15 where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?
16 Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?”
Job 18
18 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and then we shall speak.
3 Why are we counted as cattle? Why are we stupid in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself in your anger— shall the earth be forsaken because of you, or the rock be removed out of its place?
5 “Surely the light of the wicked is put out, and the flame of their fire does not shine.
6 The light is dark in their tent, and the lamp above them is put out.
7 Their strong steps are shortened, and their own schemes throw them down.
8 For they are thrust into a net by their own feet, and they walk into a pitfall.
9 A trap seizes them by the heel, a snare lays hold of them.
10 A rope is hid for them in the ground, a trap for them in the path.
11 Terrors frighten them on every side, and chase them at their heels.
12 Their strength is consumed by hunger, and calamity is ready for their stumbling.
13 By disease their skin is consumed, the firstborn of Death consumes their limbs.
14 They are torn from the tent in which they trusted, and are brought to the king of terrors.
15 In their tents nothing remains; sulfur is scattered on their habitations.
16 Their roots dry up beneath, and their branches wither above.
17 Their memory perishes from the earth, and they have no name in the street.
18 They are thrust from light into darkness, and driven out of the world.
19 They have no offspring or descendant among their people, and no survivor where they used to live.
20 They of the west are appalled at their fate, and horror seizes those of the east.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly, such is the place of him who knows not God.”
Job 19
19 Then Job answered:
2 “How long will you torment me, and break me in pieces with words?
3 These ten times you have cast reproach on me; are you not ashamed to wrong me?
4 And even if it is true that I have erred, my error remains with me.
5 If indeed you magnify yourselves against me, and make my humiliation an argument against me,
6 know then that God has put me in the wrong, and closed his net around me.
7 Even when I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I am not answered; I call aloud, but there is no justice.
8 He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths.
9 He has stripped my glory from me, and taken the crown from my head.
10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone, he has uprooted my hope like a tree.
11 He has kindled his wrath against me, and counts me as his adversary.
12 His troops come on together; they have thrown up siegeworks against me, and encamp around my tent.
13 “He has put my family far from me, and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
14 My relatives and my close friends have failed me;
15 the guests in my house have forgotten me; my serving girls count me as a stranger; I have become an alien in their eyes.
16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer; I must myself plead with him.
17 My breath is repulsive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own family.
18 Even young children despise me; when I rise, they talk against me.
19 All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me.
20 My bones cleave to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!
22 Why do you, like God, pursue me, never satisfied with my flesh?
23 “O that my words were written down! O that they were inscribed in a book!
24 O that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock for ever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at last he will stand upon the earth;
26 and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God,
27 whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!
28 If you say, ‘How we will pursue him!’ and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him’;
29 be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishment of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.”
Job 20
Zophar Speaks: Wickedness Receives Just Retribution
20 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
2 “Pay attention! My thoughts urge me to answer, because of the agitation within me.
3 I hear censure that insults me, and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me.
4 Do you not know this from of old, ever since mortals were placed on earth,
5 that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless is but for a moment?
6 Even though they mount up high as the heavens, and their head reaches to the clouds,
7 they will perish forever like their own dung; those who have seen them will say, ‘Where are they?’
8 They will fly away like a dream, and not be found; they will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9 The eye that saw them will see them no more, nor will their place behold them any longer.
10 Their children will seek the favor of the poor, and their hands will give back their wealth.
11 Their bodies, once full of youth, will lie down in the dust with them.
12 “Though wickedness is sweet in their mouth, though they hide it under their tongues,
13 though they are loath to let it go, and hold it in their mouths,
14 yet their food is turned in their stomachs; it is the venom of asps within them.
15 They swallow down riches and vomit them up again; God casts them out of their bellies.
16 They will suck the poison of asps; the tongue of a viper will kill them.
17 They will not look on the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds.
18 They will give back the fruit of their toil, and will not swallow it down; from the profit of their trading they will get no enjoyment.
19 For they have crushed and abandoned the poor, they have seized a house that they did not build.
20 They knew no quiet in their bellies; in their greed they let nothing escape.
21 There was nothing left after they had eaten; therefore their prosperity will not endure.
22 In full sufficiency they will be in distress; all the force of misery will come upon them.
23 To fill their belly to the full God will send his fierce anger into them, and rain it upon them as their food.
24 They will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze arrow will strike them through.
25 It is drawn forth and comes out of their body, and the glittering point comes out of their gall; terrors come upon them.
26 Utter darkness is laid up for their treasures; a fire fanned by no one will devour them; what is left in their tent will be consumed.
27 The heavens will reveal their iniquity, and the earth will rise up against them.
28 The possessions of their house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God’s wrath.
29 This is the portion of the wicked from God, the heritage decreed for them by God.”
Job 21
Job Replies: the Wicked Often Go Unpunished
21 Then Job answered:
2 “Listen carefully to my words, and let this be your consolation.
3 Bear with me, and I will speak; then after I have spoken, mock on.
4 As for me, is my complaint addressed to mortals? Why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me, and be appalled, and lay your ha
nd upon your mouth.
6 When I think of it I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh.
7 Why do the wicked live on, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
8 Their children are established in their presence, and their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them.
10 Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves, and never miscarries.
11 They send out their little ones like a flock, and their children dance around.
12 They sing to the tambourine and the lyre, and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol.
14 They say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We do not desire to know your ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’
16 Is not their prosperity indeed their own achievement? The plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.
17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does calamity come upon them? How often does God distribute pains in his anger?
18 How often are they like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away?
19 You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let it be paid back to them, so that they may know it.
20 Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what do they care for their household after them, when the number of their months is cut off?
22 Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those that are on high?
23 One dies in full prosperity, being wholly at ease and secure,
24 his loins full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist.
25 Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of good.
26 They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them.
27 “Oh, I know your thoughts, and your schemes to wrong me.
28 For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’
29 Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony
30 that the wicked are spared in the day of calamity, and are rescued in the day of wrath?
31 Who declares their way to their face, and who repays them for what they have done?
32 When they are carried to the grave, a watch is kept over their tomb.
33 The clods of the valley are sweet to them; everyone will follow after, and those who went before are innumerable.
34 How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”
Job 22
Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness is Great
22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 “Can a mortal be of use to God? Can even the wisest be of service to him?
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
4 Is it for your piety that he reproves you, and enters into judgment with you?
5 Is not your wickedness great? There is no end to your iniquities.
6 For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8 The powerful possess the land, and the favored live in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you have crushed.
10 Therefore snares are around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11 or darkness so that you cannot see; a flood of water covers you.
12 “Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13 Therefore you say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness?
14 Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the dome of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the old way that the wicked have trod?
16 They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away by a flood.
17 They said to God, ‘Leave us alone,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things—but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.
19 The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent laugh them to scorn,
20 saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left, the fire has consumed.’
21 “Agree with God, and be at peace; in this way good will come to you.
22 Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored, if you remove unrighteousness from your tents,
24 if you treat gold like dust, and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed,
25 and if the Almighty is your gold and your precious silver;
26 then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God.
27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows.
28 You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways.
29 When others are humiliated, you say it is pride; for he saves the humble..
30 He will deliver even those who are guilty; they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.”
Job 23
Job Replies: My Complaint is Bitter
23 Then Job answered:
2 “Today also my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3 Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling!
4 I would lay my case before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would learn what he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; but he would give heed to me.
7 There an upright person could reason with him, and I should be acquitted forever by my judge.
8 “If I go forward, he is not there; or backward, I cannot perceive him;
9 on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him; I turn to the right, but I cannot see him.
10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold.
11 My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured in my bosom the words of his mouth.
13 But he stands alone and who can dissuade him? What he desires, that he does.
14 For he will complete what he appoints for me; and many such things are in his mind.
15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him.
16 God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me;
17 If only I could vanish in darkness, and thick darkness would cover my face!
Job 24
Job Complains of Violence on the Earth
24 “Why are times not kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days?
2 The wicked remove landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them.
3 They drive away the donkey of the orphan; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They thrust the needy off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5 Like wild asses in the desert they go out to their toil, scavenging in the wasteland food for their young.
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