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Job 24-26

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?’

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v 2.9.2
30 June 2021

From the oremus Bible Browser https://bible.oremus.org v2.9.2 30 June 2021.