Job 21–37

Job Replies: The Wicked Do Prosper

21Then Job answered and said:

^2k“Keep listening to my words,

and let this be your comfort.

³Bear with me, and I will speak,

and after I have spoken, ^lmock on.

⁴As for me, is my ^mcomplaint against man?

Why should I not be impatient?

⁵Look at me and be appalled,

and ⁿlay your hand over your mouth.

⁶When I remember, I am dismayed,

and shuddering seizes my flesh.

^7oWhy do the wicked live,

reach old age, and grow mighty in power?

⁸Their ^poffspring are established in their presence,

and their descendants before their eyes.

⁹Their houses are ^qsafe from fear,

and ^rno rod of God is upon them.

¹⁰Their bull breeds without fail;

their cow calves and ^sdoes not miscarry.

¹¹They send out their ^tlittle boys like a flock,

and their children dance.

¹²They sing to ^uthe tambourine and ^vthe lyre

and rejoice to the sound of ^vthe pipe.

¹³They ^wspend their days in prosperity,

and in ^xpeace they go down to ^ySheol.

¹⁴They say to God, ^z‘Depart from us!

We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.

^15aWhat is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

And what ^bprofit do we get if we pray to him?’

¹⁶Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand?

^cThe counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁷“How often is it that ^dthe lamp of the wicked is put out?

That their calamity comes upon them?

That God¹ distributes pains in his anger?

¹⁸That they are like ^estraw before the wind,

and like ^fchaff that the storm carries away?

¹⁹You say, ‘God ^gstores up their iniquity for their ^hchildren.’

Let him pay it out to them, that they may ⁱknow it.

²⁰Let their own eyes see their destruction,

and let them ^jdrink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what do they care for their houses after them,

when ^kthe number of their months is cut off?

^22lWill any teach God knowledge,

seeing that he ^mjudges those who are on high?

²³One dies in his full vigor,

being wholly at ease and secure,

²⁴his pails² full of milk

and ⁿthe marrow of his bones moist.

²⁵Another dies in ^obitterness of soul,

never having tasted of prosperity.

²⁶They ^plie down alike in the dust,

and ^qthe worms cover them.

²⁷“Behold, I know your thoughts

and your schemes to wrong me.

²⁸For you say, ^r‘Where is the house of the prince?

Where is ^sthe tent in which the wicked lived?’

²⁹Have you not asked those who travel the roads,

and do you not accept their testimony

³⁰that ^tthe evil man is spared in the day of calamity,

that he is rescued in the day of wrath?

³¹Who declares his way ^uto his face,

and who ^vrepays him for what he has done?

³²When he is ^wcarried to the grave,

watch is kept over his tomb.

^33xThe clods of the valley are sweet to him;

^yall mankind follows after him,

and those who go before him are innumerable.

³⁴How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?

There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”

Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great

22Then ^zEliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

^2a“Can a man be profitable to God?

Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right,

or is it gain to him if you ^bmake your ways blameless?

⁴Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you

and ^centers into judgment with you?

⁵Is not your evil abundant?

There is no end to your iniquities.

⁶For you have ^dexacted pledges of your brothers for nothing

^eand stripped the naked of their clothing.

⁷You have given no water to the weary to drink,

and you have ^fwithheld bread from the hungry.

^8gThe man with power possessed the land,

and ^hthe favored man lived in it.

⁹You have ⁱsent widows away empty,

and ^jthe arms of ^kthe fatherless were crushed.

¹⁰Therefore ^lsnares are all around you,

and sudden terror overwhelms you,

¹¹or ^mdarkness, so that you cannot see,

and a ⁿflood of ^owater covers you.

¹²“Is not God high in the heavens?

See ^pthe highest stars, how lofty they are!

¹³But you say, ^q‘What does God know?

Can he judge through ^rthe deep darkness?

^14sThick clouds veil him, so that he does not see,

and he walks on the vault of heaven.’

¹⁵Will you keep to the old way

that wicked men have trod?

¹⁶They were snatched away ^tbefore their time;

their foundation was washed away.¹

¹⁷They said to God, ^u‘Depart from us,’

and ^v‘What can the Almighty do to us?’²

¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things—

but ^wthe counsel of the wicked is far from me.

^19xThe righteous see it and are glad;

the innocent one ^ymocks at them,

²⁰saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,

and what they left ^zthe fire has consumed.’

^21a“Agree with God, and ^bbe at peace;

thereby good will come to you.

²²Receive instruction from ^chis mouth,

and ^dlay up his words in your heart.

²³If you ^ereturn to the Almighty you will be ^fbuilt up;

if you ^gremove injustice far from your tents,

²⁴if you lay gold in ^hthe dust,

and gold of ⁱOphir among the stones of the torrent-bed,

²⁵then the Almighty will be your gold

and your precious silver.

²⁶For then you ^jwill delight yourself in the Almighty

and ^klift up your face to God.

²⁷You will ^lmake your prayer to him, and he will hear you,

and you will ^mpay your vows.

²⁸You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,

and ⁿlight will shine on your ways.

²⁹For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’;³

but he saves ^othe lowly.

³⁰He ^pdelivers even the one who is not innocent,

who will be delivered through ^qthe cleanness of your hands.”

Job Replies: Where Is God?

23Then Job answered and said:

²“Today also my ^rcomplaint is bitter;¹

my ^shand is heavy on account of my groaning.

³Oh, ^tthat I knew where I might find him,

that I might come even to his ^useat!

⁴I would ^vlay my case before him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would know what he would answer me

and understand what he would say to me.

⁶Would he ^wcontend with me in the greatness of his power?

No; he would pay attention to me.

⁷There an upright man could argue with him,

and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

⁸“Behold, ^xI go forward, but he is not there,

and backward, but I do not perceive him;

⁹on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;

he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.

¹⁰But he ^yknows ^zthe way that I ^atake;

when he has ^btried me, I shall come out as gold.

¹¹My foot ^chas held fast to his steps;

I have kept his way and have ^dnot turned aside.

¹²I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;

I have ^etreasured the words of his mouth more than my ^fportion of food.

¹³But he is unchangeable,² and ^gwho can turn him back?

What he ^hdesires, that he does.

¹⁴For he will complete what he ⁱappoints for me,

and many such things are ^jin his mind.

¹⁵Therefore I am terrified at his presence;

when I consider, I am in dread of him.

¹⁶God has made my ^kheart faint;

the Almighty has terrified me;

¹⁷yet I am not silenced because of the darkness,

nor because thick darkness covers my face.

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

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

²Some move ^olandmarks;

they seize flocks and pasture them.

³They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;

they ^ptake the widow’s ox for a pledge.

⁴They ^qthrust the poor off the road;

the poor of the earth ^rall hide themselves.

⁵Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert

the poor^{1 s}go out to their toil, ^tseeking game;

the wasteland yields food for their children.

⁶They gather their² fodder in the field,

and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

⁷They ^ulie all night naked, without clothing,

and have no covering in the cold.

⁸They 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.)

¹⁰They go about naked, without clothing;

hungry, they ^wcarry the sheaves;

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

they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.

¹²From 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.

¹⁴The murderer rises before it is light,

that he ^amay kill the poor and needy,

and in the night he is like a thief.

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

saying, ‘No ^ceye will see me’;

and he veils his face.

¹⁶In the dark they ^ddig through houses;

by day they shut themselves up;

they do not know the light.

¹⁷For ^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.

¹⁹Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;

so does ^gSheol those who have sinned.

²⁰The 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.

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

they rise up when they despair of life.

²³He gives them security, and they are supported,

and his ^jeyes are upon their ways.

²⁴They 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.

²⁵If 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

25Then ^oBildad the Shuhite answered and said:

²“Dominion and fear are with God;¹

he makes peace in his high heaven.

³Is there any number to his ^parmies?

Upon whom does his ^qlight not arise?

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

How can he who is ^sborn of woman be ^tpure?

⁵Behold, even the moon is not bright,

and the stars are not pure in his eyes;

^6uhow much less man, who is ^va maggot,

and ^wthe son of man, who is a worm!”

Job Replies: God’s Majesty Is Unsearchable

26Then Job answered and said:

²“How you have ^xhelped him…