Category: Job

Job’s Reply to Zophar

1 Then Job answered:

2 Pay close attention to my words;

let this be the consolation you offer.

3 Bear with me while I speak;

then after I have spoken, you may continue mocking.

4 As for me, is my complaintagainst a man?

Then why shouldn’t I be impatient?

5 Look at me and shudder;

put your hand over your mouth.

6 When I think about it, I am terrified

and my body tremblesin horror.

7 Why do the wicked continue to live,

growing old and becoming powerful?

8 Their children are established while they are still alive,

and their descendants, before their eyes.

9 Their homes are secure and free of fear;

no rod from God strikes them.

10 Their bulls breed without fail;

their cows calve and do not miscarry.

11 They let their little ones run around like lambs;

their children skip about,

12 singing to the tambourine and lyre

and rejoicing at the sound of the flute.

13 They spendtheir days in prosperity

and go down to Sheol in peace.

14 Yet they say to God: “Leave us alone!

We don’t want to know Your ways.

15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him,

and what will we gain by pleading with Him? ”

16 But their prosperity is not of their own doing.

The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

17 How often is the lampof the wicked put out?

Does disastercome on them?

Does He apportion destruction in His anger?

18 Are they like straw before the wind,

like chaffa storm sweeps away?

19 God reserves a person’s punishment for his children.

Let God repay the person himself, so that he may know it.

20 Let his own eyes see his demise;

let him drink from the Almighty’s wrath!

21 For what does he care about his family once he is dead,

when the number of his months has run out?

22 Can anyone teach God knowledge,

since He judges the exalted ones?

23 One person dies in excellent health,

completely secureand at ease.

24 His body iswell fed,

and his bones are full of marrow.

25 Yet another person dies with a bittersoul,

having never tasted prosperity.

26 But they both lie in the dust,

and worms cover them.

27 I know your thoughts very well,

the schemes you would wrong me with.

28 For you say, “Where now is the nobleman’s house? ”

and “Where are the tentsthe wicked lived in? ”

29 Have you never consulted those who travel the roads?

Don’t you accept their reports?

30 Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of disaster,

rescued from the day of wrath.

31 Who would denounce his behavior to his face?

Who would repayhim for what he has done?

32 He is carried to the grave,

and someone keeps watch over his tomb.

33 The dirt on his grave issweet to him.

Everyone follows behind him,

and those who go before him are without number.

34 So how can you offer me such futile comfort?

Your answers are deceptive.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/JOB/21-e99fae010283e3caab7b9f12ec8c32f5.mp3?version_id=72—

Eliphaz Speaks

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

2 Can a man be of any use to God?

Can even a wise man be of use to Him?

3 Does it delight the Almighty if you are righteous?

Does He profit if you perfect your behavior?

4 Does He correct you and take you to court

because of your piety?

5 Isn’t your wickedness abundant

and aren’t your iniquities endless?

6 For you took collateralfrom your brothers without cause,

stripping off their clothes and leaving them naked.

7 You gave no water to the thirsty

and withheld food from the famished,

8 while the land belonged to a powerful man

and an influential man lived on it.

9 You sent widows away empty-handed,

and the strength of the fatherlesswascrushed.

10 Therefore snares surround you,

and sudden dread terrifiesyou,

11 or darkness, so you cannot see,

and a flood of water covers you.

12 Isn’t God as high as the heavens?

And look at the highest stars — how lofty they are!

13 Yet you say: “What does God know?

Can He judge through thick darkness?

14 Cloudsveil Him so that He cannot see,

as He walks on the circle of the sky.”

15 Will you continue on the ancient path

that wicked men have walked?

16 They were snatched away before their time,

and their foundationswere washed away by a river.

17 They were the ones who said to God, “Leave us alone! ”

and “What can the Almighty do to us? ”

18 But it was He who filled their houses with good things.

The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

19 The righteous see this and rejoice;

the innocent mock them, saying,

20 “Surely our opponents are destroyed,

and fire has consumed what they left behind.”

21 Come to terms with God and be at peace;

in this waygood will come to you.

22 Receive instruction from His mouth,

and place His sayingsin your heart.

23 If you returnto the Almighty, you will be renewed.

If you banish injustice from your tent

24 and consign your gold to the dust,

the gold of Ophirto the stones in the wadis,

25 the Almighty will be your gold

and your finest silver.

26 Then you will delightin the Almighty

and lift up your face to God.

27 You will pray to Him, and He will hear you,

and you will fulfill your vows.

28 When you make a decision, it will be carried out,

and light will shine on your ways.

29 When others are humiliated and you say, “Lift them up,”

God will save the humble.

30 He will even rescue the guilty one,

who will be rescued by the purity of your hands.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/JOB/22-3455dd5310d520d409b03b630524cca1.mp3?version_id=72—

Job’s Reply to Eliphaz

1 Then Job answered:

2 Today also my complaint is bitter.

Hishand is heavy despite my groaning.

3 If only I knew how to find Him,

so that I could go to His throne.

4 I would plead my case before Him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

5 I would learn howHe would answer me;

and understand what He would say to me.

6 Would He prosecuteme forcefully?

No, He will certainly pay attention to me.

7 Then an upright man could reasonwith Him,

and I would escape from my Judgeforever.

8 If I go east, He is not there,

and if I go west, I cannot perceive Him.

9 When He is at work to the north, I cannot see Him;

when He turns south, I cannot find Him.

10 Yet He knows the way I have taken;

when He has tested me,I will emerge as pure gold.

11 My feet have followed in His tracks;

I have kept to His wayand not turned aside.

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

I have treasuredthe wordsof His mouth

more than my daily food.

13 But He is unchangeable; who can oppose Him?

He does what He desires.

14 He will certainly accomplish what He has decreed for me,

and He has many more things like these in mind.

15 Therefore I am terrifiedin His presence;

when I consider this, I am afraid of Him.

16 God has made my heart faint;

the Almighty has terrified me.

17 Yet I am not destroyedby the darkness,

by the thick darkness that covers my face.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/JOB/23-76f84778ed0468064bd2c34be26528ac.mp3?version_id=72—

1 Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment?

Why do those who know Him never see His days?

2 The wicked displace boundary markers.

They steal a flock and provide pasture for it.

3 They drive away the donkeys owned by the fatherless

and take the widow’s ox as collateral.

4 They push the needy off the road;

the poor of the land are forced into hiding.

5 Like wild donkeys in the desert,

the poor go out to their task of foraging for food;

the wilderness provides nourishment for their children.

6 They gather their fodder in the field

and glean the vineyards of the wicked.

7 Without clothing, they spend the night naked,

having no covering against the cold.

8 Drenched by mountain rains,

they huddle againstthe rocks, shelterless.

9 The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast;

the nursing child of the poor is seized as collateral.

10 Without clothing, they wander about naked.

They carry sheaves but go hungry.

11 They crush olives in their presses;

they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.

12 From the city, mengroan;

the mortally wounded cry for help,

yet God pays no attention to this crime.

13 The wicked are those who rebel against the light.

They do not recognize its ways

or stay on its paths.

14 The murderer rises at dawn

to kill the poor and needy,

and by night he becomes a thief.

15 The adulterer’s eye watches for twilight,

thinking: No eye will see me;

he covers his face.

16 In the dark they breakinto houses;

by day they lock themselves in,

never experiencing the light.

17 For the morning is like darkness to them.

Surely they are familiar with the terrors of darkness!

18 They floaton the surface of the water.

Their section of the land is cursed,

so that they never go to their vineyards.

19 As dry ground and heat snatch away the melted snow,

so Sheolsteals those who have sinned.

20 The womb forgets them;

worms feed on them;

they are rememberedno more.

So injustice is broken like a tree.

21 They prey onthe childless woman who is unable to conceive,

and do not deal kindly with the widow.

22 Yet God drags awaythe mighty by His power;

when He rises up, they have no assurance of life.

23 He gives them a sense of security, so they can rely on it,

but His eyeswatch over their ways.

24 They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone;

they are brought low and shrivel up like everything else.

They wither like heads of grain.

25 If this is not true, then who can prove me a liar

and show that my speech is worthless?

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/JOB/24-efe34ae5bd3a481e6dc857f070aaa615.mp3?version_id=72—

Bildad Speaks

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2 Dominion and dreadbelong to Him,

the One who establishes harmony in the heavens.

3 Can His troops be numbered?

Does His light not shine on everyone?

4 How can a person be justified before God?

How can one born of woman be pure?

5 If even the moon does not shine

and the stars are not pure in His sight,

6 how much less man, who is a maggot,

and the son of man, who is a worm!

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/JOB/25-92b67166d46ef78f044667046de3af2e.mp3?version_id=72—

Job’s Reply to Bildad

1 Then Job answered:

2 How you have helpedthe powerless

and delivered the arm that is weak!

3 How you have counseled the unwise

and thoroughly explained the path to success!

4 Who did you speak these words to?

Whose breath came out of your mouth?

5 The departed spirits tremble

beneath the waters and all that inhabit them.

6 Sheolis naked before God,

and Abaddonhas no covering.

7 He stretches the northern skies over empty space;

He hangs the earth on nothing.

8 He wraps up the waters in His clouds,

yet the clouds do not burst beneath their weight.

9 He obscures the view of His throne,

spreading His cloud over it.

10 He laid out the horizon on the surface of the waters

at the boundary between light and darkness.

11 The pillars that hold up the sky tremble,

astounded at His rebuke.

12 By His power He stirredthe sea,

and by His understanding He crushed Rahab.

13 By His breath the heavens gained their beauty;

His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

14 These are but the fringes of His ways;

how faint is the word we hear of Him!

Who can understand His mighty thunder?

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/JOB/26-91cdf219378d3b8ba0569157db1460c9.mp3?version_id=72—

1 Job continued his discourse, saying:

2 As God lives, who has deprived me of justice,

and the Almighty who has made me bitter,

3 as long as my breath is still in me

and the breath from God remains in my nostrils,

4 my lips will not speak unjustly,

and my tongue will not utter deceit.

5 I will never affirm that you are right.

I will maintain my integrityuntil I die.

6 I will cling to my righteousness and never let it go.

My consciencewill not accuse me as long as I live!

7 May my enemy be like the wicked

and my opponent like the unjust.

8 For what hope does the godless manhave when he is cut off,

when God takes away his life?

9 Will God hear his cry

when distress comes on him?

10 Will he delightin the Almighty?

Will he call on God at all times?

11 I will teach you about God’s power.

I will not conceal what the Almighty has planned.

12 All of you have seen this for yourselves,

why do you keep up this empty talk?

13 This is a wicked man’s lotfrom God,

the inheritance the ruthless receive from the Almighty.

14 Even if his children increase, they are destined for the sword;

his descendants will never have enough food.

15 Those who survive him will be buried by the plague,

yet their widows will not weep for them.

16 Though he piles up silver like dust

and heaps up a wardrobe like clay —

17 he may heap it up, but the righteous will wear it,

and the innocent will divide up his silver.

18 The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon

or a booth set up by a watchman.

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

when he opens his eyes, it is gone.

20 Terrors overtake him like a flood;

a stormwind sweeps him away at night.

21 An east wind picks him up, and he is gone;

it carries him away from his place.

22 It blasts at him without mercy,

while he flees desperately from its grasp.

23 It clapsits hands at him

and scorns him from its place.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/JOB/27-0cb94f08e6b0a90bd6ce736360d6808c.mp3?version_id=72—

Job’s Hymn to Wisdom

1 Surely there is a mine for silver

and a place where gold is refined.

2 Iron is taken from the ground,

and copper is smelted from ore.

3 A miner puts an end to the darkness;

he probesthe deepest recesses

for ore in the gloomy darkness.

4 He cuts a shaft far from human habitation,

in places unknown to those who walk above ground.

Suspended far away from people,

the miners swing back and forth.

5 Food may come from the earth,

but below the surface the earth is transformed as by fire.

6 Its rocks are a source of sapphire,

containing flecks of gold.

7 No bird of prey knows that path;

no falcon’s eye has seen it.

8 Proud beasts have never walked on it;

no lion has ever prowled over it.

9 The miner strikes the flint

and transforms the mountains at their foundations.

10 He cuts out channels in the rocks,

and his eyes spot every treasure.

11 He dams up the streams from flowing

so that he may bring to light what is hidden.

12 But where can wisdombe found,

and where is understanding located?

13 No man can know its value,

since it cannot be found in the land of the living.

14 The ocean depths say, “It’s not in me,”

while the sea declares, “I don’t have it.”

15 Gold cannot be exchanged for it,

and silver cannot be weighed out for its price.

16 Wisdom cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,

in precious onyx or sapphire.

17 Gold and glass do not compare with it,

and articles of fine gold cannot be exchanged for it.

18 Coral and quartz are not worth mentioning.

The price of wisdom is beyond pearls.

19 Topaz from Cush cannot compare with it,

and it cannot be valued in pure gold.

20 Where then does wisdom come from,

and where is understanding located?

21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing

and concealed from the birds of the sky.

22 Abaddon and Deathsay,

“We have heard news of it with our ears.”

23 But God understands the way to wisdom,

and He knows its location.

24 For He looks to the ends of the earth

and sees everything under the heavens.

25 When God fixed the weight of the wind

and limited the water by measure,

26 when He established a limitfor the rain

and a path for the lightning,

27 He considered wisdom and evaluated it;

He established it and examined it.

28 He said to mankind,

“The fear of the Lord is this: wisdom.

And to turn from evil is understanding.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/JOB/28-537e7da15d75b4de3c481cf61da54577.mp3?version_id=72—

Job’s Final Claim of Innocence

1 Job continued his discourse, saying:

2 If only I could be as in months gone by,

in the days when God watched over me,

3 when His lamp shone above my head,

and I walked through darkness by His light!

4 I would be as I was in the days of my youth

when God’s friendshiprested on my tent,

5 when the Almighty was still with me

and my children were around me,

6 when my feet were bathed in cream

and the rockpoured out streams of oil for me!

7 When I went out to the city gate

and took my seat in the town square,

8 the young men saw me and withdrew,

while older men stood to their feet.

9 City officials stopped talking

and covered their mouths with their hands.

10 The noblemen’s voices were hushed,

and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

11 When they heard me, they blessed me,

and when they saw me, they spoke well of me.

12 For I rescued the poor man who cried out for help,

and the fatherless child who had no one to support him.

13 The dying man blessed me,

and I made the widow’s heart rejoice.

14 I clothed myself in righteousness,

and it enveloped me;

my just decisions were like a robe and a turban.

15 I was eyes to the blind

and feet to the lame.

16 I was a father to the needy,

and I examined the case of the stranger.

17 I shattered the fangs of the unjust

and snatched the prey from his teeth.

18 So I thought: I will die in my own nest

and multiply my days as the sand.

19 My roots will have access to water,

and the dew will rest on my branches all night.

20 My strength will be refreshed within me,

and my bow will be renewed in my hand.

21 Men listened to me with expectation,

waiting silently for my advice.

22 After a word from me they did not speak again;

my speech settled on them like dew.

23 They waited for me as for the rain

and opened their mouths as for spring showers.

24 If I smiled at them, they couldn’t believe it;

they were thrilled atthe light of my countenance.

25 I directed their course and presided as chief.

I lived as a king among his troops,

like one who comforts those who mourn.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/JOB/29-64d6b5b8e8d2b8825924f4e3d490deed.mp3?version_id=72—

1 But now they mockme,

men younger than I am,

whose fathers I would have refused to put

with my sheep dogs.

2 What use to me was the strength of their hands?

Their vigor had left them.

3 Emaciated from poverty and hunger,

they gnawed the dry land,

the desolate wasteland by night.

4 They plucked mallowamong the shrubs,

and the roots of the broom tree were their food.

5 They were expelled from human society;

people shouted at them as if they were thieves.

6 They are living on the slopes of the wadis,

among the rocks and in holes in the ground.

7 They bray among the shrubs;

they huddle beneath the thistles.

8 Foolishmen, without even a name.

They were forced to leave the land.

9 Now I am mocked by their songs;

I have become an object of scorn to them.

10 They despise me and keep their distance from me;

they do not hesitate to spitin my face.

11 Because God has loosened mybowstring and oppressed me,

they have cast off restraint in my presence.

12 The rabblerise up at my right;

they trapmy feet

and construct their siege rampagainst me.

13 They tear up my path;

they contribute to my destruction,

without anyone to help them.

14 They advance as through a gaping breach;

they keep rolling in through the ruins.

15 Terrorsare turned loose against me;

they chase my dignity away like the wind,

and my prosperity has passed by like a cloud.

16 Now my life is poured out before my eyes,

and days of sufferinghave seized me.

17 Night pierces my bones,

but my gnawing pains never rest.

18 My clothing is distorted with great force;

He chokes me by the neck of my garment.

19 He throws me into the mud,

and I have become like dust and ashes.

20 I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me;

when I stand up, You merely look at me.

21 You have turned against me with cruelty;

You harassme with Your strong hand.

22 You lift me up on the wind and make me ride it;

You scatter me in the storm.

23 Yes, I know that You will lead me to death —

the placeappointed for all who live.

24 Yet no one would stretch out his hand

against a ruined man

when he cries out to him for help

because of his distress.

25 Have I not wept for those who have fallen on hard times?

Has my soul not grieved for the needy?

26 But when I hoped for good, evil came;

when I looked for light, darknesscame.

27 I am churning withinand cannot rest;

days of suffering confront me.

28 I walk about blackened, but not by the sun.

I stood in the assembly and cried out for help.

29 I have become a brother to jackals

and a companion of ostriches.

30 My skin blackens and flakes off,

and my bones burn with fever.

31 My lyre is used for mourning

and my flute for the sound of weeping.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/JOB/30-dff1043d22e66c86d97458766e7eb0cf.mp3?version_id=72—