Job

Old Testament · 42 chapters · 1,070 verses.

Chapter 1

1:1There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.
1:2And seven sons and three daughters were born to him.
1:3His possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great number of servants. That man was greater than all the sons of the East.
1:4His sons would hold a feast in the house of each one on his appointed day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
1:5When the days of feasting had completed their round, Job would send for them and consecrate them. He would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.
1:6Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and the Accuser also came among them.
1:7The LORD said to the Accuser, “From where have you come?” The Accuser answered the LORD and said, “From roaming through the earth and walking about upon it.”
1:8Then the LORD said to the Accuser, “Have you set your heart upon My servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth—a man blameless and upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.”
1:9Then the Accuser answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing?
1:10Have You not placed a hedge around him, around his house, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have spread throughout the land.
1:11But stretch out Your hand now and strike all that he has, and surely he will curse You to Your face.”
1:12Then the LORD said to the Accuser, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand; only do not stretch out your hand against the man himself.” So the Accuser went out from the presence of the LORD.
1:13Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their firstborn brother.
1:14And a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the female donkeys feeding by their sides,
1:15when the Sabeans fell upon them and took them away. They struck the young men with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
1:16While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the young men and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
1:17While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding bands, rushed upon the camels, and took them away. They struck the young men with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
1:18While he was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their firstborn brother,
1:19when behold, a great wind came from beyond the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house. It fell upon the young people, and they died; and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
1:20Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, fell to the ground, and bowed down.
1:21He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the Name of the LORD.”
1:22In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

Chapter 2

2:1Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and the Accuser also came among them to present himself before the LORD.
2:2The LORD said to the Accuser, “From where have you come?” The Accuser answered the LORD and said, “From roaming through the earth and walking about upon it.”
2:3Then the LORD said to the Accuser, “Have you set your heart upon My servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth—a man blameless and upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. He still holds fast his integrity, though you incited Me against him to swallow him up without cause.”
2:4Then the Accuser answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! A man will give all that he has for his life.
2:5But stretch out Your hand now and strike his bone and his flesh, and surely he will curse You to Your face.”
2:6Then the LORD said to the Accuser, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”
2:7So the Accuser went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
2:8Job took a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes.
2:9Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”
2:10But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed receive good from God, and shall we not receive adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
2:11When Job’s three friends heard of all this calamity that had come upon him, each came from his own place—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together by agreement to come and grieve with him and comfort him.
2:12When they lifted up their eyes from afar, they did not recognize him. They raised their voices and wept, and each tore his robe and threw dust toward the heavens upon his head.
2:13Then they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

Chapter 3

3:1After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
3:2Then Job answered and said:
3:3“Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man has been conceived.’
3:4Let that day be darkness. Let God not seek it from above, nor let light shine upon it.
3:5Let darkness and death-shade reclaim it; let a cloud settle upon it; let whatever darkens the day terrify it.
3:6Let thick darkness seize that night. Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not enter the number of the months.
3:7Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.
3:8Let those who curse the day curse it—those who are ready to rouse the sea serpent.
3:9Let the stars of its twilight be dark. Let it wait for light, but find none; and let it not behold the eyelids of the dawn,
3:10because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb or hide trouble from my eyes.
3:11Why did I not die at birth, come from the womb and expire?
3:12Why did knees receive me? Why were there breasts for me to nurse?
3:13For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept, and then I would have been at rest,
3:14with kings and counselors of the earth, who built ruins for themselves,
3:15or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
3:16Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like infants who never saw light?
3:17There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary rest.
3:18Prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.
3:19The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master.
3:20Why is light given to the miserable, and life to those bitter in soul,
3:21who long for death, but it does not come, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
3:22who rejoice with exceeding joy and exult when they find the grave?
3:23Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
3:24For my sighing comes before my bread, and my groans are poured out like water.
3:25For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has befallen me.
3:26I have no ease, no quiet, no rest—yet turmoil comes.”

Chapter 4

4:1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
4:2“If one ventures a word with you, will you be weary? Yet who can withhold his words?
4:3Behold, you have instructed many and strengthened weak hands.
4:4Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have strengthened feeble knees.
4:5But now it has come upon you, and you are weary; it touches you, and you are dismayed.
4:6Is not your reverence your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?
4:7Remember now: who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
4:8As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow misery reap the same.
4:9By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
4:10The lion’s roar, the fierce lion’s voice, and the teeth of the young lions are broken.
4:11The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the lioness’s cubs are scattered.
4:12Now a word came secretly to me, and my ear caught a whisper of it.
4:13Amid disquieting thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men,
4:14dread and trembling came upon me and made all my bones shake.
4:15Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood on end.
4:16It stood still, but I could not discern its form; a likeness was before my eyes. There was silence, and I heard a voice:
4:17Can mortal man be more righteous than God? Can a man be purer than his Maker?
4:18Behold, He puts no trust in His servants, and He charges His angels with error.
4:19How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth.
4:20Between morning and evening they are shattered; unnoticed, they perish forever.
4:21Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them? They die, but not in wisdom.”

Chapter 5

5:1“Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?
5:2For vexation kills the foolish man, and jealousy slays the simple.
5:3I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I pronounced his dwelling accursed.
5:4His sons are far from safety; they are crushed in the gate, and no one delivers them.
5:5The hungry devour his harvest, taking it even from among the thorns, and the thirsty swallow his wealth.
5:6For affliction does not spring from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.
5:7But man is born to trouble, as sparks fly upward.
5:8But as for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause,
5:9who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.
5:10He gives rain upon the earth and sends waters upon the fields,
5:11setting the lowly on high, so that those who mourn are raised to safety.
5:12He frustrates the schemes of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.
5:13He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the counsel of the cunning is swept away.
5:14By day they meet with darkness, and at noon they grope as in the night.
5:15But He saves the needy from the sword of their mouth and from the hand of the mighty.
5:16So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.
5:17Behold, blessed is the man whom God corrects; therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
5:18For He wounds, but He binds up; He strikes, but His hands heal.
5:19In six troubles He will deliver you; even in seven no evil will touch you.
5:20In famine He will redeem you from death, and in battle from the power of the sword.
5:21You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and you will not fear destruction when it comes.
5:22You will laugh at destruction and famine, and you will not fear the beasts of the earth.
5:23For you will be in covenant with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you.
5:24You will know that your tent is secure; when you inspect your dwelling, you will find nothing missing.
5:25You will also know that your offspring will be many, and your descendants like the grass of the earth.
5:26You will come to the grave in full vigor, like a sheaf gathered in its season.
5:27Behold, we have searched this out; it is so. Hear it, and know it for yourself.”

Chapter 6

6:1Then Job answered and said:
6:2“O that my anguish were fully weighed, and my calamity laid together in the balances!
6:3For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; therefore my words have been rash.
6:4For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison. The terrors of God are arrayed against me.
6:5Does the wild donkey bray over grass, or the ox low over its fodder?
6:6Can tasteless food be eaten without salt? Is there any flavor in the white of an egg?
6:7My soul refuses to touch them; they are like loathsome food to me.
6:8O that my request might be granted, and that God would give me what I hope for:
6:9that God would be willing to crush me, that He would loose His hand and cut me off.
6:10Then this would still be my comfort; I would exult in unrelenting pain, for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
6:11What strength do I have, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should prolong my life?
6:12Is my strength the strength of stones? Is my flesh bronze?
6:13Is there no help within me? Has all resource been driven from me?
6:14Steadfast love is due from a friend to one who is fainting, even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
6:15My brothers have dealt treacherously like a torrent, like streams that pass away,
6:16darkened by ice, where snow hides itself.
6:17When they grow warm, they vanish; when the heat comes, they dry up from their place.
6:18The paths of their course turn aside; they go up into the waste and perish.
6:19The caravans of Tema look; the travelers of Sheba hope for them.
6:20They are ashamed because they trusted; they come there and are confounded.
6:21So now you too have become nothing; you see terror and are afraid.
6:22Did I say, ‘Give to me,’ or, ‘Offer me a gift from your wealth’?
6:23or, ‘Deliver me from an adversary’s hand,’ or, ‘Ransom me from the hand of the ruthless’?
6:24Teach me, and I will keep silent; make me understand where I have erred.
6:25How forceful are upright words! But what does your reproof prove?
6:26Do you intend to reprove mere words, treating the speech of a desperate man as wind?
6:27You would even cast lots over an orphan and bargain over your friend.
6:28And now, please look at me; surely I would not lie to your face.
6:29Reconsider, please; let there be no injustice. Reconsider again, for my righteousness is at stake.
6:30Is there injustice on my tongue? Can my palate not discern calamity?”

Chapter 7

7:1“Is there not hard service for man on earth? Are not his days like the days of a hired worker?
7:2Like a servant who longs for the shadow, and a hired worker who waits for his wages,
7:3so I have been made to inherit months of futility, and nights of misery have been appointed to me.
7:4When I lie down, I say, ‘When shall I rise?’ But the night drags on, and I am filled with restlessness until dawn.
7:5My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin hardens and breaks out afresh.
7:6My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and come to an end without hope.
7:7Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will not again see good.
7:8The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; Your eyes will be upon me, but I will be gone.
7:9As a cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to the realm of the dead does not ascend.
7:10He does not return again to his house, and his place knows him no more.
7:11Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
7:12Am I the sea, or a sea dragon, that You set a watch over me?
7:13When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me; my couch will ease my complaint,’
7:14then You frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,
7:15so that my soul would choose strangling, death rather than these bones.
7:16I waste away; I will not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.
7:17What is man, that You should make so much of him, and set Your heart upon him,
7:18that You inspect him every morning and test him every moment?
7:19How long will You not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow my spittle?
7:20If I have sinned, what have I done to You, O Watcher of men? Why have You made me Your target, so that I have become a burden to myself?
7:21Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust; You will seek me, but I will be gone.”

Chapter 8

8:1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
8:2“How long will you speak these things, and the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?
8:3Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
8:4If your sons sinned against Him, He gave them over to the hand of their transgression.
8:5If you would diligently seek God and plead with the Almighty,
8:6if you are pure and upright, surely then He would rouse Himself for you and restore your righteous dwelling.
8:7Though your beginning was small, your latter end would greatly increase.
8:8For inquire, please, of a former generation, and attend to what their fathers searched out.
8:9For we are of yesterday and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.
8:10Will they not instruct you and speak to you, bringing forth words from their heart?
8:11Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish without water?
8:12While still green and uncut, they wither before any other grass.
8:13So are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless perishes.
8:14His confidence is cut off, and his trust is a spider’s web.
8:15He leans upon his house, but it does not stand; he holds fast to it, but it does not endure.
8:16He is a lush plant before the sun, and his shoots spread over his garden.
8:17His roots entwine around a stone heap; he looks upon a house of stones.
8:18If he is torn from his place, it denies him, saying, ‘I never saw you.’
8:19Behold, this is the joy of his way, and from the dust others spring up.
8:20Behold, God does not reject the blameless, nor does He strengthen the hand of evildoers.
8:21He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with a shout of joy.
8:22Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

Chapter 9

9:1Then Job answered and said:
9:2“Truly, I know that it is so; but how can a man be righteous before God?
9:3If one wished to contend with Him, he could not answer Him once in a thousand.
9:4He is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?
9:5He removes mountains, and they do not know it, when He overturns them in His anger.
9:6He shakes the earth from its place, and its pillars tremble.
9:7He commands the sun, and it does not rise; He seals up the stars.
9:8He alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the heights of the sea.
9:9He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
9:10He does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.
9:11Behold, He passes by me, but I do not see Him; He moves past, but I do not perceive Him.
9:12Behold, He snatches away; who can turn Him back? Who can say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’
9:13God does not turn back His anger; the helpers of the sea monster bow beneath Him.
9:14How much less can I answer Him and choose my words before Him?
9:15Though I were righteous, I could not answer Him; I would plead for mercy with my Judge.
9:16If I called and He answered me, I would not believe that He had listened to my voice.
9:17For He crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause.
9:18He does not let me catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
9:19If it is a matter of strength, behold, He is mighty; and if of justice, who can summon me to court?
9:20If I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would prove me perverse.
9:21I am blameless, yet I do not know myself; I despise my life.
9:22It is all one; therefore I say, He consumes the blameless and the wicked.
9:23If a scourge suddenly brings death, He mocks at the calamity of the innocent.
9:24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?
9:25Now my days are swifter than a runner; they flee away; they see no good.
9:26They pass by like reed boats, like an eagle swooping upon its prey.
9:27If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint; I will put off my sad face and brighten up,’
9:28I am still afraid of all my sorrows; I know that You will not hold me innocent.
9:29I will be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?
9:30If I wash myself with snow-water and cleanse my hands with lye,
9:31then You will plunge me into the pit, and my own garments will abhor me.
9:32For He is not a man as I am, that I might answer Him, that we might come together in judgment.
9:33There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand upon us both.
9:34Let Him remove His rod from me, and let not His terror frighten me.
9:35Then I would speak and not fear Him; but as it is, I cannot.”

Chapter 10

10:1“My soul loathes my life; I will give free course to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
10:2I will say to God, Do not condemn me; make known to me why You contend with me.
10:3Is it good to You to oppress, to despise the work of Your hands, while You shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
10:4Do You have eyes of flesh? Do You see as man sees?
10:5Are Your days like the days of a mortal, or Your years like the years of a man,
10:6that You seek out my iniquity and search for my sin,
10:7though You know that I am not wicked, and there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?
10:8Your hands shaped me and made me, altogether and all around; yet You destroy me.
10:9Remember, please, that You fashioned me like clay; will You return me to dust?
10:10Did You not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?
10:11You clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews.
10:12You granted me life and steadfast love, and Your care preserved my spirit.
10:13Yet these things You hid in Your heart; I know that this was with You:
10:14if I sinned, You watched me and would not acquit me of my iniquity.
10:15If I am wicked, woe to me! Even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head, filled with shame and seeing my affliction.
10:16If I lift it up, You hunt me like a lion, and again You show Your wondrous power against me.
10:17You renew Your witnesses against me and increase Your anger toward me; forces come against me, troop after troop.
10:18Why, then, did You bring me forth from the womb? I should have died, and no eye would have seen me.
10:19I would have been as though I had never been, carried from the womb to the grave.
10:20Are not my days few? Leave me alone; turn from me, that I may brighten a little,
10:21before I go—and do not return—to the land of darkness and death-shade,
10:22a land of deepest gloom, of death-shade and disorder, where even the light is like thick darkness.”

Chapter 11

11:1Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
11:2“Should a multitude of words go unanswered? Should a man full of talk be proved right?
11:3Should your empty talk silence men? When you mock, should no one put you to shame?
11:4For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in Your sight.’
11:5But O that God would speak and open His lips against you,
11:6and declare to you the secrets of wisdom, for sound wisdom is manifold. Know, then, that God exacts from you less than your iniquity deserves.
11:7Can you fathom the depths of God? Can you find out the Almighty to perfection?
11:8It is higher than the heavens—what can you do? Deeper than the realm of the dead—what can you know?
11:9Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.
11:10If He passes through and shuts up, or calls an assembly, who can turn Him back?
11:11For He knows worthless men; when He sees iniquity, will He not consider it?
11:12But an empty-headed man will gain understanding when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man.
11:13If you prepare your heart and spread out your hands to Him,
11:14if iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let no injustice dwell in your tents.
11:15Then indeed you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be steadfast and will not fear.
11:16For you will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
11:17Your life will rise brighter than noon; though there is darkness, it will become like morning.
11:18You will be secure because there is hope; you will look around and lie down in safety.
11:19You will rest, and none will make you afraid; many will seek your favor.
11:20But the eyes of the wicked will fail; refuge will perish from them, and their hope will be the breathing out of life.”

Chapter 12

12:1Then Job answered and said:
12:2“Truly, you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!
12:3But I too have understanding as you do; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
12:4I am a laughingstock to my friend—I, who called to God and He answered me. The righteous and blameless man is a laughingstock.
12:5A lamp is despised by one who is at ease, though it is prepared for the one whose foot slips.
12:6The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure—those who carry their god in their hand.
12:7But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you.
12:8Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; the fish of the sea will recount it to you.
12:9Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
12:10In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all human flesh.
12:11Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?
12:12With the aged is wisdom, and in length of days is understanding.
12:13With Him are wisdom and might; to Him belong counsel and understanding.
12:14Behold, what He tears down cannot be rebuilt; He shuts a man in, and no one can open.
12:15Behold, He withholds the waters, and they dry up; He sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
12:16With Him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are His.
12:17He leads counselors away stripped and makes fools of judges.
12:18He loosens the bonds of kings and binds a belt around their waists.
12:19He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty.
12:20He removes speech from the trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders.
12:21He pours contempt upon nobles and loosens the belt of the strong.
12:22He reveals deep things out of darkness and brings death-shade into light.
12:23He makes nations great and destroys them; He enlarges nations and leads them away.
12:24He removes understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a trackless waste.
12:25They grope in darkness without light, and He makes them stagger like a drunken man.

Chapter 13

13:1“Behold, my eye has seen all this; my ear has heard and understood it.
13:2What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.
13:3But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.
13:4Yet you are forgers of lies; you are all worthless physicians.
13:5O that you would be altogether silent; that would be your wisdom.
13:6Hear now my argument, and attend to the pleadings of my lips.
13:7Will you speak injustice for God, and speak deceitfully for Him?
13:8Will you show partiality to Him? Will you contend for God?
13:9Would it go well with you if He searched you out? Can you deceive Him as one deceives a man?
13:10He will surely reprove you if you secretly show partiality.
13:11Will not His majesty terrify you, and His dread fall upon you?
13:12Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.
13:13Be silent before me, that I may speak; then let come upon me what will.
13:14Why should I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hand?
13:15Behold, He may slay me; I will not wait. Yet I will argue my ways before Him.
13:16This also will be my salvation, for no godless man can come before Him.
13:17Hear my word diligently, and let my declaration enter your ears.
13:18Behold now, I have set my case in order; I know that I will be vindicated.
13:19Who is he who will contend with me? For then I would be silent and die.
13:20Only grant me two things; then I will not hide from Your face:
13:21Remove Your hand far from me, and do not let Your terror frighten me.
13:22Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and You answer me.
13:23How many are my iniquities and sins? Make known to me my transgression and my sin.
13:24Why do You hide Your face and regard me as Your enemy?
13:25Will You terrify a windblown leaf? Will You pursue dry stubble?
13:26For You write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.
13:27You put my feet in the stocks and watch all my paths; You trace a line around the soles of my feet.
13:28So man wastes away like something rotten, like a garment eaten by a moth.

Chapter 14

14:1“Man, born of woman, is few of days and full of trouble.
14:2He comes forth like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and does not remain.
14:3Yet upon such a one You open Your eyes, and You bring me into judgment with You.
14:4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one.
14:5Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limit, which he cannot pass.
14:6Look away from him, that he may rest, until like a hired worker he enjoys his day.
14:7For there is hope for a tree: if it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its tender shoot will not cease.
14:8Though its root grows old in the earth and its stump dies in the dust,
14:9at the scent of water it buds and brings forth branches like a young plant.
14:10But a man dies and lies powerless; a human expires, and where is he?
14:11Waters vanish from the sea, and a river wastes away and dries up.
14:12So man lies down and does not rise; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake or be roused from their sleep.
14:13O that You would conceal me in the realm of the dead, hide me until Your anger turns away, appoint a time for me, and remember me.
14:14If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my service I would wait until my renewal comes.
14:15You would call, and I would answer You; You would long for the work of Your hands.
14:16But now You number my steps; do You not watch over my sin?
14:17My transgression is sealed in a bag, and You cover over my iniquity.
14:18But a falling mountain wastes away, and a rock is removed from its place.
14:19Waters wear away stones; floods wash away the dust of the earth. So You destroy the hope of man.
14:20You overpower him forever, and he passes away; You change his countenance and send him away.
14:21His sons are honored, but he does not know it; they are brought low, but he does not perceive it.
14:22He feels only the pain of his own flesh, and his soul mourns only for himself.”

Chapter 15

15:1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
15:2“Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge and fill his belly with the east wind?
15:3Should he reason with useless talk, or with words that bring no profit?
15:4Indeed, you do away with reverence and hinder meditation before God.
15:5For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the cunning.
15:6Your own mouth condemns you, not I; your own lips testify against you.
15:7Were you the first man born? Were you brought forth before the hills?
15:8Have you listened in the secret council of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
15:9What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not also with us?
15:10Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, older in days than your father.
15:11Are the consolations of God too small for you, even the word spoken gently with you?
15:12Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash,
15:13that you turn your spirit against God and let such words go out of your mouth?
15:14What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
15:15Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in His sight.
15:16How much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks injustice like water.
15:17I will tell you; listen to me. What I have seen I will declare,
15:18what wise men have made known and have not hidden from their fathers,
15:19to whom alone the land was given, when no stranger passed among them.
15:20The wicked man writhes in pain all his days, and the ruthless man throughout the years laid up for him.
15:21Sounds of terror are in his ears; in peace the destroyer comes upon him.
15:22He does not believe he will return from darkness; he is destined for the sword.
15:23He wanders about for bread, saying, Where is it? He knows that a day of darkness is ready at hand.
15:24Distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail over him like a king ready for battle.
15:25For he stretches out his hand against God and acts defiantly against the Almighty.
15:26He runs stubbornly against Him with the thick bosses of his shields.
15:27For he has covered his face with fat and grown fat around his waist.
15:28He dwells in desolate cities, in houses no one should inhabit, which are destined to become heaps.
15:29He will not be rich, nor will his wealth endure; his possessions will not spread over the earth.
15:30He will not escape darkness; a flame will wither his shoot, and by the breath of His mouth he will depart.
15:31Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself, for emptiness will be his reward.
15:32It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not be green.
15:33He will shake off his unripe grape like a vine and cast off his blossom like an olive tree.
15:34For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
15:35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb prepares deceit.”

Chapter 16

16:1Then Job answered and said:
16:2“I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all.
16:3Is there no end to windy words? Or what provokes you, that you answer?
16:4I too could speak as you do, if you were in my place. I could join words together against you and shake my head at you.
16:5But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the comfort of my lips would bring relief.
16:6If I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I cease, how much of it leaves me?
16:7But now He has wearied me; You have devastated all my company.
16:8You have shriveled me up, and this has become a witness; my leanness rises against me and testifies to my face.
16:9He has torn me in His anger and harassed me; He has gnashed His teeth at me. My adversary sharpens His eyes against me.
16:10They gape at me with their mouths; with reproach they strike my cheeks; together they gather against me.
16:11God delivers me to evil men and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
16:12I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and broke me in pieces; He set me up as His target.
16:13His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys and does not spare; He pours out my gall upon the earth.
16:14He breaks me with breach upon breach; He runs upon me like a mighty warrior.
16:15I have sewn sackcloth over my skin and thrust my horn into the dust.
16:16My face is red from weeping, and death-shade lies upon my eyelids,
16:17though there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
16:18O earth, do not cover my blood, and let my cry have no resting place.
16:19Even now, behold, my witness is in the heavens, and my advocate is on high.
16:20My friends mock me; my eye pours out tears to God,
16:21that one might plead for a man with God, as a son of man pleads for his neighbor.
16:22For when a few years have come, I will go the way from which I will not return.

Chapter 17

17:1“My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the graves await me.
17:2Surely mockers surround me, and my eye dwells upon their provocation.
17:3Give me a pledge with Yourself; who else will strike hands with me?
17:4For You have hidden their heart from understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.
17:5He who denounces friends for a share—the eyes of his children will fail.
17:6He has made me a proverb among the peoples, and I have become one they spit upon.
17:7My eye has grown dim from sorrow, and all my members are like a shadow.
17:8The upright are astonished at this, and the innocent stirs himself against the godless.
17:9Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger.
17:10But come back, all of you; come now, for I will not find a wise man among you.
17:11My days have passed; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart.
17:12They make night into day; they say that light is near in the face of darkness.
17:13If I hope, the realm of the dead is my house; in darkness I spread out my bed.
17:14I call to corruption, You are my father; to the worm, My mother and my sister.
17:15Where then is my hope? And my hope—who can see it?
17:16Will they go down to the bars of the realm of the dead? Shall we descend together into the dust?”

Chapter 18

18:1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
18:2“How long before you put an end to words? Consider, and afterward we will speak.
18:3Why are we counted as cattle? Why are we regarded as stupid in your sight?
18:4You who tear yourself in your anger—should the earth be abandoned for your sake, or a rock be removed from its place?
18:5Indeed, the light of the wicked is extinguished, and the spark of his fire does not shine.
18:6Light grows dark in his tent, and his lamp over him is extinguished.
18:7His strong steps are restricted, and his own counsel casts him down.
18:8For his own feet cast him into a net, and he walks upon its mesh.
18:9A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare holds him fast.
18:10A cord is hidden for him in the ground, and a trap for him on the path.
18:11Terrors frighten him on every side and chase him at his heels.
18:12His strength is famished, and calamity is ready at his side.
18:13It consumes the parts of his skin; the firstborn of death consumes his limbs.
18:14He is torn from the security of his tent and marched before the king of terrors.
18:15What is not his will dwell in his tent; sulfur is scattered over his habitation.
18:16His roots dry up beneath, and his branch is cut off above.
18:17His memory perishes from the land, and he has no name in the street.
18:18He is thrust from light into darkness and driven from the inhabited earth.
18:19He has neither offspring nor descendant among his people, and no survivor where he sojourned.
18:20Those in the west are appalled at his day, and those in the east are seized with horror.
18:21Surely such are the dwelling places of the wicked, and this is the place of one who does not know God.”

Chapter 19

19:1Then Job answered and said:
19:2“How long will you afflict my soul and crush me with words?
19:3These ten times you have reproached me; you are not ashamed to wrong me.
19:4Even if I have truly erred, my error remains with me.
19:5If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and use my reproach as proof against me,
19:6know then that God has wronged me and drawn His net around me.
19:7Behold, I cry out, Violence! but I am not answered; I cry for help, but there is no justice.
19:8He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and He has set darkness upon my paths.
19:9He has stripped my honor from me and removed the crown from my head.
19:10He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; He uproots my hope like a tree.
19:11He kindles His anger against me and counts me among His enemies.
19:12His troops come together; they raise a siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent.
19:13He has put my brothers far from me, and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
19:14My relatives have failed me, and my close friends have forgotten me.
19:15The guests of my house and my maidservants regard me as a stranger; I have become a foreigner in their sight.
19:16I call to my servant, but he does not answer; with my own mouth I plead with him.
19:17My breath is loathsome to my wife, and my entreaty is loathsome to the sons of my mother’s womb.
19:18Even young children despise me; when I rise, they speak against me.
19:19All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me.
19:20My bones cling to my skin and my flesh, and I escape with the skin of my teeth.
19:21Pity me, pity me, you my friends, for the hand of God has struck me.
19:22Why do you pursue me as God does and never have enough of my flesh?
19:23O that my words were now written! O that they were inscribed in a book!
19:24O that with an iron stylus and lead they were engraved in rock forever!
19:25But I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the dust.
19:26And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet from my flesh I will see God,
19:27whom I will see for myself, and my eyes will behold, and not a stranger. My inward parts are consumed within me.
19:28If you say, How we will pursue him! and, The root of the matter lies in him,
19:29be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is judgment.”

Chapter 20

20:1Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
20:2“Therefore my troubling thoughts answer me, because of the haste within me.
20:3I hear a rebuke that shames me, and the spirit of my understanding answers me.
20:4Do you not know this from ancient times, since man was placed upon the earth,
20:5that the triumph of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless lasts only a moment?
20:6Though his height ascends to the heavens and his head touches the clouds,
20:7he perishes forever like his own dung; those who saw him say, Where is he?
20:8He flies away like a dream and is not found; he is chased away like a vision of the night.
20:9The eye that saw him sees him no more, and his place beholds him no longer.
20:10His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his own hands will return his wealth.
20:11His bones are full of youthful vigor, but it lies down with him in the dust.
20:12Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue,
20:13though he cherishes it and will not let it go, but keeps it within his mouth,
20:14his food is changed in his bowels; it becomes the venom of cobras within him.
20:15He swallows wealth but vomits it up; God drives it out of his belly.
20:16He sucks the poison of cobras; the tongue of a viper slays him.
20:17He will not look upon the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds.
20:18He returns what he gained and does not swallow it; from the profit of his trade he gets no enjoyment.
20:19For he crushed and abandoned the poor; he seized a house he did not build.
20:20Because he knew no quiet in his belly, he will not save anything in which he delights.
20:21Nothing remains for him to devour; therefore his prosperity will not endure.
20:22In the fullness of his abundance he is in distress; the hand of everyone in misery comes against him.
20:23When he is about to fill his belly, God sends the fierceness of His anger against him and rains it upon him while he is eating.
20:24He flees from an iron weapon, but a bronze bow pierces him.
20:25He draws the arrow out, and it comes from his back; the glittering point comes out of his gall. Terrors come upon him.
20:26All darkness is reserved for his treasures; a fire not blown consumes him and devours what remains in his tent.
20:27The heavens reveal his iniquity, and the earth rises against him.
20:28The increase of his house is swept away, flowing away in the day of His anger.
20:29This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance decreed for him by God.”

Chapter 21

21:1Then Job answered and said:
21:2“Listen carefully to my words, and let this be your consolation.
21:3Bear with me, and I will speak; and after I have spoken, you may mock.
21:4As for me, is my complaint to man? And why should I not be impatient?
21:5Turn toward me and be appalled; put your hand over your mouth.
21:6When I remember, I am terrified, and trembling seizes my flesh.
21:7Why do the wicked live on, grow old, and even become mighty in power?
21:8Their offspring are established with them in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes.
21:9Their houses are safe from fear, and the rod of God is not upon them.
21:10Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and does not miscarry.
21:11They send out their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
21:12They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the flute.
21:13They spend their days in prosperity, and in a moment descend to the realm of the dead.
21:14Yet they say to God, Turn away from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.
21:15What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what do we gain if we pray to Him?
21:16Behold, their prosperity is not in their own hand. The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
21:17How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their calamity come upon them? How often does He apportion pains in His anger?
21:18How often are they like straw before the wind, and like chaff that a storm carries away?
21:19You say, God stores up his punishment for his children. Let Him repay the man himself, that he may know it.
21:20Let his own eyes see his destruction, and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21:21For what does he care for his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?
21:22Can anyone teach God knowledge, since He judges those on high?
21:23One dies in his full vigor, wholly at ease and secure.
21:24His milk pails are full, and the marrow of his bones is moist.
21:25Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted prosperity.
21:26Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them.
21:27Behold, I know your thoughts and the schemes by which you wrong me.
21:28For you say, Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent in which the wicked dwelt?
21:29Have you not asked those who travel the roads? Do you not recognize their testimony,
21:30that the wicked are spared in the day of calamity, that they are rescued in the day of wrath?
21:31Who denounces his way to his face? Who repays him for what he has done?
21:32When he is carried to the grave, watch is kept over his tomb.
21:33The clods of the valley are sweet to him; all mankind follows after him, and those before him are without number.
21:34How then do you comfort me with emptiness, when unfaithfulness remains in your answers?”

Chapter 22

22:1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
22:2“Can a man be of benefit to God? Surely the wise man is of benefit to himself.
22:3Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous, or gain to Him if you make your ways blameless?
22:4Is it because of your fear of Him that He reproves you and enters into judgment with you?
22:5Is not your wickedness great, and are not your iniquities without end?
22:6For you took pledges from your brothers without cause and stripped the naked of their clothing.
22:7You gave no water to the weary to drink, and you withheld bread from the hungry.
22:8The man of power possessed the land, and the favored man dwelt in it.
22:9You sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.
22:10Therefore snares surround you, and sudden terror overwhelms you,
22:11or darkness, so that you cannot see, and a flood of waters covers you.
22:12Is not God in the height of heaven? See how high the highest stars are!
22:13Yet you say, How can God know? Can He judge through thick darkness?
22:14Thick clouds conceal Him, so that He does not see; and He walks upon the circle of heaven.
22:15Will you keep to the ancient path that men of iniquity have trodden,
22:16who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was swept away by a flood?
22:17They said to God, Turn away from us, and, What can the Almighty do to us?
22:18Yet He filled their houses with good things. But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
22:19The righteous see it and rejoice, and the innocent mock them,
22:20saying, Surely our adversaries are destroyed, and fire has consumed what they left behind.
22:21Be reconciled to Him and be at peace; through this, good will come to you.
22:22Receive instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart.
22:23If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored; if you put injustice far from your tents,
22:24and lay your gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the ravines,
22:25then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.
22:26For then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.
22:27You will pray to Him, and He will hear you; and you will fulfill your vows.
22:28You will decide a matter, and it will be established for you; and light will shine upon your ways.
22:29When men are brought low, you will say, Lift them up, and He will save the downcast.
22:30He will deliver even one who is not innocent; he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

Chapter 23

23:1Then Job answered and said:
23:2“Even today my complaint is bitter; my hand is heavy because of my groaning.
23:3O that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come to His seat!
23:4I would set my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.
23:5I would learn the words He would answer me and understand what He would say to me.
23:6Would He contend with me in the greatness of His power? No; He would surely give heed to me.
23:7There an upright man could reason with Him, and I would be delivered forever from my Judge.
23:8Behold, I go eastward, but He is not there; and westward, but I do not perceive Him;
23:9to the north, where He works, but I do not behold Him; He turns to the south, but I do not see Him.
23:10Yet He knows the way I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
23:11My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and have not turned aside.
23:12I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my allotted portion.
23:13But He is one, and who can turn Him back? What His soul desires, He does.
23:14For He will complete what He has appointed for me, and many such things are with Him.
23:15Therefore I am terrified at His presence; when I consider, I am afraid of Him.
23:16God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.
23:17Yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face.”

Chapter 24

24:1“Why are times of judgment not reserved by the Almighty, and why do those who know Him not see His days?
24:2Men move boundary stones; they seize flocks and pasture them.
24:3They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow’s ox as a pledge.
24:4They push the needy from the road; the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
24:5Behold, like wild donkeys in the wilderness, they go out to their labor, seeking food; the wasteland yields food for their children.
24:6They harvest fodder in the field and glean the vineyard of the wicked.
24:7They spend the night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.
24:8They are wet with the mountain rains, and for lack of shelter they embrace the rock.
24:9They snatch the fatherless from the breast and take a pledge against the poor.
24:10They go about naked, without clothing, and hungry they carry the sheaves.
24:11Within the walls of the wicked they press oil; they tread winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
24:12From the city the dying groan, and the wounded cry for help; yet God does not charge anyone with wrongdoing.
24:13Others are among those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways or abide in its paths.
24:14At dawn the murderer rises; he kills the poor and needy, and by night he is like a thief.
24:15The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight, saying, No eye will see me, and he covers his face.
24:16In darkness they break into houses; by day they shut themselves in. They do not know the light.
24:17For morning is death-shade to all of them; they are familiar with the terrors of death-shade.
24:18He is swift upon the surface of the waters; their portion in the land is cursed; he no longer turns toward the vineyards.
24:19As drought and heat consume the snow waters, so the realm of the dead consumes those who have sinned.
24:20The womb forgets him; the worm feasts sweetly on him; he is remembered no more, and injustice is broken like a tree.
24:21He mistreats the barren woman who bears no child and does no good to the widow.
24:22Yet He prolongs the life of the mighty by His power; they rise up when they had despaired of life.
24:23He gives them security, and they are sustained, yet His eyes are upon their ways.
24:24They are exalted for a little while, then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered like all others, and cut off like the heads of grain.
24:25If this is not so, who will prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?”

Chapter 25

25:1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
25:2“Dominion and fear belong to Him; He makes peace in His heights.
25:3Is there any number to His armies? Upon whom does His light not rise?
25:4How then can man be righteous before God? How can one born of woman be pure?
25:5Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in His sight.
25:6How much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!”

Chapter 26

26:1Then Job answered and said:
26:2“How you have helped one without power! How you have saved the arm that has no strength!
26:3How you have counseled one without wisdom and abundantly made sound wisdom known!
26:4To whom have you uttered words? And whose breath came forth from you?
26:5The departed spirits tremble beneath the waters and those who dwell in them.
26:6The realm of the dead is naked before Him, and the place of destruction has no covering.
26:7He stretches out the north over emptiness and hangs the earth upon nothing.
26:8He binds up the waters in His thick clouds, yet the cloud is not torn open beneath them.
26:9He covers the face of His throne and spreads His cloud over it.
26:10He inscribed a circle upon the face of the waters, at the boundary between light and darkness.
26:11The pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at His rebuke.
26:12By His power He stilled the sea; by His understanding He shattered the sea monster.
26:13By His Spirit the heavens were made fair; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
26:14Behold, these are but the fringes of His ways, and how faint a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power—who can understand?”

Chapter 27

27:1And Job again took up his discourse, and said:
27:2“As God lives, who has denied me justice, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter:
27:3as long as my breath is in me and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils,
27:4my lips will not speak injustice, nor will my tongue utter deceit.
27:5Far be it from me to declare you right; until I die, I will not put away my integrity from me.
27:6I hold fast to my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.
27:7Let my enemy be as the wicked, and my adversary as the unjust.
27:8For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life?
27:9Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?
27:10Will he delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?
27:11I will teach you concerning the hand of God; I will not conceal what is with the Almighty.
27:12Behold, all of you have seen it; why then have you become altogether vain?
27:13This is the portion of a wicked man with God, the inheritance that the ruthless receive from the Almighty.
27:14If his sons are multiplied, it is for the sword; his descendants will not be satisfied with bread.
27:15Those who survive him will be buried by death, and their widows will not weep.
27:16Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up clothing like clay,
27:17he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver.
27:18He builds his house like a moth’s cocoon, like a shelter made by a watchman.
27:19The rich man lies down, but will not do so again; he opens his eyes, and he is gone.
27:20Terrors overtake him like floodwaters; a whirlwind steals him away by night.
27:21The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; it sweeps him from his place.
27:22It hurls itself against him without mercy; he flees headlong from its power.
27:23It claps its hands at him and hisses him away from his place.”

Chapter 28

28:1“Surely there is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined.
28:2Iron is taken from the earth, and bronze is smelted from ore.
28:3Man puts an end to darkness and searches the farthest recesses for ore in darkness and death-shade.
28:4He sinks a shaft far from where people dwell, in places forgotten by the foot; far from men they hang and sway.
28:5As for the earth, from it comes bread, but underneath it is overturned as by fire.
28:6Its stones are the place of sapphires, and its dust contains gold.
28:7No bird of prey knows that path, nor has the falcon’s eye seen it.
28:8Proud beasts have not trodden it; the fierce lion has not passed over it.
28:9Man puts his hand to the flint; he overturns mountains by the roots.
28:10He cuts channels through the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.
28:11He dams up the streams so they do not seep, and he brings hidden things to light.
28:12But wisdom—where can it be found? And where is the place of understanding?
28:13Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living.
28:14The deep says, It is not in me, and the sea says, It is not with me.
28:15Gold cannot be given for it, nor can silver be weighed as its price.
28:16It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire.
28:17Gold and crystal cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for vessels of fine gold.
28:18Coral and crystal are not worth mention; the acquisition of wisdom is above rubies.
28:19The topaz of Cush cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold.
28:20And wisdom—where does it come from? And where is the place of understanding?
28:21It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of heaven.
28:22The place of destruction and death say, We have heard a report of it with our ears.
28:23God understands the way to it, and He knows its place.
28:24For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.
28:25When He gave weight to the wind and measured the waters by measure,
28:26when He made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderbolt,
28:27then He saw wisdom and declared it; He established it and searched it out.
28:28And He said to man, Behold, the fear of the Lord—that is wisdom; and to turn from evil is understanding.”

Chapter 29

29:1And Job again took up his discourse, and said:
29:2“O that I were as in months past, as in the days when God watched over me,
29:3when His lamp shone upon my head and by His light I walked through darkness,
29:4as I was in the days of my prime, when the friendship of God rested upon my tent,
29:5when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me,
29:6when my steps were bathed in curds and the rock poured out streams of oil for me.
29:7When I went out to the city gate and prepared my seat in the square,
29:8the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood.
29:9Princes refrained from speaking and laid a hand over their mouth.
29:10The voice of nobles was hushed, and their tongue clung to the roof of their mouth.
29:11For when the ear heard me, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw me, it testified for me,
29:12because I delivered the poor who cried for help and the fatherless who had no helper.
29:13The blessing of the one about to perish came upon me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.
29:14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and turban.
29:15I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.
29:16I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the case of one I did not know.
29:17I broke the jaws of the unjust and plucked the prey from his teeth.
29:18Then I said, I will die in my nest and multiply my days like the sand.
29:19My root will spread out to the waters, and dew will lodge upon my branches.
29:20My glory will remain fresh with me, and my bow will be renewed in my hand.
29:21Men listened to me and waited; they kept silent for my counsel.
29:22After I spoke, they spoke no more; my words fell gently upon them.
29:23They waited for me as for rain and opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
29:24I smiled upon them when they had no confidence, and they did not cast down the light of my face.
29:25I chose their way and sat as chief; I dwelt like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.

Chapter 30

30:1“But now those younger than I laugh at me, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
30:2What use to me was the strength of their hands, men whose vigor had perished?
30:3Gaunt from want and hunger, they gnaw the dry ground by night, in waste and desolation.
30:4They pluck saltwort among the bushes, and the root of the broom tree is their food.
30:5They are driven from the community; men shout after them as after a thief.
30:6They dwell in dreadful ravines, in holes of the ground and among the rocks.
30:7Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together.
30:8Senseless and nameless men, they were driven out of the land.
30:9And now I have become their song; I am a byword to them.
30:10They abhor me and keep far from me; they do not refrain from spitting in my face.
30:11Because He has loosed my bowstring and afflicted me, they cast off restraint in my presence.
30:12On my right a rabble rises; they push my feet aside and build up against me their destructive paths.
30:13They tear up my path; they further my calamity without needing any helper.
30:14They come as through a wide breach; amid the ruin they roll on.
30:15Terrors are turned against me; they pursue my dignity like the wind, and my safety passes away like a cloud.
30:16And now my soul pours itself out within me; days of affliction seize me.
30:17At night my bones are pierced within me, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
30:18By great force my garment is disfigured; it binds me like the collar of my tunic.
30:19He has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
30:20I cry to You, but You do not answer me; I stand, and You only look at me.
30:21You have turned cruel toward me; with the might of Your hand You persecute me.
30:22You lift me up to the wind and make me ride upon it; You toss me in the storm.
30:23For I know that You will bring me to death, to the house appointed for all living.
30:24Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his calamity cry for help?
30:25Did I not weep for the one whose days were hard? Did my soul not grieve for the needy?
30:26But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came.
30:27My inward parts churn and do not rest; days of affliction confront me.
30:28I go about darkened, but not by the sun; I rise in the assembly and cry for help.
30:29I have become a brother to jackals and a companion to ostriches.
30:30My skin turns black upon me, and my bones burn with heat.
30:31My harp is turned to mourning, and my flute to the sound of weeping.”

Chapter 31

31:1“I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?
31:2For what portion comes from God above, and what inheritance from the Almighty on high?
31:3Is not calamity for the unjust, and disaster for workers of iniquity?
31:4Does He not see my ways and number all my steps?
31:5If I have walked with falsehood, or my foot has hastened after deceit,
31:6let Him weigh me in righteous balances, and God will know my integrity.
31:7If my step has turned aside from the way, if my heart has followed my eyes, or any stain has clung to my hands,
31:8then let me sow and another eat, and let what grows for me be uprooted.
31:9If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,
31:10then let my wife grind for another, and let other men bend over her.
31:11For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged.
31:12For it is a fire that consumes to the place of destruction and would uproot all my increase.
31:13If I have rejected the cause of my male servant or my maidservant when they brought a complaint against me,
31:14what then shall I do when God rises? When He calls me to account, what shall I answer Him?
31:15Did not He who made me in the womb make him? Did not the same One form us in the womb?
31:16If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
31:17or eaten my morsel alone while the fatherless had none of it—
31:18for from my youth I reared him as a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided her—
31:19if I saw anyone perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a covering,
31:20if his loins did not bless me, and he was not warmed by the fleece of my sheep,
31:21if I raised my hand against the fatherless because I saw my support in the gate,
31:22then let my shoulder fall from its socket, and let my arm be broken from its joint.
31:23For calamity from God was a terror to me, and before His majesty I could do nothing.
31:24If I have made gold my confidence or said to fine gold, ‘You are my trust,’
31:25if I rejoiced because my wealth was great or because my hand had gained much,
31:26if I beheld the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor,
31:27and my heart was secretly enticed and my hand kissed my mouth,
31:28this also would be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God above.
31:29If I rejoiced at the ruin of one who hated me or exulted when evil overtook him—
31:30indeed, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse—
31:31if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who has not been filled with his meat?’
31:32The stranger did not lodge in the street; I opened my doors to the traveler.
31:33If I have covered my transgressions as Adam did, hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
31:34because I feared the great multitude and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silent and did not go out the door—
31:35O that I had someone to hear me! Here is my signature; let the Almighty answer me, and let my accuser write an indictment.
31:36Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it upon me like a crown.
31:37I would declare to Him the number of my steps; like a prince I would approach Him.
31:38If my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,
31:39if I have eaten its yield without payment or caused its owners to breathe their last,
31:40then let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley!” The words of Job are finished.

Chapter 32

32:1Then these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.
32:2But the anger of Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned against Job because he justified himself rather than God.
32:3His anger also burned against Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, yet had condemned Job.
32:4Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he.
32:5But when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men, his anger burned.
32:6Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said: “I am young in days, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you.
32:7I said, ‘Days should speak, and a multitude of years should teach wisdom.’
32:8But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.
32:9It is not the many who are wise, nor the aged who understand justice.
32:10Therefore I say, listen to me; I too will declare my opinion.
32:11Behold, I waited for your words; I listened to your reasoning while you searched for what to say.
32:12I gave you my full attention, but behold, none of you convinced Job or answered his words.
32:13Do not say, ‘We have found wisdom; God will refute him, not man.’
32:14He has not directed his words against me, and I will not answer him with your sayings.
32:15They are dismayed; they answer no more; words have failed them.
32:16And shall I wait because they do not speak, because they stand still and answer no more?
32:17I too will answer my part; I too will declare my opinion.
32:18For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me.
32:19Behold, my inward parts are like wine without a vent, like new wineskins ready to burst.
32:20I must speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer.
32:21Let me show partiality to no one, nor flatter any man.
32:22For I do not know how to flatter; if I did, my Maker would soon take me away.”

Chapter 33

33:1“But now, Job, please hear my speech and give ear to all my words.
33:2Behold, I have opened my mouth; my tongue speaks within my mouth.
33:3My words come from the uprightness of my heart, and my lips speak knowledge sincerely.
33:4The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
33:5If you are able, answer me; set your words in order before me and take your stand.
33:6Behold, before God I am as you are; I too was formed from clay.
33:7Behold, no fear of me should terrify you, nor should my pressure weigh heavily upon you.
33:8Surely you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the sound of your words:
33:9‘I am pure, without transgression; I am innocent, and there is no iniquity in me.
33:10Behold, He finds occasions against me; He counts me as His enemy.
33:11He puts my feet in the stocks; He watches all my paths.’
33:12Behold, in this you are not right; I answer you, for God is greater than man.
33:13Why do you contend against Him? For He gives no account of any of His matters.
33:14For God speaks once, even twice, though man does not perceive it:
33:15in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men as they slumber on their beds.
33:16Then He opens the ears of men and seals their instruction,
33:17to turn man from his deed and keep pride from man.
33:18He keeps back his life from the pit and his life from perishing by the sword.
33:19A man is chastened with pain upon his bed and with continual strife in his bones,
33:20so that his life loathes bread and his appetite rejects desirable food.
33:21His flesh wastes away from sight, and his bones, once unseen, stick out.
33:22His life draws near to the pit, and his life to the messengers of death.
33:23If there is an angel beside him, a mediator, one among a thousand, to declare to man what is right for him,
33:24then He is gracious to him and says, ‘Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom.’
33:25His flesh becomes fresher than a child’s; he returns to the days of his youth.
33:26He prays to God, and He accepts him; he sees His face with a joyful shout, and He restores to man his righteousness.
33:27He looks upon men and says, ‘I sinned and perverted what was right, and it did not profit me.
33:28He has redeemed my life from passing into the pit, and my life shall see the light.’
33:29Behold, God does all these things twice, even three times, with a man,
33:30to bring back his life from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of the living.
33:31Attend, Job; listen to me. Keep silent, and I will speak.
33:32If you have words, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you.
33:33If not, listen to me; keep silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

Chapter 34

34:1Then Elihu answered and said:
34:2“Hear my words, you wise men; and you who have knowledge, give ear to me.
34:3For the ear tests words as the palate tastes food.
34:4Let us choose what is just for ourselves; let us know among ourselves what is good.
34:5For Job has said, ‘I am righteous, but God has taken away my justice.
34:6Though I am right, I am counted a liar; my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’
34:7What man is like Job, who drinks scoffing like water,
34:8who goes in company with workers of iniquity and walks with wicked men?
34:9For he has said, ‘It does not profit a man to delight himself in God.’
34:10Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to do wrong.
34:11For He repays a man according to his work and causes each one to find according to his way.
34:12Indeed, surely God does not act wickedly, and the Almighty does not pervert justice.
34:13Who entrusted the earth to Him? And who appointed Him over the whole world?
34:14If He should set His heart upon man and gather to Himself His Spirit and breath,
34:15all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.
34:16If you have understanding, hear this; give ear to the sound of my words.
34:17Shall one who hates justice rule? Will you condemn the righteous Mighty One,
34:18who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’ and to nobles, ‘Wicked men’?
34:19He shows no partiality to princes and does not favor the rich over the poor, for they are all the work of His hands.
34:20In a moment they die; at midnight the people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are removed without human hand.
34:21For His eyes are upon the ways of man, and He sees all his steps.
34:22There is no darkness or shadow of death where workers of iniquity may hide.
34:23For He need not consider a man further, that he should go before God in judgment.
34:24He breaks mighty men without inquiry and sets others in their place.
34:25Therefore He knows their works; He overturns them by night, and they are crushed.
34:26He strikes them as wicked men in full view,
34:27because they turned aside from following Him and gave no thought to any of His ways,
34:28so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him, and He heard the cry of the afflicted.
34:29When He gives quiet, who can condemn? When He hides His face, who can behold Him? Whether over a nation or a man, it is the same,
34:30so that a godless man may not reign, nor one who lays snares for the people.
34:31For has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne chastening; I will do wrong no more.
34:32Teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do so no more’?
34:33Should He repay on your terms because you reject His judgment? You must choose, not I; therefore declare what you know.
34:34Men of understanding will say to me, and a wise man who hears me:
34:35‘Job does not speak with knowledge, and his words lack wisdom.’
34:36Would that Job were tested to the end because he answers like wicked men.
34:37For he adds transgression to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”

Chapter 35

35:1Then Elihu answered and said:
35:2“Do you think this is just when you say, ‘I am more righteous than God’?
35:3For you ask, ‘What advantage do I have? What do I gain by not sinning?’
35:4I will answer you, and your friends with you.
35:5Look to the heavens and see; behold the clouds, which are higher than you.
35:6If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him?
35:7If you are righteous, what do you give Him? Or what does He receive from your hand?
35:8Your wickedness affects a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man.
35:9Because of the multitude of oppressions, people cry out; they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.
35:10But none says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,
35:11who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’
35:12There they cry, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evildoers.
35:13Surely God does not hear an empty cry, and the Almighty does not regard it.
35:14How much less when you say you do not see Him! The case is before Him, so wait for Him.
35:15And now, because His anger has not punished and He does not take full notice of transgression,
35:16Job opens his mouth in empty talk; he multiplies words without knowledge.”

Chapter 36

36:1And Elihu continued and said:
36:2“Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for I still have words to speak on God’s behalf.
36:3I will bring my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
36:4For truly my words are not false; one perfect in knowledge is with you.
36:5Behold, God is mighty, yet He despises no one; He is mighty in strength of understanding.
36:6He does not preserve the life of the wicked, but gives justice to the afflicted.
36:7He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous, but seats them forever with kings upon the throne, and they are exalted.
36:8And if they are bound in chains and caught in cords of affliction,
36:9then He declares to them their work and their transgressions, that they have acted arrogantly.
36:10He opens their ear to instruction and commands them to turn from iniquity.
36:11If they listen and serve Him, they complete their days in prosperity and their years in pleasantness.
36:12But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword and die without knowledge.
36:13The godless in heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when He binds them.
36:14Their soul dies in youth, and their life ends among male cult prostitutes.
36:15He delivers the afflicted through their affliction and opens their ear through oppression.
36:16Indeed, He has enticed you out of the mouth of distress into a spacious place free from constraint, and what was set upon your table was full of fatness.
36:17But you are full of the judgment due the wicked; judgment and justice take hold of you.
36:18Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing, and let not a great ransom turn you aside.
36:19Will your cry for help avail to keep you from distress, or all the force of your strength?
36:20Do not long for the night, when peoples vanish in their place.
36:21Take heed; do not turn to iniquity, for you have chosen this rather than affliction.
36:22Behold, God is exalted in His power; who is a teacher like Him?
36:23Who has appointed His way for Him? And who has said, ‘You have done wrong’?
36:24Remember to magnify His work, which men have sung.
36:25All mankind has seen it; man beholds it from afar.
36:26Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him; the number of His years is unsearchable.
36:27For He draws up the drops of water; they distill rain from His mist,
36:28which the clouds pour down and drop abundantly upon mankind.
36:29Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds or the thunder from His pavilion?
36:30Behold, He spreads His lightning around Him and covers the roots of the sea.
36:31For by these He judges peoples and gives food in abundance.
36:32He covers His hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark.
36:33His thunder declares His presence; even the cattle announce the approaching storm.

Chapter 37

37:1“At this also my heart trembles and leaps from its place.
37:2Listen closely to the thunder of His voice, and to the rumbling that goes forth from His mouth.
37:3Under the whole heavens He lets it loose, and His lightning to the ends of the earth.
37:4After it His voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, and He does not restrain the flashes when His voice is heard.
37:5God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things beyond our knowledge.
37:6For to the snow He says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and likewise to the downpour, His mighty downpour.
37:7He seals up the hand of every man, that all men may know His work.
37:8Then the beast enters its lair and remains in its den.
37:9From its chamber comes the whirlwind, and cold from the north.
37:10By the breath of God ice is given, and the expanse of the waters freezes fast.
37:11He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the cloud scatters His lightning.
37:12It turns about under His guidance, to accomplish all that He commands over the face of the inhabited earth.
37:13Whether for discipline, or for His land, or for steadfast love, He causes it to come.
37:14Hear this, O Job; stand still and consider the wonders of God.
37:15Do you know how God appoints them and makes the lightning of His cloud shine?
37:16Do you know how the clouds balance, the wondrous works of the One perfect in knowledge?
37:17You whose garments grow warm when the earth lies still under the south wind—
37:18can you, with Him, spread out the skies, strong as a cast-metal mirror?
37:19Teach us what we should say to Him; because of darkness we cannot set our words in order.
37:20Should He be told that I would speak? Would a man ask to be swallowed up?
37:21And now men cannot look at the light when it is bright in the skies, after the wind has passed and cleared them.
37:22Out of the north comes golden splendor; around God is awesome majesty.
37:23The Almighty—we cannot find Him out; He is exalted in power and justice, and abundant in righteousness; He does not oppress.
37:24Therefore men fear Him; He does not regard any who are wise in their own hearts.”

Chapter 38

38:1Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
38:2“Who is this who darkens counsel with words without knowledge?
38:3Now gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you shall make Me know.
38:4Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you possess understanding.
38:5Who fixed its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the measuring line over it?
38:6On what were its foundations sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone,
38:7when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
38:8Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst forth from the womb,
38:9when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band,
38:10when I prescribed its boundary and set bars and doors,
38:11and said, ‘Thus far you shall come, and no farther; here the pride of your waves shall be stayed’?
38:12Have you ever commanded the morning since your days began, or caused the dawn to know its place,
38:13that it might take hold of the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?
38:14The earth is changed like clay under a seal, and its features stand out like a garment.
38:15Their light is withheld from the wicked, and the uplifted arm is broken.
38:16Have you entered the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?
38:17Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of death-shade?
38:18Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.
38:19Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,
38:20that you may take it to its boundary and discern the paths to its house?
38:21Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
38:22Have you entered the storehouses of snow, or seen the storehouses of hail,
38:23which I have reserved for a time of distress, for a day of battle and war?
38:24By what way is light distributed, or the east wind scattered over the earth?
38:25Who has cut a channel for the flood, or a path for the thunderbolt,
38:26to cause rain to fall on a land where no man dwells, on a wilderness where no man is,
38:27to satisfy the desolate wasteland and cause the tender grass to spring forth?
38:28Does the rain have a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
38:29From whose womb came the ice? And who has begotten the frost of heaven?
38:30The waters harden like stone, and the surface of the deep is frozen.
38:31Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?
38:32Can you bring out the constellations in their season, or guide the Great Bear with her cubs?
38:33Do you know the statutes of the heavens? Can you establish their rule over the earth?
38:34Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of water may cover you?
38:35Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
38:36Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding to the mind?
38:37Who can number the clouds by wisdom, or tilt the jars of heaven,
38:38when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods cling together?
38:39Can you hunt prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
38:40when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket?
38:41Who provides food for the raven when its young cry to God and wander for lack of food?”

Chapter 39

39:1“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch the deer in labor?
39:2Can you count the months they fulfill? Do you know the time when they give birth?
39:3They crouch and bring forth their young; they cast off their labor pains.
39:4Their young grow strong; they grow up in the open field. They go forth and do not return to them.
39:5Who has set the wild donkey free? Who has loosed the bonds of the wild donkey,
39:6for whom I made the wilderness his home and the salt flats his dwelling?
39:7He laughs at the tumult of the city; he does not hear the shouts of the driver.
39:8He ranges the mountains for pasture and searches after every green thing.
39:9Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he lodge beside your manger?
39:10Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes? Will he harrow the valleys after you?
39:11Will you trust him because his strength is great, and leave your labor to him?
39:12Will you trust him to bring home your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?
39:13The wings of the ostrich beat joyfully, but are her pinions and plumage those of the stork?
39:14For she leaves her eggs on the earth and warms them in the dust,
39:15forgetting that a foot may crush them, or that a beast of the field may tread them down.
39:16She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she does not fear that her labor may be in vain.
39:17For God has made her forget wisdom and has not allotted her understanding.
39:18But when she rises to run, she laughs at the horse and his rider.
39:19Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane?
39:20Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying.
39:21He paws the ground in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons.
39:22He laughs at fear and is not frightened; he does not turn back from the sword.
39:23The quiver rattles against him, the flashing spear and javelin.
39:24With trembling and rage he devours the ground; he cannot stand still when the horn sounds.
39:25At every blast of the horn he says, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of commanders and the war cry.
39:26Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads its wings toward the south?
39:27Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?
39:28He dwells and lodges on the rock, upon a rocky crag and stronghold.
39:29From there he spies out food; his eyes see it from afar.
39:30His young suck up blood, and where the slain are, there he is!”

Chapter 40

40:1Then the LORD answered Job and said:
40:2“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let the one who reproves God answer.”
40:3Then Job answered the LORD and said:
40:4“Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth.
40:5Once I have spoken, and I will not answer; twice, and I will say no more.”
40:6Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
40:7“Now gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you shall make Me know.
40:8Will you indeed annul My justice? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?
40:9Do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like His?
40:10Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor.
40:11Pour out the fury of your anger; look on everyone proud and bring him low.
40:12Look on everyone proud and humble him; tread down the wicked where they stand.
40:13Hide them all in the dust; bind their faces in the hidden place.
40:14Then I also will praise you, for your own right hand can save you.
40:15Behold now the great beast, which I made with you; he eats grass like an ox.
40:16Behold, his strength is in his loins, and his power in the muscles of his belly.
40:17He stiffens his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.
40:18His bones are tubes of bronze; his limbs are like bars of iron.
40:19He is the foremost of the works of God; only his Maker can bring the sword near him.
40:20For the mountains yield food for him, where all the beasts of the field play.
40:21Under lotus trees he lies, in the shelter of reeds and marsh.
40:22The lotus trees cover him with their shade; the willows of the brook surround him.
40:23Behold, though the river rages, he is not alarmed; he is confident though the Jordan surges against his mouth.
40:24Can anyone take him while he is watching, or pierce his nose with a snare?”
40:25“Can you draw out the sea serpent with a fishhook, or press down his tongue with a cord?
40:26Can you put a rope through his nose, or pierce his jaw with a hook?
40:27Will he make many pleas to you, or speak gentle words to you?
40:28Will he make a covenant with you, that you may take him as a servant forever?
40:29Will you play with him as with a bird, or leash him for your girls?
40:30Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him among the merchants?
40:31Can you fill his hide with harpoons, or his head with fishing spears?
40:32Lay your hand on him; remember the battle—you will not do it again!

Chapter 41

41:1Behold, any hope of subduing him is false; is one not cast down even at the sight of him?
41:2No one is so fierce that he dares stir him up. Who then can stand before Me?
41:3Who has first given to Me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heavens is Mine.
41:4I will not keep silent concerning his limbs, or his mighty strength, or the grace of his form.
41:5Who can strip off his outer garment? Who can come within his double armor?
41:6Who can open the doors of his face? Terror surrounds his teeth.
41:7His rows of scales are his pride, shut together as with a close seal.
41:8One is so near another that no air can pass between them.
41:9They cling to one another; they hold together and cannot be separated.
41:10His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
41:11Flames go out of his mouth; sparks of fire escape.
41:12Smoke pours from his nostrils, as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
41:13His breath sets coals on fire, and a flame goes forth from his mouth.
41:14Strength dwells in his neck, and terror dances before him.
41:15The folds of his flesh cling together; they are firm upon him and immovable.
41:16His heart is firm as stone, firm as the lower millstone.
41:17At his rising the mighty are afraid; at his crashing they are beside themselves.
41:18The sword that reaches him cannot prevail, nor can spear, dart, or javelin.
41:19He regards iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.
41:20The arrow cannot make him flee; slingstones become stubble to him.
41:21Clubs are counted as stubble; he laughs at the rattling of the javelin.
41:22Jagged potsherds lie beneath him; he leaves tracks like a threshing sledge in the mud.
41:23He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
41:24He leaves a shining wake behind him; one would think the deep had grown white-haired.
41:25Nothing on earth is his equal, a creature made without fear.
41:26He looks upon every high thing; he is king over all the sons of pride.”

Chapter 42

42:1Then Job answered the LORD and said:
42:2“I know that You can do all things, and no purpose of Yours can be restrained.
42:3You said, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
42:4You said, ‘Hear now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall make Me know.’
42:5I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.
42:6Therefore I recant, and I repent in dust and ashes.”
42:7After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken what is right concerning Me, as My servant Job has.
42:8Now take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job shall pray for you, and I will accept him, so that I do not deal with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken what is right concerning Me, as My servant Job has.”
42:9Then Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD had spoken to them; and the LORD accepted Job.
42:10And the LORD restored Job’s fortunes when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
42:11Then all his brothers and sisters and all his former acquaintances came to him, and they ate food with him in his house. They mourned with him and comforted him over all the calamity that the LORD had brought upon him. Each one gave him one piece of silver and one gold ring.
42:12And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.
42:13He also had seven sons and three daughters.
42:14And he called the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-Happuch.
42:15No women were found so beautiful as the daughters of Job in all the land, and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
42:16After this Job lived one hundred and forty years and saw his sons and his sons’ sons—four generations.
42:17Then Job died, old and full of days.