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4Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: ²“If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended? But who can keep from speaking? ³See, you have instructed many; you have strengthened the weak hands. ⁴Your words have supported those who were stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees. ⁵But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed. ⁶Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?

⁷“Think now, who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? ⁸As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. ⁹By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed. ¹⁰The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions are broken. ¹¹The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness are scattered.

¹²“Now a word came stealing to me, my ear received the whisper of it. ¹³Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on mortals, ¹⁴dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. ¹⁵A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh bristled. ¹⁶It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice: ¹⁷‘Can mortals be righteous before God? Can human beings be pure before their Maker? ¹⁸Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error; ¹⁹how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth. ²⁰Between morning and evening they are destroyed; they perish forever without any regarding it. ²¹Their tent-cord is plucked up within them, and they die devoid of wisdom.’

5“Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn? ²Surely vexation kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple. ³I have seen fools taking root, but suddenly I cursed their dwelling. ⁴Their children are far from safety, they are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them. ⁵The hungry eat their harvest, and they take it even out of the thorns; and the thirsty pant after their wealth.

⁶For misery does not come from the earth, nor does trouble sprout from the ground; ⁷but human beings are born to trouble just as sparks fly upward. ⁸“As for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause. ⁹He does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number. ¹⁰He gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields; ¹¹he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. ¹²He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. ¹³He takes the wise in their own craftiness; and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end. ¹⁴They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope at noonday as in the night. ¹⁵But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth, from the hand of the mighty. ¹⁶So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.

¹⁷“How happy is the one whom God reproves; therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. ¹⁸For he wounds, but he binds up; he strikes, but his hands heal. ¹⁹He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no harm shall touch you. ²⁰In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. ²¹You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes. ²²At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the wild animals of the earth. ²³For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the wild animals shall be at peace with you. ²⁴You shall know that your tent is safe, you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing. ²⁵You shall know that your descendants will be many, and your offspring like the grass of the earth. ²⁶You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing floor in its season. ²⁷See, we have searched this out; it is true. Hear, and know it for yourself.”

6Then Job answered: ²“O that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! ³For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash. ⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me. ⁵Does the wild ass bray over its grass, or the ox low over its fodder? ⁶Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any flavor in the juice of mallows? ⁷My appetite refuses to touch them; they are like food that is loathsome to me.

⁸“O that I might have my request, and that God would grant my desire; ⁹that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off! ¹⁰This would be my consolation; I would even exult in unrelenting pain; for I have not denied the words of the Holy One. ¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient? ¹²Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze? ¹³In truth I have no help in me, and any resource is driven from me.

¹⁴“Those who withhold kindness from a friend forsake the fear of the Almighty. ¹⁵My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed, like freshets that pass away, ¹⁶that run dark with ice, turbid with melting snow. ¹⁷In time of heat they disappear; when it is hot, they vanish from their place. ¹⁸The caravans turn aside from their course; they go up into the waste, and perish. ¹⁹The caravans of Tema look, the travelers of Sheba hope. ²⁰They are disappointed because they were confident; they come there and are confounded. ²¹Such you have now become to me; you see my calamity, and are afraid.

²²Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’? Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’? ²³Or, ‘Save me from an opponent’s hand’? Or, ‘Ransom me from the hand of oppressors’? ²⁴“Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone wrong. ²⁵How forceful are honest words! But your reproof, what does it reprove? ²⁶Do you think that you can reprove words, as if the speech of the desperate were wind? ²⁷You would even cast lots over the orphan, and bargain over your friend. ²⁸“But now, be pleased to look at me; for I will not lie to your face. ²⁹Turn, I pray, let no wrong be done. Turn now, my vindication is at stake. ³⁰Is there any wrong on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern calamity?

7“Do not human beings have a hard service on earth, and are not their days like the days of a laborer? ²Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like laborers who look for their wages, ³so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. ⁴When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I rise?’ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing until dawn. ⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out again. ⁶My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and come to their end without hope.

⁷“Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good. ⁸The eye that beholds me will see me no more; while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone. ⁹As the cloud fades and vanishes, so those who go down to Sheol do not come up; ¹⁰they return no more to their houses, nor do their places know them any more. ¹¹“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. ¹²Am I the Sea, or the Dragon, that you set a guard over me? ¹³When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’ ¹⁴then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, ¹⁵so that I would choose strangling and death rather than this body. ¹⁶I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath.

¹⁷What are human beings, that you make so much of them, that you set your mind on them, ¹⁸visit them every morning, test them every moment? ¹⁹Will you not look away from me for a while, let me alone until I swallow my spittle? ²⁰If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of humanity? Why have you made me your target? Why have I become a burden to you? ²¹Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be.”

8Then Bildad the Shuhite answered: ²“How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind? ³Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right? ⁴If your children sinned against him, he delivered them into the power of their transgression. ⁵If you will seek God and make supplication to the Almighty, ⁶if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore to you your rightful place. ⁷Though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great.

⁸“For inquire now of bygone generations, and consider what their ancestors have found; ⁹for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing, for our days on earth are but a shadow. ¹⁰Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their understanding? ¹¹“Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water? ¹²While yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant. ¹³Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish. ¹⁴Their confidence is gossamer, a spider’s house their trust. ¹⁵If one leans against its house, it will not stand; if one lays hold of it, it will not endure. ¹⁶The wicked thrive before the sun, and their shoots spread over the garden. ¹⁷Their roots twine around the stoneheap; they live among the rocks. ¹⁸If they are destroyed from their place, then it will deny them, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’ ¹⁹See, these are their happy ways, and out of the earth still others will spring.

²⁰“See, God will not reject a blameless person, nor take the hand of evildoers. ²¹He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouts of joy. ²²Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

9Then Job answered: ²“Indeed I know that this is so; but how can a mortal be just before God? ³If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand. ⁴He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength—who has resisted him, and succeeded?— ⁵he who removes mountains, and they do not know it, when he overturns them in his anger; ⁶who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; ⁷who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars; ⁸who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the Sea; ⁹who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south; ¹⁰who does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without number. ¹¹Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him; he moves on, but I do not perceive him. ¹²He snatches away; who can stop him? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’ ¹³“God will not turn back his anger; the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.

¹⁴How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him? ¹⁵Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. ¹⁶If I summoned him and he answered me, I do not believe that he would listen to my voice. ¹⁷For he crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause; ¹⁸he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness. ¹⁹If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him? ²⁰Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse. ²¹I am blameless; I do not know myself; I loathe my life.

²²It is all one; therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked. ²³When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent. ²⁴The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the eyes of its judges— if it is not he, who then is it?

²⁵“My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good. ²⁶They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey. ²⁷If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint; I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer,’ ²⁸I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent. ²⁹I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain? ³⁰If I wash myself with soap and cleanse my hands with lye, ³¹yet you will plunge me into filth, and my own clothes will abhor me. ³²For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. ³³There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand on us both. ³⁴If he would take his rod away from me, and not let dread of him terrify me, ³⁵then I would speak without fear of him, for I know I am not what I am thought to be.

10“I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. ²I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me. ³Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked? ⁴Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as humans see? ⁵Are your days like the days of mortals, or your years like human years, ⁶that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin, ⁷although you know that I am not guilty, and there is no one to deliver out of your hand?

⁸Your hands fashioned and made me; and now you turn and destroy me. ⁹Remember that you fashioned me like clay; and will you turn me to dust again? ¹⁰Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? ¹¹You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. ¹²You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit. ¹³Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose.

¹⁴If I sin, you watch me, and do not acquit me of my iniquity. ¹⁵If I am wicked, woe to me! If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look upon my affliction. ¹⁶Bold as a lion you hunt me; you repeat your exploits against me. ¹⁷You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me. ¹⁸“Why did you bring me forth from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me, ¹⁹and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave. ²⁰Are not the days of my life few? Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort ²¹before I go, never to return, to the land of gloom and deep darkness, ²²the land of gloom and chaos, where light is like darkness.”

11Then Zophar the Naamathite answered: ²“Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and should one full of talk be vindicated? ³Should your babble put others to silence, and when you mock, shall no one shame you? ⁴For you say, ‘My conduct is pure, and I am clean in God’s sight.’ ⁵But oh, that God would speak, and open his lips to you, ⁶and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For wisdom is many-sided. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

⁷“Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? ⁸It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? ⁹Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. ¹⁰If he passes through, and imprisons, and assembles for judgment, who can hinder him? ¹¹For he knows those who are worthless; when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it? ¹²But a stupid person will get understanding, when a wild ass is born human.

¹³“If you direct your heart rightly, you will stretch out your hands toward him. ¹⁴If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and do not let wickedness reside in your tents. ¹⁵Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure, and will not fear. ¹⁶You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away. ¹⁷And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning. ¹⁸And you will have confidence, because there is hope; you will be protected and take your rest in safety. ¹⁹You will lie down, and no one will make you afraid; many will entreat your favor. ²⁰But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last.”

12Then Job answered: ²“No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you. ³But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these? ⁴I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called upon God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, I am a laughingstock. ⁵Those at ease have contempt for misfortune, but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable.

⁶The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hands. ⁷“But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ⁸ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. ⁹Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? ¹⁰In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being. ¹¹Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?

¹²Is wisdom with the aged, and understanding in length of days? ¹³“With God are wisdom and strength; he has counsel and understanding. ¹⁴If he tears down, no one can rebuild; if he shuts someone in, no one can open up. ¹⁵If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land. ¹⁶With him are strength and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his. ¹⁷He leads counselors away stripped, and makes fools of judges. ¹⁸He looses the sash of kings, and binds a waistcloth on their loins. ¹⁹He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty. ²⁰He deprives of speech those who are trusted, and takes away the discernment of the elders. ²¹He pours contempt on princes, and looses the belt of the strong. ²²He uncovers the deeps out of darkness, and brings deep darkness to light. ²³He makes nations great, then destroys them; he enlarges nations, then leads them away. ²⁴He strips understanding from the leaders of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless waste. ²⁵They grope in the dark without light; he makes them stagger like a drunkard.

13“Look, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it. ²What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. ³But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God. ⁴As for you, you whitewash with lies; all of you are worthless physicians. ⁵If you would only keep silent, that would be your wisdom! ⁶Hear now my reasoning, and listen to the pleadings of my lips. ⁷Will you speak falsely for God, and speak deceitfully for him? ⁸Will you show partiality toward him, will you plead the case for God? ⁹Will it be well with you when he searches you out? Or can you deceive him, as one person deceives another? ¹⁰He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality. ¹¹Will not his majesty terrify you, and the dread of him fall upon you? ¹²Your maxims are proverbs of ashes, your defenses are defenses of clay.

¹³“Let me have silence, and I will speak, and let come on me what may. ¹⁴I will take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand. ¹⁵See, he will kill me; I have no hope; but I will defend my ways to his face. ¹⁶This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him. ¹⁷Listen carefully to my words, and let my declaration be in your ears. ¹⁸I have indeed prepared my case; I know that I shall be vindicated. ¹⁹Who is there that will contend with me? For then I would be silent and die. ²⁰Only grant two things to me, then I will not hide myself from your face: ²¹withdraw your hand far from me, and do not let dread of you terrify me. ²²Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and you reply to me.

²³How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin. ²⁴Why do you hide your face, and count me as your enemy? ²⁵Will you frighten a windblown leaf and pursue dry chaff? ²⁶For you write bitter things against me, and make me reap the iniquities of my youth. ²⁷You put my feet in the stocks, and watch all my paths; you set a bound to the soles of my feet. ²⁸One wastes away like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.

14“A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble, ²comes up like a flower and withers, flees like a shadow and does not last. ³Do you fix your eyes on such a one? Do you bring me into judgment with you? ⁴Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one can. ⁵Since their days are determined, and the number of their months is known to you, and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass, ⁶look away from them, and desist, that they may enjoy, like laborers, their days.

⁷“For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. ⁸Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground, ⁹yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant. ¹⁰But mortals die, and are laid low; humans expire, and where are they? ¹¹As waters fail from a lake, and a river wastes away and dries up, ¹²so mortals lie down and do not rise again; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake or be roused out of their sleep. ¹³Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me! ¹⁴If mortals die, will they live again? All the days of my service I would wait until my release should come. ¹⁵You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands.

¹⁶For then you would not number my steps, you would not keep watch over my sin; ¹⁷my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity. ¹⁸“But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place; ¹⁹the waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so you destroy the hope of mortals. ²⁰You prevail forever against them, and they pass away; you change their countenance, and send them away. ²¹Their children come to honor, and they do not know it; they are brought low, and it goes unnoticed. ²²They feel only the pain of their own bodies, and mourn only for themselves.”

15Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: ²“Should the wise answer with windy knowledge, and fill themselves with the east wind? ³Should they argue in unprofitable talk, or in words with which they can do no good? ⁴But you are doing away with the fear of God, and hindering meditation before God. ⁵For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty. ⁶Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your own lips testify against you. ⁷“Are you the firstborn of the human race? Were you brought forth before the hills? ⁸Have you listened in the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself? ⁹What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not clear to us? ¹⁰The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, those older than your father. ¹¹Are the consolations of God too small for you, or the word that deals gently with you? ¹²Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash, ¹³so that you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth? ¹⁴What are mortals, that they can be clean? Or those born of woman, that they can be righteous? ¹⁵God puts no trust even in his holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in his sight; ¹⁶how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, one who drinks iniquity like water!

¹⁷“I will show you; listen to me; what I have seen I will declare— ¹⁸what sages have told, and their ancestors have not hidden, ¹⁹to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them. ²⁰The wicked writhe in pain all their days, through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless. ²¹Terrifying sounds are in their ears; in prosperity the destroyer will come upon them. ²²They despair of returning from darkness, and they are destined for the sword. ²³They wander abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ They know that a day of darkness is ready at hand; ²⁴distress and anguish terrify them; they prevail against them, like a king prepared for battle. ²⁵Because they stretched out their hands against God, and bid defiance to the Almighty, ²⁶running stubbornly against him with a thick-bossed shield; ²⁷because they have covered their faces with their fat, and gathered fat upon their loins, ²⁸they will live in desolate cities, in houses that no one should inhabit, houses destined to become heaps of ruins; ²⁹they will not be rich, and their wealth will not endure, nor will they strike root in the earth; ³⁰they will not escape from darkness; the flame will dry up their shoots, and their blossom will be swept away by the wind. ³¹Let them not trust in emptiness, deceiving themselves; for emptiness will be their recompense. ³²It will be paid in full before their time, and their branch will not be green. ³³They will shake off their unripe grape, like the vine, and cast off their blossoms, like the olive tree. ³⁴For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of bribery. ³⁵They conceive mischief and bring forth evil and their heart prepares deceit.”

16Then Job answered: ²“I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all. ³Have windy words no limit? Or what provokes you that you keep on talking? ⁴I also could talk as you do, if you were in my place; I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you. ⁵I could encourage you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.

⁶“If I speak, my pain is not assuaged, and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me? ⁷Surely now God has worn me out; he has made desolate all my company. ⁸And he has shriveled me up, which is a witness against me; my leanness has risen up against me, and it testifies to my face. ⁹He has torn me in his wrath, and hated me; he has gnashed his teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me. ¹⁰They have gaped at me with their mouths; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me. ¹¹God gives me up to the ungodly, and casts me into the hands of the wicked. ¹²I was at ease, and he broke me in two; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; he set me up as his target; ¹³his archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys, and shows no mercy; he pours out my gall on the ground. ¹⁴He bursts upon me again and again; he rushes at me like a warrior. ¹⁵I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and have laid my strength in the dust. ¹⁶My face is red with weeping, and deep darkness is on my eyelids,

¹⁷though there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure. ¹⁸“O earth, do not cover my blood; let my outcry find no resting place. ¹⁹Even now, in fact, my witness is in heaven, and he that vouches for me is on high. ²⁰My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God, ²¹that he would maintain the right of a mortal with God, as one does for a neighbor. ²²For when a few years have come, I shall go the way from which I shall not return.

17My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me. ²Surely there are mockers around me, and my eye dwells on their provocation. ³“Lay down a pledge for me with yourself; who is there that will give surety for me? ⁴Since you have closed their minds to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph. ⁵Those who denounce friends for reward— the eyes of their children will fail. ⁶“He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom people spit. ⁷My eye has grown dim from grief, and all my members are like a shadow. ⁸The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stir themselves up against the godless. ⁹Yet the righteous hold to their way, and they that have clean hands grow stronger and stronger.

¹⁰But you, come back now, all of you, and I shall not find a sensible person among you. ¹¹My days are past, my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart. ¹²They make night into day; ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’ ¹³If I look for Sheol as my house, if I spread my couch in darkness, ¹⁴if I say to the Pit, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’ ¹⁵where then is my hope? Who will see my hope? ¹⁶Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?”

18Then Bildad the Shuhite answered: ²“How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and then we shall speak. ³Why are we counted as cattle? Why are we stupid in your sight? ⁴You who tear yourself in your anger— shall the earth be forsaken because of you, or the rock be removed out of its place?

⁵“Surely the light of the wicked is put out, and the flame of their fire does not shine. ⁶The light is dark in their tent, and the lamp above them is put out. ⁷Their strong steps are shortened, and their own schemes throw them down. ⁸For they are thrust into a net by their own feet, and they walk into a pitfall. ⁹A trap seizes them by the heel; a snare lays hold of them. ¹⁰A rope is hid for them in the ground, a trap for them in the path.

¹¹Terrors frighten them on every side, and chase them at their heels. ¹²Their strength is consumed by hunger, and calamity is ready for their stumbling. ¹³By disease their skin is consumed, the firstborn of Death consumes their limbs. ¹⁴They are torn from the tent in which they trusted, and are brought to the king of terrors. ¹⁵In their tents nothing remains; sulfur is scattered upon their habitations. ¹⁶Their roots dry up beneath, and their branches wither above. ¹⁷Their memory perishes from the earth, and they have no name in the street. ¹⁸They are thrust from light into darkness, and driven out of the world. ¹⁹They have no offspring or descendant among their people, and no survivor where they used to live. ²⁰They of the west are appalled at their fate, and horror seizes those of the east. ²¹Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly, such is the place of those who do not know God.”

19Then Job answered: ²“How long will you torment me, and break me in pieces with words? ³These ten times you have cast reproach upon me; are you not ashamed to wrong me? ⁴And even if it is true that I have erred, my error remains with me. ⁵If indeed you magnify yourselves against me, and make my humiliation an argument against me, ⁶know then that God has put me in the wrong, and closed his net around me. ⁷Even when I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I am not answered; I call aloud, but there is no justice.

⁸He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths. ⁹He has stripped my glory from me, and taken the crown from my head. ¹⁰He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone, he has uprooted my hope like a tree. ¹¹He has kindled his wrath against me, and counts me as his adversary. ¹²His troops come on together; they have thrown up siegeworks against me, and encamp around my tent. ¹³“He has put my family far from me, and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me. ¹⁴My relatives and my close friends have failed me; ¹⁵the guests in my house have forgotten me; my serving girls count me as a stranger; I have become an alien in their eyes. ¹⁶I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer; I must myself plead with him. ¹⁷My breath is repulsive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own family. ¹⁸Even young children despise me; when I rise, they talk against me. ¹⁹All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me. ²⁰My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. ²¹Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me! ²²Why do you, like God, pursue me, never satisfied with my flesh?

²³“O that my words were written down! O that they were inscribed in a book! ²⁴O that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock forever! ²⁵For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; ²⁶and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, ²⁷whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me! ²⁸If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’ and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him’; ²⁹be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishment of the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.”

20Then Zophar the Naamathite answered: ²“Pay attention! My thoughts urge me to answer, because of the agitation within me. ³I hear censure that insults me, and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me. ⁴Do you not know this from of old, ever since mortals were placed on earth, ⁵that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless is but for a moment? ⁶Even though they mount up high as the heavens, and their head reaches to the clouds, ⁷they will perish forever like their own dung; those who have seen them will say, ‘Where are they?’ ⁸They will fly away like a dream, and not be found; they will be chased away like a vision of the night. ⁹The eye that saw them will see them no more, nor will their place behold them any longer.

¹⁰Their children will seek the favor of the poor, and their hands will give back their wealth. ¹¹Their bodies, once full of youth, will lie down in the dust with them. ¹²“Though wickedness is sweet in their mouth, though they hide it under their tongues, ¹³though they are loath to let it go, and hold it in their mouths, ¹⁴yet their food is turned in their stomachs; it is the venom of asps within them. ¹⁵They swallow down riches and vomit them up again; God casts them out of their bellies. ¹⁶They will suck the poison of asps; the tongue of a viper will kill them. ¹⁷They will not look on the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds. ¹⁸They will give back the fruit of their toil, and will not swallow it down; from the profit of their trading they will get no enjoyment. ¹⁹For they have crushed and abandoned the poor, they have seized a house that they did not build. ²⁰“They knew no quiet in their bellies; in their greed they let nothing escape. ²¹There was nothing left after they had eaten; therefore their prosperity will not endure. ²²In full sufficiency they will be in distress; all the force of misery will come upon them.

²³To fill their belly to the full God will send his fierce anger into them, and rain it upon them as their food. ²⁴They will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze arrow will strike them through. ²⁵It is drawn forth and comes out of their body, and the glittering point comes out of their gall; terrors come upon them. ²⁶Utter darkness is laid up for their treasures; a fire fanned by no one will devour them; what is left in their tent will be consumed. ²⁷The heavens will reveal their iniquity, and the earth will rise up against them. ²⁸The possessions of their house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God’s wrath. ²⁹This is the portion of the wicked from God, the heritage decreed for them by God.”

21Then Job answered: ²“Listen carefully to my words, and let this be your consolation. ³Bear with me, and I will speak; then after I have spoken, mock on. ⁴As for me, is my complaint addressed to mortals? Why should I not be impatient? ⁵Look at me, and be appalled, and lay your hand upon your mouth. ⁶When I think of it I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh.

⁷Why do the wicked live on, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? ⁸Their children are established in their presence, and their offspring before their eyes. ⁹Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them. ¹⁰Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and never miscarries. ¹¹They send out their little ones like a flock, and their children dance around. ¹²They sing to the tambourine and the lyre, and rejoice to the sound of the pipe. ¹³They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol. ¹⁴They say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We do not desire to know your ways. ¹⁵What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’ ¹⁶Is not their prosperity indeed their own achievement? The plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.

¹⁷“How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does calamity come upon them? How often does God distribute pains in his anger? ¹⁸How often are they like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away? ¹⁹You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let it be paid back to them, so that they may know it. ²⁰Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty. ²¹For what do they care for their household after them, when the number of their months is cut off? ²²Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those that are on high? ²³One dies in full prosperity, being wholly at ease and secure, ²⁴his loins full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist. ²⁵Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of good. ²⁶They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them.

²⁷“Oh, I know your thoughts, and your schemes to wrong me. ²⁸For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’ ²⁹Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony, ³⁰that the wicked are spared in the day of calamity, and are rescued in the day of wrath? ³¹Who declares their way to their face, and who repays them for what they have done? ³²When they are carried to the grave, a watch is kept over their tomb. ³³The clods of the valley are sweet to them; everyone will follow after, and those who went before are innumerable. ³⁴How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”

22Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: ²“Can a mortal be of use to God? Can even the wisest be of service to him? ³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless? ⁴Is it for your piety that he reproves you, and enters into judgment with you?

⁵Is not your wickedness great? There is no end to your iniquities. ⁶For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason, and stripped the naked of their clothing. ⁷You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. ⁸The powerful possess the land, and the favored live in it. ⁹You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you have crushed. ¹⁰Therefore snares are around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you, ¹¹or darkness so that you cannot see; a flood of water covers you. ¹²“Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are! ¹³Therefore you say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness? ¹⁴Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the dome of heaven.’

¹⁵Will you keep to the old way that the wicked have trod? ¹⁶They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away by a flood. ¹⁷They said to God, ‘Leave us alone,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’ ¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things— but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me. ¹⁹The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent laugh them to scorn, ²⁰saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left, the fire has consumed.’

²¹“Agree with God, and be at peace; in this way good will come to you. ²²Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. ²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored, if you remove unrighteousness from your tents, ²⁴if you treat gold like dust, and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed, ²⁵and if the Almighty is your gold and your precious silver, ²⁶then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God. ²⁷You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows. ²⁸You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways. ²⁹When others are humiliated, you say it is pride; for he saves the humble. ³⁰He will deliver even those who are guilty; they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.”

23Then Job answered: ²“Today also my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy despite my groaning. ³Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling! ⁴I would lay my case before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. ⁵I would learn what he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me. ⁶Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; but he would give heed to me. ⁷There an upright person could reason with him, and I should be acquitted forever by my judge.

⁸“If I go forward, he is not there; or backward, I cannot perceive him; ⁹on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him; I turn to the right, but I cannot see him. ¹⁰But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold. ¹¹My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside.