, and courageous in war.
16 When I enter my house, I shall find rest with her;
for companionship with her has no bitterness,
and life with her has no pain, but gladness and joy.
17 When I considered these things inwardly,
and pondered in my heart
that in kinship with wisdom there is immortality,
18 and in friendship with her, pure delight,
and in the labors of her hands, unfailing wealth,
and in the experience of her company, understanding,
and renown in sharing her words,
I went about seeking how to get her for myself.
19 As a child I was naturally gifted,
and a good soul fell to my lot;
20 or rather, being good, I entered an undefiled body.
21 But I perceived that I would not possess wisdom unless God gave her to me—
and it was a mark of insight to know whose gift she was—
so I appealed to the Lord and implored him,
and with my whole heart I said:

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The Widow’s Offering

21 He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”

The Destruction of the Temple Foretold

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”

Signs and Persecutions

They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’[a] and, ‘The time is near!’[b] Do not go after them.

“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

12 “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; 15 for I will give you words[c] and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.

The Destruction of Jerusalem Foretold

20 “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.[d] 21 Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those inside the city must leave it, and those out in the country must not enter it; 22 for these are days of vengeance, as a fulfillment of all that is written. 23 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people; 24 they will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken away as captives among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The Coming of the Son of Man

25 “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 26 People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

29 Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30 as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Exhortation to Watch

34 “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

37 Every day he was teaching in the temple, and at night he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives, as it was called. 38 And all the people would get up early in the morning to listen to him in the temple.

Footnotes

  1. Luke 21:8 Gk I am
  2. Luke 21:8 Or at hand
  3. Luke 21:15 Gk a mouth
  4. Luke 21:20 Or is at hand

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