Job 21-27

New King James Version

² “Listen carefully to my speech,
And let this be your ^[a]consolation.
³ Bear with me that I may speak,
And after I have spoken, keep ^(A)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;
^(B)Put your hand over your mouth.
⁶ Even when I remember I am terrified,
And trembling takes hold of my flesh.
^7 (C)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,
^(D)Neither is ^[b]the rod of God upon them.
¹⁰ Their bull breeds without failure;
Their cow calves ^(E)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 ^(F)spend their days in wealth,
And ^[c]in a moment go down to the ^[d]grave.
^14 (G)Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us,
For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.
^15 (H)Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?
And ^(I)what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’
¹⁶ Indeed ^[e]their prosperity is not in their hand;
^(J)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 ^(K)distributes in His anger?
^18 (L)They are like straw before the wind,
And like chaff that a storm ^[f]carries away.
¹⁹ They say, ‘God ^[g]lays up ^[h]one’s iniquity ^(M)for his children’;
Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.
²⁰ Let his eyes see his destruction,
And ^(N)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^(O) 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 ^[i]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 ^(P)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 ^[j]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 (Q)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;
^(R)Everyone shall follow him,
As countless have gone before him.
³⁴ How then can you comfort me with empty words,
Since ^[k]falsehood remains in your answers?”

² “Can^(T) 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 ^(U)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 ^(V)have withheld bread from the hungry.
⁸ But the ^[l]mighty man possessed the land,
And the honorable man dwelt in it.
⁹ You have sent widows away empty,
And the ^[m]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 ^(W)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, ^(X)‘What does God know?
Can He judge through the deep darkness?
^14 (Y)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 ^(Z)were cut down before their time,
Whose foundations were swept away by a flood?
^17 (AA)They said to God, ‘Depart from us!
What can the Almighty do to ^[n]them?’
¹⁸ Yet He filled their houses with good things;
But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁹ “The^(AB) righteous see it and are glad,
And the innocent laugh at them:
²⁰ ‘Surely our ^[o]adversaries are cut down,
And the fire consumes their remnant.’

²¹ “Now acquaint yourself with Him, and ^(AC)be at peace;
Thereby good will come to you.
²² Receive, please, ^(AD)instruction from His mouth,
And ^(AE)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 ^(AF)lay your gold in the dust,
And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.
²⁵ Yes, the Almighty will be your ^[p]gold
And your precious silver;
²⁶ For then you will have your ^(AG)delight in the Almighty,
And lift up your face to God.
^27 (AH)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 ^(AI)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.”

² “Even today my ^(AJ)complaint is bitter;
^[q]My hand is listless because of my groaning.
^3 (AK)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 (AL)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,^(AM) 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 ^(AN)He knows the way that I take;
When ^(AO)He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
^11 (AP)My foot has held fast to His steps;
I have kept His way and not turned aside.
¹² I have not departed from the ^(AQ)commandment of His lips;
^(AR)I have treasured the words of His mouth
More than my ^[r]necessary food.

¹³ “But He is unique, and who can make Him change?
And whatever ^(AS)His soul desires, that He does.
¹⁴ For He performs what is ^(AT)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 ^(AU)made my heart weak,
And the Almighty terrifies me;
¹⁷ Because I was not ^(AV)cut off ^[s]from the presence of darkness,
And He did not hide deep darkness from my face.

² “Some remove ^(AY)landmarks;
They seize flocks violently and feed on them;
³ They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;
They ^(AZ)take the widow’s ox as a pledge.
⁴ They push the needy off the road;
All the ^(BA)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 ^(BB)spend the night naked, without clothing,
And have no covering in the cold.
⁸ They are wet with the showers of the mountains,
And ^(BC)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 ^(BD)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 (BE)The murderer rises with the light;
He kills the poor and needy;
And in the night he is like a thief.
^15 (BF)The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
^(BG)Saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
And he ^[t]disguises his face.
¹⁶ In the dark they break into houses
Which they marked for themselves in the daytime;
^(BH)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 ^[u]consume the snow waters,
So ^[v]the grave consumes those who have sinned.
²⁰ The womb should forget him,
The worm should feed sweetly on him;
^(BI)He should be remembered no more,
And wickedness should be broken like a tree.
²¹ For he ^[w]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 ^(BJ)His eyes are on their ways.
²⁴ They are exalted for a little while,
Then they are gone.
They are brought low;
They are ^[x]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?”

² “Dominion and fear belong to Him;
He makes peace in His high places.
^3 [y]Is there any number to His armies?
Upon whom does ^(BL)His light not rise?
^4 (BM)How then can man be righteous before God?
Or how can he be ^(BN)pure who is born of a woman?
⁵ If even the moon does not shine,
And the stars are not pure in His ^(BO)sight,
⁶ How much less man, who is ^(BP)a maggot,
And a son of man, who is a worm?”

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 (BQ)Sheol is naked before Him,
And Destruction has no covering.
^7 (BR)He stretches out the north over empty space;
He hangs the earth on nothing.
^8 (BS)He binds up the water in His thick clouds,
Yet the clouds ^[z]are not broken under it.
⁹ He covers the face of His throne,
And spreads His cloud over it.
^10 (BT)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 ^[aa]astonished at His rebuke.
^12 (BU)He stirs up the sea with His power,
And by His understanding He breaks up ^[ab]the storm.
^13 (BV)By His Spirit He adorned the heavens;
His hand pierced ^(BW)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?”

² “As God lives, ^(BX)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 ^(BY)I will not put away my integrity from me.
⁶ My righteousness I ^(BZ)hold fast, and will not let it go;
^(CA)My heart shall not ^[ac]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 (CB)For what is the hope of the hypocrite,
Though he may gain much,
If God takes away his life?
^9 (CC)Will God hear his cry
When trouble comes upon him?
^10 (CD)Will he delight himself in the Almighty?
Will he always call on God?

¹¹ “I will teach you ^[ad]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^(CE) is the portion of a wicked man with God,
And the heritage of oppressors, received from the Almighty:
^14 (CF)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 ^(CG)their^[ae] 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 ^(CH)the just will wear it,
And the innocent will divide the silver.
¹⁸ He builds his house like a ^[af]moth,
^(CI)Like a ^[ag]booth which a watchman makes.
¹⁹ The rich man will lie down,
^[ah]But not be gathered up;
He opens his eyes,
And he is ^(CJ)no more.
^20 (CK)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 ^(CL)spare;
He flees desperately from its ^[ai]power.
²³ Men shall clap their hands at him,
And shall hiss him out of his place.