The Holy Bible – Page 90 – ESV – The English Standard Version

Job Replies: Where Is God? (JOB 23:1-24:25)

[23:1] Then Job answered and said:

[23:2] “Today also my complaint is bitter; my hand is heavy on account of my groaning.

[23:3] Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat!

[23:4] I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.

[23:5] I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me.

[23:6] Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; he would pay attention to me.

[23:7] There an upright man could argue with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

[23:8] “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him;

[23:9] on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.

[23:10] But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.

[23:11] My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside.

[23:12] I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.

[23:13] But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does.

[23:14] For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind.

[23:15] Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him.

[23:16] God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me;

[23:17] yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face.

[24:1] “Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days?

[24:2] Some move landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them.

[24:3] They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.

[24:4] They thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves.

[24:5] Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert the poor go out to their toil, seeking game; the wasteland yields food for their children.

[24:6] They gather their fodder in the field, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

[24:7] They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.

[24:8] They are wet with the rain of the mountains and cling to the rock for lack of shelter.

[24:9] (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.)

[24:10] They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they carry the sheaves;

[24:11] among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil; they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.

[24:12] From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with wrong.

[24:13] “There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths.

[24:14] The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief.

[24:15] The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’; and he veils his face.

[24:16] In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light.

[24:17] For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

[24:18] “You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards.

[24:19] Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned.

[24:20] The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like a tree.’

[24:21] “They wrong the barren, childless woman, and do no good to the widow.

[24:22] Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life.

[24:23] He gives them security, and they are supported, and his eyes are upon their ways.

[24:24] They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like the heads of grain.

[24:25] If it is not so, who will prove me a liar and show that there is nothing in what I say?”

Bildad Speaks: Man Cannot Be Righteous (JOB 25:1-6)

[25:1] Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

[25:2] “Dominion and fear are with God; he makes peace in his high heaven.

[25:3] Is there any number to his armies? Upon whom does his light not arise?

[25:4] How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure?

[25:5] Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in his eyes;

[25:6] how much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!”

Job Replies: God’s Majesty Is Unsearchable (JOB 26:1-14)

[26:1] Then Job answered and said:

[26:2] “How you have helped him who has no power! How you have saved the arm that has no strength!

[26:3] How you have counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge!

[26:4] With whose help have you uttered words, and whose breath has come out from you?

[26:5] The dead tremble under the waters and their inhabitants.

[26:6] Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.

[26:7] He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing.

[26:8] He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them.

[26:9] He covers the face of the full moon and spreads over it his cloud.

[26:10] He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.

[26:11] The pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at his rebuke.

[26:12] By his power he stilled the sea; by his understanding he shattered Rahab.

[26:13] By his wind the heavens were made fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

[26:14] Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

Job Continues: I Will Maintain My Integrity (JOB 27:1-23)

[27:1] And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

[27:2] “As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,

[27:3] as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,

[27:4] my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit.

[27:5] Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

[27:6] I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

[27:7] “Let my enemy be as the wicked, and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.

[27:8] For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life?

[27:9] Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?

[27:10] Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?

[27:11] I will teach you concerning the hand of God; what is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

[27:12] Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?

[27:13] “This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:

[27:14] If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword, and his descendants have not enough bread.

[27:15] Those who survive him the pestilence buries, and his widows do not weep.

[27:16] Though he heap up silver like dust, and pile up clothing like clay,

[27:17] he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver.

[27:18] He builds his house like a moth’s, like a booth that a watchman makes.

[27:19] He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more; he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.

[27:20] Terrors overtake him like a flood; in the night a whirlwind carries him off.

[27:21] The east wind lifts him up and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.

[27:22] It hurls at him without pity; he flees from its power in headlong flight.

[27:23] It claps its hands at him and hisses at him from its place.

Job Continues: Where Is Wisdom? (JOB 28:1-28)

[28:1] “Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold that they refine.

[28:2] Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the ore.

[28:3] Man puts an end to darkness and searches out to the farthest limit the ore in gloom and deep darkness.

[28:4] He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives; they are forgotten by travelers; they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.

[28:5] As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire.

[28:6] Its stones are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold.

[28:7] “That path no bird of prey knows, and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.

[28:8] The proud beasts have not trodden it; the lion has not passed over it.

[28:9] “Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots.

[28:10] He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.

[28:11] He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

[28:12] “But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?

[28:13] Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living.

[28:14] The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’ and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

[28:15] It cannot be bought for gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price.

[28:16] It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire.

[28:17] Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

[28:18] No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal; the price of wisdom is above pearls.

[28:19] The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold.

[28:20] “From where, then, does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding?

[28:21] It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air.

[28:22] Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

[28:23] “God understands the way to it, and he knows its place.

[28:24] For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.

[28:25] When he gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure,

[28:26] when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder,

[28:27] then he saw it and declared it; he established it, and searched it out.

[28:28] And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Job’s Summary Defense (JOB 29:1-30:31)

[29:1] And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

[29:2] “Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me,

[29:3] when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,

[29:4] as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent,

[29:5] when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me,

[29:6] when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

[29:7] When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square,

[29:8] the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood;

[29:9] the princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth;

[29:10] the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

[29:11] When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved,

[29:12] because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him.

[29:13] The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

[29:14] I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.

[29:15] I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.

[29:16] I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.

[29:17] I broke the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

[29:18] Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand,

[29:19] my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches,

[29:20] my glory fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.’

[29:21] “Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel.

[29:22] After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them.

[29:23] They waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.

[29:24] I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and the light of my face they did not cast down.

[29:25] I chose their way and sat as chief, and I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.

[30:1] “But now they laugh at me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

[30:2] What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone?

[30:3] Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation;

[30:4] they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food.

[30:5] They are driven out from human company; they shout after them as after a thief.

[30:6] In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

[30:7] Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together.

[30:8] A senseless, a nameless brood, they have been whipped out of the land.

[30:9] “And now I have become their song; I am a byword to them.

[30:10] They abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.

[30:11] Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.

[30:12] On my right hand the rabble rise; they push away my feet; they cast up against me their ways of destruction.

[30:13] They break up my path; they promote my calamity; they need no one to help them.

[30:14] As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.

[30:15] Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

[30:16] “And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me.

[30:17] The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.

[30:18] With great force my garment is disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.

[30:19] God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.

[30:20] I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.

[30:21] You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me.

[30:22] You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.

[30:23] For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living.

[30:24] “Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help?

[30:25] Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

[30:26] But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came.

[30:27] My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction come to meet me.

[30:28] I go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

[30:29] I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches.

[30:30] My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat.

[30:31] My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

Job’s Final Appeal (JOB 31:1-40)

[31:1] “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?

[31:2] What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high?

[31:3] Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?

[31:4] Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?

[31:5] “If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit;

[31:6] (Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!)

[31:7] if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands,

[31:8] then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out.

[31:9] “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,

[31:10] then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her.

[31:11] For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;

[31:12] for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase.

[31:13] “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me,

[31:14] what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?

[31:15] Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?

[31:16] “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

[31:17] or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it

[31:18] (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow),

[31:19] if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering,

[31:20] if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

[31:21] if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,

[31:22] then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket.

[31:23] For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.

[31:24] “If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence,

[31:25] if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much,

[31:26] if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor,

[31:27] and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand,

[31:28] this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above.

[31:29] “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him

[31:30] (I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse),

[31:31] if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’

[31:32] (the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler),

[31:33] if I have concealed my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my heart,

[31:34] because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors—

[31:35] Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!

[31:36] Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown;

[31:37] I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him.

[31:38] “If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together,

[31:39] if I have eaten its yield without payment and made its owners breathe their last,

[31:40] let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.

Elihu Rebukes Job’s Three Friends (JOB 32:1-22)

[32:1] So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

[32:2] Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God.

[32:3] He burned with anger also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong.

[32:4] Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he.

[32:5] And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger.

[32:6] And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said: “I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you.

[32:7] I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.’

[32:8] But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.

[32:9] It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right.

[32:10] Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me; let me also declare my opinion.’

[32:11] “Behold, I waited for your words, I listened for your wise sayings, while you searched out what to say.

[32:12] I gave you my attention, and, behold, there was none among you who refuted Job or who answered his words.

[32:13] Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not a man.’

[32:14] He has not directed his words against me, and I will not answer him with your speeches.

[32:15] “They are dismayed; they answer no more; they have not a word to say.

[32:16] And shall I wait, because they do not speak, because they stand there, and answer no more?

[32:17] I also will answer with my share; I also will declare my opinion.

[32:18] For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me.

[32:19] Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins ready to burst.

[32:20] I must speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer.

[32:21] I will not show partiality to any man or use flattery toward any person.

[32:22] For I do not know how to flatter, else my Maker would soon take me away.

Elihu Rebukes Job (JOB 33:1-33)

[33:1] “But now, hear my speech, O Job, and listen to all my words.

[33:2] Behold, I open my mouth; the tongue in my mouth speaks.

[33:3] My words declare the uprightness of my heart, and what my lips know they speak sincerely.

[33:4] The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

[33:5] Answer me, if you can; set your words in order before me; take your stand.

[33:6] Behold, I am toward God as you are; I too was pinched off from a piece of clay.

[33:7] Behold, no fear of me need terrify you; my pressure will not be heavy upon you.

[33:8] “Surely you have spoken in my ears, and I have heard the sound of your words.

[33:9] You say, ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me.

[33:10] Behold, he finds occasions against me, he counts me as his enemy,

[33:11] he puts my feet in the stocks and watches all my paths.’

[33:12] “Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you, for God is greater than man.

[33:13] Why do you contend against him, saying, ‘He will answer none of man’s words’?

[33:14] For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it.

[33:15] In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds,

[33:16] then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings,

[33:17] that he may turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man;

[33:18] he keeps back his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword.

[33:19] “Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed and with continual strife in his bones,

[33:20] so that his life loathes bread, and his appetite the choicest food.

[33:21] His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out.

[33:22] His soul draws near the pit, and his life to those who bring death.

[33:23] If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him,

[33:24] and he is merciful to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom;

[33:25] let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;

[33:26] then man prays to God, and he accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy, and he restores to man his righteousness.

[33:27] He sings before men and says: ‘I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me.

[33:28] He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.’

[33:29] “Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man,

[33:30] to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life.

[33:31] Pay attention, O Job, listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.

[33:32] If you have any words, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you.

[33:33] If not, listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

Elihu Asserts God’s Justice (JOB 34:1-37)

[34:1] Then Elihu answered and said:

[34:2] “Hear my words, you wise men, and give ear to me, you who know;

[34:3] for the ear tests words as the palate tastes food.

[34:4] Let us choose what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good.

[34:5] For Job has said, ‘I am in the right, and God has taken away my right;

[34:6] in spite of my right I am counted a liar; my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’

[34:7] What man is like Job, who drinks up scoffing like water,

[34:8] who travels in company with evildoers and walks with wicked men?

[34:9] For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should take delight in God.’

[34:10] “Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.

[34:11] For according to the work of a man he will repay him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him.

[34:12] Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice.

[34:13] Who gave him charge over the earth, and who laid on him the whole world?

[34:14] If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath,

[34:15] all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.

[34:16] “If you have understanding, hear this; listen to what I say.

[34:17] Shall one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,

[34:18] who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’ and to nobles, ‘Wicked man,’

[34:19] who shows no partiality to princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor, for they are all the work of his hands?

[34:20] In a moment they die; at midnight the people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.

[34:21] “For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps.

[34:22] There is no gloom or deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves.

[34:23] For God has no need to consider a man further, that he should go before God in judgment.

[34:24] He shatters the mighty without investigation and sets others in their place.

[34:25] Thus, knowing their works, he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.

[34:26] He strikes them for their wickedness in a place for all to see,

[34:27] because they turned aside from following him and had no regard for any of his ways,

[34:28] so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him, and he heard the cry of the afflicted—

[34:29] When he is quiet, who can condemn? When he hides his face, who can behold him, whether it be a nation or a man?—

[34:30] that a godless man should not reign, that he should not ensnare the people.

[34:31] “For has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more;

[34:32] teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?

[34:33] Will he then make repayment to suit you, because you reject it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore declare what you know.

[34:34] Men of understanding will say to me, and the wise man who hears me will say:

[34:35] ‘Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.’

[34:36] Would that Job were tried to the end, because he answers like wicked men.

[34:37] For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”