Job 4–37

Eliphaz Speaks

4Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

²“If someone tried to speak with you, would you be upset?

I cannot keep from speaking.

³Think about the many people you have taught

and the weak hands you have made strong.

⁴Your words have comforted those who fell,

and you have strengthened those who could not stand.

⁵But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;

trouble hits you, and you are terrified.

⁶You should have confidence because you respect God;

you should have hope because you are innocent.

⁷“Remember that the innocent will not die;

honest people will never be destroyed.

⁸I have noticed that people who plow evil

and plant trouble, harvest it.

⁹God’s breath destroys them,

and a blast of his anger kills them.

¹⁰Lions may roar and growl,

but when the teeth of a strong lion are broken,

¹¹that lion dies of hunger.

The cubs of the mother lion are scattered.

¹²“A word was brought to me in secret,

and my ears heard a whisper of it.

¹³It was during a nightmare

when people are in deep sleep.

¹⁴I was trembling with fear;

all my bones were shaking.

¹⁵A spirit glided past my face,

and the hair on my body stood on end.

¹⁶The spirit stopped,

but I could not see what it was.

A shape stood before my eyes,

and I heard a quiet voice.

¹⁷It said, ‘Can a human be more right than God?

Can a person be pure before his maker?

¹⁸God does not trust his angels;

he blames them for mistakes.

¹⁹So he puts even more blame on people who live in clay houses, ⁿ

whose foundations are made of dust,

who can be crushed like a moth.

²⁰Between dawn and sunset many people are broken to pieces;

without being noticed, they die and are gone forever.

²¹The ropes of their tents are pulled up,

and they die without wisdom.’

5“Call if you want to, Job, but no one will answer you.

You can’t turn to any of the holy ones.

²Anger kills the fool,

and jealousy slays the stupid.

³I have seen a fool succeed,

but I cursed his home immediately.

⁴His children are far from safety

and are crushed in court with no defense.

⁵The hungry eat his harvest,

even taking what grew among the thorns,

and thirsty people want his wealth.

⁶Hard times do not come up from the ground,

and trouble does not grow from the earth.

⁷People produce trouble

as surely as sparks fly upward.

⁸“But if I were you, I would call on God

and bring my problem before him.

⁹God does wonders that cannot be understood;

he does so many miracles they cannot be counted.

¹⁰He gives rain to the earth

and sends water on the fields.

¹¹He makes the humble person important

and lifts the sad to places of safety.

¹²He ruins the plans of those who trick others

so they have no success.

¹³He catches the wise in their own clever traps

and sweeps away the plans of those who try to trick others.

¹⁴Darkness covers them up in the daytime;

even at noon they feel around in the dark.

¹⁵God saves the needy from their lies

and from the harm done by powerful people.

¹⁶So the poor have hope,

while those who are unfair are silenced.

¹⁷“The one whom God corrects is happy,

so do not hate being corrected by the Almighty.

¹⁸God hurts, but he also bandages up;

he injures, but his hands also heal.

¹⁹He will save you from six troubles;

even seven troubles will not harm you.

²⁰God will buy you back from death in times of hunger,

and in battle he will save you from the sword.

²¹You will be protected from the tongue that strikes like a whip,

and you will not be afraid when destruction comes.

²²You will laugh at destruction and hunger,

and you will not fear the wild animals,

²³because you will have an agreement with the stones in the field,

and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

²⁴You will know that your tent is safe,

because you will check the things you own and find nothing missing.

²⁵You will know that you will have many children,

and your descendants will be like the grass on the earth.

²⁶You will come to the grave with all your strength,

like bundles of grain gathered at the right time.

²⁷“We have checked this, and it is true,

so hear it and decide what it means to you.”

Job Answers Eliphaz

6Then Job answered:

²“I wish my suffering could be weighed

and my misery put on scales.

³My sadness would be heavier than the sand of the seas.

No wonder my words seem careless.

⁴The arrows of the Almighty are in me;

my spirit drinks in their poison;

God’s terrors are gathered against me.

⁵A wild donkey does not bray when it has grass to eat,

and an ox is quiet when it has feed.

⁶Tasteless food is not eaten without salt,

and there is no flavor in the white of an egg.

⁷I refuse to touch it;

such food makes me sick.

⁸“How I wish that I might have what I ask for

and that God would give me what I hope for.

⁹How I wish God would crush me

and reach out his hand to destroy me.

¹⁰Then I would have this comfort

and be glad even in this unending pain,

because I would know I did not reject the words of the Holy One.

¹¹“I do not have the strength to wait.

There is nothing to hope for,

so why should I be patient?

¹²I do not have the strength of stone;

my flesh is not bronze.

¹³I have no power to help myself,

because success has been taken away from me.

¹⁴“They say, ‘A person’s friends should be kind to him when he is in trouble,

even if he stops fearing the Almighty.’

¹⁵But my brothers cannot be counted on.

They are like streams that do not always flow,

streams that sometimes run over.

¹⁶They are made dark by melting ice

and rise with melting snow.

¹⁷But they stop flowing in the dry season;

they disappear when it is hot.

¹⁸Travelers turn away from their paths

and go into the desert and die.

¹⁹The groups of travelers from Tema look for water,

and the traders of Sheba look hopefully.

²⁰They are upset because they had been sure;

when they arrive, they are disappointed.

²¹You also have been no help.

You see something terrible, and you are afraid.

²²I have never said, ‘Give me a gift.

Use your wealth to pay my debt.

²³Save me from the enemy’s power.

Buy me back from the clutches of cruel people.’

²⁴“Teach me, and I will be quiet.

Show me where I have been wrong.

²⁵Honest words are painful,

but your arguments prove nothing.

²⁶Do you mean to correct what I say?

Will you treat the words of a troubled man as if they were only wind?

²⁷You would even gamble for orphans

and would trade away your friend.

²⁸“But now please look at me.

I would not lie to your face.

²⁹Change your mind; do not be unfair;

think again, because my innocence is being questioned.

³⁰What I am saying is not wicked;

I can tell the difference between right and wrong.

7“People have a hard task on earth,

and their days are like those of a laborer.

²They are like a slave wishing for the evening shadows,

like a laborer waiting to be paid.

³But I am given months that are empty,

and nights of misery have been given to me.

⁴When I lie down, I think, ‘How long until I get up?’

The night is long, and I toss until dawn.

⁵My body is covered with worms and scabs,

and my skin is broken and full of sores.

⁶“My days go by faster than a weaver’s tool,

and they come to an end without hope.

⁷Remember, God, that my life is only a breath.

My eyes will never see happy times again.

⁸Those who see me now will see me no more;

you will look for me, but I will be gone.

⁹As a cloud disappears and is gone,

people go to the grave and never return.

¹⁰They will never come back to their houses again,

and their places will not know them anymore.

¹¹“So I will not stay quiet;

I will speak out in the suffering of my spirit.

I will complain because I am so unhappy.

¹²I am not the sea or the sea monster.

So why have you set a guard over me?

¹³Sometimes I think my bed will comfort me

or that my couch will stop my complaint.

¹⁴Then you frighten me with dreams

and terrify me with visions.

¹⁵My throat prefers to be choked;

my bones welcome death.

¹⁶I hate my life; I don’t want to live forever.

Leave me alone, because my days have no meaning.

¹⁷“Why do you make people so important

and give them so much attention?

¹⁸You examine them every morning

and test them every moment.

¹⁹Will you never look away from me

or leave me alone even long enough to swallow?

²⁰If I have sinned, what have I done to you,

you watcher of humans?

Why have you made me your target?

Have I become a heavy load for you?

²¹Why don’t you pardon my wrongs

and forgive my sins?

I will soon lie down in the dust of death.

Then you will search for me, but I will be no more.”

Bildad Speaks to Job

8Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

²“How long will you say such things?

Your words are no more than wind.

³God does not twist justice;

the Almighty does not make wrong what is right.

⁴Your children sinned against God,

and he punished them for their sins.

⁵But you should ask God for help

and pray to the Almighty for mercy.

⁶If you are good and honest,

he will stand up for you

and bring you back where you belong.

⁷Where you began will seem unimportant,

because your future will be so successful.

⁸“Ask old people;

find out what their ancestors learned,

⁹because we were only born yesterday and know nothing.

Our days on earth are only a shadow.

¹⁰Those people will teach you and tell you

and speak about what they know.

¹¹Papyrus plants cannot grow where there is no swamp,

and reeds cannot grow tall without water.

¹²While they are still growing and not yet cut,

they will dry up quicker than grass.

¹³That is what will happen to those who forget God;

the hope of the wicked will be gone.

¹⁴What they hope in is easily broken;

what they trust is like a spider’s web.

¹⁵They lean on the spider’s web, but it breaks.

They grab it, but it does not hold up.

¹⁶They are like well-watered plants in the sunshine

that spread their roots all through the garden.

¹⁷They wrap their roots around a pile of rocks

and look for a place among the stones.

¹⁸But if a plant is torn from its place,

then that place rejects it and says, ‘I never saw you.’

¹⁹Now joy has gone away;

other plants grow up from the same dirt.

²⁰“Surely God does not reject the innocent

or give strength to those who do evil.

²¹God will yet fill your mouth with laughter

and your lips with shouts of joy.

²²Your enemies will be covered with shame,

and the tents of the…