19:1Then Job answered, 19:2“How long will you torment me, and crush me with words? 19:3You have reproached me ten times. You aren’t ashamed that you attack me. 19:4If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself. 19:5If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach; 19:6know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net. 19:7“Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no justice. 19:8He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass, and has set darkness in my paths. 19:9He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. 19:10He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. My hope he has plucked up like a tree. 19:11He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries. 19:12His troops come on together, build a siege ramp against me, and encamp around my tent. 19:13“He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me. 19:14My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me. 19:15Those who dwell in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am an alien in their sight. 19:16I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth. 19:17My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother. 19:18Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me. 19:19All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me. 19:20My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. 19:21“Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me. 19:22Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh? 19:23“Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! 19:24That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! 19:25But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth. 19:26After my skin is destroyed, then in my flesh shall I see God, 19:27Whom I, even I, shall see on my side. My eyes shall see, and not as a stranger. “My heart is consumed within me. 19:28If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’ because the root of the matter is found in me, 19:29be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.”
20:1Then Zophar the Naamathite answered, 20:2“Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of my haste that is in me. 20:3I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me. 20:4Don’t you know this from old time, since man was placed on earth, 20:5that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment? 20:6Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds, 20:7yet he shall perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him shall say, ‘Where is he?’ 20:8He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found. Yes, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night. 20:9The eye which saw him shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more see him. 20:10His children shall seek the favor of the poor. His hands shall give back his wealth. 20:11His bones are full of his youth, but youth shall lie down with him in the dust. 20:12“Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue, 20:13though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth; 20:14yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him. 20:15He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly. 20:16He shall suck cobra venom. The viper’s tongue shall kill him. 20:17He shall not look at the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter. 20:18That for which he labored he shall restore, and shall not swallow it down. According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice. 20:19For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up. 20:20“Because he knew no quietness within him, he shall not save anything of that in which he delights. 20:21There was nothing left that he didn’t devour, therefore his prosperity shall not endure. 20:22In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him. The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him. 20:23When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating. 20:24He shall flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow shall strike him through. 20:25He draws it out, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him. 20:26All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire shall devour him. It shall consume that which is left in his tent. 20:27The heavens shall reveal his iniquity. The earth shall rise up against him. 20:28The increase of his house shall depart. They shall rush away in the day of his wrath. 20:29This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God.”
21:1Then Job answered, 21:2“Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation. 21:3Allow me, and I also will speak; After I have spoken, mock on. 21:4As for me, is my complaint to man? Why shouldn’t I be impatient? 21:5Look at me, and be astonished. Lay your hand on your mouth. 21:6When I remember, I am troubled. Horror takes hold of my flesh. 21:7“Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power? 21:8Their child is established with them in their sight, their offspring before their eyes. 21:9Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. 21:10Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don’t miscarry. 21:11They send out their little ones like a flock. Their children dance. 21:12They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe. 21:13They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol. 21:14They tell God, ‘Depart from us, for we don’t want to know about your ways. 21:15What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’ 21:16Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked is far from me. 21:17“How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out, that their calamity comes on them, that God distributes sorrows in his anger? 21:18How often is it that they are as stubble before the wind, as chaff that the storm carries away? 21:19You say, ‘God lays up his iniquity for his children.’ Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it. 21:20Let his own eyes see his destruction. Let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. 21:21For what does he care for his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off? 21:22“Shall any teach God knowledge, since he judges those who are high? 21:23One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. 21:24His pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moistened. 21:25Another dies in bitterness of soul, and never tastes of good. 21:26They lie down alike in the dust. The worm covers them. 21:27“Behold, I know your thoughts, the plans with which you would wrong me. 21:28For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’ 21:29Haven’t you asked wayfaring men? Don’t you know their evidences, 21:30that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity, That they are led out to the day of wrath? 21:31Who shall declare his way to his face? Who shall repay him what he has done? 21:32Yet he will be borne to the grave. Men shall keep watch over the tomb. 21:33The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him. All men shall draw after him, as there were innumerable before him. 21:34So how can you comfort me with nonsense, because in your answers there remains only falsehood?”
22:1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, 22:2“Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. 22:3Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous? Or does it benefit him, that you make your ways perfect? 22:4Is it for your piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment? 22:5Isn’t your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities. 22:6For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing. 22:7You haven’t given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. 22:8But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it. 22:9You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. 22:10Therefore snares are around you. Sudden fear troubles you, 22:11or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover you. 22:12“Isn’t God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are! 22:13You say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness? 22:14Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see. He walks on the vault of the sky.’ 22:15Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden, 22:16who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream, 22:17who said to God, ‘Depart from us;’ and, ‘What can the Almighty do for us?’ 22:18Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 22:19The righteous see it, and are glad. The innocent ridicule them, 22:20saying, ‘Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed their remnant.’ 22:21“Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. Thereby good shall come to you. 22:22Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. 22:23If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents. 22:24Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. 22:25The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you. 22:26For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and shall lift up your face to God. 22:27You shall make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You shall pay your vows. 22:28You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established to you. Light shall shine on your ways. 22:29When they cast down, you shall say, ‘be lifted up.’ He will save the humble person. 22:30He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
23:1Then Job answered, 23:2“Even today my complaint is rebellious. His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning. 23:3Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat! 23:4I would set my cause in order before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. 23:5I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would tell me. 23:6Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No, but he would listen to me. 23:7There the upright might reason with him, so I should be delivered forever from my judge. 23:8“If I go east, he is not there; if west, I can’t find him; 23:9He works to the north, but I can’t see him. He turns south, but I can’t catch a glimpse of him. 23:10But he knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I shall come out like gold. 23:11My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned away. 23:12I haven’t gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. 23:13But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? What his soul desires, even that he does. 23:14For he performs that which is appointed for me. Many such things are with him. 23:15Therefore I am terrified at his presence. When I consider, I am afraid of him. 23:16For God has made my heart faint. The Almighty has terrified me. 23:17Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.
24:1“Why aren’t times laid up by the Almighty? Why don’t those who know him see his days? 24:2There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them. 24:3They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow’s ox for a pledge. 24:4They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves. 24:5Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children. 24:6They cut their food in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked. 24:7They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. 24:8They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter. 24:9There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor, 24:10So that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves. 24:11They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst. 24:12From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn’t regard the folly. 24:13“These are of those who rebel against the light. They don’t know its ways, nor stay in its paths. 24:14The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief. 24:15The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye shall see me.’ He disguises his face. 24:16In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They don’t know the light. 24:17For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness, for they know the terrors of the thick darkness. 24:18“They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the earth. They don’t turn into the way of the vineyards. 24:19Drought and heat consume the snow waters, so does Sheol those who have sinned. 24:20The womb shall forget him. The worm shall feed sweetly on him. He shall be no more remembered. Unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree. 24:21He devours the barren who don’t bear. He shows no kindness to the widow. 24:22Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life. 24:23God gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on their ways. 24:24They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone. Yes, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain. 24:25If it isn’t so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?”
25:1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, 25:2“Dominion and fear are with him. He makes peace in his high places. 25:3Can his armies be counted? On whom does his light not arise? 25:4How then can man be just with God? Or how can he who is born of a woman be clean? 25:5Behold, even the moon has no brightness, and the stars are not pure in his sight; 25:6How much less man, who is a worm, the son of man, who is a worm!”
26:1Then Job answered, 26:2“How have you helped him who is without power! How have you saved the arm that has no strength! 26:3How have you counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge! 26:4To whom have you uttered words? Whose spirit came out of you? 26:5“The departed spirits tremble, those beneath the waters and all that live in them. 26:6Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering. 26:7He stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing. 26:8He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not burst under them. 26:9He encloses the face of his throne, and spreads his cloud on it. 26:10He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters, and to the confines of light and darkness. 26:11The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his rebuke. 26:12He stirs up the sea with his power, and by his understanding he strikes through Rahab. 26:13By his Spirit the heavens are garnished. His hand has pierced the swift serpent. 26:14Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. How small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”
27:1Job again took up his parable, and said, 27:2“As God lives, who has taken away my right, the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter 27:3(for the length of my life is still in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils); 27:4surely my lips shall not speak unrighteousness, neither shall my tongue utter deceit. 27:5Far be it from me that I should justify you. Until I die I will not put away my integrity from me. 27:6I hold fast to my righteousness, and will not let it go. My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live. 27:7“Let my enemy be as the wicked. Let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous. 27:8For what is the hope of the godless, when he is cut off, when God takes away his life? 27:9Will God hear his cry when trouble comes on him? 27:10Will he delight himself in the Almighty, and call on God at all times? 27:11I will teach you about the hand of God. That which is with the Almighty will I not conceal. 27:12Behold, 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, the heritage of oppressors, which they receive from the Almighty. 27:14If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword. His offspring shall not be satisfied with bread. 27:15Those who remain of him shall be buried in death. His widows shall make no lamentation. 27:16Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare clothing as the clay; 27:17he may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver. 27:18He builds his house as the moth, as a booth which the watchman makes. 27:19He lies down rich, but he shall not do so again. He opens his eyes, and he is not. 27:20Terrors overtake him like waters. A storm steals him away in the night. 27:21The east wind carries him away, and he departs. It sweeps him out of his place. 27:22For it hurls at him, and does not spare, as he flees away from his hand. 27:23Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.
28:1“Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold which they refine. 28:2Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted out of the ore. 28:3Man sets an end to darkness, and searches out, to the furthest bound, the stones of obscurity and of thick darkness. 28:4He breaks open a shaft away from where people live. They are forgotten by the foot. They hang far from men, they swing back and forth. 28:5As for the earth, out of it comes bread; Underneath it is turned up as it were by fire. 28:6Sapphires come from its rocks. It has dust of gold. 28:7That path no bird of prey knows, neither has the falcon’s eye seen it. 28:8The proud animals have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed by there. 28:9He puts his hand on the flinty rock, and he overturns the mountains by the roots. 28:10He cuts out channels among the rocks. His eye sees every precious thing. 28:11He binds the streams that they don’t trickle. The thing that is hidden he brings out to light. 28:12“But where shall wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding? 28:13Man doesn’t know its price; Neither is it found in the land of the living. 28:14The deep says, ‘It isn’t in me.’ The sea says, ‘It isn’t with me.’ 28:15It can’t be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for its price. 28:16It can’t be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. 28:17Gold and glass can’t equal it, neither shall it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold. 28:18No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal. Yes, the price of wisdom is above rubies. 28:19The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, Neither shall it be valued with pure gold. 28:20Where then does wisdom come from? Where is the place of understanding? 28:21Seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the birds of the sky. 28:22Destruction and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’ 28:23“God understands its way, and he knows its place. 28:24For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole sky. 28:25He establishes the force of the wind. Yes, he measures out the waters by measure. 28:26When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder; 28:27then he saw it, and declared it. He established it, yes, and searched it out. 28:28To man he said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.’”
29:1Job again took up his parable, and said, 29:2“Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me; 29:3when his lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, 29:4as I was in the ripeness of my days, when the friendship of God was in my tent, 29:5when the Almighty was yet with me, and my children were around me, 29:6when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out streams of oil for me, 29:7when I went out to the city gate, when I prepared my seat in the street. 29:8The young men saw me and hid themselves. The aged rose up and stood. 29:9The princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. 29:10The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. 29:11For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it commended me: 29:12Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had no one to help him, 29:13the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. 29:14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a diadem. 29:15I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. 29:16I was a father to the needy. The cause of him who I didn’t know, I searched out. 29:17I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the prey out of his teeth. 29:18Then I said, ‘I shall die in my own house, I shall count my days as the sand. 29:19My root is spread out to the waters. The dew lies all night on my branch. 29:20My glory is fresh in me. My bow is renewed in my hand.’ 29:21“Men listened to me, waited, and kept silence for my counsel. 29:22After my words they didn’t speak again. My speech fell on them. 29:23They waited for me as for the rain. Their mouths drank as with the spring rain. 29:24I smiled on them when they had no confidence. They didn’t reject the light of my face. 29:25I chose out their way, and sat as chief. I lived as a king in the army, as one who comforts the mourners.
30:1“But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs. 30:2Of what use is the strength of their hands to me, men in whom ripe age has perished? 30:3They are gaunt from lack and famine. They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation. 30:4They pluck salt herbs by the bushes. The roots of the broom are their food. 30:5They are driven out from among men. They cry after them as after a thief; 30:6So that they dwell in frightful valleys, and in holes of the earth and of the rocks. 30:7Among the bushes they bray; and under the nettles they are gathered together. 30:8They are children of fools, yes, children of wicked men. They were flogged out of the land. 30:9“Now I have become their song. Yes, I am a byword to them. 30:10They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and don’t hesitate to spit in my face. 30:11For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me; and they have thrown off restraint before me. 30:12On my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet, They cast up against me their ways of destruction. 30:13They mar my path, They set forward my calamity, without anyone’s help. 30:14As through a wide breach they come, in the middle of the ruin they roll themselves in. 30:15Terrors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud. 30:16“Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold on me. 30:17In the night season my bones are pierced in me, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest. 30:18By great force is my garment disfigured. It binds me about as the collar of my coat. 30:19He has cast me into the mire. I have become like dust and ashes. 30:20I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me. 30:21You have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me. 30:22You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You dissolve me in the storm. 30:23For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living. 30:24“However doesn’t one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help? 30:25Didn’t I weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn’t my soul grieved for the needy? 30:26When I looked for good, then evil came; When I waited for light, there came darkness. 30:27My heart is troubled, and doesn’t rest. Days of affliction have come on me. 30:28I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help. 30:29I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches. 30:30My skin grows black and peels from me. My bones are burned with heat. 30:31Therefore my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.
31:1“I made a covenant with my eyes, how then should I look lustfully at a young woman? 31:2For what is the portion from God above, and the heritage from the Almighty on high? 31:3Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity? 31:4Doesn’t he see my ways, and count all my steps? 31:5“If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit 31:6(let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity); 31:7if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands, 31:8then let me sow, and let another eat. Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out. 31:9“If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door, 31:10then let my wife grind for another, and let others sleep with her. 31:11For that would be a heinous crime. Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges: 31:12For it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase. 31:13“If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me; 31:14What then shall I do when God rises up? When he visits, what shall I answer him? 31:15Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb? 31:16“If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, 31:17or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it 31:18(no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, her I have guided from my mother’s womb); 31:19if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering; 31:20if his heart hasn’t blessed me, if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep’s fleece; 31:21if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate, 31:22then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from the bone. 31:23For calamity from God is a terror to me. Because his majesty, I can do nothing. 31:24“If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’ 31:25If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much; 31:26if I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendor, 31:27and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth, 31:28this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have denied the God who is above. 31:29“If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him 31:30(yes, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse); 31:31if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?’ 31:32(the foreigner has not camped in the street, but I have opened my doors to the traveler); 31:33if like Adam I have covered my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my heart, 31:34because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and didn’t go out of the door— 31:35oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my indictment! 31:36Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; and I would bind it to me as a crown. 31:37I would declare to him the number of my steps. as a prince would I go near to him. 31:38If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together; 31:39if I have eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life, 31:40let briers grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.
32:1So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 32:2Then the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel, the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled against Job. His wrath was kindled because he justified himself rather than God. 32:3Also his wrath was kindled against his three friends, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. 32:4Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were elder than he. 32:5When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his wrath was kindled. 32:6Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered, “I am young, and you are very old; Therefore I held back, and didn’t dare show you my opinion. 32:7I said, ‘Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.’ 32:8But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding. 32:9It is not the great who are wise, nor the aged who understand justice. 32:10Therefore I said, ‘Listen to me; I also will show my opinion.’ 32:11“Behold, I waited for your words, and I listened for your reasoning, while you searched out what to say. 32:12Yes, I gave you my full attention, but there was no one who convinced Job, or who answered his words, among you. 32:13Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom, God may refute him, not man;’ 32:14for he has not directed his words against me; neither will I answer him with your speeches. 32:15“They are amazed. They answer no more. They don’t have a word to say. 32:16Shall I wait, because they don’t speak, because they stand still, and answer no more? 32:17I also will answer my part, and I also will show my opinion. 32:18For I am full of words. The spirit within me constrains me. 32:19Behold, my breast is as wine which has no vent; like new wineskins it is ready to burst. 32:20I will speak, that I may be refreshed. I will open my lips and answer. 32:21Please don’t let me respect any man’s person, neither will I give flattering titles to any man. 32:22For I don’t know how to give flattering titles; or else my Maker would soon take me away.
33:1“However, Job, please hear my speech, and listen to all my words. 33:2See now, I have opened my mouth. My tongue has spoken in my mouth. 33:3My words shall utter the uprightness of my heart. That which my lips know they shall speak sincerely. 33:4The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. 33:5If you can, answer me. Set your words in order before me, and stand up. 33:6Behold, I am toward God even as you are. I am also formed out of the clay. 33:7Behold, my terror shall not make you afraid, neither shall my pressure be heavy on you. 33:8“Surely you have spoken in my hearing, I have heard the voice of your words, saying, 33:9‘I am clean, without disobedience. I am innocent, neither is there iniquity in me. 33:10Behold, he finds occasions against me. He counts me for his enemy. 33:11He puts my feet in the stocks. He marks all my paths.’ 33:12“Behold, I will answer you. In this you are not just, for God is greater than man. 33:13Why do you strive against him, because he doesn’t give account of any of his matters? 33:14For God speaks once, yes twice, though man pays no attention. 33:15In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, in slumbering on the bed; 33:16Then he opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction, 33:17That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. 33:18He keeps back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword. 33:19He is chastened also with pain on his bed, with continual strife in his bones; 33:20So that his life abhors bread, and his soul dainty food. 33:21His flesh is so consumed away, that it can’t be seen. His bones that were not seen stick out. 33:22Yes, his soul draws near to the pit, and his life to the destroyers. 33:23“If there is beside him an angel, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show to man what is right for him; 33:24then God is gracious to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.’ 33:25His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s. He returns to the days of his youth. 33:26He prays to God, and he is favorable to him, so that he sees his face with joy. He restores to man his righteousness. 33:27He sings before men, and says, ‘I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it didn’t profit me. 33:28He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit. My life shall see the light.’ 33:29“Behold, God does all these things, twice, yes three times, with a man, 33:30to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of the living. 33:31Mark well, Job, and listen to me. Hold your peace, and I will speak. 33:32If you have anything to say, answer me. Speak, for I desire to justify you. 33:33If not, listen to me. Hold your peace, and I will teach you wisdom.”
34:1Moreover Elihu answered, 34:2“Hear my words, you wise men. Give ear to me, you who have knowledge. 34:3For the ear tries words, as the palate tastes food. 34:4Let us choose for us that which is right. Let us know among ourselves what is good. 34:5For Job has said, ‘I am righteous, God has taken away my right: 34:6Notwithstanding my right I am considered a liar. My wound is incurable, though I am without disobedience.’ 34:7What man is like Job, who drinks scorn like water, 34:8Who goes in company with the workers of iniquity, and walks with wicked men? 34:9For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.’ 34:10“Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness, from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity. 34:11For the work of a man he will render to him, and cause every man to find according to his ways. 34:12Yes surely, God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert justice. 34:13Who put him in charge of the earth? or who has appointed him over the whole world? 34:14If he set his heart on himself, If he gathered to himself his spirit and his breath, 34:15all flesh would perish together, and man would turn again to dust. 34:16“If now you have understanding, hear this. Listen to the voice of my words. 34:17Shall even one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty?— 34:18Who says to a king, ‘Vile!’ or to nobles, ‘Wicked!’? 34:19Who doesn’t respect the persons of princes, nor respects the rich more than the poor; for they all are the work of his hands. 34:20In a moment they die, even at midnight. The people are shaken and pass away. The mighty are taken away without a hand. 34:21“For his eyes are on the ways of a man. He sees all his goings. 34:22There is no darkness, nor thick gloom, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. 34:23For he doesn’t need to consider a man further, that he should go before God in judgment. 34:24He breaks in pieces mighty men in ways past finding out, and sets others in their place. 34:25Therefore he takes knowledge of their works. He overturns them in the night, so that they are destroyed. 34:26He strikes them as wicked men in the open sight of others; 34:27because they turned away from following him, and wouldn’t pay attention to any of his ways, 34:28so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him. He heard the cry of the afflicted. 34:29When he gives quietness, who then can condemn? When he hides his face, who then can see him? Alike whether to a nation, or to a man, 34:30that the godless man may not reign, that there be no one to ensnare the people. 34:31“For has any said to God, ‘I am guilty, but I will not offend any more. 34:32Teach me that which I don’t see. If I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’? 34:33Shall his recompense be as you desire, that you refuse it? For you must choose, and not I. Therefore speak what you know. 34:34Men of understanding will tell me, yes, every wise man who hears me: 34:35‘Job speaks without knowledge. His words are without wisdom.’ 34:36I wish that Job were tried to the end, because of his answering like wicked men. 34:37For he adds rebellion to his sin. He claps his hands among us, and multiplies his words against God.”
35:1Moreover Elihu answered, 35:2“Do you think this to be your right, or do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s,’ 35:3That you ask, ‘What advantage will it be to you? What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?’ 35:4I will answer you, and your companions with you. 35:5Look to the heavens, and see. See the skies, which are higher than you. 35:6If you have sinned, what effect do you have against him? If your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him? 35:7If you are righteous, what do you give him? Or what does he receive from your hand? 35:8Your wickedness may hurt a man as you are, and your righteousness may profit a son of man. 35:9“By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out. They cry for help by reason of the arm of the mighty. 35:10But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, 35:11who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’ 35:12There they cry, but no one gives answer, because of the pride of evil men. 35:13Surely God will not hear an empty cry, neither will the Almighty regard it. 35:14How much less when you say you don’t see him. The cause is before him, and you wait for him! 35:15But now, because he has not visited in his anger, neither does he greatly regard arrogance. 35:16Therefore Job opens his mouth with empty talk, and he multiplies words without knowledge.”
36:1Elihu also continued, and said, 36:2“Bear with me a little, and I will show you; for I still have something to say on God’s behalf. 36:3I will get my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker. 36:4For truly my words are not false. One who is perfect in knowledge is with you. 36:5“Behold, God is mighty, and doesn’t despise anyone. He is mighty in strength of understanding. 36:6He doesn’t preserve the life of the wicked, but gives to the afflicted their right. 36:7He doesn’t withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne, he sets them forever, and they are exalted. 36:8If they are bound in fetters, and are taken in the cords of afflictions, 36:9then he shows them their work, and their transgressions, that they have behaved themselves proudly. 36:10He also opens their ears to instruction, and commands that they return from iniquity. 36:11If they listen and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. 36:12But if they don’t listen, they shall perish by the sword; they shall die without knowledge. 36:13“But those who are godless in heart lay up anger. They don’t cry for help when he binds them. 36:14They die in youth. Their life perishes among the unclean. 36:15He delivers the afflicted by their affliction, and opens their ear in oppression. 36:16Yes, he would have allured you out of distress, into a wide place, where there is no restriction. That which is set on your table would be full of fatness. 36:17“But you are full of the judgment of the wicked. Judgment and justice take hold of you. 36:18Don’t let riches entice you to wrath, neither let the great size of a bribe turn you aside. 36:19Would your wealth sustain you in distress, or all the might of your strength? 36:20Don’t desire the night, when people are cut off in their place. 36:21Take heed, don’t regard iniquity; for you have chosen this rather than affliction. 36:22Behold, God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him? 36:23Who has prescribed his way for him? Or who can say, ‘You have committed unrighteousness?’ 36:24“Remember that you magnify his work, whereof men have sung. 36:25All men have looked on it. Man sees it afar off. 36:26Behold, God is great, and we don’t know him. The number of his years is unsearchable. 36:27For he draws up the drops of water, which distill in rain from his vapor, 36:28Which the skies pour down and which drop on man abundantly. 36:29Yes, can any understand the spreading of the clouds, and the thunderings of his pavilion? 36:30Behold, he spreads his light around him. He covers the bottom of the sea. 36:31For by these he judges the people. He gives food in abundance. 36:32He covers his hands with the lightning, and commands it to strike the mark. 36:33Its noise tells about him, and the livestock also concerning the storm that comes up.
37:1“Yes, at this my heart trembles, and is moved out of its place. 37:2Hear, oh, hear the noise of his voice, the sound that goes out of his mouth. 37:3He sends it out under the whole sky, and his lightning to the ends of the earth. 37:4After it a voice roars. He thunders with the voice of his majesty. He doesn’t hold back anything when his voice is heard. 37:5God thunders marvelously with his voice. He does great things, which we can’t comprehend. 37:6For he says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth;’ likewise to the shower of rain, and to the showers of his mighty rain. 37:7He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he has made may know it. 37:8Then the animals take cover, and remain in their dens. 37:9Out of its room comes the storm, and cold out of the north. 37:10By the breath of God, ice is given, and the width of the waters is frozen. 37:11Yes, he loads the thick cloud with moisture. He spreads abroad the cloud of his lightning. 37:12It is turned around by his guidance, that they may do whatever he commands them on the surface of the habitable world, 37:13Whether it is for correction, or for his land, or for loving kindness, that he causes it to come. 37:14“Listen to this, Job. Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. 37:15Do you know how God controls them, and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine? 37:16Do you know the workings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge? 37:17You whose clothing is warm, when the earth is still by reason of the south wind? 37:18Can you, with him, spread out the sky, which is strong as a cast metal mirror? 37:19Teach us what we shall tell him, for we can’t make our case by reason of darkness. 37:20Will it be told him that I would speak? Or should a man wish that he were swallowed up? 37:21Now men don’t see the light which is bright in the skies, but the wind passes, and clears them. 37:22Out of the north comes golden splendor. With God is awesome majesty. 37:23We can’t reach the Almighty. He is exalted in power. In justice and great righteousness, he will not oppress. 37:24Therefore men revere him. He doesn’t regard any who are wise of heart.”
38:1Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind, 38:2“Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 38:3Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me! 38:4“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding. 38:5Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it? 38:6Whereupon were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, 38:7when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 38:8“Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb, 38:9when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness, 38:10marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors, 38:11and said, ‘Here you may come, but no further. Here your proud waves shall be stayed?’ 38:12“Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place; 38:13that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it? 38:14It is changed as clay under the seal, and presented as a garment. 38:15From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken. 38:16“Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep? 38:17Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? 38:18Have you comprehended the earth in its width? Declare, if you know it all. 38:19“What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place, 38:20that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house? 38:21Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great! 38:22Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasures of the hail, 38:23which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? 38:24By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth? 38:25Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm; 38:26To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; on the wilderness, in which there is no man; 38:27to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to grow? 38:28Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew? 38:29Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it? 38:30The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen. 38:31“Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion? 38:32Can you lead the constellations out in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs? 38:33Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth? 38:34“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you? 38:35Can you send out lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are?’ 38:36Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind? 38:37Who can count the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of the sky, 38:38when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together? 38:39“Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, 38:40when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket? 38:41Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?