24 “Why are lnot times of judgment mkept by the Almighty,

and why do those who know him never see his ndays?

2  Some move olandmarks;

they seize flocks and pasture them.

3  They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;

they ptake the widow’s ox for a pledge.

4  They qthrust the poor off the road;

the poor of the earth rall hide themselves.

5  Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert

the poor1 sgo out to their toil, tseeking game;

the wasteland yields food for their children.

6  They gather their2 fodder in the field,

and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

7  They ulie all night naked, without clothing,

and have no covering in the cold.

8  They are wet with the rain of the mountains

and vcling to the rock for lack of shelter.

9  (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,

and they take a pledge against the poor.)

10  They go about naked, without clothing;

hungry, they wcarry the sheaves;

11  among the olive rows of the wicked3 they make oil;

they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.

12  From out of the city the dying4 groan,

and the soul of xthe wounded cries for help;

yet God charges no one with ywrong.

13  “There are those who rebel zagainst the light,

who are not acquainted with its ways,

and do not stay in its paths.

14  The murderer rises before it is light,

that he amay kill the poor and needy,

and in the night he is like a thief.

15  The eye of the adulterer also waits for bthe twilight,

saying, ‘No ceye will see me’;

and he veils his face.

16  In the dark they ddig through houses;

by day they shut themselves up;

they do not know the light.

17  For edeep darkness is morning to all of them;

for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

18  “You say, f‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;

their portion is cursed in the land;

no treader turns toward their vineyards.

19  Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;

so does gSheol those who have sinned.

20  The womb forgets them;

the worm finds them sweet;

they are hno longer remembered,

so wickedness is broken like ia tree.’

21  “They wrong the barren, childless woman,

and do no good to the widow.

22  Yet God5 prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;

they rise up when they despair of life.

23  He gives them security, and they are supported,

and his jeyes are upon their ways.

24  They are exalted ka little while, and then lare gone;

they are brought low and gathered up like all others;

they are mcut off like the heads of grain.

25  If it is nnot so, who will prove me a liar

and show that there is nothing in what I say?”

Bildad Speaks: Man Cannot Be Righteous

25 Then oBildad the Shuhite answered and said:

2  “Dominion and fear are with God;1

he makes peace in his high heaven.

3  Is there any number to his parmies?

Upon whom does his qlight not arise?

4  How then can man be rin the right before God?

How can he who is sborn of woman be tpure?

5  Behold, even the moon is not bright,

and the stars are not pure in his eyes;

6  uhow much less man, who is va maggot,

and wthe son of man, who is a worm!”

Job Replies: God’s Majesty Is Unsearchable

26 Then Job answered and said:

2  “How you have xhelped him who has no power!

How you have saved ythe arm that has no strength!

3  How you have zcounseled him who has no wisdom,

and plentifully declared sound knowledge!

4  With whose help have you uttered words,

and whose breath ahas come out from you?

5  The bdead tremble

under the waters and their inhabitants.

6  Sheol is cnaked before God,1

and dAbaddon has no covering.

7  He estretches out the north over fthe void

and hangs the earth on nothing.

8  He gbinds up the waters in his thick clouds,

and the cloud is not split open under them.

9  He covers the face of the full moon2

and hspreads over it his cloud.

10  He has inscribed ia circle on the face of the waters

at the boundary between light and darkness.

11  jThe pillars of heaven tremble

and are astounded at his krebuke.

12  By his power he lstilled the sea;

by his understanding he shattered mRahab.

13  nBy his wind the heavens were made fair;

his hand pierced othe fleeing serpent.

14  Behold, these are but the outskirts of his pways,

and how small qa whisper do we hear of him!

But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

Job Continues: I Will Maintain My Integrity

27 And Job again rtook up his discourse, and said:

2  “As God lives, who has staken away my right,

and the Almighty, who has tmade my soul bitter,

3  as long as my breath is in me,

and uthe spirit of God is in my nostrils,

4  my lips will not speak vfalsehood,

and my tongue will not utter vdeceit.

5  Far be it from me to say that you are right;

till I die I will not put away my wintegrity from me.

6  I xhold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;

my heart does not yreproach me for any of my days.

7  “Let my enemy be as the wicked,

and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.

8  zFor what is the hope of the godless awhen God cuts him off,

when God takes away his life?

9  bWill God hear his cry

when distress comes upon him?

10  Will he ctake delight in the Almighty?

Will he call upon God at all times?

11  I will teach you concerning the hand of God;

dwhat is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

12  Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves;

why then have you become altogether vain?

13  e“This is the portion of a wicked man with God,

and the heritage that foppressors receive from the Almighty:

14  If his gchildren are multiplied, it is for hthe sword,

and his descendants have not enough bread.

15  Those who survive him the pestilence buries,

and his iwidows do not weep.

16  Though he jheap up silver like dust,

and pile up clothing like clay,

17  he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it,

and kthe innocent will divide the silver.

18  He builds his lhouse like a moth’s,

like ma booth that na watchman makes.

19  He goes to bed rich, but will odo so no more;

he opens his eyes, and phis wealth is gone.

20  qTerrors overtake him like ra flood;

in the night a whirlwind scarries him off.

21  tThe east wind lifts him up and he is gone;

it usweeps him out of his place.

22  It1 hurls at him vwithout pity;

he flees from its2 power in headlong flight.

23  It wclaps its hands at him

and xhisses at him from its place.

Job Continues: Where Is Wisdom?

28 “Surely there is a mine for silver,

and a place for gold that they yrefine.

2  Iron is taken out of the earth,

and copper is smelted from the ore.

3  Man puts an end to darkness

and searches out to the farthest limit

the ore in zgloom and adeep darkness.

4  He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;

they are forgotten by travelers;

they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.

5  As for the earth, bout of it comes bread,

but underneath it is turned up as by fire.

6  Its stones are the place of csapphires,1

and it has dust of gold.

7  “That path no bird of prey knows,

and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.

8  dThe proud beasts have not trodden it;

ethe lion has not passed over it.

9  “Man puts his hand to fthe flinty rock

and overturns mountains by the roots.

10  He cuts out channels in the rocks,

and his eye sees every precious thing.

11  He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,

and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

12  g“But where shall wisdom be found?

And where is the place of understanding?

13  Man does not know its worth,

and it is not found in hthe land of the living.

14  iThe deep says, ‘It is not in me,’

and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

15  It jcannot be bought for gold,

and silver cannot be weighed as its price.

16  It cannot be valued in kthe gold of lOphir,

in precious monyx or nsapphire.

17  Gold and glass cannot equal it,

nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

18  No mention shall be made of ocoral or of crystal;

the price of wisdom is above oppearls.

19  qThe topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,

nor can it be valued in pure gold.

20  “From where, then, does wisdom come?

And where is the place of understanding?

21  It is hidden from the eyes of rall living

and concealed from the birds of the air.

22  sAbaddon and Death say,

‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

23  t“God understands the way to it,

and he knows its place.

24  For he ulooks to the ends of the earth

and sees everything under the heavens.

25  When he vgave to the wind its weight

and apportioned the waters by measure,

26  when he made a decree for the rain

and wa way for the lightning of the thunder,

27  then he saw it and declared it;

he established it, and searched it out.

28  And he said to man,

‘Behold, xthe fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,

and to yturn away from evil is understanding.’ ”