Job 4–37

FIRST SERIES OF SPEECHES

ELIPHAZ SPEAKS

4Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

²Should anyone try to speak with you

when you are exhausted?

Yet who can keep from speaking?

³Indeed, you have instructed many

and have strengthened^g weak hands.

⁴Your words have steadied the one who was stumbling

and braced the knees that were buckling.^h

⁵But now that this has happened to you,

you have become exhausted.

It strikesⁱ you, and you are dismayed.

⁶Isn’t your piety your confidence,

and the integrity of your life^B your hope?^j

⁷Consider: Who has perished when he was innocent?

Where have the honest^C been destroyed?^k

⁸In my experience, those who plow injustice

and those who sow trouble^l reap the same.^m

⁹They perish at a single blastⁿ from God

and come to an end by the breath of his nostrils.^o

¹⁰The lion may roar and the fierce lion^p growl,

but the teeth of young lions are broken.^q

¹¹The strong lion dies if it catches no prey,

and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.^r

¹²A word was brought to me in secret;

my ears caught a whisper of it.^s

¹³Among unsettling thoughts from visions in the night,^t

when deep sleep^u comes over men,

¹⁴fear and trembling came over me^v

and made all my bones shake.

¹⁵I felt a draft^D on my face,

and the hair on my body stood up.

¹⁶A figure stood there,

but I could not recognize its appearance;

a form loomed before my eyes.

I heard a whispering voice:

¹⁷“Can a mortal be righteous before God?

Can a man be more pure than his Maker?”^w

¹⁸If God puts no trust in his servants

and he charges his angels with foolishness,^Ex

¹⁹how much more those who dwell in clay houses,^y

whose foundation is in the dust,

who are crushed like a moth!

²⁰They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk;

they perish forever while no one notices.^z

²¹Are their tent cords not pulled up?

They die without wisdom.^aa

5Call out! Will anyone answer you?

Which of the holy ones^ab will you turn to?

²For anger kills a fool,

and jealousy slays the gullible.^ac

³I have seen a fool taking root,

but I immediately pronounced a curse on his home.

⁴His children are far from safety.

They are crushed at the city gate,^ad

with no one to rescue them.

⁵The hungry consume his harvest,

even taking it out of the thorns.^A

The thirsty^B pant for his children’s wealth.

⁶For distress does not grow out of the soil,

and trouble does not sprout from the ground.

⁷But humans are born for trouble^a

as surely as sparks fly upward.

⁸However, if I were you, I would appeal to God

and would present my case to him.^b

⁹He does great^c and unsearchable things,

wonders without number.^d

¹⁰He gives rain to the earth

and sends water to the fields.^e

¹¹He sets the lowly on high,

and mourners are lifted to safety.^f

¹²He frustrates the schemes of the crafty

so that they^C achieve no success.

¹³He traps the wise in their craftiness

so that the plans of the deceptive

are quickly brought to an end.^g

¹⁴They encounter darkness by day,

and they grope at noon

as if it were night.^h

¹⁵He saves the needy from their sharp wordsⁱ

and from the clutches of the powerful.

¹⁶So the poor have hope,

and injustice shuts its mouth.^j

¹⁷See how happy is the person whom God corrects;

so do not reject the discipline of the Almighty.

¹⁸For he wounds but he also bandages;

he strikes, but his hands also heal.^k

¹⁹He will rescue you from six calamities;

no harm will touch you in seven.

²⁰In famine he will redeem you from death,

and in battle, from the power of the sword.^l

²¹You will be safe from slander^A

and not fear destruction when it comes.^m

²²You will laugh at destruction and hunger

and not fear the land’s wild creatures.

²³For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field,

and the wild animals will be at peace with you.ⁿ

²⁴You will know that your tent is secure,^o

and nothing will be missing when you inspect your home.

²⁵You will also know that your offspring will be many

and your descendants like the grass of the earth.

²⁶You will approach the grave^p in full vigor,^q

as a stack of sheaves is gathered in its season.

²⁷We have investigated this, and it is true!

Hear it and understand it for yourself.

JOB’S REPLY TO ELIPHAZ

6Then Job answered:

²If only my grief could be weighed

and my devastation^r placed with it on the scales.^s

³For then it would outweigh the sand of the seas!

That is why my words are rash.

⁴Surely the arrows of the Almighty have pierced^B me;

my spirit drinks their poison.

God’s terrors are arrayed against me.^t

⁵Does a wild donkey bray over fresh grass

or an ox low over its fodder?

⁶Is bland food eaten without salt?

Is there flavor in an egg white?^C

⁷I refuse to touch them;

they are like contaminated food.^u

⁸If only my request would be granted

and God would provide what I hope for:

⁹that he would decide to crush me,

to unleash his power and cut me off!

¹⁰It would still bring me comfort,

and I would leap for joy in unrelenting pain

that I have not denied^D the words of the Holy One.^v

¹¹What strength do I have, that I should continue to hope?

What is my future, that I should be patient?

¹²Is my strength that of stone,

or my flesh made of bronze?

¹³Since I cannot help myself,

the hope for success has been banished from me.

¹⁴A despairing man should receive loyalty from his friends,^Ea

even if he abandons the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brothers are as treacherous as a wadi,

as seasonal streams that overflow

¹⁶and become darkened^A because of ice,

and the snow melts into them.

¹⁷The wadis evaporate in warm weather;

they disappear from their channels in hot weather.

¹⁸Caravans turn away from their routes,

go up into the desert, and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema look for these streams.

The traveling merchants of Sheba hope for them.

²⁰They are ashamed because they had been confident of finding water.

When they arrive there, they are disappointed.^b

²¹So this is what you have now become to me.^B

When you see something dreadful, you are afraid.

²²Have I ever said, “Give me something”

or “Pay a bribe for me from your wealth”

²³or “Deliver me from the enemy’s hand”

or “Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless”?

²⁴Teach me, and I will be silent.

Help me understand what I did wrong.

²⁵How painful honest words can be!

But what does your rebuke prove?

²⁶Do you think that you can disprove my words

or that a despairing man’s words are mere wind?^c

²⁷No doubt you would cast lots for a fatherless child

and negotiate a price to sell your friend.^d

²⁸But now, please look at me;

I will not lie to your face.^e

²⁹Reconsider; don’t be unjust.

Reconsider; my righteousness^f is still the issue.

³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue

or can my palate not taste disaster?^g

7Isn’t each person consigned to forced labor^h on earth?

Are not his days like those of a hired worker?

²Like a slave he longs for shade;

like a hired worker he waits for his pay.

³So I have been made to inherit months of futility,

and troubled nights have been assigned to me.ⁱ

⁴When I lie down I think,

“When will I get up?”

But the evening drags on endlessly,

and I toss and turn until dawn.

⁵My flesh is clothed with maggots and encrusted with dirt.^C

My skin forms scabs^D and then oozes.^j

⁶My days pass more swiftly than a weaver’s shuttle;

they come to an end without hope.^k

⁷Remember that my life is but a breath.

My eye will never again see anything good.^l

⁸The eye of anyone who looks on me

will no longer see me.

Your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.^m

⁹As a cloud fades away and vanishes,

so the one who goes down to Sheolⁿ will never rise again.

¹⁰He will never return to his house;

his hometown will no longer remember^A him.^o

¹¹Therefore I will not restrain my mouth.

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;

I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²Am I the sea^Ba or a sea monster,^b

that you keep me under guard?

¹³When I say, “My bed will comfort me,

and my couch will ease my complaint,”

¹⁴then you frighten me with dreams,

and terrify me with visions,^c

¹⁵so that I prefer strangling^C—

death rather than life in this body.^Dd

¹⁶I give up! I will not live forever.

Leave me alone,^e for my days are a breath.^E

¹⁷What is a mere human, that you think so highly of him

and pay so much attention to him?^f

¹⁸You inspect him every morning,

and put him to the test every moment.^g

¹⁹Will you ever look away from me,

or leave me alone long enough to swallow?^F

²⁰If I have sinned, what have I done to you,

Watcher of humanity?

Why have you made me your target,^h

so that I have become a burden to you?^G

²¹Why not forgive my sin

and pardon my iniquity?ⁱ

For soon I will lie down in the grave.^j

You will eagerly seek me, but I will be gone.^k

BILDAD SPEAKS

8Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

²How long will you go on saying these things?

Your words^l are a blast of wind.^m

³Does God pervert justice?ⁿ

Does the Almighty pervert what is right?^o

⁴Since your children sinned against him,

he gave them over to their rebellion.

⁵But if you earnestly seek^p God

and ask the Almighty for mercy,^q

⁶if you are pure and upright,

then he will move even now on your behalf

and restore the home where your righteousness dwells.^r

⁷Then, even if your beginnings were modest,

your final days will be full of prosperity.^s

⁸For ask the previous generation,

and pay attention to what their ancestors discovered,^t

⁹since we were born only yesterday and know nothing.

Our days on earth are but a shadow.^u

¹⁰Will they not teach you and tell you

and speak from their understanding?

¹¹Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh?

Do reeds flourish without water?

¹²While still uncut shoots,

they would dry up quicker than any other plant.

¹³Such is the destiny^A of all who forget God;

the hope of the godless^v will perish.

¹⁴His source of confidence is fragile;^B

what he trusts in is a spider’s web.^w

¹⁵He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm.

He grabs it, but it does not hold up.

¹⁶He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine;

his shoots spread out over his garden.

¹⁷His roots are intertwined around a pile of rocks.

He looks for a…