Bible

Job

¹There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and Job was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned from evil.²There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.³He possessed seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred donkeys and a great many servants. He was the man who was the greatest of all the people of the East.

⁴On each son's assigned day, he would give a feast in his house. They would send and call for their three sisters to eat and drink with them.⁵When the days of the feast were over, Job would send for them and he would consecrate them. He would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings for each of his children, for he would say, "It may be that my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." Job always did this.

⁶Then it was the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh. Satan also came with them.⁷Yahweh said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Then Satan answered Yahweh and said, "From wandering on the earth, from going back and forth on it."⁸Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil."

⁹Then Satan answered Yahweh and said, "Is it for no reason that Job fears God?¹⁰Have you not put a barrier around him, around his house, and around all that is his from every side? You have blessed the deeds of his hands, and his livestock have spread throughout the land.¹¹But now stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and see if he does not curse you to your face."¹²Yahweh said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him himself do not stretch out your hand." Then Satan went away from the presence of Yahweh.

¹³It came about that on a certain day, his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house.¹⁴A messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them.¹⁵Then the Sabeans fell on them and took them away. As for the servants, they have struck them with the edge of the sword. I alone have escaped to make it known to you."

¹⁶While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants. I alone have escaped to make it known to you."¹⁷While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three groups, made a raid on the camels, and have taken them away. As for the servants, they have struck them with the edge of the sword. I alone have escaped to make it known to you."

¹⁸While he was yet speaking, another also came and said, "Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house.¹⁹A strong wind came from the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house. It fell on the young people, and they died. I alone have escaped to make it known to you."

²⁰Then Job rose, tore his robe, shaved his head, lay facedown on the ground, and worshiped God.²¹He said, "I was naked when I came out of my mother's womb, and I will be naked when I will return there. It is Yahweh who gave, and it is Yahweh who has taken away. May the name of Yahweh be blessed."

²²In all this matter, Job did not sin, nor did he accuse God of wrongdoing.

¹Then it was the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh. Satan also came with them to present himself before Yahweh.²Yahweh said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Then Satan answered Yahweh and said, "From wandering on the earth, from going back and forth on it."

³Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil. He still holds fast to his integrity, although you misled me against him, to destroy him without cause."

⁴Satan answered Yahweh and said, "Skin for skin, indeed; a man will give all he has for his life.⁵But stretch out your hand now and touch his bones and his flesh, and see if he does not curse you to your face."

⁶Yahweh said to Satan, "See, he is in your hand; it is only his life that you must spare."

⁷Then Satan went away from the presence of Yahweh. He struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his feet to his head.⁸Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself with, and he sat down in the middle of ashes.

⁹Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die."¹⁰But he said to her, "You talk as a foolish woman talks. Should we receive the good from God and not receive the bad?" In all this matter, Job did not sin with his lips.

¹¹Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, each of them came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They set a time to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.

¹²When they lifted up their eyes at a distance, they did not recognize him. They raised their voices and wept; each tore his robe and threw dust into the air and upon his own head.¹³Then they sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights. No one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.

¹After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born.²He said,

³"May the day on which I was born perish,

the night that said, 'A boy has been conceived.'

⁴May that day be dark!

May God not care about it,

nor light shine on it.

⁵May darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own.

May a cloud live over it;

may everything that makes the day black truly terrify it.

⁶As for that night, may thick darkness seize it.

May it not rejoice among the days of the year;

may it not come into the number of the months.

⁷See, may that night be barren;

may no joyful voice come into it.

⁸Those who curse the day–may they curse it,

those who know how to wake up Leviathan.

⁹May the stars of that day's dawn be dark.

May that day look for light, but find none;

neither may it see the eyelids of the dawn,

¹⁰because it did not shut up the doors of my mother's womb,

and because it did not hide trouble from my eyes.

¹¹Why did I not die when I came out from the womb?

Why did I not perish when my mother bore me?

¹²Why did her knees welcome me?

Why did her breasts receive me so that I should suck?

¹³For now I would have been lying down quietly.

I would have slept and been at rest

¹⁴with kings and counselors of the earth,

who built up tombs for themselves that are now in ruins.

¹⁵Or I would have been lying down with princes who once had gold,

who had filled their houses with silver.

¹⁶Or perhaps I would have been stillborn,

like infants that never see the light.

¹⁷There the wicked cease from trouble;

there the weary are at rest.

¹⁸There the prisoners are at ease together;

they do not hear the voice of the slave driver.

¹⁹Both small and great people are there;

the servant is free from his master there.

²⁰Why is light given to him who suffers?

Why is life given to the one who is bitter in soul,

²¹to one who longs for death without it coming;

to one who digs for it more than for hidden treasure?

²²Why is light given to one who rejoices very much

and is glad when he finds the grave?

²³Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,

a man whom God has hedged in?

²⁴For my sighing happens instead of eating;

my groaning is poured out like water.

²⁵For the thing that I feared has come upon me;

what I was afraid of has come to me.

²⁶I am not at ease, I am not quiet, and I have no rest;

trouble comes instead."

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

²If anyone tries to speak with you, will you be impatient?

But who can stop himself from speaking?

³See, you have instructed many;

you have strengthened weak hands.

⁴Your words have supported him who was falling;

you have made feeble knees strong.

⁵But now trouble has come to you, and you are weary;

it touches you, and you are troubled.

⁶Is not your fear your confidence,

and the integrity of your ways your hope?

⁷Think about this, please: Who has ever perished when innocent?

Or when were the upright people ever cut off?

⁸According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity

and sow trouble reap it.

⁹By the breath of God they perish;

by the blast of his anger they are consumed.

¹⁰The roaring of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,

the teeth of the young lions—they are broken.

¹¹The old lion perishes for lack of victims;

the cubs of the lioness are scattered everywhere.

¹²Now a certain matter was secretly brought to me,

and my ear received a whisper about it.

¹³Then came thoughts from visions in the night,

when deep sleep falls on people.

¹⁴It was at night when fear and trembling came upon me,

and all my bones shook.

¹⁵Then a spirit passed before my face,

and the hair of my flesh stood up.

¹⁶The spirit stood still,

but I could not discern its appearance.

A form was before my eyes;

there was silence, and I heard a voice that said,

¹⁷"Can a mortal man be more righteous than God?

Can a man be more pure than his Maker?

¹⁸See, if God puts no trust in his servants;

if he accuses his angels of folly,

¹⁹how much more is this true of those who live in houses of clay,

whose foundation is in the dust,

who are crushed sooner than a moth?

²⁰Between morning and evening they are destroyed;

they perish forever without anyone noticing them.

²¹Are not their tent cords plucked up among them?

They die; they die without wisdom.

¹Call out now; is there anyone who will answer you?

To which of the holy ones will you turn?

²For anger kills the foolish;

jealousy causes the death of the silly.

³I have seen a foolish person taking root,

but suddenly I cursed his home.

⁴His children are far from safety;

they are crushed in the city gate.

There is no one to rescue them.

⁵The hungry eat up their harvest;

they even take it from among the thorns.

The thirsty pant for their wealth.

⁶For difficulties do not come out from the soil;

neither does trouble sprout from the ground.

⁷Yet, mankind is born for trouble,

just as sparks fly upward.

⁸But as for me, I would turn to God himself;

to him I would commit my cause—

⁹he who does great and unsearchable things,

marvelous things without number.

¹⁰He gives rain on the earth,

and sends water on the fields.

¹¹He does this in order to set up on high those who are low;

to raise to safety those who mourn.

¹²He breaks the plans of crafty people,

so that their hands cannot achieve success.

¹³He traps wise people in their own crafty actions;

the plans of twisted people are hurried to their end.

¹⁴They encounter darkness in the daytime,

and grope at noonday as if it were night.

¹⁵But he saves the poor person from the sword in their mouths

and the needy person from the hand of mighty people.

¹⁶So the poor person has hope,

and injustice shuts her own mouth.

¹⁷See, blessed is the man whom God corrects;

therefore, do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

¹⁸For he inflicts pain and then binds up;

he wounds and then his hands heal.

¹⁹He will rescue you out of six troubles;

indeed, in seven troubles, no evil will touch you.

²⁰In famine he will ransom you from death,

and in war from the hands of the sword.

²¹You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue;

and you will not be afraid of destruction when it comes.

²²You will laugh at destruction and famine,

and you will not be afraid of beasts of the earth.

²³For you will have a covenant with the stones in your field,

and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you.

²⁴You will know that your tent is in safety;

you will visit your sheepfold and you will not miss anything.

²⁵You will also know that your seed will be great,

that your descendants will be like the grass on the ground.

²⁶You will come to your grave at a full age,

like a stack of grain bundles that goes up at its time.

²⁷See, we have examined this matter; it is like this;

listen to it, and know it for yourself."

¹Then Job answered and said,

²"Oh, if only my anguish were weighed;

if only all my calamity were laid in the balance!

³For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas.

That is why my words were reckless.

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are in me,

my spirit drinks up the poison;

the terrors of God have arranged themselves in array against me.

⁵Does the wild donkey bray in despair when he has grass?

Or does the ox low in hunger when it has fodder?

⁶Can that which has no taste be eaten without salt?

Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

⁷I refuse to touch them;

they are like disgusting food to me.

⁸Oh, that I might have my request;

oh, that God would grant me the thing I long for:

⁹that it would please God to crush me once,

that he would set his hand free and cut me off from this life!

¹⁰May this still be my consolation—

even if I rejoice in pain that does not lessen:

that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹What is my strength, that I should continue to hope?

What is my end, that I should prolong my life?

¹²Is my strength the strength of stones?

Or is my flesh made of bronze?

¹³Is it not true that I have no help in myself,

and that wisdom has been driven out of me?

¹⁴To the person who is about to faint, faithfulness should be shown by his friend;

even to him who abandons the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵But my brothers have acted as deceitfully to me as a desert streambed,

as channels of water that pass away to nothing,

¹⁶which are darkened because of ice over them,

and because of the snow that hides itself in them.

¹⁷When they thaw out, they vanish;

when it is hot, they melt out of their place.

¹⁸The caravans that travel by their way turn aside for water;

they wander into wasteland and then perish.

¹⁹Caravans from Tema looked there,

while companies of Sheba hoped in them.

²⁰They were disappointed because they had been confident of finding water.

They went there, but they were put to shame.

²¹For now you friends are nothing to me;

you see my dreadful situation and are afraid.

²²Did I say to you, 'Give something to me'

or, 'Offer me a bribe from your wealth'

²³or, 'Save me from my adversary's hand'

or, 'Ransom me from the hand of oppressors'?

²⁴Teach me, and I will hold my peace;

make me understand where I have been wrong.

²⁵How painful are upright words!

But your arguments, how do they actually rebuke me?

²⁶Do you plan to ignore my words,

treating the words of a desperate man like the wind?

²⁷Indeed, you cast lots for a fatherless child,

and haggle over your friend like merchandise.

²⁸Now, therefore, please look at me,

for surely I would not lie to your face.

²⁹Relent, I beg you; let there be no injustice with you;

Indeed, relent, for my cause is just.

³⁰Is there evil on my tongue?

Cannot my mouth detect destructive things?

¹Does not man have hard labor on earth?

Are not his days like the days of a hired man?

²Like a slave earnestly desires the shadows of evening,

like a hired man looks for his wages—

³so I have been assigned months of emptiness;

I have been given trouble-filled nights.

⁴When I lie down, I say to myself,

'When will I get up and when will the night be gone?'

I am full of tossing to and fro until the day's dawning.

⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust;

the sores in my skin harden up and then dissolve and run afresh.

⁶My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle;

they pass without hope.

⁷God, call to mind that my life is only a breath;

my eye will no more see good.

⁸The eye of God, who sees me, will see me no more;

God's eyes will be on me, but I will not exist.

⁹As a cloud is consumed and vanishes away,

so he who goes down to Sheol will come up no more.

¹⁰He will return no more to his house;

neither will his place know him again.

¹¹Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;

I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²Am I the sea or a sea monster

that you place a guard over me?

¹³When I say, 'My bed will comfort me,

and my couch will ease my complaint,'

¹⁴then you frighten me with dreams

and terrify me through visions,

¹⁵so that my soul would choose strangling

and death rather than preserving these bones of mine.

¹⁶I despise my life; I would not wish to always be alive;

let me alone, for my days are useless.

¹⁷What is man that you should pay attention to him,

that you should set your mind on him,

¹⁸that you should observe him every morning

and test him every moment?

¹⁹How long will it be before you look away from me,

before you let me alone long enough for me to swallow down my own saliva?

²⁰Even if I have sinned, what would that do to you,

you who watch men?

Why have you made a target of me,

so that I am a burden for you?

²¹Why do you not pardon my transgression

and take away my iniquity?

For now will I lie down in the dust;

you will seek me carefully, but I will not exist."

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

²"How long will you say these things?

How long will the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

³Does God pervert justice?

Does the Almighty pervert righteousness?

⁴Your children have sinned against him;

we know this, for he gave them into the hand of their sins.

⁵But suppose you diligently sought God

and sought the favor of the Almighty.

⁶If you are pure and upright,

then he would surely stir himself on your behalf

and restore you to your rightful place.

⁷Even though your beginning was small,

still your final condition would be much greater.

⁸Please ask the former generations,

and give your attention to what our ancestors learned.

⁹(We were only born yesterday and know nothing

because our days on earth are a shadow.)

¹⁰Will they not teach you and tell you?

Will they not speak words from their hearts?

¹¹Can papyrus grow without a marsh?

Can reeds grow without water?

¹²While they are still green and not cut down,

they wither before any other plant.

¹³So also are the paths of all who forget God;

the hope of the godless will perish.

¹⁴His confidence will break apart,

and his trust is as weak as a spider's web.

¹⁵He leans on his house, but it will not support him;

he takes hold of it, but it does not stand.

¹⁶Under the sun he is green,

and his shoots go out over his entire garden.

¹⁷His roots are wrapped about the heaps of stone;

they look for good places among the rocks.

¹⁸But if this person is destroyed out of his place,

then that place will deny him and say, 'I never saw you.'

¹⁹See, this is the "joy" of such a person's behavior;

other plants will sprout out of the same soil in his place.

²⁰See, God will not reject an innocent man;

neither will he take the hand of evildoers.

²¹He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,

your lips with shouting.

²²Those who hate you will be clothed with shame;

the tent of the wicked will be no more."

¹Then Job answered and said,

²"I truly know that this is so.

But how can a person be in the right with God?

³If he wants to argue with God,

he cannot answer him once in a thousand times.

⁴God is wise in heart and mighty in strength;

who has ever hardened himself against him and succeeded?—

⁵he who removes the mountains without warning anyone

when he overturns them in his anger—

⁶he who shakes the earth out of its place

and sets its pillars trembling.

⁷It is the same God who tells the sun not to rise, and it does not,

and who covers up the stars,

⁸who by himself stretches out the heavens

and tramples down the waves of the sea,

⁹who makes the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades,

and the constellations of the south.

¹⁰He does great and unsearchable things,

and wonderful things that cannot be counted.

¹¹See, he goes by me, and I do not see him;

he passes on, but I do not understand him.

¹²If he takes something away, who can stop him?

Who can say to him, 'What are you doing?'

¹³God will not withdraw his anger;

the helpers of Rahab bow beneath him.

¹⁴How much less could I answer him,

could I choose words to reason with him?

¹⁵Even if I were righteous, I could not answer him;

I could only plead for mercy with my judge.

¹⁶Even if I called and he answered me,

I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.

¹⁷For he breaks me with a tempest

and multiplies my wounds without cause.

¹⁸He does not allow me to regain my breath;

but he fills me with bitterness.

¹⁹If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty!

If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?

²⁰Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;

and though I am blameless, my words would prove me to be guilty.

²¹I am blameless, but I do not care any more about myself;

I despise my own life.

²²It makes no difference, which is why I say

that he destroys blameless people and wicked people together.

²³When a whip suddenly kills,

he mocks the despair of the innocent.

²⁴The earth is given into the hand of wicked people;

God covers the faces of its judges.

If it is not he who does it, then who is it?

²⁵My days are swifter than a running messenger;

my days flee away; they see no good anywhere.

²⁶They are as fast as papyrus reed boats,

and as fast as the eagle that swoops down on its victim.

²⁷If I said that I would forget about my complaints,

that I would take off my sad face and be happy,

²⁸I would be afraid of all my sorrows

because I know that you will not consider me innocent.

²⁹I will be condemned;

why, then, should I try in vain?

³⁰If I washed myself with snow water

and made my hands ever so clean,

³¹God would plunge me in a ditch,

and my own clothes would be disgusted with me.

³²For God is not a man, as I am, that I could answer him,

that we could come together in court.

³³There is no judge between us

who might lay his hand upon us both.

³⁴There is no other judge who could take God's rod off me,

who could keep his terror from frightening me.

³⁵Then would I speak up and not fear him.

But as things are now, I cannot do that.

¹I am weary of my life;

I will give free expression to my complaint;

I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

²I will say to God, 'Do not merely condemn me;

show me why you accuse me.

³Is it good to you that you should oppress me,

to despise the labor of your hands

while you smile on the plans of the wicked?

⁴Do you have eyes of flesh?

Do you see like a man sees?

⁵Are your days like the days of mankind

or your years like the years of people,

⁶that you inquire after my iniquity

and search after my sin,

⁷although you know I am not guilty

and there is no one who can rescue me from your hand?

⁸Your hands have framed and fashioned me

together round about, yet you are destroying me.

⁹Call to mind, I beg you, that you have fashioned me like clay;

will you bring me into dust again?

¹⁰Have you not poured me out like milk

and curdled me like cheese?

¹¹You have clothed me with skin and flesh

and knit me together with bones and sinews.

¹²You have granted me life and covenant faithfulness;

your care has guarded my spirit.

¹³Yet these things you hid in your heart—

I know that this is what you were thinking:

¹⁴that if I sinned, you would notice it;

you would not acquit me of my iniquity.

¹⁵If I have acted wickedly, woe to me;

and even if I acted righteously,

I could not lift up my head,

since I am filled with disgrace—

see my affliction!

¹⁶If my head were lifted up,

you would stalk me like a lion;

and again you would show yourself with marvellous acts of power against me.

¹⁷You bring new witnesses against me

and increase your anger against me;

you attack me with fresh armies.

¹⁸Why, then, have you brought me out of the womb?

I wish I had died and that no eye had ever seen me.

¹⁹I would have been as though I had never existed;

I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.

²⁰Are not my days only a few? Stop then,

let me alone, so that I may have a little rest

²¹before I go from where I will not return,

to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death,

²²the land that is as dark as darkness,

the land of the shadow of death, without any order,

where the light is like darkness.'"

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,

²"Should not such a multitude of words be answered?

Should this man, so full of talk, be acquitted?

³Should your boasting make others remain silent?

When you mock, will no one make you feel ashamed?

⁴For you say to God, 'My beliefs are pure,

I am clean in your eyes.'

⁵But, oh, that God would speak

and open his lips against you;

⁶that he would show you the secrets of wisdom!

For sound wisdom has two sides.

Know then that God demands from you less than your iniquity deserves.

⁷Can you understand God by searching for him?

Can you comprehend the Almighty perfectly?

⁸The matter is as high as heaven; what can you do?

It is deeper than Sheol; what can you know?

⁹Its measure is longer than the earth,

and wider than the sea.

¹⁰If he passes through and shuts anyone up,

if he calls an assembly, then who can stop him?

¹¹For he knows deceitful people;

when he sees iniquity, does he not notice it?

¹²But foolish people will gain understanding

when the foal of a wild donkey is born a man.

¹³But suppose that you set your heart right

and reach out with your hands toward God;

¹⁴suppose that iniquity is in your hand,

but that you put it far away from you,

and do not let unrighteousness live in your tents.

¹⁵Then you will certainly lift up your face without a sign of shame;

indeed, you will be steadfast and will not fear.

¹⁶You will forget your trouble;

you will remember it only like waters that have flowed away.

¹⁷Your life will be brighter than the noonday;

though there be darkness, it will become like the morning.

¹⁸You will be secure because there is hope;

indeed, you will find safety about you and will take your rest in safety.

¹⁹Also you will lie down in rest, and none will make you afraid;

indeed, many will seek your favor.

²⁰But the eyes of wicked people will fail;

they will have no refuge;

their only hope will be a last gasp of life."

¹Then Job answered and said,

²"No doubt you are the people;

wisdom will die with you.

³But I have understanding as well as you;

I am not inferior to you.

Indeed, who does not know such things as these?

⁴I am something for my neighbor to laugh at—

I, one who called on God and who was answered by him!

I, a just and blameless man—I am now something to laugh at.

⁵In the thought of someone who is at ease, there is contempt for misfortune;

he thinks in a way that brings more misfortune to those whose foot is slipping.

⁶The tents of robbers prosper,

and those who provoke God feel secure;

their own hands are their gods.

⁷But now ask the animals, and they will teach you;

ask the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you.

⁸Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you;

the fish of the sea will declare to you.

⁹Which animal among all these does not know

that the hand of Yahweh has done this?

¹⁰In his hand is the life of every living thing

and the breath of all mankind.

¹¹Does not the ear test words

just as the palate tastes its food?

¹²With aged men is wisdom;

in length of days is understanding.

¹³With God are wisdom and might;

he has counsel and understanding.

¹⁴See, he breaks things down, and they cannot be built again;

if he imprisons someone, there can be no release.

¹⁵See, if he withholds the waters, they dry up;

and if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.

¹⁶With him are strength and wisdom;

people who are deceived and the deceiver are both in his power.

¹⁷He leads counselors away barefoot in sorrow;

he turns judges into fools.

¹⁸He removes the bond of kings;

he wraps a cloth about their waists.

¹⁹He leads priests away barefoot in sorrow

and overthrows mighty people.

²⁰He removes the speech of those who had been trusted

and takes away the understanding of the elders.

²¹He pours contempt upon princes

and unfastens the belt of the strong.

²²He reveals the deep things of darkness

and brings utter darkness into the light.

²³He makes nations strong, and he also destroys them;

He enlarges nations, and he also leads them along as prisoners.

²⁴He takes away understanding from the leaders of the people of the earth;

he causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no path.

²⁵They grope in the dark without light;

he makes them stagger like a drunk man.

¹See, my eye has seen all this;

my ear has heard and understood it.

²What you know, the same I also know;

I am not inferior to you.

³However, I would rather speak with the Almighty;

I wish to reason with God.

⁴But you whitewash the truth with lies;

you are all worthless healers.

⁵Oh, that you would altogether hold your peace!

That would be your wisdom.

⁶Hear now my own reasoning;

listen to the pleading of my own lips.

⁷Will you speak unrighteousness for God,

and will you talk deceitfully for him?

⁸Will you show him partiality?

Will you argue the case for God?

⁹Will it be good for you when he examines you?

Could you deceive him as you might deceive men?

¹⁰He would surely reprove you

if in secret you showed partiality.

¹¹Will not his majesty terrify you,

and the dread of him fall upon you?

¹²Your memorable sayings are proverbs made of ashes;

your defenses are defenses made of clay.

¹³Hold your peace, let me alone, so that I may speak,

let come what may on me.

¹⁴I will take my own flesh in my teeth;

I will take my life in my hands.

¹⁵See, if he kills me, I will have no hope left;

nevertheless, I will defend my ways before him.

¹⁶This will be the reason for my deliverance,

for no godless person would come before him.

¹⁷God, listen carefully to my speech;

let my declaration come to your ears.

¹⁸See now, I have set my defense in order;

I know that I will be vindicated.

¹⁹Who is the one who would argue against me in court?

If you came to do so, and if I were proved wrong, then I would be silent and die.

²⁰God, do only two things for me,

and then I will not hide myself from your face:

²¹withdraw your oppressive hand from me,

and do not let your terrors make me afraid.

²²Then call me, and I will answer;

or let me speak to you, and you answer me.

²³How many are my iniquities and sins?

Let me know my transgression and my sin.

²⁴Why do you hide your face from me

and treat me like your enemy?

²⁵Will you cause a driven leaf to tremble?

Will you pursue dry stubble?

²⁶For you write down bitter things against me;

you make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.

²⁷You also put my feet in the stocks;

you closely watch all my paths;

you examine the ground where the soles of my feet have walked

²⁸although I am like a rotten thing that wastes away,

like a garment that moths have eaten.

¹Man, who is born of woman,

lives only a few days and is full of trouble.

²He sprouts from the ground like a flower and is cut down;

he flees like a shadow and does not last.

³Do you look at any of these?

Do you bring me into judgment with you?

⁴Who can bring something clean out of something unclean?

No one.

⁵Man's days are determined.

The number of his months is with you;

you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass.

⁶Look away from him that he may rest,

so that he may enjoy his day like a hired man if he can do so.

⁷There can be hope for a tree;

if it is cut down, it might sprout again,

so that its tender stalk does not disappear.

⁸Though its root grows old in the earth,

and its stump dies in the ground,

⁹yet even if it only smells water, it will bud

and send out branches like a plant.

¹⁰But man dies; he becomes weak;

indeed, man stops breathing, and then where is he?

¹¹As water disappears from a lake,

and as a river becomes dry and dries up,

¹²so people lie down and do not rise again.

Until the heavens are no more, they will not awake

nor be roused out of their sleep.

¹³Oh, that you would hide me away in Sheol away from troubles,

and that you would keep me in private until your wrath is over,

that you would set me a fixed time to stay there and then call me to mind!

¹⁴If a man dies, will he live again?

All my time of service there I will wait

until my release should come.

¹⁵You would call, and I would answer you.

You would have a desire for the work of your hands.

¹⁶You would number and care for my footsteps;

you would not keep track of my sin.

¹⁷My transgression would be sealed up in a bag;

you would cover up my iniquity.

¹⁸But even mountains fall and crumble to nothing;

even rocks are moved out of their place;

¹⁹the waters wear down the stones;

their flooding washes away the dust of the earth.

Like this, you destroy the hope of man.

²⁰You forever defeat him, and he passes away;

you change his face and send him away to die.

²¹If his sons are honored, he does not know it;

and if they are brought low, he does not see it.

²²He feels only the pain of his own body,

and he mourns for himself.

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

²"Should a wise man answer with useless knowledge

and fill himself with the east wind?

³Should he reason with unprofitable talk

or with speeches with which he can do no good?

⁴Indeed, you diminish respect for God;

you obstruct meditation before him,

⁵for your iniquity teaches your mouth;

you choose to have the tongue of the crafty.

⁶Your own mouth condemns you, not mine;

indeed, your own lips testify against you.

⁷Are you the first man that was born?

Were you brought into existence before the hills?

⁸Have you heard the secret knowledge of God?

Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

⁹What do you know that we do not know?

What do you understand that is not also in us?

¹⁰With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men

who are much older than your father.

¹¹Are the consolations of God too small for you,

the words that are gentle toward you?

¹²Why does your heart carry you away?

Why do your eyes flash,

¹³so that you turn your spirit against God

and bring out such words from your mouth?

¹⁴What is man that he should be clean?

What is he who is born of a woman that he should be righteous?

¹⁵See, God puts no trust even in his holy ones;

indeed, the heavens are not clean in his sight;

¹⁶how much less clean is one who is abhorrent and corrupt,

a man who drinks iniquity like water!

¹⁷I will show you; listen to me;

I will announce to you the things I have seen,

¹⁸the things that wise men have passed down from their fathers,

the things that their ancestors did not hide.

¹⁹These were their ancestors, to whom alone the land was given,

and among whom no stranger ever passed.

²⁰The wicked man twists in pain all his days,

the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor to suffer.

²¹A sound of terrors is in his ears;

while he is in prosperity, the destroyer will come upon him.

²²He does not think that he will return out of darkness;

he has been marked out for the sword.

²³He goes to various places for bread, saying, 'Where is it?'

He knows that the day of darkness is at hand.

²⁴Distress and anguish make him afraid;

they prevail against him, as a king ready for battle.

²⁵Because he has reached out with his hand against God

and has behaved proudly against the Almighty,

²⁶this wicked man runs at God with a stiff neck,

with a thick shield.

²⁷This is true, even though he has covered his face with his fat

and gathered fat on his loins,

²⁸and has lived in desolate cities;

in houses which no man inhabits now

and which were ready to become heaps.

²⁹He will not be rich; his wealth will not last

and his possessions will not spread over the land.

³⁰He will not depart out of darkness; ¹

a flame will dry up his stalks;

at the breath of God's mouth he will go away. ²

³¹Let him not trust in useless things, deceiving himself;

for uselessness will be his reward.

³²It will happen before his time should come to die;

his palm branch will not be green.

³³He will drop his unripe grapes like a grapevine;

he will cast off his flowers like the olive tree.

³⁴For the company of godless people will be barren;

fire will consume their tents of bribery.

³⁵They conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity;

their womb conceives deceit."

¹Many modern translations leave out He will not depart out of darkness , because they believe that this expression was mistakenly copied from 15:22.

²The copies of the ancient Hebrew text have He will go away by the breath of his mouth , which some modern translations interpret as meaning the breath of God's mouth . However, other modern translations follow the ancient Greek translation of the ancient Hebrew copies, which reads, his flower will fall with the wind .

¹Then Job answered and said,

²"I have heard many such things;

you are all troublesome comforters.

³Will useless words ever have an end?

What is wrong with you that you answer like this?

⁴I also could speak as you do,

if you were in my place;

I could collect and join words together against you

and shake my head at you in mockery.

⁵I would strengthen you with my mouth,

and the quivering of my lips will bring you relief!

⁶If I speak, my grief is not lessened;

if I keep from speaking, how am I helped?

⁷But now, God, you have made me weary;

you have made all my family desolate.

⁸You have made me dry up,

which itself is a witness against me;

the leanness of my body rises up against me,

and it testifies against my face.

⁹God has torn me in his wrath and persecuted me;

He grinds his teeth in rage;

my enemy fastens his eyes on me as he tears me apart.

¹⁰People have gaped with open mouth at me;

they have hit me on the cheek with contempt;

they have gathered together against me.

¹¹God hands me over to ungodly people,

and throws me into the hands of wicked people.

¹²I was at ease, and he broke me apart.

Indeed, he has taken me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;

he has also set me up as his target.

¹³His archers surround me all around;

God pierces my kidneys and does not spare me;

he pours out my bile on the ground.

¹⁴He smashes through my wall again and again;

he runs upon me like a warrior.

¹⁵I have sewn sackcloth on my skin;

I have thrust my horn into the ground.

¹⁶My face is red with weeping;

on my eyelids is utter darkness,

¹⁷although there is no violence in my hands,

and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸Earth, do not cover up my blood;

let my cry have no resting place.

¹⁹Even now, see, my witness is in heaven;

he who vouches for me is on high.

²⁰My friends scoff at me,

but my eye pours out tears to God.

²¹I ask for that witness in heaven to argue for this man with God

as a man does with his neighbor!

²²For when a few years have passed,

I will go to a place from where I will not return.

¹My spirit is broken, and my days are over;

the grave is ready for me.

²Surely there are mockers with me;

my eye must always see their provocation.

³Give now a pledge, be a guarantee for me with yourself;

who else is there who will help me?

⁴For you, God, have kept their hearts from understanding;

therefore, you will not exalt them over me.

⁵He who denounces his friends for a reward,

the eyes of his children will fail.

⁶But he has made me a byword of the people;

they spit in my face.

⁷My eye is also dim because of sorrow;

all my members are as thin as shadows.

⁸Upright men will be appalled by this;

the innocent man will stir himself up against godless men.

⁹The righteous man will keep to his way;

he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.

¹⁰But as for you all, come on now;

I will not find a wise man among you.

¹¹My days are past; my plans are shattered,

and so are the desires of my heart. ¹

¹²These people, these mockers, change the night into day;

light is near to darkness.

¹³If the only home I hope for is Sheol;

and if I have spread my couch in the darkness;

¹⁴and if I have said to the pit, 'You are my father,'

and to the worm, 'You are my mother or my sister,'

¹⁵where then is my hope?

As for my hope, who can see any?

¹⁶Will hope go down with me to the gates of Sheol

when we descend to the dust?"

¹Some modern translations have My days are past, as are my plans. The wishes of my heart are finished or ... the strings of my heart have been broken . Some translations have My days are past; my plans are over, as are the wishes of my heart.

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

²"When will you stop your talk?

Consider, and afterwards we will speak.

³Why are we regarded as cattle,

stupid in your sight?

⁴You who tear at yourself in your anger,

should the earth be abandoned for you

or should the rocks be removed out of their places?

⁵Indeed, the light of the wicked person will be put out;

the spark of his fire will not shine.

⁶The light will be dark in his tent;

his lamp above him will be put out.

⁷The steps of his strength will be made short;

his own plans will cast him down.

⁸For he will be thrown into a net by his own feet;

he will walk into a pitfall.

⁹A trap will take him by the heel;

a snare will lay hold on him.

¹⁰A noose is hidden for him on the ground;

and a trap for him in the way.

¹¹Terrors will make him afraid on every side;

they will chase him at every step.

¹²His wealth will turn into hunger,

and calamity will be ready at his side.

¹³The parts of his body will be devoured;

indeed, the firstborn of death will devour his parts.

¹⁴He is torn from the safety of his tent

and marched off to the king of terrors.

¹⁵People not his own will live in his tent

after they see that sulfur is scattered within his home.

¹⁶His roots will be dried up beneath;

above will his branch be cut off.

¹⁷His memory will perish from the earth;

he will have no name in the street.

¹⁸He will be driven from light into darkness

and be chased out of this world.

¹⁹He has no offspring or descendants among his people,

no survivor where he once lived.

²⁰Those who live in the west are appalled at what happens to him one day,

and horror seizes those who live in the east.

²¹Surely such are the homes of unrighteous people,

the places of those who do not know God."

¹Then Job answered and said,

²"How long will you torment me

and crush me with words?

³These ten times you have insulted me;

you are not ashamed that you have treated me harshly.

⁴If it is indeed true that I have erred,

my error remains my own concern.

⁵If indeed you will exalt yourselves above me

and use my humiliation against me,

⁶then you should know that God has done wrong to me

and has caught me in his net.

⁷See, I cry out, "Violence!" but I get no answer.

I call out for help, but there is no justice.

⁸He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,

and he has set darkness in my path.

⁹He has stripped me of my glory,

and he has taken the crown from my head.

¹⁰He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone;

he has pulled up my hope like a tree.

¹¹He has also kindled his wrath against me;

he regards me as one of his adversaries.

¹²His troops come on together;

they cast up siege mounds against me

and encamp around my tent.

¹³He has put my brothers far from me;

my acquaintances are wholly alienated from me.

¹⁴My kinsfolk have failed me;

my close friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵Those who once stayed as guests in my house and my female servants regard me as a stranger;

I am an alien in their sight.

¹⁶I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer

although I seek his favor with my mouth.

¹⁷My breath is offensive to my wife;

I am even detestable to those who were born from my mother's womb.

¹⁸Even young children despise me;

if I rise to speak, they speak against me.

¹⁹All my familiar friends abhor me;

those whom I love have turned against me.

²⁰My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh;

I survive only by the skin of my teeth.

²¹Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, my friends,

for the hand of God has touched me.

²²Why do you pursue me like God does?

Will you ever be satisfied with my flesh?

²³Oh, that my words were now written down!

Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!

²⁴Oh, that with an iron pen and lead

they were engraved in the rock forever!

²⁵But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,

and that at last he will stand on the earth;

²⁶after my skin, that is, this body, is destroyed,

then in my flesh I will see God.

²⁷I will see him with my own eyes—I, and not someone else.

My heart fails within me.

²⁸If you say, 'How we will persecute him!

The root of his troubles lies in him,'

²⁹then be afraid of the sword,

because wrath brings the punishment of the sword,

so that you may know there is a judgment."

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,

²"My thoughts make me answer quickly

because of the worry that is in me.

³I hear a rebuke that dishonors me,

but a spirit from my understanding answers me.

⁴Do you not know this fact from ancient times,

when God placed man on earth:

⁵the triumph of a wicked man is short,

and the joy of a godless man lasts only for a moment?

⁶Though his height reaches up to the heavens,

and his head reaches to the clouds,

⁷yet such a person will perish forever like his own dung;

those who have seen him will say, 'Where is he?'

⁸He will fly away like a dream and will not be found;

indeed, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

⁹The eye that saw him will see him no more;

his place will see him no longer.

¹⁰His children will apologize to poor people;

his hands will have to give back his wealth.

¹¹His bones are full of youthful strength,

but it will lie down with him in the dust.

¹²Although wickedness is sweet in his mouth,

although he hides it under his tongue,

¹³although he holds it there and does not let it go

but keeps it still in his mouth—

¹⁴the food in his intestines turns bitter;

it becomes the poison of asps inside him.

¹⁵He swallows down riches, but he will vomit them up again;

God will cast them out of his stomach.

¹⁶He will suck the poison of asps;

the viper's tongue will kill him.

¹⁷He will not enjoy the streams,

the torrents of honey and butter.

¹⁸He will give back the fruit of his labor and will not be able to swallow it;

he will not enjoy the wealth earned by his commerce.

¹⁹For he has oppressed and neglected poor people;

he has violently taken away houses that he did not build.

²⁰Because he has known no satisfaction in his belly,

he will not be able to save anything in which he takes pleasure.

²¹There is nothing left that he did not devour;

therefore his prosperity will not be permanent.

²²In the fullness of his abundance he will fall into trouble;

the hand of everyone who suffers will come against him.

²³When he is about to fill his stomach,

God will throw the fierceness of his wrath on him;

God will rain it down on him while he is eating.

²⁴Although that man will flee from the iron weapon,

a bow of bronze will shoot him.

²⁵He pulls it out of his back

and the gleaming point comes out of his liver.

Terrors come over him.

²⁶Complete darkness is reserved for his treasures;

a fire not fanned will devour him;

it will consume what is left in his tent.

²⁷The heavens will reveal his iniquity,

and the earth will rise up against him as a witness.

²⁸The wealth of his house will vanish;

his goods will flow away on the day of God's wrath.

²⁹This is the wicked man's portion from God,

the heritage decreed for him by God."

¹Then Job answered and said,

²"Listen carefully to my words,

and let this be the comfort you offer to me.

³Put up with me, and I also will speak;

after I have spoken, mock on.

⁴As for me, is my complaint to a person?

Why should I not be impatient?

⁵Look at me and be appalled,

and lay your hand upon your mouth.

⁶When I think about my sufferings, I am terrified,

and trembling seizes my body.

⁷Why do wicked people continue to live,

become old, and grow mighty in power?

⁸Their descendants are established with them in their sight,

and their offspring are established before their eyes.

⁹Their houses are safe from fear;

neither is the rod of God on them.

¹⁰Their bull breeds; it does not fail to do so;

their cow gives birth and does not lose her calf prematurely.

¹¹They send out their little ones like a flock,

and their children dance.

¹²They sing to the tambourine and harp

and rejoice with the music of the flute.

¹³They spend their days in prosperity,

and they go down quietly to Sheol.

¹⁴They say to God, 'Depart from us

for we do not wish any knowledge of your ways.

¹⁵What is the Almighty, that we should worship him?

What profit would we get if we prayed to him?'

¹⁶See, is not their prosperity in their own hands?

I have nothing to do with the advice of wicked people.

¹⁷How often is it that the lamp of wicked people is put out,

or that their calamity comes upon them?

How often does it happen that God distributes sorrows to them in his anger?

¹⁸How often is it that they become like stubble before the wind

or like chaff that the storm carries away?

¹⁹You say, 'God lays up one's iniquity for his children.'

Let him pay it himself, so that he might know it.

²⁰Let his eyes see his own destruction,

and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what does he care about his family after him

when the number of his months is cut off?

²²Can anyone teach God knowledge,

since he judges even those who are high?

²³One man dies in his full strength,

being completely quiet and at ease.

²⁴His body is full of milk,

and the marrow of his bones is moist.

²⁵Another man dies in bitterness of soul,

one who has never experienced anything good.

²⁶They lie down alike in the dust;

the worms cover them both.

²⁷See, I know your thoughts,

and your schemes to do violence to me.

²⁸For you say, 'Where now is the house of the prince?

Where is the tent in which the wicked man once lived?'

²⁹Have you never asked traveling people?

Do you not know the evidence they can tell,

³⁰that the wicked man is kept from the day of calamity,

and that he is led away from the day of wrath?

³¹Who will condemn the wicked man's way to his face?

Who will repay him for what he has done?

³²Yet he will be borne to the grave;

men will keep watch over his tomb.

³³The clods of the valley will be sweet to him;

all people will follow after him,

as there were innumerable people before him.

³⁴How then do you comfort me with nonsense,

since in your answers there is nothing but falsehood?"

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

²"Can a man be useful to God?

Can a wise man be useful to him?

³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous?

Is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?

⁴Is it because of your reverence for him that he rebukes you

and takes you to judgment?

⁵Is not your wickedness great?

Is there no end to your iniquities?

⁶For you have demanded guarantee of a loan from your brother for no reason,

and you have stripped away clothing from the naked.

⁷You have not given water to weary people to drink;

you have withheld bread from hungry people

⁸although you, a mighty man, possessed the earth,

although you, an honored man, lived in it.

⁹You have sent widows away empty;

the arms of the fatherless have been crushed.

¹⁰Therefore, snares are all around you,

and sudden fear troubles you.

¹¹There is darkness, so that you cannot see;

an abundance of waters covers you.

¹²Is not God in the heights of heaven?

Look at the height of the stars, how high they are!

¹³You say, 'What does God know?

Can he judge through the thick darkness?

¹⁴Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he does not see us;

he walks on the vault of heaven.'

¹⁵Will you keep the old way

that wicked men have walked—

¹⁶those who were snatched away before their time,

those whose foundations have washed away like a river,

¹⁷those who said to God, 'Depart from us';

those who said, 'What can the Almighty do to us?'

¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things;

the plans of wicked people are far from me.

¹⁹Righteous people see their fate and are glad;

innocent people mock them.

²⁰They say, 'Surely those who rose up against us are cut off;

fire has consumed their possessions.'

²¹Now agree with God and be at peace with him;

in that way, good will come to you.

²²Receive, I beg you, instruction from his mouth;

store up his words in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up,

if you put unrighteousness far away from your tents.

²⁴Lay your treasure down in the dust,

the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks,

²⁵and the Almighty will be your treasure,

precious silver to you.

²⁶For then you will take pleasure in the Almighty;

you will lift up your face to God.

²⁷You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you;

you will pay your vows to him.

²⁸You will also decree anything, and it will be confirmed for you;

light will shine on your paths.

²⁹God humbles a proud man,

and he saves the one with humble eyes.

³⁰He will rescue even the man who is not innocent;

who will be rescued through the cleanness of your hands."

¹Then Job answered and said,

²"Even today my complaint is rebellion; ¹

my hand ² is heavy because of my groaning.

³Oh, that I knew where I might find him!

Oh, that I might come to his place!

⁴I would lay my case in order before him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would learn the words with which he would answer me

and would understand what he would say to me.

⁶Would he argue against me in the greatness of his power?

No, he would pay attention to me.

⁷There the upright person might argue with him.

In this way I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

⁸See, I go eastward, but he is not there,

and westward, but I cannot find him.

⁹To the north, where he is at work, but I cannot see him,

and to the south, where he hides himself so that I cannot see him.

¹⁰But he knows the way that I take;

when he has tested me, I will come out like gold.

¹¹My foot has held fast to his steps;

I have kept to his way and turned not aside.

¹²I have not gone back from the commandment of his lips;

I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.

¹³But he is one of a kind, who can turn him back?

What he desires, he does.

¹⁴For he carries out his decree against me;

there are many like them.

¹⁵Therefore, I am terrified in his presence;

when I think about him, I am afraid of him.

¹⁶For God has made my heart weak;

the Almighty has terrified me.

¹⁷I have not been brought to an end by darkness,

because of the thick darkness that covers the gloom of my face.

¹Some ancient translations and many English translations have: bitter .

²Some copies have: his hand .

¹Why are times for judging wicked people not set by the Almighty?

Why do not those who are faithful to God see his days of judgment come?

²There are wicked people who remove boundary markers;

there are wicked people who take away flocks by force

and put them in their own pastures.

³They drive away the donkey of those without fathers;

they take the widow's ox as a pledge.

⁴They force needy people out of their path;

poor people of the earth all hide themselves from them.

⁵See, these poor people go out to their work

like wild donkeys in the wilderness, looking carefully for food;

perhaps the Arabah will provide them food for their children.

⁶They reap fodder in the field;

they glean the vineyard of the wicked.

⁷They lie naked all night without clothing;

they have no covering in the cold.

⁸They are wet with the showers of the mountains;

they lie next to large rocks because they have no shelter.

⁹The fatherless is seized from the breast,

and they take a pledge against the poor.

¹⁰But the poor people go about naked without clothing;

although they go hungry,

they carry bundles of grain belonging to other people.

¹¹The poor people make oil within the walls of those wicked men;

they tread the wicked men's winepresses,

but they themselves suffer thirst.

¹²From out of the city the dying groan,

and the throat of the wounded cries out for help.

But God does not charge anyone with wrongdoing.

¹³Some of these wicked people rebel against the light;

they know not its ways,

nor do they stay in its paths.

¹⁴Before daylight the murderer rises

and he kills the poor and the needy;

in the night he is like a thief.

¹⁵Also, the eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight;

he says, 'No eye will see me.'

He disguises his face.

¹⁶In the darkness they dig into houses;

but they shut themselves up in the daytime;

they do not care for the light.

¹⁷For all of them, thick darkness is like the morning;

for they are friends with the terrors of thick darkness.

¹⁸Swiftly they pass away, however, like foam on the surface of the waters;

their portion of the land is cursed;

no one goes to work in their vineyards.

¹⁹As drought and heat melt away the snow into waters,

so Sheol takes away those who have sinned.

²⁰The womb that bore him will forget him;

the worm will feed sweetly on him;

he will be remembered no more;

in this way, wickedness will be broken like a tree.

²¹The wicked one devours the barren women who have not borne children;

he does no good to the widow.

²²Yet God drags away the mighty by his power;

he rises up and does not strengthen him in life.

²³God gives him what he needs for security, and he is supported,

but his eyes are on his ways.

²⁴These people are exalted; still, in only a little while, they will be gone;

indeed, they will be brought low; they will be gathered up like all the others;

they will be cut off like the tops of ears of grain.

²⁵If it is not so, who can prove me to be a liar;

who can make my speech worth nothing?"

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

²"Dominion and fear are with him;

he makes order in his high places of heaven.

³Is there any end to the number of his armies?

Upon whom does his light not shine?

⁴How then can man be righteous with God?

How can he who is born of a woman be clean, acceptable to him?

⁵See, even the moon has no brightness to him;

the stars are not pure in his sight.

⁶How much less man, who is a worm—

a son of man, who is a worm!"

¹Then Job answered and said,

²"How you have helped one who has no power!

How you have saved the arm that has no strength!

³How you have advised one who has no wisdom

and announced to him sound wisdom!

⁴With whose help have you spoken these words?

Whose spirit was it that came out from you?

⁵The dead are made to tremble,

those who are beneath the waters

and all who dwell in them.

⁶Sheol is naked before God;

destruction itself has no covering against him.

⁷He stretches out the northern skies

over the empty space,

and he hangs the earth over nothing.

⁸He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,

but the clouds are not torn under them.

⁹He covers the surface of the moon

and spreads his clouds on it.

¹⁰He has engraved a circular boundary on the surface of the waters

as the line between light and darkness.

¹¹The pillars of heaven tremble

and are astonished at his rebuke.

¹²He calmed the sea with his power;

by his understanding he shattered Rahab.

¹³By his breath he made the skies clear;

his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

¹⁴See, these are but the fringes of his ways;

how small a whisper do we hear of him!

Who can understand the thunder of his power?"

¹Job continued his discourse, and he said,

²"As surely as God lives, who has taken away my justice,

the Almighty, who made my life bitter,

³while my life is yet in me,

and the breath from God is in my nostrils,

this is what I will do.

⁴My lips will not speak wickedness,

neither will my tongue speak deceit;

⁵I will never admit that you are right;

until I die I will never deny my integrity.

⁶I hold fast to my righteousness and will not let it go;

my conscience will not accuse me so long as I live.

⁷Let my enemy be like a wicked man;

let him who rises up against me be like an unrighteous man.

⁸For what is the hope of a godless man when God cuts him off,

when God takes away his life?

⁹Will God hear his cry

when trouble comes upon him?

¹⁰Will he delight himself in the Almighty

and call upon God at all times?

¹¹I will teach you concerning the hand of God;

I will not conceal the thoughts of the Almighty.

¹²See, all of you have seen this yourselves;

why then have you become completely useless?

¹³This is the portion of a wicked man with God,

the inheritance of the oppressor that he receives from the Almighty:

¹⁴If his children multiply, it is for the sword;

his offspring will never have enough food.

¹⁵Those who survive him will be buried by plague,

and their widows will make no lament for them.

¹⁶Though the wicked man heaps up silver like the dust,

and heaps up clothing like clay,

¹⁷he may heap up clothing, but righteous people will put it on,

and innocent people will divide up the silver among themselves.

¹⁸He builds his house like a spider,

like a hut that a guard makes.

¹⁹He lies down in bed rich, but he will not keep doing so;

he opens his eyes, and everything is gone.

²⁰Terrors overtake him like waters;

a storm takes him away in the night.

²¹The east wind carries him away, and he leaves;

it sweeps him out of his place.

²²It throws itself at him and does not stop;

he tries to flee out of its hand.

²³It claps its hands at him

and hisses him from his place.

¹Surely there is a mine for silver,

a place where they refine gold.

²Iron is taken out of the earth;

copper is smelted out of the stone.

³A man sets an end to darkness

and searches out to the farthest limit

the stones in the blackest darkness.

⁴He breaks open a shaft away from where people live,

places that are forgotten by anyone's foot.

He hangs far away from people; he swings to and fro.

⁵As for the earth, out of which comes bread,

it is turned up below as if by fire.

⁶Its stones are the place where sapphires are found,

and its dust contains gold.

⁷No bird of prey knows the path to it,

nor has the falcon's eye seen it.

⁸The proud animals have not walked such a path,

nor has the fierce lion passed there.

⁹A man lays his hand on the flinty rock;

he overturns mountains by their roots.

¹⁰He cuts out channels among the rocks;

his eye sees every valuable thing there.

¹¹He ties up the streams so they do not run;

what is hidden there he brings out to the light.

¹²Where will wisdom be found?

Where is the place of understanding?

¹³Man does not know its price;

neither is it found in the land of the living.

¹⁴The deep waters under the earth say, 'It is not in me';

the sea says, 'It is not with me.'

¹⁵It cannot be gotten for gold;

neither can silver be weighed as its price.

¹⁶It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir,

with precious onyx or sapphire.

¹⁷Gold and crystal cannot equal it in worth;

neither can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

¹⁸No mention is worth making of coral or jasper;

indeed, the price of wisdom is more than rubies.

¹⁹The topaz of Cush does not equal it;

neither can it be valued in terms of pure gold.

²⁰From where, then, comes wisdom?

Where is the place of understanding?

²¹Wisdom is hidden from the eyes of all living things

and is kept hidden from the birds of the heavens.

²²Destruction and Death say,

'We have heard just a rumor about it with our ears.'

²³God understands the way to it;

he knows its place.

²⁴For he looks to the very ends of the earth

and sees under all the heavens.

²⁵He made the force of the wind

and parceled out the waters by measure.

²⁶He made a decree for the rain

and a path for the thunder.

²⁷Then he saw wisdom and announced it;

he established it, indeed, and he examined it.

²⁸To people he said,

'See, the fear of the Lord—that is wisdom;

to depart from evil is understanding.'"

¹Job resumed speaking and said,

²"Oh, that I were as I was in the past months

when God cared for me,

³when his lamp shined on my head,

and when I walked through darkness by his light.

⁴Oh, that I were as I was in the ripeness of my days

when the friendship of God was on my tent,

⁵when the Almighty was yet with me,

and my children were around me,

⁶when my way was covered with cream,

and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

⁷When I went out to the city gate,

when I sat in my place in the city square,

⁸the young men saw me and kept their distance from me in respect,

and the aged people rose and stood for me.

⁹The princes used to refrain from talking when I came;

they would lay their hand on their mouths.

¹⁰The voices of the noblemen were hushed,

and their tongue clung to the roof of their mouths.

¹¹For after their ears heard me, they would then bless me;

after their eyes saw me, they would then give witness to me and approve of me

¹²because I rescued the one who was poor when he cried out,

and the one who had no father when he had no one to help him.

¹³The blessing of him who was about to perish came on me;

I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;

my justice was like a robe and a turban.

¹⁵I was eyes to blind people;

I was feet to lame people.

¹⁶I was a father to needy people;

I would investigate the case even of one whom I did not know.

¹⁷I broke the jaws of the unrighteous man;

I plucked the victim out from between his teeth.

¹⁸Then I said, 'I will die in my nest;

I will multiply my days like the grains of sand.

¹⁹My roots are spread out to the waters,

and dew lies all night on my branches.

²⁰The honor in me is always fresh,

and the bow of my strength is always new in my hand.'

²¹To me men listened; they waited for me;

they stayed silent to hear my advice.

²²After my words were done, they did not speak again;

my speech dropped like water on them.

²³They always waited for me as they waited for rain;

they opened their mouth wide to drink in my words,

as they would do for the latter rain.

²⁴I smiled on them when they did not expect it;

they did not reject the light of my face.

²⁵I selected their way and sat as their chief;

I lived like a king in his army,

like one who comforts mourners.

¹Now those who are younger than I have nothing but mockery for me—

these young men whose fathers I would have refused to allow to work beside the dogs of my flock.

²Indeed, the strength of their fathers' hands, how could it have helped me—

men in whom the strength of their mature age had perished?

³They were thin from poverty and hunger;

they gnawed at the dry ground in the darkness of wilderness and desolation.

⁴They plucked saltwort and bushes' leaves;

the roots of the broom tree were their food.

⁵They were driven out from among people

who shouted after them as one would shout after a thief.

⁶So they had to live in river valleys,

in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

⁷Among the bushes they brayed like donkeys

and they gathered together under the nettles.

⁸They were the sons of fools, indeed, sons of nameless people!

They were driven out of the land with whips.

⁹But now I have become the subject of their taunting song;

I have become a byword for them.

¹⁰They abhor me and stand far off from me;

they do not refrain from spitting in my face.

¹¹For God has unstrung the string to my bow and afflicted me,

and those who taunt me cast off restraint before my face.

¹²Upon my right hand rise the rabble;

they drive me away and

pile up against me their siege mounds.

¹³They destroy my path;

they push forward disaster for me,

men who have no one to hold them back.

¹⁴They come against me like an army through a wide hole in a city wall;

in the midst of the destruction they roll themselves in on me.

¹⁵Terrors are turned upon me;

my honor is driven away as if by the wind;

my prosperity passes away as a cloud.

¹⁶Now my life is pouring out from within me;

many days of suffering have laid hold on me.

¹⁷In the night my bones in me are pierced;

the pains that gnaw at me take no rest.

¹⁸God's great force has seized my clothing;

it wraps around me like the collar of my tunic.

¹⁹He has thrown me into the mud;

I have become like dust and ashes.

²⁰I cry to you, God, but you do not answer me;

I stand up, and you merely look at me.

²¹You have changed and become cruel to me;

with the might of your hand you persecute me.

²²You lift me up to the wind and cause it to drive me along;

you throw me back and forth in a storm. ¹

²³For I know that you will bring me to death,

to the house appointed for all the living.

²⁴However, does no one reach out with his hand to beg for help when he falls?

Does no one in trouble call out for help?

²⁵Did not I weep for him whose day is hard?

Did I not grieve for the needy man?

²⁶When I hoped for good, then evil came;

when I waited for light, darkness came instead.

²⁷My heart is troubled and does not rest;

days of affliction have come on me.

²⁸I have gone about like one who was living in the dark,

but not because of the sun;

I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

²⁹I am a brother to jackals,

a companion of ostriches.

³⁰My skin is black and falls away from me;

my bones are burned with heat.

³¹Therefore my harp is tuned for songs of mourning,

my flute for the singing of those who wail.

¹Some modern translations have you dissolve me in a storm .

¹I have made a covenant with my eyes;

how then should I look with desire on a virgin?

²For what is the portion from God above,

the inheritance from the Almighty on high?

³I used to think that calamity is for unrighteous people,

and that disaster is for those who behave wickedly.

⁴Does not God see my ways

and count all my steps?

⁵If I have walked with falsehood,

if my foot has hurried to deceit,

⁶let me be weighed in an even balance

so that God will know my integrity.

⁷If my step has turned aside from the way,

if my heart has gone after my eyes,

if any spot has stuck to my hands,

⁸then let me sow, and let another eat,

and let my crops be uprooted.

⁹If my heart has been deceived by a woman,

if I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door,

¹⁰then let my wife grind grain for another,

and let others bow down on her.

¹¹For that would be a terrible crime;

indeed, it would be a crime to be punished by judges.

¹²For that is a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon,

and it would burn all my harvest to the root.

¹³If I rejected the plea for justice from my male servant or my female servant

when they argued with me,

¹⁴what then would I do when God rises up to accuse me?

When he comes to judge me, how would I answer him?

¹⁵Did the one who made me in the womb not make them also?

Did not the same one mold us all in the womb?

¹⁶If I have withheld poor people from their desire,

or if I have caused the eyes of the widow to grow dim from crying,

¹⁷or if I have eaten my morsel alone

and not allowed those without fathers to eat it also—

¹⁸because from my youth the orphan grew up with me as with a father,

and I have guided his mother, a widow, from my own mother's womb.

¹⁹If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,

or if I have seen that a needy man had no clothing;

²⁰if his heart has not blessed me

because he has not been warmed with the wool of my sheep,

²¹if I have lifted up my hand against the orphan

because I saw my support in the city gate,

then bring charges against me!

²²If I have done these things, then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade,

and let my arm be broken from its joint.

²³For I dreaded destruction from God;

because of his majesty, I was not able to do those things.

²⁴If I have made gold my hope,

and if I have said to fine gold, 'You are what I am confident in';

²⁵if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,

because my hand had gotten many possessions,

then bring charges against me!

²⁶If I have seen the sun when it shone,

or the moon walking in its splendor,

²⁷and if my heart has been secretly attracted,

so that my mouth has kissed my hand in worship of them—

²⁸this also would be a crime to be punished by judges,

for I would have denied the God who is above.

²⁹If I have rejoiced at the destruction of anyone who hated me

or congratulated myself when disaster overtook him,

then bring charges against me!

³⁰Indeed, I have not even allowed my mouth to sin

by asking for his life with a curse.

³¹If the men of my tent have never said,

'Who can find one who has not been filled with Job's food?'

³²(even the foreigner has never had to stay in the city square,

because I have always opened my doors to the traveler),

and if that is not so, then bring charges against me!

³³If, like mankind, I have hidden my sins

by hiding my guilt inside my bosom

³⁴(because I feared the great multitude,

because the contempt of the families terrified me,

so that I kept silent and would not go outside)—

³⁵Oh, if only I had someone to hear me!

See, here is my signature; let the Almighty answer me!

If only I had the indictment that my opponent has written!

³⁶Surely I would carry it openly on my shoulder;

I would bind it on myself like a crown.

³⁷I would declare to him an accounting for my steps;

as a confident prince I would go up to him.

³⁸If my land ever cries out against me,

and its furrows weep together,

³⁹if I have eaten its harvest without paying for it

or have caused its owners to lose their lives,

⁴⁰then let thorns grow instead of wheat

and weeds instead of barley."

The words of Job are finished.

¹So these three men stopped answering Job because he was righteous in his own eyes.²Then the anger of Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled; it was kindled against Job because he justified himself rather than God.

³Elihu's anger was also kindled against his three friends because they had found no answer to Job, and yet they had condemned Job.⁴Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because the other men were older than he.⁵However, when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of these three men, his anger was kindled.

⁶Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite spoke up and said,

"I am young, and you are very old.

That is why I held back and was afraid to tell you my own thoughts.

⁷I said, "Length of days should speak;

a multitude of years should teach wisdom.

⁸But there is a spirit in a man;

the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.

⁹It is not only the great people who are wise,

nor the aged people alone who understand justice.

¹⁰Therefore I say to you, 'Listen to me;

I will also tell you my knowledge.'

¹¹See, I waited for your words;

I listened to your arguments

while you were searching for a word.

¹²Indeed, I paid attention to you,

but, see, there was not one of you who could convince Job

or who could respond to his words.

¹³Be careful not to say, 'We have found wisdom!'

God will have to defeat Job; mere man cannot do it.

¹⁴For Job has not directed his words against me,

so I will not answer him with your words.

¹⁵These three men are dismayed; they can answer Job no longer;

they have not a word more to say.

¹⁶Should I wait because they are not speaking,

because they stand there silent and answer no more?

¹⁷No, I also will answer on my part;

I will also tell them my knowledge.

¹⁸For I am full of words;

the spirit in me compels me.

¹⁹See, my breast is like fermenting wine that has no vent;

like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.

²⁰I will speak so that I may be refreshed;

I will open my lips and answer.

²¹I will not show favoritism;

neither will I give honorific titles to any man.

²²For I do not know how to give such titles;

if I did so, my Maker would soon take me away.

¹So now, Job, I beg you, hear my speech;

listen to all my words.

²See now, I have opened my mouth;

my tongue has spoken in my mouth.

³My words come from the uprightness of my heart;

my lips speak pure knowledge.

⁴The Spirit of God has made me;

the breath of the Almighty has given me life.

⁵If you can, answer me;

set your words in order before me and stand up.

⁶See, I am just as you are in God's sight;

I also have been formed out of the clay.

⁷See, terror of me will not make you afraid;

neither will my pressure be heavy upon you.

⁸You have certainly spoken in my hearing;

I have heard the sound of your words saying,

⁹'I am clean and without transgression;

I am innocent, and there is no iniquity in me.

¹⁰See, God finds opportunities to attack me;

he regards me as his enemy.

¹¹He puts my feet in stocks;

he watches all my paths.'

¹²See, in this you are not in the right—I will answer you,

for God is greater than man.

¹³Why do you struggle against him?

He does not account for any of his doings.

¹⁴For God speaks once—

yes, twice, though man does not notice it.

¹⁵In a dream, in a vision of the night,

when deep sleep falls upon men,

in slumber on the bed—

¹⁶then God opens the ears of men,

and frightens them with threats,

¹⁷to cause man to turn away from his deed,

and keep pride from a man.

¹⁸God keeps man's life back from the pit,

his life from crossing over to death.

¹⁹Man is punished also with pain on his bed,

with constant strife in his bones,

²⁰so that his life abhors food,

and his soul abhors delicacies.

²¹His flesh is consumed away so that it cannot be seen;

his bones, once not seen, now stick out.

²²Indeed, his soul draws close to the pit,

his life to those who wish to destroy it.

²³But if there is an angel who can be a mediator for him,

one out of a thousand,

to tell a man what is right for him,

²⁴to be gracious to him and say,

'Save this person from going down to the pit;

I have found a ransom for him,'

²⁵then his flesh will become fresher than a youth's;

it is restored to the days of his youthful vigor.

²⁶He will pray to God, and God will be kind to him,

so that he sees God's face with joy.

God will restore to the person his righteousness.

²⁷Then that person will sing in front of other people and say,

'I sinned and perverted that which was right,

but my sin was not punished.

²⁸God has rescued my soul from going down into the pit;

my life will continue to see light.'

²⁹See, God does all these things with a person,

twice, yes, even three times,

³⁰to bring his soul back from the pit,

so that he may be enlightened with the light of life.

³¹Pay attention, Job, and listen to me;

be silent and I will speak.

³²If you have anything to say, answer me;

speak, for I wish to justify you.

³³If not, then listen to me;

remain silent, and I will teach you wisdom."

¹Moreover, Elihu continued to speak:

²"Listen to my words, you wise men;

hear me, you who have knowledge.

³For the ear tests words

as the palate tastes food.

⁴Let us choose for ourselves what is just:

let us discover among ourselves what is good.

⁵For Job has said, 'I am righteous,

but God has taken away my rights.

⁶Regardless of my rights

I am considered to be a liar.

My wound is incurable,

although I am without sin.'

⁷What man is like Job,

who drinks up mockery like water,

⁸who goes around in the company of those who behave wickedly,

and who walks with wicked men?

⁹For he has said, 'It is no use to a person

to take pleasure in doing what God wants.'

¹⁰So listen to me, you men of understanding:

far be it from God that he should do wickedness;

far be it from the Almighty that he should commit sin.

¹¹For he pays back a person's work;

he makes every man come upon the reward of his own ways.

¹²Indeed, God does nothing wicked,

nor does the Almighty ever pervert justice.

¹³Who put him in charge over the earth?

Who put the whole world under him?

¹⁴If he ever set his intentions only on himself,

and if he ever gathered back to himself his spirit and his breath,

¹⁵then all flesh would perish together;

mankind would return to dust again.

¹⁶If now you have understanding, listen to this;

listen to the sound of my words.

¹⁷Can one who hates justice govern?

Will you condemn God, who is righteous and mighty?

¹⁸God, who says to a king, 'You are worthless,'

or says to nobles, 'You are wicked'?

¹⁹God, who does not show favoritism to leaders

and does not acknowledge rich people more than poor,

for they all are the work of his hands.

²⁰In a moment they will die;

at midnight people will be shaken and will pass away;

mighty people will be taken away, but not by human hands.

²¹For God's eyes are upon a person's ways;

he sees all his steps.

²²There is no darkness and there is no deep shadow

where those who behave wickedly may hide themselves.

²³For God does not need to examine a person further;

there is no need for any person to go before him in judgment.

²⁴He breaks mighty men into pieces for their ways that need no further investigation;

he puts others in their places.

²⁵In this way he has knowledge of their deeds;

he overthrows these people in the night; they are crushed.

²⁶In the open sight of others, he kills them for their wicked deeds like criminals

²⁷because they turned away from following him

and refused to acknowledge any of his ways.

²⁸In this way, they made the cry of poor people come to him;

he heard the cry of afflicted people.

²⁹When he stays silent, who can condemn him?

If he hides his face, who can see him?

He rules over nation and individual alike,

³⁰so that a godless man may not reign,

so that there may be no one to entrap people.

³¹Suppose someone says to God,

'I am certainly guilty, but I will not act corruptly any longer;

³²teach me what I cannot see;

I have committed sin, but I will do it no longer.'

³³Is it according to your desires that God must punish that person?

For you reject this!

You must choose, not I.

So say what it is that you know.

³⁴Men of understanding will say to me—

indeed, every wise man who hears me will say,

³⁵'Job speaks without knowledge;

his words are without wisdom.'

³⁶If only Job were put on trial in the smallest details of his case

because of his talking like wicked men.

³⁷For he adds rebellion to his sin;

he claps his hands in mockery in our midst;

he piles up words against God."

¹Moreover Elihu continued, saying,

²"Do you think this is just

when you say, 'I am in the right before God'?

³For you ask, 'What use is it to me?'

and, 'Would I be better off if I had sinned?'

⁴I will answer you,

both you and your friends.

⁵Look up at the sky, and see it;

see the sky, which is higher than you.

⁶If you have sinned, what harm do you do to God?

If your transgressions are many, what do you do to him?

⁷If you are righteous, what can you give to him?

What will he receive from your hand?

⁸Your wickedness may hurt a man, as you are a man,

and your righteousness might benefit another son of man.

⁹Because of many acts of oppression, people cry out;

they call for help from the arms of mighty men.

¹⁰But no one says, 'Where is God my Maker,

who gives songs in the night,

¹¹who teaches us more than he teaches the wild animals of the earth,

and who makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?'

¹²There they cry out, but God gives no answer

because of the pride of evil men.

¹³God will certainly not hear a foolish cry;

the Almighty will pay no attention to it.

¹⁴How much less will he answer you if you say that you do not see him,

that your case is before him, and that you are waiting for him!

¹⁵Now you say that his anger does not punish,

and he does not take even a litte notice of transgression.

¹⁶So Job opens his mouth only to speak foolishness;

he multiplies words without knowledge."

¹Elihu continued on and said,

²"Be patient with me a little longer, and I will show you some things

because I have a little more to say in defense of God.

³I will obtain my knowledge from far off;

I will acknowledge that righteousness belongs to my Maker.

⁴For indeed, my words will not be false;

someone who is mature in knowledge is with you.

⁵See, God is mighty, and despises no one;

he is mighty in strength of understanding.

⁶He does not preserve the life of wicked people

but gives justice those who suffer.

⁷He does not withdraw his eyes from righteous people

but sets them on thrones with kings forever,

and they are lifted up.

⁸If they are bound in chains

and trapped in cords of suffering,

⁹then he reveals to them what they have done,

and their transgressions and their pride.

¹⁰He also opens their ears to his instruction,

and commands them to turn back from iniquity.

¹¹If they listen to him and worship him,

they will spend their days in prosperity,

their years in contentment.

¹²However, if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword;

they will die because they have no knowledge.

¹³Those who are godless in heart store up their anger;

they do not cry out for help even when God ties them up.

¹⁴They die in their youth;

their lives end among the cultic prostitutes.

¹⁵God rescues afflicted people by means of their afflictions;

he opens their ears by means of their oppression.

¹⁶Indeed, he would like to draw you out of distress

into a broad place where there is no hardship

and where your table would be set with food full of fatness.

¹⁷But you are full of judgment on wicked people;

judgment and justice have laid hold of you.

¹⁸Do not let your anger entice you to mockery,

or the greatness of a ransom to turn you aside.

¹⁹Can your wealth benefit you, so that you will not be in distress,

or can all the force of your strength help you?

²⁰Do not desire the night, to commit sin against others,

when peoples are cut off in their place.

²¹Be careful that you do not turn to wickedness

because you are being tested by suffering so that you will stay away from sinning.

²²See, God is exalted in his power;

who is a teacher like him?

²³Who has ever instructed him about his way?

Who can ever say to him, 'You have committed unrighteousness?'

²⁴Remember to praise his deeds,

of which people have sung.

²⁵All people have looked on those deeds,

but they see those deeds only from far away.

²⁶See, God is great, but we do not understand him well;

the number of his years is incalculable.

²⁷For he draws up the drops of water

that he distills as rain from his vapor, ¹

²⁸which the clouds pour down

and drop in abundance on mankind.

²⁹Indeed, can anyone understand the extensive spread of the clouds

and the thunder from his hut?

³⁰See, he spreads his lightning around him

and covers the roots of the sea.

³¹In this way he judges the peoples

and gives food in abundance.

³²He fills his hands with the lightning

until he commands it to strike its mark.

³³Its thunder warns of the storm,

the cattle can also hear it is coming.

¹Some modern translations have that distill as rain from his vapor .

¹Indeed, my heart trembles at this;

it is moved out of its place.

²Hear, oh, hear the noise of his voice,

the sound that goes out from his mouth.

³He sends it out under the whole sky,

and he sends out his lightning to the edges of the earth.

⁴A voice roars after it;

he thunders with the voice of his majesty;

he does not restrain the lightning bolts

when his voice is heard.

⁵God thunders marvelously with his voice;

he does great things that we cannot comprehend.

⁶For he says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth';

and to the rain shower, 'Be strong.'

⁷He stops the hand of every man from working,

so that all people whom he has made may see his deeds.

⁸Then the beasts go into hiding

and stay in their dens.

⁹The storm comes from its chamber in the south

and the cold from the scattering winds in the north.

¹⁰By the breath of God ice is given;

the expanse of the waters is frozen like metal.

¹¹Indeed, he weighs down the thick cloud with moisture;

he scatters his lightning through the clouds.

¹²He swirls the clouds around by his guidance,

so that they may do whatever he commands them

above the surface of the earthly world.

¹³He makes all of this happen; sometimes it happens for correction, sometimes for his land,

and sometimes as acts of covenant faithfulness.

¹⁴Listen to this, Job;

stop and think about God's marvelous deeds.

¹⁵Do you know how God establishes the clouds

and makes the lightning bolts to flash in them?

¹⁶Do you understand the floating of the clouds,

the marvelous deeds of God, who is perfect in knowledge?

¹⁷Do you understand how your garments become hot

when the land is still because the wind comes from the south?

¹⁸Can you spread out the sky as he can—

the sky, which is as strong as a mirror of cast metal?

¹⁹Teach us what we should say to him,

for we cannot lay out our arguments in order because of the darkness of our minds.

²⁰Should he be told that I wish to speak with him?

Would a person wish to be swallowed up?

²¹Now, people cannot look at the sun when it is bright in the sky

after the wind has passed through and has cleared it of its clouds.

²²Out of the north comes golden splendor—

over God is fearsome majesty.

²³As for the Almighty, we cannot find him!

He is great in power;

he does not oppress justice and abundant righteousness.

²⁴Therefore, people fear him.

He does not pay any attention to those who are wise in their own minds."

¹Then Yahweh called to Job out of a fierce storm and said,

²"Who is this who brings darkness to plans

by means of words without knowledge?

³Now gird up your loins like a man

for I will ask you questions,

and you must answer me.

⁴Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations?

Tell me, if you have so much understanding.

⁵Who determined its dimensions? Tell me, if you know.

Who stretched the measuring line over it?

⁶On what were its foundations laid?

Who laid its cornerstone

⁷when the morning stars sang together

and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸Who shut up the sea with doors

when it burst out, as if it had come out of the womb—

⁹when I made clouds its clothing,

and thick darkness its swaddling bands?

¹⁰That was when I marked out for the sea my boundary,

and when I placed its bars and doors,

¹¹and when I said to it, 'You may come this far, but no farther;

here is where I will put a boundary to the pride of your waves.'

¹²Have you given orders to the morning,

or caused the dawn to know its place,

¹³so that it might take hold of the edges of the earth

and shake the wicked out of it?

¹⁴The earth is changed in appearance like clay changes under a seal;

all things on it stand out clearly like the folds of a piece of clothing.

¹⁵From wicked people their light is taken away;

their uplifted arm is broken.

¹⁶Have you gone to the springs of the sea?

Have you walked in the lowest parts of the deep?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you?

Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

¹⁸Have you understood the earth in its expanse?

Tell me, if you know it all.

¹⁹Where is the way to the resting place of light—

as for darkness, where is its place?

²⁰Can you lead light and darkness to their places of work?

Can you find the way back to their houses for them?

²¹Undoubtedly you know, for you were born then;

the number of your days is so large!

²²Have you entered the storehouses for the snow,

or have you seen the storehouses for the hail,

²³these things that I have kept for times of trouble,

for days of battle and war?

²⁴What is the path to where the lightning bolts are distributed

or to where the winds are scattered from the east over the earth?

²⁵Who has created the channels for the floods of rain,

or who has made a path for the thunder,

²⁶to cause it to rain on lands where no person exists,

and on the wilderness, in which there is no one,

²⁷to satisfy the devastated and desolate places,

and to make the ground sprout with grass?

²⁸Does the rain have a father,

or, who fathers the drops of dew?

²⁹Out of whose womb did the ice come?

Who bore the white frost out of the sky?

³⁰The waters hide themselves and become like stone;

the surface of the deep becomes frozen.

³¹Can you fasten chains on the Pleiades,

or undo the cords of Orion?

³²Can you lead the constellations to appear at their proper times?

Can you guide the Bear with its children?

³³Do you know the regulations of the sky?

Could you set in place the sky's rule over the earth?

³⁴Can you raise your voice up to the clouds,

so that an abundance of rainwater may cover you?

³⁵Can you send out bolts of lightning that they may go out,

that they say to you, 'Here we are'?

³⁶Who has put wisdom in the clouds

or has given understanding to the mists?

³⁷Who can number the clouds by his skill?

Who can pour out the water skins of the sky

³⁸when the dust runs into a hard mass

and the clods of earth clump tightly together?

³⁹Can you hunt down a victim for a lioness

or satisfy the appetite of her young lion cubs

⁴⁰when they are crouching in their dens

and sheltering in hiding to lie in wait?

⁴¹Who provides victims for the ravens

when their young ones cry out to God

and stagger about for lack of food?

¹Do you know at what time the wild goats in the rocks bear their young?

Can you watch when the deer are having their fawns?

²Can you count the months that they gestate?

Do you know the time when they bear their young?

³They crouch down and give birth to their young,

and then they finish their labor pains.

⁴Their young ones become strong and grow up in the open fields;

they go out and do not return to them.

⁵Who sent the wild donkey out free?

Who has untied the bonds of the swift donkey,

⁶whose home I have made in the Arabah,

his house in the salt land?

⁷He laughs in scorn at the noises in the city;

he does not hear the driver's shouts.

⁸He roams over the mountains as his pastures;

there he looks for every green plant to eat.

⁹Will the wild ox be happy to serve you?

Will he consent to stay by your manger?

¹⁰Can you use ropes to hold the wild ox in the furrows?

Will he harrow the valleys as he follows after you?

¹¹Will you trust him because his strength is great?

Will you leave your labor to him to do?

¹²Will you depend on him to bring your grain home,

to gather the grain for your threshing floor?

¹³The wings of the ostrich wave proudly,

but are they the pinions and plumage of love?

¹⁴For she leaves her eggs on the earth,

and she lets them keep warm in the dust;

¹⁵she forgets that a foot might crush them

or that a wild beast might trample them.

¹⁶She deals roughly with her young ones as if they were not hers;

she does not fear that her labor might have been in vain,

¹⁷because God has deprived her of wisdom

and has not given her any understanding.

¹⁸When she runs swiftly,

she laughs in scorn at the horse and its rider.

¹⁹Have you given the horse his strength?

Did you clothe his neck with his flowing mane?

²⁰Have you ever made him jump like a locust?

The majesty of his snorting is fearsome.

²¹He paws in might and rejoices in his strength;

he rushes out to meet the weapons.

²²He mocks fear and is not dismayed;

he does not turn back from the sword.

²³The quiver rattles against his flank,

along with the flashing spear and the javelin.

²⁴He swallows up ground with fierceness and rage;

at the sound of the ram's horn, he cannot stand in one place.

²⁵Whenever the ram's horn sounds, he says, 'Aha!'

He smells the battle from far away—

the thunderous shouts of the commanders and the outcries.

²⁶Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,

that he stretches out his wings for the south?

²⁷Is it at your orders that the eagle mounts up

and makes his nest in high places?

²⁸He lives on cliffs and makes his home

on the peaks of cliffs, a stronghold.

²⁹From there he searches for victims;

his eyes see them from very far away.

³⁰His young also drink up blood;

where killed people are, there he is."

¹Yahweh continued to speak to Job; he said,

²"Should anyone who wishes to criticize try to correct the Almighty?

He who argues with God, let him answer."

³Then Job answered Yahweh and said,

⁴"See, I am insignificant; how can I answer you?

I put my hand over my mouth.

⁵I spoke once, and I will not answer;

indeed, twice, but I will proceed no further."

⁶Then Yahweh answered Job out of a fierce storm and said,

⁷"Now gird up your loins like a man,

for I will ask you questions, and you must answer me.

⁸Will you actually say that I am unjust?

Will you condemn me so you may claim that you are in the right?

⁹Do you have an arm like God's,

and can you thunder with a voice like his?

¹⁰Now clothe yourself in glory and dignity;

array yourself in honor and majesty.

¹¹Scatter around the excess of your anger;

look at everyone who is proud and bring him low.

¹²Look at everyone who is proud and bring him low;

trample down wicked people where they stand.

¹³Bury them in the earth together;

imprison their faces in the hidden place.

¹⁴Then will I also acknowledge about you

that your own right hand can save you.

¹⁵See now, the behemoth,

which I made when I made you—

he eats grass like an ox.

¹⁶See now, his strength is in his loins,

and his power is in his belly's muscles.

¹⁷He makes his tail like a cedar;

the sinews of his thighs are joined together.

¹⁸His bones are like tubes of bronze;

his legs are like bars of iron.

¹⁹He is the chief of the creatures of God.

Only God, who made him, can defeat him.

²⁰For the hills provide him with food;

the beasts of the field play nearby.

²¹He lies under the lotus plants

in the shelter of the reeds, in the marshes.

²²The lotus plants cover him with their shade;

the willows of the brook are all around him.

²³See, if a river floods its banks, he does not tremble;

he is confident, though the Jordan should surge up to his mouth.

²⁴Can anyone capture him with a hook,

or pierce his nose through with a snare?

¹Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook?

Or tie up his jaws with a cord?

²Can you put a rope into his nose,

or pierce his jaw through with a hook?

³Will he make many pleas to you?

Will he speak soft words to you?

⁴Will he make a covenant with you,

that you should take him for a servant forever?

⁵Will you play with him as you would with a bird?

Will you tie him up for your servant girls?

⁶Will the groups of fishermen bargain for him?

Will they divide him up to trade among the merchants?

⁷Can you fill his hide with harpoons

or his head with fishing spears?

⁸Put your hand on him just once,

and you will remember the battle and do it no more.

⁹See, the hope of anyone who does that is a lie;

will not anyone be thrown down to the ground just by the sight of him?

¹⁰None is so fierce that he dare stir Leviathan up;

who, then, is he who can stand before me?

¹¹Who has first given anything to me in order that I should repay him?

Whatever is under the whole sky is mine.

¹²I will not keep silent concerning Leviathan's legs,

nor about the matter of his strength, nor about his graceful form.

¹³Who can strip off his outer garment?

Who can penetrate his double armor?

¹⁴Who can open the doors of his face—

ringed with his teeth, which are a terror?

¹⁵his back is made up of rows of shields,

tight together as with a close seal.

¹⁶One is so near to another

that no air can come between them.

¹⁷They are joined to each other;

they stick together, so that they cannot be pulled apart.

¹⁸Light flashes out from his snorting;

his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning dawn.

¹⁹Out of his mouth go burning torches,

sparks of fire leap out.

²⁰Out of his nostrils goes smoke

like a boiling pot on a fire that has been fanned to be very hot.

²¹His breath kindles coals into flame;

fires go out from his mouth.

²²In his neck is strength,

and terror dances in front of him.

²³The folds of his flesh are joined together;

they are firm on him; they cannot be moved.

²⁴His heart is as hard as a stone—

indeed, as hard as a lower millstone.

²⁵When he raises himself up, even the gods become afraid;

because of its thrashing they draw back.

²⁶If a sword strikes him, it does nothing—

and neither does a spear, an arrow, or any other pointed weapon.

²⁷He thinks of iron as if it were straw,

and of bronze as if it were rotten wood.

²⁸An arrow cannot make him flee;

to him sling stones become chaff.

²⁹Clubs are regarded as straw;

he laughs at the whirring flight of a spear.

³⁰His lower parts are like sharp pieces of broken pottery;

he leaves a spreading trail in the mud as if he were a threshing sledge.

³¹He makes the deep to foam up like a pot of boiling water;

he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.

³²He makes a shining wake behind him;

one would think the deep had gray hair.

³³On earth there is no equal to him,

who has been made to live without fear.

³⁴He sees everything that is proud;

he is king over all the sons of pride."

¹Then Job answered Yahweh and said,

²"I know that you can do all things,

that no purpose of yours can be stopped.

³'Who is this who without knowledge conceals plans?'

Indeed, I have spoken things that I did not understand,

things too difficult for me to understand, which I did not know about.

⁴You said to me, 'Listen, now, and I will speak;

I will ask you things,

and you will tell me.'

⁵I had heard about you by my ear's hearing,

but now my eye sees you.

⁶So I despise myself;

I repent in dust and ashes."

⁷It came about that after he had said these words to Job, Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done.⁸Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer, so that I may not deal with you after your folly. You have not said what is right about me, as my servant Job has done."⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as Yahweh had commanded them, and Yahweh accepted Job.

¹⁰When Job prayed for his friends, Yahweh reversed his captivity. Yahweh gave him twice as much as he had possessed before.¹¹Then all Job's brothers, and all his sisters, and all who knew him before, came to him and ate food with him in his house. They showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the disasters that Yahweh had brought upon him, and each of them gave Job a piece of silver and a ring of gold.

¹²Yahweh blessed the final end of Job's life more than the first; he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.¹³He also had seven sons and three daughters.¹⁴He called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-Happuch.

¹⁵In all the land no women were found as beautiful as Job's daughters. Their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers.¹⁶After this, Job lived 140 years; he saw his sons and his sons' sons, up to four generations.¹⁷Then Job died, being old and full of days.

English: Unlocked Literal Bible for Job

Formatted for Translators

Job