001:001 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job.
That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God,
and turned away from evil.
001:002 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
001:003 His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels,
five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys,
and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest
of all the children of the east.
001:004 His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on
his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters
to eat and to drink with them.
001:005 It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course,
that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning,
and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all.
For Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced
God in their hearts." Thus did Job continually.
001:006 Now it happened on the day when the God's sons came to present
themselves before Yahweh, that Satan also came among them.
001:007 Yahweh said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, "From going back and forth
in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."
001:008 Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant, Job? For there
is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man,
one who fears God, and turns away from evil."
001:009 Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, "Does Job fear
God for nothing?
001:010 Haven't you made a hedge around him, and around his house,
and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed
the work of his hands, and his substance is increased
in the land.
001:011 But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has,
and he will renounce you to your face."
001:012 Yahweh said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power.
Only on himself don't put forth your hand." So Satan went
forth from the presence of Yahweh.
001:013 It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating
and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house,
001:014 that there came a messenger to Job, and said, "The oxen
were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them,
001:015 and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have
killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone
have escaped to tell you."
001:016 While he was still speaking, there also came another, and said,
"The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up
the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone
have escaped to tell you."
001:017 While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said,
"The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels,
and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with
the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you."
001:018 While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said,
"Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine
in their eldest brother's house,
001:019 and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck
the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men,
and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you."
001:020 Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head,
and fell down on the ground, and worshiped.
001:021 He said, "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall
I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away.
Blessed be the name of Yahweh."
001:022 In all this, Job did not sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing.
002:001 Again it happened on the day when the God's sons came to present
themselves before Yahweh, that Satan came also among them
to present himself before Yahweh.
002:002 Yahweh said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered Yahweh, and said, "From going back and forth
in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."
002:003 Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there
is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man,
one who fears God, and turns away from evil. He still
maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him,
to ruin him without cause."
002:004 Satan answered Yahweh, and said, "Skin for skin. Yes, all that
a man has he will give for his life.
002:005 But put forth your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh,
and he will renounce you to your face."
002:006 Yahweh said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand.
Only spare his life."
002:007 So Satan went forth from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job
with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head.
002:008 He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with,
and he sat among the ashes.
002:009 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still maintain your integrity?
Renounce God, and die."
002:010 But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women
would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God,
and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job didn't sin
with his lips.
002:011 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil
that had come on him, they each came from his own place:
Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite,
and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize
with him and to comfort him.
002:012 When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn't
recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept;
and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads
toward the sky.
002:013 So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights,
and none spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief
was very great.
003:001 After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.
003:002 Job answered:
003:003 "Let the day perish in which I was born, the night which said,
'There is a boy conceived.'
003:004 Let that day be darkness. Don't let God from above seek for it,
neither let the light shine on it.
003:005 Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own.
Let a cloud dwell on it. Let all that makes black
the day terrify it.
003:006 As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it.
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year.
Let it not come into the number of the months.
003:007 Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful voice come therein.
003:008 Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to
rouse up leviathan.
003:009 Let the stars of the twilight of it be dark. Let it look
for light, but have none, neither let it see the eyelids
of the morning,
003:010 because it didn't shut up the doors of my mother's womb,
nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.
003:011 "Why didn't I die from the womb? Why didn't I give up the spirit
when my mother bore me?
003:012 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast,
that I should suck?
003:013 For now should I have lain down and been quiet.
I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,
003:014 with kings and counselors of the earth, who built up waste
places for themselves;
003:015 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
003:016 or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants
who never saw light.
003:017 There the wicked cease from troubling. There the weary
are at rest.
003:018 There the prisoners are at ease together. They don't hear
the voice of the taskmaster.
003:019 The small and the great are there. The servant is free
from his master.
003:020 "Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the
bitter in soul,
003:021 Who long for death, but it doesn't come; and dig for it more
than for hidden treasures,
003:022 who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can
find the grave?
003:023 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, whom God
has hedged in?
003:024 For my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured
out like water.
003:025 For the thing which I fear comes on me, That which I am afraid
of comes to me.
003:026 I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest;
but trouble comes."
004:001 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
004:002 "If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved?
But who can withhold himself from speaking?
004:003 Behold, you have instructed many, you have strengthened
the weak hands.
004:004 Your words have supported him who was falling, You have made
firm the feeble knees.
004:005 But now it is come to you, and you faint. It touches you,
and you are troubled.
004:006 Isn't your piety your confidence? Isn't the integrity of your
ways your hope?
004:007 "Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent?
Or where were the upright cut off?
004:008 According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity,
and sow trouble, reap the same.
004:009 By the breath of God they perish. By the blast of his anger
are they consumed.
004:010 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion,
the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
004:011 The old lion perishes for lack of prey. The cubs of the lioness
are scattered abroad.
004:012 "Now a thing was secretly brought to me. My ear received
a whisper of it.
004:013 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep
falls on men,
004:014 fear came on me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.
004:015 Then a spirit passed before my face. The hair of my
flesh stood up.
004:016 It stood still, but I couldn't discern its appearance.
A form was before my eyes. Silence, then I heard a voice, saying,
004:017 'Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more
pure than his Maker?
004:018 Behold, he puts no trust in his servants. He charges his
angels with error.
004:019 How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation
is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!
004:020 Between morning and evening they are destroyed.
They perish forever without any regarding it.
004:021 Isn't their tent cord plucked up within them? They die,
and that without wisdom.'
005:001 "Call now; is there any who will answer you? To which of the holy
ones will you turn?
005:002 For resentment kills the foolish man, and jealousy kills the simple.
005:003 I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I
cursed his habitation.
005:004 His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate.
Neither is there any to deliver them,
005:005 whose harvest the hungry eats up, and take it even out of the thorns.
The snare gapes for their substance.
005:006 For affliction doesn't come forth from the dust, neither does
trouble spring out of the ground;
005:007 but man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
005:008 "But as for me, I would seek God. I would commit my cause to God,
005:009 who does great things that can't be fathomed, marvelous
things without number;
005:010 who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields;
005:011 so that he sets up on high those who are low, those who mourn
are exalted to safety.
005:012 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands
can't perform their enterprise.
005:013 He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel
of the cunning is carried headlong.
005:014 They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at noonday
as in the night.
005:015 But he saves from the sword of their mouth, even the needy
from the hand of the mighty.
005:016 So the poor has hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.
005:017 "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do
not despise the chastening of the Almighty.
005:018 For he wounds, and binds up. He injures, and his hands make whole.
005:019 He will deliver you in six troubles; yes, in seven there shall
no evil touch you.
005:020 In famine he will redeem you from death; in war, from the power
of the sword.
005:021 You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither shall
you be afraid of destruction when it comes.
005:022 At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you
be afraid of the animals of the earth.
005:023 For you shall be in league with the stones of the field.
The animals of the field shall be at peace with you.
005:024 You shall know that your tent is in peace. You shall visit
your fold, and shall miss nothing.
005:025 You shall know also that your seed shall be great, Your offspring
as the grass of the earth.
005:026 You shall come to your grave in a full age, like a shock
of grain comes in its season.
005:027 Look this, we have searched it, so it is. Hear it, and know
it for your good."
006:001 Then Job answered,
006:002 "Oh that my anguish were weighed, and all my calamity laid
in the balances!
006:003 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas,
therefore have my words been rash.
006:004 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit
drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves
in array against me.
006:005 Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox
low over his fodder?
006:006 Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt?
Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
006:007 My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me.
006:008 "Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant the thing
that I long for,
006:009 even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let
loose his hand, and cut me off!
006:010 Be it still my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that
doesn't spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
006:011 What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end,
that I should be patient?
006:012 Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass?
006:013 Isn't it that I have no help in me, That wisdom is driven
quite from me?
006:014 "To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from
his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
006:015 My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel
of brooks that pass away;
006:016 Which are black by reason of the ice, in which the snow hides itself.
006:017 In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are
consumed out of their place.
006:018 The caravans that travel beside them turn aside.
They go up into the waste, and perish.
006:019 The caravans of Tema looked. The companies of Sheba
waited for them.
006:020 They were distressed because they were confident.
They came there, and were confounded.
006:021 For now you are nothing. You see a terror, and are afraid.
006:022 Did I say, 'Give to me?' or, 'Offer a present for me
from your substance?'
006:023 or, 'Deliver me from the adversary's hand?' or, 'Redeem me
from the hand of the oppressors?'
006:024 "Teach me, and I will hold my peace. Cause me to understand
wherein I have erred.
006:025 How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof,
what does it reprove?
006:026 Do you intend to reprove words, seeing that the speeches
of one who is desperate are as wind?
006:027 Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make
merchandise of your friend.
006:028 Now therefore be pleased to look at me, for surely I shall
not lie to your face.
006:029 Please return. Let there be no injustice. Yes, return again.
My cause is righteous.
006:030 Is there injustice on my tongue? Can't my taste
discern mischievous things?
007:001 "Isn't a man forced to labor on earth? Aren't his days
like the days of a hired hand?
007:002 As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, as a hireling
who looks for his wages,
007:003 so am I made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights
are appointed to me.
007:004 When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I arise, and the night be gone?'
I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.
007:005 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust.
My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.
007:006 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are
spent without hope.
007:007 Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye shall no
more see good.
007:008 The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more.
Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be.
007:009 As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes
down to Sheol shall come up no more.
007:010 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place
know him any more.
007:011 "Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish
of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
007:012 Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me?
007:013 When I say, 'My bed shall comfort me. My couch shall
ease my complaint;'
007:014 then you scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions:
007:015 so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones.
007:016 I loathe my life. I don't want to live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
007:017 What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set
your mind on him,
007:018 that you should visit him every morning, and test him every moment?
007:019 How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone
until I swallow down my spittle?
007:020 If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men?
Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am
a burden to myself?
007:021 Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity?
For now shall I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently,
but I shall not be."
008:001 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,
008:002 "How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your
mouth be a mighty wind?
008:003 Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty
pervert righteousness?
008:004 If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered
them into the hand of their disobedience.
008:005 If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication
to the Almighty.
008:006 If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you,
and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.
008:007 Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end
would greatly increase.
008:008 "Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning
of their fathers.
008:009 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our
days on earth are a shadow.)
008:010 Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out
of their heart?
008:011 "Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes
grow without water?
008:012 While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers
before any other reed.
008:013 So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless
man shall perish,
008:014 Whose confidence shall break apart, Whose trust is a spider's web.
008:015 He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand.
He shall cling to it, but it shall not endure.
008:016 He is green before the sun. His shoots go forth over his garden.
008:017 His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees
the place of stones.
008:018 If he is destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him,
saying, 'I have not seen you.'
008:019 Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth,
others shall spring.
008:020 "Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will
he uphold the evil-doers.
008:021 He will still fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting.
008:022 Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame.
The tent of the wicked shall be no more."
009:001 Then Job answered,
009:002 "Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with God?
009:003 If he is pleased to contend with him, he can't answer him
one time in a thousand.
009:004 God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength:
who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?
009:005 He removes the mountains, and they don't know it, when he overturns
them in his anger.
009:006 He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble.
009:007 He commands the sun, and it doesn't rise, and seals up the stars.
009:008 He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves
of the sea.
009:009 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers
of the south.
009:010 He does great things past finding out; yes, marvelous
things without number.
009:011 Behold, he goes by me, and I don't see him. He passes on also,
but I don't perceive him.
009:012 Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him,
'What are you doing?'
009:013 "God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab
stoop under him.
009:014 How much less shall I answer him, And choose my words to
argue with him?
009:015 Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn't answer him.
I would make supplication to my judge.
009:016 If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn't believe
that he listened to my voice.
009:017 For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my
wounds without cause.
009:018 He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills
me with bitterness.
009:019 If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty!
If of justice, 'Who,' says he, 'will summon me?'
009:020 Though I am righteous, my own mouth shall condemn me.
Though I am blameless, it shall prove me perverse.
009:021 I am blameless. I don't regard myself. I despise my life.
009:022 "It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless
and the wicked.
009:023 If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial
of the innocent.
009:024 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked.
He covers the faces of the judges of it. If not he,
then who is it?
009:025 "Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away,
they see no good,
009:026 They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that
swoops on the prey.
009:027 If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face,
and cheer up;'
009:028 I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that you will not
hold me innocent.
009:029 I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain?
009:030 If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,
009:031 yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes
shall abhor me.
009:032 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him,
that we should come together in judgment.
009:033 There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand
on us both.
009:034 Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not
make me afraid;
009:035 then I would speak, and not fear him, for I am not so in myself.
010:001 "My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to
my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
010:002 I will tell God, 'Do not condemn me. Show me why you
contend with me.
010:003 Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should
despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel
of the wicked?
010:004 Do you have eyes of flesh? Or do you see as man sees?
010:005 Are your days as the days of mortals, or your years as man's years,
010:006 that you inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin?
010:007 Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can
deliver out of your hand.
010:008 "'Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether,
yet you destroy me.
010:009 Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay.
Will you bring me into dust again?
010:010 Haven't you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?
010:011 You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together
with bones and sinews.
010:012 You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation
has preserved my spirit.
010:013 Yet you hid these things in your heart. I know that this
is with you:
010:014 if I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me
from my iniquity.
010:015 If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall
not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious
of my affliction.
010:016 If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion.
Again you show yourself powerful to me.
010:017 You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation
on me. Changes and warfare are with me.
010:018 "'Why, then, have you brought me forth out of the womb?
I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.
010:019 I should have been as though I had not been. I should have
been carried from the womb to the grave.
010:020 Aren't my days few? Cease then. Leave me alone, that I may
find a little comfort,
010:021 before I go where I shall not return from, to the land
of darkness and of the shadow of death;
010:022 the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order,
where the light is as midnight.'"
011:001 Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered,
011:002 "Shouldn't the multitude of words be answered? Should a man
full of talk be justified?
011:003 Should your boastings make men hold their peace?
When you mock, shall no man make you ashamed?
011:004 For you say, 'My doctrine is pure. I am clean in your eyes.'
011:005 But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against you,
011:006 that he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom
has two sides. Know therefore that God exacts of you less
than your iniquity deserves.
011:007 "Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits
of the Almighty?
011:008 They are high as heaven. What can you do? They are deeper
than Sheol. What can you know?
011:009 Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.
011:010 If he passes by, or confines, or convenes a court, then who
can oppose him?
011:011 For he knows false men. He sees iniquity also, even though
he doesn't consider it.
011:012 An empty-headed man becomes wise when a man is born as a
wild donkey's colt.
011:013 "If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands toward him.
011:014 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away. Don't let
unrighteousness dwell in your tents.
011:015 Surely then shall you lift up your face without spot;
Yes, you shall be steadfast, and shall not fear:
011:016 for you shall forget your misery. You shall remember it
as waters that are passed away.
011:017 Life shall be clearer than the noonday. Though there is darkness,
it shall be as the morning.
011:018 You shall be secure, because there is hope. Yes, you shall search,
and shall take your rest in safety.
011:019 Also you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid.
Yes, many shall court your favor.
011:020 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail. They shall have no way
to flee. Their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit."
012:001 Then Job answered,
012:002 "No doubt, but you are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.
012:003 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you.
Yes, who doesn't know such things as these?
012:004 I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God,
and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.
012:005 In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt
for misfortune. It is ready for them whose foot slips.
012:006 The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure,
who carry their God in their hands.
012:007 "But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you;
the birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.
012:008 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you. The fish
of the sea shall declare to you.
012:009 Who doesn't know that in all these, the hand of Yahweh
has done this,
012:010 in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath
of all mankind?
012:011 Doesn't the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food?
012:012 With aged men is wisdom, in length of days understanding.
012:013 "With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.
012:014 Behold, he breaks down, and it can't be built again.
He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
012:015 Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends
them out, and they overturn the earth.
012:016 With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the
deceiver are his.
012:017 He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.
012:018 He loosens the bond of kings. He binds their waist with a belt.
012:019 He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.
012:020 He removes the speech of those who are trusted, and takes away
the understanding of the elders.
012:021 He pours contempt on princes, and loosens the belt of the strong.
012:022 He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light
the shadow of death.
012:023 He increases the nations, and he destroys them.
He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.
012:024 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people
of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness
where there is no way.
012:025 They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger
like a drunken man.
013:001 "Behold, my eye has seen all this. My ear has heard
and understood it.
013:002 What you know, I know also. I am not inferior to you.
013:003 "Surely I would speak to the Almighty. I desire to reason with God.
013:004 But you are forgers of lies. You are all physicians of no value.
013:005 Oh that you would be completely silent! Then you would be wise.
013:006 Hear now my reasoning. Listen to the pleadings of my lips.
013:007 Will you speak unrighteously for God, and talk deceitfully for him?
013:008 Will you show partiality to him? Will you contend for God?
013:009 Is it good that he should search you out? Or as one deceives
a man, will you deceive him?
013:010 He will surely reprove you if you secretly show partiality.
013:011 Shall not his majesty make you afraid, And his dread fall on you?
013:012 Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, Your defenses
are defenses of clay.
013:013 "Be silent, leave me alone, that I may speak. Let come on
me what will.
013:014 Why should I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life
in my hand?
013:015 Behold, he will kill me. I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will
maintain my ways before him.
013:016 This also shall be my salvation, that a godless man shall
not come before him.
013:017 Hear diligently my speech. Let my declaration be in your ears.
013:018 See now, I have set my cause in order. I know that I am righteous.
013:019 Who is he who will contend with me? For then would I hold
my peace and give up the spirit.
013:020 "Only don't do two things to me; then I will not hide myself
from your face:
013:021 withdraw your hand far from me; and don't let your terror
make me afraid.
013:022 Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and you answer me.
013:023 How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my disobedience
and my sin.
013:024 Why hide you your face, and hold me for your enemy?
013:025 Will you harass a driven leaf? Will you pursue the dry stubble?
013:026 For you write bitter things against me, and make me inherit
the iniquities of my youth:
013:027 You also put my feet in the stocks, and mark all my paths.
You set a bound to the soles of my feet,
013:028 though I am decaying like a rotten thing, like a garment
that is moth-eaten.
014:001 "Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.
014:002 He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees
like a shadow, and doesn't continue.
014:003 Do you open your eyes on such a one, and bring me into
judgment with you?
014:004 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.
014:005 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is
with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he can't pass;
014:006 Look away from him, that he may rest, until he shall accomplish,
as a hireling, his day.
014:007 "For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will
sprout again, that the tender branch of it will not cease.
014:008 Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stock dies
in the ground,
014:009 yet through the scent of water it will bud, and put forth
boughs like a plant.
014:010 But man dies, and is laid low. Yes, man gives up the spirit,
and where is he?
014:011 As the waters fail from the sea, and the river wastes and dries up,
014:012 so man lies down and doesn't rise. Until the heavens are no more,
they shall not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.
014:013 "Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would keep me secret,
until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time,
and remember me!
014:014 If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare
would I wait, until my release should come.
014:015 You would call, and I would answer you. You would have a desire
to the work of your hands.
014:016 But now you number my steps. Don't you watch over my sin?
014:017 My disobedience is sealed up in a bag. You fasten up my iniquity.
014:018 "But the mountain falling comes to nothing. The rock is removed
out of its place;
014:019 The waters wear the stones. The torrents of it wash away
the dust of the earth. So you destroy the hope of man.
014:020 You forever prevail against him, and he departs.
You change his face, and send him away.
014:021 His sons come to honor, and he doesn't know it.
They are brought low, but he doesn't perceive it of them.
014:022 But his flesh on him has pain, and his soul within him mourns."
015:001 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
015:002 "Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge, and fill himself
with the east wind?
015:003 Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches
with which he can do no good?
015:004 Yes, you do away with fear, and hinder devotion before God.
015:005 For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language
of the crafty.
015:006 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I. Yes, your own lips
testify against you.
015:007 "Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought
forth before the hills?
015:008 Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit
wisdom to yourself?
015:009 What do you know, that we don't know? What do you understand,
which is not in us?
015:010 With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men,
much elder than your father.
015:011 Are the consolations of God too small for you, even the word
that is gentle toward you?
015:012 Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash,
015:013 That you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go
out of your mouth?
015:014 What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born
of a woman, that he should be righteous?
015:015 Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones. Yes, the heavens
are not clean in his sight;
015:016 how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks
iniquity like water!
015:017 "I will show you, listen to me; that which I have seen
I will declare:
015:018 (Which wise men have told by their fathers, and have not hidden it;
015:019 to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them):
015:020 the wicked man writhes in pain all his days, even the number
of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
015:021 A sound of terrors is in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer
shall come on him.
015:022 He doesn't believe that he shall return out of darkness.
He is waited for by the sword.
015:023 He wanders abroad for bread, saying, 'Where is it?'
He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
015:024 Distress and anguish make him afraid. They prevail against him,
as a king ready to the battle.
015:025 Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves
himself proudly against the Almighty;
015:026 he runs at him with a stiff neck, with the thick shields
of his bucklers;
015:027 because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered
fat on his thighs.
015:028 He has lived in desolate cities, in houses which no one inhabited,
which were ready to become heaps.
015:029 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue,
neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.
015:030 He shall not depart out of darkness. The flame shall dry up
his branches. By the breath of God's mouth shall he go away.
015:031 Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; for emptiness
shall be his reward.
015:032 It shall be accomplished before his time. His branch shall
not be green.
015:033 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall
cast off his flower as the olive tree.
015:034 For the company of the godless shall be barren, and fire shall
consume the tents of bribery.
015:035 They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
Their heart prepares deceit."
016:001 Then Job answered,
016:002 "I have heard many such things. You are all miserable comforters!
016:003 Shall vain words have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer?
016:004 I also could speak as you do. If your soul were in my
soul's place, I could join words together against you,
and shake my head at you,
016:005 but I would strengthen you with my mouth. The solace of my
lips would relieve you.
016:006 "Though I speak, my grief is not subsided. Though I forbear,
what am I eased?
016:007 But now, God, you have surely worn me out. You have made
desolate all my company.
016:008 You have shriveled me up. This is a witness against me.
My leanness rises up against me. It testifies to my face.
016:009 He has torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me.
He has gnashed on me with his teeth. My adversary sharpens
his eyes on me.
016:010 They have gaped on me with their mouth. They have struck
me on the cheek reproachfully. They gather themselves
together against me.
016:011 God delivers me to the ungodly, and casts me into the hands
of the wicked.
016:012 I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Yes, he has taken me
by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up
for his target.
016:013 His archers surround me. He splits my kidneys apart,
and does not spare. He pours out my gall on the ground.
016:014 He breaks me with breach on breach. He runs on me like a giant.
016:015 I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and have thrust my horn
in the dust.
016:016 My face is red with weeping. Deep darkness is on my eyelids.
016:017 Although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
016:018 "Earth, don't cover my blood. Let my cry have no place to rest.
016:019 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven. He who vouches
for me is on high.
016:020 My friends scoff at me. My eyes pour out tears to God,
016:021 that he would maintain the right of a man with God, of a son
of man with his neighbor!
016:022 For when a few years are come, I shall go the way from whence
I shall not return.
017:001 "My spirit is consumed. My days are extinct, And the grave
is ready for me.
017:002 Surely there are mockers with me. My eye dwells
on their provocation.
017:003 "Now give a pledge, be collateral for me with yourself.
Who is there who will strike hands with me?
017:004 For you have hidden their heart from understanding,
Therefore shall you not exalt them.
017:005 He who denounces his friends for a prey, Even the eyes of his
children shall fail.
017:006 "But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit
in my face.
017:007 My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. All my members are
as a shadow.
017:008 Upright men shall be astonished at this. The innocent shall
stir up himself against the godless.
017:009 Yet shall the righteous hold on his way. He who has clean
hands shall grow stronger and stronger.
017:010 But as for you all, come on now again; I shall not find a wise
man among you.
017:011 My days are past, my plans are broken off, as are the thoughts
of my heart.
017:012 They change the night into day, saying 'The light is near'
in the presence of darkness.
017:013 If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch
in the darkness,
017:014 If I have said to corruption, 'You are my father;' to the worm,
'My mother,' and 'my sister;'
017:015 where then is my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
017:016 Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, or descend
together into the dust?"
018:001 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,
018:002 "How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and afterwards
we will speak.
018:003 Why are we counted as animals, which have become unclean
in your sight?
018:004 You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken
for you? Or shall the rock be removed out of its place?
018:005 "Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, The spark
of his fire shall not shine.
018:006 The light shall be dark in his tent. His lamp above him shall
be put out.
018:007 The steps of his strength shall be shortened. His own counsel
shall cast him down.
018:008 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he wanders
into its mesh.
018:009 A snare will take him by the heel. A trap will catch him.
018:010 A noose is hidden for him in the ground, a trap for him
in the way.
018:011 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall chase
him at his heels.
018:012 His strength shall be famished. Calamity shall be ready
at his side.
018:013 The members of his body shall be devoured. The firstborn
of death shall devour his members.
018:014 He shall be rooted out of his tent where he trusts.
He shall be brought to the king of terrors.
018:015 There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his.
Sulfur shall be scattered on his habitation.
018:016 His roots shall be dried up beneath. Above shall his branch
be cut off.
018:017 His memory shall perish from the earth. He shall have no name
in the street.
018:018 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out
of the world.
018:019 He shall have neither son nor grandson among his people,
nor any remaining where he sojourned.
018:020 Those who come after shall be astonished at his day,
as those who went before were frightened.
018:021 Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous.
This is the place of him who doesn't know God."
019:001 Then Job answered,
019:002 "How long will you torment me, and crush me with words?
019:003 You have reproached me ten times. You aren't ashamed that
you attack me.
019:004 If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.
019:005 If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead
against me my reproach;
019:006 know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me
with his net.
019:007 "Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard.
I cry for help, but there is no justice.
019:008 He has walled up my way so that I can't pass, and has set
darkness in my paths.
019:009 He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
019:010 He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone.
My hope he has plucked up like a tree.
019:011 He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me
among his adversaries.
019:012 His troops come on together, build a siege ramp against me,
and encamp around my tent.
019:013 "He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are
wholly estranged from me.
019:014 My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.
019:015 Those who dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger.
I am an alien in their sight.
019:016 I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer.
I beg him with my mouth.
019:017 My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children
of my own mother.
019:018 Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me.
019:019 All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have
turned against me.
019:020 My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped
by the skin of my teeth.
019:021 "Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand
of God has touched me.
019:022 Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied
with my flesh?
019:023 "Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed
in a book!
019:024 That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in
the rock forever!
019:025 But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end,
he will stand upon the earth.
019:026 After my skin is destroyed, then in my flesh shall I see God,
019:027 Whom I, even I, shall see on my side. My eyes shall see,
and not as a stranger. "My heart is consumed within me.
019:028 If you say, 'How we will persecute him!' because the root
of the matter is found in me,
019:029 be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments
of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment."
020:001 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,
020:002 "Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason
of my haste that is in me.
020:003 I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame.
The spirit of my understanding answers me.
020:004 Don't you know this from old time, since man was placed on earth,
020:005 that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless
but for a moment?
020:006 Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach
to the clouds,
020:007 yet he shall perish forever like his own dung.
Those who have seen him shall say, 'Where is he?'
020:008 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found.
Yes, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night.
020:009 The eye which saw him shall see him no more, neither shall
his place any more see him.
020:010 His children shall seek the favor of the poor. His hands
shall give back his wealth.
020:011 His bones are full of his youth, but youth shall lie down
with him in the dust.
020:012 "Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it
under his tongue,
020:013 though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still
within his mouth;
020:014 yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.
020:015 He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again.
God will cast them out of his belly.
020:016 He shall suck cobra venom. The viper's tongue shall kill him.
020:017 He shall not look at the rivers, the flowing streams of
honey and butter.
020:018 That 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.
020:019 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently
taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.
020:020 "Because he knew no quietness within him, he shall not save
anything of that in which he delights.
020:021 There was nothing left that he didn't devour, therefore his
prosperity shall not endure.
020:022 In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him.
The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him.
020:023 When 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.
020:024 He shall flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow shall
strike him through.
020:025 He draws it forth, and it comes out of his body.
Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver.
Terrors are on him.
020:026 All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire
shall devour him. It shall consume that which is left
in his tent.
020:027 The heavens shall reveal his iniquity. The earth shall rise
up against him.
020:028 The increase of his house shall depart. They shall rush away
in the day of his wrath.
020:029 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage
appointed to him by God."
021:001 Then Job answered,
021:002 "Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation.
021:003 Allow me, and I also will speak; After I have spoken, mock on.
021:004 As for me, is my complaint to man? Why shouldn't I be impatient?
021:005 Look at me, and be astonished. Lay your hand on your mouth.
021:006 When I remember, I am troubled. Horror takes hold of my flesh.
021:007 "Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?
021:008 Their child is established with them in their sight,
their offspring before their eyes.
021:009 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of
God upon them.
021:010 Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve,
and don't miscarry.
021:011 They send forth their little ones like a flock.
Their children dance.
021:012 They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice at the sound
of the pipe.
021:013 They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go
down to Sheol.
021:014 They tell God, 'Depart from us, for we don't want to know
about your ways.
021:015 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
What profit should we have, if we pray to him?'
021:016 Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel
of the wicked is far from me.
021:017 "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?
021:018 How often is it that they are as stubble before the wind,
as chaff that the storm carries away?
021:019 You say, 'God lays up his iniquity for his children.'
Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it.
021:020 Let his own eyes see his destruction. Let him drink of the wrath
of the Almighty.
021:021 For what does he care for his house after him, when the number
of his months is cut off?
021:022 "Shall any teach God knowledge, seeing he judges those
who are high?
021:023 One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.
021:024 His pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moistened.
021:025 Another dies in bitterness of soul, and never tastes of good.
021:026 They lie down alike in the dust. The worm covers them.
021:027 "Behold, I know your thoughts, the devices with which you
would wrong me.
021:028 For you say, 'Where is the house of the prince?
Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?'
021:029 Haven't you asked wayfaring men? Don't you know their evidences,
021:030 that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity,
That they are led forth to the day of wrath?
021:031 Who shall declare his way to his face? Who shall repay him