Job 21–37

Job’s Reply to Zophar

21Then Job answered:

²Pay close attention to my words;

let this be the consolation you offer.

³Bear with me while I speak;

then after I have spoken, you may continue mocking.

⁴As for me, is my complaint ^magainst a man?

Then why shouldn’t I be impatient?

⁵Look at me and shudder; ⁿ

put your hand over your mouth. ^o

⁶When I think about it, I am terrified

and my body trembles ^pin horror.

⁷Why do the wicked continue to live,

growing old and becoming powerful?

⁸Their children are established while they are still alive, ^q

and their descendants, before their eyes.

⁹Their homes are secure and free of fear; ^r

no rod from God strikes them. ^s

¹⁰Their bulls breed without fail;

their cows calve and do not miscarry.

¹¹They let their little ones run around like lambs;

their children skip about,

¹²singing to the tambourine and lyre

and rejoicing at the sound of the flute. ^t

¹³They spend ^utheir days in prosperity ^v

and go down to Sheol in peace.

¹⁴Yet they say to God: “Leave us alone!

We don’t want to know Your ways. ^w

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him,

and what will we gain by pleading with Him?” ^x

¹⁶But their prosperity is not of their own doing.

The counsel of the wicked is far from me! ^y

¹⁷How often is the lamp ^zof the wicked put out?

Does disaster ^acome on them?

Does He apportion destruction in His anger?

¹⁸Are they like straw before the wind,

like chaff ^ba storm sweeps away?

¹⁹God reserves a person’s punishment for his children. ^c

Let God repay the person himself, so that he may know it.

²⁰Let his own eyes see his demise;

let him drink from the Almighty’s wrath! ^d

²¹For what does he care about his family once he is dead, ^e

when the number of his months has run out? ^f

²²Can anyone teach God knowledge, ^g

since He judges the exalted ones? ^h

²³One person dies in excellent health, ⁱ

completely secure ^jand at ease.

²⁴His body is ^kwell fed, ^l

and his bones are full of marrow. ^m

²⁵Yet another person dies with a bitter ⁿsoul,

having never tasted prosperity.

²⁶But they both lie in the dust,

and worms cover them. ^o

²⁷I know your thoughts very well,

the schemes you would wrong me with.

²⁸For you say, “Where now is the nobleman’s house?”

and “Where are the tents ^pthe wicked lived in?”

²⁹Have you never consulted those who travel the roads?

Don’t you accept their reports? ^q

³⁰Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of disaster,

rescued from the day of wrath.

³¹Who would denounce his behavior to his face?

Who would repay ^rhim for what he has done?

³²He is carried to the grave,

and someone keeps watch over his tomb.

³³The dirt on his grave is ^ssweet to him.

Everyone follows behind him,

and those who go before him are without number.

³⁴So how can you offer me such futile comfort?

Your answers are deceptive.

Third Series of Speeches

Eliphaz Speaks

22Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

²Can a man be of any use to God?

Can even a wise man be of use to Him?

³Does it delight the Almighty if you are righteous?

Does He profit if you perfect your behavior? ^t

⁴Does He correct you and take you to court

because of your piety? ^u

⁵Isn’t your wickedness abundant

and aren’t your iniquities endless?

⁶For you took collateral ^vfrom your brothers without cause,

stripping off their clothes and leaving them naked.

⁷You gave no water to the thirsty

and withheld food from the famished, ^w

⁸while the land belonged to a powerful man

and an influential man lived on it.

⁹You sent widows away empty-handed,

and the strength of the fatherless ^xwas ^ycrushed.

¹⁰Therefore snares surround you,

and sudden dread terrifies ^zyou,

¹¹or darkness, so you cannot see,

and a flood of water covers you. ^a

¹²Isn’t God as high as the heavens?

And look at the highest stars—how lofty they are!

¹³Yet you say: “What does God know?

Can He judge through thick darkness? ^b

¹⁴Clouds ^cveil Him so that He cannot see,

as He walks on the circle of the sky.”

¹⁵Will you continue on the ancient path

that wicked men have walked?

¹⁶They were snatched away before their time,

and their foundations ^dwere washed away by a river.

¹⁷They were the ones who said to God, “Leave us alone!”

and “What can the Almighty do to us?” ^ef

¹⁸But it was He who filled their houses with good things.

The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

¹⁹The righteous see this and rejoice;

the innocent mock them, saying, ^g

²⁰“Surely our opponents are destroyed,

and fire has consumed what they left behind.” ^h

²¹Come to terms with God and be at peace; ⁱ

in this way ^jgood will come to you.

²²Receive instruction from His mouth, ^k

and place His sayings ^lin your heart.

²³If you return ^mto the Almighty, you will be renewed.

If you banish injustice from your tent

²⁴and consign your gold to the dust,

the gold of Ophir ⁿto the stones in the wadis,

²⁵the Almighty will be your gold

and your finest silver.

²⁶Then you will delight ^oin the Almighty

and lift up your face to God. ^p

²⁷You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, ^q

and you will fulfill your vows.

²⁸When you make a decision, it will be carried out, ^r

and light will shine on your ways. ^s

²⁹When others are humiliated and you say, “Lift them up,”

God will save the humble. ^tu

³⁰He will even rescue the guilty one,

who will be rescued by the purity of your hands. ^v

Job’s Reply to Eliphaz

23Then Job answered:

²Today also my complaint is bitter. ^wx

His ^yhand is heavy despite my groaning.

³If only I knew how to find Him,

so that I could go to His throne.

⁴I would plead my case before Him ^z

and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would learn how ^aHe would answer me;

and understand what He would say to me.

⁶Would He prosecute ^bme forcefully?

No, He will certainly pay attention to me.

⁷Then an upright man could reason ^cwith Him,

and I would escape from my Judge ^dforever.

⁸If I go east, He is not there,

and if I go west, I cannot perceive Him. ^e

⁹When He is at work to the north, I cannot see Him;

when He turns south, I cannot find Him.

¹⁰Yet He knows the way I have taken; ^f

when He has tested me, ^gI will emerge as pure gold.

¹¹My feet have followed in His tracks;

I have kept to His way ^hand not turned aside.

¹²I have not departed from the commands of His lips;

I have treasured ⁱthe words ^jof His mouth

more than my daily food.

¹³But He is unchangeable; who can oppose Him?

He does what He desires. ^k

¹⁴He will certainly accomplish what He has decreed for me,

and He has many more things like these in mind. ^l

¹⁵Therefore I am terrified ^min His presence;

when I consider this, I am afraid of Him.

¹⁶God has made my heart faint; ⁿ

the Almighty has terrified me.

¹⁷Yet I am not destroyed ^oby the darkness, ^p

by the thick darkness that covers my face.

24Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment? ^q

Why do those who know Him never see His days?

²The wicked displace boundary markers.

They steal a flock and provide pasture for it.

³They drive away the donkeys owned by the fatherless ^r

and take the widow’s ox as collateral.

⁴They push the needy off the road;

the poor of the land are forced into hiding. ^s

⁵Like wild donkeys in the desert,

the poor go out to their task of foraging for food;

the wilderness provides nourishment for their children.

⁶They gather their fodder in the field

and glean the vineyards of the wicked.

⁷Without clothing, they spend the night naked,

having no covering against the cold. ^t

⁸Drenched by mountain rains,

they huddle against ^uthe rocks, shelterless.

⁹The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast;

the nursing child of the poor is seized as collateral. ^v

¹⁰Without clothing, they wander about naked.

They carry sheaves but go hungry. ^w

¹¹They crush olives in their presses; ^x

they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.

¹²From the city, men ^ygroan;

the mortally wounded cry for help,

yet God pays no attention to this crime. ^z

¹³The wicked are those who rebel against the light.

They do not recognize its ways

or stay on its paths.

¹⁴The murderer rises at dawn

to kill the poor and needy,

and by night he becomes a thief.

¹⁵The adulterer’s eye watches for twilight,

thinking: No eye will see me;

he covers his face.

¹⁶In the dark they break ^ainto houses;

by day they lock themselves in, ^b

never experiencing the light.

¹⁷For the morning is like darkness to them.

Surely they are familiar with the terrors of darkness!

¹⁸They float ^con the surface of the water.

Their section of the land is cursed,

so that they never go to their vineyards.

¹⁹As dry ground and heat snatch away the melted snow,

so Sheol ^dsteals those who have sinned.

²⁰The womb forgets them;

worms feed on them;

they are remembered ^eno more.

So injustice is broken like a tree.

²¹They prey on ^fthe childless woman who is unable to conceive,

and do not deal kindly with the widow.

²²Yet God drags away ^gthe mighty by His power;

when He rises up, they have no assurance of life.

²³He gives them a sense of security, so they can rely on it, ^h

but His eyes ⁱwatch over their ways.

²⁴They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone;

they are brought low and shrivel up like everything else. ^j

They wither like heads of grain. ^k

²⁵If this is not true, then who can prove me a liar ^l

and show that my speech is worthless?

Bildad Speaks

25Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

²Dominion and dread ^mbelong to Him,

the One who establishes harmony in the heavens. ⁿ

³Can His troops be numbered?

Does His light not shine on everyone?

⁴How can a person be justified before God? ^o

How can one born of woman be pure? ^p

⁵If even the moon does not shine

and the stars are not pure in His sight, ^q

⁶how much less man, who is a maggot,

and the son of man, who is a worm! ^r

Job’s Reply to Bildad

26Then Job answered:

²How you have helped ^sthe powerless

and delivered the arm that is weak!

³How you have counseled the unwise ^t

and thoroughly explained the path to success!

⁴Who did you speak these words to?

Whose breath came out of your mouth?

⁵The departed spirits tremble

beneath the waters and all that inhabit them. ^u

⁶Sheol ^vis naked before God,

and Abaddon ^whas no covering. ^x

⁷He stretches the…