Category: Job

[9:1] Then Job answered and said:

[9:2] “Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be in the right before God?

[9:3] If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times.

[9:4] He is wise in heart and mighty in strength —who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?—

[9:5] he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger,

[9:6] who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble;

[9:7] who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars;

[9:8] who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea;

[9:9] who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;

[9:10] who does great things beyond searching out, and marvelous things beyond number.

[9:11] Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.

[9:12] Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

[9:13] “God will not turn back his anger; beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab.

[9:14] How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him?

[9:15] Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.

[9:16] If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.

[9:17] For he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause;

[9:18] he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

[9:19] If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?

[9:20] Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.

[9:21] I am blameless; I regard not myself; I loathe my life.

[9:22] It is all one; therefore I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’

[9:23] When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.

[9:24] The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges— if it is not he, who then is it?

[9:25] “My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away; they see no good.

[9:26] They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey.

[9:27] If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer,’

[9:28] I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent.

[9:29] I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?

[9:30] If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,

[9:31] yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me.

[9:32] For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.

[9:33] There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.

[9:34] Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me.

[9:35] Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself.

[10:1] “I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

[10:2] I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me.

[10:3] Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked?

[10:4] Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees?

[10:5] Are your days as the days of man, or your years as a man’s years,

[10:6] that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin,

[10:7] although you know that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of your hand?

[10:8] Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether.

[10:9] Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust?

[10:10] Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?

[10:11] You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.

[10:12] You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.

[10:13] Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose.

[10:14] If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity.

[10:15] If I am guilty, woe to me! If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look on my affliction.

[10:16] And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me.

[10:17] You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me.

[10:18] “Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me

[10:19] and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave.

[10:20] Are not my days few? Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer

[10:21] before I go—and I shall not return— to the land of darkness and deep shadow,

[10:22] the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness.”

[11:1] Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

[11:2] “Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and a man full of talk be judged right?

[11:3] Should your babble silence men, and when you mock, shall no one shame you?

[11:4] For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in God’s eyes.’

[11:5] But oh, that God would speak and open his lips to you,

[11:6] and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

[11:7] “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?

[11:8] It is higher than heaven —what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

[11:9] Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.

[11:10] If he passes through and imprisons and summons the court, who can turn him back?

[11:11] For he knows worthless men; when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?

[11:12] But a stupid man will get understanding when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man!

[11:13] “If you prepare your heart, you will stretch out your hands toward him.

[11:14] If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not injustice dwell in your tents.

[11:15] Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure and will not fear.

[11:16] You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away.

[11:17] And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning.

[11:18] And you will feel secure, because there is hope; you will look around and take your rest in security.

[11:19] You will lie down, and none will make you afraid; many will court your favor.

[11:20] But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last.”

[12:1] Then Job answered and said:

[12:2] “No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.

[12:3] But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?

[12:4] I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called to God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.

[12:5] In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip.

[12:6] The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hand.

[12:7] “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;

[12:8] or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

[12:9] Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?

[12:10] In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

[12:11] Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?

[12:12] Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.

[12:13] “With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding.

[12:14] If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open.

[12:15] If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.

[12:16] With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.

[12:17] He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools.

[12:18] He looses the bonds of kings and binds a waistcloth on their hips.

[12:19] He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty.

[12:20] He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders.

[12:21] He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong.

[12:22] He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light.

[12:23] He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away.

[12:24] He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a trackless waste.

[12:25] They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.

[13:1] “Behold, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it.

[13:2] What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.

[13:3] But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God.

[13:4] As for you, you whitewash with lies; worthless physicians are you all.

[13:5] Oh that you would keep silent, and it would be your wisdom!

[13:6] Hear now my argument and listen to the pleadings of my lips.

[13:7] Will you speak falsely for God and speak deceitfully for him?

[13:8] Will you show partiality toward him? Will you plead the case for God?

[13:9] Will it be well with you when he searches you out? Or can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?

[13:10] He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality.

[13:11] Will not his majesty terrify you, and the dread of him fall upon you?

[13:12] Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.

[13:13] “Let me have silence, and I will speak, and let come on me what may.

[13:14] Why should I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hand?

[13:15] Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.

[13:16] This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him.

[13:17] Keep listening to my words, and let my declaration be in your ears.

[13:18] Behold, I have prepared my case; I know that I shall be in the right.

[13:19] Who is there who will contend with me? For then I would be silent and die.

[13:20] Only grant me two things, then I will not hide myself from your face:

[13:21] withdraw your hand far from me, and let not dread of you terrify me.

[13:22] Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and you reply to me.

[13:23] How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin.

[13:24] Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?

[13:25] Will you frighten a driven leaf and pursue dry chaff?

[13:26] For you write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.

[13:27] You put my feet in the stocks and watch all my paths; you set a limit for the soles of my feet.

[13:28] Man wastes away like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.

[14:1] “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.

[14:2] He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not.

[14:3] And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with you?

[14:4] Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.

[14:5] Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,

[14:6] look away from him and leave him alone, that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day.

[14:7] “For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.

[14:8] Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the soil,

[14:9] yet at the scent of water it will bud and put out branches like a young plant.

[14:10] But a man dies and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he?

[14:11] As waters fail from a lake and a river wastes away and dries up,

[14:12] so a man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake or be roused out of his sleep.

[14:13] Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

[14:14] If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come.

[14:15] You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands.

[14:16] For then you would number my steps; you would not keep watch over my sin;

[14:17] my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.

[14:18] “But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place;

[14:19] the waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so you destroy the hope of man.

[14:20] You prevail forever against him, and he passes; you change his countenance, and send him away.

[14:21] His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; they are brought low, and he perceives it not.

[14:22] He feels only the pain of his own body, and he mourns only for himself.”

[15:1] Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

[15:2] “Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?

[15:3] Should he argue in unprofitable talk, or in words with which he can do no good?

[15:4] But you are doing away with the fear of God and hindering meditation before God.

[15:5] For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.

[15:6] Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your own lips testify against you.

[15:7] “Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought forth before the hills?

[15:8] Have you listened in the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

[15:9] What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not clear to us?

[15:10] Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, older than your father.

[15:11] Are the comforts of God too small for you, or the word that deals gently with you?

[15:12] Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash,

[15:13] that you turn your spirit against God and bring such words out of your mouth?

[15:14] What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?

[15:15] Behold, God puts no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight;

[15:16] how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks injustice like water!

[15:17] “I will show you; hear me, and what I have seen I will declare

[15:18] (what wise men have told, without hiding it from their fathers,

[15:19] to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them).

[15:20] The wicked man writhes in pain all his days, through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.

[15:21] Dreadful sounds are in his ears; in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.

[15:22] He does not believe that he will return out of darkness, and he is marked for the sword.

[15:23] He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;

[15:24] distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.

[15:25] Because he has stretched out his hand against God and defies the Almighty,

[15:26] running stubbornly against him with a thickly bossed shield;

[15:27] because he has covered his face with his fat and gathered fat upon his waist

[15:28] and has lived in desolate cities, in houses that none should inhabit, which were ready to become heaps of ruins;

[15:29] he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the earth;

[15:30] he will not depart from darkness; the flame will dry up his shoots, and by the breath of his mouth he will depart.

[15:31] Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself, for emptiness will be his payment.

[15:32] It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not be green.

[15:33] He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine, and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.

[15:34] For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of bribery.

[15:35] They conceive trouble and give birth to evil, and their womb prepares deceit.”

[16:1] Then Job answered and said:

[16:2] “I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all.

[16:3] Shall windy words have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer?

[16:4] I also could speak as you do, if you were in my place; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you.

[16:5] I could strengthen you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.

[16:6] “If I speak, my pain is not assuaged, and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?

[16:7] Surely now God has worn me out; he has made desolate all my company.

[16:8] And he has shriveled me up, which is a witness against me, and my leanness has risen up against me; it testifies to my face.

[16:9] He has torn me in his wrath and hated me; he has gnashed his teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.

[16:10] Men have gaped at me with their mouth; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me.

[16:11] God gives me up to the ungodly and casts me into the hands of the wicked.

[16:12] I was at ease, and he broke me apart; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; he set me up as his target;

[16:13] his archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground.

[16:14] He breaks me with breach upon breach; he runs upon me like a warrior.

[16:15] I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin and have laid my strength in the dust.

[16:16] My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness,

[16:17] although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.

[16:18] “O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place.

[16:19] Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high.

[16:20] My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God,

[16:21] that he would argue the case of a man with God, as a son of man does with his neighbor.

[16:22] For when a few years have come I shall go the way from which I shall not return.

[17:1] “My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me.

[17:2] Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation.

[17:3] “Lay down a pledge for me with you; who is there who will put up security for me?

[17:4] Since you have closed their hearts to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph.

[17:5] He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property— the eyes of his children will fail.

[17:6] “He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit.

[17:7] My eye has grown dim from vexation, and all my members are like a shadow.

[17:8] The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.

[17:9] Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.

[17:10] But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you.

[17:11] My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart.

[17:12] They make night into day: ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’

[17:13] If I hope for Sheol as my house, if I make my bed in darkness,

[17:14] if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

[17:15] where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?

[17:16] Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?”

[18:1] Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

[18:2] “How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and then we will speak.

[18:3] Why are we counted as cattle? Why are we stupid in your sight?

[18:4] You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock be removed out of its place?

[18:5] “Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out, and the flame of his fire does not shine.

[18:6] The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp above him is put out.

[18:7] His strong steps are shortened, and his own schemes throw him down.

[18:8] For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks on its mesh.

[18:9] A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare lays hold of him.

[18:10] A rope is hidden for him in the ground, a trap for him in the path.

[18:11] Terrors frighten him on every side, and chase him at his heels.

[18:12] His strength is famished, and calamity is ready for his stumbling.

[18:13] It consumes the parts of his skin; the firstborn of death consumes his limbs.

[18:14] He is torn from the tent in which he trusted and is brought to the king of terrors.

[18:15] In his tent dwells that which is none of his; sulfur is scattered over his habitation.

[18:16] His roots dry up beneath, and his branches wither above.

[18:17] His memory perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the street.

[18:18] He is thrust from light into darkness, and driven out of the world.

[18:19] He has no posterity or progeny among his people, and no survivor where he used to live.

[18:20] They of the west are appalled at his day, and horror seizes them of the east.

[18:21] Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, such is the place of him who knows not God.”