Job 21–37

Job

21Then Job replied:

²“Listen carefully to my words;^w

let this be the consolation you give me.^x

³Bear with me while I speak,

and after I have spoken, mock on.^y

⁴“Is my complaint^z directed to a human being?

Why should I not be impatient?^a

⁵Look at me and be appalled;

clap your hand over your mouth.^b

⁶When I think about this, I am terrified;^c

trembling seizes my body.^d

⁷Why do the wicked live on,

growing old and increasing in power?^e

⁸They see their children established around them,

their offspring before their eyes.^f

⁹Their homes are safe and free from fear;^g

the rod of God is not on them.^h

¹⁰Their bulls never fail to breed;

their cows calve and do not miscarry.ⁱ

¹¹They send forth their children as a flock;^j

their little ones dance about.

¹²They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre;^k

they make merry to the sound of the pipe.^l

¹³They spend their years in prosperity^m

and go down to the graveⁿ in peace.^ao

¹⁴Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone!^p

We have no desire to know your ways.^q

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

What would we gain by praying to him?’^r

¹⁶But their prosperity is not in their own hands,

so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.^s

¹⁷“Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?^t

How often does calamity^u come upon them,

the fate God allots in his anger?^v

¹⁸How often are they like straw before the wind,

like chaff^w swept away^x by a gale?^y

¹⁹It is said, ‘God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children.’^z

Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it!^a

²⁰Let their own eyes see their destruction;^b

let them drink^c the cup of the wrath of the Almighty.^d

²¹For what do they care about the families they leave behind^e

when their allotted months^f come to an end?^g

²²“Can anyone teach knowledge to God,^h

since he judges even the highest?ⁱ

²³One person dies in full vigor,^j

completely secure and at ease,^k

²⁴well nourished^l in body,^b

bones^m rich with marrow.ⁿ

²⁵Another dies in bitterness of soul,^o

never having enjoyed anything good.

²⁶Side by side they lie in the dust,^p

and worms^q cover them both.^r

²⁷“I know full well what you are thinking,

the schemes by which you would wrong me.

²⁸You say, ‘Where now is the house of the great,^s

the tents where the wicked lived?’^t

²⁹Have you never questioned those who travel?

Have you paid no regard to their accounts—

³⁰that the wicked are spared from the day of calamity,^u

that they are delivered from^c the day of wrath?^v

³¹Who denounces their conduct to their face?

Who repays them for what they have done?^w

³²They are carried to the grave,

and watch is kept over their tombs.^x

³³The soil in the valley is sweet to them;^y

everyone follows after them,

and a countless throng goes^d before them.^z

³⁴“So how can you console me^a with your nonsense?

Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!”^b

Eliphaz

22Then Eliphaz the Temanite^c replied:

²“Can a man be of benefit to God?^d

Can even a wise person benefit him?^e

³What pleasure^f would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?^g

What would he gain if your ways were blameless?^h

⁴“Is it for your piety that he rebukes you

and brings charges against you?ⁱ

⁵Is not your wickedness great?

Are not your sins^j endless?^k

⁶You demanded security^l from your relatives for no reason;^m

you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked.ⁿ

⁷You gave no water^o to the weary

and you withheld food from the hungry,^p

⁸though you were a powerful man, owning land^q—

an honored man,^r living on it.^s

⁹And you sent widows^t away empty-handed^u

and broke the strength of the fatherless.^v

¹⁰That is why snares^w are all around you,^x

why sudden peril terrifies you,^y

¹¹why it is so dark^z you cannot see,

and why a flood of water covers you.^a

¹²“Is not God in the heights of heaven?^b

And see how lofty are the highest stars!

¹³Yet you say, ‘What does God know?^c

Does he judge through such darkness?^d

¹⁴Thick clouds^e veil him, so he does not see us^f

as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.’^g

¹⁵Will you keep to the old path

that the wicked^h have trod?ⁱ

¹⁶They were carried off before their time,^j

their foundations^k washed away by a flood.^l

¹⁷They said to God, ‘Leave us alone!

What can the Almighty do to us?’^m

¹⁸Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things,ⁿ

so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.^o

¹⁹The righteous see their ruin and rejoice;^p

the innocent mock^q them, saying,

²⁰‘Surely our foes are destroyed,^r

and fire^s devours their wealth.’

²¹“Submit to God and be at peace^t with him;^u

in this way prosperity will come to you.^v

²²Accept instruction from his mouth^w

and lay up his words^x in your heart.^y

²³If you return^z to the Almighty, you will be restored:^a

If you remove wickedness far from your tent^b

²⁴and assign your nuggets^c to the dust,

your gold^d of Ophir^e to the rocks in the ravines,^f

²⁵then the Almighty will be your gold,^g

the choicest silver for you.^h

²⁶Surely then you will find delight in the Almightyⁱ

and will lift up your face^j to God.^k

²⁷You will pray to him,^l and he will hear you,^m

and you will fulfill your vows.ⁿ

²⁸What you decide on will be done,^o

and light^p will shine on your ways.^q

²⁹When people are brought low^r and you say, ‘Lift them up!’

then he will save the downcast.^s

³⁰He will deliver even one who is not innocent,^t

who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”^u

Job

23Then Job replied:

²“Even today my complaint^v is bitter;^w

his hand^a is heavy in spite of^b my groaning.^x

³If only I knew where to find him;

if only I could go to his dwelling!^y

⁴I would state my case^z before him

and fill my mouth with arguments.^a

⁵I would find out what he would answer me,^b

and consider what he would say to me.

⁶Would he vigorously oppose me?^c

No, he would not press charges against me.^d

⁷There the upright^e can establish their innocence before him,^f

and there I would be delivered forever from my judge.^g

⁸“But if I go to the east, he is not there;

if I go to the west, I do not find him.

⁹When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;

when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.^h

¹⁰But he knows the way that I take;ⁱ

when he has tested me,^j I will come forth as gold.^k

¹¹My feet have closely followed his steps;^l

I have kept to his way without turning aside.^m

¹²I have not departed from the commands of his lips;ⁿ

I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.^o

¹³“But he stands alone, and who can oppose him?^p

He does whatever he pleases.^q

¹⁴He carries out his decree against me,

and many such plans he still has in store.^r

¹⁵That is why I am terrified before him;^s

when I think of all this, I fear him.^t

¹⁶God has made my heart faint;^u

the Almighty^v has terrified me.^w

¹⁷Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,^x

by the thick darkness that covers my face.

24“Why does the Almighty not set times^y for judgment?^z

Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?^a

²There are those who move boundary stones;^b

they pasture flocks they have stolen.^c

³They drive away the orphan’s donkey

and take the widow’s ox in pledge.^d

⁴They thrust the needy^e from the path

and force all the poor^f of the land into hiding.^g

⁵Like wild donkeys^h in the desert,

the poor go about their laborⁱ of foraging food;

the wasteland^j provides food for their children.

⁶They gather fodder^k in the fields

and glean in the vineyards^l of the wicked.^m

⁷Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked;

they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.ⁿ

⁸They are drenched^o by mountain rains

and hug^p the rocks for lack of shelter.^q

⁹The fatherless^r child is snatched^s from the breast;

the infant of the poor is seized^t for a debt.^u

¹⁰Lacking clothes, they go about naked;^v

they carry the sheaves,^w but still go hungry.

¹¹They crush olives among the terraces^a;

they tread the winepresses,^x yet suffer thirst.^y

¹²The groans of the dying rise from the city,

and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.^z

But God charges no one with wrongdoing.^a

¹³“There are those who rebel against the light,^b

who do not know its ways

or stay in its paths.^c

¹⁴When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up,

kills^d the poor and needy,^e

and in the night steals forth like a thief.^f

¹⁵The eye of the adulterer^g watches for dusk;^h

he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’ⁱ

and he keeps his face concealed.

¹⁶In the dark, thieves break into houses,^j

but by day they shut themselves in;

they want nothing to do with the light.^k

¹⁷For all of them, midnight is their morning;

they make friends with the terrors^l of darkness.^m

¹⁸“Yet they are foamⁿ on the surface of the water;^o

their portion of the land is cursed,^p

so that no one goes to the vineyards.^q

¹⁹As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow,^r

so the grave^s snatches away those who have sinned.

²⁰The womb forgets them,

the worm^t feasts on them;^u

the wicked are no longer remembered^v

but are broken like a tree.^w

²¹They prey on the barren and childless woman,

and to the widow they show no kindness.^x

²²But God drags away the mighty by his power;^y

though they become established,^z they have no assurance of life.^a

²³He may let them rest in a feeling of security,^b

but his eyes^c are on their ways.^d

²⁴For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone;^e

they are brought low and gathered up like all others;^f

they are cut off like heads of grain.^g

²⁵“If this is not so, who can prove me false

and reduce my words to nothing?”^h

Bildad

25Then Bildad the Shuhiteⁱ replied:

²“Dominion and awe belong to God;^j

he establishes order in the heights of heaven.^k

³Can his forces be numbered?

On whom does his light not rise?^l

⁴How then can a mortal be righteous before God?

How can one born of woman be pure?^m

⁵If even the moonⁿ is not bright

and the stars are not pure in his eyes,^o

⁶how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot—

a human being,^p who is only a worm!”^q

Job

26Then Job replied:

²“How you have helped the powerless!^r

How you have saved the arm that is feeble!^s

³What advice you have offered to one without wisdom!

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