Category: Job

Zophar

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

2 “My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer

because I am greatly disturbed.

3 I 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 mankindwas placed on the earth,

5 that the mirth of the wicked is brief,

the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.

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

and his head touches the clouds,

7 he will perish forever, like his own dung;

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

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

banished like a vision of the night.

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

his place will look on him no more.

10 His children must make amends to the poor;

his own hands must give back his wealth.

11 The 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,

13 though he cannot bear to let it go

and lets it linger in his mouth,

14 yet his food will turn sour in his stomach;

it will become the venom of serpents within him.

15 He will spit out the riches he swallowed;

God will make his stomach vomit them up.

16 He will suck the poison of serpents;

the fangs of an adder will kill him.

17 He will not enjoy the streams,

the rivers flowing with honey and cream.

18 What he toiled for he must give back uneaten;

he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.

19 For 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.

21 Nothing is left for him to devour;

his prosperity will not endure.

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

the full force of misery will come upon him.

23 When he has filled his belly,

God will vent his burning anger against him

and rain down his blows on him.

24 Though he flees from an iron weapon,

a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.

25 He pulls it out of his back,

the gleaming point out of his liver.

Terrors will come over him;

26 total darkness lies in wait for his treasures.

A fire unfanned will consume him

and devour what is left in his tent.

27 The heavens will expose his guilt;

the earth will rise up against him.

28 A flood will carry off his house,

rushing waterson the day of God’s wrath.

29 Such is the fate God allots the wicked,

the heritage appointed for them by God.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/20-5e0aa7128fbe5ddf3f52dde2abf5c622.mp3?version_id=111—

Job

1 Then Job replied:

2 “Listen carefully to my words;

let this be the consolation you give me.

3 Bear 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?

5 Look at me and be appalled;

clap your hand over your mouth.

6 When I think about this, I am terrified;

trembling seizes my body.

7 Why do the wicked live on,

growing old and increasing in power?

8 They see their children established around them,

their offspring before their eyes.

9 Their homes are safe and free from fear;

the rod of God is not on them.

10 Their bulls never fail to breed;

their cows calve and do not miscarry.

11 They send forth their children as a flock;

their little ones dance about.

12 They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre;

they make merry to the sound of the pipe.

13 They spend their years in prosperity

and go down to the grave in peace.

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

We have no desire to know your ways.

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

What would we gain by praying to him?’

16 But 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?

18 How often are they like straw before the wind,

like chaff swept away by a gale?

19 It 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!

20 Let their own eyes see their destruction;

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

21 For 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?

23 One person dies in full vigor,

completely secure and at ease,

24 well nourished in body,

bones rich with marrow.

25 Another dies in bitterness of soul,

never having enjoyed anything good.

26 Side 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.

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

the tents where the wicked lived?’

29 Have you never questioned those who travel?

Have you paid no regard to their accounts—

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

that they are delivered fromthe day of wrath?

31 Who denounces their conduct to their face?

Who repays them for what they have done?

32 They are carried to the grave,

and watch is kept over their tombs.

33 The 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!”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/21-0173054ecfdb3f9de95ec0d31e3e308d.mp3?version_id=111—

Eliphaz

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

2 “Can a man be of benefit to God?

Can even a wise person benefit him?

3 What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?

What would he gain if your ways were blameless?

4 “Is it for your piety that he rebukes you

and brings charges against you?

5 Is not your wickedness great?

Are not your sins endless?

6 You demanded security from your relatives for no reason;

you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked.

7 You gave no water to the weary

and you withheld food from the hungry,

8 though you were a powerful man, owning land—

an honored man, living on it.

9 And you sent widows away empty-handed

and broke the strength of the fatherless.

10 That is why snares are all around you,

why sudden peril terrifies you,

11 why it is so dark you cannot see,

and why a flood of water covers you.

12 “Is not God in the heights of heaven?

And see how lofty are the highest stars!

13 Yet you say, ‘What does God know?

Does he judge through such darkness?

14 Thick clouds veil him, so he does not see us

as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.’

15 Will you keep to the old path

that the wicked have trod?

16 They were carried off before their time,

their foundations washed away by a flood.

17 They said to God, ‘Leave us alone!

What can the Almighty do to us?’

18 Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things,

so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.

19 The righteous see their ruin and rejoice;

the innocent mock them, saying,

20 ‘Surely our foes are destroyed,

and fire devours their wealth.’

21 “Submit to God and be at peace with him;

in this way prosperity will come to you.

22 Accept 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 wickedness far from your tent

24 and assign your nuggets to the dust,

your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,

25 then the Almighty will be your gold,

the choicest silver for you.

26 Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty

and will lift up your face to God.

27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you,

and you will fulfill your vows.

28 What you decide on will be done,

and light will shine on your ways.

29 When people are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’

then he will save the downcast.

30 He will deliver even one who is not innocent,

who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/22-071829422b18fce83e8ad8bb84f0dc4b.mp3?version_id=111—

Job

1 Then Job replied:

2 “Even today my complaint is bitter;

his handis heavy in spite ofmy groaning.

3 If only I knew where to find him;

if only I could go to his dwelling!

4 I would state my case before him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

5 I would find out what he would answer me,

and consider what he would say to me.

6 Would he vigorously oppose me?

No, he would not press charges against me.

7 There the upright can establish their innocence before him,

and there I would be delivered forever from my judge.

8 “But if I go to the east, he is not there;

if I go to the west, I do not find him.

9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;

when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.

10 But he knows the way that I take;

when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

11 My feet have closely followed his steps;

I have kept to his way without turning aside.

12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips;

I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

13 “But he stands alone, and who can oppose him?

He does whatever he pleases.

14 He carries out his decree against me,

and many such plans he still has in store.

15 That is why I am terrified before him;

when I think of all this, I fear him.

16 God has made my heart faint;

the Almighty has terrified me.

17 Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,

by the thick darkness that covers my face.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/23-616fc95843996c340e401fab37d6693e.mp3?version_id=111—

1 “Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment?

Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?

2 There are those who move boundary stones;

they pasture flocks they have stolen.

3 They drive away the orphan’s donkey

and take the widow’s ox in pledge.

4 They thrust the needy from the path

and force all the poor of the land into hiding.

5 Like wild donkeys in the desert,

the poor go about their labor of foraging food;

the wasteland provides food for their children.

6 They gather fodder in the fields

and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.

7 Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked;

they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.

8 They are drenched by mountain rains

and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.

9 The fatherless child is snatched from the breast;

the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.

10 Lacking clothes, they go about naked;

they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.

11 They crush olives among the terraces;

they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.

12 The groans of the dying rise from the city,

and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.

But God charges no one with wrongdoing.

13 “There are those who rebel against the light,

who do not know its ways

or stay in its paths.

14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up,

kills the poor and needy,

and in the night steals forth like a thief.

15 The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk;

he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’

and he keeps his face concealed.

16 In the dark, thieves break into houses,

but by day they shut themselves in;

they want nothing to do with the light.

17 For all of them, midnight is their morning;

they make friends with the terrors of darkness.

18 “Yet they are foam on the surface of the water;

their portion of the land is cursed,

so that no one goes to the vineyards.

19 As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow,

so the grave snatches away those who have sinned.

20 The womb forgets them,

the worm feasts on them;

the wicked are no longer remembered

but are broken like a tree.

21 They prey on the barren and childless woman,

and to the widow they show no kindness.

22 But God drags away the mighty by his power;

though they become established, they have no assurance of life.

23 He may let them rest in a feeling of security,

but his eyes are on their ways.

24 For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone;

they are brought low and gathered up like all others;

they are cut off like heads of grain.

25 “If this is not so, who can prove me false

and reduce my words to nothing?”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/24-e097fbeaee105de49c5807b61a95808a.mp3?version_id=111—

Bildad

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2 “Dominion and awe belong to God;

he establishes order in the heights of heaven.

3 Can his forces be numbered?

On whom does his light not rise?

4 How then can a mortal be righteous before God?

How can one born of woman be pure?

5 If even the moon is not bright

and the stars are not pure in his eyes,

6 how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot—

a human being, who is only a worm!”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/25-d4a0f5203d540fa9ce23634f4651885e.mp3?version_id=111—

Job

1 Then Job replied:

2 “How you have helped the powerless!

How you have saved the arm that is feeble!

3 What advice you have offered to one without wisdom!

And what great insight you have displayed!

4 Who has helped you utter these words?

And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?

5 “The dead are in deep anguish,

those beneath the waters and all that live in them.

6 The realm of the dead is naked before God;

Destructionlies uncovered.

7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;

he suspends the earth over nothing.

8 He wraps up the waters in his clouds,

yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.

9 He covers the face of the full moon,

spreading his clouds over it.

10 He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters

for a boundary between light and darkness.

11 The pillars of the heavens quake,

aghast at his rebuke.

12 By his power he churned up the sea;

by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces.

13 By his breath the skies became fair;

his hand pierced the gliding serpent.

14 And these are but the outer fringe of his works;

how faint the whisper we hear of him!

Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/26-761c7d17b7f6bd735966bd61ec7742b4.mp3?version_id=111—

Job’s Final Word to His Friends

1 And Job continued his discourse:

2 “As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice,

the Almighty, who has made my life bitter,

3 as long as I have life within me,

the breath of God in my nostrils,

4 my lips will not say anything wicked,

and my tongue will not utter lies.

5 I will never admit you are in the right;

till I die, I will not deny my integrity.

6 I will maintain my innocence and never let go of it;

my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.

7 “May my enemy be like the wicked,

my adversary like the unjust!

8 For what hope have the godless when they are cut off,

when God takes away their life?

9 Does God listen to their cry

when distress comes upon them?

10 Will they find delight in the Almighty?

Will they call on God at all times?

11 “I will teach you about the power of God;

the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal.

12 You have all seen this yourselves.

Why then this meaningless talk?

13 “Here is the fate God allots to the wicked,

the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty:

14 However many his children, their fate is the sword;

his offspring will never have enough to eat.

15 The plague will bury those who survive him,

and their widows will not weep for them.

16 Though he heaps up silver like dust

and clothes like piles of clay,

17 what he lays up the righteous will wear,

and the innocent will divide his silver.

18 The house he builds is like a moth’s cocoon,

like a hut made by a watchman.

19 He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;

when he opens his eyes, all is gone.

20 Terrors overtake him like a flood;

a tempest snatches him away in the night.

21 The east wind carries him off, and he is gone;

it sweeps him out of his place.

22 It hurls itself against him without mercy

as he flees headlong from its power.

23 It claps its hands in derision

and hisses him out of his place.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/27-9f10dcc27d1c6aa5711f73e93f2f13c9.mp3?version_id=111—

Interlude: Where Wisdom Is Found

1 There is a mine for silver

and a place where gold is refined.

2 Iron is taken from the earth,

and copper is smelted from ore.

3 Mortals put an end to the darkness;

they search out the farthest recesses

for ore in the blackest darkness.

4 Far from human dwellings they cut a shaft,

in places untouched by human feet;

far from other people they dangle and sway.

5 The earth, from which food comes,

is transformed below as by fire;

6 lapis lazuli comes from its rocks,

and its dust contains nuggets of gold.

7 No bird of prey knows that hidden path,

no falcon’s eye has seen it.

8 Proud beasts do not set foot on it,

and no lion prowls there.

9 People assault the flinty rock with their hands

and lay bare the roots of the mountains.

10 They tunnel through the rock;

their eyes see all its treasures.

11 They searchthe sources of the rivers

and bring hidden things to light.

12 But where can wisdom be found?

Where does understanding dwell?

13 No mortal comprehends its worth;

it cannot be found in the land of the living.

14 The deep says, “It is not in me”;

the sea says, “It is not with me.”

15 It cannot be bought with the finest gold,

nor can its price be weighed out in silver.

16 It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir,

with precious onyx or lapis lazuli.

17 Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it,

nor can it be had for jewels of gold.

18 Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention;

the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.

19 The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it;

it cannot be bought with pure gold.

20 Where then does wisdom come from?

Where does understanding dwell?

21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing,

concealed even from the birds in the sky.

22 Destructionand Death say,

“Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.”

23 God understands the way to it

and he alone knows where it dwells,

24 for he views the ends of the earth

and sees everything under the heavens.

25 When he established the force of the wind

and measured out the waters,

26 when he made a decree for the rain

and a path for the thunderstorm,

27 then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;

he confirmed it and tested it.

28 And he said to the human race,

“The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,

and to shun evil is understanding.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/28-aad837648bd18f06c183ff10d26b8213.mp3?version_id=111—

Job’s Final Defense

1 Job continued his discourse:

2 “How I long for the months gone by,

for the days when God watched over me,

3 when his lamp shone on my head

and by his light I walked through darkness!

4 Oh, for the days when I was in my prime,

when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house,

5 when the Almighty was still with me

and my children were around me,

6 when my path was drenched with cream

and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.

7 “When I went to the gate of the city

and took my seat in the public square,

8 the young men saw me and stepped aside

and the old men rose to their feet;

9 the chief men refrained from speaking

and covered their mouths with their hands;

10 the voices of the nobles were hushed,

and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

11 Whoever heard me spoke well of me,

and those who saw me commended me,

12 because I rescued the poor who cried for help,

and the fatherless who had none to assist them.

13 The one who was dying blessed me;

I made the widow’s heart sing.

14 I put on righteousness as my clothing;

justice was my robe and my turban.

15 I was eyes to the blind

and feet to the lame.

16 I was a father to the needy;

I took up the case of the stranger.

17 I broke the fangs of the wicked

and snatched the victims from their teeth.

18 “I thought, ‘I will die in my own house,

my days as numerous as the grains of sand.

19 My roots will reach to the water,

and the dew will lie all night on my branches.

20 My glory will not fade;

the bow will be ever new in my hand.’

21 “People listened to me expectantly,

waiting in silence for my counsel.

22 After I had spoken, they spoke no more;

my words fell gently on their ears.

23 They waited for me as for showers

and drank in my words as the spring rain.

24 When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it;

the light of my face was precious to them.

25 I chose the way for them and sat as their chief;

I dwelt as a king among his troops;

I was like one who comforts mourners.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/29-08525bc8cac3513507d229b5e23aa393.mp3?version_id=111—