Job

1Then Job replied:

2“Listen carefully to my words;

let this be the consolation you give me.

3Bear with me while I speak,

and after I have spoken, mock on.

4“Is my complaint directed to a human being?

Why should I not be impatient?

5Look at me and be appalled;

clap your hand over your mouth.

6When I think about this, I am terrified;

trembling seizes my body.

7Why do the wicked live on,

growing old and increasing in power?

8They see their children established around them,

their offspring before their eyes.

9Their homes are safe and free from fear;

the rod of God is not on them.

10Their bulls never fail to breed;

their cows calve and do not miscarry.

11They send forth their children as a flock;

their little ones dance about.

12They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre;

they make merry to the sound of the pipe.

13They spend their years in prosperity

and go down to the grave in peace.

14Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone!

We have no desire to know your ways.

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

What would we gain by praying to him?’

16But their prosperity is not in their own hands,

so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.

17“Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?

How often does calamity come upon them,

the fate God allots in his anger?

18How often are they like straw before the wind,

like chaff swept away by a gale?

19It is said, ‘God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children.’

Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it!

20Let their own eyes see their destruction;

let them drink the cup of the wrath of the Almighty.

21For what do they care about the families they leave behind

when their allotted months come to an end?

22“Can anyone teach knowledge to God,

since he judges even the highest?

23One person dies in full vigor,

completely secure and at ease,

24well nourished in body,

bones rich with marrow.

25Another dies in bitterness of soul,

never having enjoyed anything good.

26Side by side they lie in the dust,

and worms cover them both.

27“I know full well what you are thinking,

the schemes by which you would wrong me.

28You say, ‘Where now is the house of the great,

the tents where the wicked lived?’

29Have you never questioned those who travel?

Have you paid no regard to their accounts—

30that the wicked are spared from the day of calamity,

that they are delivered fromthe day of wrath?

31Who denounces their conduct to their face?

Who repays them for what they have done?

32They are carried to the grave,

and watch is kept over their tombs.

33The soil in the valley is sweet to them;

everyone follows after them,

and a countless throng goesbefore them.

34“So how can you console me with your nonsense?

Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!”

Zophar

1Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

2“My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer

because I am greatly disturbed.

3I hear a rebuke that dishonors me,

and my understanding inspires me to reply.

4“Surely you know how it has been from of old,

ever since mankind was placed on the earth,

5that the mirth of the wicked is brief,

the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.

6Though the pride of the godless person reaches to the heavens

and his head touches the clouds,

7he will perish forever, like his own dung;

those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

8Like a dream he flies away, no more to be found,

banished like a vision of the night.

9The eye that saw him will not see him again;

his place will look on him no more.

10His children must make amends to the poor;

his own hands must give back his wealth.

11The youthful vigor that fills his bones

will lie with him in the dust.

12“Though evil is sweet in his mouth

and he hides it under his tongue,

13though he cannot bear to let it go

and lets it linger in his mouth,

14yet his food will turn sour in his stomach;

it will become the venom of serpents within him.

15He will spit out the riches he swallowed;

God will make his stomach vomit them up.

16He will suck the poison of serpents;

the fangs of an adder will kill him.

17He will not enjoy the streams,

the rivers flowing with honey and cream.

18What he toiled for he must give back uneaten;

he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.

19For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute;

he has seized houses he did not build.

20“Surely he will have no respite from his craving;

he cannot save himself by his treasure.

21Nothing is left for him to devour;

his prosperity will not endure.

22In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him;

the full force of misery will come upon him.

23When he has filled his belly,

God will vent his burning anger against him

and rain down his blows on him.

24Though he flees from an iron weapon,

a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.

25He pulls it out of his back,

the gleaming point out of his liver.

Terrors will come over him;

26total darkness lies in wait for his treasures.

A fire unfanned will consume him

and devour what is left in his tent.

27The heavens will expose his guilt;

the earth will rise up against him.

28A flood will carry off his house,

rushing waters on the day of God’s wrath.

29Such is the fate God allots the wicked,

the heritage appointed for them by God.”

Job

1Then Job replied:

2“How long will you torment me

and crush me with words?

3Ten times now you have reproached me;

shamelessly you attack me.

4If it is true that I have gone astray,

my error remains my concern alone.

5If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me

and use my humiliation against me,

6then know that God has wronged me

and drawn his net around me.

7“Though I cry, ‘Violence!’ I get no response;

though I call for help, there is no justice.

8He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;

he has shrouded my paths in darkness.

9He has stripped me of my honor

and removed the crown from my head.

10He tears me down on every side till I am gone;

he uproots my hope like a tree.

11His anger burns against me;

he counts me among his enemies.

12His troops advance in force;

they build a siege ramp against me

and encamp around my tent.

13“He has alienated my family from me;

my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

14My relatives have gone away;

my closest friends have forgotten me.

15My guests and my female servants count me a foreigner;

they look on me as on a stranger.

16I summon my servant, but he does not answer,

though I beg him with my own mouth.

17My breath is offensive to my wife;

I am loathsome to my own family.

18Even the little boys scorn me;

when I appear, they ridicule me.

19All my intimate friends detest me;

those I love have turned against me.

20I am nothing but skin and bones;

I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

21“Have pity on me, my friends, have pity,

for the hand of God has struck me.

22Why do you pursue me as God does?

Will you never get enough of my flesh?

23“Oh, that my words were recorded,

that they were written on a scroll,

24that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead,

or engraved in rock forever!

25I know that my redeemer lives,

and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

26And after my skin has been destroyed,

yet in my flesh I will see God;

27I myself will see him

with my own eyes—I, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me!

28“If you say, ‘How we will hound him,

since the root of the trouble lies in him,’

29you should fear the sword yourselves;

for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,

and then you will know that there is judgment.”

Bildad

1Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2“When will you end these speeches?

Be sensible, and then we can talk.

3Why are we regarded as cattle

and considered stupid in your sight?

4You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger,

is the earth to be abandoned for your sake?

Or must the rocks be moved from their place?

5“The lamp of a wicked man is snuffed out;

the flame of his fire stops burning.

6The light in his tent becomes dark;

the lamp beside him goes out.

7The vigor of his step is weakened;

his own schemes throw him down.

8His feet thrust him into a net;

he wanders into its mesh.

9A trap seizes him by the heel;

a snare holds him fast.

10A noose is hidden for him on the ground;

a trap lies in his path.

11Terrors startle him on every side

and dog his every step.

12Calamity is hungry for him;

disaster is ready for him when he falls.

13It eats away parts of his skin;

death’s firstborn devours his limbs.

14He is torn from the security of his tent

and marched off to the king of terrors.

15Fire residesin his tent;

burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.

16His roots dry up below

and his branches wither above.

17The memory of him perishes from the earth;

he has no name in the land.

18He is driven from light into the realm of darkness

and is banished from the world.

19He has no offspring or descendants among his people,

no survivor where once he lived.

20People of the west are appalled at his fate;

those of the east are seized with horror.

21Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man;

such is the place of one who does not know God.”

1My spirit is broken,

my days are cut short,

the grave awaits me.

2Surely mockers surround me;

my eyes must dwell on their hostility.

3“Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.

Who else will put up security for me?

4You have closed their minds to understanding;

therefore you will not let them triumph.

5If anyone denounces their friends for reward,

the eyes of their children will fail.

6“God has made me a byword to everyone,

a man in whose face people spit.

7My eyes have grown dim with grief;

my whole frame is but a shadow.

8The upright are appalled at this;

the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.

9Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways,

and those with clean hands will grow stronger.

10“But come on, all of you, try again!

I will not find a wise man among you.

11My days have passed, my plans are shattered.

Yet the desires of my heart

12turn night into day;

in the face of the darkness light is near.

13If the only home I hope for is the grave,

if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness,

14if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’

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

15where then is my hope—

who can see any hope for me?

16Will it go down to the gates of death?

Will we descend together into the dust?”

Job

1Then Job replied:

2“I have heard many things like these;

you are miserable comforters, all of you!

3Will your long-winded speeches never end?

What ails you that you keep on arguing?

4I also could speak like you,

if you were in my place;

I could make fine speeches against you

and shake my head at you.

5But my mouth would encourage you;

comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

6“Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved;

and if I refrain, it does not go away.

7Surely, God, you have worn me out;

you have devastated my entire household.

8You have shriveled me up—and it has become a witness;

my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.

9God assails me and tears me in his anger

and gnashes his teeth at me;

my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.

10People open their mouths to jeer at me;

they strike my cheek in scorn

and unite together against me.

11God has turned me over to the ungodly

and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.

12All was well with me, but he shattered me;

he seized me by the neck and crushed me.

He has made me his target;

13his archers surround me.

Without pity, he pierces my kidneys

and spills my gall on the ground.

14Again and again he bursts upon me;

he rushes at me like a warrior.

15“I have sewed sackcloth over my skin

and buried my brow in the dust.

16My face is red with weeping,

dark shadows ring my eyes;

17yet my hands have been free of violence

and my prayer is pure.

18“Earth, do not cover my blood;

may my cry never be laid to rest!

19Even now my witness is in heaven;

my advocate is on high.

20My intercessor is my friend

as my eyes pour out tears to God;

21on behalf of a man he pleads with God

as one pleads for a friend.

22“Only a few years will pass

before I take the path of no return.

Eliphaz

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

2“Would a wise person answer with empty notions

or fill their belly with the hot east wind?

3Would they argue with useless words,

with speeches that have no value?

4But you even undermine piety

and hinder devotion to God.

5Your sin prompts your mouth;

you adopt the tongue of the crafty.

6Your own mouth condemns you, not mine;

your own lips testify against you.

7“Are you the first man ever born?

Were you brought forth before the hills?

8Do you listen in on God’s council?

Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?

9What do you know that we do not know?

What insights do you have that we do not have?

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

men even older than your father.

11Are God’s consolations not enough for you,

words spoken gently to you?

12Why has your heart carried you away,

and why do your eyes flash,

13so that you vent your rage against God

and pour out such words from your mouth?

14“What are mortals, that they could be pure,

or those born of woman, that they could be righteous?

15If God places no trust in his holy ones,

if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,

16how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt,

who drink up evil like water!

17“Listen to me and I will explain to you;

let me tell you what I have seen,

18what the wise have declared,

hiding nothing received from their ancestors

19(to whom alone the land was given

when no foreigners moved among them):

20All his days the wicked man suffers torment,

the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him.

21Terrifying sounds fill his ears;

when all seems well, marauders attack him.

22He despairs of escaping the realm of darkness;

he is marked for the sword.

23He wanders about for food like a vulture;

he knows the day of darkness is at hand.

24Distress and anguish fill him with terror;

troubles overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,

25because he shakes his fist at God

and vaunts himself against the Almighty,

26defiantly charging against him

with a thick, strong shield.

27“Though his face is covered with fat

and his waist bulges with flesh,

28he will inhabit ruined towns

and houses where no one lives,

houses crumbling to rubble.

29He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure,

nor will his possessions spread over the land.

30He will not escape the darkness;

a flame will wither his shoots,

and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.

31Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless,

for he will get nothing in return.

32Before his time he will wither,

and his branches will not flourish.

33He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes,

like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.

34For the company of the godless will be barren,

and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.

35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil;

their womb fashions deceit.”