Targum Job

The Prologue

1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, fearing the LORD and turning away from evil. 2 Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. 3 His livestock were seven thousand sheep, a thousand for each son, and three thousand camels, a thousand for each daughter, and five hundred yoke of oxen for himself and five hundred she-donkeys for his wife, and a very large household of servants. That man was greater in possessions than all the people of the east. 4 His sons would go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, until the seven days were completed, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When the days of the feast were completed, Job would send and invite them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings for every one of them, for Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and provoked anger before the LORD in their thoughts.” Job did this every day. 6 It happened on the day of judgment, at the beginning of the year, that the companies of angels came to stand in judgment before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered before the LORD and said, “From roaming over the earth to examine the deeds of human beings, and from walking about in it.” 8 The LORD said to Satan, “Have you set your heart on my servant Job? There is no one like him in the land of the peoples, a blameless and upright man, fearing the LORD and turning away from evil.” 9 Satan answered before the LORD and said, “Is it for nothing that Job fears the LORD? 10 Has your Memra not sheltered him and his house and everything he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock have grown strong in the land. 11 But now stretch out the blow of your hand and touch everything he has, and see whether he does not provoke you to the face of your Memra.” 12 The LORD said to Satan, “Here, everything he has is handed over to you; only do not stretch out your hand against him.” And Satan went out with authority from before the LORD. 13 It happened, on the first day of the week, that his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their firstborn brother. 14 A messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the she-donkeys were grazing beside them, 15 and Lilith, the queen of Zemargad, fell on them suddenly and carried them off, and her troops killed the young men with the sword. I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While this one was still speaking, another came and said, “A fire from before the LORD fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the young men and consumed them. I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While this one was still speaking, another came and said, “The Chaldeans appointed three commanders of troops, spread out over the camels and carried them off, and killed the young men with the sword. I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While this one was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their firstborn brother, 19 and suddenly a great storm wind came from the direction of the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died. I alone have escaped to tell you.” 20 Then Job rose, tore his robe, shaved his head, fell to the ground and bowed down. 21 He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked I will return to the grave. The Memra of the LORD gave, and the Memra of the LORD and his court of justice have taken away. May the name of the LORD be blessed.” 22 In all this Job did not sin, nor did he set out sinful words before the LORD.

1 It happened on the great day of judgment, the day of the forgiveness of sins, that the companies of angels came to stand in judgment before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to stand in judgment before the LORD. 2 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered before the LORD and said, “From roaming over the earth to examine the deeds of human beings, and from walking about in it.” 3 The LORD said to Satan, “Have you set your heart on my servant Job? There is no one like him in the land of the peoples, a blameless and upright man, fearing the LORD and turning away from evil. He still holds firm to his integrity, and you stirred up my Memra against him to destroy him for nothing.” 4 Satan answered before the LORD and said, “A limb for a limb, and a person will give up everything he has for his life. 5 But now stretch out the blow of your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and see whether he does not provoke you to the face of your Memra.” 6 The LORD said to Satan, “Here, he is handed over to you; only guard his life.” 7 Satan went out with authority from before the LORD and struck Job with severe boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself with it while he sat in the middle of the ashes. 9 His wife Dinah said to him, “Are you still holding firm to your integrity? Bless the Memra of the LORD and die.” 10 He said to her, “You are speaking the way one of the women who do shameful things in their fathers’ houses would speak. Shall we receive only good from before the LORD, and not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips, but in his thoughts he turned the words over. 11 Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him (when they saw that the trees of their orchards had withered, that the bread of their meals had turned into raw flesh, and that the wine they drank had turned into blood), and they came, each from his own place (and by this merit they were rescued from the place prepared for them in Gehinnom): Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuah and Zophar from Naamah. They met together to come and console him and comfort him. 12 They looked up from a distance and did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept, and each one tore his robe, and they threw dust over their heads toward the heavens. 13 They sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, and no one said a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

Job's First Speech

1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. 2 Job answered and said: 3 “May the day on which I was born perish (and the angel appointed over conception), and the night that said, ‘A man has been conceived.’ 4 May that day be darkness; may God above not seek it, and may no light shine on it. 5 May darkness and the shadow of death defile it; may a cloud settle on it; may it be terrified like the bitter things of the day (the grief that Jeremiah grieved over the destruction of the temple, and Jonah when he was thrown into the sea of Tarshish). 6 May gloom seize that night; may it not be joined to the festival days of the year; may it not enter into the number of the new moons. 7 Yes, may that night be sorrow; may the song of the wild rooster not come into it to give praise. 8 May the prophets curse it, those who curse the day of punishment, who are ready to raise up their lament when they are roused. 9 May the stars of its twilight be darkened; may it wait for light and have none, and may it not see the first rays of dawn, 10 because it did not hold shut the doors that are the doors of my womb, and did not hide trouble from my eyes. 11 Why did I not die from the womb, and perish when I came out of the belly? 12 Why did the knees receive me, and why the breasts, that I should nurse? 13 For now I would be lying down and quiet; I would be asleep, and then I would have rest, 14 with kings and counselors of the earth who build ruins for themselves, 15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their treasuries with silver. 16 Or why was I not like a stillborn child hidden in the womb, like infants who have not seen the light of the Torah? 17 There the wicked who repented have been released from the rage of Gehinnom, and there the students whose strength is worn out in the Torah will rest. 18 There those bound to the houses of study are at ease together; the infants of the schoolhouse do not hear the voice of the teacher. 19 Jacob, who was called small, and Abraham, who was called great, are there, and Isaac, the servant of the LORD, who went out free from the bonds of his master. 20 Why is light given to those who toil, and life to those bitter in soul, 21 who wait for death and it does not come, and dig for it more than for hidden treasure, 22 who once rejoiced to the point of dancing, and will rejoice now when they find the grave? 23 All these bitter things belong to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in. 24 For my sighing comes before my meals, and my groans pour out like water. 25 For the dread I dreaded has come upon me, and what I feared comes to me. 26 I was not at ease at the news of the oxen and the she-donkeys, I was not quiet at the news of the fire, I did not rest at the news of the camels, and then turmoil came with the news of my sons.”

Eliphaz's First Speech

1 Eliphaz from Teman answered and said: 2 “If a word comes to you as a trial, will you grow weary? Yet who can hold back from speaking? 3 Look, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened weak hands. 4 Your words would raise up anyone who stumbled in sin, and you would make firm the knees that bent in transgression. 5 But now it comes to you, and you grow weary; it reaches you, and you are dismayed. 6 Is not your fear of God your hope, and the integrity of your ways your confidence? 7 Remember now: who that was righteous like Abraham ever perished? And where were the upright like Isaac and Jacob ever cut off? 8 As I have seen, the generation of the flood, those who did falsehood and those who worked wickedness, are repaid in the same measure. 9 By the Memra of God they perish, and by the storm of his nostrils they are destroyed. 10 The roaring of Esau, who is like a lion tearing prey, and his voice, which is like a fierce lion, rage like bears in their seizing, and his chiefs, who are like lions, scatter to take plunder. 11 As the lion perishes for lack of prey, so Ishmael will perish for lack of merit, and his sons, the robbers, have turned aside from upright paths. Another targum: Ishmael, who is like lions, will perish for lack of merit, and the sons of Lot, who are like lionesses, will be cut off from the congregation. 12 A word was spoken to me in secret, and my ear took in a little of what was drawn out of it, 13 in thoughts that came from the vision of the night, when sleep falls on human beings. 14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, and it made the whole multitude of my limbs afraid. 15 A wind passed over my face, a blazing whirlwind over my flesh. 16 It stood still, and I could not make out its appearance; a likeness was before my eyes; I sensed it, and I heard the sound of a multitude. 17 It proclaimed and said, ‘Can a human being be more righteous than God, or a man purer than the One who made him? 18 Look, he does not trust his servants the prophets, and he charges his messengers with fault. 19 How much more the wicked, who dwell in graves of clay, whose foundation is in the dust! They will be crushed before the worm. 20 From morning to evening they are beaten down; because there is no one who grants them a reprieve, they will perish forever. 21 Is not their support taken away from them, for lack of merit? They will die, and not in wisdom.’

1 Call now: is there anyone who will answer you? And to which of the holy ones will you turn? 2 For the anger of the master kills the fool, and the jealousy of creatures puts the simpleton to death. 3 I have seen the fool taking root, and I cursed his dwelling at once. 4 His sons are far from redemption in the world to come, and they will be crushed at the entrance of Gehinnom on the great day of judgment, and there is no one to rescue them. 5 The hungry eat his harvest, armies with weapons of war lead him away, and robbers plunder their possessions. 6 For falsehood does not come up out of the dust, and wickedness does not grow from the ground. 7 For a human being was created to labor in the Torah, and the children of demons fly on high. Another targum: For a human being is born to toil, and his end is like sparks that leap from the coals and rise; so he will fly away. 8 But as for me, I would seek instruction from the Mighty One, and I would lay my case before God, 9 who does great things beyond all reckoning, wonders without number, 10 who gives rain on the face of the land of Israel and sends water over the face of the provinces of the nations, 11 in order to set the lowly on high from their oppression, and those darkened by poverty have grown strong in redemption, 12 who frustrated the plans of the Egyptians, who were cunning to do harm to Israel, and their hands did not carry out the counsel of their wisdom. 13 He catches Pharaoh’s wise men in their wisdom, and he brought the counsel of his crooked astrologers down upon them. 14 By day they meet darkness, and they grope at noon as though it were night. 15 He redeemed his people from the slaughter of their mouth, and the poor people from the hand of a mighty king. 16 So the poor had hope, and the deceit of the wicked shut its mouth. 17 Look at the happiness of Abraham, the pious man whom God reproved! And you, Israel, do not reject the discipline of the Almighty. 18 For he brings pain and applies the bandage; he strikes, and his hands heal. 19 In six troubles he will rescue you, and in the seventh no evil will come near you. 20 In the famine of Egypt he redeemed you from death, and in the war of Amalek from the slaughter of the sword. 21 From the harm of Balaam’s tongue you will be hidden among the clouds, and you will not fear the destruction of the Midianites when it comes. 22 At the destruction of Sihon and at the hardship of the wilderness you will laugh, and you will not fear the camp of Og, who is like the wild beasts of the earth. 23 For your covenant is with the tablets of stone that were given openly in the field, and the Canaanites, who are like wild beasts, have made peace with you. 24 You will know that your house of study is at peace; you will set in order the dwelling of your tabernacle and come to no harm. 25 You will know that your children are many, and your children’s children like the grass of the field. 26 You will come in the fullness of your years to the burial niche for burial, as a sheaf is brought up in its season. 27 Look, this is what we have searched out, and so it is. Accept it, and know it for yourself.”

Job's Second Speech

1 Job answered and said: 2 “If only my anger could be weighed, and my turmoil lifted onto the scales together! 3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; that is why my words run wild. 4 For the arrows of the Almighty are in me, and my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors from before God are drawn up in ranks against me. 5 Does the wild donkey bray over its grass? Does the ox low over its fodder? 6 Can a cooked dish be eaten without salt? Is there any taste in the white of an egg and its yolk? Another targum: Just as nothing bland is eaten without salt, so there is no taste in the white around the yolk. 7 My soul refused to come near them; they are counted as sickness to my meal. Another targum: My soul refused to come near; they make me squeamish, and it became loathsome at my meal. 8 Who will grant that my request may come, and that God will give me what I hope for? 9 May God begin to make me poor; may he let loose his hand and make me rich. 10 Then this would be my consolation, and I would leap for joy in trembling: may he show no pity to the wicked, for I have not hidden the words of the Holy One. 11 What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life? 12 Is my strength like the strength of stones? Is my flesh plated with bronze? 13 Is it not that there is no help for me in myself, and wisdom has fled from me? 14 A man who withholds kindness from his companion forsakes the fear of the Almighty. 15 My brothers have plundered me like the current of a stream, like the outflow of the channels of streams that pass away, 16 which are darkened by the cold, where the snow gathers over them. 17 When the generation of the flood sinned, they were scalded; they melted in his boiling heat; they were wiped out of their place. 18 Because they corrupted the highways of their paths, they go up into nothing and perish. 19 Look at the highways of Tema; the caravans of Zemargad waited for them. 20 They were ashamed because they trusted in their idols; they came to it and were disgraced. 21 For now you have become as nothing; you saw ruin and were dismayed. 22 Did I really say, ‘Give to me,’ or ‘Offer a bribe for me from your possessions,’ 23 or ‘Save me from the hand of the oppressor, and redeem me from the hands of the mighty’? 24 Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand where I have gone wrong. 25 How sweet are upright words! And who among you is fit to rebuke, that he should rebuke? 26 Do you think you can rebuke with words, and do you liken the words of a despairing man to darkness? 27 You even hurl anger at the orphan, and you scheme against your companion. 28 And now, begin to look at me, and see before your own faces whether I lie. 29 Turn back now, let there be no wickedness; turn back again, for my righteousness is still in it. 30 Is there wickedness on my tongue? Can my palate not tell calamity apart?

1 Does a human being not have hard service on the earth, and are his days not like the days of a hired worker? 2 Like a servant who longs for the shade, and like a hired worker who watches for his wages, 3 so I have been allotted months of emptiness, and nights of toil have been counted out to me. 4 When I lay down, I said, ‘When will I get up?’ I tossed in the evening and was filled with restlessness; in the evening I was filled with restlessness, and my sleep fled until the time of dawn. 5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin shriveled and dissolved. 6 My days were swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they came to an end for lack of hope. 7 Remember that my life is like the wind; my eye will not again see good. 8 The eye that sees me will not look on me; your eye is on my Memra, and I am gone. 9 As a cloud comes to an end and goes away, so whoever goes down to the grave will not come up. 10 He will not return to his house again, and his place will not know him anymore. 11 As for me, I will not hold back my mouth; I will speak in the distress of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 12 Am I like the Egyptians, who were condemned to drown in the Red Sea? Am I condemned? Or am I like Pharaoh, who was drowned in its depths for his sin, that you set a guard over me? Another targum: Am I the great sea, which rages to break past its limits, or Leviathan, who is ready to be caught, that you set a guard over me? 13 When I said, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease the words of my bedchamber,’ 14 you shattered me with dreams and terrified me with visions, 15 so that my soul chose strangling, death rather than keeping my bones alive. 16 I am cast off; I will not live forever. Let me go, for my days are vanity. 17 What is a human being, that you make him great, and that you set your heart upon him, 18 that you visit him every morning and test him every moment? 19 How long will you not leave me alone? Will you not let me be until I swallow my spittle? 20 I have sinned; what can I do for you, guardian of humankind? Why have you made me a target for you, so that I have become a burden to myself? 21 Why do you not forgive my rebellion and pass over my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust, and you will search for me, and I will not be there.”

Bildad's First Speech

1 Bildad from Shuah answered and said: 2 “How long will you speak like this, and the words of your mouth be a great storm? 3 Can God twist justice, or will the Almighty corrupt righteousness? 4 If your sons sinned before him, he sent them away into the place of their rebellion. 5 If you will rise early in prayer before God and plead with the Almighty, 6 if you are pure and upright, then surely he will now rouse his strength for you and make whole the beauty of your righteousness. 7 Your beginning was small, but your end will grow very great. 8 For ask now of the earlier generation, and give heed to what their fathers searched out. 9 For we are of yesterday and know nothing, for our days on the earth are like a shadow. 10 Will they not teach you and tell you, and bring out words from their will and from their thoughts? 11 Can the papyrus grow tall without a marsh? Can the reed grow without water? 12 While it is still in its pride, before it is plucked, it withers ahead of any grass. 13 So are the paths of all who forget God, and the hope of the informer will perish, 14 whose hope will slip away, and whose trust is like a spider’s house. 15 He leans on his house, and it will not stand; he holds fast to it, and it will not endure. 16 He is fresh before the rising of the sun, and his young shoots spread out over his garden. 17 His roots are entwined around the heap; he gazes at the house of stones. 18 If he swallows him up from his place, it will deny him: ‘I have not seen you.’ 19 Look, this is the joy of his way, and others will spring up from the dust. 20 Look, God will not reject the blameless, and he will not strengthen the hand of evildoers, 21 until laughter fills your mouth, and your lips are like shouting. 22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

Job's Third Speech

1 Job answered and said: 2 “Truly I know that it is so; and how can a human being be righteous before God? 3 If he wished to dispute with him, he could not answer him once in a thousand times. 4 He is wise of heart and mighty in strength; who has hardened himself against him and come out whole? 5 He removes the mighty like mountains, and they do not know that he has overturned them in his anger. 6 He shakes the earth from its place, and its pillars tremble. 7 He spoke to the sun, and it does not rise, and he seals up the stars behind the clouds. 8 He stretched out the heavens by himself alone, and he walks on the heights of the might of the sea. 9 He made the Bear, Orion and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the rows of the constellations in the region of the south. 10 He does great things without end and wonders without number. 11 Look, he passes over me in the heavens on high, and I do not see him; he moves on, and I do not perceive him. 12 Look, he snatches a person away in the world, and who will turn him back? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’ 13 God does not turn back his anger; the wicked bow down beneath him; the proud who lend their help with a multitude will be broken. 14 How much less, then, could I answer him, or choose my words against him! 15 For if I were righteous, I would not answer; I would plead with the one who judges me. 16 If I called and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice, 17 for he is exacting with me down to the fine threads of the hair, and he multiplies my wounds for nothing. 18 He will not let me catch my breath, for he fills me with bitter things. 19 If it is a matter of strength, look, he is mighty; and if of judgment, who will testify for me? 20 If I am righteous, my own mouth will condemn me; I am blameless, and he makes me out to be crooked. 21 I am blameless; I do not know myself; I despise my life. 22 It is all one measure; that is why I said, ‘He destroys the blameless and the guilty alike.’ 23 If he kills suddenly in anger, he laughs when the righteous melt away. 24 The earth has been handed over into the hand of the guilty from before the LORD; he covers over the merit of its judges. If it is not so, who is it? 25 My days are swifter than the shadow of a bird in flight; they have fled and have seen no good. 26 They pass by like ships laden with choice fruits, like an eagle swooping down on its food. 27 If I say, ‘I will forget my words, I will let go of my anger and take courage,’ 28 I gather up all my sorrows; I know that you will not acquit me. 29 I will be condemned; why then should I labor for nothing? 30 If I wash myself in snow water and cleanse my hands with aloes, 31 even so you will plunge me into the pit, and my own garments will push me away. 32 For he is not a human being like me, that I could answer him, that we could go to judgment together. 33 There is no one between us to rebuke us, who could lay his hand on us both. 34 Let him remove his blow from me, and let the dread of him not terrify me. 35 Then I would speak and not be afraid of him, for I am not so in myself.

1 My soul is cut off in my life; I will give free rein to my words about myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. 2 I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend with me. 3 Is it right before you to oppress, to reject the labor of your hands, and to shine on the counsel of the wicked? 4 Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a human being sees? 5 Are your days like the days of a human being, or your years like the days of a man, 6 that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin, 7 though you know that I will not be condemned, and there is no one who can rescue from your hand? 8 Your hands formed me and made me whole, all around, and now you swallow me up. 9 Remember now that you made me like clay, and you will return me to the dust. 10 Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? 11 You clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews. 12 You showed me life and kindness, and your care has guarded my spirit. 13 Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this is with you. 14 If I sinned, you would keep watch over me, and you would not acquit me of my sins. 15 If I sinned, woe to me from the great judgment; and if I were righteous, I would not lift my head before the guilty, so that I would be filled with disgrace and look on my affliction. 16 And he raised his hand; like a lion you hunt me down, and you turn again to sit in judgment on me. 17 You bring fresh witnesses against me and increase your anger toward me; blows come in relays and muster against me. 18 Why did you bring me out of the womb? I should have perished, and no eye would have seen me. 19 I would be as though I had never been, carried from the belly to the grave. 20 Are my days not few, and coming to an end? Let me be, so that I may rest a little, 21 before I go, never to return, to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, 22 a land whose dawn is like the darkness of the shadows of death, without order, where human beings do not settle, and whose shining is like darkness.’”

Zophar's First Speech

1 Zophar from Naamah answered and said: 2 “Is it possible that one who multiplies words will not be answered, or that a man who is a master of lips will be found innocent? 3 Your lies silence men; you mock, and there is no one to put you to shame. 4 You say, ‘My teaching is pure, and I have been clean in your eyes.’ 5 But if only God would speak and open his lips with you, 6 and tell you the hidden things of wisdom, for wisdom is twofold! Know that God makes you forget some of your iniquities. 7 Can you find out the searching of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? 8 In the heights of heaven, what can you do? In the Torah, which is deeper than Sheol, what can you know? 9 Its measure is longer than the earth, and its breadth is greater than the sea. 10 If he passes by and closes up the heavens with clouds, and gathers armies, who can turn him back? 11 For he knows men of falsehood; can he see falsehood and not take note of it? 12 A clever man will make his heart wise, but how can the foal of a wild donkey be born a human being? Another targum: A sharp-minded person will be exact, and a rebellious youth who repents becomes a great man. 13 If you direct your heart and spread out your hands to him in prayer, 14 if there is falsehood in your hand, put it far away, and do not let injustice dwell in your tent. 15 For then you will lift up your face without blemish, you will be shielded from harm, and you will not be afraid. 16 For you will forget trouble; you will remember it like waters that have passed by. 17 From the brightness of your days your body will rise, which went into the clods of the gloom of darkness; you will be like the morning. 18 You will be confident, because there is hope; you will prepare the grave and lie down in security. 19 You will lie down with no one to make you tremble, and many will seek your favor. 20 But the eyes of the wicked will be destroyed, deliverance will vanish from them, and their hope will be the breathing out of the soul.”

Job's Fourth Speech

1 Job answered and said: 2 “Truly you are the companions, and with you wisdom will come to an end. 3 But I have a heart like yours; I am not set apart from you. And who does not have things like these? 4 I am a laughingstock to my friend, I who called to God and he answered me; the innocent and blameless man is a laughingstock. 5 A firebrand despised by the wicked one, who is at ease far from darkness, is ready for the misfortunes of the time. Another targum: A burning brand is despised by Esau, who is confident and at ease in his thoughts; yet he is ready for the slipping of the foot. 6 The sons of Esau, who are at ease in their tents, will be handed over to plunderers, and the sons of Ishmael, who are confident, will be handed over to the rest of the nations who provoke God, like those whom God has summoned by his hand. Another targum: The sons of Ishmael, who are at ease in their tents, will be handed over to plunderers, and the Ammonites and Moabites, who dwell in security, will be handed over into the hand of the wicked who provoke God, like Pharaoh, on whom God brought a blow by his hand. 7 But now ask the cattle, and they will teach you, and the birds of the sky, and they will tell you. 8 Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, and the fish of the sea will recount it to you. 9 Who among all these does not know that the blow of the hand of the LORD has done this? 10 In his hand is the soul of every living thing and the spirit of all human flesh. 11 Does the ear not test words, as the palate tastes food for itself? 12 With the elders is wisdom, and with length of days, understanding. 13 With him are wisdom and might; his are counsel and understanding. 14 Look, he tears down, and it is not rebuilt; he shuts a man up in the grave, and it is not opened. 15 Look, he holds back the waters, and they dry up; and when he sends them out, they overturn the earth. 16 With him are strength and wisdom; the one who goes astray and the one who leads astray are his. 17 He leads counselors of kings away in chains, and he humiliates judges. 18 He loosens the chain of kings and binds a belt around their waists. 19 He leads princes away as plunder and overthrows the mighty. 20 He takes away the speech of the trustworthy and removes the discernment of the elders. 21 He pours contempt on nobles and weakens the strength of the strong. 22 He reveals deep things out of darkness and brings the shadow of death out into the light. 23 He makes nations great and destroys them; he spreads a net for the peoples and leads them away. 24 He takes away the wisdom of heart from the heads of the people of the land and makes them wander in a wasteland where there is no road. 25 They grope in darkness without light, and he makes them stagger like drunkards.

1 Look, my eye has seen all this; my ear has heard it and understood it. 2 What you know, I also know; I am not set apart from you. 3 But I will speak to the Almighty, and I want to argue my case with God. 4 But you are forgers of falsehood, like healers of idols, like a dressing that the knife has cut away; so are all of you. 5 If only you would keep silent, it would be wisdom for you! 6 Hear now my argument, and listen to the pleading of my lips. 7 Will you speak falsehood for God, and speak deceit on his behalf? 8 Will you show him partiality, if you contend for God? 9 Is it right that he should search you out? Or will you mock him as one mocks a human being? 10 He will surely rebuke you if you show partiality in secret. 11 When he rises up on the throne of judgment, will his terror not frighten you, and will his dread not fall upon you? 12 Your memory is like ashes; your bodies are like mounds of clay. 13 Be silent before me, and I will speak, and let whatever may come upon me. 14 Why should I carry my flesh in my teeth and set my life as it were on the palm of my hands? 15 Look, even if he kills me, I will pray before him; yet I will argue my ways before him. 16 He alone will be my salvation, for no accuser will come before him. 17 Listen and receive my word, and let my declaration be in your ears. 18 Look now, I have set out my case; I know that I will be found innocent. 19 Who is the one who will contend with me? For then I would be silent and expire. 20 Only do not do two things to me; then I will not hide from your presence. 21 Remove your hand far from me, and do not let the fear of you terrify me. 22 Then call, and I will answer; or I will speak, and you answer me. 23 How many iniquities and sins do I have? Make my rebellion and my offense known to me. 24 Why do you withdraw your Shekinah and regard me as your enemy? 25 Will you shatter a windblown leaf and chase after dry stubble? 26 For you write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth. 27 You put my feet in the stocks and watch all my paths; you mark the soles of my feet. 28 And he wears out like rotten wood, like a garment that the moth has eaten.

1 A human being born of a woman is short of days and full of trouble. 2 He comes out like a blossom and withers; he flees like a shadow and does not last. 3 Yet on such a one you open your eyes, and you bring me into judgment with you. 4 Who can bring out one who is pure from a man defiled by sins, if not God, who is One, who will forgive him? 5 If he does not repent, his days are cut short; the number of his months is with you; you have made his decree, and he will not pass beyond it. 6 Turn away from him and let his blow cease, until he has received his punishment, like a hired worker at the end of his day. 7 For there is hope for a tree: if it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its tender shoots will not fail. 8 If its root grows old in the earth and its stump comes to an end in the dust, 9 at the scent of water it will bud and put out branches like a young plant. 10 But a man dies and wastes away; a human being expires, and where is he? 11 The waters went away from the Sea of Reeds and then returned to their gathering place, and the Jordan was drained and dried up before the ark of the LORD and then returned to its channels. 12 But a human being lies down and does not rise; until the heavens are no more, the wicked will not awake, and they will not be roused from the house of their sleep. 13 If only you would hide me away in the grave, conceal me until your anger turns back, set me a fixed time and remember me! 14 If a wicked man dies, is it possible that he will live? Therefore all the days of my strength I will wait, until the renewal of life comes. 15 You will call, and I will answer you; you will long for the work of your hands. 16 For now you count my steps; do you not keep watch over my offense? 17 My rebellion is sealed in the book of records, and you add to my iniquity. 18 But a falling mountain crumbles away, and a rock is removed from its place. Another targum: But Lot, who separated from Abraham, who is likened to a high mountain, fell away, and the Mighty One removed the glory of his Shekinah from Sodom, which was his place. 19 Water wears away stones, floods sweep away the dust of the earth, and you destroy the hope of a human being. 20 You overpower him forever, and he goes away; you change his face and send him away. 21 His sons rise to honor, and he does not know it; they are brought low, and he does not perceive it. 22 But his flesh aches over him from the worm, and his soul mourns over him in the court of judgment. Another targum: But his flesh aches over him before the covering stone is sealed over him, and his soul mourns over him the seven days of mourning in the grave.”

Eliphaz's Second Speech

1 Eliphaz from Teman answered and said: 2 “Is it possible for a wise man to answer with knowledge that is like a storm wind, and to fill his belly as if with the east wind, 3 arguing with words that do not instruct, and with speech that has no substance in it? 4 If only you would take hold of fear and hold back your speech before God! 5 For your mouth teaches your offense, and you choose the tongue of the clever. 6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your lips testify against you. 7 Were you born like the first Adam, without father or mother, and were you created before the hills? 8 Do you listen in on the secret counsel of God, and has wisdom been drawn to you? 9 What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not with us? 10 Among us are both the gray-haired and the aged, older in days than your father. Another targum: With us are Eliphaz, who is gray-haired, and Bildad, who is aged, and Zophar, who is older in days than your father. 11 Are the consolations of God too small for you, and a word spoken gently, as is fitting to speak with you? 12 What does your thinking teach you, and what are your eyes hinting at, 13 that you turn your spirit back against God and let such words go out of your mouth? 14 What is a human being, that he should be innocent, or one born of a woman, that he should be found righteous? 15 Look, he does not trust his holy ones on high, and the angels of the heights are not pure before him. 16 How much less one who is abhorrent and defiled, a human being who drinks iniquity like water! 17 I will tell you; listen to me, and I will recount what I have seen, 18 what the wise declare without denying anything from the tradition of their fathers. Another targum: what the wise tribes of Jacob will answer, without concealing anything their fathers taught them. 19 To them alone the land was given, and no outsider passed among them. 20 All the days of the wicked one he is in torment, and the number of years is hidden from the tyrant. Another targum: All the days of Esau the wicked they teach him to repent, and he has not repented; the number of years is hidden from Ishmael the mighty. 21 The sound of the flames in Gehinnom is in his ears; while the righteous dwell in peace in the life of the world to come, his plunderer will come upon him. 22 He does not believe, in his life, that he will return from darkness, and he is marked out for those who kill with the sword. 23 He wanders about for food: where is it? He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. 24 Distress and anguish terrify him; they surround him like a king ready for battle. 25 For he stretched out his hand against God and made himself mighty against the Almighty; 26 he runs at him with strength, with the thick bosses of his shields. 27 For he covered his face with his fat and laid layers of fat over his loins. 28 He made dwellings in ruined cities; he lived in houses where no one would dwell, which were destined to become heaps of stones. 29 The wealth of Korah will not stand firm or endure, and nothing of it will spread over the land, nor of those good things of Dathan and Abiram. 30 He will not escape from darkness; a flame will dry up his shoot, and he will pass away by the blast of the mouth of God. 31 Let a human being who strays into falsehood not trust in it, for falsehood will be his reward. 32 Before his day his grave will be filled, and his branch will not be leafy. Another targum: Before his days his old age will be full, and his bride will have no bridal canopy. 33 He will shake off his unripe grapes like a vine and cast off his blossom like an olive tree. 34 For the company of the informer will be given over to grief, and fire will consume the tents of bribery. 35 They forge trouble and speak falsehood, and the thoughts of their belly prepare deceit.”

Job's Fifth Speech

1 Job answered and said: 2 “I have heard many things like these; you are all comforters of trouble. 3 Is there an end to words of wind? Or what pleases you so, that you answer? 4 I too could speak as you do, if only your soul were in place of my soul; I could string words together against you and shake my head at you. 5 I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips would hold back your pain. 6 If I speak, my pain does not cease; and if I stop, how much of it goes away from me? 7 But now he has worn me out; you have laid waste all my company. 8 You have seized me, and it has become a witness; my falsehood has risen up to testify against me to my face. 9 His anger has torn me, and he has kept up his hatred for me; he gnashes his teeth at me; my oppressors sharpen their eyes against me like a sharp knife. 10 They open their mouths against me in scorn; they strike my cheeks; together they gather in a mass against me. 11 God hands me over to the arrogant and tears at me by the hands of the wicked. 12 I was at ease, and he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and broke me to pieces, and set me up as his target. 13 His archers surround me; he cuts open my kidneys and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground. 14 He assails me, assault upon assault; he runs at me like a warrior. 15 I have sewn sackcloth over my skin and rolled my glory in the dust. 16 My face is blurred from weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death, 17 although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayers are pure. 18 Earth, do not cover my blood, and let there be no resting place for my cry. 19 Even now, look, my witness is in heaven, and the one who testifies for me is on high. 20 My advocates are my friends before God; my eye pours out tears. 21 Is it possible for a human being to argue with God, as a man does with his friend? 22 For the numbered years are coming, and I will go the path from which I will not return.

1 My spirit is ruined, my days are extinguished, graves are made ready for me. 2 Are there not mockers around me, and does my eye not have to dwell on their provocations? 3 Set down a pledge for me now with yourself; who is there who will strike hands with me? 4 For you have hidden their heart from understanding; therefore you will not exalt them. 5 Whoever denounces his companions to get a share, the eyes of his sons will waste away. 6 He has made me a byword among the peoples, and I will be a Gehinnom within. 7 My eye has grown dim from grief, and my features are all like a shadow. 8 The upright will be appalled at this, and the pure will rise up against the informer. 9 But the righteous will hold to his way, and the one with pure hands will grow stronger and stronger. 10 But all of you, turn back and come now; I will not find a wise man among you. 11 My days have passed; my plans have come to nothing, the tablets of my heart. 12 They turn night into day; they bring the light near, lifting it up from before the darkness. 13 If I hope for the grave as my home, I have spread out my bed in the darkness. 14 To the pit I have called, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother and my sister.’ 15 Where then is my hope? And my patience, who will see it? 16 Together they will go down to the grave, if together they rest on the dust.”

Bildad's Second Speech

1 Bildad from Shuah answered and said: 2 “How long will you make trouble out of words? Consider, and after that we will speak. 3 Why are we counted like cattle, unclean in your sight? 4 You who torment yourself in your anger, is the earth to be abandoned on your account, or the rock moved from its place? Another targum: You who drive yourself to ruin by your own doing, is the earth to be forgotten and left uninhabited on your account, or the strong one moved from his place? 5 Indeed the light of the wicked will be put out, and the glow of his fire will not shine. 6 The light grows dark in his tent, and his lamp above him will be put out. 7 His strong steps will be cramped, and his own counsel will throw him down. 8 For he has been sent into the net by his own feet, and he will walk over the mesh. 9 He will be caught in the stumbling of the trap; the men will overpower him. 10 His cord is hidden in the ground, and his snare is set on the path. 11 All around him terrors will frighten him; they are stirred up and scatter him at his feet. 12 May famine be the lot of his firstborn son, and distress be ready for his wife. Another targum: May famine come in his mourning, and distress be prepared at his side. 13 It will consume the parts that cover his skin; the angel of death will finish off his sons. Another targum: It will consume his flesh, the strength of his skin; the firstborn of death will finish off his sons. 14 His confidence will be cut off from his tent, and it will lead him away to the king of terror. 15 His wife will dwell in his tent, since nothing is left to him, and brimstone will be scattered over his dwelling. 16 His sons will be wiped out from the earth, and his destruction will be decreed from heaven. Another targum: His roots will dry up below, and his branch will wither above. 17 His memory has perished from the land, and he has no name in the streets. 18 They will thrust him from light into darkness and drive him into exile from the world. 19 He will have no son and no grandson among his people, and no survivor in his dwelling. 20 Those who come after will be appalled at his day, and those who came before were seized by a storm of horror. 21 And they will say, ‘Surely these are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of one who does not know God.’”

Job's Sixth Speech

1 Job answered and said: 2 “How long will you weary my soul and grind me down with words? 3 These ten times you have put me to shame; you are not ashamed to treat me as a stranger. 4 But if I have truly erred, my error stays with me. 5 If you truly make yourselves great against me and reproach me with my disgrace, 6 know now that God has overpowered me and has thrown his net around me. 7 Look, I cry out because of violence, but I am not answered; I pray, and there is no justice. 8 He has walled up my roads so that I cannot pass, and he sets darkness on my paths. 9 He has stripped my honor from me and taken away the crown of my head. 10 He tears me down on every side, and I am gone; he has pulled up my hope like a tree. 11 His anger has grown strong against me, and he counts me as one of his oppressors. 12 His troops come together; they have trodden their road against me and encamp all around my tent. 13 He has put my brothers far from me, and those who know me have become strangers to me. 14 My relatives have ceased, and my acquaintances have forgotten me. 15 Those who live in my house and my maidservants count me a stranger; I have become like a foreigner from the nations in their sight. 16 I called my servant, and he does not answer; with my own mouth I must plead with him. 17 My breath is strange to my wife, and I have pleaded with the children of my own body. 18 Even the infants have rejected my Memra; when I rise, they speak against me. 19 All the men of my secret counsel have rejected me, and the one I loved has turned against me. 20 My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, and I am left with only the skin of my teeth. 21 Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends, for the blow of the LORD has touched me. 22 Why do you pursue me as God does, and are not satisfied with my flesh? 23 Who would grant that my words were written down; who would grant that they were inscribed in a document, 24 carved into the rock forever with a pen of iron and with lead! 25 But I know that my redeemer lives, and after this his redemption will rise over the dust. 26 After my skin has swollen, this will come about, and from my flesh I will see God again, 27 whom I will see for myself, and my own eyes will see, and not a stranger’s. My kidneys are consumed within my bosom. 28 For you will say, ‘Why should we pursue him?’ and the root of the matter is found in him. 29 Be afraid for yourselves of the sword, for in anger God stirs up those who kill with the sword against transgressions, so that you may know that the Lord of judgment is a true judge.”

Zophar's Second Speech

1 Zophar from Naamah answered and said: 2 “Therefore my thoughts give me an answer, and because of the agitation within me. 3 I hear the rebuke that shames me, and a breath from my understanding answers me. 4 Do you know this from of old, from the time a human being was placed on the earth, 5 that the rejoicing of the wicked is quickly destroyed, and the joy of the informer lasts only an hour? 6 Though his height rises up to the heavens and his head reaches the cloud, 7 he will perish forever like his own dung; those who saw him will say, ‘Where is he?’ 8 He will fly away like a dream, and they will not find him; he will be driven off like a vision of the night. 9 The eye that looked at him will not look again, and his place will see him no more. 10 His sons will crush the poor, and his hands will pay back the force of his distress. 11 His bones are full of his strength, and it will lie down with him in the dust. 12 If evil tastes sweet in his mouth, he hides it under his tongue; 13 he spares it and will not let it go, and holds it back in the middle of his throat. 14 His food is turned in his bowels; it is the venom of vipers inside him. 15 The riches he swallowed he will vomit up; God will drive them out of his belly. 16 He will suck the heads of vipers; the snake’s tongue will kill him. 17 He will not be worthy to look on the streams, the rivers, the brooks of honey and what goes with it (and what goes with them). 18 He hands his toil back to another and does not enjoy it; as his wealth is, so is the exchange that is given for it, and he will not rejoice. 19 For he has crushed the trade of the poor; he has seized a house by force and did not build it. 20 For he does not know that there is ease in his belly; in his body he will not escape. 21 Nothing escapes his eating; therefore his prosperity will not last. 22 When his measure is full, payment will be exacted from him; every hand of those who toil will come upon him. 23 When he is about to fill his belly, God will stir up the force of his anger against him and bring down rains upon his body. 24 He will flee from weapons of iron; the bronze bow will pierce him through. 25 It is drawn and comes out of its sheath, and the flash out of his gall; the terrors will pass over him. 26 All darkness lies hidden for his hidden treasures; the fire of Gehinnom, which no one blows on, will consume him; a survivor will dwell in his tent. 27 The angels on high will make his transgression known, and the inhabitants of the earth will rise up to do him harm. 28 The produce of his house will be carried away; his oil and his wine will drain away on the day of his anger. 29 This is the portion of a wicked human being from before the LORD, and the inheritance of his Memra from before God.”

Job's Seventh Speech

1 Job answered and said: 2 “Listen and receive my words, and let this be your consolation. 3 Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken you may mock. 4 Is my complaint addressed to a human being? And if so, why should my spirit not be distressed? 5 Turn to me and be silent, and put a hand over the mouth. 6 When I remember, I am terrified, and trembling seizes my flesh. 7 Why do the wicked live on and grow strong, and even acquire possessions? 8 Their children are established before them, with them, and their grandchildren in their sight. 9 Their houses are at peace, without fear, and the blow of God is not upon them. 10 His bull breeds and does not fail; his cow gives birth safely and does not miscarry. 11 They send out their little ones like a flock, and their children skip about. 12 They raise their voices with drums and lyres and rejoice at the sound of the flute. 13 They finish their days in good things, and they go down to the grave in tranquility. 14 And they said to God, ‘Turn away from us; we have no desire to learn your ways.’ 15 ‘What is the Almighty, that we should serve him, and what need is there of him, that we should pray to his Memra?’ 16 Look, their prosperity does not remain in their hands; the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 17 How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, and their ruin comes upon them, and he deals out their portions in his anger? 18 They will be like straw before the storm, and like chaff that the whirlwind carries off. 19 God will store up his distress for his sons; he will repay it to him, and he will know it. 20 His own eyes will see his ruin, and he will drink of the anger of the Almighty. 21 For what does he care about his house after him, when the number of his months has been cut short? 22 Is it possible to teach knowledge to God, when he judges the heavens on high? 23 One man dies in the strength of his wholeness, wholly at ease and quiet. 24 His breasts are full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is rich. 25 Another dies with a bitter soul and has never eaten in prosperity. 26 Together they lie down in the dust, and the worm covers them. 27 Look, your thoughts are laid bare before me, and the schemes you forge against me. 28 For you will say, ‘Where is the house of the ruler, and where is the canopy of the tents of the wicked?’ 29 Have you not asked those who pass along the road, and do you not recognize their signs? 30 For the evil one is held back for the day of ruin; they will be brought in on the day of fury. 31 Who will declare his way to his face, and when he has done it, who will repay him? 32 He will be carried to the graves, and he will keep watch over the grave mounds. 33 The pebbles of the wadi are sweet to him, and every human being will be drawn after him, and before him there are countless numbers. 34 How then will you comfort me, and to what purpose? Only falsehood remains in your answers.”

Eliphaz's Third Speech

1 Eliphaz from Teman answered and said: 2 “Is it possible for a man to teach God? And when he teaches, is it possible that God pays attention to such people? 3 Is it profit for the Almighty that you are righteous, or wealth that you make your ways blameless? 4 Is it out of fear of you that he rebukes you and comes into judgment with you? 5 Is it not because of your great wickedness, since there is no end to your iniquities? 6 For you take your brother’s goods in pledge for nothing, and strip the clothing off the naked. 7 You give no water to the weary to drink, and you withhold bread from the hungry. 8 The man of force, the land is his, and the one who is shown favor lives in it. 9 You sent widows away empty, and you crush the arms of orphans. 10 That is why snares surround you, and fear terrifies you suddenly, 11 or you dwell in darkness and cannot see, and a flood of waters covers you. 12 Is God not in the heights of heaven? See the topmost stars, how high they are. 13 And you say, ‘What does God know? Is it possible that he judges from beyond the thick darkness? 14 The clouds are a hiding place for him, and he does not see, and he walks on the strong vault of the heavens.’ 15 Will you keep to the path that has been from of old, which men of falsehood walked, 16 who were cut off from the earth before their time, whose bodies were poured out at the bottom of the river, 17 who say to God, ‘Turn away from us,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do for them?’ 18 Yet he filled their houses with good things; but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 19 The righteous will see it and rejoice, and the innocent will laugh at them: 20 ‘Surely they were kept from rising up, and fire consumed what was left of them.’ 21 Learn now from him, and through these things your harvest will be filled with good. 22 Learn now the Torah from his mouth, and set his words in your heart. 23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; you will remove iniquity far from your tent. 24 Set a strong city on the dust, and the gold of Ophir like the rock of the streams, 25 and the Almighty will be your strong city, and your lofty strength will be of silver. 26 For then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face before God. 27 You will pray before him, and he will accept it from you, and you will fulfill your vows. 28 You will decree a word, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways. 29 For the generation that was brought low will be made proud, and you will redeem the one bowed down in transgression. 30 He will rescue a man who is not innocent because of your merit, and he will be rescued by the purity of your hands.”

Job's Eighth Speech

1 Job answered and said: 2 “Even today my word is bitter; the blow on me is heavier than my groaning. 3 Who will decree that I might know how to find him, that I might come to the dwelling of his sanctuary? 4 I would set out my case before him, and my mouth would speak arguments of reproof. 5 I would know the words he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me. 6 Would he contend with me with great power? No, but he would lay the dispute upon me. 7 There an upright man would reason with me, and I would escape forever from the one who judges me. 8 Look, I go to the east, and he is not there, and to the west, and I cannot perceive him; 9 to the north, where he works, but I do not see him; when he hides in the south, I do not catch sight of him. 10 For the way I take is revealed before him; he has tested me; I will come out like gold. 11 My feet have held to his footsteps; I have kept his ways and have not turned aside. 12 The commandment of his lips I have not abandoned; more than my own allotted portion I have treasured the words of his mouth. 13 But he is one, and who can turn him back? What his soul desires, he does. 14 For he will carry out what is decreed for me, as in the beginning, and many things like these are with him. 15 That is why I am terrified before him; I consider it, and I am afraid of him. 16 God has made my heart faint, and the Almighty has terrified me, 17 for I was not cut off before the darkness, and he did not hide the gloom from before me.

1 Why are the times not hidden from the Almighty, and why do those who know me not see his days? 2 They move boundary markers; they seize flocks by force and pasture them. 3 They drive off the donkey of the orphans; they take the widow’s ox in pledge. 4 They push the needy off the road; the poor of the land hide together. 5 Look, like wild donkeys in the wilderness they go out to their evil deeds, rising early for plunder; in the plain he robs food for his young. 6 In a field that is not theirs they reap, and they strip bare the vineyard of the wicked. 7 They spend the night naked, without clothing, and they have no covering in the cold. 8 They are drenched by the downpours of the mountains, and for lack of shelter they cling to the rock. 9 They seize the plunder of the orphan, and take pledges from the poor. 10 They made them go about naked, without clothing, and from the hungry they took away the sheaf. 11 Between their walls they press out oil; they have trodden the winepresses, and their owners go thirsty. 12 Human beings groan from the city, and the soul of those killed by the sword prays, yet God does not charge it as guilt. 13 These were among those who rebel against the Torah; they do not acknowledge his ways and do not stay in his paths. 14 At evening the murderer rises; he kills the poor and the needy, and at night he is like a thief. 15 The eye of the adulterer watches for the dusk of night, saying, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he sets a covering over his face toward what is above. 16 He digs through houses in the darkness; by day they shut themselves up in hiding places; they do not know the light. 17 For to all of them alike morning is like the shadow of death, for the punishment of the shadow of death is known. 18 He is light, to float on the surface of the waters; may the path of their smooth ground in the land be cursed; he does not look toward the way of the vineyards. 19 Drought, and heat as well, snatch away the snow waters, and they are gone; so those who have incurred guilt are forgotten in Sheol. Another targum: As drought and heat snatch away the snow waters and they are gone, so those who have incurred guilt are forgotten in Sheol. 20 The cruel who forgot to show mercy to the poor have become sweet to the worm; he will be remembered no more, and wrongdoing will be broken like a tree. Another targum: Because they neglected the setting aside of the tithe that they were commanded to give, in the time of summer heat the waters of rain and snow were withheld from them; they were condemned to the grave. 21 He harms the barren woman who does not give birth, and does no good to the widow. 22 He drags off the mighty by his strength; he rises, and has no confidence in his life. 23 He gives him a time for repentance, to trust and be supported, yet his eyes are on their ways. 24 They were granted a little while, and then the wicked one is gone; they are brought low like everyone else; they are cut off, and they are plucked like the head of an ear of grain. 25 And if this is not truly so, where is the one who will prove me a liar and make the root of my words as though it had never been?”

Bildad's Third Speech

1 Bildad from Shuah answered and said: 2 “Dominion and awe are with him; he makes peace in the heavens on high. Another targum: Michael is on his right, and he is of fire, and Gabriel on his left, and he is of water, and the holy creatures mix fire and water; and by his dominion and by the awe of him he makes peace in his highest heavens. 3 Is there any number to his troops? And over whom does his light not rise? 4 How then can a human being be found innocent with God, and how can one born of a woman be found innocent? 5 Look, until the moon wanes on the eastern side the sun does not shine, and the stars are not pure before him. 6 How much less a human being, who in his life is a creeping thing, and a human being, who in his death is worms!”

Job's Ninth Speech

1 Job answered and said: 2 “What help you have given to one who has no strength! How you have rescued with an arm that is not strong! 3 What counsel you have given to one who has no wisdom, and you imagine that you have made wisdom known in abundance! 4 To whom have you told these words, and whose breath has gone out from you? 5 Is it possible that the giants, who are wasting away, will be created anew, when they and their camps are beneath the waters? 6 Sheol lies naked and exposed before him, and there is no covering for the house of destruction. 7 He stretched out the north over nothing; he holds up the earth above the waters with nothing to support it. 8 He binds up the waters of the rain in his clouds, and the cloud does not burst beneath them. 9 He closes in the face of his throne with thick cloud, so that the angels may not see him; he spread the cloud of his glory over it like a curtain. 10 He set a decree that the firmament should rest on the face of the waters, as far as the boundary where light ends with darkness. 11 The pillars of the heavens shake and tremble at his rebuke. 12 By his strength he cut through the sea, and by his understanding he struck down the mighty. 13 By the breath of his mouth the face of the heavens became bright; his hand created Leviathan, which is likened to a fleeing serpent. 14 Look, these are only the edges of his ways, and what little can be drawn out of a small part of his word we hear from him; but the might of his power, who can understand?”

Job's Ninth Speech Continued

1 Job again took up his discourse and said: 2 “As God lives, who has taken away the course of my judgment, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter, 3 for as long as my breath is still in my Memra, and the spirit of God in my nostrils, 4 my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not mutter deceit. 5 Far be it from me to declare you innocent; until I breathe my last I will not remove my integrity from me. 6 I have held fast to my merit and I will not let it go; my heart will not reproach me for any of my days. 7 Let my enemy be like the guilty, and the one who rises against me like the wicked. 8 For what hope does the informer have when he gathers wealth by falsehood, when God casts off his soul? 9 Is it possible that God will accept his cry when distress comes upon him? 10 Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call on God at all times? 11 I will teach you by the prophecy of God; what is with the Almighty I will not conceal. 12 Look, all of you have seen it; why then do you talk such emptiness? 13 This is the portion of a guilty man from God, and the inheritance of the violent from the Almighty: they will receive their punishment. 14 If his children multiply, it is for those who kill with the sword, and his grandchildren will not have their fill of bread. 15 His survivors will be buried in death, and his widows will not weep. 16 If he heaps up silver like dust and prepares clothing like clay, 17 he may prepare it, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver. 18 He built his house like a spider’s web, and like a hut that the watchman of the fruit makes. 19 He lies down rich, but he will not be gathered; he opens his eyes, and he is gone. 20 Turmoil overtakes him like waters; at night a storm wind tosses him about. 21 The east wind carries him off and he goes, and it sweeps him away from his place. 22 It hurls itself at him and does not spare; he flees in headlong flight from its hand. 23 People clap their hands over them and whistle at him from his place.

The Poem on Wisdom

1 For there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold that they refine. 2 Iron is taken from the dust, and stone is smelted into copper. 3 He sets an end to darkness, and to every limit he searches out the stones of thick gloom, from which darkness and the shadow of death came out. 4 The torrent grows strong from the place where the channels pour, which are forgotten by the foot that passes; they rise up away from human beings, they are swept away. 5 The earth, from which food comes out, and below it Gehinnom, whose snowy cold is turned into something like fire, 6 and the Garden of Eden, a place whose stones are sapphire, and which has dust of gold. 7 A path that no bird knows, and that the eye of the falcon has not glimpsed. Another targum: The path of the tree of life, which Sammael, who flew like a bird, did not know, and which the eye of Eve did not glimpse. 8 The lion cubs have not walked on it; the lion has not prowled over it. Another targum: The children of Adam have not walked in it, and the serpent has not turned aside onto it. 9 With the shamir he stretched out his hand; he overturned the mountains from their roots. 10 In the rocks he split open rivers, and his eye saw every precious thing. 11 He dammed the rivers at their smallest streams, and from the window of what is hidden he brings out light. 12 But wisdom, where, where can it be found, and where is the place of understanding? 13 No human being knows its worth, and it is not found in the land of those who feed themselves and sin throughout their lives. 14 The deep said, ‘It is not with me,’ and the sea said, ‘It is not beside me.’ 15 Much gold cannot be given in exchange for it, and silver cannot be weighed out as its price. 16 It cannot be traded for the gold leaf of Ophir, for precious beryls and sapphire. 17 Gold and mirror glass cannot equal it, nor can vessels of refined gold be its exchange. Another targum: A rich man cannot match it with gold, and glass is not given in exchange for it, nor vessels of fine gold. 18 Sandalkin stones and beryls are not to be mentioned, and the drawing out of wisdom is worth more than pearls. Another targum: It cannot be found cheaply, but only at great cost, like gold; and from whoever does not guard it, it goes away and breaks like glass; and the reward it pays in the world to come is vessels of fine gold. 19 The green gem that comes from Cush cannot equal it; it cannot be traded for pure gold leaf. 20 And wisdom, where does it come from, and where then is the place of understanding? 21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, and kept concealed from the birds of the heavens. 22 The house of destruction and the angel of death said, ‘When it was given to Israel, we heard the report of it with our own ears.’ 23 God understands its way, and he knows its place. 24 For he looks to the ends of the earth; he sees beneath all the heavens, 25 to make a weight for the wind, and he arranged the waters by measure. 26 When he made a decree for the rain, a fixed statute, and a path for the lightning bolts that run with the thunder, 27 then he saw it and told of it to the ministering angels; he established it, and he also searched it out. 28 And he said to humankind, ‘Look, the fear of the LORD is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Job's Final Speech

1 Job again took up his discourse and said: 2 “Who will set me back as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me, 3 when his lamp shone over my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, 4 as I was in the days of my vigor, at the time when the secret of God rested over my tent, 5 while the Memra of the Almighty was still my support, and my young servants were all around me, 6 when my steps were washed in curds, and the rock poured out drops of oil beside me, 7 when I went out to the gate by the city and set up my seat in the square. 8 The young men saw me and hid themselves, and the elders rose up and stood. 9 The leaders held back their words and put their hand on their mouth. 10 The voice of the rulers was hushed, and their tongue stuck to their palate. 11 For the ear that heard spoke well of me, and the eye that saw bore witness for me, 12 for I rescued the poor who cried out, and the orphan who had no one to help him. 13 The blessing of the one who was perishing came upon me, and I filled the heart of the widow with praise. 14 I put on merit and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. 15 I was the light of the eyes for the blind, and the walking of the lame. Another targum: I was a guide to the poor man who is like the blind, and the walking of the bedridden, who is likened to the lame. 16 I was a father to the needy, and the dispute I did not know I searched out. 17 I broke the fangs of the wrongdoer, and I made him drop the prey from his teeth. 18 I said, ‘I will die with my strength in my nest, and I will multiply my days like the sand.’ 19 My root lies open to the springs of water, and the dew lodges on my harvest. 20 My glory was renewed in me, and my bow in my hand was made new. 21 They listened to me and waited, and kept silent for my counsel. 22 After my words they did not speak again, and my speech was pleasing to them. 23 They waited for me as for the rain, and like farmers who opened their mouths for the late rain. 24 I would laugh for their sake and they would not believe it, and they did not stare at the features of my face. 25 I chose their way and sat at their head like a bridegroom, and I dwelt like a king among his army, like one who comforts mourners.

1 But now those younger than I in days laugh at me, whose fathers I would have refused to set with the dogs that guard my flock. 2 Even the strength of their hands, what use is it to me? Over them the burial niche has brought ruin. Another targum: Only the strength of their hands, what use is it to me to receive a bribe from it, if it has been decreed for them to perish in the niche of the grave? 3 In want and in barren famine the wicked were fleeing to a parched land, darkness like evening, a place of the pit and of turmoil, 4 who pluck mallows in place of herbs for food, and dig up the roots of the broom for their food. Another targum: who abandon the words of the Torah from the tablet of their heart for the sake of the affairs of the world; the roots of the broom are kindled and made into coals for their food. 5 From the outskirts they are driven out; people shout after them as after a thief. 6 They live in the harshest clefts of the ravines, in holes in the dust and the rocks. 7 Among the trees they bray; under the brambles they huddle together. 8 The sons of the foolish, with the sons of common people, are rubbed out of the land. 9 And now I have become their song, and I have become a byword to them. 10 They abhor me, they keep far from me, and they do not hold back their spit from my face. 11 For he has loosened my chain and the strands of my ropes and afflicted me, and they have thrown off the bridle before me. 12 On the right their children stand in insolence; they thrust my feet aside and pave against me the roads of their destruction. 13 They have ruined my paths; they profit from my punishment; there is no one who helps them. 14 Like the force of the broad waves of the sea they come; beneath the turmoil they roll in. 15 Turmoil has turned against me; it pursues my greatness like a storm wind, and my salvation has passed away like a cloud. 16 And now my soul is pained within me; days of affliction take hold of me. 17 At night my bones are shaken loose from me, and those who trample me do not lie down. 18 With great force my clothing is searched through; it binds me tight like the collar of my tunic. 19 They have made me like clay, and I have become like dust and ashes. Another targum: They have compared me to Adam, who was created from clay, and I have been likened to Abraham, who likened himself to dust and ashes. 20 I make my request of you, and you do not answer me; I stand, and you consider my Memra. 21 You have turned cruel to me; with the force of your hand you rebuke me. 22 You lift me up to the wind, you make me ride on it, and you melt me in the tempest. 23 For it is revealed before me that you will return me to death, and the grave is appointed for every living thing. 24 Only he does not send his blow in fury, if in the time of one’s distress he accepts their prayer. Another targum: But he will not stir up his blow against the bone, if he lays a plaster on their sores. 25 Did I not weep for the one whose day was hard? Was my soul not grieved for the needy? 26 For I hoped for good, and evil came; I waited for light, and darkness came. 27 My insides have churned, and there is no look of blood in them; days of affliction have come to meet me. 28 I went about blackened, without the sun; I stood up in the assembly and cried out. 29 I became a brother to the jackals and a companion to the daughter of the ostrich. 30 My skin has turned black upon me, and my bone is scorched with dryness. 31 My lyre has turned to mourning, and my pipe is likened to the sound of those who weep.

1 I made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a young woman? 2 And what good portion is given by God from above, and what inheritance by the Almighty from the heavens on high? 3 Is there not distress for the arrogant, and ruin for those who practice falsehood? 4 Does he not see my ways and count all my steps? 5 If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit, 6 let him weigh me in the scales of righteousness, and let God know my integrity. 7 If my steps have turned aside from the way, and my heart has gone after my eyes, and any stain of wrongdoing has clung to my hands, 8 let me sow and another eat, and let the blossoms of my plantings be plucked out. 9 If my heart has been enticed by another man’s wife, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, 10 let my wife lie with another man, and let other men lie upon her. 11 For that is lewdness, and it is a flagrant sin. 12 For it is a fire that consumes as far as the house of destruction and uproots all my produce. 13 If I have rejected the case of my servant or my maidservant when they had a dispute with me, 14 what then would I do when God rises up, and when he calls me to account, what would I answer him? 15 Did not the one who made me in the womb make him, and did he not form us in one womb? 16 If I have held back from granting the wish of the poor, or made the eyes of the widow fail, 17 or eaten my morsel by myself, and the orphan has not eaten from it, 18 for from my youth he raised me as a father would, and from my mother’s womb he led me gently, 19 if I have seen the naked without clothing, and no covering for the needy, 20 if his loins have not blessed me, and he has not warmed himself with the fleece of my lambs, 21 if I have raised my hand against an orphan because I saw my support in the gate, 22 let my shoulder fall from its shoulder blade, and my arm be broken off at the bone. 23 For the breaking that comes from God was a terror to me, and before his majesty I could not endure. 24 If I have set my hope on gold, and called fine gold leaf my confidence, 25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had found abundance, 26 if I have looked at the star Venus when it shines, and at the moon moving in splendor, 27 and my heart has been enticed in secret, and my hand has kissed my mouth, 28 this too is a flagrant sin, for I would have denied God above. 29 If I have rejoiced at the distress of the one who hates me, and shouted for joy because evil found him, 30 but I have not let my palate sin by asking for his life with a curse. 31 If the people of my tent have not said, ‘Who will cut us some of his meat? We have not had our fill,’ 32 the stranger did not spend the night in the street; I opened my doors to the traveler. 33 If I have covered my rebellions like Adam of old, hiding my sin in my bosom, 34 because I was overpowered by the crowd of the arrogant, and the contempt of families crushed me, and I kept silent and did not go out the door, 35 who will decree for me one who will hear me? Here is my desire: that the Almighty answer me, and the document that a man has written of my dispute. 36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulders; I would bind it on me as crowns. 37 I would declare to him the number of my steps; like a ruler, like a ruler, I would bring it before him. 38 If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together, 39 if I have eaten its yield without paying silver, and made its owners breathe out their lives, 40 instead of wheat let thorns come up, and instead of barley, weeds.” The words of Job are complete.

Elihu Is Introduced

1 These three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then the anger of Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Abraham, burned against Job; his anger burned because he justified himself rather than God. 3 His anger also burned against his three friends, because they had not found an answer and yet had condemned Job. 4 Elihu had waited for Job with his words, because they were older than he in days. 5 When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men, his anger burned.

Elihu's First Speech

6 Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, “I am young in days and you are old; that is why I was afraid and held back from declaring my knowledge to you. 7 I said, ‘Days should speak, and many years should make wisdom known.’ 8 But truly it is the spirit of prophecy in a human being, and the Memra of the Almighty gives them understanding. 9 It is not the great who are wise, nor the elders who understand judgment. 10 Therefore I said, ‘Listen to me; I too will declare my knowledge.’ 11 Look, I waited for your words; I gave ear to your understanding while you searched out what to say. 12 I paid attention to you, and look, there is no one among you who rebukes Job, who answers his sayings. 13 Perhaps you will say, ‘We have found wisdom; God will strike him down, not a man.’ 14 He has not set out words against me, and I will not answer him with your sayings. 15 They are broken; they no longer answer; words have departed from them. 16 I waited, because they do not speak; they have fallen silent and no longer answer. 17 I too will answer my part; I too will declare my knowledge. 18 For I am full of words; the spirit in my belly presses on me. 19 Look, my belly is like new wine that has not been opened; like new wineskins it is about to burst. 20 I will speak so that I may find relief; I will open my lips and answer. 21 I will not now show favor to any man, and I will not show regard to any human being. 22 For I do not know how to show regard; otherwise the presence of the one who made me would soon carry me away.

1 But now, Job, listen to my words and give ear to all my sayings. 2 Look, now I have opened my mouth; my tongue has spoken in my palate. 3 The uprightness of my heart is in my sayings, and my lips speak knowledge clearly. 4 The spirit of God made me, and the Memra of the Almighty keeps me alive. 5 If you can, answer me; set your words in order before me and take your stand. 6 Look, I am just like you before God; I too was pinched off from clay. 7 Look, dread of me will not terrify you, and my burden will not weigh heavy on you. 8 But you have spoken in my ears, and I hear the sound of the words: 9 ‘I am innocent, without rebellion; I am pure, and there is no sin in me. 10 Look, he finds complaints against me; he counts me as his enemy. 11 He puts my feet in the stocks; he watches all my paths.’ 12 Look, in this you are not in the right, I answer you, for God is greater than a human being. 13 Why then have you quarreled with him? For he does not answer all his words. 14 For God speaks once, and a second time there is no need to watch for it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on human beings, in slumber on the bed, 16 then he uncovers the ears of human beings and puts a seal on their discipline, 17 to turn a person away from evil deeds and to hide pride from a man. 18 He holds back his soul from the pit and his life from passing through the sword. 19 They are rebuked with pain on his bed, and his many limbs are in severe distress. 20 From the sickness that grips him his soul keeps food far away, and his soul the meal it once desired. 21 His flesh wastes away from its fatness, and his bones, which were not seen, are laid bare. 22 His soul draws near to the pit, and his breath to death. 23 If he has merit, one angel is appointed, an advocate out of a thousand accusers, to declare to human beings his uprightness. 24 He has pity on him and says, ‘Redeem him from going down to the pit; I have found redemption.’ 25 His flesh becomes tender, more than in childhood; he returns to the days of his youth. 26 He prays before God and God accepts him; he sees his face with favor, and he gives back to the man according to his righteousness. 27 He will make it plain to human beings and say, ‘I sinned and made the straight crooked, and it was not worth it to me.’ 28 He redeemed his soul from passing into the pit, and his breath will see the excellent light. 29 Look, God does all these things two times, even three, with a person, 30 in order to bring back a soul from the pit, to give it light with the light of life. 31 Pay attention, Job, listen to me; be silent, and I will speak. 32 If you have words, answer me; speak, for I want you to be vindicated. 33 If not, you listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

Elihu's Second Speech

1 Elihu answered and said: 2 “Listen to my words, you wise men, and you who know, give ear to my Memra. 3 For the ear tests words, and the palate tastes in order to eat. 4 Let us choose judgment for ourselves; let us know among ourselves what is good. 5 For Job has said, ‘I am innocent, and God has taken away my judgment. 6 Despite my right I am counted a liar, a man who shoots my arrows though there is no sin.’ 7 Who is a man like Job, who drinks mockery like water, 8 who goes to keep company with those who do falsehood and to walk with men of wickedness? 9 For he has said, ‘A man does not learn by delighting in God.’ Another targum: For he has said, ‘A person does not profit by running with God.’ 10 Therefore, wise men, listen to me: far be wickedness from God, and falsehood from the Almighty. 11 For he repays a person for his deeds, and he makes a man meet with what his way deserves. 12 But truly God does not condemn, and the Almighty does not pervert judgment. 13 Who put him in charge of making the earth, and who set the whole world in place? 14 If he sets his heart on him, he will gather his spirit and his breath back to himself. 15 All flesh would expire together, and a human being would return to the dust. 16 If you have understanding, hear this; give ear to the sound of my words. 17 Can one who hates judgment truly keep guard? And if the Righteous One is innocent, will he be condemned? 18 Is it right to say to a king, ‘Wicked one,’ or ‘Guilty,’ to rulers? 19 He shows no favor to princes and does not regard the rich above the poor, for all of them are the work of his hands. 20 In a moment the Sodomites die, and at midnight the Egyptians are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are removed, not by the strength of a hand. 21 For his eyes are on the ways of human beings, and he sees all their steps. 22 There is no darkness and no shadow of death where those who do falsehood can hide. 23 For he does not again lay it on a man to go to God in judgment. 24 He breaks the waves of the sea, which are many in the midst of the waters, and he raised up others after them. 25 Therefore he made known their deeds, and he overturned the night, and they are crushed. 26 He struck them as wicked men in a place where they are seen. Another targum: In the place of the wicked is their punishment, after the righteous see it and are found innocent in judgment. 27 For this reason they turned aside from following him and did not understand any of his ways, 28 so as to bring before him the complaint of the poor, and he hears the outcry of the afflicted. 29 When he gives quiet, who will condemn? When he takes away the Shekinah, who will look on him? And he punishes sin in a nation and in a person alike. 30 He appoints a human being as king, an informer, because of the stumbling blocks among the people. 31 For it is fitting that it be said to God, ‘I have borne it; I will not act corruptly. 32 Apart from what I see, you teach me; if I have done falsehood, I will do it no more.’ 33 Is it from you that he should repay it, since you have rejected it? For you must choose, and not I; so speak what you know. 34 Men wise of heart will say to me, and a wise man will listen to me: 35 ‘Job does not speak with knowledge, and his words are without understanding.’ 36 I wish that Job would be tested forever, because of his answers, like those of men of falsehood. 37 For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his sayings before God.”

Elihu's Third Speech

1 Elihu answered and said: 2 “Do you count this as judgment? You said, ‘I am purer than God.’ 3 For you say, ‘What will it profit you? What need is there because of my sin?’ 4 I will answer you with words, and your friends with you. 5 Look up to the heavens and see, and gaze at the skies, which are higher than you. 6 If you have sinned, what do you do to him? And if your rebellions are many, what do you do to him? 7 If you are innocent, what do you give him, or what does he receive from your hand? 8 Your guilt touches a wicked man like you, and your righteousness a pure human being. 9 Because of the many oppressors those who complain cry for help; they cry out because of the strength of the arm of the mighty. 10 But no one says, ‘Where is God who made me, before whom the angels on high set out praises in the night, 11 who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’ 12 There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of the evil. 13 But God does not hear falsehood, and the Almighty does not look at it. 14 Even when you say, ‘He does not look at it,’ judgment is before him, and you should wait for him. 15 And now, because it is as if it were nothing, he has not visited his anger, and he takes no great notice of excess. 16 So Job opens his mouth in vain; without knowledge he multiplies words.”

Elihu's Fourth Speech

1 Elihu continued and said: 2 “Wait for me a little, and I will show you that there are still words to say for God. 3 I will bring my knowledge from far away, and I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker. 4 For truly my words are not falsehood; one perfect in knowledge is with you. 5 Look, God is great; he does not push away the righteous, for he is great in strength and wise of heart. 6 He does not keep the guilty alive, and he gives justice to the afflicted. 7 He does not withhold his eye from the righteous; with upright kings, to sit on the throne of kingship, he seats them forever, and they are exalted. 8 And if the wicked are bound in chains, held fast in the cords of affliction, 9 he declares to them their deeds and their rebellions, that they have made themselves mighty. 10 He uncovers their ears to discipline and tells them to turn back from their evil deeds, which are like vanity. 11 If they listen and serve him, they will complete their days in good things and their years in festivities. 12 But if they do not listen, they will pass away by the weapons of war and expire without knowledge. 13 The arrogant of heart harbor anger; they do not seek his mercy when he binds them. 14 Their soul will die in youth, and their life like those given to fornication. 15 He rescues the poor man in his affliction, and in oppression he lays bare their ears. 16 He will also rescue you from the mouth of distress into a broad place where there is no narrowness, and the rest of your table will be full of fat things. 17 But you have fulfilled the judgment of the guilty; judgment and ruling uphold it. 18 For there will be anger; perhaps it will lead you astray through the abundance of fortune, and the great ransom of wealth will not rescue you. 19 Is it possible that your petition will be set in order, and that all who strengthen themselves will find strength? Another targum: Is it possible that your prayer will be set in order without distress, and that all who make their power strong will hold fast to strength? 20 Do not press on in the night to remove peoples from their place. Another targum: Do not commit adultery with your neighbor’s wife in the night, to remove peoples in their stead. 21 Be careful; do not turn to falsehood, for this you have chosen rather than affliction. 22 Look, God alone is mighty in his strength; who is like him in teaching uprightness? 23 Who will call his way to account, and who will say, ‘You have done wrong’? 24 Remember that his works are great, which righteous men have praised. 25 All human beings have looked on him; a person gazes from far away. 26 Look, God is great, and we do not know the count of his years, and there is no end. 27 For he holds back the drops of water, which drip rain into his clouds, 28 which the skies pour down, which comes in abundance because of a person’s prayer. 29 Only, if one understands the spreading of the cloud, the covering of his clouds, his shelter. 30 Look, he spreads rain over it and covers the roots of the sea. 31 For by them he judges the peoples; he gives food in abundance. 32 Because of the robbery of the hand he withholds rain, and he commands it to come down because of one who prays. 33 A slanderous tongue speaks against its neighbor; jealousy and anger rise up against him. Another targum: They declare the Torah to one another, zealous in anger, and raise it up on high. Another targum: The merit of his neighbor speaks for him; he removes jealousy and anger from him.

1 But at this my heart is astonished and leaps from its place. Another targum: He prophesied about the sons of Aaron and said, ‘Only at this one thing my heart is astonished and leaps from its place.’ 2 Listen closely to the noise of his voice in anger, and the rumbling that goes out of his mouth like fire. 3 Under all the heavens is its direction, and his light will stand over the ends of the earth. 4 After it the sound of his thunder roars with the voice of his majesty, and he does not hold them back when his voice is heard. 5 When God thunders with his voice about the wonders he is about to do, he does great things, and we do not know. 6 For he says to the snow, ‘Be on the earth,’ and rain after rain in summer to ripen fruit, and rain after rain in winter to make the grass sprout, by his strength. 7 On the hand of every person he sets a seal, so that all human beings may know his works. 8 The wild animal goes into its lair and stays in its den. 9 From the chambers above comes the storm, and from the windows of the constellations, the cold. 10 By the Memra of God frost is given, and the broad waters are cast solid. 11 But with clear weather he loads the cloud; he scatters the cloud of his rain. 12 He turns its circuits by his wisdom, to make those who work the land prosper in their labors, and they come down in every place he commands them on the face of the earth. Another targum: In his mercy he turns the hidden waters in his storehouses; according to the deeds of human beings he reveals it, and he sends them to everything he commands them on the face of the world, the earth. 13 Whether a rain of punishment on the peoples and on the deserts, or a light rain for the trees of the mountains and the hills, or a gentle rain of kindness for the fields of fruit and the vineyards, he supplies it. 14 Give ear to this, Job; stand up and understand the wonders of God. 15 Do you know when God sets his decree upon them and makes the rain of his cloud appear? 16 Do you know about the movements of the clouds, the wonders of one perfect in knowledge, 17 you whose clothes are warm when he quiets the earth from the south? 18 Will you spread out with him the mighty skies, whose appearance is like a clear mirror? 19 Teach us what we should say to him; we cannot set it in order to see, because of the darkness. 20 Is it possible that it will be told to him that I would speak? If a person speaks, he will surely bring an accusation. 21 And now they have not seen the rain; it is scattered in the skies, and the wind has passed by and cleared them. Another targum: And now they have not looked into the Torah; the heavens have become bright so as not to bring down dew and rain, and the wind has passed by and cleared them. 22 From the north gold will come; before God is awesome splendor. Another targum: From the north abundance will come, and the world will shine; before the awesome God the inhabitants of the world will give thanks. 23 The Almighty, we have not found you, who lead the inhabitants of the world with great strength and justice; and in abundant righteousness he does not afflict. Another targum: The Almighty, we are not able to tell of his great strength and justice; and in abundant righteousness he does not afflict. 24 Therefore men fear him; he does not fear any of the wise of heart. Another targum: Because men fear him, he will not see among his children anyone like all the wise of heart.”

The LORD's First Speech

1 The LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind of distress and said: 2 “Who is this, like one who darkens counsel with words without knowledge? 3 Gird up your loins now like a mighty man; I will ask you, and you will make it known to me. 4 Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you know with understanding. 5 Who set its measurements, since you would know? Or who stretched the plumb line over it? 6 On what were its pillars sunk, or who threw down its cornerstone, 7 when the morning stars were praising together and all the companies of angels were shouting, 8 and shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the deep, going forth as from the womb, 9 when I made the cloud its covering and the thick mist its swaddling band, 10 and decreed my decree over it, and set bars like bolts and doors, 11 and said, ‘This far you will come and no farther, and here you will set down the pride of your waves’? 12 Since your days began, have you commanded the morning? Did you know the place of the dawn? Another targum: Were you there in the days of the beginning, and did you give command for the morning to be? Did you know where the place of the dawn is? 13 to take hold of the edges of the earth, so that the wicked are shaken out of it? Another targum: to take hold of the side of the land of Israel, so that the generation of the wicked was shaken out of it. 14 Their seal is turned like clay, and they stand ready like a shining garment. Another targum: Their seal was turned like clay, and they were not created as bodies without their souls, like an empty garment. 15 Their light is withheld from the wicked, and the raised arm is broken. 16 Can it be that you have come as far as the whirlpools that enclose the sea, and walked in the recesses of the deep? 17 Can it be that the entrances of death have been revealed to you, and that you see the entrances of the shadow of death of Gehinnom? 18 Have you understood the breadths of the land of the Garden of Eden? Tell me, if you know it all. 19 Which is the way where light dwells, and darkness, which is its place, 20 that you should lead it to its border, and that you should understand the paths of its house? 21 Did you know that you would be born then, and that the number of your days would be great? 22 Can it be that you have entered the storehouses of the snow, and do you see the treasuries of the hail, 23 which I have stored up, the snow for the time of distress in Gehinnom, and the hail for the day of Pharaoh’s battle and the war of the Egyptians? 24 Which is the way by which light is divided, and the east wind is scattered over the earth? 25 Who makes a channel overflow for the torrent, and a path for the clouds of thunder? Another targum: Who made the flood of the deep overflow into trenches of water, and some of them not upward, and a way for the clouds from which water comes down with thunder? Another targum: Who made a torrent for the gutter of the waters, and above, a way for the clouds that bring down rain with thunder? 26 to bring rain down on a land where there is no man, a wilderness in which there is no human being, 27 to satisfy the tumult and the commotion, and to make the sprouting of grass grow? 28 Does the rain have a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? 29 From whose belly did the ice come out, and the frost of heaven, who gave birth to it? 30 The waters congeal like stone and are hidden, and the face of the deep is held together by the cold. 31 Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loosen the ropes that draw Orion? 32 Can you bring out the rows of the constellations in their time, and guide the Hen with her chicks? 33 Do you know the decrees of heaven? Can you set the rows of its sphere on the earth? 34 Can it be that you raise your voice to the cloud, so that a mass of waters covers you? 35 Can it be that you send lightnings, and they go and say to you, ‘Here we are’? 36 Who put wisdom in the kidneys, or who gave understanding to the heart? Another targum: to the wild rooster understanding, to praise its Master. 37 Who counts the seven heavens in wisdom, and who releases the measures of heaven? Another targum: Who counts the stars of heaven in wisdom, and who lays down the clouds that are likened to the wineskins of heaven, 38 when the dust is cast into a foundation and the clods cling together? 39 Can you hunt food for the lioness, and supply the sustenance of the young lions, 40 when they crouch in their dens and sit in the thicket to lie in ambush? 41 Who prepares food for the raven, when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

1 Can it be that you know the time when the wild goats of the crag give birth? Do you watch over the hinds when they are in labor? 2 Can you count the months that they complete, and do you know the times when they give birth? 3 They crouch, their young break through, they send away their pains. 4 Their young grow strong, they grow up on the grain; they go out and do not return to them. 5 Who sent out the wild donkey free-born, and who loosed the chains of the onager, 6 whose house I made the plain, and his dwellings the barren land? 7 He laughs at the tumult of the city; he does not hear the shouting of the driver. 8 He searches the mountains for his pasture, and he seeks after every green thing. 9 Can it be that the wild ox will be willing to serve you, or spend the night at your manger? 10 Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with its rope? Will it break up the clods of the valleys after you? 11 Can you trust in it because its strength is great, and leave your labor to it? 12 Can you rely on it to bring back your seed and gather in your threshing floor? 13 The wing of the wild rooster, which praises and sings: is it the pinion of the white stork and its gleaming plumage? 14 For she leaves her eggs on the ground and warms them on the earth, 15 and forgets that a foot may scatter them and a wild beast may trample them. 16 She treats her young harshly, as though they were not hers; her labor is for nothing, without fear, 17 for God made her forget wisdom, and gave her no share in understanding. 18 When she flies up on high, she laughs at the horse and its rider. 19 Can you give the horse its might? Can you clothe its neck with strength? 20 Can you make it quiver like locusts? The splendor of the snorting of its nostrils is terror. 21 They paw in the valley, and it rejoices in its strength; it goes out to meet the battle. 22 It rejoices at fear and is not shattered, and it does not turn back from before the sword. 23 On it rests the armor, the sharp sword, the javelin and the lance. 24 With quaking and rage it makes a pit in the ground, and it cannot believe that it is the sound of the shofar. 25 At the blast of the shofar it says, ‘Joy!’ and from far off it smells the battle, the uproar of the commanders and the battle cry. 26 Can it be that the hawk grows its feathers by your understanding, spreading its wing toward the south? 27 Does the eagle mount up at your Memra, and is it so that it sets its nest on high? 28 It dwells on the rock and spends the night on the peak of the crag and the fortress. 29 From there it searches out food; its eyes look far off. 30 Its young gulp blood, and where the slain are, there it is.”

1 The LORD answered Job and said: 2 “Can it be that one who contends with the Almighty will be instructed? Let the one who rebukes God answer it.”

Job's First Reply

3 Job answered the LORD and said: 4 “See, I am of little account; what can I answer you? I have put my hand to my mouth. 5 Once I have spoken, and I will not answer; and a second time, and I will not go on.”

The LORD's Second Speech

6 The LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind of distress and said: 7 “Gird up your loins now like a mighty man; I will ask you, and you will make it known to me. 8 Will you really annul my judgment? Will you condemn me so that you may be found innocent? 9 Or do you have an arm like God, and can you roar with a voice like his? 10 Adorn yourself now with majesty and loftiness, and clothe yourself with splendor and glory. 11 Scatter the fury of your nostrils, and look at every proud one and bring him low. 12 Look at every proud one and break him, and crush the wicked where they stand. 13 Hide them in the dust together; press down their faces in the hidden place. 14 Then I myself will acknowledge you, that your right hand can save you. 15 Look now at the beasts that I made along with you; it eats grass like oxen. 16 Look now at Leviathan, whose strength is in his loins and whose power is in the navel of his belly. 17 He bends his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are intertwined. 18 His limbs are strong like pipes of bronze; his bones are like a bar of iron. 19 He is the first of the ways of God; the one who made him will bring near his sword. 20 For they carry the produce of the mountains to him, and all the wild beasts laugh there. 21 There he lies among the shades, in the hiding place of the reed and the marsh. 22 The shades cover him as his canopy; the willows of the brook surround him. 23 See, he robs the river and is not alarmed; he is confident that the Jordan flows into his mouth. 24 One takes him by his eyes; one pierces his nose with snares. 25 Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, and bore through his tongue with a cord? 26 Can it be that you put a ring in his nose, or pierce his jaw with a thorn? 27 Can it be that he will plead with you many times, or speak soft words to you? 28 Can it be that he will make a covenant with you, that you may buy him to be a servant who serves forever? 29 Can it be that you will play with him like a bird, and tie him up for your young girls? 30 The wise make a feast over him; they divide him among the merchants. 31 Can it be that you fill booths with his skin, and a canopy of fish with his head? 32 Lay your hand on him; remember the battle, and you will not do it again.

1 See, the hope set on him proves false; will one not be thrown down at the very sight of him? 2 No one is so fierce as to rouse him, and who is the one who can stand before him? 3 Who came before me in the works of creation, that I should repay him? Is not everything under the heavens mine? 4 I will not keep silent about his boasting, or the word of his might, or the pleading that concerns him. 5 Who can uncover the face of his garment? Who can enter into the fold of his bridle? 6 Who can open the doors of his face? Terror surrounds his teeth. 7 The pride of the plates is his shields, held fast as with a tight seal. 8 One against another his fangs draw near, and no wind enters between them. 9 Each is pressed to its fellow; they cling together and do not separate. 10 His sneezes make light shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn. 11 From his mouth go torches; sparks of fire escape. 12 From his nostrils smoke comes out, like a fanned cauldron that boils. 13 His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth. 14 Strength lodges in his neck, and sorrow leaps before him. 15 The folds of his flesh cleave together; it is set firm upon him so that it does not move. 16 His heart is set firm like stone, and hard like the lower millstone. 17 When he rises up the mighty are afraid; because of the breakings they pass sentence on themselves. 18 If the sword reaches him, it will not stand, nor the javelin, nor the sling that hurls stones, nor the coat of mail. 19 He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood. 20 The arrow of the bow does not make him flee; sling stones are counted as stubble by him. 21 Axes are counted as stubble by him; he laughs at the shaking of the spear. 22 Under him are sharp points like a potsherd; he spreads out much gold upon the mire. 23 He makes the deep boil like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a seething pot. 24 Behind him a path shines; one would think the deep to be gray-haired. 25 On the dust there is no dominion like his, who was made so that he would not be broken. 26 He looks on everything lofty; he is king over all the children of the fish. Another reading: he is king over all the sons of lions.”⁠a

Job's Second Reply

1 Job answered the LORD and said: 2 “I know that you can do everything, and no thought is withheld from you. 3 Who is this who covers counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have declared, and did not understand, things too wonderful for me, and I do not know them. 4 Listen now, and I will speak; I will ask you, and you will make it known to me. 5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I reject my wealth, and I am comforted over my sons, who are dust and ashes.”

The Epilogue

7 It happened, after the LORD had spoken these words with Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz from Teman, “The strength of my anger is against you and your two companions, because you have not spoken rightly to me, as my servant Job has. 8 Now take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to my servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and my servant Job will pray for you, for only to him will I show favor, so that I do not deal disgracefully with you, because you have not spoken rightly to me, as my servant Job has.” 9 Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuah and Zophar from Naamah went and did as the Memra of the LORD had told them, and the Memra of the LORD showed favor to Job. 10 The Memra of the LORD turned back Job’s exile at his prayer on behalf of his companions, and the Memra of the LORD increased everything that Job had twofold. 11 All his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him and ate bread with him in his house. They grieved with him and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought on him, and each man gave him one lamb, and each person one ring of gold. 12 The Memra of the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning, and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand she-donkeys. 13 He had fourteen sons and three daughters. 14 He called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch. He called her Jemimah because her beauty was like the day; he called her Keziah because she was as precious as cassia; he called her Keren-happuch because the radiance of the glory of her face was great, like an emerald. 15 No women were found as beautiful as Job’s daughters in all the land, and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. 16 After this Job lived a hundred and forty years, and he saw his sons and his sons’ sons, four generations. 17 And Job died, old and full of days.