Job

¹There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil. ²There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. ³His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east. ⁴His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. ⁵It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts.” Job did so continually.

⁶Now on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan also came among them. ⁷Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

⁸Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil.”

⁹Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? ¹⁰Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. ¹¹But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.”

¹²Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t stretch out your hand.”

¹³It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, ¹⁴that a messenger came to Job, and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them, ¹⁵and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

¹⁶While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

¹⁷While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

¹⁸While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, ¹⁹and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.”

²⁰Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped. ²¹He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked will I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be Yahweh’s name.” ²²In all this, Job didn’t sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing.

¹Again, on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan came also among them to present himself before Yahweh. ²Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

³Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause.”

⁴Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. ⁵But stretch out your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face.”

⁶Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.”

⁷So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head. ⁸He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes. ⁹Then his wife said to him, “Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die.”

¹⁰But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?”

¹¹Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him. ¹²When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn’t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky. ¹³So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.

¹After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth. ²Job answered:

³“Let the day perish in which I was born,

⁴Let that day be darkness.

⁵Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own.

⁶As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it.

⁷Behold, let that night be barren.

⁸Let them curse it who curse the day,

⁹Let the stars of its twilight be dark.

¹⁰because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb,

¹¹“Why didn’t I die from the womb?

¹²Why did the knees receive me?

¹³For now I should have lain down and been quiet.

¹⁴with kings and counselors of the earth,

¹⁵or with princes who had gold,

¹⁶or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been,

¹⁷There the wicked cease from troubling.

¹⁸There the prisoners are at ease together.

¹⁹The small and the great are there.

²⁰“Why is light given to him who is in misery,

²¹who long for death, but it doesn’t come;

²²who rejoice exceedingly,

²³Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,

²⁴For my sighing comes before I eat.

²⁵For the thing which I fear comes on me,

²⁶I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither do I have rest;

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

²“If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved?

³Behold, you have instructed many,

⁴Your words have supported him who was falling,

⁵But now it has come to you, and you faint.

⁶Isn’t your piety your confidence?

⁷“Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent?

⁸According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity

⁹By the breath of God they perish.

¹⁰The roaring of the lion,

¹¹The old lion perishes for lack of prey.

¹²“Now a thing was secretly brought to me.

¹³In thoughts from the visions of the night,

¹⁴fear came on me, and trembling,

¹⁵Then a spirit passed before my face.

¹⁶It stood still, but I couldn’t discern its appearance.

¹⁷‘Shall mortal man be more just than God?

¹⁸Behold, he puts no trust in his servants.

¹⁹How much more those who dwell in houses of clay,

²⁰Between morning and evening they are destroyed.

²¹Isn’t their tent cord plucked up within them?

¹“Call now; is there any who will answer you?

²For resentment kills the foolish man,

³I have seen the foolish taking root,

⁴His children are far from safety.

⁵whose harvest the hungry eat up,

⁶For affliction doesn’t come out of the dust,

⁷but man is born to trouble,

⁸“But as for me, I would seek God.

⁹who does great things that can’t be fathomed,

¹⁰who gives rain on the earth,

¹¹so that he sets up on high those who are low,

¹²He frustrates the plans of the crafty,

¹³He takes the wise in their own craftiness;

¹⁴They meet with darkness in the day time,

¹⁵But he saves from the sword of their mouth,

¹⁶So the poor has hope,

¹⁷“Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects.

¹⁸For he wounds and binds up.

¹⁹He will deliver you in six troubles;

²⁰In famine he will redeem you from death;

²¹You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue,

²²You will laugh at destruction and famine,

²³For you will be allied with the stones of the field.

²⁴You will know that your tent is in peace.

²⁵You will know also that your offspring

²⁶You will come to your grave in a full age,

²⁷Behold, we have researched it. It is so.

¹Then Job answered,

²“Oh that my anguish were weighed,

³For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas,

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are within me.

⁵Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass?

⁶Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt?

⁷My soul refuses to touch them.

⁸“Oh that I might have my request,

⁹even that it would please God to crush me;

¹⁰Let it still be my consolation,

¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait?

¹²Is my strength the strength of stones?

¹³Isn’t it that I have no help in me,

¹⁴“To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend;

¹⁵My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook,

¹⁶which are black by reason of the ice,

¹⁷In the dry season, they vanish.

¹⁸The caravans that travel beside them turn away.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema looked.

²⁰They were distressed because they were confident.

²¹For now you are nothing.

²²Did I ever say, ‘Give to me?’

²³or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand?’

²⁴“Teach me, and I will hold my peace.

²⁵How forcible are words of uprightness!

²⁶Do you intend to reprove words,

²⁷Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless,

²⁸Now therefore be pleased to look at me,

¹“Isn’t a man forced to labor on earth?

²As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow,

³so I am made to possess months of misery,

⁴When I lie down, I say,

⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust.

⁶My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,

⁷Oh remember that my life is a breath.

⁸The eye of him who sees me will see me no more.

⁹As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away,

¹⁰He will return no more to his house,

¹¹“Therefore I will not keep silent.

¹²Am I a sea, or a sea monster,

¹³When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me.

¹⁴then you scare me with dreams

¹⁵so that my soul chooses strangling,

¹⁶I loathe my life.

¹⁷What is man, that you should magnify him,

¹⁸that you should visit him every morning,

¹⁹How long will you not look away from me,

²⁰If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men?

²¹Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity?

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

²“How long will you speak these things?

³Does God pervert justice?

⁴If your children have sinned against him,

⁵If you want to seek God diligently,

⁶If you were pure and upright,

⁷Though your beginning was small,

⁸“Please inquire of past generations.

⁹(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing,

¹⁰Shall they not teach you, tell you,

¹¹“Can the papyrus grow up without mire?

¹²While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down,

¹³So are the paths of all who forget God.

¹⁴whose confidence will break apart,

¹⁵He will lean on his house, but it will not stand.

¹⁶He is green before the sun.

¹⁷His roots are wrapped around the rock pile.

¹⁸If he is destroyed from his place,

¹⁹Behold, this is the joy of his way.

²⁰“Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man,

²¹He will still fill your mouth with laughter,

²²Those who hate you will be clothed with shame.

¹Then Job answered,

²“Truly I know that it is so,

³If he is pleased to contend with him,

⁴God is wise in heart, and mighty in strength.

⁵He removes the mountains, and they don’t know it,

⁶He shakes the earth out of its place.

⁷He commands the sun and it doesn’t rise,

⁸He alone stretches out the heavens,

⁹He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,

¹⁰He does great things past finding out;

¹¹Behold, he goes by me, and I don’t see him.

¹²Behold, he snatches away.

¹³“God will not withdraw his anger.

¹⁴How much less will I answer him,

¹⁵Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn’t answer him.

¹⁶If I had called, and he had answered me,

¹⁷For he breaks me with a storm,

¹⁸He will not allow me to catch my breath,

¹⁹If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty!

²⁰Though I am righteous, my own mouth will condemn me.

²¹I am blameless.

²²“It is all the same.

²³If the scourge kills suddenly,

²⁴The earth is given into the hand of the wicked.

²⁵“Now my days are swifter than a runner.

²⁶They have passed away as the swift ships,

²⁷If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,

²⁸I am afraid of all my sorrows.

²⁹I will be condemned.

¹“My soul is weary of my life.

²I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me.

³Is it good to you that you should oppress,

⁴Do you have eyes of flesh?

⁵Are your days as the days of mortals,

⁶that you inquire after my iniquity,

⁷Although you know that I am not wicked,

⁸“‘Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether,

⁹Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay.

¹⁰Haven’t you poured me out like milk,

¹¹You have clothed me with skin and flesh,

¹²You have granted me life and loving kindness.

¹³Yet you hid these things in your heart.

¹⁴if I sin, then you mark me.

¹⁵If I am wicked, woe to me.

¹⁶If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion.

¹⁷You renew your witnesses against me,

¹⁸“‘Why, then, have you brought me out of the womb?

¹⁹I should have been as though I had not been.

²⁰Aren’t my days few?

²¹before I go where I will not return from,

²²the land dark as midnight,

¹Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered,

²“Shouldn’t the multitude of words be answered?

³Should your boastings make men hold their peace?

⁴For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure.

⁵But oh that God would speak,

⁶that he would show you the secrets of wisdom!

⁷“Can you fathom the mystery of God?

⁸They are high as heaven. What can you do?

⁹Its measure is longer than the earth,

¹⁰If he passes by, or confines,

¹¹For he knows false men.

¹²An empty-headed man becomes wise

¹³“If you set your heart aright,

¹⁴If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away.

¹⁵Surely then you will lift up your face without spot.

¹⁶for you will forget your misery.

¹⁷Life will be clearer than the noonday.

¹⁸You will be secure, because there is hope.

¹⁹Also you will lie down, and no one will make you afraid.

²⁰But the eyes of the wicked will fail.

¹Then Job answered,

²“No doubt, but you are the people,

³But I have understanding as well as you;

⁴I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor,

⁵In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune.

⁶The tents of robbers prosper.

⁷“But ask the animals now, and they will teach you;

⁸Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you.

⁹Who doesn’t know that in all these,

¹⁰in whose hand is the life of every living thing,

¹¹Doesn’t the ear try words,

¹²With aged men is wisdom,

¹³“With God is wisdom and might.

¹⁴Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again.

¹⁵Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up.

¹⁶With him is strength and wisdom.

¹⁷He leads counselors away stripped.

¹⁸He loosens the bond of kings.

¹⁹He leads priests away stripped,

²⁰He removes the speech of those who are trusted,

²¹He pours contempt on princes,

²²He uncovers deep things out of darkness,

²³He increases the nations, and he destroys them.

²⁴He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth,

²⁵They grope in the dark without light.

¹“Behold, my eye has seen all this.

²What you know, I know also.

³“Surely I would speak to the Almighty.

⁴But you are forgers of lies.

⁵Oh that you would be completely silent!

⁶Hear now my reasoning.

⁷Will you speak unrighteously for God,

⁸Will you show partiality to him?

⁹Is it good that he should search you out?

¹⁰He will surely reprove you

¹¹Won’t his majesty make you afraid

¹²Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes.

¹³“Be silent!

¹⁴Why should I take my flesh in my teeth,

¹⁵Behold, he will kill me.

¹⁶This also will be my salvation,

¹⁷Listen carefully to my speech.

¹⁸See now, I have set my cause in order.

¹⁹Who is he who will contend with me?

²⁰“Only don’t do two things to me,

²¹withdraw your hand far from me,

²²Then call, and I will answer,

²³How many are my iniquities and sins?

²⁴Why do you hide your face,

²⁵Will you harass a driven leaf?

²⁶For you write bitter things against me,

²⁷You also put my feet in the stocks,

²⁸though I am decaying like a rotten thing,

¹“Man, who is born of a woman,

²He grows up like a flower, and is cut down.

³Do you open your eyes on such a one,

⁴Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?

⁵Seeing his days are determined,

⁶Look away from him, that he may rest,

⁷“For there is hope for a tree if it is cut down,

⁸Though its root grows old in the earth,

⁹yet through the scent of water it will bud,

¹⁰But man dies, and is laid low.

¹¹As the waters fail from the sea,

¹²so man lies down and doesn’t rise.

¹³“Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,

¹⁴If a man dies, will he live again?

¹⁵You would call, and I would answer you.

¹⁶But now you count my steps.

¹⁷My disobedience is sealed up in a bag.

¹⁸“But the mountain falling comes to nothing.

¹⁹The waters wear the stones.

²⁰You forever prevail against him, and he departs.

²¹His sons come to honor, and he doesn’t know it.

²²But his flesh on him has pain,

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

²“Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge,

³Should he reason with unprofitable talk,

⁴Yes, you do away with fear,

⁵For your iniquity teaches your mouth,

⁶Your own mouth condemns you, and not I.

⁷“Are you the first man who was born?

⁸Have you heard the secret counsel of God?

⁹What do you know that we don’t know?

¹⁰With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men,

¹¹Are the consolations of God too small for you,

¹²Why does your heart carry you away?

¹³that you turn your spirit against God,

¹⁴What is man, that he should be clean?

¹⁵Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones.

¹⁶how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,

¹⁷“I will show you, listen to me;

¹⁸(which wise men have told by their fathers,

¹⁹to whom alone the land was given,

²⁰the wicked man writhes in pain all his days,

²¹A sound of terrors is in his ears.

²²He doesn’t believe that he will return out of darkness.

²³He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’

²⁴Distress and anguish make him afraid.

²⁵Because he has stretched out his hand against God,

²⁶he runs at him with a stiff neck,

²⁷because he has covered his face with his fatness,

²⁸He has lived in desolate cities,

²⁹He will not be rich, neither will his substance continue,

¹Then Job answered,

²“I have heard many such things.

³Shall vain words have an end?

⁴I also could speak as you do.

⁵but I would strengthen you with my mouth.

⁶“Though I speak, my grief is not subsided.

⁷But now, God, you have surely worn me out.

⁸You have shriveled me up. This is a witness against me.

⁹He has torn me in his wrath and persecuted me.

¹⁰They have gaped on me with their mouth.

¹¹God delivers me to the ungodly,

¹²I was at ease, and he broke me apart.

¹³His archers surround me.

¹⁴He breaks me with breach on breach.

¹⁵I have sewed sackcloth on my skin,

¹⁶My face is red with weeping.

¹⁷although there is no violence in my hands,

¹⁸“Earth, don’t cover my blood.

¹⁹Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven.

²⁰My friends scoff at me.

²¹that he would maintain the right of a man with God,

²²For when a few years have come,

¹“My spirit is consumed.

²Surely there are mockers with me.

³“Now give a pledge. Be collateral for me with yourself.

⁴For you have hidden their heart from understanding,

⁵He who denounces his friends for plunder,

⁶“But he has made me a byword of the people.

⁷My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow.

⁸Upright men will be astonished at this.

⁹Yet the righteous will hold to his way.

¹⁰But as for you all, come back.

¹¹My days are past.

¹²They change the night into day,

¹³If I look for Sheol as my house,

¹⁴if I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father,’

¹⁵where then is my hope?

¹⁶Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol,

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

²“How long will you hunt for words?

³Why are we counted as animals,

⁴You who tear yourself in your anger,

⁵“Yes, the light of the wicked will be put out.

⁶The light will be dark in his tent.

⁷The steps of his strength will be shortened.

⁸For he is cast into a net by his own feet,

⁹A snare will take him by the heel.

¹⁰A noose is hidden for him in the ground,

¹¹Terrors will make him afraid on every side,

¹²His strength will be famished.

¹³The members of his body will be devoured.

¹⁴He will be rooted out of the security of his tent.

¹⁵There will dwell in his tent that which is none of his.

¹⁶His roots will be dried up beneath.

¹⁷His memory will perish from the earth.

¹⁸He will be driven from light into darkness,

¹⁹He will have neither son nor grandson among his people,

²⁰Those who come after will be astonished at his day,

²¹Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous.

¹Then Job answered,

²“How long will you torment me,

³You have reproached me ten times.

⁴If it is true that I have erred,

⁵If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me,

⁶know now that God has subverted me,

⁷“Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard.

⁸He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass,

⁹He has stripped me of my glory,

¹⁰He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone.

¹¹He has also kindled his wrath against me.

¹²His troops come on together,

¹³“He has put my brothers far from me.

¹⁴My relatives have gone away.

¹⁵Those who dwell in my house and my maids consider me a stranger.

¹⁶I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer.

¹⁷My breath is offensive to my wife.

¹⁸Even young children despise me.

¹⁹All my familiar friends abhor me.

²⁰My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh.

²¹“Have pity on me. Have pity on me, you my friends,

²²Why do you persecute me as God,

²³“Oh that my words were now written!

²⁴That with an iron pen and lead

²⁵But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives.

²⁶After my skin is destroyed,

²⁷whom I, even I, will see on my side.

²⁸If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,

²“Therefore my thoughts answer me,

³I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame.

⁴Don’t you know this from old time,

⁵that the triumphing of the wicked is short,

⁶Though his height mount up to the heavens,

⁷yet he will perish forever like his own dung.

⁸He will fly away as a dream, and will not be found.

⁹The eye which saw him will see him no more,

¹⁰His children will seek the favor of the poor.

¹¹His bones are full of his youth,

¹²“Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth,

¹³though he spare it, and will not let it go,

¹⁴yet his food in his bowels is turned.

¹⁵He has swallowed down riches, and he will vomit them up again.

¹⁶He will suck cobra venom.

¹⁷He will not look at the rivers,

¹⁸He will restore that for which he labored, and will not swallow it down.

¹⁹For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor.

²⁰“Because he knew no quietness within him,

²¹There was nothing left that he didn’t devour,

²²In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress will overtake him.

²³When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him.

²⁴He will flee from the iron weapon.

²⁵He draws it out, and it comes out of his body.

²⁶All darkness is laid up for his treasures.

²⁷The heavens will reveal his iniquity.

²⁸The increase of his house will depart.

²⁹This is the portion of a wicked man from God,

¹Then Job answered,

²“Listen diligently to my speech.

³Allow me, and I also will speak.

⁴As for me, is my complaint to man?

⁵Look at me, and be astonished.

⁶When I remember, I am troubled.

⁷“Why do the wicked live,

⁸Their child is established with them in their sight,

⁹Their houses are safe from fear,

¹⁰Their bulls breed without fail.

¹¹They send out their little ones like a flock.

¹²They sing to the tambourine and harp,

¹³They spend their days in prosperity.

¹⁴They tell God, ‘Depart from us,

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

¹⁶Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand.

¹⁷“How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out,

¹⁸How often is it that they are as stubble before the wind,

¹⁹You say, ‘God lays up his iniquity for his children.’

²⁰Let his own eyes see his destruction.

²¹For what does he care for his house after him,

²²“Shall any teach God knowledge,

²³One dies in his full strength,

²⁴His pails are full of milk.

²⁵Another dies in bitterness of soul,

²⁶They lie down alike in the dust.

²⁷“Behold, I know your thoughts,

²⁸For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince?

²⁹Haven’t you asked wayfaring men?

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

²“Can a man be profitable to God?

³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous?

⁴Is it for your piety that he reproves you,

⁵Isn’t your wickedness great?

⁶For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing,

⁷You haven’t given water to the weary to drink,

⁸But as for the mighty man, he had the earth.

⁹You have sent widows away empty,

¹⁰Therefore snares are around you.

¹¹or darkness, so that you can not see,

¹²“Isn’t God in the heights of heaven?

¹³You say, ‘What does God know?

¹⁴Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see.

¹⁵Will you keep the old way,

¹⁶who were snatched away before their time,

¹⁷who said to God, ‘Depart from us!’

¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things,

¹⁹The righteous see it, and are glad.

²⁰saying, ‘Surely those who rose up against us are cut off.

²¹“Acquaint yourself with him now, and be at peace.

²²Please receive instruction from his mouth,

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up,

²⁴Lay your treasure in the dust,

²⁵The Almighty will be your treasure,

²⁶For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty,

²⁷You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you.

²⁸You will also decree a thing, and it will be established to you.

²⁹When they cast down, you will say, ‘be lifted up.’

¹Then Job answered,

²“Even today my complaint is rebellious.

³Oh that I knew where I might find him!

⁴I would set my cause in order before him,

⁵I would know the words which he would answer me,

⁶Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?

⁷There the upright might reason with him,

⁸“If I go east, he is not there.

⁹He works to the north, but I can’t see him.

¹⁰But he knows the way that I take.

¹¹My foot has held fast to his steps.

¹²I haven’t gone back from the commandment of his lips.

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

¹⁴For he performs that which is appointed for me.

¹⁵Therefore I am terrified at his presence.

¹⁶For God has made my heart faint.

¹⁷Because I was not cut off before the darkness,

¹“Why aren’t times laid up by the Almighty?

²There are people who remove the landmarks.

³They drive away the donkey of the fatherless,

⁴They turn the needy out of the way.

⁵Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert,

⁶They cut their food in the field.

⁷They lie all night naked without clothing,

⁸They are wet with the showers of the mountains,

⁹There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast,

¹⁰so that they go around naked without clothing.

¹¹They make oil within the walls of these men.

¹²From out of the populous city, men groan.

¹³“These are of those who rebel against the light.

¹⁴The murderer rises with the light.

¹⁵The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight,

¹⁶In the dark they dig through houses.

¹⁷For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness,

¹⁸“They are foam on the surface of the waters.

¹⁹Drought and heat consume the snow waters,

²⁰The womb will forget him.

²¹He devours the barren who don’t bear.

²²Yet God preserves the mighty by his power.

²³God gives them security, and they rest in it.

²⁴They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone.

²⁵If it isn’t so now, who will prove me a liar,

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

²“Dominion and fear are with him.

³Can his armies be counted?

⁴How then can man be just with God?

⁵Behold, even the moon has no brightness,

⁶How much less man, who is a worm,

¹Then Job answered,

²“How have you helped him who is without power!

³How have you counseled him who has no wisdom,

⁴To whom have you uttered words?

⁵“The departed spirits tremble,

⁶is naked before God,

⁷He stretches out the north over empty space,

⁸He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,

⁹He encloses the face of his throne,

¹⁰He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters,

¹¹The pillars of heaven tremble

¹²He stirs up the sea with his power,

¹³By his Spirit the heavens are garnished.

¹⁴Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways.

¹Job again took up his parable, and said,

²“As God lives, who has taken away my right,

³(for the length of my life is still in me,

⁴surely my lips will not speak unrighteousness,

⁵Far be it from me that I should justify you.

⁶I hold fast to my righteousness, and will not let it go.

⁷“Let my enemy be as the wicked.

⁸For what is the hope of the godless, when he is cut off,

⁹Will God hear his cry when trouble comes on him?

¹⁰Will he delight himself in the Almighty,

¹¹I will teach you about the hand of God.

¹²Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves;

¹³“This is the portion of a wicked man with God,

¹⁴If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword.

¹⁵Those who remain of him will be buried in death.

¹⁶Though he heap up silver as the dust,

¹⁷he may prepare it, but the just will put it on,

¹⁸He builds his house as the moth,

¹⁹He lies down rich, but he will not do so again.

²⁰Terrors overtake him like waters.

²¹The east wind carries him away, and he departs.

²²For it hurls at him, and does not spare,

²³Men will clap their hands at him,

¹“Surely there is a mine for silver,

²Iron is taken out of the earth,

³Man sets an end to darkness,

⁴He breaks open a shaft away from where people live.

⁵As for the earth, out of it comes bread.

⁶Sapphires come from its rocks.

⁷That path no bird of prey knows,

⁸The proud animals have not trodden it,

⁹He puts his hand on the flinty rock,

¹⁰He cuts out channels among the rocks.

¹¹He binds the streams that they don’t trickle.

¹²“But where will wisdom be found?

¹³Man doesn’t know its price,

¹⁴The deep says, ‘It isn’t in me.’

¹⁵It can’t be gotten for gold,

¹⁶It can’t be valued with the gold of Ophir,

¹⁷Gold and glass can’t equal it,

¹⁸No mention will be made of coral or of crystal.

¹⁹The topaz of Ethiopia will not equal it.

²⁰Where then does wisdom come from?

²¹Seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living,

²²Destruction and Death say,

²³“God understands its way,

²⁴For he looks to the ends of the earth,

²⁵He establishes the force of the wind.

²⁶When he made a decree for the rain,

²⁷then he saw it, and declared it.

²⁸To man he said,

¹Job again took up his parable, and said,

²“Oh that I were as in the months of old,

³when his lamp shone on my head,

⁴as I was in my prime,

⁵when the Almighty was yet with me,

⁶when my steps were washed with butter,

⁷when I went out to the city gate,

⁸The young men saw me and hid themselves.

⁹The princes refrained from talking,

¹⁰The voice of the nobles was hushed,

¹¹For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me,

¹²because I delivered the poor who cried,

¹³the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me,

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me.

¹⁵I was eyes to the blind,

¹⁶I was a father to the needy.

¹⁷I broke the jaws of the unrighteous

¹⁸Then I said, ‘I will die in my own house,

¹⁹My root is spread out to the waters.

²⁰My glory is fresh in me.

²¹“Men listened to me, waited,

²²After my words they didn’t speak again.

²³They waited for me as for the rain.

²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence.

²⁵I chose out their way, and sat as chief.

¹“But now those who are younger than I have me in derision,

²Of what use is the strength of their hands to me,

³They are gaunt from lack and famine.

⁴They pluck salt herbs by the bushes.

⁵They are driven out from among men.

⁶so that they live in frightful valleys,

⁷They bray among the bushes.

⁸They are children of fools, yes, children of wicked men.

⁹“Now I have become their song.

¹⁰They abhor me, they stand aloof from me,

¹¹For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me;

¹²On my right hand rise the rabble.

¹³They mar my path.

¹⁴As through a wide breach they come.

¹⁵Terrors have turned on me.

¹⁶“Now my soul is poured out within me.

¹⁷In the night season my bones are pierced in me,

¹⁸My garment is disfigured by great force.

¹⁹He has cast me into the mire.

²⁰I cry to you, and you do not answer me.

²¹You have turned to be cruel to me.

²²You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it.

²³For I know that you will bring me to death,

²⁴“However doesn’t one stretch out a hand in his fall?

²⁵Didn’t I weep for him who was in trouble?

²⁶When I looked for good, then evil came.

²⁷My heart is troubled, and doesn’t rest.

²⁸I go mourning without the sun.

²⁹I am a brother to jackals,

¹“I made a covenant with my eyes;

²For what is the portion from God above,

³Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,

⁴Doesn’t he see my ways,

⁵“If I have walked with falsehood,

⁶(let me be weighed in an even balance,

⁷if my step has turned out of the way,

⁸then let me sow, and let another eat.

⁹“If my heart has been enticed to a woman,

¹⁰then let my wife grind for another,

¹¹For that would be a heinous crime.

¹²for it is a fire that consumes to destruction,

¹³“If I have despised the cause of my male servant

¹⁴what then will I do when God rises up?

¹⁵Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him?

¹⁶“If I have withheld the poor from their desire,

¹⁷or have eaten my morsel alone,

¹⁸(no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,

¹⁹if I have seen any perish for want of clothing,

²⁰if his heart hasn’t blessed me,

²¹if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,

²²then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade,

²³For calamity from God is a terror to me.

²⁴“If I have made gold my hope,

²⁵If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,

²⁶if I have seen the sun when it shined,

²⁷and my heart has been secretly enticed,

²⁸this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,

²⁹“If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me,

¹So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. ²Then the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel, the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled against Job. His wrath was kindled because he justified himself rather than God. ³Also his wrath was kindled against his three friends, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. ⁴Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he. ⁵When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his wrath was kindled.

⁶Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered,

⁷I said, ‘Days should speak,

⁸But there is a spirit in man,

⁹It is not the great who are wise,

¹⁰Therefore I said, ‘Listen to me;

¹¹“Behold, I waited for your words,

¹²Yes, I gave you my full attention,

¹³Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom.

¹⁴for he has not directed his words against me;

¹⁵“They are amazed. They answer no more.

¹⁶Shall I wait, because they don’t speak,

¹⁷I also will answer my part,

¹⁸For I am full of words.

¹⁹Behold, my breast is as wine which has no vent;

²⁰I will speak, that I may be refreshed.

²¹Please don’t let me respect any man’s person,

²²For I don’t know how to give flattering titles,

¹“However, Job, please hear my speech,

²See now, I have opened my mouth.

³My words will utter the uprightness of my heart.

⁴The Spirit of God has made me,

⁵If you can, answer me.

⁶Behold, I am toward God even as you are.

⁷Behold, my terror will not make you afraid,

⁸“Surely you have spoken in my hearing,

⁹‘I am clean, without disobedience.

¹⁰Behold, he finds occasions against me.

¹¹He puts my feet in the stocks.

¹²“Behold, I will answer you. In this you are not just,

¹³Why do you strive against him,

¹⁴For God speaks once,

¹⁵In a dream, in a vision of the night,

¹⁶then he opens the ears of men,

¹⁷that he may withdraw man from his purpose,

¹⁸He keeps back his soul from the pit,

¹⁹“He is chastened also with pain on his bed,

²⁰so that his life abhors bread,

²¹His flesh is so consumed away that it can’t be seen.

²²Yes, his soul draws near to the pit,

²³“If there is beside him an angel,

²⁴then God is gracious to him, and says,

²⁵His flesh will be fresher than a child’s.

²⁶He prays to God, and he is favorable to him,

²⁷He sings before men, and says,

²⁸He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit.

²⁹“Behold, God does all these things,

¹Moreover Elihu answered,

²“Hear my words, you wise men.

³For the ear tries words,

⁴Let us choose for us that which is right.

⁵For Job has said, ‘I am righteous,

⁶Notwithstanding my right I am considered a liar.

⁷What man is like Job,

⁸who goes in company with the workers of iniquity,

⁹For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing

¹⁰“Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding:

¹¹For the work of a man he will render to him,

¹²Yes surely, God will not do wickedly,

¹³Who put him in charge of the earth?

¹⁴If he set his heart on himself,

¹⁵all flesh would perish together,

¹⁶“If now you have understanding, hear this.

¹⁷Should even one who hates justice govern?

¹⁸who says to a king, ‘Vile!’

¹⁹He doesn’t respect the persons of princes,

²⁰In a moment they die, even at midnight.

²¹“For his eyes are on the ways of a man.

²²There is no darkness, nor thick gloom,

²³For he doesn’t need to consider a man further,

²⁴He breaks mighty men in pieces in ways past finding out,

²⁵Therefore he takes knowledge of their works.

²⁶He strikes them as wicked men

²⁷because they turned away from following him,

²⁸so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him.

²⁹When he gives quietness, who then can condemn?

¹Moreover Elihu answered,

²“Do you think this to be your right,

³that you ask, ‘What advantage will it be to you?

⁴I will answer you,

⁵Look to the skies, and see.

⁶If you have sinned, what effect do you have against him?

⁷If you are righteous, what do you give him?

⁸Your wickedness may hurt a man as you are,

⁹“By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out.

¹⁰But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,

¹¹who teaches us more than the animals of the earth,

¹²There they cry, but no one answers,

¹³Surely God will not hear an empty cry,

¹⁴How much less when you say you don’t see him.

¹⁵But now, because he has not visited in his anger,

¹⁶therefore Job opens his mouth with empty talk,

¹Elihu also continued, and said,

²“Bear with me a little, and I will show you;

³I will get my knowledge from afar,

⁴For truly my words are not false.

⁵“Behold, God is mighty, and doesn’t despise anyone.

⁶He doesn’t preserve the life of the wicked,

⁷He doesn’t withdraw his eyes from the righteous,

⁸If they are bound in fetters,

⁹then he shows them their work,

¹⁰He also opens their ears to instruction,

¹¹If they listen and serve him,

¹²But if they don’t listen, they will perish by the sword;

¹³“But those who are godless in heart lay up anger.

¹⁴They die in youth.

¹⁵He delivers the afflicted by their affliction,

¹⁶Yes, he would have allured you out of distress,

¹⁷“But you are full of the judgment of the wicked.

¹⁸Don’t let riches entice you to wrath,

¹⁹Would your wealth sustain you in distress,

²⁰Don’t desire the night,

²¹Take heed, don’t regard iniquity;

²²Behold, God is exalted in his power.

²³Who has prescribed his way for him?

²⁴“Remember that you magnify his work,

²⁵All men have looked on it.

²⁶Behold, God is great, and we don’t know him.

²⁷For he draws up the drops of water,

²⁸which the skies pour down

²⁹Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds

¹“Yes, at this my heart trembles,

²Hear, oh, hear the noise of his voice,

³He sends it out under the whole sky,

⁴After it a voice roars.

⁵God thunders marvelously with his voice.

⁶For he says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’

⁷He seals up the hand of every man,

⁸Then the animals take cover,

⁹Out of its room comes the storm,

¹⁰By the breath of God, ice is given,

¹¹Yes, he loads the thick cloud with moisture.

¹²It is turned around by his guidance,

¹³whether it is for correction, or for his land,

¹⁴“Listen to this, Job.

¹⁵Do you know how God controls them,

¹⁶Do you know the workings of the clouds,

¹⁷You whose clothing is warm

¹⁸Can you, with him, spread out the sky,

¹⁹Teach us what we will tell him,

²⁰Will it be told him that I would speak?

²¹Now men don’t see the light which is bright in the skies,

²²Out of the north comes golden splendor.

²³We can’t reach the Almighty.

²⁴Therefore men revere him.

¹Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind,

²“Who is this who darkens counsel

³Brace yourself like a man,

⁴“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?

⁵Who determined its measures, if you know?

⁶What were its foundations fastened on?

⁷when the morning stars sang together,

⁸“Or who shut up the sea with doors,

⁹when I made clouds its garment,

¹⁰marked out for it my bound,

¹¹and said, ‘You may come here, but no further.

¹²“Have you commanded the morning in your days,

¹³that it might take hold of the ends of the earth,

¹⁴It is changed as clay under the seal,

¹⁵From the wicked, their light is withheld.

¹⁶“Have you entered into the springs of the sea?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you?

¹⁸Have you comprehended the earth in its width?

¹⁹“What is the way to the dwelling of light?

²⁰that you should take it to its bound,

²¹Surely you know, for you were born then,

²²Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,

²³which I have reserved against the time of trouble,

²⁴By what way is the lightning distributed,

²⁵Who has cut a channel for the flood water,

²⁶to cause it to rain on a land where there is no man,

²⁷to satisfy the waste and desolate ground,

²⁸Does the rain have a father?

¹“Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth?

²Can you count the months that they fulfill?

³They bow themselves. They bear their young.

⁴Their young ones become strong.

⁵“Who has set the wild donkey free?

⁶whose home I have made the wilderness,

⁷He scorns the tumult of the city,

⁸The range of the mountains is his pasture.

⁹“Will the wild ox be content to serve you?

¹⁰Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness?

¹¹Will you trust him, because his strength is great?

¹²Will you confide in him, that he will bring home your seed,

¹³“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly,

¹⁴For she leaves her eggs on the earth,

¹⁵and forgets that the foot may crush them,

¹⁶She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers.

¹⁷because God has deprived her of wisdom,

¹⁸When she lifts up herself on high,

¹⁹“Have you given the horse might?

²⁰Have you made him to leap as a locust?

²¹He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength.

²²He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed,

²³The quiver rattles against him,

²⁴He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage,

²⁵As often as the trumpet sounds he snorts, ‘Aha!’

²⁶“Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,

²⁷Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up,

²⁸On the cliff he dwells and makes his home,

¹Moreover Yahweh answered Job,

²“Shall he who argues contend with the Almighty?

³Then Job answered Yahweh,

⁴“Behold, I am of small account. What will I answer you?

⁵I have spoken once, and I will not answer;

⁶Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind:

⁷“Now brace yourself like a man.

⁸Will you even annul my judgment?

⁹Or do you have an arm like God?

¹⁰“Now deck yourself with excellency and dignity.

¹¹Pour out the fury of your anger.

¹²Look at everyone who is proud, and humble him.

¹³Hide them in the dust together.

¹⁴Then I will also admit to you

¹⁵“See now behemoth, which I made as well as you.

¹⁶Look now, his strength is in his thighs.

¹⁷He moves his tail like a cedar.

¹⁸His bones are like tubes of bronze.

¹⁹He is the chief of the ways of God.

²⁰Surely the mountains produce food for him,

²¹He lies under the lotus trees,

²²The lotuses cover him with their shade.

²³Behold, if a river overflows, he doesn’t tremble.

²⁴Shall any take him when he is on the watch,

¹“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook,

²Can you put a rope into his nose,

³Will he make many petitions to you,

⁴Will he make a covenant with you,

⁵Will you play with him as with a bird?

⁶Will traders barter for him?

⁷Can you fill his skin with barbed irons,

⁸Lay your hand on him.

⁹Behold, the hope of him is in vain.

¹⁰None is so fierce that he dare stir him up.

¹¹Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?

¹²“I will not keep silence concerning his limbs,

¹³Who can strip off his outer garment?

¹⁴Who can open the doors of his face?

¹⁵Strong scales are his pride,

¹⁶One is so near to another,

¹⁷They are joined to one another.

¹⁸His sneezing flashes out light.

¹⁹Out of his mouth go burning torches.

²⁰Out of his nostrils a smoke goes,

²¹His breath kindles coals.

²²There is strength in his neck.

²³The flakes of his flesh are joined together.

²⁴His heart is as firm as a stone,

²⁵When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid.

²⁶If one attacks him with the sword, it can’t prevail;

²⁷He counts iron as straw,

²⁸The arrow can’t make him flee.

²⁹Clubs are counted as stubble.

¹Then Job answered Yahweh:

²“I know that you can do all things,

³You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’

⁴You said, ‘Listen, now, and I will speak;

⁵I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,

⁶Therefore I abhor myself,

⁷It was so, that after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job, Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has. ⁸Now therefore, take to yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him, that I not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.”

⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what Yahweh commanded them, and Yahweh accepted Job.

¹⁰Yahweh restored Job’s prosperity when he prayed for his friends. Yahweh gave Job twice as much as he had before. ¹¹Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, came to him and ate bread with him in his house. They comforted him, and consoled him concerning all the evil that Yahweh had brought on him. Everyone also gave him a piece of money,

¹²So Yahweh blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys. ¹³He had also seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴He called the name of the first, Jemimah; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren Happuch. ¹⁵In all the land were no women found so beautiful as the daughters of Job. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. ¹⁶After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, to four generations. ¹⁷So Job died, being old and full of days.