Job 24–31

Job’s Eighth Speech, Continued

24“Why are not times kept by Shaddai,

and why do not those who know him see his days?

²They^a remove border stones;

they seize flocks, and they pasture them.

³They drive away the donkey of orphans;

they take the widow’s ox as a pledge.

⁴They thrust the poor off the road;

the needy of the earth hide themselves together.^b

⁵“Look, like wild donkeys in the desert

they^c go out to their labor as searchers for the prey;

the wilderness is^d their^e food for the young.

⁶They reap their^f fodder in the field,

and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.

⁷They spend the night naked, without^g clothing,

and they have no garment in the cold.

⁸They are wet from the rainstorm of the mountains,^h

and they cling to the rock withoutⁱ refuge.

⁹“They^j snatch the orphan from the breast,

and they take a pledge against the needy.^k

¹⁰They^l go about naked, without clothing,

and hungry, they carry the sheaves.^m

¹¹Between their terraces they press out oil;

they tread the presses, butⁿ they are thirsty.

¹²From the city people groan,

and the throat^o of the wounded cries for help;

yet^p 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.

¹⁴At dusk^r the murderer rises;

he kills the needy and the poor,

and in the night he is like a^s thief.

¹⁵And the eye of the adulterer waits for dusk,

saying, ‘No eye will see me,’^t

and he places a covering on his face.

¹⁶He digs through houses in the darkness;

by day they shut themselves in—

they do not know the light

¹⁷because morning likewise is to them deep darkness;

indeed, they know about the terrors of deep darkness.

¹⁸“He himself^u is swift on the water’s surface;

their portion is cursed in the land.

No one turns toward the path of their vineyards.^v

¹⁹Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters,

like Sheol snatches away those^w who have sinned.

²⁰The womb forgets him.

The maggot feasts on him until he is no longer remembered,

and wickedness is broken like a^x tree.

²¹He feeds on the barren, who does not have a child,

and does no good to the widow.

²²Yet^y he^z carries off the tyrants by his strength;

if he rises up, then^a he^b cannot be certain of life.^c

²³He^d gives security to him, and he is^e supported,

but^f his eyes are upon their ways.

²⁴They are exalted a little while, then^g 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?”

Bildad’s Third Speech

25Then^a Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,^b

²“Domination and dread are with him

who makes peace in his high heavens.

³Is 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?

⁵Look, even the moon is not bright,^d

and the stars are not pure in his sight.

⁶How 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

26Then^a Job answered and said,

²“How you^b have helped one who has no power!^c

How you^d have assisted the arm that has no strength!^e

³How you^f have advised one who has no wisdom!^g

And what sound wisdom you^h have made known in abundance!ⁱ

⁴With whose help^j have you^k uttered words,

and whose breath has come forth from you?^l

⁵“The spirits of the dead tremble

below the waters and their inhabitants.

⁶Sheol is naked before him,

and there is no covering for Abaddon.

⁷He stretches out the north over emptiness;

he hangs the earth over nothing.^m

⁸He ties up the water in its clouds,

and the cloud is not torn open beneath it.ⁿ

⁹He covers the face of the full moon;^o

he spreads his cloud over it.

¹⁰He 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.

¹²By his power he stilled the sea,

and by his understanding he struck down Rahab.

¹³By his breath the heavens were made clear;^r

his hand pierced the fleeing snake.

¹⁴Look, these are the outer fringes of his ways,

and how faint is the word^s that we hear of him!

But^t who can understand the thunder of his power?”

Job Continues His Final Speech

27Then^a Job again took up his discourse and said,

²“As God lives,^b he has removed my justice,

and Shaddai has made my inner self^c bitter.

³For as long as^d my breath is in me,

and the spirit of God is in my nose,

⁴my lips surely will not speak falseness,

and my tongue surely will not utter deceit.

⁵Far be it from me that I would say that you^e are right;^f

until I pass away, I will not put away from me my blamelessness.

⁶I 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,

⁸for what is the hope of the godless when he cuts them off,

when God takes away his life?

⁹Will God hear his cry of distress

when distress comes upon him?

¹⁰Or, in Shaddai will he find delight?

Will he call upon God at all times?

¹¹“I will teach you^g about^h God’s hand;

I will not conceal that which is with Shaddai.

¹²Look, you all have seen,

and why in the worldⁱ 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.

¹⁴If their children multiply, it is for the sword,

and his offspring do not have enough to eat.^k

¹⁵Their^l survivors are buried through^m the plague,

and theirⁿ widows do not weep.

¹⁶If he heaps up silver like the dust

and fashions clothing like the clay,

¹⁷he 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.

¹⁹He goes to bed with wealth, but^o he will do so no more;^p

he opens his eyes, and it is gone.^q

²⁰Terrors overtake him like the water;

a storm wind carries him off in the night.

²¹The east wind lifts him up, and he is gone,

and it sweeps him away from his place.

²²And it hurls at him, and it has no compassion;

he will quickly flee from its power.

²³It claps its hands over him,

and it hisses at him from its place.

Job’s Discourse on Wisdom

28“Indeed, there is a mine for silver

and a place for gold to be refined.^a

²Iron is taken from dust,

and he pours out copper from ore.

³He puts an end to darkness,

and he searches out the farthest limits

for the ore in gloom and deep shadow.

⁴He 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.

⁵As for the earth, from it comes food,^d

but^e underneath it, it is turned up as by fire.

⁶Its 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.

⁸Proud wild animals^g have not trodden it;

the lion in its prime has not prowled over it.

⁹He puts his hand on the hard rock;

he overturns mountains by the roots.

¹⁰He cuts out tunnels in the rocks,

and his eye sees every treasure.

¹¹He dams up rivers from their sources,

and he brings secret things to the light.

¹²“But^h from where will wisdom be found?

And where in the worldⁱ is the place of understanding?

¹³A human being does not know its proper value,

and it is not found in the land of the living.

¹⁴The 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.

¹⁶It cannot be bought for the gold of Ophir,

for precious onyx or^j sapphire.

¹⁷Gold and glass cannot be compared with it,

and its substitution cannot be an ornament of refined gold.

¹⁸Black corals and crystal will not be mentioned,

and wisdom’s price is more than red corals.

¹⁹The topaz of Cush cannot be compared with it;

it cannot be bought for pure gold.

²⁰Indeed,^k from where does wisdom come?

And where in the world^l is the place of understanding?

²¹It is hidden from the eyes of all living,

and it is concealed from the birds of the heaven.

²²Abaddon and Death say,

‘We heard its rumor with our ears.’

²³“God understands its way,

and he knows its place,

²⁴for he himself^m looks to the end of the earth;

he sees under all the heaven.

²⁵When he gaveⁿ weight to the wind

and he apportioned the waters by measure,

²⁶when he made^o a rule for the rain

and a way for the thunder’s lightning bolt,

²⁷then he saw it and talked about it;

he established it, and moreover, he explored it.

²⁸And to the human beings he said,

‘Look, the fear of the Lord is wisdom,

and to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”

Job’s Final Defense

29Then^a 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,

³when his shining lamp was over my head—

by his light I walked through darkness—

⁴as when I was in the days of my prime,

when God’s confiding was over my house,^c

⁵when Shaddai was still with me,

my children were all around me,

⁶when 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.

⁸Young men saw me and stepped aside,

and the aged rose up and stood.

⁹Officials refrained from talking,

and they laid their hand on their mouth.

¹⁰The voices^d 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

¹²because I saved the needy who cried for help,

and I saved^e the orphan for whom there was no helper.

¹³The blessing of the wretched came upon me,

and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;

my justice was like a robe and a headband.

¹⁵“I was eyes to the blind,

and I was feet to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the poor,

and I…