Beginning
21 Then Job answered,
2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this [your attention] be your consolation [given me].
3 Allow me, and I also will speak; and after I have spoken, mock on.
4 As for me, is my complaint to man or of him? And why should I not be impatient and my spirit be troubled?
5 Look at me and be astonished (appalled); and lay your hand upon your mouth.
6 Even when I remember, I am troubled and afraid; horror and trembling take hold of my flesh.
7 Why do the wicked live, become old, and become mighty in power?
8 Their children are established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe and in peace, without fear; neither is the rod of God upon them.
10 Their bull breeds and fails not; their cows calve and do not miscarry.
11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children skip about.
12 They themselves lift up their voices and sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol (the unseen state) in a moment and peacefully.
14 Yet they say to God, Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?(A)
16 But notice, [you say] the prosperity of the wicked is not in their power; the mystery [of God’s dealings] with the ungodly is far from my comprehension.
17 How often [then] is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them? That God distributes pains and sorrows to them in His anger?(B)
18 That they are like stubble before the wind and like chaff that the storm steals and carries away?
19 You say, God lays up [the punishment of the wicked man’s] iniquity for his children. Let Him recompense it to the man himself, that he may know and feel it.
20 Let his own eyes see his destruction, and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what pleasure or interest has a man in his house and family after he is dead, when the number of his months is cut off?
22 Shall any teach God knowledge, seeing that He judges those who are on high?(C)
23 One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet;
24 His pails are full of milk [his veins are filled with nourishment], and the marrow of his bones is fresh and moist,
25 Whereas another man dies in bitterness of soul and never tastes of pleasure or good fortune.
26 They lie down alike in the dust, and the worm spreads a covering over them.
27 Behold, I know your thoughts and plans and the devices with which you would wrong me.
28 For you say, Where is the house of the rich and liberal prince [meaning me]? And where is the tent in which the wicked [Job] dwelt?
29 Have you not asked those who travel this way, and do you not accept their testimony and evidences—
30 That the evil man is [now] spared in the day of calamity and destruction, and they are led forth and away on the day of [God’s] wrath?
31 But who declares [a man’s] way [and rebukes] him to his face? And who pays him back for what he has done?
32 When he is borne to the grave, watch is kept over his tomb.
33 The clods of the valley are sweet to him, and every man shall follow him to a grave, as innumerable people [have gone] before him.
34 How then can you comfort me with empty and futile words, since in your replies there lurks falsehood?
22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered [Job],
2 Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he that is wise is profitable to himself.(D)
3 Is it any pleasure or advantage to the Almighty that you are righteous (upright and in right standing with Him)? Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways perfect?(E)
4 Is it for your [reverential] fear of Him that He [thus] reproves you, that He enters with you into judgment?
5 Is not your wickedness great? There is no end to your iniquities.
6 For you have taken pledges of your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You have not given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.(F)
8 But [you, Job] the man with power possessed the land, and the favored and accepted man dwelt in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
10 Therefore snares are round about you, and sudden fear troubles and overwhelms you;
11 Your light is darkened, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.
12 Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
13 Therefore you say, How and what does God know [about me]? Can He judge through the thick darkness?
14 Thick clouds are a covering to Him, so that He does not see, and He walks on the vault of the heavens.
15 Will you pay attention and keep to the old way that wicked men trod [in Noah’s time],(G)
16 Men who were snatched away before their time, whose foundations were poured out like a stream [during the flood]?
17 They said to God, Depart from us, and, What can the Almighty do for or to us?
18 Yet He filled their houses with good [things]. But the counsel of the ungodly is far from me.
19 The righteous see it and are glad; and the innocent laugh them to scorn [saying],
20 Surely those who rose up against us are cut off, and that which remained to them the fire has consumed.
21 Acquaint now yourself with Him [agree with God and show yourself to be conformed to His will] and be at peace; by that [you shall prosper and great] good shall come to you.
22 Receive, I pray you, the law and instruction from His mouth and lay up His words in your heart.(H)
23 If you return to the Almighty [and submit and humble yourself before Him], you will be built up; if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents,
24 If you lay gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brook [considering them of little worth],
25 And make the Almighty your gold and [the Lord] your precious silver treasure,
26 Then you will have delight in the Almighty, and you will lift up your face to God.
27 You will make your prayer to Him, and He will hear you, and you will pay your vows.
28 You shall also decide and decree a thing, and it shall be established for you; and the light [of God’s favor] shall shine upon your ways.
29 When they make [you] low, you will say, [There is] a lifting up; and the humble person He lifts up and saves.
30 He will even deliver the one [for whom you intercede] who is not innocent; yes, he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.(I)
23 Then Job answered,
2 Even today is my complaint rebellious and bitter; my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
3 Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat!
4 I would lay my cause before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would learn what He would answer me, and understand what He would say to me.
6 Would He plead against me with His great power? No, He would give heed to me.(J)
7 There the righteous [one who is upright and in right standing with God] could reason with Him; so I should be acquitted by my Judge forever.
8 Behold, I go forward [and to the east], but He is not there; I go backward [and to the west], but I cannot perceive Him;
9 On the left hand [and to the north] where He works [I seek Him], but I cannot behold Him; He turns Himself to the right hand [and to the south], but I cannot see Him.
10 But He knows the way that I take [He has concern for it, appreciates, and pays attention to it]. When He has tried me, I shall come forth as refined gold [pure and luminous].(K)
11 My foot has held fast to His steps; His ways have I kept and not turned aside.
12 I have not gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have esteemed and treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.
13 But He is unchangeable, and who can turn Him? And what He wants to do, that He does.
14 For He performs [that which He has] planned for me, and of many such matters He is mindful.
15 Therefore am I troubled and terrified at His presence; when I consider, I am in dread and afraid of Him.
16 For God has made my heart faint, timid, and broken, and the Almighty has terrified me,
17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness [of these woes befell me], neither has He covered the thick darkness from my face.
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