Job 25-31

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

² “Dominion and fear are with God;^[a]
    he makes peace in his high heaven.^(A)
3 Is there any number to his armies?
    Upon whom does his light not arise?^(B)
4 How then can a mortal be righteous before God?
    How can one born of woman be pure?^(C)
5 If even the moon is not bright
    and the stars are not pure in his sight,^(D)
6 how much less a mortal, who is a maggot,
    and a human being, who is a worm!”^(E)

² “How you have helped one who has no power!
    How you have assisted the arm that has no strength!^(F)
3 How you have counseled one who has no wisdom
    and given much good advice!
⁴ With whose help have you uttered words,
    and whose spirit has come forth from you?
⁵ The shades below tremble,
    the waters and their inhabitants.
⁶ Sheol is naked before God,
    and Abaddon has no covering.^(G)
7 He stretches out Zaphon^[b] over the void
    and hangs the earth upon nothing.^(H)
8 He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
    and the cloud is not torn open by them.^(I)
9 He covers the face of the full moon
    and spreads over it his cloud.^(J)
10 He has described a circle on the face of the waters,
    at the boundary between light and darkness.^(K)
11 The pillars of heaven tremble
    and are astounded at his rebuke.
¹² By his power he stilled the Sea;
    by his understanding he struck down Rahab.^(L)
13 By his wind the heavens were made fair;
    his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.^(M)
14 These are indeed but the outskirts of his ways,
    and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
    But the thunder of his power who can understand?”^(N)

² “As God lives, who has taken away my right,
    and the Almighty,^[c] who has made my soul bitter,^(P)
3 as long as my breath is in me
    and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
⁴ my lips will not speak falsehood,
    and my tongue will not utter deceit.^(Q)
5 Far be it from me to say that you are right;
    until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.^(R)
6 I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;
    my heart will not reproach me as long as I live.^(S)

⁷ “May my enemy be like the wicked,
    and may my opponent be like the unrighteous.
⁸ For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts them off,
    when God takes away their lives?^(T)
9 Will God hear their cry
    when trouble comes upon them?^(U)
10 Will they take delight in the Almighty?^[d]
    Will they call upon God at all times?^(V)
11 I will teach you concerning the hand of God;
    that which is with the Almighty^[e] I will not conceal.
¹² All of you have seen it yourselves;
    why then have you become altogether vain?

¹³ “This is the portion of the wicked with God
    and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:^[f](W)
14 If their children are multiplied, it is for the sword,
    and their offspring have not enough to eat.^(X)
15 Those who survive them the pestilence buries,
    and their widows make no lamentation.^(Y)
16 Though they heap up silver like dust
    and pile up clothing like clay,^(Z)
17 they may pile it up, but the just will wear it,
    and the innocent will divide the silver.^(AA)
18 They build their houses like nests,
    like booths made by sentinels of the vineyard.
¹⁹ They go to bed with wealth but will do so no more;
    they open their eyes, and it is gone.^(AB)
20 Terrors overtake them like a flood;
    in the night a whirlwind carries them off.^(AC)
21 The east wind lifts them up, and they are gone;
    it sweeps them out of their place.^(AD)
22 It^[g] hurls at them without pity;
    they flee from its^[h] power in headlong flight.^(AE)
23 It^[i] claps its^[j] hands at them
    and hisses at them from its^[k] place.^(AF)

⁷ “That path no bird of prey knows,
    and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.
⁸ The proud wild animals have not trodden it;
    the lion has not passed over it.

⁹ “They put their hand to the flinty rock
    and overturn mountains by the roots.^(AI)
10 They cut out channels in the rocks,
    and their eyes see every precious thing.
¹¹ The sources of the rivers they probe;^[n]
    hidden things they bring to light.

¹² “But where shall wisdom be found?
    And where is the place of understanding?^(AJ)
13 Mortals do not know the way to it,^[o]
    and it is not found in the land of the living.^(AK)
14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
    and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
¹⁵ It cannot be gotten for gold,
    and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.
¹⁶ It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
    in precious onyx or sapphire.^[p]
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
    nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.^(AL)
18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
    the price of wisdom is above pearls.^(AM)
19 The chrysolite of Cush cannot compare with it,
    nor can it be valued in pure gold.^(AN)

²⁰ “Where then does wisdom come from?
    And where is the place of understanding?^(AO)
21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living
    and concealed from the birds of the air.
²² Abaddon and Death say,
    ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’^(AP)

²³ “God understands the way to it,
    and he knows its place.^(AQ)
24 For he looks to the ends of the earth
    and sees everything under the heavens.^(AR)
25 When he gave to the wind its weight
    and apportioned out the waters by measure,^(AS)
26 when he made a decree for the rain,
    and a way for the thunderbolt,^(AT)
27 then he saw it and declared it;
    he established it and searched it out.
²⁸ And he said to humankind,
‘Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
    and to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”^(AU)

² “O that I were as in the months of old,
    as in the days when God watched over me,^(AW)
3 when his lamp shone over my head,
    and by his light I walked through darkness,^(AX)
4 when I was in my prime,
    when the friendship of God was upon my tent,^(AY)
5 when the Almighty^[q] was still with me,
    when my children were around me,
⁶ when my steps were washed with milk
    and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!^(AZ)
7 When I went out to the gate of the city,
    when I took my seat in the square,
⁸ the young men saw me and withdrew,
    and the aged rose up and stood;
⁹ the nobles refrained from talking
    and laid their hands on their mouths;^(BA)
10 the voices of princes were hushed,
    and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.^(BB)
11 When the ear heard, it commended me,
    and when the eye saw, it approved,
¹² because I delivered the poor who cried
    and the orphan who had no helper.^(BC)
13 The blessing of the wretched came upon me,
    and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.^(BD)
14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
    my justice was like a robe and a turban.^(BE)
15 I was eyes to the blind
    and feet to the lame.
¹⁶ I was a father to the needy,
    and I championed the cause of the stranger.^(BF)
17 I broke the fangs of the unrighteous
    and made them drop their prey from their teeth.^(BG)
18 Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,
    and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix;^[r](BH)
19 my roots spread out to the waters,
    with the dew all night on my branches;^(BI)
20 my glory was fresh with me
    and my bow ever new in my hand.’^(BJ)

²¹ “They listened to me and waited
    and kept silence for my counsel.^(BK)
22 After I spoke they did not speak again,
    and my word dropped upon them like dew.^[s](BL)
23 They waited for me as for the rain;
    they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
²⁴ I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
    and the light of my countenance they did not extinguish.^[t]
25 I chose what they should do and sat as chief,
    and I lived like a king among his troops,
    like one who comforts mourners.^(BM)

30 “But now they make sport of me,
    those who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
    to set with the dogs of my flock.^(BN)
2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands?
    All their vigor is gone.
³ Through want and hard hunger
    they gnaw the dry and desolate ground;
⁴ they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes
    and to warm themselves the roots of broom.
⁵ They are driven out from society;
    people shout after them as after a thief.
⁶ In the gullies of wadis they must live,
    in holes in the ground and in the rocks.
⁷ Among the bushes they bray;
    under the nettles they huddle together.
⁸ A senseless, disreputable brood,
    they have been whipped out of the land.

⁹ “And now they mock me in song;
    I am a byword to them.^(BO)
10 They abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
    they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.^(BP)
11 Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me,
    they have cast off restraint in my presence.^(BQ)
12 On my right hand the rabble rise up;
    they send me sprawling
    and build roads for my ruin.^(BR)
13 They break up my path;
    they promote my calamity;
    no one restrains^[u] them.
¹⁴ As through a wide breach they come;
    amid the crash they roll on.
¹⁵ Terrors are turned upon me;
    my honor is pursued as by the wind,
    and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.^(BS)

¹⁶ “And now my soul is poured out within me;
    days of affliction have taken hold of me.^(BT)
17 The night racks my bones,
    and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
¹⁸ With violence he seizes my garment;^[v]
    he grasps me by^[w] the collar of my tunic.
¹⁹ He has cast me into the mire,
    and I have become like dust and ashes.^(BU)
20 I cry to you, and you do not answer me;
    I stand, and you merely look at me.^(BV)
21 You have turned cruel to me;
    with the might of your hand you persecute me.^(BW)
22 You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it,
    and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.^(BX)
23 I know that you will bring me to death,
    to the house appointed for all living.^(BY)

²⁴ “Surely one does not turn against the needy,^[x]
    when in disaster they cry for help.^[y](BZ)
25 Did I not weep for those whose day was hard?
    Was not my soul grieved for the poor?^(CA)
26 But when I looked for good, evil came,
    and when I waited for light, darkness came.^(CB)
27 My inward parts are in turmoil and are never still;
    days of affliction come to meet me.
²⁸ I go about in sunless gloom;
    I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.^(CC)
29 I am a brother of jackals
    and a companion of ostriches.^(CD)
30 My skin turns black and falls from me,
    and my bones burn with heat.^(CE)
31 My lyre is turned to mourning
    and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.^(CF)

31 “I have made a covenant with my eyes;
    how, then, could I look upon a virgin?^(CG)
2 What would be my portion from God above
    and my heritage from the Almighty^[z] on high?
³ Does not calamity befall the unrighteous
    and disaster the workers of iniquity?
⁴ Does he not see my ways
    and number all my steps?^(CH)

⁵ “If I have walked with falsehood,
    and my foot has hurried to deceit—^(CI)
6 let me be weighed in a just balance,
    and let God know my integrity!—^(CJ)
7 if my step has turned aside from the way,
    and my heart has followed my eyes,
    and if any spot has clung to my hands,^(CK)
8 then let me sow and another eat,
    and let what grows for me be rooted out.^(CL)

⁹ “If my heart has been enticed by a woman
    and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,^(CM)
10 then let my wife grind for another,
    and let other men kneel over her.^(CN)
11 For that would be a heinous crime;
    that would be a criminal offense;^(CO)
12 for that would be a fire consuming down to Abaddon,
    and it would burn to the root all my harvest.^(CP)

¹³ “If I have rejected the cause of my male or female slaves,
    when they brought a complaint against me,^(CQ)
14 what then shall I do when God rises up?
    When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
¹⁵ Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
    And did not one fashion us in the womb?^(CR)

¹⁶ “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired
    or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail^(CS)
17 or have eaten my morsel alone
    and the orphan has not eaten from it—^(CT)
18 for from my youth I reared the orphan^[aa] like a father,
    and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow^[ab]—
¹⁹ if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing
    or a poor person without covering,
²⁰ whose loins have not blessed me,
    and who was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;^(CU)
21 if I have raised my hand against the orphan
    because I saw I had supporters at the gate;^(CV)
22 then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
    and let my arm be broken from its socket.^(CW)
23 For I was in terror of calamity from God,
    and I could not have faced his majesty.^(CX)

²⁴ “If I have made gold my trust
    or called fine gold my confidence,^(CY)
25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great
    or because my hand had gotten much,^(CZ)
26 if I have looked at the sun^[ac] when it shone
    or the moon moving in splendor,^(DA)
27 and my heart has been secretly enticed,
    and my mouth has kissed my hand,
²⁸ this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
    for I should have been false to God above.^(DB)

²⁹ “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of those who hated me
    or exulted when evil overtook them—^(DC)
30 I have not let my mouth sin
    by asking for their lives with a curse—^(DD)
31 if those of my tent ever said,
    ‘O that we might be sated with his flesh!’^[ad]—^(DE)
32 the stranger has not lodged in the street;
    I have opened my doors to the traveler—^(DF)
33 if I have concealed my transgressions as others do,^[ae]
    by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,^(DG)
34 because I stood in great fear of the multitude,
    and the contempt of families terrified me,
    so that I kept silence and did not go out of doors—^(DH)
35 O that I had one to hear me!
    (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty^[af] answer me!)
    O that I had the indictment written by my adversary!^(DI)
36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;
    I would bind it on me like a crown;
³⁷ I would give him an account of all my steps;
    like a prince I would approach him.^(DJ)

³⁸ “If my land has cried out against me
    and its furrows have wept together,^(DK)
39 if I have eaten its yield without payment
    and caused the death of its owners,^(DL)
40 let thorns grow instead of wheat
    and foul weeds instead of barley.”

The words of Job are ended.^(DM)