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30“But now they make sport of me, those who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. ²What could I gain from the strength of their hands? All their vigor is gone. ³Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry and desolate ground, ⁴they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes, and to warm themselves the roots of broom. ⁵They are driven out from society; people shout after them as after a thief. ⁶In the gullies of wadis they must live, in holes in the ground, and in the rocks. ⁷Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together. ⁸A senseless, disreputable brood, they have been whipped out of the land. ⁹“And now they mock me in song; I am a byword to them. ¹⁰They abhor me, they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me. ¹¹Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence. ¹²On my right hand the rabble rise up; they send me sprawling, and build roads for my ruin. ¹³They break up my path, they promote my calamity; no one restrains them. ¹⁴As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.

¹⁵Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud. ¹⁶“And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me. ¹⁷The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest. ¹⁸With violence he seizes my garment; he grasps me by the collar of my tunic. ¹⁹He has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. ²⁰I cry to you and you do not answer me; I stand, and you merely look at me. ²¹You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me. ²²You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm. ²³I know that you will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living. ²⁴“Surely one does not turn against the needy, when in disaster they cry for help. ²⁵Did I not weep for those whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the poor? ²⁶But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came. ²⁷My inward parts are in turmoil, and are never still; days of affliction come to meet me. ²⁸I go about in sunless gloom; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. ²⁹I am a brother of jackals, and a companion of ostriches. ³⁰My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat. ³¹My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

31“I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I look upon a virgin? ²What would be my portion from God above, and my heritage from the Almighty on high? ³Does not calamity befall the unrighteous, and disaster the workers of iniquity? ⁴Does he not see my ways, and number all my steps? ⁵“If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit— ⁶let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!— ⁷if my step has turned aside from the way, and my heart has followed my eyes, and if any spot has clung to my hands; ⁸then let me sow, and another eat; and let what grows for me be rooted out.

⁹“If my heart has been enticed by a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door; ¹⁰then let my wife grind for another, and let other men kneel over her. ¹¹For that would be a heinous crime; that would be a criminal offense; ¹²for that would be a fire consuming down to Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my harvest. ¹³“If I have rejected the cause of my male or female slaves, when they brought a complaint against me; ¹⁴what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him? ¹⁵Did not he who made me in the womb make them? And did not one fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶“If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, ¹⁷or have eaten my morsel alone, and the orphan has not eaten from it— ¹⁸for from my youth I reared the orphan like a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow— ¹⁹if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or a poor person without covering, ²⁰whose loins have not blessed me, and who was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; ²¹if I have raised my hand against the orphan, because I saw I had supporters at the gate; ²²then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket. ²³For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.

²⁴“If I have made gold my trust, or called fine gold my confidence; ²⁵if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, or because my hand had gotten much; ²⁶if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor, ²⁷and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand; ²⁸this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I should have been false to God above. ²⁹“If I have rejoiced at the ruin of those who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook them— ³⁰I have not let my mouth sin by asking for their lives with a curse— ³¹if those of my tent ever said, ‘O that we might be sated with his flesh!’ — ³²the stranger has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler—

³³if I have concealed my transgressions as others do, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom, ³⁴because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors— ³⁵Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary! ³⁶Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me like a crown; ³⁷I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him. ³⁸“If my land has cried out against me, and its furrows have wept together; ³⁹if I have eaten its yield without payment, and caused the death of its owners; ⁴⁰let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.

32So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. ²Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became angry. He was angry at Job because he justified himself rather than God; ³he was angry also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, though they had declared Job to be in the wrong. ⁴Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he. ⁵But when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of these three men, he became angry.

⁶Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite answered: “I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you. ⁷I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.’ ⁸But truly it is the spirit in a mortal, the breath of the Almighty, that makes for understanding. ⁹It is not the old that are wise, nor the aged that understand what is right. ¹⁰Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me; let me also declare my opinion.’ ¹¹“See, I waited for your words, I listened for your wise sayings, while you searched out what to say. ¹²I gave you my attention, but there was in fact no one that confuted Job, no one among you that answered his words. ¹³Yet do not say, ‘We have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not a human.’ ¹⁴He has not directed his words against me, and I will not answer him with your speeches.

¹⁵“They are dismayed, they answer no more; they have not a word to say. ¹⁶And am I to wait, because they do not speak, because they stand there, and answer no more? ¹⁷I also will give my answer; I also will declare my opinion. ¹⁸For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me. ¹⁹My heart is indeed like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins, it is ready to burst. ²⁰I must speak, so that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer. ²¹I will not show partiality to any person or use flattery toward anyone. ²²For I do not know how to flatter— or my Maker would soon put an end to me!

33“But now, hear my speech, O Job, and listen to all my words. ²See, I open my mouth; the tongue in my mouth speaks. ³My words declare the uprightness of my heart, and what my lips know they speak sincerely. ⁴The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. ⁵Answer me, if you can; set your words in order before me; take your stand. ⁶See, before God I am as you are; I too was formed from a piece of clay. ⁷No fear of me need terrify you; my pressure will not be heavy on you.

⁸“Surely, you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the sound of your words. ⁹You say, ‘I am clean, without transgression; I am pure, and there is no iniquity in me. ¹⁰Look, he finds occasions against me, he counts me as his enemy; ¹¹he puts my feet in the stocks, and watches all my paths.’ ¹²“But in this you are not right. I will answer you: God is greater than any mortal. ¹³Why do you contend against him, saying, ‘He will answer none of my words’?

¹⁴For God speaks in one way, and in two, though people do not perceive it. ¹⁵In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on mortals, while they slumber on their beds, ¹⁶then he opens their ears, and terrifies them with warnings, ¹⁷that he may turn them aside from their deeds, and keep them from pride, ¹⁸to spare their souls from the Pit, their lives from traversing the River.

¹⁹They are also chastened with pain upon their beds, and with continual strife in their bones, ²⁰so that their lives loathe bread, and their appetites dainty food. ²¹Their flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen; and their bones, once invisible, now stick out. ²²Their souls draw near the Pit, and their lives to those who bring death. ²³Then, if there should be for one of them an angel, a mediator, one of a thousand, one who declares a person upright, ²⁴and he is gracious to that person, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down into the Pit; I have found a ransom; ²⁵let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor.’ ²⁶Then he prays to God, and is accepted by him, he comes into his presence with joy, and God repays him for his righteousness. ²⁷That person sings to others and says, ‘I sinned, and perverted what was right, and it was not paid back to me. ²⁸He has redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and my life shall see the light.’

²⁹“God indeed does all these things, twice, three times, with mortals, ³⁰to bring back their souls from the Pit, so that they may see the light of life. ³¹Pay heed, Job, listen to me; be silent, and I will speak. ³²If you have anything to say, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you. ³³If not, listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”