LXX Job

Job’s Life

1 There was a certain man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job, and that man was honest, blameless, righteous, and devoted to God, staying away from every evil act. 2 And he had seven sons and three daughters. 3 And his livestock consisted of seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred pairs of oxen, five hundred female donkeys in the pastures, and very many servants, and he had extensive undertakings in the land. And that man was of noble birth among the people of the east.

4 His sons would gather together and hold a banquet each day, taking their three sisters along to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the banquet were completed, Job would send for them and purify them, getting up in the morning and offering sacrifices for them according to their number,⁠a and one calf for a sin offering for their souls. Job said, “Perhaps my sons have thought evil in their minds against God.” This is what Job did every day.

The Accuser in the Lord’s Presence

6 When that day came, look, the angels of God came to stand in the Lord’s presence, and the Accuser came with them.

7 The Lord said to the Accuser, “Where have you come from?” The Accuser answered the Lord, “I have come from going around the earth and walking about under heaven.” 8 The Lord said to him, “Have you directed your mind against my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him, a man blameless, honest, devoted to God, staying away from every evil act.”

9 The Accuser answered the Lord, “Does Job worship God for nothing? 10 Haven’t you fenced in his outside property, what is inside his house, and all that belongs to him outside, all around? You blessed the work of his hands and made his livestock numerous in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand, and touch all that he has. Surely he will bless you to your face.”

12 The Lord said to the Accuser, “Look, I give everything he has into your hand, but do not touch him.” So the Accuser went out from the presence of the Lord.

The Messengers’ Reports

13 When that day came, Job’s sons and his daughters were drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother. 14 Look, a messenger came to Job and said, “The pairs of oxen were plowing, and the female donkeys were grazing beside them, 15 and the raiders came and carried them off, and killed the servants with swords. I alone escaped and came to tell you.”

16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said to Job, “Fire fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and consumed the shepherds as well. I alone escaped and came to tell you.”

17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said to Job, “The horsemen formed three columns against us, and surrounded the camels, and carried them off, and killed the servants with swords. I alone escaped and came to tell you.”

18 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said to Job, “While your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking with their eldest brother, 19 suddenly a great wind came from the desert, and struck the four corners of the house, and the house fell on your children, and they died. I alone escaped and came to tell you.”

Job’s Response

20 So Job got up, and tore his clothes, and cut his hair, and fell on the earth, and worshiped, and said, 21 “I myself came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will go there naked. The Lord gave, the Lord took away. As it seemed good to the Lord, so it happened. May the name of the Lord be blessed.” 22 In all these events that happened to him Job did not sin at all in the Lord’s sight, and did not accuse God of foolishness.

The Accuser’s Second Appearance

1 When that day came, the angels of God came to stand in the Lord’s presence, and the Accuser came among them to stand in the Lord’s presence.

2 The Lord said to the Accuser, “Where are you coming from?” The Accuser said to the Lord, “I have come from traveling under heaven and walking about everywhere.” 3 The Lord said to the Accuser, “Have you noticed my attendant Job? There is no man on earth like him, innocent, honest, blameless, devoted to God, staying away from all evil. He still holds on to innocence, but you called for his possessions to be destroyed for no reason.”

4 The Accuser answered the Lord, “Skin for skin! Whatever a man has, he will pay for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand, and touch his bones and his flesh. Surely he will bless you to your face.”

6 The Lord said to the Accuser, “Look, I hand him over to you. Only keep him alive.”

Job’s Suffering

7 So the Accuser went out from the Lord, and struck Job with a severe sore from his feet to his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery to scrape away the pus, and sat on a dung heap outside the city.

His Wife’s Speech

9 After a long time had passed, his wife said to him, “How long will you hold out, saying,⁠a 9a ‘Look, I am waiting a little longer, waiting for the hope of my deliverance’?

9b “For look, the memory of you has vanished from the earth, sons and daughters of my womb, birth pangs and labors for which I struggled pointlessly through hardships, 9c and you yourself sit in rotting matter with worms, spending the nights in the open air,

9d “I am a wanderer and a servant, going from place to place and house to house, waiting for the sun to set so that I can rest from the hardships and pains that now grip me. 9e Just say something to the Lord and die!”

10 He looked at her and said, “You have spoken like one of the foolish women. If we received good things from the Lord’s hand, won’t we also bear bad things?” In all these things that happened to him, Job did not sin at all with his lips in God’s sight.

The Three Friends

11 When his three friends heard of all the troubles that had come on him, each came from his own country, Eliphaz king of the Temanites, Bildad ruler of the Shuhites, and Zophar king of the Minaeans.⁠b They came to him with one purpose, to comfort and visit him. 12 When they saw him from a distance they did not recognize him. They cried out loudly and wept, each tearing his robe and sprinkling himself with earth, 13 and they sat down beside him seven days and seven nights, and none of them spoke, because they saw that his suffering was terrible and immense.

Job Curses His Day

1 After this Job opened his mouth, 2 and cursed his day, saying,

3 “May the day I was born perish, and the night when they said, ‘Look, a boy!’ 4 May that day be darkness. May the Lord not look for it from above, and may no light come to it. 5 May darkness and the shadow of death seize it. May gloom come over it. 6 May that day and night be cursed. May darkness carry it away. May it not be among the days of the year or be counted among the days of the months. 7 But may that night be pain, and may neither gladness nor joy come to it. 8 May the one who curses that day curse it, the one ready to subdue the great sea monster. 9 May the stars of that night grow dark. May it remain without coming into light, and may it not see the morning star rise, 10 because it did not close the gates of my mother’s womb, because it would have removed trouble from my eyes.

11 “Why didn’t I die in the womb? I came out of the belly, and why didn’t I perish immediately? 12 Why did knees meet me? Why did I suck breasts? 13 Now I would have lain down in quiet and slept in rest, 14 with kings, counselors of the earth, who took pride in their swords, 15 or with rulers, whose gold was abundant, who filled their houses with silver, 16 or like a stillborn child coming from a mother’s womb, or like infants who never saw light. 17 There the godless have set furious anger ablaze. There those exhausted in body have found rest. 18 Together, those from long ago did not hear the tax collector’s voice. 19 The small and great are there, and a servant unafraid of his master.

20 “Why, then, is light given to those in bitterness, and life to souls in pain, 21 who long for death and do not find it, digging for it as for treasures? 22 Yet they would be overjoyed if they found it. 23 Death is rest for a man, because God has shut him in. 24 For my groaning comes before my food, and I weep, gripped by fear. 25 For the fear I worried about came to me, and what I dreaded met me. 26 I had no peace, no quiet, and no rest, but anger came to me.”

Eliphaz’s Reply

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

2 “Have you often been spoken to in distress? But who can endure the force of your words? 3 You have instructed many and strengthened the hands of the weak, 4 and lifted up the weak with words and given courage to feeble knees. 5 But now pain has come on you and touched you, and you have become alarmed. 6 Isn’t your fear based on foolishness, and your hope too, and the innocence of your way?

7 “Think, then, who perished while pure? When did honest people perish, root and all? 8 As I have seen, those plowing wrongdoing and those sowing it will reap pains for themselves. 9 They will perish by the command of the Lord, and will disappear by the breath of his anger. 10 The lion’s strength, the lioness’s voice, and the pride of dragons have been extinguished. 11 The antlion has perished for lack of food, and the lions’ cubs have abandoned one another.

12 “If there had been anything true in your words, none of these bad things would have met you. Won’t my ear receive extraordinary things from him? 13 There were terrors and an echo at night, terror falling on people, 14 horror and trembling seized me, and shook my bones violently. 15 And a spirit came before my face, and my hair and flesh quivered. 16 I got up and did not recognize it. I looked, and there was no form before my eyes, but I heard only a breeze and a voice,⁠a 17 ‘What? Can a mortal be pure in the Lord’s sight, or a man be blameless in his deeds?’ 18 If he does not trust his servants, but thought of something crooked about his angels, 19 as for those who live in houses of clay, of whom we also are formed of the same clay, he struck them like a moth. 20 From morning to evening they no longer exist. They perished because they could not help themselves. 21 For he blew on them, and they withered. They perished because they lacked wisdom.⁠b

1 “Call out, then, and see whether anyone answers you or whether you will see any of the holy angels. 2 For anger kills a fool, and jealousy kills someone who has been led astray. 3 I have seen fools taking root, but their way of life was immediately devoured. 4 May their children be far from safety. May they be mocked at the doors of those beneath them, with no one to rescue them. 5 For righteous people will eat what they gathered, but they themselves will not be spared bad things. May their strength be drained away. 6 For hardship will certainly not come from the earth, nor will pain sprout from the mountains. 7 But a human is born to hardship, while a vulture’s young fly high.

8 “Still, I will plead with the Lord and call on the Lord, the master of all, 9 who does great things beyond tracing, glorious and extraordinary things beyond counting, 10 who gives rain to the earth, sending water on what is under heaven, 11 who raises the lowly up high and lifts up those who are ruined, 12 frustrating the plans of cunning people, whose hands will produce nothing true. 13 He catches the wise in their own intelligence, and he overturned the plans of schemers. 14 Darkness will meet them in the daytime. May they grope at noon as though it were night. 15 May they perish in war, and may the powerless escape the grip of the powerful. 16 May the powerless have hope, but may the mouth of the unjust be shut.

17 “But happy is the man whom the Lord corrected.⁠a Do not reject the Almighty’s instruction, 18 for he causes pain and restores again. He struck, and his hands healed. 19 Six times he will rescue you from distress, and the seventh time harm will not touch you. 20 In famine he will rescue you from death, and in war he will free you from the power of iron. 21 He will hide you from the tongue’s whip, and you will not fear the bad things that are coming. 22 You will laugh at the unjust and the lawless, and you will not fear wild animals. 23 For wild animals will be at peace with you. 24 Then you will know that your household will be at peace, and your tent’s livelihood will not fail. 25 You will know that your descendants will be many, and your children will be like the grass of the field. 26 You will go to the grave like ripe grain harvested in its season, or like a heap on the threshing floor gathered at the right time. 27 Look, this is what we have found by tracing these things. This is what we have heard. But find out for yourself whether you have done anything.”

Job’s Reply

1 Job replied,

2 “If someone would really weigh my anger and put my pains together on a scale, 3 they would indeed be heavier than the sand on the seashore. But my words seem careless. 4 For the Lord’s arrows are in my body. Their fury drinks my blood. Whenever I begin to speak, they pierce me. 5 What? Will a wild donkey bray for nothing, unless he is looking for grain? Or will an ox bellow at the feeding trough when he has food? 6 Can bread be eaten without salt? Is there any flavor in empty words? 7 For my soul cannot stop, because I find my food foul, like the smell of a lion.

8 “If only he would give, and my request would come through, and the Lord would grant my hope! 9 Let the Lord start by wounding me, but let him not kill me completely.⁠a 10 May my city, on whose walls I used to leap, be my grave. I will not spare myself, for I did not deny my God’s holy words. 11 For what strength do I have to keep going? What time do I have left for my soul to endure? 12 Is my strength the strength of stones? Is my flesh bronze? 13 Didn’t I trust in him? But help is far from me.

14 “Mercy has rejected me, and the Lord’s visitation has overlooked me. 15 My closest relatives did not look at me. They passed me by like a stream running dry, or like a wave. 16 Those who respected me have now fallen on me like snow or solid ice. 17 Just as it melted when heat came and could no longer be recognized for what it was, 18 so I too was abandoned by everyone. I perished and became homeless. 19 Look at the Temanites’ roads and the Sabeans’ paths, you who see clearly. 20 Those who trust in cities and wealth will also face shame. 21 Yet you too trampled on me without mercy. So now that you have seen my wound, be afraid! 22 What? Did I ask anything of you? Do I need your strength 23 to save me from enemies or rescue me from the grip of the powerful?

24 “Teach me, and I will be quiet. If I have gone wrong in anything, tell me. 25 But a truthful man’s words seem careless, for I am not asking you for strength. 26 Your correction with words will not stop me, and I will not put up with the sound of what you say. 27 You even fall on an orphan and leap on your friend.

28 “But now that I have looked at your faces, I will not lie. 29 Sit down, then, and let there be no injustice. Join again with the righteous man. 30 For there is nothing unjust on my tongue. Doesn’t my throat practice understanding?

1 “Isn’t a human’s life on earth a test, and his life like a laborer hired by the day? 2 Or like a servant who fears his master and has found shade, or like a hired worker waiting for his pay? 3 So I too endured empty months, and nights of pain have been assigned to me. 4 When I lie down, I say, ‘When will it be day?’ And when I get up, again I say, ‘When will it be evening?’ I am filled with pain from evening until morning. 5 My body is fouled with rotting worms. I melt away, scraping lumps of earth from the pus. 6 My life is lighter than chatter and has perished in an empty hope.

7 “Remember, then, that my life is a breath, and my eye will never again see good. 8 The eye of the one who sees me will not look around for me. Your eyes are on me, and I am no more, 9 like a cloud cleared from the sky. For if a man goes down to Hades, he will never come up again, 10 and he will never return to his own house, nor will his place recognize him anymore.

11 “Still, I too will not restrain my mouth. I will speak in my distress. In my anguish I will pour out my soul’s bitterness. 12 Am I the sea or a dragon, that you stationed a guard over me? 13 I said, ‘My bed will comfort me, and on my couch I will speak privately to myself.’ 14 You scare me with dreams, and terrify me with visions. 15 You will release my soul from my spirit and my bones from death. 16 For I will not live forever, so that I could wait patiently. Leave me alone, for my life is empty. 17 What is a human, that you made him so great or turn your attention to him? 18 Or will you visit him until morning and judge him until he rests? 19 How long will you refuse to leave me alone or let me go, until I swallow my saliva in pain? 20 If I sinned, what can I do to you, you who know the human mind? Why did you make me your accuser, and why am I a burden to you?⁠a 21 Why did you not consign my lawlessness to oblivion and my sin to cleansing? But now I will go to the earth, and early in the morning I will be no more.”

Bildad’s Reply

1 Bildad the Shuhite replied,

2 “How long will you say these things, this wordy wind from your mouth? 3 Will the Lord act unjustly when he judges? Will the maker of everything distort what is right? 4 If your sons sinned in his sight, he sent them away through the power of their lawlessness. 5 But you, rise early to plead with the Lord Almighty. 6 If you are pure and truthful, he will hear your plea and restore a righteous way of life to you. 7 Then your first things will be few, but your last things too many to tell.

8 “Ask an earlier generation and trace things through the ancestral line. 9 For we are only from yesterday and know nothing, because our life on earth is a shadow. 10 Won’t they teach you and tell you, bringing words out of their hearts?

11 “Does papyrus flourish without water? Will a rush grow tall with nothing to drink? 12 While it is still on its root, it will certainly not be harvested. Doesn’t every plant dry up before it drinks? 13 That will be the end of all who forget the Lord, for the godless man’s hope will perish. 14 For his house will be uninhabited, and his tent will turn out to be a spider’s web. 15 If he props up his house, it will not stand. When he takes hold of it, it will not last. 16 For he is moist under the sun, and his shoot will emerge from his rottenness. 17 He lies down on a pile of stones and will live among pebbles. 18 If the place swallows him, it will deny him. Haven’t you seen such things? 19 For this is how a godless man is ruined, but something else will sprout from the earth.

20 “For the Lord will certainly not reject the innocent man, but he will accept no gift from a godless man. 21 He will fill truthful people’s mouths with laughter and their lips with acknowledgment. 22 Their enemies will clothe themselves with shame, and the godless man’s way of life will be gone.”

Job’s Reply

1 Job replied,

2 “I truly know that this is so. For how can a mortal be righteous in the Lord’s sight? 3 For if someone wants to argue a case with him, he will not answer him, to keep him from disputing even one of his thousand statements. 4 For he is wise in mind, strong, and great. Who has stood firm against him and survived? 5 He ages mountains, and they do not know it. He overturns them in anger. 6 He shakes what is under heaven from its foundations, and its pillars tremble. 7 He speaks to the sun, and it does not rise. He seals up the stars. 8 He alone stretched out the sky and walks on the sea as though on solid ground.⁠a 9 He makes the Pleiades, the evening star, Arcturus,⁠b and the chambers of the south. 10 He does great things beyond tracing, glorious and extraordinary things beyond counting. 11 If he passes over me, I will not see him. If he passes by me, even then I will not recognize him. 12 If he takes away, who will turn him back? Who will say to him, ‘What have you done?’ 13 For he has turned away his anger. The sea monsters under heaven were bowed down by him.

14 “But if he listens to me, will he really examine my words? 15 For even if I am righteous, he will not listen to me. I will plead for his judgment. 16 Even if I call and he answers, I do not believe that he has heard me. 17 May he not crush me with darkness! Yet he has given me many wounds for no reason. 18 For he will not let me catch my breath. He has filled me with bitterness. 19 For he prevails by force. Who, then, will stand against his judgment? 20 For even if I am righteous, my mouth will act godlessly. Even if I am blameless, I will turn out crooked. 21 For even if I acted godlessly, I do not know it in my soul, except that my life is being taken away. 22 So I said, ‘Anger destroys the great and powerful. 23 For worthless people meet an extraordinary death, but righteous people are mocked, 24 for they have been handed over to a godless man.’ He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not he, who is it?

25 “My life is swifter than a runner. They fled away and saw nothing. 26 Is there any trace of a ship’s path, or of an eagle flying in search of food? 27 For even if I say, ‘I will forget about speaking,’ I will bow my face and groan. 28 I shake in all my limbs, for I know that you will not let me be innocent. 29 But since I am godless, why have I not died? 30 For even if I wash myself with snow and cleanse myself with clean hands, 31 you have plunged me deep in filth, and my clothing loathed me. 32 For you are not a human like me, with whom I could argue a case, so that we could come to trial together. 33 If only we had a mediator to examine and hear the case between us both! 34 Let him take the rod away from me, and let the fear of him stop unsettling me. 35 Then I will not be afraid, but will speak, for as things stand, I do not understand.

1 “Exhausted in my soul, I will unleash my words on him with groans. I will speak, gripped by my soul’s bitterness. 2 I will say to the Lord, ‘Do not teach me to act godlessly. Why did you judge me this way?⁠a 3 Is it good for you if I act unjustly, that I should reject the works of your hands? But you paid attention to the advice of the godless. 4 Do you see the way a mortal sees? Or will you look the way a human sees? 5 Is your life human, or are your years a man’s years, 6 that you investigated my lawlessness and traced my sins? 7 For you know that I did not act godlessly. But who can rescue anyone from your hands? 8 Your hands formed me and made me. After that, you changed course and struck me. 9 Remember that you shaped me as clay, and you turn me back to earth. 10 Didn’t you draw me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? 11 You clothed me with skin and flesh and threaded me together with bones and tendons. 12 You gave me life and mercy, and your care preserved my spirit. 13 With these things in you, I know that you can do everything. Nothing is impossible for you. 14 For if I sin, you watch me, and you have not acquitted me of lawlessness. 15 For if I am godless, how miserable I am! And if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head, for I am filled with disgrace. 16 For I am hunted like a lion for slaughter. Again you change course and destroy me terribly, 17 renewing your investigation of me. You treated me with great anger and brought trials on me.

18 “‘Why, then, did you bring me out of the womb? Why did I not die without any eye seeing me, 19 and become as though I had never existed? Why was I not carried from the womb to the grave? 20 Isn’t my lifetime short? Let me rest a little, 21 before I go to a place I will not return from, to a dark and gloomy land, 22 to a land of endless darkness, where there is no light and no sight of mortal life.’”

Zophar’s Reply

1 Zophar the Minaean replied,

2 “A man who talks a lot will also hear a reply. Or does a fluent speaker think he is righteous? Happy is the short-lived child of a woman. 3 Do not be so wordy, for there is no one to argue a case with you. 4 Do not say, ‘I am pure in my deeds and blameless in his sight.’ 5 But how could the Lord speak to you? And he will open his lips with you. 6 Then he will tell you wisdom’s power, for it will be double what you have. Then you will know that what came to you from the Lord matched the sins you committed.

7 “Will you find the Lord’s footprint? Have you reached the limits of what the Almighty made? 8 The sky is high. What will you do? There are things deeper than those in Hades. What do you know? 9 Or longer than the earth’s measure or the sea’s width? 10 If he overturns everything, who will say to him, ‘What have you done?’ 11 For he knows the deeds of the lawless. When he sees wrongdoing, he will not overlook it. 12 But a human floats along pointlessly on words, and a mortal born of a woman is like a desert donkey.

13 “For if you have made your heart pure and turn your palms up toward him, 14 if there is anything lawless in your hands, put it far away from you. Let no injustice stay in your dwelling. 15 For then your face will shine again like pure water. You will strip off filth and will not be afraid. 16 You will forget hardship like a wave that has passed by, and you will not be terrified. 17 Your prayer will be like the morning star, and life will dawn for you from midday. 18 You will be confident because you have hope. Peace will appear for you out of worry and anxiety. 19 For you will rest, with no one to fight you. Many will change course and plead with you. 20 But rescue will abandon them, for their hope is destruction, and the eyes of the godless will waste away.”

Job’s Reply

1 Job replied,

2 “So you are human beings? Will wisdom die with you? 3 I too have a heart, just like you. 4 For a righteous and blameless man has become a laughingstock. 5 For he had been prepared to fall under others at a set time, and for his houses to be plundered by the lawless. 6 Still, let no one who is wicked trust that he will be innocent, none of those who anger the Lord, as though they too would not be investigated.

7 “But ask the four-footed animals and see if they will speak to you, and the birds of the sky and see if they will tell you. 8 Tell the earth in detail and see if it will inform you, and the fish of the sea will explain to you. 9 Who among all these has not known that the Lord’s hand made these things? 10 Isn’t the life of all living things in his hand, and the breath of every human? 11 For an ear distinguishes words, and a throat tastes food. 12 Wisdom comes with much time, and knowledge with a long life.

13 “Wisdom and power are with him. Advice and understanding are his. 14 If he tears down, who will build up? If he shuts people out, who will open? 15 If he holds back the water, he will dry up the earth. If he lets it loose, he has destroyed it by overturning it. 16 Strength and power are with him. Knowledge and understanding are his. 17 Leading advisers away as captives, he drove the earth’s judges mad. 18 Seating kings on thrones, he tied a belt around their waists. 19 Sending priests away as captives, he overthrew the earth’s powerful men. 20 Changing the lips of the trustworthy, he came to know the elders’ understanding. 21 Pouring disgrace on rulers, he healed the lowly. 22 Uncovering deep things from darkness, he brought death’s shadow into the light. 23 He leads nations astray and destroys them, lays nations low and guides them. 24 Changing the hearts of the earth’s rulers, he led them astray on a road they did not know. 25 May they grope in darkness without light. May they wander like a drunk man.

1 “Look, my eye has seen these things, and my ear has heard them. 2 I know as much as you know and am no less intelligent than you. 3 Still, I will speak to the Lord and argue my case with him, if he wishes. 4 But you are unjust doctors, all of you healers who harm. 5 If only you would be quiet! That would turn out to be wisdom for you. 6 Listen to my mouth’s argument, and pay attention to my lips’ case. 7 Aren’t you speaking in the Lord’s presence and uttering deceit in front of him? 8 Will you shrink back? Become judges yourselves! 9 It would certainly be good if he traced you out. For even if you do everything and join yourselves to him, 10 he will correct you just the same. Even if you secretly show favoritism, 11 won’t his terrors unsettle you, and fear from him fall on you? 12 Your pride will turn out like ashes, and your body made of clay.

13 “Be quiet so that I can speak and find relief from my anger. 14 Taking my flesh in my teeth, I will put my life in my hand. 15 Even if the Powerful One overpowers me, since he has already begun, I will certainly speak and argue my case with him. 16 This will turn out to be salvation for me,⁠a for deceit will not come into his presence. 17 Listen, listen to my words, for I will speak while you hear. 18 Look, my trial is near. I know that I will be shown to be righteous. 19 For who will argue a case against me? For now I will be quiet and die. 20 But grant me two things. Then I will not hide myself from your face. 21 Keep your hand away from me, and do not let fear of you terrify me. 22 Then you will call, and I will answer you. Or you will speak, and I will give you a reply. 23 How many sins and lawless acts have I committed? Teach me what they are. 24 Why do you hide from me and consider me your opponent? 25 Will you be wary of me like a leaf blown by the wind? Or do you oppose me like grass carried by a breeze? 26 For you wrote bad things against me and surrounded me with the sins of my youth. 27 You put my foot in a restraint, watched everything I did, and reached the roots of my feet. 28 It wears out like a wineskin or like a moth-eaten garment.

1 “For a mortal born of a woman is short-lived and full of anger. 2 Or he drops like a flower that bloomed, flees like a shadow, and will not stop. 3 Didn’t you take account of him too and make him come before you for judgment? 4 For who will be clean from filth? No one.⁠a 5 Even if his life on earth is only one day, and his months are counted with you, you set a time for him, and he will never go beyond it. 6 Leave him alone so he can rest and enjoy his life like a hired worker.

7 “For a tree has hope. If it is cut down, it will bloom again, and its shoot will not fail. 8 For even if its root grows old in the earth and its stump dies in rock, 9 it will bloom at the scent of water and produce a crop like a newly planted tree. 10 But a man who has died is gone, and a mortal who has fallen is no more.⁠b 11 For a sea dwindles over time, and a river is laid waste and dries up. 12 But a human who has lain down will never rise until the sky comes unstitched, and they will not be awakened from their sleep. 13 If only you had kept me in Hades and hidden me until your anger stopped, and set me a time when you would remember me! 14 For if a human dies, he will live after completing the days of his life. I will wait until I come into being again. 15 Then you will call, and I will answer you. But do not reject the works of your hands.⁠c 16 But you counted my practices, and not one of my sins will escape you. 17 You sealed my lawless acts in a purse and marked whether I broke the rules unintentionally. 18 Yet even a falling mountain will crumble, and a rock will wear away from its place. 19 Water smoothed stones, and waters washed away the topsoil of the earthen mound, and you destroyed human endurance.

20 “You pushed him away completely, and he was gone. You set your face against him and sent him away. 21 Though his sons become many, he does not know it, and if they become few, he is not aware. 22 But his flesh suffered pain, and his soul mourned.”

Eliphaz’s Second Reply

1 Eliphaz the Temanite replied,

2 “Will a wise man answer with windy understanding? And did he satisfy the ache in his belly, 3 arguing with statements that are beside the point, with words that do no good? 4 Haven’t you too rejected fear and finished saying such words in the Lord’s presence? 5 Your mouth’s words make you guilty. You did not distinguish the words of the powerful. 6 May your own mouth correct you, rather than me. Your lips will testify against you.

7 “What? Were you the first human born? Were you established before the dunes? 8 Did you hear the Lord’s plan? Did wisdom come to you? 9 For what do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that we do not understand too? 10 Both the old man and the aged man are among us, older than your father. 11 You have been whipped for only a few of your sins. You have spoken far too extravagantly. 12 What did your heart dare? What did your eyes aim at, 13 that you burst out in anger in the Lord’s presence and brought such words out of your mouth? 14 For what mortal can be blameless? Who born of a woman can be righteous? 15 If he does not trust his holy ones, and the sky is not pure in his sight, 16 then look at the detestable and unclean man, drinking injustices like a drink!

17 “But I will tell you. Listen to me. I will tell you what I have seen, 18 what wise men will say and did not hide from their fathers. 19 The earth was given to them alone, and no foreigner came upon them. 20 The godless man’s whole life is spent in worry, and the years given to the powerful man are numbered. 21 His fear is in his ears. Just when he thinks he is at peace, his ruin will come. 22 Let him not believe he will return from darkness, for he has already been assigned to the hands of iron. 23 He has been assigned as food for vultures, and he knows within himself that he waits to be a corpse. A dark day will whirl him around. 24 Distress and anguish will seize him like a commander falling in the front rank. 25 For he raised his hands against the Lord and stiffened his neck against the Lord Almighty. 26 He ran against him arrogantly, with the thickness of the back of his shield, 27 because he covered his face with his fat and made a band around his thighs. 28 May he stay in deserted cities and enter uninhabited houses. Others will carry off what they prepared. 29 He will never become rich, and his possessions will not last. He will cast no shadow on the earth. 30 He will not escape darkness. May the wind wither his bud, and may his flower fall off. 31 Let him not believe that he will endure, for emptiness will be his outcome. 32 His stump will perish before its time, and his branch will not grow thick. 33 May he be picked like an unripe grape before its time and fall like an olive blossom. 34 For a godless man’s testimony is death, and fire will burn the houses of bribe-takers. 35 He will conceive pains, his outcome will be emptiness, and his belly will carry deceit.”

Job’s Reply

1 Job replied,

2 “I have heard many things like these. You are all bad comforters. 3 What? Is there any order in windy words? Or what will trouble you, that you answer? 4 I too will speak as you do. If your soul were in my soul’s place, then I would leap at you with words and shake my head at you. 5 May there be strength in my mouth, and I will not hold back the movement of my lips. 6 For if I speak, I will not feel the pain of my wound. But even if I keep quiet, how will I be wounded any less?

7 “But now he has made me exhausted, a rotting fool. 8 You seized me. It became evidence, and my lie rose up within me and answered me to my face. 9 Acting in anger, he threw me down. He gnashed his teeth at me. His raiders’ arrows fell on me. 10 He leaped at me with darts from his eyes. He struck my cheek with something sharp, and they rushed at me together. 11 For the Lord handed me over to an unjust man and threw me to the godless. 12 While I was at peace, he shattered me. He seized me by the hair and pulled it out. He set me up like a target. 13 They surrounded me with spears, striking my kidneys without mercy. They poured my bile onto the ground. 14 They threw me down, fall after fall. They rushed at me with force. 15 I sewed sackcloth onto my skin, and my strength was extinguished in the earth. 16 My belly is burned up from weeping, and a shadow is on my eyelids. 17 Yet there was nothing unjust in my hands, and my prayer was pure.

18 “Earth, do not cover the blood of my flesh, and let there be no place for my cry. 19 Even now, look, my witness is in the heavens, and the one who can confirm my case is on high. 20 May my plea reach the Lord, and may my eye shed tears in his presence. 21 If only a man could argue his case in the Lord’s presence, and a son of man with his neighbor. 22 The numbered years have come, and I will travel a road I will not return by.

1 “I am perishing, carried away by the wind. I beg for burial and do not find it. 2 I plead in exhaustion. What have I done? 3 Strangers stole my possessions. Who is this? Let him join hands with me. 4 For you hid their heart from understanding, so you will certainly not raise them up. 5 He will report bad things to the group, but my eyes wasted away over my sons.

6 “You made me a common saying among the nations, and I became a laughingstock to them. 7 For my eyes have hardened from anger. I am under heavy siege by everyone. 8 Amazement at this seized truthful men. May the righteous man rise against the lawbreaker. 9 May the faithful man hold to his own path, and may the man with clean hands take courage. 10 Still, all of you, press on and come now, for I find nothing true in you. 11 My days passed in a roar, and my heart’s joints broke. 12 They turned night into day. Light is near because of darkness. 13 For if I endure, Hades is my house, and my bed is spread in darkness. 14 I called on death to be my father and decay to be my mother and sister. 15 Where, then, is my hope now? Will I see my good things? 16 Will they go down with me to Hades, or will we go down together to the grave?”

Bildad’s Second Reply

1 Bildad the Shuhite replied,

2 “How long will you refuse to stop? Hold back so that we too can speak. 3 Why have we kept silent before you like four-footed animals? 4 Anger has used you. What? If you die, will what is under heaven be uninhabited? Will mountains be overturned from their foundations?

5 “The light of the godless will be extinguished, and their flame will come to nothing. 6 His light is darkness in his dwelling, and his lamp will be extinguished over him. 7 May the least important people hunt down his possessions, and may his own plan trip him up. 8 His foot has been thrown into a trap. May it be tangled in a net. 9 May traps come upon him. He will strengthen those who thirst against him. 10 His rope is hidden in the earth, and the means of his capture is on the paths. 11 May pains destroy him on every side, and may many surround his feet in severe famine. 12 An extraordinary fall has been prepared for him. 13 May his toes be devoured, and death will consume his prime. 14 May healing be torn from his dwelling, and may distress seize him on a royal charge. 15 It will camp in his tent in his night. His beautiful things will be sown with sulfur. 16 His roots will dry up below, and his crop will fall off above. 17 May his memory perish from the earth, and he has a name out in the open. 18 May he drive him from light into darkness. 19 He will not be known among his people, nor will his house be preserved under heaven. Others will live in what belongs to him. 20 The last groaned over him, and amazement seized the first. 21 These are the houses of the unjust, and this is the place of those who do not know the Lord.”

Job’s Reply

1 Job replied,

2 “How long will you wear out my soul and tear me down with words? 3 Just know that the Lord made me this way. You speak against me and press your attack without feeling shame before me. 4 Yes, I truly went wrong, and error lodges with me, 4a in speaking a word I should not have spoken. My words go astray and are ill-timed. 5 But look, you make yourselves great against me and leap at me with insults. 6 Know, then, that the Lord is the one who troubled me and raised his stronghold against me. 7 Look, I laugh at insults and will not speak. I will cry out, but there is no justice anywhere. 8 I am walled in on every side and cannot get through. He put darkness before my face. 9 He stripped my glory from me and took the crown from my head. 10 He tore me apart on every side, and I was gone. He cut down my hope like a tree. 11 He treated me terribly in anger and considered me an enemy. 12 His raiding parties came against me together. Those lying in ambush surrounded me on my roads.

13 “My brothers turned away from me. They recognized strangers rather than me, and my friends have become merciless. 14 My closest relatives did not acknowledge me, and those who knew my name forgot me. 15 My next-door neighbors and my servant girls, I was a foreigner to them. 16 I called my servant, and he did not answer, but my mouth kept pleading. 17 I begged my wife and called the sons of my concubines, flattering them. 18 But they rejected me forever. When I get up, they speak against me. 19 Those who knew me loathed me. Those I had loved rose up against me. 20 My flesh rotted under my skin, and my bones are held in my teeth. 21 Have pity on me, have pity on me, my friends, for the Lord’s hand is what touched me. 22 Why do you pursue me as the Lord does, and why are you not satisfied with my flesh?

23 “If only my words could be written and put in a book forever, 24 with an iron stylus and lead, or carved in rocks! 25 For I know that the one about to release me on earth is everlasting. 26 May my skin, which endures these things, rise up,⁠a for these things were brought about for me by the Lord, 27 things I know within myself, things my own eye has seen and no other, and all have been completed for me in my chest. 28 But even if you say, ‘What will we say in front of him, and we will find the root of the matter in him?’ 29 You too, beware of concealment, for anger will come on the lawless, and then they will know where their resources are.”

Zophar’s Second Reply

1 Zophar the Minaean replied,

2 “I did not expect you to answer these things like this. You do not understand any more than I do. 3 I will hear the instruction of my shame, and a spirit from understanding answers me. 4 Didn’t you know these things before now, since a human was placed on the earth? 5 For the godless people’s merriment is an extraordinary fall, and the lawbreakers’ joy is destruction, 6 even if his gifts rise to heaven and his sacrifice touches the clouds. 7 For just when he thinks he is firmly established, he will perish completely, and those who saw him will say, ‘Where is he?’ 8 Like a dream that has flown away, he will not be found. He flew away like an apparition in the night. 9 An eye caught a glimpse and will not do so again, and his place will no longer notice him.

10 “May those beneath him destroy his sons, and may his hands kindle pains. 11 His bones were filled with his youth, and it will lie down with him on a burial mound. 12 If evil becomes sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue. 13 He will not spare it or abandon it, but will keep it in the middle of his throat. 14 He will not be able to help himself. A cobra’s venom is in his belly.

15 “Wealth gathered unjustly will be vomited up. A messenger will drag it out of his house. 16 May he suck dragons’ fury, and may a snake’s tongue kill him. 17 May he see no milk from pastures, nor pastures of honey and butter. 18 He toiled for empty and futile things, wealth he will not taste, like something tough that cannot be chewed or swallowed. 19 For he broke down the houses of many powerless people and seized a dwelling he did not build.

20 “There is no safety for him in his possessions. In his desire he will not be saved. 21 There is nothing left of his food, so his good things will not flourish. 22 But just when he thinks he is full, he will be oppressed, and every distress will come on him. 23 If somehow he could fill his belly, may he send furious anger on him. May he wash pains over him. 24 He will certainly not escape the hands of iron. May a bronze bow wound him. 25 May an arrow pass through his body, and may lightning bolts walk in his dwellings, terrors on him. 26 May total darkness lie in wait for him. An unquenchable fire will devour him, and may a stranger harm his house. 27 May the sky uncover his lawless acts, and may the earth rise against him. 28 May destruction drag his house to its end. May a day of anger come on him. 29 This is the godless man’s share from the Lord, and possession of his belongings comes from the Overseer.”

Job’s Reply

1 Job replied,

2 “Listen, listen to my words, so that this will not be your comfort for me. 3 Lift me up, and I will speak. Then you will not laugh at me. 4 What? Is my argument with a human? Or why should I not get angry? 5 Look at me in amazement, putting your hand on your cheek. 6 For even when I remember, I am alarmed, and pains grip my flesh. 7 Why do the godless live on and grow old, even in wealth? 8 Their offspring are as they desire, and their children are before their eyes. 9 Their houses prosper, fear is nowhere, and no whip from the Lord is on them. 10 Their cow did not calve prematurely. Their pregnant animal was kept safe and did not miscarry. 11 They remain like sheep that never age, and their children play, 12 taking up a harp and a lyre and rejoicing at the sound of a song. 13 They finished their lives among good things and fell asleep in the rest of Hades. 14 But he says to the Lord, ‘Leave me alone. I do not want to know your ways. 15 What is the Sufficient One, that we should serve him? What do we gain by approaching him?’ 16 For their good things were in their hands, but he does not watch the deeds of the godless.

17 “Still, the lamp of the godless will also be extinguished. Ruin will come on them, and labor pains will grip them because of anger. 18 They will be like chaff before the wind or like dust that a whirlwind sucked up. 19 May his possessions fail his sons. He will repay him, and he will know. 20 May his eyes see his own slaughter, and may he not escape from the Lord. 21 For what desire does he have for his house after him? And the number of his months has been divided. 22 Isn’t the Lord the one who teaches understanding and knowledge? He will judge murders. 23 This man will die in the strength of his sincerity, completely at ease and prosperous. 24 His insides are full of fat, and his marrow is dispersed. 25 But another dies in bitterness of soul, having eaten nothing good. 26 They lie down on the earth together, and decay covered them.

27 “So I know you, that you boldly attack me, 28 because you will say, ‘Where is the ruler’s house? Where is the shelter of the godless people’s tents?’ 29 Ask those passing along the road, and you will not dismiss their signs, 30 showing that the wicked man gets relief for the day of destruction. They will be carried away for the day of his anger. 31 Who will tell him his way to his face? He acted, and who will repay him? 32 He was carried away to the graves and kept watch over the coffin. 33 The streambed’s pebbles became sweet to him. Every human will go after him, and those who went ahead of him are beyond counting. 34 How, then, do you comfort me with empty things? I have no rest from you at all.”

Eliphaz’s Third Reply

1 Eliphaz the Temanite replied,

2 “Isn’t the Lord the one who teaches understanding and knowledge? 3 For what does the Lord care if you were blameless in your deeds? Is there any benefit in making your way simple? 4 Will he correct you while taking account of you? Will he go to trial with you? 5 Isn’t your wickedness great, and aren’t your sins beyond counting? 6 You took pledges from your brothers for no reason and took clothing away from the naked. 7 You gave no water to the thirsty to drink, but deprived the hungry of a morsel. 8 You favored some people and settled them on the land. 9 You sent widows away with nothing and mistreated orphans. 10 So traps surrounded you, and an extraordinary war alarmed you. 11 The light turned out to be darkness for you, and water covered you while you slept.

12 “Doesn’t the one who lives on high watch? He brought low those carried away by pride. 13 You said, ‘What does the Strong One know? Will he judge through the gloom? 14 Clouds are his hiding place, and he will not be seen. He will pass through the sky’s circle.’ 15 Will you keep the ancient path that unjust men walked, 16 who were seized before their time? Their foundations are a flowing river. 17 They say, ‘What will the Lord do to us?’ Or, ‘What will the Almighty bring on us?’ 18 Yet he filled their houses with good things, and the plans of the godless are far from him. 19 Righteous people saw and laughed, and the blameless man sneered. 20 Except that their substance vanished, and fire will devour what remains of them.

21 “Be hard, then, if you are to endure. Then your fruit will prosper. 22 Take a declaration from his mouth, and take his words into your heart. 23 If you turn and humble yourself in the Lord’s presence, you have put injustice far from your dwelling. 24 You will place it on a mound in a rock, and as in a rock, streams of Ophir. 25 Then the Almighty will be your helper against enemies and will restore you pure, like silver refined by fire. 26 Then you will speak freely to the Lord, looking up cheerfully to the sky. 27 When you pray to him, he will hear you and let you pay your vows. 28 He will restore a righteous way of life to you, and there will be light on your paths. 29 For he humbled him, and you will say, ‘He acted arrogantly.’ And he will save the one whose eyes are bent down. 30 He will rescue the innocent, and be saved through your clean hands.”

Job’s Reply

1 Job replied,

2 “Yes, I know that argument is out of my reach, and his hand has grown heavy on my groaning. 3 Who could know, then, that I might find him and reach the end? 4 I would state my own case and fill my mouth with arguments. 5 I would know the words he will say to me and understand what he will tell me. 6 Even if he comes against me with great strength, he will not threaten me then. 7 For truth and correction come from him. May he bring my case to an end. 8 For I will go to the first things, and I am no more. What do I know of the last things? 9 When he acted on the left, I did not grasp it. He will surround me on the right, and I will not see.

10 “For he already knows my way and tested me like gold. 11 I will go out following his commands, for I kept his ways and will never turn aside 12 from his commands. I will never go beyond them, and I hid his words in my chest. 13 Even if he himself judged this way, who contradicted him? For what he wanted, he also did. 15 That is why I am alarmed at him. While I was being instructed, I worried about him. 15a At this, let me be alarmed in his presence. I will consider and be terrified of him. 16 But the Lord softened my heart, and the Almighty alarmed me. 17 For I did not know that darkness would come on me, and gloom covered the space before my face.

1 “But why did times escape the Lord’s notice, 2 while the godless overstepped the boundary, seizing a flock along with its shepherd? 3 They led away the orphans’ pack animal and took a widow’s ox as a pledge. 4 They turned the powerless aside from the righteous path. The meek of the earth hid together. 5 They became like donkeys in a field, going out on my account to do their own work. His bread was sweet to the younger ones. 6 They harvested a field that was not theirs before its time. The powerless worked the godless people’s vineyards without pay or food. 7 They made many sleep naked without clothes and took away the covering of their person. 8 They get wet from the mountains’ showers. Because they have no shelter, they wrap themselves around a rock.

9 “They snatched an orphan from the breast and humiliated someone who had fallen. 10 They unjustly made people sleep naked and took the hungry people’s morsel away. 11 They unjustly lay in ambush in narrow places and did not know the righteous path. 12 They drove them out of the city and their own houses, and the soul of little children groaned loudly. Why has he not visited these?

13 “While they were on earth, they did not understand. They did not know the path of righteousness or travel its trails. 14 But knowing their deeds, he handed them over to darkness, and at night he will be like a thief. 15 The adulterer’s eye watched for darkness, saying, ‘No eye will notice me,’ and he put a covering on his face. 16 He dug through houses in the dark. By day they sealed themselves up. They did not recognize light. 17 For morning is death’s shadow to them all together, because he will recognize the troubles of death’s shadow. 18 He is light on the water’s surface. “May their share on earth be cursed. 19 May their plants appear dry on the earth, for they seized the orphans’ armful. 20 Then his sin was remembered, and he disappeared like a dewy mist. May he be repaid for what he did, and may every unjust man be crushed like a tree beyond healing.

21 “For he did not treat a childless woman well and had no pity on a weak woman. 22 In anger he overthrew the powerless. So when he rises, he will have no confidence in his own life. 23 When he is sick, let him not hope to recover, but he will fall through disease. 24 For his high position harmed many, but he withered like a mallow in the heat, or like an ear of grain falling off the stalk by itself. 25 If it is not so, who says I am speaking falsely and will make my words count for nothing?”

Bildad’s Third Reply

1 Bildad the Shuhite replied,

2 “What introduction or fear comes from him, who makes everything on high? 3 Let no one think there is relief for raiders. Who will not face an ambush from him? 4 For how can a mortal be righteous in the Lord’s sight? Who born of a woman could purify himself? 5 If he commands the moon, it does not shine, and the stars are not pure in his sight. 6 But look, a human is rotting matter, and a son of man is a worm.”

Job’s Reply

1 Job replied,

2 “Who are you devoted to? Who are you going to help? Isn’t it the one with great strength and a powerful arm? 3 Who have you advised? Isn’t it the one with all wisdom? Who will you follow? Isn’t it the one with the greatest power? 4 Who did you speak words to? Whose breath came out of you?

5 “Will giants be brought to birth beneath the water and its neighbors? 6 Hades lies bare in his sight, and destruction has no covering. 7 He stretches the north over nothing and hangs the earth on nothing, 8 binding water in his clouds, and the cloud did not burst beneath it. 9 He holds the throne’s face firmly, spreading his cloud over it. 10 He traced a decree around the surface of the water, as far as the end of light with darkness. 11 Heaven’s pillars were spread out and astonished at his rebuke. 12 By strength he calmed the sea, and by knowledge he wounded the sea monster. 13 Heaven’s bars fear him, and by a command he killed the rebellious dragon. 14 Look, these are parts of his way, and at a drop of a word we will listen to him. But the force of his thunder, who knows when it will act?”

Job Continues

1 Job continued his introduction, saying,

2 “As the Lord lives, who judged me this way, and the Almighty, who made my soul bitter, 3 as long as my breath is still within me, and a divine breath remains in my nostrils, 4 my lips will not speak lawless things, and my soul will not dwell on injustice. 5 I will never declare you righteous as long as I live, for I will not give up my innocence. 6 But holding firmly to righteousness, I will never let it go, for I am not aware that I did anything wrong.⁠a

7 “Still, may my enemies be like the ruin of the godless, and those who rise against me like the destruction of lawbreakers. 8 For what hope does a godless man have, that he keeps holding on? Trusting in the Lord, will he be saved? 9 Will the Lord hear his plea? Or when distress comes on him, 10 does he have any confidence in his presence? Or when he calls on him, will he hear him? 11 But I will tell you what is in the Lord’s hand. I will not lie about what is with the Almighty. 12 Look, you all know that you are piling empty things on empty things.

13 “This is a godless man’s share from the Lord, and the powerful men’s possession will come on them from the Almighty. 14 If his sons become many, they will be destined for slaughter. Even if they reach manhood, they will beg. 15 His survivors will meet their end in death, and no one will pity their widows. 16 If he gathers silver like dirt and prepares gold like clay, 17 righteous people will acquire all these things, and truthful people will possess his money. 18 His house turned out like moths and like a spider’s web. 19 He lay down rich and will add no more. He opened his eyes and is gone. 20 Pains met him like water, and gloom carried him off at night. 21 A scorching wind will lift him up, and he will go away. It will winnow him out of his place. 22 It will hurl at him without mercy. He will flee in full flight from its hand. 23 He will clap his hands against him and hiss him out of his place.

The Search for Wisdom

1 “For silver has a place where it comes from, and gold a place where it is sifted. 2 For iron comes from the earth, and copper is quarried like stone. 3 He imposed order on darkness and examines every limit. A stone is darkness and death’s shadow. 4 A stream’s cleft, away from dust. Those among mortals who forget the righteous path grew weak. 5 Earth, bread will come from it. Underneath it was turned about like fire. 6 Its stones are a place of lapis lazuli, and its mound has gold. 7 A path, no bird has known it, and no vulture’s eye has glanced at it. 8 The sons of boasters have not walked it. No lion passed over it. 9 He stretched out his hand on sharp rock and overturned mountains from their roots. 10 He broke the whirlpools of rivers, and my eye saw every precious thing. 11 He uncovered the rivers’ depths and brought his own power to light.

12 “But where was wisdom found? What is the place of knowledge like? 13 No mortal knows its way, and it will never be found among humans. 14 The deep said, ‘It is not in me,’ and the sea said, ‘It is not with me.’ 15 No one will give a locked chest in its place, and silver will not be weighed in exchange for it. 16 It will not be weighed against Ophir’s gold, precious onyx, or lapis lazuli. 17 Gold and glass will not equal it, nor will gold vessels be its exchange. 18 Celestial objects and crystal will not be mentioned. Draw wisdom above the innermost things. 19 Ethiopia’s topaz will not equal it. It will not be weighed against pure gold.

20 “But where was wisdom found? What is the place of understanding like? 21 It has escaped every human’s notice and was hidden from the sky’s birds. 22 Destruction and Death said, ‘We have heard its fame.’

23 “God established its way well, and he himself knows its place. 24 For he watches everything under heaven, knowing everything on earth that he made, 25 the weight of winds and the measures of water. 26 When he did this, he counted the rain, and a path in a shaking, sounds. 27 Then he saw it and described it. He prepared it and traced it out. 28 He said to a human, ‘Look, devotion to God is wisdom, and staying away from bad things is knowledge.’”

Job Recalls His Former Life

1 Job continued his introduction, saying,

2 “If only someone could put me in a month of former days, when God watched over me, 3 when his lamp shone over my head, when I walked in darkness by his light, 4 when I pressed on along my paths, when God paid a visit to my house, 5 when I was very prosperous and my children were around me, 6 when my roads flowed with butter and my mountains flowed with milk, 7 when I went out early in the city and my chair was set in the squares. 8 Young men saw me and hid, and all the old men stood up. 9 Prominent men stopped speaking and put a finger to their mouths. 10 Those who heard called me happy, and their tongues stuck to their throats. 11 For an ear heard and called me happy, and an eye saw me and turned away. 12 For I rescued a poor man from a powerful man’s hand and helped an orphan who had no helper. 13 May a dying man’s blessing come on me, and a widow’s mouth blessed me. 14 I had put on righteousness and clothed myself with justice like a cloak. 15 I was an eye for the blind and a foot for those who limped. 16 I was a father to the powerless, and I investigated a case I did not know. 17 I broke the unjust men’s molars and tore prey from between their teeth. 18 I said, ‘My life will reach old age. I will live a long time like a palm tree’s trunk. 19 My root has opened out onto water, and dew will stay on my crop. 20 My glory is fresh with me, and my bow will move in his hand.’

21 “Those who heard me paid attention and fell silent at my advice. 22 They added nothing to my word and were overjoyed whenever I spoke to them. 23 Like thirsty earth welcoming rain, they welcomed my speech. 24 If I smile at them, they will never believe it, and the light of my face did not fade. 25 I chose their way and sat as ruler. I camped like a king among lightly armed men, like someone comforting mourners.

Job’s Present Suffering

1 “But now the least important have laughed at me. Now they correct me in turn, those whose fathers I despised, whom I did not consider worthy of my shepherd dogs. 2 What use is their hands’ strength to me? Completion perished for them. 3 In poverty and hunger, childless, those who yesterday fled a dry place, distress and misery, 4 those who break off saltwort beside something making a sound. Saltwort was their food. They were dishonored and despised, lacking every good thing, and even chewed tree roots because of severe hunger. 5 Thieves rose up against me, 6 whose houses were caves in the rocks. 7 They will cry out among pleasant sounds, those who lived under wild shrubs, 8 sons of fools and dishonored people, with name and fame extinguished from the earth.

9 “But now I am their lyre, and they make me common talk. 10 They loathed me and stood far away, and they did not spare my face their spit. 11 For he opened his quiver and harmed me, and they cast off the restraint of my presence. 12 They rose up on the right of the offspring, stretched out their foot, and built paths of their destruction against me. 13 My paths were worn away, for he stripped off my robe. 14 He shot me down with his arrows. He has treated me as he wishes. I am a jumble of pains. 15 My pains return. My hope went away like a breath, and my safety like a cloud. 16 Now my soul will be poured out over me, and days of pain grip me. 17 At night my bones are burned up, and my tendons have dissolved. 18 With great force he grabbed my robe. He encircled me like my tunic’s collar.

19 “You considered me like clay. My share is in earth and ashes. 20 I have cried out to you, but you do not hear me. They stood and watched me. 21 You trampled on me without mercy and whipped me with a strong hand. 22 You set me among pains and threw me away from safety. 23 For I know that death will crush me, for earth is a home for every mortal.

24 “If only I could lay hands on myself, or at least ask someone else, and he would do this for me. 25 But I wept over every powerless person and groaned when I saw a man in distress. 26 But while I was intent on good things, look, days of bad things met me instead. 27 My belly boiled and will not be still. Days of poverty overtook me. 28 I have gone around groaning without a muzzle and have stood crying out in the assembly. 29 I have become a brother of sirens and a companion of ostriches. 30 My skin has become very dark, and my bones from the heat. 31 My lyre turned into suffering, and my melody into weeping for me.

Job’s Declaration of Innocence

1 “I made a covenant with my eyes, and I will not pay attention to a virgin. 2 What did God assign from above, and what inheritance comes from the Sufficient One on high? 3 Isn’t destruction for the unjust, and estrangement for those who act lawlessly? 4 Won’t he see my way and count all my steps? 5 But if I had walked with jokers, and if my foot hurried toward deceit, 6 then may he weigh me on a just scale. But the Lord knows my innocence. 7 If my foot turned aside from the path, if my heart followed my eye, and if I touched gifts with my hands, 8 then may I sow and others eat, and may I become rootless on the earth.

9 “If my heart followed another man’s wife, if I lay in ambush at her doors, 10 then may my wife also please another, and may my little children be humiliated. 11 For defiling a man’s wife is an uncontrollable fury of anger. 12 For it is a fire burning on every side, and wherever it went, it destroyed from the roots.

13 “If I despised my male or female servant’s case when they brought a complaint against me, 14 what will I do if the Lord investigates me? If he pays a visit, what answer will I give? 15 Weren’t they conceived in the belly just as I was? We were conceived in the same womb.

16 “But whatever need the powerless had, I did not miss it, and I did not let a widow’s eye waste away. 17 If I ate my morsel alone and did not share with an orphan, 18 for from my youth I raised them like a father, and from my mother’s womb I gave guidance, 19 and if I overlooked a naked man dying and did not clothe him, 20 and if the powerless did not bless me, but their shoulders were warmed by my lambs’ fleece, 21 if I raised a hand against an orphan, confident that I had plenty of help, 22 then may my shoulder come away from the collarbone, and may my arm be crushed from the elbow. 23 For fear of the Lord restrained me, and I will not endure because of his burden.

24 “If I made gold my strength, and if I trusted a precious stone, 25 if I rejoiced when great wealth came to me, and if I placed my hand on things beyond counting, 26 don’t I see the shining sun fading and the moon waning? For it is not in their power. 27 If my heart was secretly deceived, and if I put my hand on my mouth and kissed it, 28 then may this too be counted as my greatest lawlessness, because I lied to the Lord Most High.

29 “If I was glad at my enemies’ fall and my heart said, ‘Well done!’ 30 then may my ear hear my curse, and may my people make common talk of me in my suffering. 31 If my servant girls often said, ‘If only we could be filled with his flesh,’ though I was very kind, 32 and no foreigner lodged outside, but my door stood open to everyone who came, 33 and if I hid my sin after sinning unintentionally, 34 for I was not intimidated by a large crowd into failing to speak openly before them, and if I let a powerless man leave my door with his lap empty, 35 if only someone would hear me! And if I had not feared the Lord’s hand, the written charge I had against someone, 36 I would have put on my shoulders like a wreath and read it. 37 And if I did not tear it up and give it back after taking nothing from the debtor,

38 “if the land ever groaned over me, and if its furrows wept together, 39 if I ate its strength alone without payment, and if I grieved the landowner’s soul by driving him out,

40 then may nettles grow for me instead of wheat, and brambles instead of barley.” Job stopped speaking.

Elihu Enters the Debate

1 His three friends also stopped answering Job, for Job was righteous before them. 2 Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, from Ram’s family in the land of Uz, grew angry. He was very angry with Job because Job declared himself righteous in the Lord’s sight. 3 He was also very angry with the three friends because they could not give Job counterarguments, and they made him out to be godless.⁠a

4 Elihu waited to answer Job because they were older than he was. 5 Elihu saw that the three men had no answer in their mouths, and his anger flared up.

Elihu’s Speech

6 Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite replied, “I am younger,
and you are older.
So I kept quiet, afraid to tell you what I know.

7 I said, ‘Time is what speaks, and with many years they know wisdom.’ 8 But there is a spirit in mortals, and the Almighty’s breath is what teaches. 9 The long-lived are not wise, nor do the old know judgment. 10 So I said, ‘Listen to me, and I will tell you what I know.’

11 “Listen closely to my words, for I will speak while you hear, until you examine words. 12 I will understand as far as you, and look, none of you refuted Job or answered his words, 13 so that you do not say, ‘We found wisdom and added it to the Lord.’ 14 But you allowed a man to speak such words. 15 They were terrified and answered no more. They made their words grow old. 16 I waited, for they did not speak. They stood still and did not answer.”

17 Elihu continued, saying,

18 “I will speak again, for I am full of words. The spirit of my belly is destroying me. 19 My belly is like a tied wineskin of new wine fermenting, or like a metalsmith’s bellows that have burst. 20 I will speak to find relief as I open my lips. 21 For I will not be in awe of a human, nor will I show deference to a mortal. 22 For I do not know how to show favoritism. Otherwise, moths will eat me too!

1 “Still, Job, hear my words and listen to my speech. 2 For look, I opened my mouth, and my tongue spoke. 3 My heart is pure in its words, and my lips’ understanding is pure in thought. 4 A divine spirit made me, and the Almighty’s breath teaches me. 5 If you can, give me an answer to these things. Wait. Stand against me, and I against you. 6 You have been formed from clay, just like me. We have been formed from the same thing. 7 Fear of me will not unsettle you, nor will my hand be heavy on you.

8 “But you spoke in my hearing. I have heard the sound of your words, 9 for you say, ‘I am pure, without sinning. I am blameless, for I did not act lawlessly. 10 But he found a complaint against me and considered me an opponent. 11 He put my foot in the stocks and watched all my paths.’

12 “For how can you say, ‘I am righteous, and he has not heard me’? For the one above mortals is everlasting. 13 But you say, ‘Why has he not heard every word of my case?’ 14 For the Lord speaks once, and a second time through a dream, 15 or in nighttime reflection, as when terrible fear falls on people as they doze on a bed. 16 Then he uncovers the human mind. He frightened them with such fearful visions, 17 to turn a man from injustice, and he rescued his body from a fall. 18 He spared his soul from death and kept him from falling in war. 19 Again he corrected him through sickness on his bed, and many of his bones grew numb. 20 He will not be able to take any morsel of food, and his soul will desire food, 21 until his flesh rots and he shows his bones bare. 22 His soul drew near to death, and his life was in Hades. 23 If there are a thousand death-bearing angels, not one of them will wound him. If he resolves in his heart to turn to the Lord, declares his own fault to a human, and reveals his foolishness, 24 he will support him to keep him from falling into death. He will renew his body like plaster on a wall and fill his bones with marrow. 25 He will soften his flesh like an infant’s and restore him full-grown among humans. 26 When he prays to the Lord, it will be acceptable to him. He will enter with a pure face, with a declaration, and he will repay people with righteousness. 27 Then the man himself will blame himself, saying, ‘Given the things I was doing, he did not call me to account as my sins deserved. 28 Save my soul from going to decay, and my life will see light. 29 Look, the Strong One does all these things, three ways with a man. 30 But he rescued my soul from death so that my life may praise him in the light.’ 31 Listen, Job, and hear me. Be quiet. I am the one who will speak. 32 If there are words, answer me. Speak, for I want you to be justified. 33 If not, hear me. Be quiet, and I will teach you wisdom.”

Elihu Continues

1 Elihu continued, saying,

2 “Hear me, wise men. Listen to what is good, you who know. 3 For an ear tests words, and a throat tastes food. 4 Let us choose judgment for ourselves. Let us know among ourselves what is good. 5 For Job said, ‘I am righteous. The Lord dismissed my case. 6 He lied about my case. My arrow is violent, though I have done no injustice.’ 7 What man is like Job, drinking mockery like water? 8 ‘I have not sinned or acted godlessly or shared a road with those who do lawless acts, to walk with the godless.’ 9 For do not say, ‘There will be no visitation of a man.’ There is a visitation for him from the Lord.

10 “So hear me, you with intelligent hearts. May I never act godlessly in the Lord’s sight or distort what is right in the sight of the Almighty. 11 Instead, he repays a human according to what each one does, and he will find a man on his path. 12 Do you think the Lord will do wrong? Will the Almighty distort justice? 13 He is the one who made the earth. Who makes what is under heaven and everything in it? 14 For if he wished to hold back and keep the spirit with himself, 15 all flesh would die together, and every mortal would return to earth, where he was formed.

16 “To keep him from correcting you, hear these things. Listen to the sound of words. 17 Look at the one who hates lawless acts and destroys the wicked, who is eternally righteous. 18 Godless is the man who says to a king, ‘You are breaking the law,’ and to rulers, ‘Most godless one,’ 19 who felt no shame before a respected man and does not know how to honor prominent people so that they will be admired. 20 But crying out and pleading with a man will prove empty for them, for they acted lawlessly as the powerless were turned aside.

21 “For he is an eyewitness of human deeds, and nothing they do has escaped him. 22 There will be no place for those who do lawless acts to hide. 23 For he will put no more on a man, for the Lord watches everyone, 24 who grasps things beyond tracing, glorious and extraordinary things beyond counting. 25 He makes their deeds known and will turn night around, and they will be brought low. 26 He extinguished the godless, and they are visible to him, 27 because they turned aside from God’s law and did not recognize his requirements, 28 to bring the needy man’s cry on him, and he will hear the poor people’s cry. 29 He will give quiet, and who will condemn? He will hide his face, and who will see him? Against a nation and against a man together, 30 making a hypocrite king because of the people’s difficult behavior. 31 For the one who says to the Strong One, ‘I have received. I will not take a pledge. 32 I will look apart from myself. Show me. If I committed injustice, I will not do it again.’ 33 Will he exact it from you? For you will reject it, for you will choose, and I will not. Say what you know.

34 “So those with intelligent hearts will say these things, and a wise man has heard my word. 35 But Job did not speak with understanding, and his words were without knowledge. 36 Still, learn, Job. Stop answering like fools, 37 so that we do not add to our sins, and lawlessness will be counted against us as we speak many words to the Lord.”

Elihu Continues

1 Elihu continued, saying,

2 “What is this you considered in judgment? Who are you, that you said, ‘I am righteous in the Lord’s sight’? 3 Or will you say, ‘What will I do, having sinned?’ 4 I will answer you and your three friends. 5 Look up at the sky and see. Study the clouds, how high they are above you. 6 If you sinned, what will you do? If you broke the law many times, what can you do? 7 Since, then, you are righteous, what will you give him? What will he receive from your hand? 8 Your godlessness is for a man like you, and your righteousness for a son of man. 9 Those falsely accused by a crowd will cry out. They will call for help because of the arm of many. 10 He did not say, ‘Where is the God who made me, who appoints the night watches, 11 who sets me apart from the earth’s four-footed animals and from the sky’s birds?’ 12 There they will cry out, and he will certainly not hear, even because of the wicked people’s arrogance. 13 For the Lord does not want to see wrongdoing, for the Almighty himself is an eyewitness of 14 those who do lawless deeds, and he will save me. Submit to judgment in his presence, if you can praise him as he is. 15 Now, because there is no one attending to his anger, and he did not take much notice of a misstep, 16 Job opens his mouth pointlessly. In ignorance he makes words heavy.”

Elihu Continues

1 Elihu continued further, saying,

2 “Wait for me a little longer so I can teach you, for there is still speech in me. 3 Bringing my knowledge from far away, I will speak just things in my works, 4 truthfully and without unjust words. You understand wrongly!

5 “But know that the Lord will never reject the innocent man, powerful in strength of heart, 6 he will never make the godless man live, and he will grant the judgment of the poor. 7 He will not take his eyes off the righteous man, and with kings on a throne he will seat them in victory, and they will be raised high. 8 If they are bound in handcuffs, they will be held in poverty’s cords, 9 and he will tell them their deeds and missteps, that they will grow strong. 10 But he will hear the righteous man, and he said they will turn from injustice. 11 If they listen and serve, they will finish their days in good things and their years in splendor. 12 But he does not rescue the godless, because they do not want to know the Lord and were disobedient when instructed. 13 Hypocrites at heart will marshal anger. They will not cry out because he bound them.

14 “So may their soul die in youth, and their life, wounded by angels, 15 because they oppressed the weak and powerless. He will bring the judgment of the meek into the open. 16 He also lured you out of the enemy’s mouth, a deep, a pouring out beneath it, and your table came down full of fat.

17 “Justice will not be missing for the righteous, 18 but anger will be on the godless because of the godlessness of gifts they accepted for injustices. 19 Do not let your mind deliberately turn you away from the plea of powerless people in distress, and all those strengthening might. 20 Do not prolong the night so that peoples go up in their place. 21 But be careful not to do wrong, for you chose this one because of poverty. 22 Look, the Strong One will prevail by his strength. For what powerful man is like him? 23 Who examines his works? Who said, ‘He did injustice’?

24 “Remember that his works are great, over which men ruled. 25 Every human saw within himself how many mortals are being wounded. 26 Look, the Strong One is great, and we will not know. The number of his years is boundless. 27 Raindrops are counted by him, and they will be poured out by rain into a cloud. 28 Old things will flow, and clouds cast shade on untold mortals. 28a He appointed a time for cattle, and they know the schedule for rest. 28b Doesn’t all this amaze your mind? Doesn’t your heart leave your body? 29 Even if he understands the spreading of a cloud, the proportions of his tent, 30 look, he stretches his mist against him and covered the sea’s roots. 31 For by them he will judge peoples. He will give food to the one with strength. 32 He covered light on his hands and gave an order about it in one who meets. 33 He will report his friend concerning it. There is also acquisition concerning injustice.

1 “At this my heart was troubled and slipped out of its place. 2 Listen to a report amid the Lord’s furious anger, and a discourse will come from his mouth. 3 His rule is under all heaven, and his light is on the earth’s wings. 4 Behind him a voice will cry out. He will thunder with his proud voice and will not exchange them, because he will hear his voice. 5 The Strong One will thunder wonders with his voice, for he did great things we did not know, 6 commanding snow, ‘Come onto the earth,’ and a rainstorm, and a storm of rains of his might. 7 He seals within every human’s hand, so every human may know his own weakness. 8 Wild animals went into shelter and rested in their lair. 9 Whirlwinds come from their chambers, and cold from the peaks. 10 From the Strong One’s breath, frost will give. He steers the water as he wishes. 11 A cloud plasters over a choice thing. His light will scatter a cloud. 12 He will twist the circles around by his guidance, toward all their works, whatever he commands them. These things have been ordered by him on the earth, 13 whether for discipline, whether for his land, whether for mercy, he will find him.

14 “Listen to these things, Job. Stand still and be warned of the Lord’s power. 15 We know that God appointed his works, making light from darkness. 16 He knows the division of clouds and the extraordinary falls of the wicked. 17 But your robe is hot, and there is quiet on the earth. 18 Solid structures are with him for old things, strong like the appearance of an outpouring. 19 Why? Teach me what we will say to him, and let us stop talking so much. 20 Is a book or a scribe standing by me, so that I stand and silence a human? 21 The light is not visible to everyone. It shines far away among old things, like the light from him on the clouds. 22 From the north come clouds glowing like gold. On these, the Almighty’s glory and honor are great. 23 We do not find another like him in strength. As for the one who judges rightly, don’t you think he listens? 24 So humans will fear him, and those with wise hearts will fear him too.”

The Lord Answers Job

1 After Elihu stopped speaking, the Lord said to Job through a whirlwind and clouds,

2 “Who is this who hides plans from me, keeps words confined in his heart, and thinks he can hide them from me? 3 Belt your waist like a man. I will question you, and you must answer me.⁠a

4 “Where were you when I was laying the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5 Who set its measurements, if you know? Who stretched a cord over it? 6 What are its rings fastened to? Who laid a cornerstone on it? 7 When stars were born, all my angels praised me loudly.

8 “I fenced the sea with gates when it surged, coming out of its mother’s womb. 9 I made a cloud its clothing and wrapped it in mist like a baby. 10 I set boundaries for it, putting bars and gates around it. 11 I said to it, ‘You will come this far and go no farther. Your waves will be broken within you.’⁠b

12 “Was it in your time that I ordered the morning light and the morning star saw its own station, 13 to take hold of the earth’s wings and shake the godless off it? 14 Did you take earth’s clay and shape a living creature, and place him on earth able to speak? 15 Did you take light away from the godless and crush the arm of the proud?

16 “Did you go to the sea’s source and walk in the tracks of the deep? 17 Do death’s gates open to you in fear? Did Hades’ gatekeepers cower when they saw you? 18 Have you been told the breadth of what is under heaven? Tell me how great it is.

19 “What kind of land does light live in? What is darkness’s place like? 20 Could you lead me to their borders? Do you know their paths too? 21 Then I know you were born at that time, and your years are many!

22 “Did you go to the snow’s storehouses? Have you seen the hail’s storehouses? 23 It is laid aside for you for a time of enemies, for a day of war and battle. 24 Where does frost come from? Where is the south wind scattered to what is under heaven?

25 “Who prepared a channel for driving rain and a path for turmoil, 26 to rain on land where there is no man, a wilderness with no human in it, 27 to feed the untraveled and uninhabited land and make a growth of greenery sprout?

28 “Who is the rain’s father? Who gave birth to lumps of dew? 29 Whose womb does ice come from? Who gave birth to frost in the sky, 30 which comes down like flowing water? Who froze the surface of the deep?

31 “Did you understand the bond of the Pleiades and open Orion’s barrier?⁠c 32 Will you open Mazzaroth in its season? And the evening star by its hair, will you lead them? 33 Do you know the sky’s changes or the events happening together under heaven?

34 “Will you call a cloud by voice, and will it obey you with a violent shudder of water? 35 Will you send thunderbolts, and will they go? Will they say to you, ‘What is it?’ 36 Who gave women skill in weaving or knowledge of embroidery? 37 Who counts clouds in wisdom and bent the sky down to earth? 38 Dust has been poured out like soil, and I have cemented it like a cube to a stone.⁠d

39 “Will you hunt prey for lions and satisfy the appetite of dragons? 40 For they are afraid in their lairs and sit in the woods, lying in ambush. 41 Who prepared food for the raven? For its young cried to the Lord as they wandered in search of food.

1 “Have you known the birthing season of the rock’s wild goats? Did you watch over the deer’s labor pains? 2 Did you count their months full of pregnancy and relieve their labor pains? 3 Did you raise their young without fear? Will you send their labor pains away? 4 Their young will break out and multiply with offspring. They will go out and never return to them.

5 “Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied his bonds? 6 I made his home a wilderness and his shelters salt land, 7 as he laughs at the city’s crowds and does not hear the tax collector’s scolding. 8 He will inspect mountains for his pasture and searches for every green thing.

9 “Will a unicorn be willing to serve you or lie down at your feeding trough? 10 Will you tie his yoke with straps? Will he draw your furrows in the plain? 11 Do you trust him because his strength is great? Will you entrust your work to him? 12 Will you believe that he will return your seed to you and bring in your threshing floor? 13 The wing of those delighting is glad, if it conceives a stork and plumage, 14 because she will leave her eggs on the earth and warm them on the dust. 15 She forgot that a foot will scatter them and wild animals in the field will trample them. 16 She hardened her young so they were not her own. She labored pointlessly without fear, 17 because God silenced wisdom for her and did not give her a share in understanding. 18 At the right time she will lift up on high. She will laugh at a horse and its rider.

19 “Did you give a horse power and clothe its neck with fear? 20 Did you wrap it in full armor, and its breast’s glory in daring? 21 It digs in the plain, taking pride, and goes out into the plain in strength. 22 It meets an arrow and laughs, and will never turn back from iron. 23 On it, bow and sword are proudly displayed. 24 In anger it will obliterate the earth and will not believe until a trumpet sounds. 25 When a trumpet sounds, it says, ‘Well done!’ From far away it smells war, with a leap and a cry.

26 “Is it by your knowledge that a hawk stands with wings spread, motionless, watching what is to the south? 27 Does an eagle rise at your command, and does a vulture lodge, sitting on its nest, 28 on a rocky crag and in a hidden place? 29 From there it searches for food. Its eyes watch from far away. 30 Its young are covered in blood, and wherever the corpses are, they are found at once.”⁠a

The Lord and Job

1 The Lord God answered Job, saying,

2 “Will anyone turn aside judgment with the Sufficient One? Will the one correcting God answer it?”

3 Job replied to the Lord,

4 “Why am I still arguing, being corrected while correcting the Lord, hearing such things when I am nothing? What answer will I give to these things? I will put my hand over my mouth. 5 I have spoken once, but I will not add a second time.”

6 The Lord again replied to Job from the cloud, saying,

7 “No, belt your waist like a man. I will question you, and you must answer me.⁠a 8 Do not reject my judgment. Do you think I have dealt with you for any other reason than to show that you are righteous? 9 Do you have an arm like the Lord’s? Do you thunder with a voice like his?

10 “Take up height and power, and clothe yourself in glory and honor. 11 Send messengers in anger and bring every arrogant person low. 12 Extinguish the proud man, and make the godless rot at once. 13 Hide them outside together in the earth, and fill their faces with disgrace. 14 Then I will acknowledge that your right hand can save.

The Wild Creatures

15 “But look, wild animals are beside you. They eat grass like cattle. 16 Look, its strength is in its lower back, and its power is in its belly’s navel. 17 It stood its tail up like a cypress, and its tendons are woven together. 18 Its sides are sides of copper, and its spine is cast iron.

19 “This is the beginning of the Lord’s creation, made to be mocked by his angels. 20 When it went up onto a steep mountain, it brought joy to the four-footed animals in Tartarus.⁠b 21 It lies under trees of every kind, beside papyrus, reeds, and rushes. 22 Tall trees are shaded in it, along with shoots and branches of the chaste tree. 23 If there is a flood, it will never notice. It trusts that the Jordan will rush into its mouth. 24 Will he catch it in its eye? Will he, bent back, pierce its nose?

The Dragon

25 “Will you catch a dragon with a fishhook and put a halter around its nose? 26 Will you fasten a ring in its nostril and pierce its lip with a bracelet? 27 Will it speak softly to you with a plea, with pleading? 28 Will it make a covenant with you? Will you take it as a slave forever? 29 Will you play with it like a bird or tie it up like a sparrow for a child? 30 Do nations feed on it? Do Phoenician families divide it up? 31 A whole fleet gathered together cannot carry a single hide of its tail, or its head in fishing boats. 32 But you will lay a hand on it, remembering the battle taking place in its body. Let it never happen again.

1 “Haven’t you seen it? Haven’t you marveled at what is said? 2 Aren’t you afraid because it has been prepared for me? For who has stood against me? 3 Who will stand against me and survive, if everything under heaven is mine? 4 I will not be silent because of it and a word of power. It will have pity on its equal.

5 “Who will uncover the front of its clothing? Who could enter the fold of its breastplate? 6 Who will open the gates of its face? Fear is all around its teeth. 7 Its insides are copper shields, and its binding is like emery stone. 8 They cling to one another, and no breath will pass through it. 9 A man will cling to his brother. They are held together and will never be pulled apart. 10 Light shines at its sneezing, and its eyes have the appearance of the morning star. 11 Flaming torches come from its mouth, and firepans are hurled out. 12 Smoke comes from its nostrils, from a furnace burning with the fire of coals. 13 Its soul is coals, and a flame comes from its mouth. 14 Power lives in its neck. Destruction runs before it. 15 Its body’s flesh has been glued together. It pours down over it and will not be shaken. 16 Its heart is firm like stone and stands like an unyielding anvil. 17 When it turns, fear comes on four-footed wild animals leaping on the earth. 18 If spears meet it, they will do nothing, a raised spear and a breastplate. 19 For it considers iron chaff and copper rotten wood. 20 A copper bow will never wound it. It considers a catapult grass. 21 Hammers were counted as straw, and it laughs at the shaking of a firebrand. 22 Its bed is sharp points, and all the sea’s gold beneath it is like untold clay. 23 It makes the deep boil like a copper pot and considers the sea a pot of ointment. 24 It counted Tartarus of the deep as a captive, and the deep as a place to walk. 25 There is nothing on earth like it, made to be mocked by my angels. 26 It sees everything high and is king of all that are in the waters.”

Job’s Reply

1 Job replied to the Lord,

2 “I know you can do everything, and nothing is impossible for you.⁠a 3 For who hides plans from you, uses few words, and thinks he can hide them from you? Who will tell me what I did not know, great and wonderful things I did not understand? 4 Hear me, Lord, so I too can speak. I will question you, and you must teach me. 5 Before, I heard a report of you with my ear, but now my eye has seen you. 6 So I despised myself and wasted away, and I consider myself earth and ashes.”

The Lord Addresses the Friends

7 After the Lord spoke all these words to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “You and your two friends have sinned, for you have said nothing true before me, as my servant Job has. 8 Now take seven calves and seven rams and go to my servant Job. He will make a burnt offering for you, and my servant Job will pray for you, for I will show favor only to him. If not for him, I would have destroyed you, for you did not speak truth against my servant Job.”

9 Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Minaean went and did as the Lord instructed them, and he released them from their sin because of Job.⁠b

Job’s Restoration

10 The Lord increased Job’s prosperity. When he also prayed for his friends, he forgave them their sin. The Lord gave Job twice what he had before, so that he had double.

11 All his brothers and sisters heard everything that had happened to him and came to him, along with everyone who had known him from the beginning. They ate and drank with him, comforted him, and marveled at everything the Lord had brought on him. Each gave him one ewe lamb and a piece of unstamped gold weighing four drachmas.

12 The Lord blessed Job’s later life more than his earlier life. His livestock was fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand pairs of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys at pasture. 13 Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. 14 He named the first Day, the second Cassia, and the third Amalthea’s Horn. 15 No one better than Job’s daughters was found under heaven. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

16 Job lived a hundred and seventy years after the blow.⁠c He lived two hundred and forty-eight years in all, and he saw his sons and his sons’ sons, a fourth generation. 17 Job died old and full of days.

Job’s Resurrection and Family

17a It is written that he will rise again with those the Lord raises up.

17b In translation from the Syriac book, this man is described as living in the land of Uz, on the borders of Idumea and Arabia. His name had been Jobab.⁠d 17c He took an Arabian wife and fathered a son named Ennon. His father was Zerah, and he was a son of Esau’s sons. His mother was Bozrah, making him fifth from Abraham.

17d These were the kings who reigned in Edom, the country he also ruled. First was Balak son of Beor, whose city was named Dinhabah. After Balak came Jobab, who is called Job. After him came Husham, a ruler from the land of Teman. After him came Hadad son of Bered, who cut down Midian in the plain of Moab. His city was named Gittaim.

17e The friends who came to him were Eliphaz, of Esau’s sons, king of the Temanites, Bildad ruler of the Shuhites, and Zophar king of the Minaeans.