Beginning

17 “My spirit is broken. My days are cut off and the grave is ready for me.

² “There are none but mockers with me, and my eye must dwell on their disobedience.

³ “Lay down, now, pledge for me with Yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me?

⁴ “For You have hidden their heart from understanding. Therefore, You shall not exalt.

⁵ “For the eyes of his children shall fail who speaks flattery to friends.

⁶ “He has also made me a byword of the people, and I am as one spit on by them.

⁷ “My eye, therefore, is dim for grief, and all my strength like a shadow.

⁸ “The righteous shall be astonished at this. And the innocent shall be moved against the hypocrite.

⁹ “But the righteous will hold to his way. And he whose hands are pure shall increase strength.

¹⁰ “All you, therefore, return and come now. And I shall not find one wise among you.

¹¹ “My days are past. My enterprises are broken. The thoughts of my heart

¹² “have exchanged the night for the day and the light that approached for darkness.

¹³ “Though I hope, the grave shall be my house. I shall make my bed in the dark.

¹⁴ “I shall say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister.’

¹⁵ “Where now, then, is my hope? Or who shall consider the thing for which I hoped?

¹⁶ “It shall go down into the bottom of the pit. Surely they shall lie together in the dust.”

18 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, and said,

² “When will you put an end to your words? Make us understand, and then we will speak.

³ “Why are we counted as beasts, and vile in your sight?

⁴ “You are as one who tears his soul in his anger. Shall the Earth be forsaken for your sake, or the rock removed from its place?

⁵ “Yea, the light of the wicked shall be quenched. And the spark of his fire shall not shine.

⁶ “The light shall be dark in his dwelling, and his candle shall be put out with him.

⁷ “The steps of his strength shall be restrained, and his own counsel shall cast him down.

⁸ “For he is taken in the net by his feet, and he walks upon the snares.

⁹ “The net shall take him by the heel, and the traps shall come upon him.

¹⁰ “A noose is laid for him on the ground, and a trap for him on the way.

¹¹ “Fearfulness shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.

¹² “His strength shall be famine. And destruction shall be ready at his side.

¹³ “It shall devour the inner parts of his skin. The firstborn of death shall devour his strength.

¹⁴ “His hope shall be rooted out of his dwelling, and shall cause him to go to the king of fear.

¹⁵ “Fear shall dwell in his house (because it is not his). Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

¹⁶ “His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut down.

¹⁷ “His memory shall perish from the Earth, and he shall have no name in the street.

¹⁸ “They shall drive him out of the light into darkness and chase him out of the world.

¹⁹ “He shall have neither son nor nephew among his people, nor any posterity in his dwellings.

²⁰ “Those who follow shall be astonished every day, and fear shall come upon the ancient.

²¹ “Surely such are the habitations of the wicked. And this is the place of him who does not know God.”

19 But Job answered, and said,

² “How long will you grieve my soul, and torment me with words?

³ “You have now reproached me ten times and are not ashamed. You are impudent toward me.

⁴ “And though I had indeed erred, my error remains with me.

⁵ “But, indeed, if you will advance yourselves against me and rebuke me for my disgrace,

⁶ “know, now, that God has overthrown me and has surrounded me with His net.

⁷ “Behold, I cry out from violence, but I have no answer. I cry, but there is no justice.

⁸ “He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass. And He has set darkness in my paths.

⁹ “He has stripped me of my honor, and taken the crown away from my head.

¹⁰ “He has destroyed me on every side, and I am gone. And He has removed my hope like a tree.

¹¹ “And He has kindled His wrath against me, and counts me as one of His enemies.

¹² “His armies came together and made their way upon me and camped around my tabernacle.

¹³ “He has removed my brethren far from me, and also my acquaintances were strangers to me.

¹⁴ “My neighbors have forsaken me, and my close friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵ “Those who dwell in my house, and my maids, took me for a stranger. For I was a stranger in their sight.

¹⁶ “I called my servant, but he would not answer. I begged him with my mouth.

¹⁷ “My breath was strange to my wife, though I begged her for the sake of the children of my own body.

¹⁸ “The wicked also despised me. When I arose, they spoke against me.

¹⁹ “All my secret friends abhorred me. And those whom I loved have turned against me.

²⁰ “My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh and I have escaped with the skin of my teeth.

²¹ “Have pity upon me. Have pity upon me, O you my friends. For the Hand of God has touched me.

²² “Why do you persecute me, as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

²³ “Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were written even in a book,

²⁴ “engraved with an iron pen in lead, or in stone, forever!

²⁵ “For I am sure that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand the last on the Earth.

²⁶ “And even after my skin is destroyed, I shall still see God in my flesh,

²⁷ “Whom I myself shall see and my eyes shall behold, and no other. My core is consumed within me.

²⁸ “But if there is a deep matter in me, you would say, ‘Why is he persecuted?’

²⁹ “Be afraid of the sword! For the sword will be avenged of wickedness, so that you may know that there is a judgment.”

20 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

² “Doubtless my divided thoughts cause me to answer, and therefore I hurry.

³ “I have heard the correction of my reproach. Therefore, the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.

⁴ “Do you not know this from old, since God placed man upon the Earth,

⁵ “that the rejoicing of the wicked is short, and that the joy of the hypocrites is but a moment?

⁶ “Though his pride mounts up to the heaven, and his head reaches to the clouds,

⁷ “yet shall he perish forever like his dung. Those who have seen him shall say, ‘Where is he?’

⁸ “He shall flee away as a dream and they shall not find him, and shall pass away as a vision of the night,

⁹ “so that the eye which had seen him shall do so no more and his place shall see him no more.

¹⁰ “His children shall flatter the poor, and his hands shall restore his substance.

¹¹ “His bones are full of his youth, but it shall lie down with him in the dust.

¹² “When wickedness was sweet in his mouth, he hid it under his tongue,

¹³ “favored it, and would not forsake it, but kept it close in his mouth.

¹⁴ “His food in his bowels was turned, the gall of asps in the midst of him.

¹⁵ “He has devoured substance and he shall vomit it. God shall draw it out of his belly.

¹⁶ “He shall suck the gall of asps. The viper’s tongue shall slay him.

¹⁷ “He shall not see the rivers, the floods, streams of honey and butter.

¹⁸ “He shall restore the labor and shall devour no more. His exchange shall be according to the substance, and he shall enjoy it no more.

¹⁹ “For he has undone many. He has forsaken the poor, has spoiled houses which he did not build.

²⁰ “Surely, he shall feel no quietness in his body, nor shall he reserve any of that which he desired.

²¹ “None of his food shall be left, nor hope for his well-being.

²² “When he shall be filled with his abundance, he shall be in pain. The hand of all the wicked shall assail him.

²³ “He shall be about to fill his belly, but God shall send His fierce wrath upon him, and shall cause it to rain upon him, even upon his food.

²⁴ “He shall flee from the iron weapons. The bow of steel shall strike him through,

²⁵ “be drawn out and come forth from the body, and shine from his gall. Fear will come upon him.

²⁶ “All darkness shall be hidden in his secret places. The fire that is not blown shall devour him. That which remains in his tabernacle shall be destroyed.

²⁷ “The heaven shall declare his wickedness and the Earth shall rise up against him.

²⁸ “The increase of his house shall vanish. It shall flow away on the day of His wrath.

²⁹ “This is the portion from God for the wicked man, and the heritage commanded by God.”