Bible Browser

Job Complains of Violence on the Earth

24‘Why are times not kept by the Almighty,^*
   and why do those who know him never see his days?
² The wicked^* remove landmarks;
   they seize flocks and pasture them.
³ They drive away the donkey of the orphan;
   they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
⁴ They thrust the needy off the road;
   the poor of the earth all hide themselves.
⁵ Like wild asses in the desert
   they go out to their toil,
scavenging in the waste-land
   food for their young.
⁶ They reap in a field not their own
   and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
⁷ They lie all night naked, without clothing,
   and have no covering in the cold.
⁸ They are wet with the rain of the mountains,
   and cling to the rock for want of shelter.

⁹ ‘There are those who snatch the orphan child from the breast,
   and take as a pledge the infant of the poor.
¹⁰ They go about naked, without clothing;
   though hungry, they carry the sheaves;
¹¹ between their terraces^* they press out oil;
   they tread the wine presses, but suffer thirst.
¹² From the city the dying groan,
   and the throat of the wounded cries for help;
   yet God pays no attention to their prayer.

¹³ ‘There are those who rebel against the light,
   who are not acquainted with its ways,
   and do not stay in its paths.
¹⁴ The murderer rises at dusk
   to kill the poor and needy,
   and in the night is like a thief.
¹⁵ The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,
   saying, “No eye will see me”;
   and he disguises his face.
¹⁶ In the dark they dig through houses;
   by day they shut themselves up;
   they do not know the light.
¹⁷ For deep darkness is morning to all of them;
   for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

¹⁸ ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;
   their portion in the land is cursed;
   no treader turns towards their vineyards.
¹⁹ Drought and heat snatch away the snow-waters;
   so does Sheol those who have sinned.
²⁰ The womb forgets them;
   the worm finds them sweet;
they are no longer remembered;
   so wickedness is broken like a tree.

²¹ ‘They harm^* the childless woman,
   and do no good to the widow.
²² Yet God^* prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
   they rise up when they despair of life.
²³ He gives them security, and they are supported;
   his eyes are upon their ways.
²⁴ They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;
   they wither and fade like the mallow;^*
   they are cut off like the heads of grain.
²⁵ If it is not so, who will prove me a liar,
   and show that there is nothing in what I say?’

Bildad Speaks: How Can a Mortal Be Righteous Before God?

25Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
² ‘Dominion and fear are with God;^*
   he makes peace in his high heaven.
³ Is there any number to his armies?
   Upon whom does his light not arise?
⁴ How then can a mortal be righteous before God?
   How can one born of woman be pure?
⁵ If even the moon is not bright
   and the stars are not pure in his sight,
⁶ how much less a mortal, who is a maggot,
   and a human being, who is a worm!’

Job Replies: God’s Majesty Is Unsearchable

26Then Job answered:
² ‘How you have helped one who has no power!
   How you have assisted the arm that has no strength!
³ How you have counselled one who has no wisdom,
   and given much good advice!
⁴ With whose help have you uttered words,
   and whose spirit has come forth from you?
⁵ The shades below tremble,
   the waters and their inhabitants.
⁶ Sheol is naked before God,
   and Abaddon has no covering.
⁷ He stretches out Zaphon^* over the void,
   and hangs the earth upon nothing.
⁸ He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
   and the cloud is not torn open by them.
⁹ He covers the face of the full moon,
   and spreads over it his cloud.
¹⁰ He has described a circle on the face of the waters,
   at the boundary between light and darkness.
¹¹ The pillars of heaven tremble,
   and are astounded at his rebuke.
¹² By his power he stilled the Sea;
   by his understanding he struck down Rahab.
¹³ By his wind the heavens were made fair;
   his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
¹⁴ These are indeed but the outskirts of his ways;
   and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
   But the thunder of his power who can understand?’