Job 24–31

CHAPTER 24

Who Can Prove Me a Liar?

¹“^aWhy are ¹times not stored up by the Almighty,

And why do those who know Him not behold ^bHis days?

²“¹Some ^amove the boundaries;

They seize and ²devour flocks.

³“They drive away the donkeys of the ^aorphans;

They take the ^bwidow’s ox for a pledge.

⁴“They push ^athe needy aside from the road;

The ^bafflicted of the land are made to hide themselves altogether.

⁵“Behold, as ^awild donkeys in the wilderness

They ^bgo forth seeking food earnestly in their work,

The desert becomes ¹for him a place of bread for his young ones.

⁶“They harvest their fodder in the field

And glean the vineyard of the wicked.

⁷“^aThey spend the night naked, without clothing,

And have no covering against the cold.

⁸“They are wet with the mountain rains

And hug the rock for want of a shelter.

⁹“¹Others snatch the ^aorphan from the breast,

And against the afflicted they take a pledge.

¹⁰“Those poor ones walk about naked without clothing,

And hungry ones carry the sheaves.

¹¹“Within the walls they produce oil;

They tread wine presses but thirst.

¹²“From the city men groan,

And the souls of the wounded cry out;

Yet God ^adoes not pay attention to such offense.

¹³“¹Others have been with those who rebel against the light;

They do not want to recognize its ways

Nor abide in its paths.

¹⁴“The murderer ^aarises at dawn;

He ^bkills the afflicted and the needy,

And at night he is as a thief.

¹⁵“The eye of the ^aadulterer keeps watch for the twilight,

Saying, ‘No eye will see me.’

And he ¹keeps his face hidden.

¹⁶“In the dark they ^adig into houses;

They ^bshut themselves up by day;

They do not know the light.

¹⁷“For the morning is the same to him as the shadow of death,

For he recognizes the ^aterrors of the shadow of death.

¹⁸“¹They are ^2ainsignificant on the surface of the water;

Their portion is ^bcursed on the earth.

They do not turn ³toward the ^cvineyards.

¹⁹“Drought and heat ^aseize the snow waters,

So does ^bSheol those who have sinned.

²⁰“A ^1amother will forget him;

The ^bworm feasts sweetly till he is ^cno longer remembered.

And unrighteousness will be broken ^dlike a tree.

²¹“He feeds on the barren woman who does not give birth

And does no good for ^athe widow.

²²“But He drags off the mighty by ^aHis power;

He rises, but ^bno one believes in his life.

²³“He provides them ^awith security, and they are supported;

And His ^beyes are on their ways.

²⁴“They are exalted a ^alittle while, then they are gone;

Moreover, they are ^bbrought low and like everything gathered up;

Even like the heads of grain they are cut off.

²⁵“Now if it is not so, ^awho can prove me a liar,

And make my speech worthless?”

CHAPTER 25

Bildad Asks, Can Man Be Right with God?

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

²“^aRule and dread ¹belong to Him

Who makes peace in ^bHis heights.

³“Is there any number to ^aHis troops?

And upon whom does His light not rise?

⁴“How then can mortal man be ^aright with God?

Or how can he be ^bpure who is born of woman?

⁵“Behold even ^athe moon has no brightness,

And the ^bstars are not pure in His sight;

⁶How much less ^amortal man, that ^bmaggot,

And the son of man, that worm!”

CHAPTER 26

Who Can Understand God?

¹Then Job answered and said,

²“What a help you are to ^athe one without power!

How you have saved the arm ^bwithout strength!

³“What counsel you have given to one without wisdom!

What sound wisdom you have abundantly made known!

⁴“To whom have you declared words?

And whose breath comes out from you?

⁵“The ^1adeparted spirits tremble

Under the waters and their inhabitants.

⁶“Naked is ^aSheol before Him,

And ^1bAbaddon has no covering.

⁷“He ^astretches out the north over what is formless

And hangs the earth on nothing.

⁸“He ^awraps up the waters in His clouds,

And the cloud does not break out under them.

⁹“He ^1aobscures the face of His ²throne

And spreads His cloud over it.

¹⁰“He has marked a ^acircle on the surface of the waters

At the ^bboundary of light and darkness.

¹¹“The pillars of heaven tremble

And are astonished at His rebuke.

¹²“He ^aquieted the sea with His power,

And by His ^bunderstanding He crushed ^cRahab.

¹³“By His breath the ^aheavens are made beautiful;

His hand has pierced ^bthe fleeing serpent.

¹⁴“Behold, these are the fringes of His ways;

And how only with a whisper of ^aa word do we hear of Him!

But His mighty ^bthunder, who can understand?”

CHAPTER 27

I Hold Fast My Righteousness

¹Then Job continued to lift up his ^1adiscourse and said,

²“As God lives, ^awho has removed my justice,

And the Almighty, ^bwho has embittered my soul,

³For as long as breath is in me,

And the ^aspirit from God is in my nostrils,

⁴My lips certainly will not speak unrighteousness,

Nor will ^amy tongue utter deceit.

⁵“Far be it from me that I should declare you right;

Till I breathe my last ^aI will not remove my integrity from me.

⁶“I ^ahold fast my righteousness and will not let it go.

My heart does not reproach any of my days.

⁷“May my enemy be as the wicked

And the one who rises against me as the unjust.

⁸“For what is ^athe hope of the godless ¹when he is cut off,

When God requires ^bhis ²soul?

⁹“Will God ^ahear his cry

When ^bdistress comes upon him?

¹⁰“Will he take ^adelight in the Almighty?

Will he call on God at all times?

¹¹“I will instruct you in the ¹power of God;

What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

¹²“Behold, all of you have seen it;

Why then do you speak with utter vanity?

¹³“This is ^athe portion of a wicked man from God,

And the inheritance which the ^bruthless receive from the Almighty.

¹⁴“Though his sons are many, ¹they are destined ^afor the sword;

And his ^boffspring will not be satisfied with bread.

¹⁵“His survivors will be buried because of the plague,

And ¹their ^awidows will not be able to weep.

¹⁶“Though he piles up silver like dust

And prepares garments as plentiful as the clay,

¹⁷He may prepare it, ^abut the righteous will wear it,

And the innocent will divide the silver.

¹⁸“He has built his ^ahouse like the ¹moth,

Or as a hut which the watchman has made.

¹⁹“He lies down rich, but never ¹again;

He opens his eyes, and ^ait is no longer.

²⁰“^aTerrors overtake him like many waters;

A tempest steals him away ^bin the night.

²¹“The east ^awind carries him away, and he goes,

And it whirls him ^baway from his place.

²²“For it will hurl at him ^awithout sparing;

He will surely try to ^bflee from its ¹power.

²³“Men will clap their hands at him

And will ^ahiss him from his place.

CHAPTER 28

Where Can Wisdom Be Found?

¹“¹Surely there is a ²mine for silver,

And a place ³where they refine for gold.

²“Iron is taken from the dust,

And copper is smelted from rock.

³“Man puts an end to darkness,

And ^ato the farthest limit he searches out

The rock in thick darkness and shadow of death.

⁴“He ¹sinks a shaft far from ²habitation,

Forgotten by the foot;

They hang and swing to and fro far from men.

⁵“The earth, from it comes food,

And underneath it is overturned as fire.

⁶“Its rocks are the ¹source of sapphires,

And its dust contains gold.

⁷“The path no bird of prey knows,

Nor has the falcon’s eye caught sight of it.

⁸“The ¹proud beasts have not trodden it,

Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.

⁹“He sends his hand forth to the flint;

He overturns the mountains at the ¹base.

¹⁰“He breaks out channels through the rocks,

And his eye sees anything precious.

¹¹“He dams up the streams from ¹flowing,

And what is hidden he brings out to the light.

¹²“But ^awhere can wisdom be found?

And where is the place of understanding?

¹³“^aMan does not know its worth,

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“^aPure gold cannot be given in place of it,

Nor can silver be weighed as its price.

¹⁶“It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,

In precious onyx or sapphire.

¹⁷“^aGold or glass cannot meet its worth,

Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.

¹⁸“Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned;

And the acquisition of ^awisdom is above that of pearls.

¹⁹“The topaz of ¹Ethiopia cannot meet its worth,

Nor can it be valued in ^apure gold.

²⁰“^aWhere then does wisdom come from?

And where is the place of understanding?

²¹“Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living

And concealed from the birds of the sky.

²²“^1aAbaddon and Death say,

‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.’

²³“^aGod understands its way,

And He knows its place.

²⁴“For He ^alooks to the ends of the earth

And sees everything under the heavens.

²⁵“When He set ^aweight to the wind

And ^bmeted out the waters by measure,

²⁶When He set a ^alimit for the rain

And a course for the ^bthunderbolt,

²⁷Then He saw it and recounted it;

He established it and also searched it out.

²⁸“So He said to man, ‘Behold, the ^afear of the Lord, that is wisdom;

And to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

CHAPTER 29

Job Continues His Discourse

¹And Job continued to lift up his ^1adiscourse and said,

²“Oh that I were as in months gone by,

As in the days when God ^akept me,

³When ^aHis lamp shone over my head,

And ^bby His light I walked through darkness,

⁴As I was in ¹the prime of my days,

When the ^aintimate counsel with God was over my tent,

⁵When ¹the Almighty was yet with me,

And my children were around me,

⁶When my steps were bathed in ^abutter,

And the ^brock poured out for me streams of oil!

⁷“When I went out to ^athe gate of the city,

When I ¹took my seat in the square,

⁸The young men saw me and hid,

And the old men arose and stood.

⁹“The princes ^astopped talking

And ^bput their hands on their mouths;

¹⁰The voice of the nobles was ^ahidden away,

And their ^btongue clung to their palate.

¹¹“For ^athe ear heard, and it called me blessed,

And the eye saw, and it gave witness of me,

¹²Because I provided escape for ^athe afflicted who cried for help,

And the ^borphan who had no helper.

¹³“The blessing of the one ^aready to perish came upon me,

And I made the ^bwidow’s heart sing for joy.

¹⁴“I ^aclothed myself with righteousness, and it clothed me;

My justice was like a robe and a turban.

¹⁵“I was ^aeyes to the blind

And feet to the lame.

¹⁶“I was a father to ^athe needy,

And I searched out the…