Job 15:1--21:34

Eliphaz’s Second Speech

15:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

15:2 “Does a wise man answer with blustery knowledge,

or fill his belly with the east wind?

15:3 Does he argue with useless talk,

with words that have no value in them?

15:4 But you even break off piety,

and hinder meditation before God.

15:5 Your sin inspires your mouth;

you choose the language of the crafty.

15:6 Your own mouth condemns you, not I;

your own lips testify against you.

15:7 “Were you the first man ever born?

Were you brought forth before the hills?

15:8 Do you listen in on God’s secret council?

Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

15:9 What do you know that we don’t know?

What do you understand that we don’t understand?

15:10 The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,

men far older than your father.

15:11 Are God’s consolations too trivial for you;

or a word spoken in gentleness to you?

15:12 Why has your heart carried you away,

and why do your eyes flash,

15:13 when you turn your rage against God

and allow such words to escape from your mouth?

15:14 What is man that he should be pure,

or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?

15:15 If God places no trust in his holy ones,

if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,

15:16 how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt,

who drinks in evil like water!

15:17 “I will explain to you;

listen to me,

and what I have seen, I will declare,

15:18 what wise men declare,

hiding nothing,

from the tradition of their ancestors,

15:19 to whom alone the land was given

when no foreigner passed among them.

15:20 All his days the wicked man suffers torment,

throughout the number of the years

that are stored up for the tyrant.

15:21 Terrifying sounds fill his ears;

in a time of peace marauders attack him.

15:22 He does not expect to escape from darkness;

he is marked for the sword;

15:23 he wanders about – food for vultures;

he knows that the day of darkness is at hand.

15:24 Distress and anguish terrify him;

they prevail against him

like a king ready to launch an attack,

15:25 for he stretches out his hand against God,

and vaunts himself against the Almighty,

15:26 defiantly charging against him

with a thick, strong shield!

15:27 Because he covered his face with fat,

and made his hips bulge with fat,

15:28 he lived in ruined towns

and in houses where no one lives,

where they are ready to crumble into heaps.

15:29 He will not grow rich,

and his wealth will not endure,

nor will his possessions spread over the land.

15:30 He will not escape the darkness;

a flame will wither his shoots

and he will depart

by the breath of God’s mouth.

15:31 Let him not trust in what is worthless,

deceiving himself;

for worthlessness will be his reward.

15:32 Before his time he will be paid in full,

and his branches will not flourish.

15:33 Like a vine he will let his sour grapes fall,

and like an olive tree

he will shed his blossoms.

15:34 For the company of the godless is barren,

and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes.

15:35 They conceive trouble and bring forth evil;

their belly prepares deception.”

Job’s Reply to Eliphaz

16:1 Then Job replied:

16:2 “I have heard many things like these before.

What miserable comforters are you all!

16:3 Will there be an end to your windy words?

Or what provokes you that you answer?

16:4 I also could speak like you,

if you were in my place;

I could pile up words against you

and I could shake my head at you.

16:5 But I would strengthen you with my words;

comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

Abandonment by God and Man

16:6 “But if I speak, my pain is not relieved,

and if I refrain from speaking

– how much of it goes away?

16:7 Surely now he has worn me out,

you have devastated my entire household.

16:8 You have seized me,

and it has become a witness;

my leanness has risen up against me

and testifies against me.

16:9 His anger has torn me and persecuted me;

he has gnashed at me with his teeth;

my adversary locks his eyes on me.

16:10 People have opened their mouths against me,

they have struck my cheek in scorn;

they unite together against me.

16:11 God abandons me to evil men,

and throws me into the hands of wicked men.

16:12 I was in peace, and he has shattered me.

He has seized me by the neck and crushed me.

He has made me his target;

16:13 his archers surround me.

Without pity he pierces my kidneys

and pours out my gall on the ground.

16:14 He breaks through against me, time and time again;

he rushes against me like a warrior.

16:15 I have sewed sackcloth on my skin,

and buried my horn in the dust;

16:16 my face is reddened because of weeping,

and on my eyelids there is a deep darkness,

16:17 although there is no violence in my hands

and my prayer is pure.

An Appeal to God as Witness

16:18 “O earth, do not cover my blood,

nor let there be a secret place for my cry.

16:19 Even now my witness is in heaven;

my advocate is on high.

16:20 My intercessor is my friend

as my eyes pour out tears to God;

16:21 and he contends with God on behalf of man

as a man pleads for his friend.

16:22 For the years that lie ahead are few,

and then I will go on the way of no return.

17:1 My spirit is broken,

my days have faded out,

the grave awaits me.

17:2 Surely mockery is with me;

my eyes must dwell on their hostility.

17:3 Make then my pledge with you.

Who else will put up security for me?

17:4 Because you have closed their minds to understanding,

therefore you will not exalt them.

17:5 If a man denounces his friends for personal gain,

the eyes of his children will fail.

17:6 He has made me a byword to people,

I am the one in whose face they spit.

17:7 My eyes have grown dim with grief;

my whole frame is but a shadow.

17:8 Upright men are appalled at this;

the innocent man is troubled with the godless.

17:9 But the righteous man holds to his way,

and the one with clean hands grows stronger.

Anticipation of Death

17:10 “But turn, all of you, and come now!

I will not find a wise man among you.

17:11 My days have passed, my plans are shattered,

even the desires of my heart.

17:12 These men change night into day;

they say, ‘The light is near

in the face of darkness.’

17:13 If I hope for the grave to be my home,

if I spread out my bed in darkness,

17:14 If I cry to corruption, ‘You are my father,’

and to the worm, ‘My Mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

17:15 where then is my hope?

And my hope, who sees it?

17:16 Will it go down to the barred gates of death?

Will we descend together into the dust?”

Bildad’s Second Speech

18:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

18:2 “How long until you make an end of words?

You must consider, and then we can talk.

18:3 Why should we be regarded as beasts,

and considered stupid in your sight?

18:4 You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger,

will the earth be abandoned for your sake?

Or will a rock be moved from its place?

18:5 “Yes, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished;

his flame of fire does not shine.

18:6 The light in his tent grows dark;

his lamp above him is extinguished.

18:7 His vigorous steps are restricted,

and his own counsel throws him down.

18:8 For he has been thrown into a net by his feet

and he wanders into a mesh.

18:9 A trap seizes him by the heel;

a snare grips him.

18:10 A rope is hidden for him on the ground

and a trap for him lies on the path.

18:11 Terrors frighten him on all sides

and dog his every step.

18:12 Calamity is hungry for him,

and misfortune is ready at his side.

18:13 It eats away parts of his skin;

the most terrible death devours his limbs.

18:14 He is dragged from the security of his tent,

and marched off to the king of terrors.

18:15 Fire resides in his tent;

over his residence burning sulfur is scattered.

18:16 Below his roots dry up,

and his branches wither above.

18:17 His memory perishes from the earth,

he has no name in the land.

18:18 He is driven from light into darkness

and is banished from the world.

18:19 He has neither children nor descendants among his people,

no survivor in those places he once stayed.

18:20 People of the west are appalled at his fate;

people of the east are seized with horror, saying,

18:21 ‘Surely such is the residence of an evil man;

and this is the place of one who has not known God.’”

Job’s Reply to Bildad

19:1 Then Job answered:

19:2 “How long will you torment me

and crush me with your words?

19:3 These ten times you have been reproaching me;

you are not ashamed to attack me!

19:4 But even if it were true that I have erred,

my error remains solely my concern!

19:5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me

and plead my disgrace against me,

19:6 know then that God has wronged me

and encircled me with his net.

Job’s Abandonment and Affliction

19:7 “If I cry out, ‘Violence!’

I receive no answer;

I cry for help,

but there is no justice.

19:8 He has blocked my way so I cannot pass,

and has set darkness over my paths.

19:9 He has stripped me of my honor

and has taken the crown off my head.

19:10 He tears me down on every side until I perish;

he uproots my hope like one uproots a tree.

19:11 Thus his anger burns against me,

and he considers me among his enemies.

19:12 His troops advance together;

they throw up a siege ramp against me,

and they camp around my tent.

Job’s Forsaken State

19:13 “He has put my relatives far from me;

my acquaintances only turn away from me.

19:14 My kinsmen have failed me;

my friends have forgotten me.

19:15 My guests and my servant girls

consider me a stranger;

I am a foreigner in their eyes.

19:16 I summon my servant, but he does not respond,

even though I implore him with my own mouth.

19:17 My breath is repulsive to my wife;

I am loathsome to my brothers.

19:18 Even youngsters have scorned me;

when I get up, they scoff at me.

19:19 All my closest friends detest me;

and those whom I love have turned against me.

19:20 My bones stick to my skin and my flesh;

I have escaped alive with only the skin of my teeth.

19:21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me,

for the hand of God has struck me.

19:22 Why do you pursue me like God does?

Will you never be satiated with my flesh?

Job’s Assurance of Vindication

19:23 “O that my words were written down,

O that they were written on a scroll,

19:24 that with an iron chisel and with lead

they were engraved in a rock forever!

19:25 As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,

and that as the last

he will stand upon the earth.

19:26 And after my skin has been destroyed,

yet in my flesh I will see God,

19:27 whom I will see for myself,

and whom my own eyes will behold,

and not another.

My heart grows faint within me.

19:28 If you say, ‘How we will pursue him,

since the root of the trouble is found in him!’

19:29 Fear the sword yourselves,

for wrath brings the punishment by the sword,

so that you may know

that there is judgment.”

Zophar’s Second Speech

20:1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:

20:2 “This is why my troubled thoughts bring me back –

because of my feelings within me.

20:3 When I hear a reproof that dishonors me,

then my understanding prompts me to answer.

20:4 “Surely you know that it has been from old,

ever since humankind was placed on the earth,

20:5 that the elation of the wicked is brief,

the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.

20:6 Even though his stature reaches to the heavens

and his head touches the clouds,

20:7 he will perish forever, like his own excrement;

those who used to see him will say, ‘Where is he?’

20:8 Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found,

and like a vision of the night he is put to flight.

20:9 People who had seen him will not see him again,

and the place where he was

will recognize him no longer.

20:10 His sons must recompense the poor;

his own hands must return his wealth.

20:11 His bones were full of his youthful vigor,

but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust.

20:12 “If evil is sweet in his mouth

and he hides it under his tongue,

20:13 if he retains it for himself

and does not let it go,

and holds it fast in his mouth,

20:14 his food is turned sour in his stomach;

it becomes the venom of serpents within him.

20:15 The wealth that he consumed he vomits up,

God will make him throw it out of his stomach.

20:16 He sucks the poison of serpents;

the fangs of a viper kill him.

20:17 He will not look on the streams,

the rivers, which are the torrents

of honey and butter.

20:18 He gives back the ill-gotten gain

without assimilating it;

he will not enjoy the wealth from his commerce.

20:19 For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them;

he has seized a house which he did not build.

20:20 For he knows no satisfaction in his appetite;

he does not let anything he desires escape.

20:21 “Nothing is left for him to devour;

that is why his prosperity does not last.

20:22 In the fullness of his sufficiency,

distress overtakes him.

the full force of misery will come upon him.

20:23 “While he is filling his belly,

God sends his burning anger against him,

and rains down his blows upon him.

20:24 If he flees from an iron weapon,

then an arrow from a bronze bow pierces him.

20:25 When he pulls it out and it comes out of his back,

the gleaming point out of his liver,

terrors come over him.

20:26 Total darkness waits to receive his treasures;

a fire which has not been kindled

will consume him

and devour what is left in his tent.

20:27 The heavens reveal his iniquity;

the earth rises up against him.

20:28 A flood will carry off his house,

rushing waters on the day of God’s wrath.

20:29 Such is the lot God allots the wicked,

and the heritage of his appointment from God.”

Job’s Reply to Zophar

21:1 Then Job answered:

21:2 “Listen carefully to my words;

let this be the consolation you offer me.

21:3 Bear with me and I will speak,

and after I have spoken you may mock.

21:4 Is my complaint against a man?

If so, why should I not be impatient?

21:5 Look at me and be appalled;

put your hands over your mouths.

21:6 For, when I think about this, I am terrified

and my body feels a shudder.

The Wicked Prosper

21:7 “Why do the wicked go on living,

grow old, even increase in power?

21:8 Their children are firmly established

in their presence,

their offspring before their eyes.

21:9 Their houses are safe and without fear;

and no rod of punishment from God is upon them.

21:10 Their bulls breed without fail;

their cows calve and do not miscarry.

21:11 They allow their children to run like a flock;

their little ones dance about.

21:12 They sing to the accompaniment of tambourine and harp,

and make merry to the sound of the flute.

21:13 They live out their years in prosperity

and go down to the grave in peace.

21:14 So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us!

We do not want to know your ways.

21:15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

What would we gain

if we were to pray to him?’

21:16 But their prosperity is not their own doing.

The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

How Often Do the Wicked Suffer?

21:17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?

How often does their misfortune come upon them?

How often does God apportion pain to them in his anger?

21:18 How often are they like straw before the wind,

and like chaff swept away by a whirlwind?

21:19 You may say, ‘God stores up a man’s punishment for his children!’

Instead let him repay the man himself

so that he may know it!

21:20 Let his own eyes see his destruction;

let him drink of the anger of the Almighty.

21:21 For what is his interest in his home

after his death,

when the number of his months

has been broken off?

21:22 Can anyone teach God knowledge,

since he judges those that are on high?

Death Levels Everything

21:23 “One man dies in his full vigor,

completely secure and prosperous,

21:24 his body well nourished,

and the marrow of his bones moist.

21:25 And another man dies in bitterness of soul,

never having tasted anything good.

21:26 Together they lie down in the dust,

and worms cover over them both.

Futile Words, Deceptive Answers

21:27 “Yes, I know what you are thinking,

the schemes by which you would wrong me.

21:28 For you say,

‘Where now is the nobleman’s house,

and where are the tents in which the wicked lived?’

21:29 Have you never questioned those who travel the roads?

Do you not recognize their accounts –

21:30 that the evil man is spared

from the day of his misfortune,

that he is delivered

from the day of God’s wrath?

21:31 No one denounces his conduct to his face;

no one repays him for what he has done.

21:32 And when he is carried to the tombs,

and watch is kept over the funeral mound,

21:33 The clods of the torrent valley are sweet to him;

behind him everybody follows in procession,

and before him goes a countless throng.

21:34 So how can you console me with your futile words?

Nothing is left of your answers but deception!”