Job 15:1-24:17

New International Version - UK

² ‘Would a wise person answer with empty notions
    or fill their belly with the hot east wind?
³ Would they argue with useless words,
    with speeches that have no value?
⁴ But you even undermine piety
    and hinder devotion to God.
⁵ Your sin prompts your mouth;
    you adopt the tongue of the crafty.
⁶ Your own mouth condemns you, not mine;
    your own lips testify against you.

⁷ ‘Are you the first man ever born?
    Were you brought forth before the hills?
⁸ Do you listen in on God’s council?
    Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?
⁹ What do you know that we do not know?
    What insights do you have that we do not have?
¹⁰ The grey-haired and the aged are on our side,
    men even older than your father.
¹¹ Are God’s consolations not enough for you,
    words spoken gently to you?
¹² Why has your heart carried you away,
    and why do your eyes flash,
¹³ so that you vent your rage against God
    and pour out such words from your mouth?

¹⁴ ‘What are mortals, that they could be pure,
    or those born of woman, that they could be righteous?
¹⁵ If God places no trust in his holy ones,
    if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
¹⁶ how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt,
    who drink up evil like water!

¹⁷ ‘Listen to me and I will explain to you;
    let me tell you what I have seen,
¹⁸ what the wise have declared,
    hiding nothing received from their ancestors
¹⁹ (to whom alone the land was given
    when no foreigners moved among them):
²⁰ all his days the wicked man suffers torment,
    the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him.
²¹ Terrifying sounds fill his ears;
    when all seems well, marauders attack him.
²² He despairs of escaping the realm of darkness;
    he is marked for the sword.
²³ He wanders about for food like a vulture;
    he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
²⁴ Distress and anguish fill him with terror;
    troubles overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,
²⁵ because he shakes his fist at God
    and vaunts himself against the Almighty,
²⁶ defiantly charging against him
    with a thick, strong shield.

²⁷ ‘Though his face is covered with fat
    and his waist bulges with flesh,
²⁸ he will inhabit ruined towns
    and houses where no one lives,
    houses crumbling to rubble.
²⁹ He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure,
    nor will his possessions spread over the land.
³⁰ He will not escape the darkness;
    a flame will wither his shoots,
    and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.
³¹ Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless,
    for he will get nothing in return.
³² Before his time he will wither,
    and his branches will not flourish.
³³ He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes,
    like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.
³⁴ For the company of the godless will be barren,
    and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.
³⁵ They conceive trouble and give birth to evil;
    their womb fashions deceit.’

² ‘I have heard many things like these;
    you are miserable comforters, all of you!
³ Will your long-winded speeches never end?
    What ails you that you keep on arguing?
⁴ I also could speak like you,
    if you were in my place;
I could make fine speeches against you
    and shake my head at you.
⁵ But my mouth would encourage you;
    comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

⁶ ‘Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved;
    and if I refrain, it does not go away.
⁷ Surely, God, you have worn me out;
    you have devastated my entire household.
⁸ You have shrivelled me up – and it has become a witness;
    my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.
⁹ God assails me and tears me in his anger
    and gnashes his teeth at me;
    my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.
¹⁰ People open their mouths to jeer at me;
    they strike my cheek in scorn
    and unite together against me.
¹¹ God has turned me over to the ungodly
    and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.
¹² All was well with me, but he shattered me;
    he seized me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me his target;
¹³     his archers surround me.
Without pity, he pierces my kidneys
    and spills my gall on the ground.
¹⁴ Again and again he bursts upon me;
    he rushes at me like a warrior.

¹⁵ ‘I have sewed sackcloth over my skin
    and buried my brow in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is red with weeping,
    dark shadows ring my eyes;
¹⁷ yet my hands have been free of violence
    and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ ‘Earth, do not cover my blood;
    may my cry never be laid to rest!
¹⁹ Even now my witness is in heaven;
    my advocate is on high.
²⁰ My intercessor is my friend^[a]
    as my eyes pour out tears to God;
²¹ on behalf of a man he pleads with God
    as one pleads for a friend.

²² ‘Only a few years will pass
    before I take the path of no return.
17 My spirit is broken,
    my days are cut short,
    the grave awaits me.
² Surely mockers surround me;
    my eyes must dwell on their hostility.

³ ‘Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.
    Who else will put up security for me?
⁴ You have closed their minds to understanding;
    therefore you will not let them triumph.
⁵ If anyone denounces their friends for reward,
    the eyes of their children will fail.

⁶ ‘God has made me a byword to everyone,
    a man in whose face people spit.
⁷ My eyes have grown dim with grief;
    my whole frame is but a shadow.
⁸ The upright are appalled at this;
    the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.
⁹ Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways,
    and those with clean hands will grow stronger.

¹⁰ ‘But come on, all of you, try again!
    I will not find a wise man among you.
¹¹ My days have passed, my plans are shattered.
    Yet the desires of my heart
¹² turn night into day;
    in the face of the darkness light is near.
¹³ If the only home I hope for is the grave,
    if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness,
¹⁴ if I say to corruption, “You are my father,”
    and to the worm, “My mother” or “My sister”.
¹⁵ where then is my hope –
    who can see any hope for me?
¹⁶ Will it go down to the gates of death?
    Will we descend together into the dust?’

² ‘When will you end these speeches?
    Be sensible, and then we can talk.
³ Why are we regarded as cattle
    and considered stupid in your sight?
⁴ You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger,
    is the earth to be abandoned for your sake?
    Or must the rocks be moved from their place?

⁵ ‘The lamp of a wicked man is snuffed out;
    the flame of his fire stops burning.
⁶ The light in his tent becomes dark;
    the lamp beside him goes out.
⁷ The vigour of his step is weakened;
    his own schemes throw him down.
⁸ His feet thrust him into a net;
    he wanders into its mesh.
⁹ A trap seizes him by the heel;
    a snare holds him fast.
¹⁰ A noose is hidden for him on the ground;
    a trap lies in his path.
¹¹ Terrors startle him on every side
    and dog his every step.
¹² Calamity is hungry for him;
    disaster is ready for him when he falls.
¹³ It eats away parts of his skin;
    death’s firstborn devours his limbs.
¹⁴ He is torn from the security of his tent
    and marched off to the king of terrors.
¹⁵ Fire resides^[b] in his tent;
    burning sulphur is scattered over his dwelling.
¹⁶ His roots dry up below
    and his branches wither above.
¹⁷ The memory of him perishes from the earth;
    he has no name in the land.
¹⁸ He is driven from light into the realm of darkness
    and is banished from the world.
¹⁹ He has no offspring or descendants among his people,
    no survivor where once he lived.
²⁰ People of the west are appalled at his fate;
    those of the east are seized with horror.
²¹ Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man;
    such is the place of one who does not know God.’

² ‘How long will you torment me
    and crush me with words?
³ Ten times now you have reproached me;
    shamelessly you attack me.
⁴ If it is true that I have gone astray,
    my error remains my concern alone.
⁵ If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me
    and use my humiliation against me,
⁶ then know that God has wronged me
    and drawn his net around me.

⁷ ‘Though I cry, “Violence!” I get no response;
    though I call for help, there is no justice.
⁸ He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass;
    he has shrouded my paths in darkness.
⁹ He has stripped me of my honour
    and removed the crown from my head.
¹⁰ He tears me down on every side till I am gone;
    he uproots my hope like a tree.
¹¹ His anger burns against me;
    he counts me among his enemies.
¹² His troops advance in force;
    they build a siege ramp against me
    and encamp around my tent.

¹³ ‘He has alienated my family from me;
    my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
¹⁴ My relatives have gone away;
    my closest friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ My guests and my female servants count me a foreigner;
    they look upon me as a stranger.
¹⁶ I summon my servant, but he does not answer,
    though I beg him with my own mouth.
¹⁷ My breath is offensive to my wife;
    I am loathsome to my own family.
¹⁸ Even the little boys scorn me;
    when I appear, they ridicule me.
¹⁹ All my intimate friends detest me;
    those I love have turned against me.
²⁰ I am nothing but skin and bones;
    I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.^[c]

²¹ ‘Have pity on me, my friends, have pity,
    for the hand of God has struck me.
²² Why do you pursue me as God does?
    Will you never get enough of my flesh?

²³ ‘Oh, that my words were recorded,
    that they were written on a scroll,
²⁴ that they were inscribed with an iron tool on^[d] lead,
    or engraved in rock for ever!
²⁵ I know that my redeemer^[e] lives,
    and that in the end he will stand on the earth.^[f]
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
    yet^[g] in^[h] my flesh I will see God;
²⁷ I myself will see him
    with my own eyes – I, and not another.
    How my heart yearns within me!

²⁸ ‘If you say, “How we will hound him,
    since the root of the trouble lies in him,^[i]”
²⁹ you should fear the sword yourselves;
    for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,
    and then you will know that there is judgment.^[j]’

² ‘My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer
    because I am greatly disturbed.
³ I hear a rebuke that dishonours me,
    and my understanding inspires me to reply.

⁴ ‘Surely you know how it has been from of old,
    ever since mankind^[k] was placed on the earth,
⁵ that the mirth of the wicked is brief,
    the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.
⁶ Though the pride of the godless person reaches to the heavens
    and his head touches the clouds,
⁷ he will perish for ever, like his own dung;
    those who have seen him will say, “Where is he?”
⁸ Like a dream he flies away, no more to be found,
    banished like a vision of the night.
⁹ The eye that saw him will not see him again;
    his place will look on him no more.
¹⁰ His children must make amends to the poor;
    his own hands must give back his wealth.
¹¹ The youthful vigour that fills his bones
    will lie with him in the dust.

¹² ‘Though evil is sweet in his mouth
    and he hides it under his tongue,
¹³ though he cannot bear to let it go
    and lets it linger in his mouth,
¹⁴ yet his food will turn sour in his stomach;
    it will become the venom of serpents within him.
¹⁵ He will spit out the riches he swallowed;
    God will make his stomach vomit them up.
¹⁶ He will suck the poison of serpents;
    the fangs of an adder will kill him.
¹⁷ He will not enjoy the streams,
    the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
¹⁸ What he toiled for he must give back uneaten;
    he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.
¹⁹ For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute;
    he has seized houses he did not build.

²⁰ ‘Surely he will have no respite from his craving;
    he cannot save himself by his treasure.
²¹ Nothing is left for him to devour;
    his prosperity will not endure.
²² In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him;
    the full force of misery will come upon him.
²³ When he has filled his belly,
    God will vent his burning anger against him
    and rain down his blows on him.
²⁴ Though he flees from an iron weapon,
    a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.
²⁵ He pulls it out of his back,
    the gleaming point out of his liver.
Terrors will come over him;
²⁶     total darkness lies in wait for his treasures.
A fire unfanned will consume him
    and devour what is left in his tent.
²⁷ The heavens will expose his guilt;
    the earth will rise up against him.
²⁸ A flood will carry off his house,
    rushing waters^[l] on the day of God’s wrath.
²⁹ Such is the fate God allots the wicked,
    the heritage appointed for them by God.’

² ‘Listen carefully to my words;
    let this be the consolation you give me.
³ Bear with me while I speak,
    and after I have spoken, mock on.

⁴ ‘Is my complaint directed to a human being?
    Why should I not be impatient?
⁵ Look at me and be appalled;
    clap your hand over your mouth.
⁶ When I think about this, I am terrified;
    trembling seizes my body.
⁷ Why do the wicked live on,
    growing old and increasing in power?
⁸ They see their children established around them,
    their offspring before their eyes.
⁹ Their homes are safe and free from fear;
    the rod of God is not on them.
¹⁰ Their bulls never fail to breed;
    their cows calve and do not miscarry.
¹¹ They send forth their children as a flock;
    their little ones dance about.
¹² They sing to the music of tambourine and lyre;
    they make merry to the sound of the pipe.
¹³ They spend their years in prosperity
    and go down to the grave in peace.^[m]
14 Yet they say to God, “Leave us alone!
    We have no desire to know your ways.
¹⁵ Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
    What would we gain by praying to him?”
¹⁶ But their prosperity is not in their own hands,
    so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.

¹⁷ ‘Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?
    How often does calamity come upon them,
    the fate God allots in his anger?
¹⁸ How often are they like straw before the wind,
    like chaff swept away by a gale?
¹⁹ It is said, “God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children.”
    Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it!
²⁰ Let their own eyes see their destruction;
    let them drink the cup of the wrath of the Almighty.
²¹ For what do they care about the families they leave behind
    when their allotted months come to an end?

²² ‘Can anyone teach knowledge to God,
    since he judges even the highest?
²³ One person dies in full vigour,
    completely secure and at ease,
²⁴ well nourished in body,^[n]
    bones rich with marrow.
²⁵ Another dies in bitterness of soul,
    never having enjoyed anything good.
²⁶ Side by side they lie in the dust,
    and worms cover them both.

²⁷ ‘I know full well what you are thinking,
    the schemes by which you would wrong me.
²⁸ You say, “Where now is the house of the great,
    the tents where the wicked lived?”
²⁹ Have you never questioned those who travel?
    Have you paid no regard to their accounts –
³⁰ that the wicked are spared from the day of calamity,
    that they are delivered from^[o] the day of wrath?
³¹ Who denounces their conduct to their face?
    Who repays them for what they have done?
³² They are carried to the grave,
    and watch is kept over their tombs.
³³ The soil in the valley is sweet to them;
    everyone follows after them,
    and a countless throng goes^[p] before them.

³⁴ ‘So how can you console me with your nonsense?
    Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!’

² ‘Can a man be of benefit to God?
    Can even a wise person benefit him?
³ What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?
    What would he gain if your ways were blameless?

⁴ ‘Is it for your piety that he rebukes you
    and brings charges against you?
⁵ Is not your wickedness great?
    Are not your sins endless?
⁶ You demanded security from your relatives for no reason;
    you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked.
⁷ You gave no water to the weary
    and you withheld food from the hungry,
⁸ though you were a powerful man, owning land –
    an honoured man, living on it.
⁹ And you sent widows away empty-handed
    and broke the strength of the fatherless.
¹⁰ That is why snares are all around you,
    why sudden peril terrifies you,
¹¹ why it is so dark that you cannot see,
    and why a flood of water covers you.

¹² ‘Is not God in the heights of heaven?
    And see how lofty are the highest stars!
¹³ Yet you say, “What does God know?
    Does he judge through such darkness?
¹⁴ Thick clouds veil him, so he does not see us
    as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.”
¹⁵ Will you keep to the old path
    that the wicked have trod?
¹⁶ They were carried off before their time,
    their foundations washed away by a flood.
¹⁷ They said to God, “Leave us alone!
    What can the Almighty do to us?”
¹⁸ Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things,
    so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.
¹⁹ The righteous see their ruin and rejoice;
    the innocent mock them, saying,
²⁰ “Surely our foes are destroyed,
    and fire devours their wealth.”

²¹ ‘Submit to God and be at peace with him;
    in this way prosperity will come to you.
²² Accept instruction from his mouth
    and lay up his words in your heart.
²³ If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored:
    if you remove wickedness far from your tent
²⁴ and assign your nuggets to the dust,
    your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,
²⁵ then the Almighty will be your gold,
    the choicest silver for you.
²⁶ Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty
    and will lift up your face to God.
²⁷ You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
    and you will fulfil your vows.
²⁸ What you decide on will be done,
    and light will shine on your ways.
²⁹ When people are brought low and you say, “Lift them up!”
    then he will save the downcast.
³⁰ He will deliver even one who is not innocent,
    who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.’

² ‘Even today my complaint is bitter;
    his hand^[q] is heavy in spite of^[r] my groaning.
³ If only I knew where to find him;
    if only I could go to his dwelling!
⁴ I would state my case before him
    and fill my mouth with arguments.
⁵ I would find out what he would answer me,
    and consider what he would say to me.
⁶ Would he vigorously oppose me with great power?
    No, he would not press charges against me.
⁷ There the upright can establish their innocence before him,
    and there I would be delivered for ever from my judge.

⁸ ‘But if I go to the east, he is not there;
    if I go to the west, I do not find him.
⁹ When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
    when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.
¹⁰ But he knows the way that I take;
    when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
¹¹ My feet have closely followed his steps;
    I have kept to his way without turning aside.
¹² I have not departed from the commands of his lips;
    I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

¹³ ‘But he stands alone, and who can oppose him?
    He does whatever he pleases.
¹⁴ He carries out his decree against me,
    and many such plans he still has in store.
¹⁵ That is why I am terrified before him;
    when I think of all this, I fear him.
¹⁶ God has made my heart faint;
    the Almighty has terrified me.
¹⁷ Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,
    by the thick darkness that covers my face.

24 ‘Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment?
    Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?
² There are those who move boundary stones;
    they pasture flocks they have stolen.
³ They drive away the orphan’s donkey
    and take the widow’s ox in pledge.
⁴ They thrust the needy from the path
    and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
⁵ Like wild donkeys in the desert,
    the poor go about their labour of foraging food;
    the wasteland provides food for their children.
⁶ They gather fodder in the fields
    and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
⁷ Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked;
    they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.
⁸ They are drenched by mountain rains
    and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.
⁹ The fatherless child is snatched from the breast;
    the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
¹⁰ Lacking clothes, they go about naked;
    they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
¹¹ They crush olives among the terraces^[s];
    they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
¹² The groans of the dying rise from the city,
    and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.
    But God charges no one with wrongdoing.

¹³ ‘There are those who rebel against the light,
    who do not know its ways
    or stay in its paths.
¹⁴ When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up,
    kills the poor and needy,
    and in the night steals forth like a thief.
¹⁵ The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk;
    he thinks, “No eye will see me,”
    and he keeps his face concealed.
¹⁶ In the dark, thieves break into houses,
    but by day they shut themselves in;
    they want nothing to do with the light.
¹⁷ For all of them, midnight is their morning;
    they make friends with the terrors of darkness.