Category: Job

Zophar Rebukes Job

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,

2 “Shall a multitude of words not be answered?

And should a talkative man [making such a long-winded defense] be acquitted?

3 Should your boastsandbabble silence men?

And shall you scoff and no one put you to shame?

4 For you have said, ‘My teaching (doctrine) [that God knowingly afflicts the righteous] is pure,

And I am innocent in your eyes.’

5 But oh, that God would speak,

And open His lips [to speak] against you,

6 And [that He would] show you the secrets of wisdom!

For sound wisdomhas two sides.

Know therefore that God forgets a part of your wickednessandguilt.

7 “Can you discover the depths of God?

Can you [by searching] discover the limits of the Almighty [ascend to His heights, extend to His widths, and comprehend His infinite perfection]?

8 His wisdomis as high as the heights of heaven. What can you do?

It is deeper than Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead). What can you know?

9 It is longer in measure [and scope] than the earth,

And broader than the sea.

10 If God passes by or arrests,

Or calls an assembly [of judgment], who can restrain Him?

[If He is against a man, who can call Him to account for it?]

11 For He recognizesandknows falseandworthless men,

And He sees wickedness, will He not consider it?

12 But a hollow (empty-headed) man will become intelligentandwise

[Only] when thecolt of a wild donkey is born as a man.

13 “If you direct your heart [on the right path]

And stretch out your hands to Him,

14 If sin is in your hand, put it far away [from you],

And do not let wrongdoing dwell in your tents;

15 Then, indeed, you could lift up your face [to Him] withoutmoraldefect,

And you would be firmly establishedandsecure and not fear.

16 For you would forget your trouble;

You would remember it as waters that have passed by.

17 And yourlife would be brighter than the noonday;

Darkness [then] would be like the morning.

18 Then you would trust [with confidence], because there is hope;

You would look around you and rest securely.

19 You would lie down with no one to frighten you,

And many would entreatandseek your favor.

20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail,

And they will not escape [the justice of God];

And their hope is to breathe their last [and die].”

Job Chides His Accusers

1 Then Job responded,

2 “No doubt you are the [only wise] people [in the world],

And wisdom will die with you!

3 But I have intelligenceandunderstanding as well as you;

I am not inferior to you.

Who does not know such things as these [of God’s wisdom and might]?

4 I am a joke to my friends;

I, one whom God answered when he called upon Him—

A just and blameless man is a joke [and laughed to scorn].

5 He who is at ease has contempt for misfortune,

But misfortune isready [and anxiously waiting] for those whose feet slip.

6 The tents of the destroyers prosper;

And those who provoke God are [apparently] secure,

Whom God brings into their power.

7 “Now ask the animals, and let them teach you [that God does not deal with His creatures according to their character];

And ask the birds of the air, and let them tell you;

8 Or speak to the earth [with its many forms of life], and it will teach you;

And let the fish of the sea declare [this truth] to you.

9 Who among all these does not recognize [in all these things that good and evil are randomly scattered throughout nature and human life]

That the hand of the Lordhas done this,

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

And the breath of all mankind?

11 Does the ear not put words to the test,

Just as the palate tastes its food [distinguishing between the desirable and the undesirable]?

12 With the aged [you say] is wisdom,

Andwithlong life is understanding.

Job Speaks of the Power of God

13 “But [only] with Him are [perfect] wisdom and might;

He [alone] has [true] counsel and understanding.

14 Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt;

He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.

15 Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up;

Again, He sends the waters out, and they overwhelmanddevastate the earth.

16 With Him are might and sound wisdom,

The misled and the misleader are His [and in His power].

17 He makes [great and scheming] counselors walk barefoot

And makes fools of judges.

18 He loosens the bond of kings

And binds their loins with a loincloth.

19 He makes priests walk barefoot,

And He overturns men firmly seatedandsecure.

20 He deprives the trusted ones of speech

And takes away the discernmentanddiscretion of the aged.

21 He pours contempt on princesandnobles

And loosens the belt of the strong [disabling them].

22 He uncovers mysteries [that are difficult to grasp and understand] out of the darkness

And brings black gloomandthe shadow of death into light.

23 He makes nations great, and He destroys them;

He enlarges nations, and leads them away [captive].

24 He removes intelligenceandunderstanding from the leaders of the people of the earth

And makes them wanderandmove blindly in a pathless waste.

25 They grope in darkness without light,

And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.”

Job Says His Friends’ Proverbs Are Ashes

1 [Job continued:] “Behold, my eye has seen allthis,

My ear has heard and understood it.

2 What you know I also know;

I am not inferior to you.

3 “But I wish to speak tothe Almighty,

And I desire to argue with God.

4 But you smear me with lies [you defame my character most untruthfully];

You are all worthless physiciansandhave no remedy to offer.

5 Oh, that you would be completely silent,

And thatsilencewould be your wisdom!

6 Please hear my argument

And listen to the pleadings of my lips.

7 Will you speak what is unjust for God,

And speak what is deceitful for Him?

8 Will you show partiality for Him [and be unjust to me so that you may gain favor with Him]?

Will you contendandplead for God?

9 Will it be well for you when He investigates you [and your tactics against me]?

Or will you deceive Him as one deceives a man?

10 He will surely reprimand you

If you secretly show partiality.

11 Will not His majesty terrify you,

And will not the dread of Him fall upon you?

12 Your memorable sayings are [worthless, merely] proverbs of ashes;

Your defenses are defenses of [crumbling] clay.

Job Is Sure He Will Be Vindicated

13 “Be silent before me so that I may speak;

And let happen to me what may.

14 Why should I take my flesh in my teeth

And put my life in my hands [incurring the wrath of God]?

15 Even though He kills me;

I will hope in Him.

Nevertheless, I will argue my ways to His face.

16 This also will be my salvation,

For a godless man may not come before Him.

17 Listen diligently to my speech,

And let my declaration fill your ears.

18 Behold now, I have prepared my case;

I know that I will be vindicated.

19 Who will argueandcontend with me?

For then I would be silent and die.

20 “Only [O Lord,] do not do two things to me,

And then I will not hide myself from Your face:

21 Withdraw Your hand from meandremove this bodily suffering,

And let not the dread of You terrify me.

22 Then [Lord,] call, and I will answer;

Or let me speak, and then reply to me.

23 How many are my iniquities and sins [that so much sorrow should come to me]?

Make me recognizeandunderstand my transgression and my sin.

24 Why do You hide Your face [as if offended]

And consider me Your enemy?

25 Will You cause a windblown leaf to tremble?

Will You pursue the chaff of the dry stubble?

26 For You write bitter things against me [in Your indictment]

And make me inheritandsuffer for the iniquities of my youth.

27 You also put my feet in the stocks [as punishment]

And [critically] observe all my paths;

You set a circleandlimit around the soles of my feet [which I must not overstep],

28 While I waste away like a rotten thing,

Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

Job Speaks of the Finality of Death

1 “Man, who is born of a woman,

Is short-lived and full of turmoil.

2 Like a flower he comes forth and withers;

He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.

3 You also open Your eyes upon him

And bring him into judgment with Yourself.

4 Who can make a clean thing out of the unclean?

No one!

5 Since his days are determined,

The number of his months is with You [in Your control],

And You have made his limits so he cannot pass [his allotted time].

6 [O God] turn your gaze from him so that he may rest,

Until he fulfills his day [on earth] like a hired man.

7 “For there is hope for a tree,

If it is cut down, that it will sprout again,

And that the shoots of it will not ceasenorfail, [but there is no such hope for man].

8 Though its roots grow old in the earth

And its stump dies in the dry soil,

9 Yet at the scent of water [the stump of the tree] will flourish

And bring forth sprigsandshoots like a seedling.

10 But [the brave, strong] man must die and lie face down;

Man breathes his last, and where is he?

11 As water evaporates from the sea,

And a river drains and dries up,

12 So man lies down and does not rise [again].

Until the heavens are no longer,

The deadwill not awake nor be raised from their sleep.

13 “Oh, that You would hide me in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead),

That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past,

That You would set a definite time and then remember me [and in Your lovingkindness imprint me on your heart]!

14 If a man dies, will he live again?

I will wait all the days of my struggle

Until my changeandrelease will come.

15 [Then] You will call, and I will answer You;

You will long for [me] the work of Your hands.

16 But now You number [each of] my steps;

You do not observenortake note of my sin.

17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag,

And You cover my wickedness [from Your view].

18 “But as a mountain, if it falls, crumbles into nothing,

And as the rock is moved from its place,

19 Water wears away the stones,

Its floodsandtorrents wash away the soil of the earth,

So You [O Lord] destroy the hope of man.

20 You prevail forever against himandoverpower him, and he passes on;

You change his appearance and send him away [from the presence of the living].

21 His sons achieve honor, and he does not know it;

They become insignificant, and he is not aware of it.

22 But his body [lamenting its decay] grieves in pain over it,

And his soul mourns over [the loss of] himself.”

Eliphaz Says Job Presumes Much

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered [Job] and said,

2 “Should a wise man [such as you] utter such windyandvain knowledge [as we have just heard]

And fill himself with the east wind [of withering, parching, and violent accusations]?

3 Should he rebukeandargue with useless talk?

Or with words in which there is no benefit?

4 Indeed, you are doing away with fear,

And you are diminishing meditation before God.

5 For your guilt teaches your mouth,

And you choose [to speak] the language of the craftyandcunning.

6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;

Yes, your own lips testify against you.

7 “Were you the first man to be born [the original wise man],

Or were you created before the hills?

8 Do you hear the secret counsel of God,

And do you limit [the possession of] wisdom to yourself?

9 What do you know that we do not know?

Whatdo you understand that is not equally clear to us?

10 Among us are both the gray-haired and the aged,

Older than your father.

11 Are the consolations of God [as we have interpreted them to you] too trivial for you,

[Or] were we too gentle toward you [in our first speech] to be effective?

12 Why does your heart carry you away [allowing you to be controlled by emotion]?

And why do your eyes flash [in anger or contempt],

13 That you should turn your spirit against God

And letsuchwords [as you have spoken] go out of your mouth?

14 What is man, that he should be pureandclean,

Or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteousandjust?

15 Behold, God puts no trust in His holy ones (angels);

Indeed, the heavens are not pure in His sight—

16 How much less [pure and clean is] the one who is repulsive and corrupt,

Man, who drinks unrighteousnessandinjustice like water!

What Eliphaz Has Seen of Life

17 “I will tell you, listen to me;

And what I have seen I will also declare;

18 What wise men have [freely] told,

And have not hidden [anything passed on to them] from their fathers,

19 To whom alone the land was given,

And no stranger passed among them [corrupting the truth].

20 The wicked man writhes with pain all his days,

And numbered are the years stored up for him, the ruthless one.

21 A [dreadful] sound of terrors is in his ears;

While at peaceandin a time of prosperity the destroyer comes upon him [the tent of the robber is not at peace].

22 He does not believe that he will return out of the darkness [for fear of being murdered],

And he is destined for the sword [of God’s vengeance].

23 He wanders about for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’

He knows that the day of darknessanddestruction is already at hand.

24 Distress and anxiety terrify him,

They overpower him like a king ready for battle.

25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God

And behaves arrogantly againstthe Almighty,

26 Runningandcharging headlong against Him

With his ornamentedandmassive shield;

27 For he has covered his face with his fat,

Adding layers of fat to his thighs [giving himself up to pleasures],

28 And he has lived in desolate [God-forsaken] cities,

In houses which no one should inhabit,

Which were destined to become heaps [of ruins];

29 He will not become rich, nor will his wealth endure;

And his grain will not bend to the earthnorhis possessions be extended on the earth.

30 He will not escape from darkness [fleeing disaster];

The flame [of God’s wrath] will wither his branch,

And by the blast of His mouth he will go away.

31 Let him not trust in vanity (emptiness, futility) and be led astray;

For emptiness will be hisreward [for such living].

32 It will be fulfilled while he still lives,

And his branch will not be green [but shall wither away].

33 He will fail to bring his grapes to maturity [leaving them to wither unnourished] on the vine,

And will cast off blossoms [and fail to bring forth fruit] like the olive tree.

34 For the company of the godless is barren,

And fire consumes the tents of bribery (wrong and injustice).

35 They conceive mischief and bring forth wickedness,

And their inmost soul prepares deceitandfraud.”

Job Says Friends Are Sorry Comforters

1 Then Job answered and said,

2 “I have heard many such things;

Wearisomeandmiserable comforters are you all.

3 Is there no end to [your futile] words of wind?

Or what plagues you [so much] that you [so boldly] answer [me like this]?

4 I also could speak like you,

If you were in my place;

I could composeandjoin words together against you

And shake my head at you.

5 [But instead] I could strengthenandencourage you with [the words of] my mouth,

And the consolationandsolace of my lips would soothe your sufferingandlessen your anguish.

Job Says God Shattered Him

6 “If I speak [to you miserable comforters], my pain is not relieved;

And if I refrain [from speaking], what [pain or anguish] leaves me?

7 But now God has exhausted me.

You [O Lord] have destroyed all my familyandmy household.

8 You have taken a firm hold on meandhave shriveled me up,

It has become a witness [against me];

And my leanness [and infirmity] rises up [as evidence] against me,

It testifies to my face [about my guilt].

9 His wrath has torn me and hunted me down,

He has gnashed at me with his teeth;

My adversary sharpens His gazeandglares [with piercing eyes] at me.

10 They have gaped at me with their mouths,

With contempt they have struck me on the cheek;

They massed themselves together [and conspired] against me.

11 God hands me over tocriminals

And tosses me [headlong] into the hands of the wicked.

12 I was [living] at ease, but He crushed meandbroke me apart,

And He has seized me by the neck and has shaken me to pieces;

He has also set me up as His target.

13 His arrows surround me.

He pierces my kidneys (vital organs) without mercy;

He pours out my gall on the ground.

14 He attacks me, making wound after wound;

He runs at me like a warrior.

15 I have sewed sackcloth over my skin [as a sign of mourning]

And have defiled my horn (symbol of strength) in the dust.

16 My face is redandswollen with weeping,

And on my eyelids is the shadow of death [my eyes are dimmed],

17 Although there is no violenceorwrongdoing in my hands,

And my prayer is pure.

18 “O earth, do not cover my blood,

And let there be no [resting] place for my cry [where it will cease being heard].

19 Even now, behold, my Witness is in heaven,

And my Advocate [who vouches and testifies for me] is on high.

20 My friends are scoffers [who ridicule];

My eye pours out tears to God.

21 Oh, that a man would mediateandplead with God [for me]

Just as a man [mediates and pleads] with his neighborandfriend.

22 For when a few years are past,

I shall go the way of no return.

Job Says He Has Become a Byword

1 “My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished,

The grave isreadyfor me.

2 Surely there are mockersandmockery with me,

And my eye gazes on their obstinacyandprovocation.

3 “Give me a pledge (guarantee, promise) with Yourself [acknowledge my innocence before my death];

Who is there that willbe my guarantorandgive security for me?

4 But You [Lord] have closed their hearts to understanding,

Therefore You will not exalt them [by giving a verdict against me].

5 He who denouncesandinforms against his friends for a shareof the spoil,

The eyes of his children will also languishandfail.

6 “But He has made me a bywordandmockery among the people,

And I have become one in whose face people spit.

7 My eye has grown dim (unexpressive) because of grief,

And all my [body’s] members are [wasted away] like a shadow.

8 The upright will be [astonished and] appalled at this,

And the innocent will stir himself up against the godlessandpolluted.

9 Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his ways,

And he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.

10 But as for all of you, come back again,

Even though I do not find a wise man among you.

11 My days are past, my purposesandplans are frustratedandtorn apart;

The wishes of my heart [are broken].

12 These [thoughts try to] make the night into the day;

‘The light is near,’they sayin the presence of darkness [but they pervert the truth].

13 But if I look to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) as my home,

If I make my bed in the darkness,

14 If I call out to the pit (grave), ‘You are my father’;

And to the worm [that feeds on decay], ‘You are my mother and my sister [because I will soon be closest to you],’

15 Where now is my hope?

And who regardsorconsidersoris even concerned about my hope?

16 Will my hope go down with me to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead)?

Shall we go down together in the dust?”

Bildad Speaks of the Wicked

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

2 “How long will you hunt for wordsandcontinue these speeches?

Do some clear thinkingandshow understanding and then we can talk.

3 Why are we regarded as beasts,

As if [we are] stupid (senseless) in your eyes?

4 You who tear yourself apart in anger,

Is the earth to be abandoned for your sake,

Or the rock to be moved out of its place?

5 “Indeed, the light of the wicked will be put out,

And the flame of his fire will not shine.

6 The light will be dark in his tent,

And his lamp beside him will be put out.

7 The vigorous stride will be shortened,

And his own counselandthe scheme [in which he trusted] will bring his downfall.

8 For the wicked is thrown into a net by his own feet (wickedness),

And he steps on the webbing [of the lattice-covered pit].

9 A snare catches him by the heel,

And a trap snaps shut on him.

10 A noose is hidden for him on the ground,

And a trap for him on the path.

11 Terrors frighten him on every side

And chase at his heels.

12 The strength [of the wicked] is famishedandweakened,

And disaster is ready at his side [if he stops].

13 His skin is devoured by disease;

The firstborn of death [the worst of diseases] consumes his limbs.

14 He is torn from his tent which he trusted [for safety],

And he is marchedandbrought to the king of terrors (death).

15 Nothing of his dwells in his tent;

Brimstone (burning sulfur) is scattered over his dwelling [to purify it].

16 The roots [of the wicked] are dried up below,

And above, his branch is cut offandwithers.

17 Memory of him perishes from the earth,

And he has no name on the street.

18 He is drivenandpropelled from light into darkness,

And chased from the inhabited world.

19 He has no offspring or prosperity among his people,

Nor any survivor where he sojourned.

20 Those in the west are astonishedandappalled at his fate,

And those in the east are seized with horror.

21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wickedandthe ungodly,

And such is the place of him who does not knoworrecognizeorhonor God.”

Job Feels Insulted

1 Then Job answered and said,

2 “How long will you tormentandexasperate me

And crush me with words?

3 These ten times you have insulted me;

You are not ashamed to wrong me [and harden your hearts against me].

4 And if it were true that I have erred,

My error would remain with me [and I would be conscious of it].

5 If indeed you [braggarts] vauntandmagnify yourselves over me

And prove my disgrace (humiliation) to me,

6 Know then that God has wronged meandoverthrown me

And has closed His net around me.

Everything Is Against Him

7 “Behold, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not heard;

I shout for help, but there is no justice.

8 He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,

And He has set darkness upon my paths.

9 He has stripped me of my honor

And removed the crown from my head.

10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone;

He has uprooted my hope like a tree.

11 He has also kindled His wrath [like a fire] against me

And He considersandcounts me as one of His adversaries.

12 His troops come together

And build up their wayandsiege works against me

And camp around my tent.

13 “He has put my brothers far from me,

And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

14 My relatives have failed [me],

And my intimate friends have forgotten me.

15 Those who live [temporarily] in my house and my maids consider me a stranger;

I am a foreigner in their sight.

16 I call to my servant, but he does not answer;

I have to implore him with words.

17 My breath is repulsive to my wife,

And I am loathsome to my own brothers.

18 Even young children despise me;

When I get up, they speak against me.

19 All the men of my council hate me;

Those I love have turned against me.

20 My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh,

And I have escaped [death] by the skin of my teeth.

21 Have pity on me! Have pity on me, O you my friends,

For the hand of God has touched me.

22 Why do you persecute me as Goddoes?

Why are you not satisfied with my flesh (anguish)?

Job Says, “My Redeemer Lives”

23 “Oh, that the words I now speak were written!

Oh, that they were recorded in a scroll!

24 That with an iron stylus and [molten] lead

They were engraved in the rock forever!

25 For I know that my RedeemerandVindicator lives,

And at the last He will take His stand upon the earth.

26 Even after my [mortal] skin is destroyed [by death],

Yet from my [immortal] flesh I will see God,

27 Whom I, even I, will see for myself,

And my eyes will see Him and not another!

My heart faints within me.

28 If you say, ‘How shall we [continue to] persecute him?’

And ‘What pretext for a case against him can we find [since we claim the root of these afflictions is found in him]?’

29 Thenbewareandbe afraid of the sword [of divine vengeance] for yourselves,

For wrathful are the punishments of that sword,

So that you may know there is judgment.”

Zophar Says, “The Triumph of the Wicked Is Short”

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,

2 “Therefore my disquieting thoughts make me answer,

Because of the uneasiness that is within me.

3 I have heard the reproof which insults me,

But the spirit of my understanding makes me answer.

4 Do you not know this from the old days,

Since the time that man was placed on the earth,

5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short,

And the joy of the godless is only for a moment?

6 Though his pride reaches the heavens

And his head touches the clouds,

7 Yethe perishes forever like his own refuse;

Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

8 He flies away like a dream and cannot be found;

Yes, he is chased away like a vision of the night.

9 The eye which saw him sees him no longer,

Neither does his [accustomed] place behold him any longer.

10 His sons favor the poor [and pay his obligations],

And his hands give back his [ill-gotten] wealth.

11 His bones are full of youthful strength

But it lies down with him in the dust.

12 “Though evilandwickedness are sweet in his mouth

And he hides it under his tongue,

13 Though he desires it and will not let it go

But holds it in his mouth,

14 Yethis food turns [to poison] in his stomach;

It is the venom of vipers within him.

15 He swallows [his ill-gotten] riches,

But will vomit them up;

God will drive them out of his belly.

16 He sucks the poison of vipers [which ill-gotten wealth contains];

The viper’s tongue slays him.

17 He does not look at the rivers,

The flowing streams of honey and butter [to enjoy his wealth].

18 He gives back what he has labored forandattained

And cannot swallow it [down to enjoy it];

As to the riches of his labor,

He cannot even enjoy them.

19 For he has oppressed and neglected the poor;

He has violently taken away houses which he did not build.

20 “Because he knew no quietnessorcalm within him [because of his greed],

He does not retain anything he desires.

21 There is nothing left of what he devoured;

Therefore his prosperity does not endure.

22 In the fullness of his excess (great abundance) he will be in trouble;

The hand of everyone who suffers will come against him [he is miserable on every side].

23 When he fills his belly,

Godwill send His fierce anger on him

And will rain it upon him while he is eating.

24 He may flee from the iron weapon,

Butthe bow of bronze will pierce him through.

25 The arrowis drawn forth and it comes out of his back [after passing through his body];

Yes, the glittering point comes out of his gall.

Terrors march in upon him;

26 Complete darkness (misfortune) is held in reserve for his treasures.

An unfanned fire will devour him;

It will consume the survivor in his tent.

27 The heavens will reveal his wickednessandguilt,

And the earth will rise up against him.

28 The produceandincrease of his house will depart [with the victors];

His possessionswill be dragged away in the day of God’s wrath.

29 This is the wicked man’s portion from God,

And the heritage decreedandappointed to him by God.”