Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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Job
Job 1
¶1. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was perfect and upright, and he feared God and eschewed evil.
2. And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
3. And he owned seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a great many slaves. And this man was greater than any of the sons of the east.
4. And his sons went and made a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
5. It came to pass that when the days of their feasting had gone round, that Job sent and sanctified them, and he rose up early in the morning, and he offered burnt offering according to the number of them all, for Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Job did like this all the time.
6. Now, it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came in to present themselves before the Lord, that Satan also came in among them.
7. And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” And Satan answered the Lord, “From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
8. And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one who fears God and eschews evil?”
9. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing?
10.Have you not made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
11.But stretch out your hand now and strike all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”
12. Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not put your hand on him.” So, Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.
13. Now, there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their brother, the firstborn,
14.and a messenger came to Job, and he said, “The oxen were plowing and the she-asses were grazing nearby them.
15.And Sheba fell on them and took them, and they killed the young men with the edge of the sword, and I alone escaped, I alone, to bring the report to you.”
16. Moreover, as this man was speaking, another man came in and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up both the sheep and the young men and consumed them, and I alone escaped, I alone, to bring the report to you.”
17. Moreover, as this man was speaking, another man came in and said, “The Chaldeans formed three companies and made a raid upon the camels and took them, and they killed the young men with the edge of the sword, and I alone escaped, I alone, to bring the report to you.”
18. Moreover, as this man was speaking, another man came in and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their brother, the firstborn,
19.and, behold, a great wind came from across the desert and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men and they died, and I alone escaped, I alone, to bring the report to you.”
20. And Job arose and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell to the earth, and worshipped.
21. And he said, “Naked, I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked, I will return there. Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away. Blessed be the name of Jehovah!”
22. In all this, Job did not sin, nor did he charge God foolishly.
Job 2
¶1. Again, it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came in to present themselves before the Lord, that Satan also came in among them to present himself before the Lord.
2. And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” And Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
3. And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one who fears God and eschews evil? And still, he holds fast his integrity, even though you moved me against him to destroy him without cause.”
4. And Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin, yes, all that a man has, he will give for his life.
5.Stretch out your hand now and strike his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.”
6. And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand. But save his life.”
7. So, Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and he struck Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the top of his head.
8. And he took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and he sat in ashes.
9. And his wife said to him, “Are you still clinging to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10. But he said to her, “You talk as one of the foolish women talk. What? Shall we receive good from God, and not receive evil?” In all this, Job did not sin with his lips.
11. And three friends of Job heard of all this evil that had come upon him, and they came, each one from his place: Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. Now, they had made an appointment together to come and grieve with him and to comfort him.
12. And they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and they did not recognize him, and they lifted up their voices and wept. And they tore, each man, his robe, and they threw dust toward heaven over their heads.
13. And they sat seven days and seven nights on the ground with him. And they spoke not a word to him because they saw that his pain was very great.
Job 3
¶1. After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day.
2. And Job answered, saying,
3.“Perish the day on which I was born, and the night which said, ‘A man is conceived!’
4.Let that day be darkness! Let God above not regard it, and let not daylight shine upon it.
5.Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it! Let a cloud settle upon it! Let a day of deep gloom overwhelm it!
6.Let thick darkness take that night away! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year! Let it not enter into the number of the months!
7.Behold! Let that night be barren! Let no joyful shout enter it!
8.Let them curse it who curse the day, those who are skilled in rousing Leviathan!
9.Let the stars of its twilight be dark! Let it long for light, and let there be none. Nor let it see the eyelids of dawn
10.because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.
11.Why did I not die in the womb and perish before I came out of the belly?
12.Why did knees greet me, and for what did breasts give me suck?
13.For now I would be lying down and be undisturbed; I would be asleep. Then, I would have rest
14.with kings and counsellors of the earth, who built desolate places for themselves,
15.or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver,
16.or like a hidden, untimely birth, I had not existed, like infants who did not see the light.
17.There, the wicked cease causing trouble, and there, the weary are at rest.
18.The prisoners are at peace together; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.
19.The small and the great there are one, and the slave is free from his master.
20.Why is light given to a suffering man, and life to a bitter soul?
21.They wait for death, but they cannot have it; they seek it more than for hidden treasures;
22.they rejoice greatly and are glad when they find a grave.
23.Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden and whom God has hedged in?
24.For my sighing comes ahead of my food, and my groanings pour forth like water,
25.because the thing I greatly dreaded has come upon me, and he whom I feared has come for me.
26.I was not at ease, nor was I doing nothing, nor was I at rest; yet, trouble came.”
Job 4
¶1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2.“If we venture a word to you, you may grow weary, but who can restrain from speaking?
3.Behold, you have instructed very many; you have strengthened weak hands.
4.Your speech upheld the man who was stumbling and strengthened tottering knees.
5.But now, it has come upon you, and you grow faint; it touches you, and you fall apart.
6.Was not your faith and the perfection of your ways your confidence and your hope?
7.Think back, now. Who has perished, being innocent? Or when were the upright brought to ruin?
8.Even as have I seen, those who plow iniquity and sow mischief reap the same.
9.By the breath of God, they perish; yea, by the breath of His nostrils do they perish.
10.The roar of the lion, even the sound of the lion, and the teeth of young lions are broken.
11.The lion perishes without prey, and the offspring of the lioness are separated from one another.
¶12. “Now, a word was subtly brought to me, and my ear caught in a whisper just some of it
13.when disquieting thoughts of night visions, when deep sleep falls upon men.
14.Dread came upon me, and trembling; a multitude of my bones were filled with dread.
15.Then a spirit passed before my face. The hair of my flesh stood up!
16.It stood still, but I did not recognize its form; it was a shape before my eyes. There was silence. And then I heard a voice:
17.‘Is a man more just than God? Or is a man purer than his Maker?
18.Behold, He puts no trust in His servants, and charges His angels with error.
19.How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dirt, who are crushed before a moth!
20.They are stricken from morning to evening; unnoticed, they vanish forever.
21.Is not their abundance taken away with them? They die, but with no wisdom.’
Job 5
¶1. “Call, if you want, if anyone will answer you! And to whom among saints will you turn?
2.For wrath slays the fool, and envy kills the simple-minded.
3.I myself have seen a fool take deep root, but suddenly, I cursed his dwelling.
4.His children are far from safety; they are crushed in the gates, and there is no deliverer,
5.whose harvest a hungry man may eat, and he takes it to a place among thorns. A snare gapes after their wealth.
6.Affliction certainly does not come from the dust, and trouble does not sprout up from the ground;
7.yet, man is born unto trouble, and the sparks fly upward.
8.Oh, but I would seek God, and to God would I present my case.
9.He does great things, and they are beyond finding out, wonders without number,
10.He gives rain upon the face of the earth, and sends waters upon the face of the fields,
11.to set on high those who are lowly, so that those who are heavy-hearted might be exalted to salvation.
12.He frustrates the devices of crafty men, so that their hands cannot accomplish their crafty goal.
13.He takes wise men in their craftiness; yea, the counsel of perverse men is anticipated.
14.They meet with darkness in the daytime, and at noon, they feel about as in the night.
15.But He will save the needy man from the sword, their mouth, and the power of the strong one.
16.And so, the poor man has hope, and injustice will shut its mouth.
17.Behold, blessed is the man whom God corrects. Yea, do not refuse the chastisement of the Almighty!
18.For He hurts, and He binds up; He wounds, and His hands heal.
19.He will deliver you in six troubles; yea, in seven, evil shall not touch you.
20.In famine, He will redeem you from death, and in war, from the power of the sword.
21.You will be hidden from the lash of the tongue, and you will not fear destruction when it comes.
22.At destruction and hunger will you laugh, and you will not fear the beast of the earth.
23.For you will be in league with the stones of the field, and the beast of the field will be at peace with you.
24.And you shall know that your tent is at peace, and you will visit your fold and find nothing missing.
25.And you will know that your seed will be many, yea, your offspring will be like the grass of the earth.
26.You will come in full strength to the grave, a shock of grain gathered in its season.
27.Behold, we have searched this out. It is so. Hear it, and know it yourself!”
Job 6
¶1. Then Job answered and said,
2.“O that my grief and my calamity were thoroughly weighed and laid in balances together!
3.For it would now be heavier than the sand of the sea. That is why my words have been rash.
4.For the arrows of the Almighty are stuck in me, whose poison my spirit is drinking; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
5.Does the wild ass bray over the grass, or an ox low over his fodder?
6.Is what is tasteless eaten without salt, or is there any taste in purslane juice?
7.My soul refuses to touch them; they are like contaminated food to me.
8.Who will bring my petition in, that God would grant the thing I hope for,
9.that God would assent to crush me? Let Him unleash His power and cut me off!
10.And yet, it is still a comfort to me – even in unrelenting agony I leap for joy – that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
11.What strength do I have, for which I should continue to hope? And what end do I have, for which my soul should continue to wait?
12.Oh, that the strength of stones were my strength! Oh, that my flesh were of bronze!
13.Even at that, would my help be in me when sound wisdom has been driven out of me?
14.Lovingkindness from his companion belongs to the one in despair, but he[1] has forsaken the fear of the Almighty.
15.My kinsmen are treacherous, like a torrent-valley; they pass on by, like the torrential streams
16.that are dark with ice, in which the snow hides itself.
17.In the season when they are heated, they are dried up; they disappear from their place because of the heat.
18.The caravans turn from their course; they go up into the wasteland and perish.
19.Caravans of Tema looked; the travelers from Sheba longed for it.
20.They were disappointed because they had hoped; they came to it and were put to shame.
To Eliphaz and his companions.
21. “For now, you are become nothing; you see a terror, and you are afraid.
22.When have I said, ‘Give me something!’ or ‘Offer me a bribe out of your wealth!’
23.or ‘Deliver me from the hand of an adversary!’ or ‘Redeem me out of the hand of ruthless men’?
24.You teach me – and I will make myself quiet – as to how I have gone astray. You men make me understand!
25.How forceful are the words of an upright man! But what is your reproof reproving?
26.Do you presume to sit in judgment on speeches and consign the words of a despairing man to the wind?
27.You would even cast lots for the orphan and make merchandise of your friend.
28.But now, be so kind as to turn your faces toward me, and may God damn me if I would lie to your faces.[2]
29.Repent, I beseech you! Let there be no injustice, but let it turn my righteousness continually against it!
30.Is there injustice in my tongue? Or does my palate discern your lusts?
Job 7
¶1. “Does not man on earth do hard service, and yet, his days are like the days of a hireling?
2.Like a slave, he pants for a shadow, and like a hireling, he looks forward to his wages.
3.Just so, am I given months of emptiness as my inheritance, and nights of hard labor are assigned to me.
4.If I lie down, I think, ‘How long before I rise?’ Then He prolongs the evening and fills me with tossings until dawn.
5.He clothes my flesh with worms and hardens my skin with lumps of dust, and then it runs again.
6.My days are swifter than a loom, and they end without hope.
7.He remembers that my life is like a breath. My eye shall not again see goodness,
8.nor shall the eye of him who sees me behold my figure. Your eyes may look for me, but I will not be.
9.As a cloud dissipates and is gone away, he who goes down to Sheol does not come up.
10.He does not return again to his house; nor will his place know him any more.
11.As for me, I will not refrain my mouth! I will speak in the distress of my spirit! I will complain in the bitterness of my soul!
To God
¶12. “If I were a sea serpent, would you set a guard over me?
13.When I think my couch will comfort me, that my bed will ease my complaint,
14.you frighten me with dreams; and terrify me with visions
15.so that my soul chooses strangling, even death, rather than my bones.
16.I loathe life. I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.
17.What is man, that you should magnify him, or that you would set your heart upon him?
18.Yea, you visit him every morning; every moment, you try him.
19.Why will you not turn your gaze away from me? You will not leave me alone so that I might swallow down my spittle.
20.I have sinned. What shall I do for you, O Watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your target, so that I am burden to myself?
21.And for what reason will you not pardon my transgression or take my iniquity away? For I am about to lie in the dust; you will seek me, but I will not be.”
Job 8
¶1. Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,
2.“How long will you utter these things? For the words of your mouth are a big wind.
3.Does God pervert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?
4.If your children sinned against Him, and He gave them into the power of their transgression,
5.if you diligently sought God and earnestly implored His favor,
6.if you were pure and upright, then He would rouse Himself for you and make your righteous abode prosperous.
7.And though your beginning be small, your end would increase greatly.
8.For inquire, if you will, of the previous generation, and consider carefully what their fathers searched out,
9.for we are but lately come, and we do not know, for our days on earth are a shadow.
10.Will they not teach you, speak to you, and bring out words from their understanding?
11.Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh, or reeds flourish without water?
12.When it is yet in flower, not picked, it withers before any plant.
13.So are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the profane man perishes.
14.He loathes his stupidity, for his trust was in a spider’s web.
15.He leaned upon his web, but it did not stand; he clung to it, but it did not hold up.
16.It is moist in the sunshine, and in his garden, its lines go out.
17.On a pile of stones, its radials are woven; it gives the appearance of a web of stones.
18.If one destroys it from its place, then he speaks falsely about it, saying, ‘I did not see you.’
19.Behold, this is the joy of its way, and out of the dust, others will come up.
20.Behold, God will not reject a perfect man, and He will not strengthen the hand of wicked men,
21.until laughter fills your mouth, and your lips shout for joy.
22.Those who hate you will be clothed in shame, and the tent of wicked men shall be no more.”
Job 9
¶1. And Job answered and said,
2.“I truly know that is so. But how is a man righteous before God?
3.If he wants to contend with Him, he cannot answer Him one time in a thousand.
4.He is wise of heart and mighty in strength. Who has been stubborn against Him and done well?
5.He moves mountains, and they do not know who overturned them in His anger.
6.He makes the earth to quake out of its place and its pillars tremble.
7.He says to the sun, ‘Let it rise!’ and puts a seal about the stars,
8.He stretched out the heavens by Himself, and treads upon the heights of the sea.
9.He made Ursa Major,[3] Orion, and Pleides, and the chambers of the south.
10.He does great things that are unsearchable and wonders beyond number.
11.Behold, He is passing over me, but I do not see Him, and He passes on, but I do not understand Him.
12.Behold! He snatches away. Who will make Him repent? Who will say to Him, ‘What are you doing?’
13. God will not repent of His anger. Beneath Him, the helpers of the Proud One[4] bow.
14.How much less shall I answer Him and choose to use my words with Him!
15.Even if I was righteous, I would not answer His charge against me. I would plead with my Accuser for mercy.
16. If I called out and He answered me, I would not believe that He had listened to my voice.
17.He is crushing me with a tempest and has multiplied my wounds without cause.
18.He is not letting me draw in my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
19.If it were a matter decided by strength, behold, He is the Mighty One! And if it were a legal case, who would subpoena Him?
20.Though I am in the right, my own mouth condemns me. I am blameless, but He has declared me crooked.
21.I am blameless! I do not recognize myself. I despise my life.
22.It is all the same. That is why I say that He will destroy either a blameless or a wicked man.
23.If with a sudden calamity, He causes death, He mocks the despair of innocent people.
24.The earth has been given into the hand of the Wicked One, and He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not so, then who is the one who has done it?
To God
¶25. “My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away and they see no goodness.
26.They sail away like reed ships, like an eagle swooping upon its prey.
27.If I say, ‘I will drop my complaint; I will let my sadness go, and smile,’
28.I would still be afraid of all my pains, for I know that you would not acquit me.
29.I am already condemned. To what purpose is it that I should labor in vain?
30.Even if I washed myself in snow and cleansed my hands with lye,
31.you would still plunge me into the Pit. My own garments would abhor me.
Job’s Plea for an Arbiter
¶32.There is certainly no man like me. O let me answer Him! Let us come together in a court!
33.There is nothing between us. Let an arbiter lay his hand upon us both.
34.Let Him make His rod turn away from me, so that the dread of Him stops terrifying me.
35.I would speak so that I may stop being afraid of Him. I am certainly not like that within myself.
Job 10
Job states what his case would be.
¶1. “I loathe my life. I have left off my complaint; I spoke in the bitterness of my soul.
2.I would say to God, ‘Stop condemning me! Help me understand why you are contending with me!
3.Is it good that you oppress me, that you despise the work of your own hands and make the counsel of the wicked to shine?
4.Do you have eyes of flesh, or do you see as a man sees?
5.Are your days like the days of a man, or your years like a man’s years?
6.For you have sought for my iniquity. Yea, you have sought out my sin,
7.although you know that I am not guilty. But there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.
8.Your hands shaped me, and you altogether made me, yet you swallow me up!
9.Remember, I pray, that you made me like clay and that you will return me to dirt.
10.Have you not poured me out like milk and curdled me like cheese?
11.You clothed me with skin and flesh and surrounded me with bones and sinews.
12.You granted me life and lovingkindness, and your providence preserved my spirit.
13.But you have hidden these things in your heart. I know that this is within you!
14.If I sin, you watch me, and you will not acquit me of my iniquity.
15.If I am wicked, woe be unto me, and if I am righteous, I will not lift up my head. I am full of disgrace, seeing my affliction!
16.When it was raised up, you, like a lion, hunted me down. Then you came back and worked wonders against me.
17.You produce your fresh witnesses against me and increase your irritation with me. Changes and war are with me.
18.O why did you bring me out of the womb? Would that I had died and no eye had seen me!
19.I should have been as though I had not lived, but carried from the womb to the grave.
20.Are not my days few? Stop! Go away from me, that I might find a little cheer
21.before I go – and I shall not return – to the land of darkness and shadows,
22.the land of darkness like the darkness of shadows, without order, and even the light is like darkness.’”
Job 11
¶1. Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
2.“Should not a multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk be justified?
3.Should your vain speech make men silent? And when you mock God, should no one put you to shame?
4.For you have said, ‘My doctrine is pure,’ and ‘I am clean in your sight.’
5.O that God would speak and open His lips against you,
6.and show you the secrets of wisdom, that sound wisdom has two sides! Know that God is exacting of you less than your iniquity deserves!
7.Will you find God by studying? Will you find the limits of the Almighty?
8.It is beyond the heights of heaven. What will you do? It is deeper than Sheol. What do you know?
9.It is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.
10.If He passes through, and imprisons, and summons an assembly, who will turn Him back?
11.For He knows vain men, and He sees iniquity, but He does not ponder over it.
12.For an empty-headed man will be wise when a wild donkey’s colt is born as a man.
13.When you direct your heart and spread out your hands to Him,
14.if there is iniquity in your hands, put it far away, and do not allow injustice to dwell in your tents.
15.For then, you will lift up your face without blemish, and you will be established and have no fear.
16.Yea, you will forget trouble; you will remember it as waters that have passed on away.
17.Brighter than noonday will your life be; its darkness will be as morning.
18.You will be confident because there is hope; you will look around and lie down in safety.
19.Yea, you will stretch yourself out, for there will be nothing to cause terror, and many will court your favor.
20.But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and there will be no escape for them, and their hope is that they might expire.”
Job 12
Job scolds Zophar for his shallowness.
¶1. Then Job answered and said,
2.“No doubt, you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.
3.I have understanding, just as you men do. I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
4.I am a laughingstock to my friends – one who has called on God and He answered – a righteous, perfect man, a laughingstock!
5.The one who is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.
6.The tents of robbers are at ease, and those who provoke God are safe, for whom God gathers with His hand.
7.Yet, ask the beasts, if you will, and they will teach you, or a bird of the sky and he will make it clear to you.
8.Or talk to the earth and let it teach you, or let the fish of the sea explain it to you.
9.Who does not know that in all these things, the hand of God has done it,
10.in whose hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of every man’s flesh?
11.Does not the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food?
12.Wisdom belongs to old men, and understanding to length of days.
13.With Him is wisdom and might; counsel and understanding are His.
14.Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt. He shuts a man in, and it cannot be opened.
15.Behold, He withholds the waters, and they dry up; then He sends them, and the earth is overwhelmed.
16.With Him are strength and sound wisdom; to Him belong the deceiver and the deceived.
17.Counsellors are made to walk barefoot, and judges are turned into fools.
18.He looses binding of kings, and binds waist-cloth on their loins.
19.He makes priests to walk barefoot, and He upends the mighty.
20.He deprives trustworthy men of speech and takes away the discernment of old men.
21.He pours contempt upon nobles and loosens the girdle of the mighty.
22.He uncovers deep things out of darkness and brings the shadow of death to the light.
23.He increases the nations and destroys them; He expands the nations and leads them captive.
24.He turns aside the hearts of the leaders of the people of earth and causes them to wander about in a trackless wasteland.
25.They grope in the dark and have no light, and He makes them stagger about like drunks.
Job 13
¶1. “Behold, my eye has seen it all; my ear has heard and understood it.
2.I know what you know, and I am certainly not inferior to you.
3.I would much rather speak with the Almighty, and present my argument before the God in whom I delight.
4.But as for you, you spreaders of lies, are worthless physicians, all of you.
5.Who will make you shut up? Be silent, and let that be your wisdom!
6.Hear, I pray, my argument, and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7.You speak for God falsely. Yea, you talk deceitfully on His behalf.
8.Would you show Him partiality? Would you argue God’s case?
9.Will it be well with you when He searches you out? Or as one deceives a man, will you deceive Him?
10.He will certainly rebuke you if you secretly show partiality.
11.Shall not His indignation come upon you, and dread of Him fall on you?
12.Your platitudes are parables of ashes, and your defenses are defenses of mud.
13.Be silent before me and let me speak, I pray, and let come to me what will.
14.To what purpose do I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hand?
15.Though He slay me, I will trust Him.[5] Only, I will defend my ways before Him.
16.Moreover, this will be my salvation because a profane man shall not enter into His presence.
17.Listen carefully to what I am saying! Yea, take my declaration into your ears!
18.Behold, if you will, that I have set in order my cause. I know that I am righteous.
19.Who is he that finds fault with me? For then, I would be silent and die.
To God
¶20. “Only, do not do two things to me. Then, I will not hide from your face.
21.Take your hand far from me and let not your terror make me afraid.
22.Just call out, and I will answer. Or let me speak, and you reply to me.
23.What are my iniquities or sins? Show me my transgression and my sin!
24.Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?
25.Would you make a driven leaf to tremble, or pursue dry chaff?
26.But you have written bitter things against me and have caused me to inherit the iniquities of my youth.
27.You have put my feet in stocks, and you watch all my ways; you have made a mark upon the soles of my feet.
28.And man wastes away like something rotten, like a garment eaten by a moth.
Job 14
¶1. “Man who is born of woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
2.He comes forth like a flower, and then withers away. Yea, he flees like a shadow and does not continue.
3.Upon this man have you certainly set your eyes, that you might bring me into judgment with you.
4.Who can produce a clean thing from an unclean thing? Not one.
5.If his days are determined, the number of his months being with you, you have made a boundary for him that he cannot go beyond.
6.Remove your gaze from him, that he might rest until he is refreshed, as a hired man ending his day.
7.For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it might sprout up again and that its shoot will not fail.
8.For if its root in the earth grows old and its stump dies in the dirt,
9.through the scent of water, it may sprout and put forth branches like a plant.
10.But a man dies, and he lies low. Yea, he breathes his last, and where is he?
11.Waters evaporate from the sea, and a river becomes parched and dries up,
12.but a man lies down and will not rise until heaven is no more. They will not awake or rouse up from their sleep.
13.Oh, that you would hide me in Sheol and conceal me until your anger is passed, that you would appoint me a time and remember me!
14.If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service would I wait, until my change comes.
15.Call, and I will answer! Show concern for the work of your hands!
16.But now, you number my steps. Do not keep watch for my sin!
17.You have sealed up my transgression in a bag and fastened down my iniquity!
18.Yet, the mountain, falling down, sinks, and the rock is moved from its place.
19.Water rubs stones; its torrents wash off the soil of the earth. So, you cause the hope of man to perish.
20.You always prevail against him, and then, he leaves. You change his countenance and send him away.
21.His sons are honored, but he does not know it. Or they are brought low, and he has no knowledge of it.
22.Only, his flesh on him feels pain, and his soul within him mourns.”
Job 15
¶1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2.“Should a wise man respond to vain knowledge and fill his belly with the east wind?
3.Should he argue with worthless talk, and words in which he finds no good?
4.You have repudiated fear and withheld devotion from God,
5.for your iniquity instructs your mouth, and your tongue chooses craftiness.
6.Your own mouth condemns you, and not I. Your own lips testify against you!
7.Are you the first man born, or were you brought forth before the hills?
8.Have you listened in on the privy counsel of God, or do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9.What do you know that we do not know, or have understanding that is not in us?
10.The grey-headed and aged man are with us, much older than your father.
11.Are the consolations of God too small for you, or the word spoken gently to you?
12.Why does your heart take you away, and why do your eyes flash,
13.so that your spirit turns against God and you allow such words to come out of your mouth?
14.What is man, that he should be clean, or that one born of woman should be righteous?
15.Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in His sight.
16.How much less a vile and corrupt man, who drinks iniquity like water!
17.I will teach you. Listen to me, for I have seen this, and I will declare
18.that which wise men have reported from their fathers and have not hidden.
19.To them, to them alone was the land given, and no stranger passed through their midst.
20.The wicked man writhes in pain all the time, through the number of years laid up for the ruthless man.
21.The sound of terrors is in his ears; in his prosperity, destruction comes upon him.
22.He does not believe that he will return from the darkness; he feels appointed to the sword.
23.He wanders about for bread, asking, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that the day of darkness is at hand for him, prepared.
24.Distress and anguish terrify him; they overwhelm him, like a king prepared for the onset of battle.
25.But he has stretched out his hand against God and vaunted himself against the Almighty,
26.running at Him, stiff-necked,[6] with his thick, bossed shields.
27.Yea, he has covered his face with his fatness and added heftiness about his loins.
28.He dwells in devastated cities, in houses which men do not occupy, which were ordained to be a heap of ruins.
29.He will not be rich, nor will his wealth last, nor will their acquisitions spread over the earth.
30.He will not depart from darkness. A flame shall dry up his branch, and He will depart along with the breath of his mouth.
31.Let him not trust in vanity! He is deceived because vanity is his recompense.
32.It shall be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not be green.
33.He will shake off his unripe grape like a vine and cast off his blossom like an olive tree.
34.For a profane congregation will be barren, even as fire will consume the tents of bribery.
35.He conceives trouble and gives birth to iniquity, and their inward part prepares treachery.”
Job 16
¶1. Then Job answered and said,
2.“I have heard many such things. Miserable comforters are you all!
3.Will there be no end to long-winded speeches? Or what illness do you have, that you give such an answer?
4.I could also speak as you do if your souls were in my soul’s place. I could string words together against you and shake my head at you.
5.But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips would bring you relief.
6.If I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I hold back, what pain leaves me?
7.Surely, He has now worn me out.
To God
¶“You have made me desolate of all my company!
8.You have pressed me sore, which is a witness against me. Yea, my own leanness has risen up against me; it testifies to my face.
To the earth, as a hoped-for arbiter
¶9. “His anger has ripped me to shreds, and yet, He continues to hate me. He has gnashed on me with His teeth. My Adversary keeps sharpening His eyes at me.
10.They have gaped at me with their mouths; they have struck both my cheeks with contempt; they are massing together against me.
11.God has handed me over to the Unjust One, and into the hands of wicked men, He suddenly put me.
12.I was quiet, yet He shattered me. Yea, He seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces. He has set me up as a target for Him.
13.His archers surround me! He cleaves my kidneys apart, and He does not spare. He pours out my gall to the ground.
14.He breaks me with breach upon breach; he runs me over like a tyrant.
15.Sackcloth have I sewn upon my skin and lain my horn in the dust.
16.My face is contorted from my weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death,
17.even though there is no cruelty in my hands. My prayer is pure!
18.O earth, do not cover my blood! And may there be no place in it for my cry!
19.Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my Advocate is on high.
20.My friends ridicule me, but my eye pours out tears to God.
21.Oh, that one might argue for a man with God, as a person might do for his fellow.
22.For when a few years are come, then I shall go the way I shall not return.
Job 17
¶1. “My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the graves are ready for me.
2.Mockers are certainly with me, and my eye lives with their rebelliousness.
3.Let my pledge be put down, I pray, with you! Who is he that will take my hand?
4.For you have hidden their hearts from good sense; therefore, you will not exalt them.
5.He who flatters friends for a reward, even the eyes of his sons shall fail.
6.He has made me a by-word of people. Yea, I am one whose face is used for spitting.
7.My eye has grown dim with grief; all my members are like a shadow.
8.The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent man stirs himself up against the profane one.
9.The righteous man holds to his way, and clean hands increase in strength.
10.Howbeit, all of you will come back, so come on! But I will not find a wise man among you.
11.My days are passed; my plans have been torn away, and my dearest possessions.
12.They transform night to day, saying, ‘The light is near!’ in the presence of darkness.
13.If I look for Sheol to be my home, if I spread out my bed in the darkness,
14.if I call the Pit my father, or corruption my mother or my sister,
15.where, then, is my hope? And as for my hope, who will see it?
16.The gates of Sheol will collapse if we rest together in the dust!”
Job 18
¶1. The Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,
2.“How long will you lay word traps? Be sensible,[7] and afterward, we will talk.
3.Why are we thought of as beasts? In your eyes, we are stupid –
4.as he tears at his own soul in His anger! Will the earth be forsaken because of you, or the rock moved from its place?
5.He extinguishes the light of wicked men so that the flame of his fire does not shine.
6.The light in his tent will be dark, and his lamp by him will go out.
7.His strong steps are hindered, and his own schemes cast him down.
8.Yea, he is cast into a net by his own feet; he walks upon a net-work.
9.A trap seizes his heel; a snare grips him.
10.A cord is hidden for him in the earth, and a trap is laid for him on the path.
11.Terrors on every side frighten him and hound his every step.
12.His strength is famished, and calamity is at his side, ready.
13.It will devour his body parts; the firstborn of death will devour his members.
14.He will be torn away from his tent, his confidence, and marched to the king of terrors.
15.Nothing that is his will remain in his tent; brimstone will be scattered upon his habitation.
16.His roots will dry up underneath, and above, his branches will wither.
17.His memory will perish from the earth, and he will have no name in the land.
18.They drive him from light into darkness and chase him away from the world.
19.He shall have no progeny or posterity among his people, nor any survivor in the places he lived.
20.Those on the west shall be appalled at his day, and those on the east will be gripped with horror.
21.Surely, such are the dwellings of an unjust man, and such is the place of him knows not God.”
Job 19
¶1. Then Job answered and said,~
2.“How long will you make my soul suffer and crush me with words!
3.These ten times, you have insulted me. You are not ashamed that you have wronged me.
4.Even if I have indeed erred, my error abides with me.
5.If you would indeed magnify yourselves against me and use my disgrace against me,
6.know now that God has overthrown me, and encompassed me in His net.
7.Behold, I cry out of wrong and receive no answer! I call for help and there is no justice!
8.He has walled up my path, and I cannot go on; upon my paths has He laid darkness.
9.He has stripped me of my glory, and removed the crown from my head.
10.He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. He has uprooted my hope like a tree.
11.His anger burns against me; He thinks of me as His enemy.
12.His troops come together and build up their ramp against me; they encamp round about my tent.
13.He has removed my brothers far from me, and those who know me treat me like a complete stranger.
14.My kinsmen have ceased from me, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
15.Those who stay in my home, even my maidservants, think of me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their eyes.
16.I call for my servant and receive no answer; I plead to him with my mouth.
17.My breath is loathsome to my wife, and I am disgusting to the mother of my sons.
18.Even little boys despise me; when I appear, they speak against me.
19.All the men of my counsel abhor me, and those I loved have turned against me.
20.My skin and my flesh cleave to my bones, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
21.Have pity on me! Have pity on me, my friends! For the hand of God has touched me!
22.Why do you pursue me like God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
23.Oh, that my words were written down! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book,
24.that with an iron stylus and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!
25.Yet, I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end, he shall stand upon the earth!
26.And afterwards, when this skin they have destroyed, yet without my flesh, I shall see God,
27.whom I, myself, shall behold! Yea, my own eyes shall see Him, and not as a stranger. My reins within my bosom fail,
28.for you think, ‘How shall we pursue him?’ But the root of the matter is found with me.
29.Be afraid of the sword! For wrath brings the punishments of the sword so that you may know there is a judgment.”
Job 20
¶1. The Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,
2.“To that end, my disquieted thoughts bring me back, and because it is in me to make haste to speak.
3.I keep hearing ‘correction is an insult to me,’ but the spirit of my understanding leads me to answer.
4.Do you not know this from old, from when man was placed on the earth,
5.that the joyful shouting of wicked men is short, and the gladness of a profane man is but for a moment?
6.Though his arrogance mount up to heaven and his head touch the clouds,
7.he will perish, like his own dung, forever. Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
8.Like a dream, he will fly away and they will not find him, and he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9.The eye that looked on him will not again do so. Yea, it will no longer see him in his place.
10.His children will seek the favor of poor people, for their hands will relinquish his wealth.
11.Though his bones be full of youthful vigor, they will lie down with him in the dust.
12.Though evil is sweet in his mouth, he hides it under his tongue.
13.He wants it and will not forsake it, but savors it in the midst of his palate.
14.His food in his bowels is turned to the poison of venomous serpents within him.
15.He swallows down wealth, but vomits it up out of his belly. God dispossesses him.
16.He will suck the poison of venomous serpents; the viper’s tongue will kill him.
17.He will not see the streams, the flowing rivers of honey and curds.
18.His profit will he give back, and he will not swallow it down. Nor will he rejoice in any wealth gained by his trade.
19.For he has oppressed and abandoned destitute people; he has violently seized a house, but he will not build it up.
20.Because he knows no contentment in his belly, he does not preserve what he lusted after.
21.Nothing survives for him to eat, so that he does not enjoy his prosperity.
22.At the height of his boasting, distress comes to him; the hand of every suffering person will come at him.
23.When he would fill his belly, He will send burning anger into it and make it rain upon him, into his very bowels.
24.He will flee from a weapon of iron; a bronze bow will pierce him through.
25.He draws it, and it comes out his back, even the glittering point from his gallbladder; terrors come over him.
26.Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures; a fire not blown by man will feed on him; it will go ill with him who remains in his tent.
27.The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.
28.The possessions in his house will be carried off, flowing away in the day of His wrath.
29.This is the portion from God of an evil man, even the inheritance decreed for him by God.”
Job 21
¶1. Then Job answered and said,
2.“Listen carefully to my words, and let this be your consolation.
3.Bear with me while I speak, and afterward, continue your mockery.
4.Is my complaint to a man? Then, why should my spirit not be passionate?
5.Look at me and be appalled, and lay your hands upon your mouths!
6.When I bring it to mind, I am dismayed, and trembling seizes my flesh.
7.Why are the wicked alive? They grow old and grow greatly in power.
8.Their seed is established with them in their presence, and their offspring, before their eyes.
9.Their houses are safe from fear, and the rod of God is not upon them.
10.His bull breeds without fail; his cow bears calves and does not miscarry.
11.They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance.
12.They sing to the timbrel and lyre, and rejoice to the sound of a pipe.
13.They spend their days in plenteousness, and then go down to Sheol in an instant.
14.And they say to God, ‘Leave us! We have no desire for the knowledge of your ways.
15.What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what would we gain if we entreat Him?’
16.Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of wicked men be far from me!
17.How often is the lamp of wicked men put out, and their calamity comes upon them! He distributes pains to them in His anger.
18.They are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm-wind sweeps away.
19.God stores up his iniquity for his children. He recompenses him, that he might come to know.
20.He will see with his own eyes his ruin.[8] Yes, he will drink the wrath of the Almighty.
21.For what does he care for his house after him, when the number of his months is cut in two?
22.Would he teach God knowledge, seeing He judges those on high?
23.A man may die in his full strength, altogether at ease and prosperous,
24.his buckets full of milk, and the marrow of his bones, moist.
25.Or a man may die in bitterness of soul, and does not eat in plenty.
26.They lie in the dust together, and the worm covers them.
27.Behold, I know your thoughts, and you do me great wrong with imaginations against me.
28.For you say, “Where is the house of the noble man?” and “Where is the tent where the wicked live?”
29.Have you not asked those who travel the road? Or do you not accept their pledges,
30.that in the day of calamity, an evil man is spared, and in the day of wrath, they are brought safely out?
31.Who will expose his way to his face? And who will recompense him for what he has done?
32.And then, he will be borne to the grave, and vigil will be kept at his tomb.
33.The clods of the valley are sweet to him. And all mankind will follow after him, as there were innumerable before him.
34.So, how do you comfort me with worthlessness? Yea, your responses are leftover falsehood!”
Job 22
¶1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2.“Is a man profitable to God? No, he who is wise is profitable to himself.
3.Is it God’s delight that you are righteous, or a benefit to Him that you make your ways perfect?
4.Is it because of your fear of God that He is reproving you? He has entered into judgment against you!
5.Are you not very evil? Yea, there is no end to your iniquities.
6.For you have taken a pledge from your brothers for nothing, and have stripped the naked of their garments.
7.You have not given drink to the weary, and have withheld food from the hungry.
8.But the earth belongs to the mighty man, and the privileged man occupies it.
9.You have sent widows away empty and broken the arms of orphans.
10.That is why snares are all about you and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11.or darkness so that you cannot see, and a flood of waters covers you.
12.Is not God in the height of heaven? Then, look at the high stars, how lofty they are!
13.But you say, ‘What does God know? Can He judge from behind thick darkness?
14.Clouds are a veil to Him, so that He does not see. He just walks about on the circle of heaven.’
15.Will you keep to the old path which wicked men have walked,
16.in which they are snatched away, and their foundation is washed away in an untimely flood,
17.who say to God, ‘Depart from us,’ and ‘What shall the Almighty do to us?’
18.Yet, He filled their houses with goods. The counsel of evil men is also far from me![9]
19.The righteous will see and rejoice, and the innocent man will mock them.
20.Let God damn me if our adversary will not be destroyed, and fire does not consume the rest of them!
21.Acquaint yourself with Him, I beseech you, and be at peace. Thereby, prosperity will come to you!
22.Receive instruction, I beseech you, from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart!
23.If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up, if you put wrong far from your tent.
24.Just lay your gold in the dust, even your fine gold from Ophir in the stone of the wadys.
25.Then the Almighty will be your gold pieces and your fine silver.
26.Yea, then you will take great delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.
27.You will make supplication to Him, and He will hear you, and you will pay your vows.
28.You will decide a matter, and it will stand for you, and light will shine on your ways.
29.When men are brought low, and you say, ‘Lift them up,’ then He will save the humble man.
30.He will even deliver one who is not innocent. Yea, even he will be delivered by the cleanliness of your hands.”
Job 23
¶1. Then Job answered and said,
2.“Today also my complaint is bitter. My hand has become heavy because of my groaning.
3.Oh, that I knew where I might find Him! I would go to His house!
4.Let me lay out my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments!
5.Let me know the words that He would answer me, and understand what He would say to me!
6.Would He contend against me with His great power? No! But He would pay attention to me.
7.There, this upright man might reason with Him, and be delivered forever from my Judge.
8.Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
9.on the left hand where He is working, but I cannot behold Him; He is hiding Himself on the right hand so that I cannot see Him.
10.Still, He knows how it is with me, and when He has tried me, I will come forth like gold.
11.My foot has held fast to His steps. I have kept His way. I have not turned aside.
12.Nor have I departed from the commandment of His lips. I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.
13.But He is of one mind, and who can turn Him? Truly, whatever He wants, He does.
14.For He will finish what is appointed for me, and many such things are with Him.
15.That is why I am dismayed at His presence; I consider, and I fear before Him.
16.Yea, God has made my heart faint, for the Almighty has terrified me.
17.But I am not done away with by the darkness, nor because darkness has covered my face.
Job 24
¶1. “Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, does he who knows Him not live out his days?
2.Men move boundary markers; they steal and then pasture flocks.
3.They drive away donkeys belonging to orphans and take in pledge a widow’s ox.
4.They shove needy people out of the way; the poor of earth hide themselves together.
5.Behold, like wild asses in the desert, they go out to their toil, watching eagerly for prey. The steppe is his food for the children.
6.In the field, they gather their fodder and glean the vineyard of the evil man.
7.They pass the night naked, without clothing, and there is no covering in the cold.
8.They are wet from mountain rains, and without shelter, they huddle against rocks.
9.They tear the orphan from the breast, and take a pledge from a poor man.
10.They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they gather up sheaves.
11.Within the walls of those men, they press out oil; they tread the presses, but suffer thirst.
12.In the city, men groan, their wounded soul cries out for help, but God pays no attention to the wrong.
13.These are those who rebel against the light; they are not acquainted with its ways, nor do they stay in its paths.
14.The murderer rises with the light. He slays the poor and needy man, and at night, he is like a thief.
15.The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight, thinking, ‘No eye will recognize me,’ as he puts a covering on his face.
16.In the dark, he digs into houses; in the day, they seal themselves up. They do not know the light.
17.For to them, morning is the same as the shadow of death; yea, they are acquainted with deep darkness.
18.He is like foam on the surface of the waters; their portion in the earth is cursed; he will not turn to the way of vineyards.
19.Drought and heat snatch away snow waters; Sheol snatches away those who sin.
20.The womb will forget him. He is sweet to the worm. He will no longer be remembered. Injustice will be broken like a tree.
21.He preys on the barren, childless woman, and does the widow no good.
22.But he preserves mighty men by his power. He rises, and does not believe in life.
23.He gives him security, and he relies on it, but His eyes are on their ways.
24.They are exalted a little while, and then, they are gone and brought low. Like all others, they will be gathered, and like heads of grain, they will wither.
25.If it is not so, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech as nothing?”
Job 25
¶1. Then Bildad the Hushite answered and said,
2.“Dominion and fear are with Him; He makes peace in His high places.
3.Is there any number to His troops? And upon whom does His light not rise?
4.Moreover, how can a man be righteous with God? And how can a man born of woman be pure?
5.Behold, even the moon has no brightness, and the stars are not pure in His sight.
6.How much less a man, who is a worm, and the son of man, who is a worm?”
Job 26
¶1. Then Job answered and said,
2.“How have you helped him who has no power? How have you delivered the arm that is without strength?
3.How have you counseled him who has no wisdom? or made much sound wisdom known?
4.Who moved you to speak those words, and whose breath came forth from you?
5.The shades writhe underneath the waters and their inhabitants.
6.Sheol is naked before Him, and there is no covering for Abaddon.
7.He sends a watcher[10] over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing whatever.
8.He wraps waters with His dark clouds, and yet, a cloud does not burst open under them.
9.He obscures the face of His throne, spreading His cloud over it.
10.As a statute, He has drawn a circle over the surface of the waters, marking the boundary between light and darkness.
11.The pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at His rebuke.
12.By His power, He stirs up the sea, and by His understanding He strikes through the Proud One.
13.By His Spirit, heaven became clear, for His power pierced the fleeing Serpent.
14.Behold, these are but the outskirts of His ways. Oh, how small a whisper do we hear of Him, and who can comprehend His mighty thunder?”
Job 27
¶1. Again, Job took up his parable and said,
2.“By the life of God, He has turned away my justice! Yea, the Almighty has embittered my soul.
3.As long as my breath is in me and the breath of God is in my nostrils,
4.my lips shall not speak unrighteousness, nor shall my tongue utter deceit!
5.I will never justify you! Until I die, I will not forsake my integrity!
6.I will hold fast my righteousness and I will not let it go! My heart will not condemn me so long as I live!
7.Let my enemy be as the wicked man, and let him who rises up against me be as an unrighteous one.
8.For what hope does the profane man have, though he has gained by wrong, when God takes his soul away?
9.Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?
10.If in the Almighty he had taken delight, he would have called upon God continually.
11.I will teach you by the power of God; what is with the Almighty, I will not conceal.
12.Behold, all of you have seen this yourselves; why then have you become so utterly vain?
13.This is an evil man’s portion from God, and the inheritance ruthless men will receive from the Almighty:
14.if his children multiply, it is for the sword, and his descendants will not have enough food.
15.He who survives him will be buried in death, and his widows will not weep.
16.If he heaps up silver like dust and prepares clothing like clay,
17.he prepares it, but a righteous man will wear it, and a guiltless man will distribute the silver.
18.His house that he builds is like a moth’s, or like a shelter a watchman has made.
19.A rich man lies down, but he will not do so again. He opens his eyes, and he is not.
20.Terrors overtake him like waters; a storm-wind steals him away in the night.
21.An east wind will carry him off, and he will be gone. Yea, it will sweep him away from his place.
22.It hurls upon him and shows no pity; he fain would flee from its power.
23.It claps its hands over him and hisses at him from its place.
Job 28
¶1. “When there is a mine for silver and a place for gold, men will refine it.
2.Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from stones.
3.He has made an end of the darkness, for he searches for ore to the greatest extent in gloom and deep darkness.
4.Away from where people live, he breaks opens a shaft in places that foot has forgotten. Away from men, they dangle and sway.
5.As for the earth, food comes out of it; however, beneath it, it is turned, as it were by fire.
6.Its stones are a place for sapphires, and its dirt, a place for gold.
7.That path, no bird of prey knows, nor has the falcon’s eye seen it.
8.Children of pride have not walked it; lion has not passed by.
9.He puts forth his hand to the flint; he overturns mountains by the root.
10.He hews out shafts in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.
11.He binds up streams to keep them from flowing and brings hidden things to light.
¶12.But where is wisdom found? And where is the place of understanding?
13.Man does not know its value, for it is not found in the land of the living.
14.The deep says, ‘It is not in me.’ And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15.Fine gold cannot be given for it, nor is its price weighed out in silver.
16.Nor can it be weighed against the gold of Ophir, against the precious onyx or sapphire.
17.Neither gold nor glass is equal to it, nor is it exchanged for an object of refined gold.
18.Coral and crystal are not even mentioned, for the cost of wisdom is beyond rubies.[11]
19.The topaz of Ethiopia is not comparable to it; it is not valued with pure gold.
20.From where, then, does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding?
21.It is concealed from the eyes of all living; even from the fowl of heaven is it hidden.
22.Abaddon and Death say, ‘With our ears have we heard talk of it.’
23.God grants understanding of its way, for He knows its place.
24.For He looks to the ends of the earth; He sees under all of heaven,
25.to make a weight for the wind and apportion the waters by measure
26.to make His decree for the rain and for lightning and thunder.
27.Then he saw and declared it; He established it and searched it out.
28.And He said to man, ‘Behold! Fear the Lord! He is Wisdom!’ and ‘Turn from evil to understanding!’”
Job 29
¶1. And Job continued to utter his parable and said,
2.“Oh, that I was as in months past, as in the days when God protected me,
3.when His lamp shined upon my head, and by His light, I walked through darkness,
4.as when I was in my strength, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle,
5.when the Almighty was still with me, when my little ones were around me,
6.when I washed my steps with cream, and the rock poured out streams of oil for me,
7.when I went out to the gate of the city, when prepared my seat in the plaza!
8.The young men saw me and withdrew themselves, and the aged rose, and stood still.
9.Princes refrained from speaking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
10.The rulers hid their voice; their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
11.When the ear heard me, it blessed me, and when the eye saw me, it bore me witness,
12.because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless, and whoever had no helper.
13.The blessing of the man about to perish came upon me, and I made the widow’s heart to cry out with joy.
14.I put on righteousness, and it wrapped me about. My judgment was like a robe and a turban.
15.I was eyes to the blind, and I was feet to the lame.
16.I was a father to needy people, and I searched out the cause I did not know.
17.I crushed the jaws of the unjust and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
18.And I thought, ‘I will die in my nest, and I will multiply my days like the sand.
19.My root will spread out to the waters, and the dew of night will lie all night on my branches.
20.My glory is fresh with me, and my bow in my hand is new.’
21.Men waited and listened for me, and grew silent at my counsel.
22.After my words, they did not speak again, and my speech dropped upon them.
23.They waited for me like the rain, and they opened their mouth as for the latter rain.
24.If I smiled at them, they did not believe it, and the light of my face they did not cast down.
25.I examined their ways and sat as chief among them, and I lived like a king with an army, as one who comforts the mournful.
Job 30
¶1. “But now, those younger than I mock me, whose fathers I would have refused to put among the dogs of my flock.
2.Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, men whose vigor was gone?
3.In want and in severe famine, they gnaw on an old, dry thing amid devastation and waste,
4.who pull up mallows by the bushes, and roots of the broom bush for food.
5.From the company of men they are driven; they shout at them like thieves.
6.In dreadful wadys, they make their homes in holes in the ground and rocks.
7.Among the bushes they bray; they gather together under the nettles.
8.They are fools, worthless people, driven out of the land with whips.
9.But now, I have become their song. I am a byword to them.
10.They loathe me; they keep far from me, and do not hesitate to spit in my face.
11.Because He has let loose His bowstring and brought me low, they throw off the bridle at the sight of me.
12.To the right, the rabble rise up. They shove my feet away; they cast up against me their distressful ways.
13.They tear up my path; they benefit from my ruin without a helper with it.
14.They come as through a wide breach; amid the destruction, they roll on.
15.Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is chased down as by the wind, and my property is passed away like a cloud.
16.And now, my soul is poured out beside me; the days of my affliction hold me fast.
17.The night pierces my bones within me, and my gnawing pains take no rest.
18.With great power, He has changed my garment; it wraps me about like the opening of my tunic.
19.He has cast me down into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
To God
20.I cry out to you for help, but you will not answer me. I stand up, and you stare at me.
21.You have become cruel to me; with your mighty hand, you assault me.
22.You pick me up on the wind and make me ride, and melt me down.[12]
23.For I know you are bringing me to death and the house appointed to all the living.
24.Surely one would not stretch out his hand against a ruined man if in his ruin, he cried out to him for help.
25.Let me be damned if I did not weep for him whose day was hard. My soul grieved for the needy man!
26.When I hoped for good, evil came, and when I looked for light, darkness came.
27.My bowels are made to boil, and do not rest. Days of affliction have come upon me.
28.I walk about darkened, without sunlight; I rise up in the Assembly and cry for help.
29.I am a brother to wolves and a friend to owls.
30.My skin is black and comes off me, and my bones burn with heat.
31.Moreover, my lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe, into the sound of those who weep.
Job 31
Job insists he is righteous.
¶1. “I made a covenant with my eyes. How, then, could I ogle a virgin?
2.So, what is my portion from God above, and the inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
3.Does not calamity belong to the unjust, and misfortune to the workers of iniquity?
4.Does He not see my ways and number all my steps?
5.May God damn me if I have walked with vanity or if my foot has hastened to deceit,
6.Let Him weigh me in balances of righteousness, and let God know my integrity!
7.If my step has deviated from the Way, or my heart gone after my eyes, or a blemish clung to my hands,
8.then let me sow and another eat, and let my offspring be uprooted!
9.If my heart has been enticed by a woman and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,
10.then let my wife grind for another and let others bow down upon her!
11.For that is a wickedness. Yea, that is an iniquity to the judges
12.that leads to the consuming fire of Abaddon, and it would root up all my increase.
13.If I have denied justice to my manservant or maidservant in their complain against me,
14.then what will I do when God arises? And when He calls for an accounting, what will I answer Him?
15.Did not He who made me in the womb make him? Yea, did not the same One fashion us in the womb?
16.May God damn me if I have withheld from the poor what they wanted; yea, if I have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
17.or eaten my morsel alone and the orphan has not eaten some of it!
18.On the contrary, from my youth, he grew up with me as a father, and from my mother’s womb, I helped her along.
19.May God damn me if I have seen one dying because of a lack of clothing, or a needy man who had no covering,
20.if his loins have not blessed me, being warmed by the fleece of my sheep.
21.If I have waved my hand at the orphan when I had my help at the gate,
22.then let my shoulder blade fall from its shoulder and my arm break off from its socket!
23.But calamity from God is dreadful to me, and I am unable to escape His majesty.
24.May God damn me if I have put my trust in gold or said to gold, ‘You are my confidence,’
25.if I have rejoiced for the greatness of my wealth or because of how much my hand had gained.
26.If I have seen the light that shines or the moon moving in splendor,
27.and my heart was secretly deceived so that my mouth kissed my own hand,
28.this also would be an iniquity to the Judge, for I will have been false to God above.
29.May God damn me if I have rejoiced at the calamity of him who hated me or have exulted when evil found him!
30.I have assuredly not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for a curse upon his life!
31.May God damn me if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who can produce one who has not been filled with his meat?’
32.No stranger has lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler.
33.May God damn me if I have concealed my transgression as Adam, hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
34.because I greatly feared a multitude, or the contempt of families so dismayed me that I was silent, not going out the door.
35.Oh, who will grant me a hearing? Behold, my mark! Let the Almighty answer me, and let the One who is my Adversary write out an indictment!
36.May God damn me if I would not carry it on my shoulder! I would tie it about my head!
37.I would declare to Him the number of my steps; I would approach Him as a prince.
38.If my land has cried out against me, or its furrows wept together,
39.if I have eaten its yield without money or have caused its owners to expire,
40.let bramble come out instead of wheat, and instead of barley, weeds!”
Job 32
¶1. Then those three men ceased answering Job, seeing he was righteous in his own eyes.
2. But Elihu ben-Barakel the Buzite, from the family of Ram, burned with anger against Job. His anger burned because he justified himself rather than God.
3. And his anger burned against his three friends because they found no answer, and yet they had condemned Job.
4. Now, Elihu had waited before speaking to Job because they were older than he in years,
5.but after Elihu saw there was no answer in the mouth of those three men, his anger was kindled.
6. Then Elihu ben-Barakel the Buzite answered and said, “I am young in years, and you are aged men. Therefore, I was afraid. Yea, I was too afraid to make my knowledge known to you.
7.I thought, ‘Days should speak, and a multitude of years should teach wisdom.’
8.But it is the spirit in men, even the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.
9.Great men may not be wise, nor old men understand judgment.
10.Therefore, I say listen to me; I will make my knowledge known, even I.
11.Behold, I waited for your words; I gave ear to your reasonings until you began searching for words,
12.and to you I paid close attention, and behold, not one of you confuted Job, responding to his words.
13.Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom; God will move him, not a man.’
14.For he has not directed his speeches at me, nor will I answer him with your words.
15.They are dismayed; they no longer answer or proceed with their words.
16.Yea, I waited, but they would not speak, but stood still, answering no longer.
17.I, even I, will answer with my part. I, even I, will make my knowledge known.
18.For I am full of speech; the spirit in my belly constrains me.
19.Behold, my belly is like wine unvented, like new wineskins about to burst.
20.I will speak and relieve myself; I will open my lips and answer.
21.Let me not be a respecter of persons, nor give flattering titles to a man.
22.For I know not to flatter, else my Maker would soon take me away.
Job 33
¶1. “But now, Job, hear my speech, I pray, and give ear to all my words.
2.Behold now, I open my mouth. My tongue speaks in my mouth.
3.My words will show the uprightness of my heart, and what my lips know, they speak sincerely.
4.The Spirit of God made me, and the breath of the Almighty gave me life.
5.If you are able, answer me! Get ready, and take the stand before me!
6.Behold, I am, as it were, your mouth to God. I, too, was nipped out of the clay.
7.Behold, my terror will not terrify you, and pressure from me will not be heavy upon you.
8.You certainly have said in my ears; yea, the sound of your words I have heard,
9.‘I am pure, without transgression. I am clean and there is no iniquity in me.
10.Behold, he finds occasions against me be my enemy.
11.He puts my feet in the stock; He keeps watch over my ways.’
12.Behold, in this, you are not just. I will answer you that God is greater than man.
13.Why do you contend with Him, seeing that He does not answer for any of His matters?
14.Though God speaks once, yea, twice, man does not perceive it,
15.in a dream, a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, in slumberings on a bed.
16.But then, He opens the ear of men and makes their instruction sure,
17.to turn man from his own way and hide pride from man.
18.He keeps his soul from the pit and his life from perishing by the sword.[13]
19.Or he is disciplined with pain upon his bed or with a persistent conflict in his bones,
20.so that his being loathes food, and his soul, its favorite food.
21.His flesh wastes away from sight, and his bones that were not seen appear,
22.and his soul draws near the pit, and his life, to those who put to death.
23.If there is an angel over him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show a man His uprightness,
24.then He is gracious to him and says, ‘Deliver him from going down to the pit! I have found a ransom.’
25.His flesh will be fresher than a child’s. He will return to the days of his youth.
26.He will pray to God, and He will accept him, and he will see His face with a shout of joy. And then, He will restore to a man his righteousness.
27.He observes men, and he says, ‘I sinned and perverted what is right, and it did not profit me.
28.He has redeemed my soul from going over into the pit; yea, my life will see the light.’
29.Behold, all these things God works twice, three times with man
30.to turn his soul back from the pit, that he might be enlightened by the light of the living.
31.Pay attention, Job! Listen to me! Be silent, and I will speak!
32.If there is something to say, answer me! Speak! For I would be pleased to justify you.
33.If not, then listen to me! Be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”
Job 34
¶1. And Elihu answered and said,
2.“Hear my words, O wise men, and give ear to me, you who have knowledge!
3.For an ear tries speech as a palate tastes food.
4.Let us choose right for ourselves; let us know among ourselves what is good.
5.For Job said, ‘I am righteous, and God has taken away my right.
6.My right notwithstanding, I am considered a liar; my wound is incurable though I am without transgression.’
7.What man is like Job, who drinks derision like water
8.and travels in company with workers of iniquity and walks with wicked men?
9.For he said, ‘It profits a man nothing when he takes delight with God.’
10.Therefore, O men of understanding, listen to me! Far be it from God to do wickedness, and for the Almighty to act unjustly!
11.For He recompenses a man for his work, and according to a man’s ways does He cause him to find.
12.Truly, God does no wickedness, and the Almighty does not pervert justice.
13.Who appointed Him to be over the earth? And who laid on Him the whole world?
14.If He set His heart to it, and gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath,
15.all flesh would perish together, and man would return to the dust.
16.Then, if you have understanding, hear this! Give ear to the sound of my words!
17.Does one who hates justice indeed govern? Or will you condemn the righteous, Mighty One?
18.Should it be said to a king, ‘You are worthless,’ or to nobles, ‘You are evil’?
19.How much less to Him who does not respect the persons of princes or regard a wealthy man above a poor one, since they all are the work of His hands?
20.At a moment, they die, and in the middle of the night people are convulsed and pass away, and a mighty man cannot turn away His hand.
21.For His eyes are upon the ways of man, and He sees all his steps.
22.There is no darkness, and there is no deep shadow where workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
23.For He does not continually put upon man reasons to go before God in the Judgment.
24.He breaks in pieces mighty men, without inquiry, and appoints others in their stead.
25.Therefore, He knows their works and overturns them in a night, and they are crushed.
26.Because they are wicked, He strikes them in a place men can see
27.because they turned aside from following Him and thought upon none of His ways,
28.so that they caused the cry of the poor man to come to Him, and He heard the cry of the humble people.
29.When He orders peace, who can make trouble? And when He hides His face, who can see Him, whether it be a nation or a single man,
30.lest a profane man reign, lest there be seducers of the people?
31.For has he said to God, ‘I have borne chastisement; I will not do wrong,
32.What I do not see, teach me. If I have done iniquity, I will not again.’
33.Will He requite as suits you? For you have rejected this. You must certainly choose, and not I. So then, speak what you know!
34.Men of understanding say to me, yea, the wise man listening to me,
35.‘Job does not speak according to knowledge, and his words are not prudent.’
36.O Father, let Job be tried to the end because he answers as would vain men!
37.Yea, he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”
Job 35
¶1. Then Elihu answered and said,
2.“Do you consider this to be just? You say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s.’
3.Indeed, you say, ‘What benefit is there to you, and what does it profit me to be without sin?’
4.I, even I, will answer you, and your friends with you.
5.Look at the heavens, and see! And behold the clouds which are higher than you!
6.If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him? Even if your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him?
7.If you are righteous, what have you given Him? Or what has He received from your hand?
8.Your wickedness touches on a man like you, and your righteousness touches on the son of man.
9.People cry out because of a multitude of oppressions; they cry for help because of the arm of mighty men.
10.Now, do not say, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,
11.who teaches us more than the beasts of the field and makes us wiser than the fowl of the air?’
12.There, they cry out (but He does not answer) because of the pride of the wicked.
13.Surely, God will not reply to empty speech; the Almighty will not even pay attention to it.
14.How much less when you say you cannot behold Him, the case is before Him, and you are anxiously waiting for Him!
15.And now, because He has not visited in His anger, nor taken much notice of transgression,
16.vain Job opens his mouth with empty talk and multiplies words without knowledge.”
Job 36
¶1. Then Elihu continued and said,
2.“Bear with me a little longer, and I will inform you, for there is more to be said on God’s behalf.
3.I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and to my Maker will I ascribe righteousness.
4.For, truly, my words will not be a lie. Perfect and great knowledge is with me.
5.Behold, God is mighty, and He does not despise us. He is mighty in power and understanding.
6.He is not wicked, and he grants justice to afflicted people.
7.He does not withdraw His eyes from a righteous man, but He sets them on a throne with kings forever, and they are exalted.
8.If they are bound in chains, taken in cords of affliction,~
9.then He declares to them their work and their transgressions, that they have behaved themselves proudly.
10.Then He opens their ears to correction and says that they must repent of their iniquity.
11.If they obey and serve Him, they will spend their days in prosperity, and their years with pleasant things.
12.But if they do not obey, they will perish by the sword and die without knowledge.
13.The profane in heart store up anger; they do not cry for help when He binds them.
14.They die young, and their life ends among the sacred sodomites.
15.He rescues the afflicted man by his affliction and opens their ears by the distress.
16.He certainly would have drawn you out of the jaws of distress into a broad place where there was no distress; instead, the comfort of your table filled with fatness.
17.But you have fulfilled the judgment due a wicked man; judgment and justice have taken hold of you.
18.But as for your wrath, beware lest it draw you into irreverence! Then, a great ransom would not avail for you.
19.Has your plea not to be in distress set your life in order, or have all the forces of power?
20.Stop panting after the night in which people vanish from their place.
21.Watch yourself! Do not turn to iniquity, for this you have chosen more than affliction.
22.Behold, God is highly exalted in His power. Who is a teacher like Him?
23.Who can assign His way to Him? Or who can say to Him, ‘You have done wrong!’
24.Remember to extol His work, of which men have sung.
25.All men have seen it; man observes it from afar.
26.Behold, God is exalted, and I do not know the number of His years. Yea, that is unsearchable.
27.For He draws up the drops of water; they distill rain from His mist.
28.They pour down from clouds; they drop upon man in abundance.
29.Yea, He understands the spreadings of the clouds, the thunderings of His pavilion.
30.Behold, He spreads His light over it, but the roots of the sea He conceals.
31.But by them, He judges the nations; He gives food in abundance.
32.In His hands, He covers the lightning, and then commands it to strike a spot.
33.Its roar declares Him, even to cattle, that He has arisen.
Job 37
¶1. “Indeed, at this, my heart trembles, and leaps out of its place.
2.Pay close attention, O men! His voice is in the noise, and the rumbling comes from His mouth.
3.He lets loose with His lightning under all of heaven, to the corners of the earth.
4.After it, a voice roars. He thunders with the voice of His majesty, and He does not restrain them when His voice is heard.
5.God thunders with His voice wondrously, doing great things we do not understand.
6.Yea, He tells the snow, as well as the light rain and His heavy rain, “Fall to earth!”
7.He seals up the hand of every man, that all men of His creation may know.
8.Moreover, the beast enters his lair, and remains in his dwelling-place.
9.From its chamber, the storm-wind emerges, and from scattering winds, the cold.
10.From the breath of God ice is given and broad waters are frozen.
11.He also burdens the dark cloud with moisture; He scatters the mass of clouds with His light.
12.Then it turns about, this way and that, at His direction, so that they do all that He commands them on the face of all the habitable earth.
13.He causes it to happen, whether for chastisement, or for His land, or for mercy.
14.Give ear to this, O Job! Stand still and consider the works made wondrous by God.
15.Do you know when God established them and caused the light of His cloud to burst forth?
16.Do you understand the balancing of the clouds (the wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge),
17.which make your garments warm when He quietens the land with the south wind?
18.Did you, with Him, spread out the sky, which is hard like a molten mirror?
19.Teach us what we should say to Him! We cannot arrange our thoughts because of our darkness.
20.Should it be told Him that I would speak? Or should a man say that he has been swallowed up?
21.But for the time being, men cannot look at the bright light in the skies when the wind has passed through and cleared them.
22.Out of the north comes golden, awe-inspiring majesty of God.
23.As for the Almighty, we cannot find Him. He is highly exalted in power and justice, and great righteousness. He does not mistreat.
24.That is why men fear Him. He does not regard any who are wise of heart.”
Job 38
¶1. Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm-wind and said,
2.“Who is this who darkens counsel with words without knowledge‽
3.Gird your loins now, like a man, and I will ask you, and you answer me!
4.Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding!
5.Who determined its size, since you know? Or who stretched out a line upon it?
6.Upon what were its pedestals settled? Or who set it cornerstone
7.as the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8.And who shut in the sea with doors when it burst forth, coming out of the womb,
9.when I made the clouds its garment and dark clouds its swaddling cloth,
10.when I broke open for it my prescribed place, and set bars and doors,
11.and then said, “To here you may go, and no farther.” And “ Here your proud waves must stop.”
12.During your days, have you commanded the morning, that you may inform the dawn of its place,
13.taking hold of the farthest reaches of the earth, so that wicked men may be shaken off it?
14.It is transformed, like clay under a seal, and things show forth like a garment.
15.Their light is withheld from wicked men, and the high arm will be broken.
16.Have you gone to the springs of the sea and walked about in search of the deep?
17.Have the gates of death been revealed to you, and have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
18.Do you comprehend the width of the earth? Tell me if you know it all!
19.Where is the path where light resides? And the darkness, where is its place,
20.so that you may take us to its border and that you may descry the paths to its house?
21.You must know because you were born then, and the number of your days is great.
22.Have you entered into the storehouses of snow, and have you seen the storehouses of hail,
23.which I have reserved for a time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
24.By what way is lighting distributed and the east wind spreads over the earth?
25.Who clove a channel for the rain and a path for bolts of thunder,
26.that it might run on land where no man is, on a wilderness with no man it,
27.to satisfy a waste and desolate place and to make grass sprout up and grow?
28.Where is there a father for the rain, or who gave birth to dew-drops?
29.Who brought forth the ice from the womb? And the frost of heaven, who gave it birth?
30.Waters become hard like a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
31.Will you bind Pleiades in fetters or loosen the cords of Orion?
32.Will you bring Mazzaroth[14] forth in its time, and guide Ursa Major with her sons?
33.Do you know the statutes of heaven, or can you establish its dominion in the earth?
34.Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that you might overwhelm yourself with an abundance of water?
35.Can you send forth flashes of lightning, so that they go and say to you, ‘Behold, we are here!’
36.Who put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who gave understanding to the heart[15]?
37.Who numbers the clouds in wisdom, and who makes those wineskins of heaven tip over,
38.when dirt compacts into a mass and clods stick together?
39.Can you hunt prey for the lioness and satisfy the appetite of young lions
40.when they crouch in their dens? They tarry in the thicket for an ambush.
41.Who prepares for the raven his food when its offspring cry to God for help as they wander about without food?
Job 39
¶1. “Do you know the time when mountain goats give birth? Do you watch over the calving of the does,
2.number the months for them to be full-term, and know the time for them to give birth?
3.They bow down for their offspring; they break open by reason of their labor pains; they deliver.
4.Their sons become strong; they grow up in the open field; they leave and do not return to them.
5.Who let the wild ass go free, and who loosed the wild ass’s bonds,
6.to whom I gave the plain for his house and the salt-plain for his dwelling places?
7.He scorns the tumult of a city; the shouts of a driver he does not hear.
8.He searches the mountains for his pasturage; he searches after anything green.
9.Will the aurochs consent to serve you, or lodge by your feeding-trough?
10.Can you hold an aurochs in a furrow with his ropes, or harrow valleys behind him?
11.Will you depend on him because his strength is great and leave to him your labor?
12.Will you trust in him, that he will return your seed and gather your threshing floor?
13.The wing of an ostrich flaps joyfully. Is it the pinion and plumage of lovingkindness?
14.For she forsakes the area. Her eggs are warm in the dirt.
15.And she forgets that her foot might crush them or a wild animal might trample them.
16.She treats her offspring harshly, as if they were not hers. Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear,
17.for God has made her forget wisdom and has not endowed her with understanding.
18.When she flaps[16] her wings proudly, she laughs at the horse and his rider.
19.Did you give strength to the horse? Did you adorn his neck with a mane?
20.Can you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying.
21.They dig in the valley, and he rejoices in strength. He goes forth to confront weaponry.
22.He scorns fear and is not dismayed, and he does not turn back from the sword.
23.The quiver rattles against him, the flashing spear and javelin.
24.With trembling and excitement, he swallows the ground; no, he does not stand still at the sound of a shofar.
25.As often as a shofar sounds, he says, ‘Aha!’ Even from far off, he senses a battle, the thunder of captains, and shouting.
26.Is it by your understanding that the hawk flies? He spreads his wings toward the south.
27.Or is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and that it makes his nest on high?
28.On a cliff he dwells, and lodges upon a point of a cliff, even a stronghold.
29.From there, he spies out his prey, for his eyes can see from there.
30.And his young ones drink down blood, and where slain bodies are, there he is.”
Job 40
¶1. Then the Lord answered Job and said,
2.“Shall a fault-finder contend with the Almighty? Let him who judges God answer it!”
3. Then Job answered the Lord and said,
4.“Behold, I am insignificant. What shall I answer you? I have laid my hand on my mouth.
5.I have spoken once, but I could not answer. And twice, but I will not do so again.”
¶6. And the Lord answered Job from the storm-wind and said,
7.“Gird your loins now, like a man, and I will ask you, and you answer me!
8.Would you indeed annul my judgment‽ Would you condemn me so that you may be justified?
9.And do you have an arm like God’s, or thunder with a voice like His?
10.Adorn yourself with majesty and grandeur. Yea, clothe yourself with splendor and glory!
11.Unleash floods of your anger and look upon every proud man, and abase him!
12.Look upon every proud man! Humble him! And tread down wicked men where they stand!
13.Hide them in the dust together; bind their faces in a hidden place!
14.Yea, even I will confess to you that your own right hand can save you.
15.Behold, if you will, the behemoth, which I created along with you. He eats grass like cattle.
16.Behold, if you will, his strength in his loins and his force in his muscles of his belly.
17.He moves his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thigh are knit together..
18.His bones are tubes of bronze; his strong bones are like reds of iron.
19.He is the foremost of the ways of God. (He who made him can bring His sword near.)
20.Indeed, the mountains provide sustenance for him where all the beasts of the field play,
21.beneath the lotus trees, he lies down in a covert of reed and marsh.
22.The lotuses cover him with their shadow; willows of the waterway surround him.
23.Behold, if a river is turbulent, he is not alarmed. He is confident even if the Jordan surges to his mouth.
24.He can take him in his sight; He can bore his nose with snares.
Job 41
¶1. “Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, or his tongue with a cord which you let down?
2.Can you put an hook into his nose, or bore his jaw through with a thorn?
3.Will he make many supplications to you? Will he speak soft words to you?
4.Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take him for a servant forever?
5.Will you play with him as with a bird, and tie him up for your little girls?
6.Will partners feast on him[17] and divide him among the merchants?
7.Will you fill his hide with spears and his head with a fish spear?
8.Lay your hands upon him! You will remember the battle and not do that again.
9.Behold, hope of him will prove to be a lie. Will he not be hurled out of His sight?
10.None is so cruel that he would stir him up. Who, then, can stand before him?
11.Who has preceded me, that I should repay him? Everything that is under heaven is mine.
12.I will not be silent about his members, and very powerful speech, and grace of his form.
13.Who can remove his outer garment? Who would go within his two jaws?
14.Who can open the doors of his face, ringed with his terrifying teeth?
15.There is pride in his rows of bucklers, closed up with a tight seal.
16.One is so close to another that air cannot go in between them.
17.Each is joined to his mate; they clasp each other so that they cannot be separated.
18.His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are the eyelids of dawn.
19.Torches proceed from his mouth; sparks of fire fly out.
20.Smoke comes forth from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning bulrushes.
21.His breath sets coals afire when the flame from his mouth comes out.
22.Strength lodges in his neck, and before him, dismay does a dance.
23.The folds of his flesh join together, tight on him; they do not move.
24.His heart is hard, like a stone. Yea, it is hard like a lower millstone.
25.At his rising, the gods fear. At the crashing, they are disquieted.
26.The sword strikes him to no avail, the spear, the dart, and javelin.
27.He thinks of iron as straw, of bronze as rotten wood.
28.The arrow does not make him flee; for him, sling-stones are turned to stubble
29.Clubs are reckoned as chaff, and he laughs at the shaking of a javelin.
30.His underparts are, as it were, sharp points of potsherds; he leaves a trail on the mire like a threshing-sledge.
31.He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea an ointment-pot.
32.Behind him, he leaves a shining path; one would think the deep was hoary-headed.
33.There is not his like on earth; a creature without fear.
34.He sees every high thing; he is king over all the sons of pride.”
Job 42
¶1. Then Job answered the Lord and said,
2.“I know that you can do anything; not even an intent can be kept from you.
3.Who am I? Perverting counsel with ignorance, I went on, making declarations, but I have no understanding. It is not in me to comprehend things beyond my power.
4.Hear, I beg you, and I will speak! I am asking you, for you make me know.
5.I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.
6.It makes me despise myself, and I repent in dirt and ashes.”
7. And it came to pass, after the Lord spoke these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken what is right about me, as my servant Job has.
8.So you take seven bulls and seven rams now, and go to my servant Job, and offer them as a burnt offering for yourselves, and then Job, my servant, will intercede for you, for his face will I accept. Otherwise, I will deal with your folly, for you have not spoken what is right about me, as my servant Job has.”
9. And so, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did according to what the Lord God told them. And the Lord accepted the face of Job.
10. And the Lord reversed the captivity of Job when he interceded for his friends. And the Lord restored all that Job had, doubled.
11. And all his brothers and all his sisters went in before him, and all his acquaintances, and they ate bread with him in his house and condoled him. And they comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And they each gave him one kesitah[18], and each, one earring of gold.
12. And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his former days. For he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses,
13.and he had seven sons and three daughters
14. And he called the name of the first one, Jemima, and the name of the second, Keziah, and the name of the third, Keren-Happuk.
15. And there were no women found as beautiful as the daughters of Job in all the land, and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
16. And Job lived after these things one hundred and forty years, and he saw his children and his children’s children, four generations.
17. And Job died, old and full of days.
Footnotes
[1] That is, Eliphaz.
[2] Literally, only “ – if I would lie to your faces.” The curse intended with this oath is so horrific – calling for one’s own death and damnation – that it is not even uttered. See also 22:20; 30:25; 31:5, 16, 19, 24, 29, 31, 33, 36.
[3] None of the constellation names in Job are certainly certain.
[4] Or, Rahab.
[5] Or, “Behold, He is killing me. I have no hope.”
[6] Hebrew uncertain.
[7] The verb is plural.
[8] Hebrew uncertain.
[9] Eliphaz is mocking Job’s statement in 21:16.
[10] Or, “stretches out north”.
[11] Hebrew uncertain.
[12] Hebrew uncertain.
[13] Or, “weapon”.
[14] Meaning unknown.
[15] Hebrew uncertain.
[16] Hebrew unknown.
[17] Or, “Will partners bargain over him….”
[18] A gift of unknown type and value.