Beginning
24 “Since times of judgment are not kept by the Almighty,
why do they who know Him not see His days?
2 Some remove the landmarks;
they violently take away flocks and feed on them.
3 They drive away the donkey of the orphan;
they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They turn away the needy;
the poor of the earth are forced to hide.
5 Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert,
they go out to their work, rising early for a prey.
The wilderness yields food for them and for their children.
6 They gather their fodder in the field,
and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing,
and they have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains
and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9 They snatch the fatherless from the breast
and take a pledge from the poor.
10 They cause him to go naked without clothing,
and they take away the sheaf from the hungry.
11 They press out oil within their walls
and tread their winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
12 Men groan from outside the city,
and the soul of the wounded cries out;
yet God does not charge them with wrong.
13 “They are those who rebel against the light;
they do not know its ways
nor abide in its paths.
14 The murderer, rising with the light, kills the poor and needy,
and in the night he is like a thief.
15 Also the eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
and he disguises his face.
16 In the dark they break into houses,
which they had marked for themselves in the daytime;
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 “He is swift as the waters.
Their portion is cursed in the earth.
They do not turn toward the way of the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters;
so the grave consumes those who have sinned.
20 The womb will forget him;
the worm will feed sweetly on him;
he will be remembered no more,
and wickedness will be broken like a tree.
21 He 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, and no man is sure of life.
23 He gives them security, and they rely on it;
yet His eyes are on their ways.
24 They are exalted for a little while but are gone and brought low;
they are taken out of the way like all others
and cut off as the tops of the grain.
25 “If it is not so, who will prove me a liar
and make my speech worth nothing?”
Bildad Speaks: Man Cannot Be Righteous
25 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “Dominion and fear are with Him;
He makes peace in His high places.
3 Is there any number to His armies?
And upon whom does His light not rise?
4 How then can man be righteous with God?
Or how can he who is born of a woman be clean?
5 Behold, even the moon does not shine,
and the stars are not pure in His sight;
6 how much less man, who is a maggot?
And the son of man, who is a worm?”
Job Replies: God’s Majesty Is Unsearchable
26 But Job answered:
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 him who has no wisdom?
And how have you plentifully declared sound knowledge?
4 To whom have you uttered words?
And whose breath came from you?
5 “The departed spirits tremble under the waters,
and their inhabitants.
6 The underworld is naked before Him,
and destruction has no covering.
7 He stretches out the north over empty space,
He hangs the earth upon nothing.
8 He binds up the waters in His thick clouds,
and the cloud is not broken under them.
9 He covers the face of the full moon
and spreads His cloud over it.
10 He has circled the waters with boundaries,
until the day and night come to an end.
11 The pillars of heaven tremble
and are astonished at His reproof.
12 He divides the sea with His power,
and by His understanding He strikes through the proud.
13 By His breath He has made fair the heavens;
His hand has formed the fleeing serpent.
14 Indeed, these are but a part of His ways,
and how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?”
Job’s Last Words to His Friends
27 Moreover Job continued his discourse:
2 “As God lives, who has taken away my judgment,
and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
3 all the while my spirit is in me,
and the breath of God is in my nostrils,
4 my lips will not speak wickedness,
nor my tongue utter deceit.
5 God forbid that I should justify you.
Until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
6 My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go;
my heart will not reproach me as long as I live.
7 “Let my enemy be like the wicked,
and he who rises up against me like the unrighteous.
8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite,
though he may gain much, when God takes away his soul?
9 Will God hear his cry
when trouble comes upon him?
10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty?
Will he always call upon God?
11 “I will teach you about the hand of God;
what is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
12 Look, all of you have seen it;
why then have you become altogether vain?
13 “This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
and the inheritance that oppressors receive from the Almighty:
14 If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword,
and his offspring will not be satisfied with bread.
15 Those who survive him will be buried in death,
and their widows will not weep.
16 Though he heaps up silver like the dust
and piles up clothing like the clay—
17 he may pile it up, but the just will wear it,
and the innocent will divide the silver.
18 He builds his house like a moth,
and like a booth that the watchman makes.
19 The rich man will lie down, but he will not be gathered;
he opens his eyes, and he is not.
20 Terrors overtake him like floodwaters;
a tempest steals him away in the night.
21 The east wind carries him away, and he departs;
it sweeps him out of his place.
22 For God will cast it upon him and not spare;
he would flee from its power.
23 Men will clap their hands at him
and will hiss him out of his place.
Interlude: Where Wisdom Is Found
28 “Surely there is a mine for the silver,
and a place where they refine gold.
2 Iron is taken out of the earth,
and copper is smelted from the ore.
3 Man puts an end to darkness,
and searches every extremity
for ore in the darkness and the shadow of death.
4 He breaks open a shaft away from the inhabitants;
in places forgotten by feet
they hang far away from men; and they totter.
5 As for the earth, from it comes bread,
and underneath it is turned up as by fire.
6 Its stones are the source of sapphires,
and it has dust of gold.
7 There is a path that no bird knows,
and that the vulture’s eye has not seen;
8 the lion cubs have not trodden it,
nor has the fierce lion passed by it.
9 He puts forth his hand upon the rock;
he overturns the mountains by the roots.
10 He cuts out rivers among the rocks,
and his eye sees every precious thing.
11 He prevents the floods from overflowing,
and the thing that is hidden he brings forth to light.
12 “But where will wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13 Man does not know its price,
nor is it found in the land of the living.
14 The depth says, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 It cannot be bought for gold,
nor can silver be weighed for its price.
16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
with the precious onyx or the sapphire.
17 The gold and the crystal cannot equal it,
and it cannot be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18 No mention will be made of coral or of pearls,
for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia will not equal it,
nor will it be valued with pure gold.
20 “From where then does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living
and concealed from the birds of the air.
22 Destruction and Death say,
‘We have heard of its fame with our ears.’
23 God understands its way,
and He knows its place.
24 For He looks to the ends of the earth,
and sees under the whole heaven,
25 to make the weight of the wind,
and He weighs the waters by measure.
26 When He made a decree for the rain,
and a path for the lightning of the thunder,
27 then He saw it and declared it;
He prepared it, yes, and searched it out.
28 To man He said:
‘Look, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
And to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.