Job 24–31

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 northern skies over empty space;

He hangs the earth on nothing.

⁸He wraps up the waters in His clouds,

yet the clouds do not burst beneath their weight. ^y

⁹He obscures the view of His throne,

spreading His cloud over it.

¹⁰He laid out the horizon on the surface of the waters ^z

at the boundary between light and darkness.

¹¹The pillars that hold up the sky tremble,

astounded at His rebuke. ^a

¹²By His power He stirred ^bthe sea,

and by His understanding He crushed Rahab. ^c

¹³By His breath the heavens gained their beauty;

His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. ^de

¹⁴These are but the fringes of His ways;

how faint is the word we hear of Him!

Who can understand His mighty thunder?

27Job continued his discourse, saying:

²As God lives, who has deprived me of justice, ^f

and the Almighty who has made me bitter, ^g

³as long as my breath is still in me

and the breath from God remains in my nostrils, ^h

⁴my lips will not speak unjustly,

and my tongue will not utter deceit.

⁵I will never affirm that you are right.

I will maintain my integrity ^ijuntil I die.

⁶I will cling to my righteousness and never let it go.

My conscience ^kwill not accuse me as long as I live!

⁷May my enemy be like the wicked

and my opponent like the unjust.

⁸For what hope does the godless man ^lhave when he is cut off,

when God takes away his life? ^m

⁹Will God hear his cry

when distress comes on him?

¹⁰Will he delight ⁿin the Almighty?

Will he call on God at all times?

¹¹I will teach you about God’s power.

I will not conceal what the Almighty has planned. ^o

¹²All of you have seen this for yourselves,

why do you keep up this empty talk? ^p

¹³This is a wicked man’s lot ^qfrom God,

the inheritance the ruthless receive from the Almighty.

¹⁴Even if his children increase, they are destined for the sword;

his descendants will never have enough food.

¹⁵Those who survive him will be buried by the plague,

yet their widows will not weep for them. ^r

¹⁶Though he piles up silver like dust

and heaps up a wardrobe like clay—

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

and the innocent will divide up his silver. ^s

¹⁸The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon

or a booth set up by a watchman. ^t

¹⁹He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;

when he opens his eyes, it is gone.

²⁰Terrors overtake him like a flood; ^u

a storm ^vwind sweeps him away at night.

²¹An east wind picks him up, and he is gone;

it carries him away from his place.

²²It blasts at him without mercy,

while he flees desperately from its grasp.

²³It claps ^wits hands at him

and scorns him from its place.

Job’s Hymn to Wisdom

28Surely there is a mine for silver

and a place where gold is refined.

²Iron is taken from the ground,

and copper is smelted from ore.

³A miner puts an end to the darkness;

he probes ^xthe deepest recesses

for ore in the gloomy darkness.

⁴He cuts a shaft far from human habitation,

in places unknown to those who walk above ground. ^y

Suspended far away from people,

the miners swing back and forth.

⁵Food may come from the earth,

but below the surface the earth is transformed as by fire.

⁶Its rocks are a source of sapphire, ^za

containing flecks of gold.

⁷No bird of prey knows that path;

no falcon’s eye has seen it.

⁸Proud beasts have never walked on it;

no lion has ever prowled over it.

⁹The miner strikes the flint

and transforms the mountains at their foundations.

¹⁰He cuts out channels in the rocks,

and his eyes spot every treasure.

¹¹He dams up the streams from flowing ^b

so that he may bring to light what is hidden.

¹²But where can wisdom ^cbe found,

and where is understanding located?

¹³No man can know its value, ^d

since it cannot be found in the land of the living.

¹⁴The ocean depths say, “It’s not in me,”

while the sea declares, “I don’t have it.” ^e

¹⁵Gold cannot be exchanged for it,

and silver cannot be weighed out for its price.

¹⁶Wisdom cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, ^f

in precious onyx or sapphire. ^gh

¹⁷Gold and glass do not compare with it,

and articles of fine gold cannot be exchanged for it. ⁱ

¹⁸Coral and quartz are not worth mentioning.

The price of wisdom is beyond pearls.

¹⁹Topaz from Cush cannot compare with it,

and it cannot be valued in pure gold.

²⁰Where then does wisdom come from,

and where is understanding located?

²¹It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing

and concealed from the birds of the sky.

²²Abaddon and Death ^jsay,

“We have heard news of it with our ears.”

²³But God understands the way to wisdom,

and He knows its location.

²⁴For He looks to the ends of the earth

and sees everything under the heavens.

²⁵When God fixed the weight of the wind

and limited the water by measure, ^k

²⁶when He established a limit ^lfor the rain ^m

and a path for the lightning,

²⁷He considered wisdom and evaluated it;

He established it and examined it.

²⁸He said to mankind,

“The fear of the Lord is this: wisdom.

And to turn from evil is understanding.” ⁿ

Job’s Final Claim of Innocence

29Job continued his discourse, saying:

²If only I could be as in months gone by,

in the days when God watched over me,

³when His lamp shone above my head,

and I walked through darkness by His light! ^o

⁴I would be as I was in the days of my youth

when God’s friendship ^prested on my tent,

⁵when the Almighty was still with me

and my children were around me,

⁶when my feet were bathed in cream

and the rock ^qpoured out streams of oil for me!

⁷When I went out to the city gate ^r

and took my seat in the town square,

⁸the young men saw me and withdrew,

while older men stood to their feet.

⁹City officials stopped talking

and covered their mouths with their hands. ^s

¹⁰The noblemen’s voices were hushed,

and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths. ^t

¹¹When they heard me, they blessed me,

and when they saw me, they spoke well of me. ^u

¹²For I rescued the poor man who cried out for help,

and the fatherless child who had no one to support him. ^v

¹³The dying man blessed me,

and I made the widow’s heart rejoice.

¹⁴I clothed myself in righteousness, ^w

and it enveloped me;

my just decisions were like a robe and a turban.

¹⁵I was eyes to the blind

and feet to the lame. ^x

¹⁶I was a father to the needy,

and I examined the case of the stranger.

¹⁷I shattered the fangs of the unjust ^y

and snatched the prey from his teeth.

¹⁸So I thought: I will die in my own nest

and multiply my days as the sand. ^z

¹⁹My roots will have access to water, ^a

and the dew will rest on my branches all night.

²⁰My strength will be refreshed within me,

and my bow will be renewed in my hand. ^b

²¹Men listened to me with expectation,

waiting silently for my advice.

²²After a word from me they did not speak…