Job 21:1–24:25
Job’s Seventh Speech: A Response to Zophar
21 Thena Job answered and said,
2 “Listen carefully to my words,
and let this be yourb consolation.
3 Bear with me, and I myselfc will speak;
thend after my speaking you can mock.
4 As for me, is my complaint for human beings?
And if so, why cannot I be impatient?
and place your hand on your mouth.
6 And when I think of it, I am horrified,e
and shuddering seizes my flesh.
grow old, even grow mighty in power?
8 With them their offspring are established ⌊before them⌋,f
and their descendants before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe without fear,
and the rod of God is not upon them.
10 His bull breeds and does not fail;
his cow calves and does not miscarry.
11 They send out their little ones like the flock,
and their children dance around.
12 They ⌊sing⌋g to the tambourine and lyre,
and they rejoice to the sound of the long flute.
13 They spend their days in prosperity,
and in peace they go down to Sheol.
14 And they say to God, ‘Turn away from us,
forh we do not desire to know your ways.
15 Who is Shaddai that we should serve him,
ori what would we benefit when we plead with him?’
16 Look, their prosperity is not in their hands;
the schemes of the wicked are repugnantj to me.
17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out,
and their disaster comes upon them?
Hek distributes pains in his anger.
18 How often are they like straw ⌊before⌋l the wind,
and like chaff that the storm carries away?
19 ‘God stores up his iniquity for his children’?m
Then let him repay it to him thatn he may know.
20 Let his eyes see his decay,
and let him drink from the wrath of Shaddai,
21 for what ⌊does he care for⌋o his house after him,
when the number of his months isp cut off?
22 Can anyone teach knowledge to God,
sinceq he himselfr judges high ones?
23 This one dies ⌊in full prosperity⌋,s
⌊completely⌋t at ease and secure.
24 His vats are full with milk
and the marrow of his bones is moist.
25 Yetu another dies with a bitter inner selfv
and has not tasted prosperity.
26 They lie down together in the dust,
and maggots cover them.
27 “Look, I know yourw thoughts
and the schemes you devise against me.
28 For you say, ‘Where is the nobleman’s house,
and where are ⌊the tents in which the wicked dwell⌋?’x
29 Do you not ask those traveling the roads,
and do you not take notice of their accounts?
30 Indeed, the wicked is spared from the day of disaster;
he is delivered from the day of wrath.
31 Who denounces his way to his face?
And who repays him for what he has done?
32 Wheny he is brought to the grave,
thenz someone stands guard over the tomb.
33 The clods of the valley are sweet to him;
everyone will follow after him,
and ⌊before⌋a him ⌊they are innumerable⌋.b
34 Soc how will you comfort me with emptiness,
whend fraud is left in your answers?”
22 Thena Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2 “Can a man be of use to God?
Yes, can the wise be of use to him?
3 Is it a pleasure to Shaddai if you are righteous,
orb a gain if you make your ways blameless?
4 Does he reprove you because of your reverence
or enter into judgment with you?
5 Is not your wickedness great,
and there is no end to your iniquities?
6 “Indeed, you have required a pledge from your family for nothing,
and you have stripped off the clothes of the naked.
7 You have given no water for the weary to drink,
and you withheld food from the hungry.
8 And the land ⌊belongs to the man of power⌋,c
and ⌊the favored⌋d lives in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty-handed,
and the arms of orphans were crushed.
10 Therefore trapping nets are all around you,
and panic suddenly terrifies you,
11 or it is so dark you cannot see,
and a flood of water covers you.
12 “Is not God in the height of the heavens?
Bute see how lofty are ⌊the highest stars⌋.f
13 And you ask, ‘What does God know?
Can he judge through deep gloom?
14 Thick clouds are a covering for him, so that he does not see;
and he walks about on the dome of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the way of old
that the people of mischief have trod,
16 who were snatched away ⌊before their time⌋,g
whose foundation was washed away by a current?
17 Those who said to God, ‘Turn away from us,’
and ‘What can Shaddai do to us?’
18 Yeth he himselfi filled up their houses with good things,
butj the schemes of the wicked are repugnant to me.
19 The righteous see, and they rejoice,
butk the innocent one mocks at them.
20 ⌊Surely⌋l our foe perishes,
and fire has consumed their remainder.m
21 “Please reconcile yourself with him,
and be at peace; ⌊in this way⌋,n good will come to you.
22 Please receive instruction from his mouth,
and place his words in your heart.
23 If you return to Shaddai, you will be restored;
if you remove wickedness from your tent,
24 and if you put gold ore in the dust,
and the gold of Ophir in the rock of wadis,
25 theno Shaddai will be your gold ore
and ⌊your precious silver⌋.p
26 Indeed, then you will delight yourself in Shaddai,
and ⌊you will expect that God will be good to you⌋.q
27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
and you will pay your vows.
28 And you will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
and light will shine on your ways.
29 When they are humiliated, ⌊you say⌋,r ‘It is pride,’
30 He will deliver the guilty,
and he will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.”
Job’s Eighth Speech: A Response to Eliphaz
23 Thena Job answered and said,
2 “Even today my complaint is bitter;
my hand is heavy in addition to my groaning.
3 ⌊O that⌋b I knew and that I might find him;
O that I might come to his dwelling.
4 I would lay my case ⌊before him⌋,c
and I would fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I want to know the words with which he would answer me,
and I want to understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his strength?
No, but he himselfd would give heed to me.
7 There an upright person could reason with him,
and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.
8 “When I go forward, ⌊he is not there⌋,e
orf backward, I cannot see him.g
9 ⌊When he works⌋h on the left, ⌊I cannot perceive⌋i him;
he turns to the right, butj I cannot see him.
10 But he knows ⌊the way that I take⌋;k
he tests me—I shall come out like gold.
11 My foot has held on to his steps;
I have kept his way, and I have not turned aside.
12 From the commandment of his lips, indeedl I have not departed;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily food.
13 “Butm he is ⌊alone⌋,n and who can dissuade him?
And ⌊whatever he desires⌋,o ⌊indeed⌋,p he does it.
14 For he will carry out ⌊what he appoints for me⌋,q
and many things like these are with him.
15 Therefore, I am horrified because of his presence;
when I consider, I trembler because of him.
16 Indeed,s God has made my heart faint,
and Shaddai has terrified me.
17 Indeed, I have not been silenced ⌊because of darkness⌋,t
and because of me heu conceals thick darkness.
Job’s Eighth Speech, Continued
24 “Why are not times kept by Shaddai,
and why do not those who know him see his days?
2 Theya remove border stones;
they seize flocks, and they pasture them.
3 They drive away the donkey of orphans;
they take the widow’s ox as a pledge.
4 They thrust the poor off the road;
the needy of the earth hide themselves together.b
5 “Look, like wild donkeys in the desert
theyc go out to their labor as searchers for the prey;
the wilderness isd ⌊their⌋e food for the young.
6 They reap theirf fodder in the field,
and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They spend the night naked, ⌊without⌋g clothing,
and they have no garment in the cold.
8 They are wet from the rainstorm of the mountains,h
and they cling to the rock ⌊without⌋i refuge.
9 “Theyj snatch the orphan from the breast,
and they take a pledge against the needy.k
10 Theyl go about naked, without clothing,
and hungry, they carry the sheaves.m
11 Between their terraces they press out oil;
they tread the presses, butn they are thirsty.
12 From the city people groan,
and the throato of the wounded cries for help;
yetp God does not ⌊regard it as unseemly⌋.q
13 “Those are among the ones rebelling against the light;
they do not recognize his ways,
and they do not stay in his paths.
14 ⌊At dusk⌋r the murderer rises;
he kills the needy and the poor,
and in the night he is like as thief.
15 And the eye of the adulterer waits for dusk,
saying, ⌊‘No eye will see me,’⌋t
and he places a covering on his face.
16 He digs through houses in the darkness;
by day they shut themselves in—
they do not know the light
17 because morning likewise is to them deep darkness;
indeed, they know about the terrors of deep darkness.
18 “He himselfu is swift on the water’s surface;
their portion is cursed in the land.
⌊No one turns toward the path of their vineyards⌋.v
19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters,
like Sheol snatches away thosew who have sinned.
The maggot feasts on him until he is no longer remembered,
and wickedness is broken like ax tree.
21 He feeds on the barren, who does not have a child,
and does no good to the widow.
22 Yety hez carries off the tyrants by his strength;
if he rises up, thena heb cannot be certain of life.c
23 Hed gives security to him, and he ise supported,
butf his eyes are upon their ways.
24 They are exalted a little while, theng ⌊they are gone⌋.h
And they are brought low; they are cut off like all others,
and like the heads of grain they wither away.
25 “And if it is not so, then who can prove me a liar
and reduce my word to nothing?”