Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prosper

4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2  “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?

Yet who can keep from speaking?

3  Behold, you have instructed many,

and you have astrengthened the weak hands.

4  Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,

and you have amade firm the feeble knees.

5  But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;

it touches you, and you are dismayed.

6  bIs not your fear of God1 your cconfidence,

and the integrity of your ways your hope?

7  “Remember: dwho that was innocent ever perished?

Or where were the upright cut off?

8  As I have seen, those who eplow iniquity

and sow trouble reap the same.

9  By fthe breath of God they perish,

and by gthe blast of his anger they are consumed.

10  The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,

hthe teeth of the young lions are broken.

11  The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,

and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

12  “Now a word was brought to me stealthily;

my ear received ithe whisper of it.

13  Amid jthoughts from kvisions of the night,

when kdeep sleep falls on men,

14  dread came upon me, and trembling,

which made all my bones shake.

15  A spirit glided past my face;

the hair of my flesh stood up.

16  It stood still,

but I could not discern its appearance.

lA form was before my eyes;

there was silence, then I heard ma voice:

17  n‘Can mortal man be in the right before2 God?

Can a man be pure before his Maker?

18  Even in his servants ohe puts no trust,

and his angels he charges with error;

19  how much more those who dwell in houses of pclay,

whose foundation is in qthe dust,

who are crushed like3 rthe moth.

20  Between smorning and evening they are beaten to pieces;

they perish forever twithout anyone regarding it.

21  Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them,

udo they not die, and that without wisdom?’

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…