Elihu Condemns Job (JOB 35:1-16)

[35:1] And Elihu answered and said:

[35:2] “Do you think this to be just? Do you say, ‘It is my right before God,’

[35:3] that you ask, ‘What advantage have I? How am I better off than if I had sinned?’

[35:4] I will answer you and your friends with you.

[35:5] Look at the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds, which are higher than you.

[35:6] If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?

[35:7] If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand?

[35:8] Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man.

[35:9] “Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out; they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.

[35:10] But none says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,

[35:11] who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’

[35:12] There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.

[35:13] Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it.

[35:14] How much less when you say that you do not see him, that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him!

[35:15] And now, because his anger does not punish, and he does not take much note of transgression,

[35:16] Job opens his mouth in empty talk; he multiplies words without knowledge.”

Elihu Extols God’s Greatness (JOB 36:1-33)

[36:1] And Elihu continued, and said:

[36:2] “Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for I have yet something to say on God’s behalf.

[36:3] I will get my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

[36:4] For truly my words are not false; one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

[36:5] “Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise any; he is mighty in strength of understanding.

[36:6] He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives the afflicted their right.

[36:7] He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne he sets them forever, and they are exalted.

[36:8] And if they are bound in chains and caught in the cords of affliction,

[36:9] then he declares to them their work and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.

[36:10] He opens their ears to instruction and commands that they return from iniquity.

[36:11] If they listen and serve him, they complete their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasantness.

[36:12] But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword and die without knowledge.

[36:13] “The godless in heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them.

[36:14] They die in youth, and their life ends among the cult prostitutes.

[36:15] He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.

[36:16] He also allured you out of distress into a broad place where there was no cramping, and what was set on your table was full of fatness.

[36:17] “But you are full of the judgment on the wicked; judgment and justice seize you.

[36:18] Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing, and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

[36:19] Will your cry for help avail to keep you from distress, or all the force of your strength?

[36:20] Do not long for the night, when peoples vanish in their place.

[36:21] Take care; do not turn to iniquity, for this you have chosen rather than affliction.

[36:22] Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him?

[36:23] Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’?

[36:24] “Remember to extol his work, of which men have sung.

[36:25] All mankind has looked on it; man beholds it from afar.

[36:26] Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.

[36:27] For he draws up the drops of water; they distill his mist in rain,

[36:28] which the skies pour down and drop on mankind abundantly.

[36:29] Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion?

[36:30] Behold, he scatters his lightning about him and covers the roots of the sea.

[36:31] For by these he judges peoples; he gives food in abundance.

[36:32] He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark.

[36:33] Its crashing declares his presence; the cattle also declare that he rises.

Elihu Proclaims God’s Majesty (JOB 37:1-24)

[37:1] “At this also my heart trembles and leaps out of its place.

[37:2] Keep listening to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.

[37:3] Under the whole heaven he lets it go, and his lightning to the corners of the earth.

[37:4] After it his voice roars; he thunders with his majestic voice, and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard.

[37:5] God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend.

[37:6] For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.

[37:7] He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he made may know it.

[37:8] Then the beasts go into their lairs, and remain in their dens.

[37:9] From its chamber comes the whirlwind, and cold from the scattering winds.

[37:10] By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast.

[37:11] He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning.

[37:12] They turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world.

[37:13] Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen.

[37:14] “Hear this, O Job; stop and consider the wondrous works of God.

[37:15] Do you know how God lays his command upon them and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?

[37:16] Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge,

[37:17] you whose garments are hot when the earth is still because of the south wind?

[37:18] Can you, like him, spread out the skies, hard as a cast metal mirror?

[37:19] Teach us what we shall say to him; we cannot draw up our case because of darkness.

[37:20] Shall it be told him that I would speak? Did a man ever wish that he would be swallowed up?

[37:21] “And now no one looks on the light when it is bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them.

[37:22] Out of the north comes golden splendor; God is clothed with awesome majesty.

[37:23] The Almighty—we cannot find him; he is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate.

[37:24] Therefore men fear him; he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.”

The Lord Answers Job (JOB 38:1-40:2)

[38:1] Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

[38:2] “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

[38:3] Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.

[38:4] “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

[38:5] Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?

[38:6] On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,

[38:7] when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

[38:8] “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb,

[38:9] when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band,

[38:10] and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors,

[38:11] and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

[38:12] “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,

[38:13] that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?

[38:14] It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment.

[38:15] From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.

[38:16] “Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?

[38:17] Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

[38:18] Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.

[38:19] “Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,

[38:20] that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?

[38:21] You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!

[38:22] “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

[38:23] which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?

[38:24] What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

[38:25] “Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt,

[38:26] to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man,

[38:27] to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?

[38:28] “Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?

[38:29] From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?

[38:30] The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

[38:31] “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?

[38:32] Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children?

[38:33] Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?

[38:34] “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you?

[38:35] Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’?

[38:36] Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?

[38:37] Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,

[38:38] when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together?

[38:39] “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

[38:40] when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket?

[38:41] Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?

[39:1] “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does?

[39:2] Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth,

[39:3] when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young?

[39:4] Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and do not return to them.

[39:5] “Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,

[39:6] to whom I have given the arid plain for his home and the salt land for his dwelling place?

[39:7] He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.

[39:8] He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.

[39:9] “Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger?

[39:10] Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?

[39:11] Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor?

[39:12] Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?

[39:13] “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love?

[39:14] For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground,

[39:15] forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them.

[39:16] She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear,

[39:17] because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding.

[39:18] When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider.

[39:19] “Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane?

[39:20] Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying.

[39:21] He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons.

[39:22] He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.

[39:23] Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear, and the javelin.

[39:24] With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

[39:25] When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

[39:26] “Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south?

[39:27] Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?

[39:28] On the rock he dwells and makes his home, on the rocky crag and stronghold.

[39:29] From there he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it from far away.

[39:30] His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he.”

[40:1] And the Lord said to Job:

[40:2] “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”

The Lord Challenges Job (JOB 40:6-41:34)

[40:6] Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

[40:7] “Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.

[40:8] Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?

[40:9] Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?

[40:10] “Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor.

[40:11] Pour out the overflowings of your anger, and look on everyone who is proud and abase him.

[40:12] Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked where they stand.

[40:13] Hide them all in the dust together; bind their faces in the world below.

[40:14] Then will I also acknowledge to you that your own right hand can save you.

[40:15] “Behold, Behemoth, which I made as I made you; he eats grass like an ox.

[40:16] Behold, his strength in his loins, and his power in the muscles of his belly.

[40:17] He makes his tail stiff like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are knit together.

[40:18] His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like bars of iron.

[40:19] “He is the first of the works of God; let him who made him bring near his sword!

[40:20] For the mountains yield food for him where all the wild beasts play.

[40:21] Under the lotus plants he lies, in the shelter of the reeds and in the marsh.

[40:22] For his shade the lotus trees cover him; the willows of the brook surround him.

[40:23] Behold, if the river is turbulent he is not frightened; he is confident though Jordan rushes against his mouth.

[40:24] Can one take him by his eyes, or pierce his nose with a snare?

[41:1] “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord?

[41:2] Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?

[41:3] Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you soft words?

[41:4] Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever?

[41:5] Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you put him on a leash for your girls?

[41:6] Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants?

[41:7] Can you fill his skin with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?

[41:8] Lay your hands on him; remember the battle—you will not do it again!

[41:9] Behold, the hope of a man is false; he is laid low even at the sight of him.

[41:10] No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?

[41:11] Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.

[41:12] “I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, or his mighty strength, or his goodly frame.

[41:13] Who can strip off his outer garment? Who would come near him with a bridle?

[41:14] Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror.

[41:15] His back is made of rows of shields, shut up closely as with a seal.

[41:16] One is so near to another that no air can come between them.

[41:17] They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated.

[41:18] His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.

[41:19] Out of his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth.

[41:20] Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.

[41:21] His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth.

[41:22] In his neck abides strength, and terror dances before him.

[41:23] The folds of his flesh stick together, firmly cast on him and immovable.

[41:24] His heart is hard as a stone, hard as the lower millstone.

[41:25] When he raises himself up the mighty are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves.

[41:26] Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail, nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin.

[41:27] He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.

[41:28] The arrow cannot make him flee; for him sling stones are turned to stubble.

[41:29] Clubs are counted as stubble; he laughs at the rattle of javelins.

[41:30] His underparts are like sharp potsherds; he spreads himself like a threshing sledge on the mire.

[41:31] He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.

[41:32] Behind him he leaves a shining wake; one would think the deep to be white-haired.

[41:33] On earth there is not his like, a creature without fear.

[41:34] He sees everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of pride.”

Job’s Confession and Repentance (JOB 42:1-6)

[42:1] Then Job answered the Lord and said:

[42:2] “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

[42:3] ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

[42:4] ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’

[42:5] I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;

[42:6] therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

The Lord Rebukes Job’s Friends (JOB 42:7-9)

[42:7] After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.

[42:8] Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”

[42:9] So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them, and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

The Lord Restores Job’s Fortunes (JOB 42:10-17)

[42:10] And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

[42:11] Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.

[42:12] And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.

[42:13] He had also seven sons and three daughters.

[42:14] And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch.

[42:15] And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

[42:16] And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, four generations.

[42:17] And Job died, an old man, and full of days.

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked (PSA 1:1-6)

[1:1] Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

[1:2] but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

[1:3] He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

[1:4] The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

[1:5] Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

[1:6] for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.