Job 25:1–31:40
25 Thena Bildad the Shuhite answered and ⌊said⌋,b
2 “Domination and dread are with him
who makes peace in his high heavens.
3 Is there a number to his troops?
And upon whom does his light not rise?
4 “Indeed,c how can a human being be righteous before God?
And how will he who is born of a woman be pure?
5 Look, even the moon ⌊is not bright⌋,d
and the stars are not pure in his sight.
6 ⌊How much less⌋e for a human being who is a maggot,
and ⌊a human⌋f who is a worm?”
Job’s Ninth Speech: A Response to Bildad
26 Thena Job answered and said,
2 “How youb have helped ⌊one who has no power⌋!c
How youd have assisted the arm ⌊that has no strength⌋!e
3 How youf have advised ⌊one who has no wisdom⌋!g
And what sound wisdom youh have made known ⌊in abundance⌋!i
4 ⌊With whose help⌋j have youk uttered words,
and whose breath has come forth from you?l
5 “The spirits of the dead tremble
below the waters and their inhabitants.
and there is no covering for Abaddon.
7 He stretches out the north over emptiness;
he hangs the earth ⌊over nothing⌋.m
8 He ties up the water in its clouds,
and the cloud is not torn open beneath it.n
9 He covers the face of the full moon;o
he spreads his cloud over it.
10 ⌊He has described a circle⌋p on the face of the water
⌊between light and darkness⌋.q
11 “The pillars of heaven tremble,
and they are astounded at his rebuke.
12 By his power he stilled the sea,
and by his understanding he struck down Rahab.
13 By his breath ⌊the heavens were made clear⌋;r
his hand pierced the fleeing snake.
14 Look, these are the outer fringes of his ways,
and ⌊how faint is the word⌋s that we hear of him!
Butt who can understand the thunder of his power?”
Job Continues His Final Speech
27 Thena Job again took up his discourse and said,
2 “⌊As God lives⌋,b he has removed my justice,
and Shaddai has made my inner selfc bitter.
3 For ⌊as long as⌋d my breath is in me,
and the spirit of God is in my nose,
4 my lips surely will not speak falseness,
and my tongue surely will not utter deceit.
5 Far be it from me that ⌊I would say that youe are right⌋;f
until I pass away, I will not put away from me my blamelessness.
6 I hold fast to my righteousness, and I will not let it go;
my heart will not blame any of my days.
7 “Let my enemy be like the wicked
and my opponent like the unrighteous,
8 for what is the hope of the godless when he cuts them off,
when God takes away his life?
9 Will God hear his cry of distress
when distress comes upon him?
10 Or, in Shaddai will he find delight?
Will he call upon God at all times?
11 “I will teach youg abouth God’s hand;
I will not conceal that which is with Shaddai.
and ⌊why in the world⌋i ⌊have you become altogether vain⌋?j
13 “This is the portion of the wicked human being with God,
and they receive from Shaddai the inheritance of the ruthless.
14 If their children multiply, it is for the sword,
and his offspring ⌊do not have enough to eat⌋.k
15 Theirl survivors are buried throughm the plague,
and theirn widows do not weep.
16 If he heaps up silver like the dust
and fashions clothing like the clay,
17 he makes it ready, and the righteous will wear it,
and the innocent will divide the silver.
18 “He builds his house like the moth,
and like a booth that a watchman has made.
19 He goes to bed with wealth, buto ⌊he will do so no more⌋;p
he opens his eyes, and ⌊it is gone⌋.q
20 Terrors overtake him like the water;
a storm wind carries him off in the night.
21 The east wind lifts him up, and he is gone,
and it sweeps him away from his place.
22 And it hurls at him, and it has no compassion;
he will quickly flee from its power.
23 It claps its hands over him,
and it hisses at him from its place.
28 “Indeed, there is a mine for silver
and a place ⌊for gold to be refined⌋.a
and he pours out copper from ore.
and he searches out the farthest limits
for the ore in gloom and deep shadow.
4 He breaks open a mine shaft ⌊away from where people dwell⌋;b
those who are forgotten ⌊by travelers⌋,c
they dangle, they sway far away from human beings.
5 As for the earth, from it comes food,d
bute underneath it, it is turned up as by fire.
6 Its stones are the place of sapphire,
and the earthen dirt ⌊has⌋f gold.
7 “It is a path a bird of prey does not know
and the black kite’s eye has not seen.
8 ⌊Proud wild animals⌋g have not trodden it;
the lion in its prime has not prowled over it.
9 He puts his hand on the hard rock;
he overturns mountains by the roots.
10 He cuts out tunnels in the rocks,
and his eye sees every treasure.
11 He dams up rivers from their sources,
and he brings secret things to the light.
12 “Buth from where will wisdom be found?
And ⌊where in the world⌋i is the place of understanding?
13 A human being does not know its proper value,
and it is not found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 “Refined gold cannot be gotten in its place,
and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.
16 It cannot be bought for the gold of Ophir,
for precious onyx orj sapphire.
17 Gold and glass cannot be compared with it,
and its substitution cannot be an ornament of refined gold.
18 Black corals and crystal will not be mentioned,
and wisdom’s price is more than red corals.
19 The topaz of Cush cannot be compared with it;
it cannot be bought for pure gold.
20 Indeed,k from where does wisdom come?
And ⌊where in the world⌋l is the place of understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
and it is concealed from the birds of the heaven.
‘We heard its rumor with our ears.’
and he knows its place,
24 for he himselfm looks to the end of the earth;
he sees under all the heaven.
25 ⌊When he gave⌋n weight to the wind
and he apportioned the waters by measure,
26 ⌊when he made⌋o a rule for the rain
and a way for the thunder’s lightning bolt,
27 then he saw it and talked about it;
he established it, and moreover, he explored it.
28 And to the human beings he said,
‘Look, the fear of the Lord is wisdom,
and to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”
29 Thena Job again took up his discourse and said,
2 “⌊O that I were⌋b as in the months before,
as in the days when God watched over me,
3 when his shining lamp was over my head—
by his light I walked through darkness—
4 as when I was in the days of my prime,
when God’s confiding was over my ⌊house⌋,c
5 when Shaddai was still with me,
my children were all around me,
6 when my paths were washed in sour milk,
and the rock poured out streams of oil for me.
7 “At my going out the gate to the city,
I secured my seat in the square.
8 Young men saw me and stepped aside,
and the aged rose up and stood.
9 Officials refrained from talking,
and they laid their hand on their mouth.
10 The voicesd of nobles were hushed,
and their tongue stuck to their palate.
11 “When the ear heard and commended me,
and the eye saw and testified in support of me
12 because I saved the needy who cried for help,
and I savede the orphan for whom there was no helper.
13 The blessing of the wretched came upon me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a headband.
and I was feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the poor,
and I investigated ⌊the stranger’s⌋f legal dispute.
17 And I broke the evil one’s jaw bones,
and I made his prey drop from his teeth.
18 “And I thought, ‘I will pass away in my nest,
and like the phoenix I shall multiply my days.
19 My roots were open to water,
and dew spent the night on my branches;
and ⌊I was revitalized regularly⌋.’g
21 “They listened to me and waited,
and they kept silent for my counsel.
22 After my word, they did not speak again,
and my word dropped down like dew upon them.
23 And they waited for me as for the rain,
and they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain.
24 I smiled for them when they had no confidence in anything,
and they did not extinguish the light of my face.
25 I chose their way, and I sat as head,
and I dwelled like a king among the troops,
like one who comforts mourners.
30 “But now those younger than I, as far as days, laugh at me,
whose fathers I rejected for setting with the dogs of my sheep and goats.
2 Moreover, ⌊what use to me is the strength of their hands⌋?a
With them, vigor is destroyed.
3 Through want and through barren hunger
they are gnawing in the dry region in the darkness of desolation and waste.
4 They are picking salt herbs, the leaves of bushes,
and the roots of broom trees to warm themselves.
5 They were driven out from fellow people;
they shout at them as at ab thief,
6 ⌊so that they dwell⌋c
in holes of the ground and in the rocks.
they are gathered under the nettles.
8 ⌊A senseless crowd⌋,d yes, ⌊a disreputable brood⌋,e
they were cast out from the land.
9 “But now I am their mocking song,
and I have become a byword for them.
10 They abhor me; they keep aloof from me,
and they do not withhold spit from my face
11 because he has loosened his bowstring and humbled me,
and they have thrown off restraint ⌊in my presence⌋.f
12 On the right hand the brood risesg up;
⌊they put me to flight⌋,h
and they build up their ⌊siege ramps⌋i against me.
they promote my destruction;
they have no helper.
14 As through a wide breach they come;
amid a crash they rush on.
15 Terrors are turned upon me;
my honor is pursued as by the wind,
and my hope of deliverance passed by like a cloud.
16 “And now my life is poured out onto me;
days of misery have taken hold of me.
17 ⌊At night I am in great pain⌋;j
my pains do not take a rest.
18 He seizes my clothing with ⌊great power⌋;k
he grasps me by my tunic’s collar.