Job Says God Seems to Ignore Wrongs

1“Why are times not stored up by the Almighty,

And why do those who know Him not see His days?

2Some remove the landmarks;

They seize and devour flocks.

3They drive away the donkeys of the orphans;

They take the widow’s ox for a pledge.

4They push the needy aside from the road;

The poor of the land are made to hide themselves altogether.

5Behold, as wild donkeys in the wilderness

They go forth seeking food in their activity,

As bread for their children in the desert.

6They harvest their fodder in the field

And glean the vineyard of the wicked.

7They spend the night naked, without clothing,

And have no covering against the cold.

8They are wet with the mountain rains

And hug the rock for want of a shelter.

9Others snatch the orphan from the breast,

And against the poor they take a pledge.

10They cause the poor to go about naked without clothing,

And they take away the sheaves from the hungry.

11Within the walls they produce oil;

They tread wine presses but thirst.

12From the city men groan,

And the souls of the wounded cry out;

Yet God does not pay attention to folly.

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

They do not want to know its ways

Nor abide in its paths.

14The murderer arises at dawn;

He kills the poor and the needy,

And at night he is as a thief.

15The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,

Saying, ‘No eye will see me.’

And he disguises his face.

16In the dark they dig into houses,

They shut themselves up by day;

They do not know the light.

17For the morning is the same to him as thick darkness,

For he is familiar with the terrors of thick darkness.

18“They are insignificant on the surface of the water;

Their portion is cursed on the earth.

They do not turn toward the vineyards.

19Drought and heat consume the snow waters,

So does Sheol those who have sinned.

20A mother will forget him;

The worm feeds sweetly till he is no longer remembered.

And wickedness will be broken like a tree.

21He wrongs the barren woman

And does no good for the widow.

22But He drags off the valiant by His power;

He rises, but no one has assurance of life.

23He provides them with security, and they are supported;

And His eyes are on their ways.

24They are exalted a little while, then they are gone;

Moreover, they are brought low and like everything gathered up;

Even like the heads of grain they are cut off.

25Now if it is not so, who can prove me a liar,

And make my speech worthless?”

Bildad Says Man Is Inferior

1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

2“Dominion and awe belong to Him

Who establishes peace in His heights.

3Is there any number to His troops?

And upon whom does His light not rise?

4How then can a man be just with God?

Or how can he be clean who is born of woman?

5If even the moon has no brightness

And the stars are not pure in His sight,

6How much less man, that maggot,

And the son of man, that worm!”

Job Rebukes Bildad

1Then Job responded,

2“What a help you are to the weak!

How you have saved the arm without strength!

3What counsel you have given to one without wisdom!

What helpful insight you have abundantly provided!

4To whom have you uttered words?

And whose spirit was expressed through you?

The Greatness of God

5“The departed spirits tremble

Under the waters and their inhabitants.

6Naked is Sheol before Him,

And Abaddon has no covering.

7He stretches out the north over empty space

And hangs the earth on nothing.

8He wraps up the waters in His clouds,

And the cloud does not burst under them.

9He obscures the face of the full moon

And spreads His cloud over it.

10He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters

At the boundary of light and darkness.

11The pillars of heaven tremble

And are amazed at His rebuke.

12He quieted the sea with His power,

And by His understanding He shattered Rahab.

13By His breath the heavens are cleared;

His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent.

14Behold, these are the fringes of His ways;

And how faint a word we hear of Him!

But His mighty thunder, who can understand?”

Job Affirms His Righteousness

1Then Job continued his discourse and said,

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

And the Almighty, who has embittered my soul,

3For as long as life is in me,

And the breath of God is in my nostrils,

4My lips certainly will not speak unjustly,

Nor will my tongue mutter deceit.

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

Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

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

My heart does not reproach any of my days.

The State of the Godless

7“May my enemy be as the wicked

And my opponent as the unjust.

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

When God requires his life?

9Will God hear his cry

When distress comes upon him?

10Will he take delight in the Almighty?

Will he call on God at all times?

11I will instruct you in the power of God;

What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

12Behold, all of you have seen it;

Why then do you act foolishly?

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

And the inheritance which tyrants receive from the Almighty.

14Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword;

And his descendants will not be satisfied with bread.

15His survivors will be buried because of the plague,

And their widows will not be able to weep.

16Though he piles up silver like dust

And prepares garments as plentiful as the clay,

17He may prepare it, but the just will wear it

And the innocent will divide the silver.

18He has built his house like the spider’s web,

Or as a hut which the watchman has made.

19He lies down rich, but never again;

He opens his eyes, and it is no longer.

20Terrors overtake him like a flood;

A tempest steals him away in the night.

21The east wind carries him away, and he is gone,

For it whirls him away from his place.

22For it will hurl at him without sparing;

He will surely try to flee from its power.

23Men will clap their hands at him

And will hiss him from his place.

Job Tells of Earth’s Treasures

1“Surely there is a mine for silver

And a place where they refine gold.

2Iron is taken from the dust,

And copper is smelted from rock.

3Man puts an end to darkness,

And to the farthest limit he searches out

The rock in gloom and deep shadow.

4He sinks a shaft far from habitation,

Forgotten by the foot;

They hang and swing to and fro far from men.

5The earth, from it comes food,

And underneath it is turned up as fire.

6Its rocks are the source of sapphires,

And its dust contains gold.

7The path no bird of prey knows,

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

8The proud beasts have not trodden it,

Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.

9He puts his hand on the flint;

He overturns the mountains at the base.

10He hews out channels through the rocks,

And his eye sees anything precious.

11He dams up the streams from flowing,

And what is hidden he brings out to the light.

The Search for Wisdom Is Harder

12“But where can wisdom be found?

And where is the place of understanding?

13Man does not know its value,

Nor is it found in the land of the living.

14The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;

And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

15Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it,

Nor can silver be weighed as its price.

16It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,

In precious onyx, or sapphire.

17Gold or glass cannot equal it,

Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.

18Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned;

And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls.

19The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,

Nor can it be valued in pure gold.

20Where then does wisdom come from?

And where is the place of understanding?

21Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living

And concealed from the birds of the sky.

22Abaddon and Death say,

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

23“God understands its way,

And He knows its place.

24For He looks to the ends of the earth

And sees everything under the heavens.

25When He imparted weight to the wind

And meted out the waters by measure,

26When He set a limit for the rain

And a course for the thunderbolt,

27Then He saw it and declared it;

He established it and also searched it out.

28And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;

And to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”