 |
The WorldPeace Peace Page |  |
 |
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
![[IMAGE]](wpok1sod.gif)
THE BOOK OF JOB I
by John WorldPeace
Copyright 1998 by John WorldPeace
Houston, Texas USA
All rights reserved.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Chapter 1 Job and his family; Job loses his property
and his children
Chapter 2 Attack on Job's health; Job's three
friends
Chapter 3 Job curses the day he was born
Chapter 4 Eliphaz speaks: Job has sinned
Chapter 5 Eliphaz continues to speak: Job is corrected
Chapter 6 Job replies: My compaint is just
Chapter 7 Job: My suffering is without end
Chapter 8 Bildad speaks: Job should repent
Chapter 9 Job replies: There is no mediator
Chapter 10 Job: I loathe my life
Chapter 11 Zophar speaks: Job's guilt deserves
punishment
Chapter 12 Job replies: I am a laughingstock
Chapter 13 I am a laughingstock (continued)
Chapter 14 Job's despondent prayer (continued)
Chapter 15 Eliphaz speaks: Job undermines religion
Chapter 16 Job reaffirms his innocence
Chapter 17 Job prays for relief
Chapter 18 Bildad speaks: God punishes the wicked
Chapter 19 Job replies: I know that my redeemer
lives
Chapter 20 Zophar speaks: Wickedness receives just
retribution
The Book of Job II
HOME
PREFACE
The Jewish book of Job is about a once wealthy man who lost everything;
his property, his children, and his health.
The entire book is centered around the question of why things happen to
us? Why do good people seem to suffer and the bad live in peace? Why is
there no apparent justice in the way things happen in this reality? These
are
questions that Job demands that God answer.
The story takes place at a time when Job is suffering greatly and several
of
his friends have come to visit him. For the most part, they all tell him
that
he has sinned and that is why God is punishing him. Job denies that he has
sinned, which is true, but his friends criticize him for saying he is
sinless
when it is obvious from his present condition that he has in some way
offended God.
In the end, God responds to Job, but he does not answer him. God does
not attempt to justify what has happened to Job. God's reply was simply
to ask Job who he was to question what God was doing.
The book of Job states a truth that many religionist do not want to accept;
that there is no guarantee of justice, that the good sometimes suffer and
the
bad do not. Many religionist feel that there will be justice after death;
at
that time all things will even out. However, there is a possibility that
things
are no different in the spiritual reality than they are in this reality.
In the Eastern religions of Taoism and Zen Buddhism there is no concern
over justice. There is a mindset that things are good or bad only by
perception. One experiences events of life and only when one distinguishes
these events as good or bad does one become confused in the
manifestations of the Infinite Potential. In the Taoist and Zen mindset,
it is
a waste of time to consider justice or the lack of justice. The concept of
justice is just a delusion of the mind that occurs when one tries to
distinguish the oneness of the Infinite Potential into parts and then to
judge
those parts as good and bad. Justice then becomes arbitrary based on one's
perspective.
From the perspective of God, or what the Tao calls the Way, or what I
refer to as the Infinite Potential, all things are in perfect harmony and
things
only become out of harmony and confusing when one attempts to mentally
distinguish the manifestations of the Infinite Potential as good or bad.
CHAPTER 1
Job and his family
There was once a man who lived in the land of Uz whose name was
Job. He was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away
from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He had
seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen,
five hundred donkeys, and very many servants. Job was the wealthiest man
of all the people in the east.
His sons used to go and hold feasts in each another's houses in turn
and on these occasions they would invite their three sisters to eat and
drink
with them. When the feast days had run their course, Job would sanctify
them. He would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings for each
of them because Job thought, "It may be that my children have sinned, and
cursed God in their hearts." This is what Job always did.
Job Loses Property and Children
One day when his sons and daughters were feasting in the eldest
brother's house, a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were
plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them, and the Sabeans
attacked them and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge
of
the sword. I alone have escaped to tell you.
While he was still speaking, another servant came and said, "The fire
of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the shepherds. I
alone have escaped to tell you."
While he was still speaking, another servant came and said, "The
Chaldeans formed three columns and made a raid on the camels and carried
them off and killed the herdsmen with the edge of the sword. I alone have
escaped to tell you."
While he was still speaking, another servant came and said, "Your
sons and daughters were feasting in your eldest son's house when a great
wind came across the desert, struck the four corners of the house and
collapsed it upon your children and they are all dead. I alone have escaped
to tell you."
Then Job stood up, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell face down
on the ground and said,
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will return there.
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the
Lord."
In all this Job did not lose his faith in God or charge God with
wrongdoing.
CHAPTER 2
Attack on Job's Health
A short time later Job became inflicted with loathsome sores from the
soles of his feet to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which
to scrape himself and sat among the ashes.
Then his wife said to Job, "Do you still persist in your faith? Curse
God and die." But he said to her, "You speak as a foolish person would
speak. Shall we accept the good from God and not accept the bad?" In all
this Job did not lose his faith.
Job's Three Friends
Now when Job's three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the
Shuite, and Zophar the Naamathite, heard of all of Job's troubles, each of
them left his home to go and see Job. Together they went to console and
comfort Job. When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize
him and they raised their voices and wept aloud. They tore their robes and
threw dust in the air and upon their heads. They sat with Job on the
ground for seven days and seven nights and no one spoke a word to him
for they saw that his suffering was very great.
CHAPTER 3
Job Curses the Day He Was Born
1. After seven days Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
2. Job said:
3. "Let the day perish on which I was born as well as the night that said,
'a
man-child is conceived.'
4. Let that day become darkness! May God above not seek it or light be
allowed to shine on it.
5. Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds settle upon it. Let
blackness terrify that day.
6. Let thick darkness seize that night! Let that day not rejoice among the
days of the year. Let that day no longer be a part of the months.
7. Let that night be barren. Let no joyful cry be heard in it.
8. Let those who curse the sea and those who are skilled to rouse up
Leviathan curse the day of my birth.
9. Let the stars of that day's dawn be dark. Let that day hope for light,
but
have none. May that day not see the eyelids of the morning
10. because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb and hide
trouble from my eyes.
11. Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not come forth from the womb
and immediately die?
12. Why were there knees there to receive me and breasts for me to nurse?
13. Had I died at birth I would at this moment be lying down and quiet. I
would be asleep. I would be at rest
14. with the kings and counselors of the earth who rebuild ruins for
themselves
15. and with princes who have gold and who fill their houses with silver.
16. Why was I not buried like a stillborn child; like an infant that never
sees the light?
17. In death, the wicked no longer suffer the manifestations of this
reality
and the weary are at rest.
18. In death, the prisoners are at ease together. They do not hear the
voice of the taskmaster.
19. The small and the great are together in death and the slaves are free
from their masters.
20. Why is light given to one who lives in misery and life continued for
the
bitter in soul
21. who longs for death which does not come and digs for it more than for
hidden treasure;
22. who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they enter the grave?
23. Why is light given to one who cannot see the way; whom God has
fenced in?
24. For my sighing comes like my meals and my groanings are poured out
like water.
25. Truly the thing that I have always feared has come upon me and what I
most dreaded has befallen me.
26. I am not at ease nor am I quiet. I have no rest but trouble still
comes."
CHAPTER 4
Eliphaz Speaks: Job Has Sinned
1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2. "If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended? It does not
matter. I must speak?
3. You have instructed many. You have strengthened the hands of the
weak.
4. Your words have supported those who were stumbling and you have
made feeble knees firm again.
5. But now trouble has come to you and you are impatient. Trouble
touches you and you are dismayed.
6. Is not your love of God your peace? Is not the faith of your ways your
hope?
7. Think now! Who do you know that was innocent and perished before
their time? When and where were the upright cut off in their youth?
8. It is my experience that those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap
the same.
9. By the breath of God they perish and by the blast of His anger they are
consumed.
10. The roar of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion are silenced and
the
teeth of the young lions are broken.
11. The strong lion perishes for lack of prey and the whelps of the lioness
are scattered.
12. Now a thought came to me. My ear received the whisper of it.
13. Amid thoughts proceeding from dreams of the night when deep sleep
falls on mortals,
14. dread came upon me along with a trembling which made my bones
shake.
15. A spirit glided past my face and the hair of my flesh stood on end.
16. The spirit stood still but I could not discern its appearance. A form
was before my eyes in silence. Then I heard a voice ask:
17. Can mortals stand without fault before God? Can human beings be
pure before their Maker?
18. God does not rely on His servants and He charges His angels with
error.
19. What about human beings who live in houses of clay, who were
created out of the premortal clay, who are crushed like a moth?
20. Between morning and evening they are destroyed. They perish forever
without any notice being taken.
21. Their tent cord is plucked up within them and they die devoid of
wisdom."
CHAPTER 5
Eliphaz Continues To Speak: Job Is Corrected
1. "Call now: Is there anyone who will answer you?
2. Surely aggravation kills the fool and jealousy slays the simple.
3. I have seen fools taking root but suddenly God cursed their dwelling.
4. Their children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate and
there is no one to deliver them.
5. The hungry eat their harvest and they take it even out of the thorns and
the thirsty pant after their wealth.
6. For misery does not come from the earth nor does suffering sprout from
the ground.
7. But human beings are born to suffering just as sparks fly upward.
8. As for me, I would seek God and to God I would commit my cause.
9. He does great and marvelous things without number.
10. He gives rain to the earth and sends waters to the fields.
11. He sets on high those who are lowly and those who mourn are given
peace.
12. He frustrates the devices of the crafty so that their hands achieve no
success.
13. He takes the wise in their own craftiness and the schemes of the wily
are brought to a quick end.
14. The ignorant face darkness in the daytime and grope at noonday as in
the night.
15. But He saves the needy from the sword of their mouth and from the
hand of the mighty.
16. So the poor have hope and injustice shuts its mouth.
17. How happy is the one whom God reprimands. Therefore, do not
despise the discipline of the Almighty.
18. For when he wounds, he binds up. When He strikes, His hands heal.
19. He will deliver you from six troubles in seven. No harm shall touch
you.
20. In famine He will save you from death and in war from the power of
the sword.
21. You shall be hidden from the slanderous tongue and you shall not fear
destruction when it comes.
22. You shall laugh at destruction and famine and you shall not fear the
wild animals of the earth.
23. For you shall be in harmony with the stones of the field and the wild
animals shall be at peace with you.
24. You shall know that your tent is safe. You shall inspect your fold and
none will be missing.
25. You shall know that your descendants will be many and your
offsprings will be like the grass on the earth.
26. You shall go to your grave in ripe old age as a shock of grain comes
up to the threshing floor in its season.
27. We have searched this out. It is true. Hear our words and know it for
yourself."
CHAPTER 6
Job Replies: My Complaint Is Just
1. Then Job answered:
2. If my aggravation were weighed and all my calamity laid in the
balances,
3. they would be heavier than the sand of the sea. Therefore, my words
have been rash.
4. For the arrows of the Almighty are in me. My spirit drinks their poison.
The terrors of God are arrayed against me.
5. Does the wild ass bray over its grass or the ox low over its fodder?
6. Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt or is there any flavor
in
the juice of mallows?
7. My appetite refuses to touch them. They are like food that is loathsome
to me.
8. Oh that I might have my request and that God would grant my desire;
9. that it would please God to crush me, that he would loose his hand and
cut me off!
10. This would be my consolation. I would even exult in unrelenting pain
for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
11. What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end that I
should be patient?
12. Is my strength the strength of stones or is my flesh of bronze?
13. In truth, I have no help in me and any resource is driven from me.
14. Those who withhold kindness from a friend, forsake the love of the
Almighty.
15. My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed, like freshets that
pass away,
16. that run dark with ice, turbid with melting snow.
17. In time of heat they disappear. When it is hot, they vanish from their
place.
18. The caravans turn aside from their course; they go up into the waste
and perish.
19. The caravans of Tema look. The travelers of Sheba hope.
20. They are disappointed because they were confident. They come there
and are confounded.
21. Such you have now become to me. You see my calamity and are
afraid.
22. Have I said, Make me a gift? Or, from your wealth offer a bribe for
me?
23. Or, save me from an opponent's hand? Or, ransom me from the hand
of oppressors.
24. Teach me and I will be silent. Make me understand how I have gone
wrong.
25. How forceful are honest words! But your reproof, what does it
reprove.
26. Do you think that you can reprove words as if the speech of the
desperate were wind?
27. You would even cast lots over the orphan and bargain over your
friend.
28. But now, be pleased to look at me for I will not lie to your face.
29. Turn, I pray, my vindication is at stake.
30. Is there any wrong on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern calamity?
CHAPTER 7
Job: My Suffering Is Without End
1. "Do not human beings have a hard service on earth and are not their
days like the days of a laborer?
2. Like a slave who longs for the shade and like laborers who anticipate
their wages,
3. so I am allotted months of emptiness and I am apportioned nights of
misery.
4. When I lie down I say, 'When shall I rise?' But the night is long and
I
toss and turn until dawn.
5. My flesh is covered with worms and dirt. My skin heals and then breaks
open again.
6. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and come to their end
without hope.
7. Remember that my life is a breath. My eye will never again see good.
8. The eye that beholds me will see me no more. While your eyes are
upon me, I shall be gone.
9. As the cloud fades and vanishes, so those who go down to Hell do not
come up.
10. They return no more to their houses nor do the places they visited
know them any more.
11. Therefore, I will not restrain my mouth. I will speak in the anguish
of
my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12. Am I the Sea or the Dragon that you set a guard over me?
13. When I say, 'My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my
complaint',
14. then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions
15. so that I contemplate strangling and death rather than this body.
16. I loathe my life. I have no desire to live forever. Leave me alone, for
my days are a breath.
17. What are human beings, that you make so much of them, that you set
your mind on them,
18. visit them every morning, test them every moment?
19. Will you not look away from me for a while. Leave me alone until I
swallow my spittle?
20. If I sin, what do I do to you, you watchers of humanity? Why have
you made me your target? Why have I become a burden to you?
21. Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my
transgressions? It is time for me to die. You will look for me but I will
be
dead."
CHAPTER 8
Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent
1. Then Bildad the Shuite answered:
2. "How long will you say these things. Your words are like the wind!
3. Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert the right?
4. If your children sinned against Him, He delivered them into the power
of their transgressions.
5. If you will seek God and make supplication to the Almighty,
6. if you are pure and upright, surely then He will rouse Himself for you
and restore to you your rightful place.
7. Though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great.
8. Consider bygone generations and ponder what their ancestors have
found.
9. We here were born only yesterday and we know nothing. Our days on
the earth are just a shadow.
10. Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their
understanding?
11. Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where
there is no water?
12. While yet in flower and not cut down they wither before any other
plant.
13. Such are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the Godless
shall perish.
14. Their confidence is a cobweb. There trust is a spider's house.
15. If one leans against its house, it will not stand. If one lays hold of
it, it
will not endure.
16. The wicked thrive before the sun and their shoots spread over the
garden.
17. Their roots twine around the stoneheap. They live among the rocks.
18. If they are destroyed from their place, then it will deny them saying,
I
have never seen you.
19. See these are their happy ways and out of the earth still others will
spring.
20. See, God will not reject a blameless person, nor take the hand of an
evildoer.
21. He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of
joy.
22. Those who hate you will be clothed with shame and the tent of the
wicked will be no more.
CHAPTER 9
Job Replies; There Is No Mediator
1. Then Job answered:
2. Indeed I know that this is so, but how can a mortal be just before God?
3. If one wished to contend with Him, one could not answer Him once in a
thousand times.
4. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength - who has resisted Him and
succeeded?
5. He who removes mountains and they do not know it, when he overturns
them in his anger,
6. who shakes the earth out of its place and its pillars tremble,
7. who commands the sun and it does not rise, who seals up the stars,
8. who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the Sea,
9. who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the
south,
10. who does great things beyond understanding and marvelous things
without number.
11. Look He passes by me and I do not see Him. He travels on but I do
not perceive him.
12. He snatches away, who can stop Him? Who will say to Him, 'What
are you doing?'
13. God will not turn back His anger, the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath
Him.
14. How then can I answer Him, choosing my words with him?
15. Though I am innocent, I cannot answer Him. I must appeal for mercy
to my accuser.
16. If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe that He
would listen to my voice.
17. For he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without
cause.
18. He will not let me get my breath, but he fills me with bitterness.
19. If it is a contest of strength, He is the strong one! If it is a matter
of
justice, who can summon Him?
20. Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me. Though I
am blameless, He would prove me corrupt.
21. I am blameless. I do not know myself. I loath my life.
22. It is all one. Therefore, I say, 'He destroys both the blameless and
the
wicked.'
23. When disaster brings sudden death, He mocks at the calamity of the
innocent.
24. The earth is given into the power of the wicked. He covers the eyes of
its judges. If it is not He, who then is it?
25. My days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see little
good.
26. They go by like skiffs of reed; like an eagle swooping on its prey.
27. If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad
countenance
and be of good cheer',
28. I become afraid of all my suffering. For I know you will not hold me
innocent.
29. I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain?
30. If I wash myself with soap and cleanse my hands with lye,
31. yet you will plunge me into filth and my own clothes will abhor me.
32. For He is not a mortal as I am that I might answer Him, that we should
come to trial together.
33. There is no umpire between us who might lay his hand on us both.
34. If He would take His rod away from me and not let dread of Him
terrify me,
35. then I would speak without fear of Him, for I know I am not the sinner
I am thought to be.
CHAPTER 10
Job: I Loathe My Life
1. I loathe my life. I will give free utterance to my complaint. 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
against me.
3. Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands
and favor the schemes of the wicked?
4. Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as humans see?
5. Are your days like the days of mortals, are your years like human years
6. that you seek out my immorality and search for my sin
7. although you know that I am not guilty and there is no one to deliver
me out of your hands?
8. Your hands fashioned and made me and now you turn and destroy me.
9. Remember that you fashioned me like clay. Will you now turn and
destroy me?
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 have granted me life and steadfast love and your care has
preserved my spirit.
13. Yet these things you hid in your heart. I know that this was your
purpose.
14. If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my immorality.
15. If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head
for I am filled with disgrace and look upon my affliction.
16. Bold as a lion you hunt me, you repeat your exploits against me.
17. You renew your witness against me and increase your annoyance
toward me. You bring fresh troops against me.
18. Why did you bring me forth from the womb? Would that I had died
before any eye had seen me
19. and were as though I had not been carried from the womb to the
grave.
20. Are not the days of my life few? Let me alone that I may find a little
comfort
21. before I go, never to return to the land of gloom and deep darkness,
22. the land of gloom and chaos where light is like darkness.
CHAPTER 11
Zophar Speaks: Job's Guilt Deserves Punishment
1. Then Zophar the Maamathite answered:
2. Should a multitude of words go unanswered and should one full of talk
be acquitted?
3. Should your babble put others to silence. When you mock shall no one
shame you?
4. For you say, My conduct is pure and I am clean in God's sight.
5. But oh, that God would speak and open His lips to you
6. and that He would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For wisdom then
that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.
7. Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of
the Almighty?
8. It is higher than heaven - what can you do? Deeper than Hell - what
can you know?
9. Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.
10. If He passes through and imprisons and assembles for judgment all of
humanity, who can hinder Him?
11. For He knows those who are worthless. When He sees immorality will
He not consider it?
12. But a stupid person will get understanding when a wild ass gives birth
to a human being.
13. If you direct your heart rightly, you will stretch out your hands
toward
Him.
14. If immorality is in your hand, put it far away and do not let
wickedness
reside in your tents.
15. Surely then you will lift up your face with blemish. You will be secure
and will not fear.
16. You will forget your misery. You will remember it as waters that have
passed away.
17. And your life will be brighter than the noonday. Its darkness will be
like the morning.
18. And you will have confidence because there is hope. You will be
protected and take your rest in safety.
19. You will lie down and no one will make you afraid. Many will entreat
your favor.
20. But the eyes of the wicked will fail. All avenues of escape will be
lost
to them and their hope is to breathe their last.
CHAPTER 12
Job Replies: I Am a Laughingstock
1. Then Job answered:
2. No doubt you are the chosen of the people and wisdom will die with
you.
3. But I have understanding as well as you. I am not inferior to you. Who
does not know such things as these?
4. I am a laughingstock to my friends. I who called upon God and he
answered me, a just and blameless man, with unmitigated misery. I am a
laughingstock.
5. Those at ease have contempt for misfortune, but it is ready for those
whose feet are unstable.
6. The tents of robbers are at peace and those who provoke God are
secure; those who bring their idols in their hands.
7. But ask the animals and they will teach you; the birds of the air and
they
will tell you.
8. Ask the plants of the earth and they will teach you; and the fish of the
sea will declare to you.
9. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done
this?
10. In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every
human being.
11. Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?
12. Is wisdom with the aged and understanding in length of days?
13. With God are wisdom and strength. He has counsel and
understanding.
14. If He tears down, no one can rebuild. If He shuts someone in, no one
can open up.
15. If He withholds the waters, they dry up. If He sends them out, they
overwhelm the land.
16. With Him are strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are
His.
17. He leads counselors away stripped and makes fools of judges.
18. He looses the sash of kings and binds a waistcloth on their loins.
19. He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty.
20. He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the
discernment of the elders.
21. He pours contempt on princes and looses the belt of the strong.
22. He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to
light.
23. He makes nations great and then destroys them. He enlarges nations
and then leads them away.
24. He strips understanding from the leaders of the earth and makes them
wander in a pathless waste.
25. They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like
drunkards.
CHAPTER 13
Job Replies: I Am A Laughingstock (continued)
1. Look my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it.
2. What you know, I also know. I am not inferior to you.
3. But I would speak to the Almighty and I desire to argue my case with
Him.
4. As for you, you whitewash with lies, all of you are worthless
physicians.
5. If you would only keep silent that would be your wisdom!
6. Hear now my reasoning and listen to the pleading of my lips.
7. Will you speak falsely for God and speak deceitfully for Him?
8. Will you show partiality toward Him? Will you plead the case for God?
9. Will it be well with you when He searches you out? Or can you deceive
Him as a person deceives another?
10. He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality.
11. Will not his majesty terrify you and the dread of Him fall upon you?
12. Your maxims are proverbs of ashes. Your defenses are defenses of
clay.
13. Let me have silence and I will speak and let come on me what may.
14. I will take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hand.
15. See He will kill me. I have no hope but I will defend my ways to His
face.
16. This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before Him.
17. Listen carefully to my words and let my declaration be in your ears.
18. I have indeed prepared my case, I know that I shall be vindicated
19. Who is there that will contend with me? For then I would be silent
and die.
Job's Despondent Prayer
20. Dear God, only grant two things to me then I will not hide myself
from your face.
21. Withdraw your hand far from me and do not let dread of you terrify
me.
22. Then call and I will answer. Or let me speak and you reply to me.
23. How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my
transgressions and my sin.
24. Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?
25. Will you frighten a windblown leaf and pursue dry chaff?
26. For you write bitter things against me and make me reap the iniquities
of my youth.
27. You put my feet in the stocks and watch all my paths. You set a
bound to the soles of my feet.
28. I waste away like a rotten thing; like a garment that is moth-eaten.
CHAPTER 14
Job's Despondent Prayer (continued)
1. A mortal, born of woman few of days and full of trouble
2. comes up like a flower and withers; flees like a shadow and does not
last.
3. Do you fix your eyes on such a one? Do you bring me into judgment
with you?
4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean one? No one can.
5. Since their days are determined and the number of their months is
known to you and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass.
6. Look away from them and desist that they may enjoy like laborers their
days.
7. For there is hope for a tree if it is cut down that it will sprout again
and
that its shoots will not cease.
8. Though its roots grow old in the earth and its stump dies in the ground
9. yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a
young
plant.
10. But mortals die and are laid low. Human beings expire and where are
they?
11. As waters fail from a lake and a river wastes away and dries up
12. so mortals lie down and do not rise again until the heavens are no
more. They will not awake or be roused out of their sleep.
13. Oh, that you would hide me in Hell; that you would conceal me until
your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time and remember
me!
14. If mortals die, will they live again? All the days of my service I
would
wait until my release should come.
15. You would call and I would answer you. You would long for the
work of your hands.
16. For then you would not number my steps, you would not keep watch
over my sin;
17. my transgressions would be sealed up in a bag and you would cover
over my immorality.
18. But the mountain falls and crumbles away and the rock is removed
form its place.
19. The waters wear away the stones, the torrents wash away the soil of
the earth so you destroy the hope of mortals.
20. You prevail forever against them and they pass away. You change
their countenance and send them away.
21 Their children come to honor and they do not know it. They are
brought low and it goes unnoticed.
22. They feel only the pain of their own bodies and mourn only for
themselves.
CHAPTER 15
Eliphaz Speaks: Job Undermines Religion
1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2. Should the wise answer with windy knowledge and fill themselves with
the east wind?
3. Should they argue in unprofitable talk or in words with which they can
do no good?
4. But you are doing away with the love of God and hindering meditation
before God.
5. For your immorality teaches your mouth and you choose the tongue of
the crafty.
6. Your own mouth condemns you and not I. Your own lips testify
against you.
7. Are you the firstborn of the human race? Were you brought forth
before the hills?
8. Have you listened in the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to
yourself?
9. What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that
is not clear to us?
10. The gray-haired and the aged are on our side; those older than your
father.
11. Are the consolations of God too small for you or the word that deals
gently with you?
12. Why does your heart carry you away and why do your eyes flash
13. so that you turn your spirit against God and let such words go out of
your mouth?
14. What are mortals that they can be clean? Or those born of woman that
they can be righteous?
15. God puts no trust even in his holy ones and the heavens are not clean
in His sight.
16. How much less one who is abominable and corrupt; one who drinks
immorality like water?
17. I will show you. Listen to me. What I have seen I will declare
18. what sages have told and their ancestors have not hidden;
19. to whom alone the land was given and no stranger passed among
them.
20. The wicked writhe in pain all their days through all the years that are
laid
up for the ruthless.
21. Terrifying sounds are in their ears. In prosperity, the destroyer will
come upon them.
22. They despair of returning from darkness and they are destined for the
sword.
23. They wander abroad for bread saying, 'Where is it?' They know that a
day of darkness is at hand.
24. Distress and anguish terrify them and prevail against them like a king
prepared for battle.
25. Because they stretched out their hands against God and bid defiance to
the Almighty,
26. running stubbornly against him with a thick-bossed shield,
27. because they have covered their faces with their fat and gathered fat
upon their loins,
28. they will live in desolate cities in houses that no one should inhabit;
houses destined to become heaps of ruins.
29. They will not be rich and their wealth will not endure nor will they
strike root in the earth.
30. They will not escape from darkness. The flame will dry up their shoots
and their blossom will be swept away by the wind.
31. Let them not trust in emptiness deceiving themselves. For emptiness
will be their recompense.
32. It will be paid in full before their time and their branch will not be
green.
33. They will shake off their unripe grape like the vine and cast off their
blossoms like the olive tree.
34. For the company of the godless is barren and fire consumes the tents
of bribery.
35. They conceive mischief and bring forth evil and their heart prepares
deceit.
CHAPTER 16
Job Reaffirms His Innocence
1. Then Job answered:
2. I have heard many such things. You are all miserable comforters.
3. Have windy words no limit? Or what provokes you that you keep on
talking?
4. I also could talk as you do if I were in your place. I could join words
together against you and shake my head at you.
5. I could encourage you with my mouth and the solace of my lips would
assuage your pain.
6. If I speak my pain is not assuaged and if I forbear, how much of it
leaves me?
7. Surely now God has worn me out. He has made desolate all my
company.
8. And He has shriveled me up which is a witness against me. My leanness
has risen up against me and it testifies to my face.
9 He has torn me in His wrath and hated me. He has gnashed his teeth at
me. My adversary sharpens His eyes against me.
10. They have gaped at me with their mouths. They have struck me
insolently on the cheek. They mass themselves together against me.
11. God gives me up to the ungodly and casts me into the hands of the
wicked.
12. I was at ease and He broke me in two. He seized me by the neck and
dashed me to pieces. He set me up as His tarter.
13. His archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys and shows no
mercy. He pours out my gall on the ground.
14. He bursts upon me again and again. He rushes at me like a warrior.
15. I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin and have laid my strength in the
dust.
16. My face is red with weeping and deep darkness is on my eyelids
17. though there is no violence in my hands and my prayer is pure.
18. O earth, do not soak up my blood. Let my outcry find no resting
place.
19. Even now, in fact, my witness is in heaven and He that vouches for me
is on high.
20. My friends scorn me. My eye pours out tears to God
21. that He would maintain the right of a mortal to speak with God as one
does for a neighbor.
22. For when a few years have come, I shall go the way from which I shall
not return.
CHAPTER 17
Job Prays For Relief
1. My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.
2. Surely there are mockers around me and my eye dwells on their
provocation.
3. Lay down a pledge for me with yourself, who is there that will give
surety for me?
4. Since you have closed their minds to understanding, therefore you will
not let them triumph.
5. Those who denounce friends for reward, the eyes of their children will
fail.
6. He has made me a byword of the peoples and I am one before whom
people spit.
7. My eye has grown dim from grief and all my members are like a
shadow.
8. The upright are appalled at this and the innocent stir themselves up
against the godless.
9. Yet the righteous hold to their way and they that have clean hands grow
stronger and stronger.
10. But you come back now all of you and I shall not find a sensible
person among you.
11. My days are past, my plans are broken off , the desires of my heart
gone.
12. They make night into day. The Light they say, is near to the darkness.
13. If I look for Hell as my house, if I spread my couch in darkness,
14. if I say to the Pit, 'You are my father and to the worm, My mother or
my sister',
15. where then is my hope?
16. Will it go down to the bars of Hell? Shall we descend together into
the dust?"
CHAPTER 18
Bildad Speaks: God Punishes The Wicked
1. Then Bildad the Shuite 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 form the tent in which they trusted and are brought to
the king of terrors.
15. In their tents nothing remains. Sulfur is scattered upon 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
those who do not know God.
CHAPTER 19
Job Replies: I Know That My Redeemer Lives
1. Then Job answered:
2. How long will you torment me and break me in pieces with your
words?
3. Ten times you have rebuked 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 form 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 siege works
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 relatives.
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 cling 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
forever!
25. For I know that my Redeemer lives and that at the 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 persecute 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 so
that you may know there is a judgment.
CHAPTER 20
Zophar Speaks: Wickedness Receives Just Retribution
1. 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 becomes 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 milk and
honey.
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 forces 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 immorality 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; the heritage decreed for them by
God.
HOME