barred my way; I cannot pass;
He has laid darkness upon my path.
9He has stripped me of my glory,
Removed the crown from my head.
10He tears down every part of me; I perish;
He uproots my hope like a tree.
11He kindles His anger against me;
He regards me as one of His foes.
12His troops advance together;
They build their road toward me
And encamp around my tent.
13He alienated my kin from me;
My acquaintances disown me.
14My relatives are gone;
My friends have forgotten me.
15My dependents and maidservants regard me as a stranger;
I am an outsider to them.
16I summon my servant but he does not respond;
I must myself entreat him.
17My odor is repulsive to my wife;
I am loathsome to my children.
18Even youngsters disdain me;
When I rise, they speak against me.
19All my bosom friends detest me;
Those I love have turned against me.
20My bones stick to my skin and flesh;
I escape with the skin of my teeth.
21Pity me, pity me! You are my friends;
For the hand of God has struck me!
22Why do you pursue me like God,
b-Maligning me insatiably?-b
23O that my words were written down;
Would they were inscribed in a record,
24Incised on a rock forever
With iron stylus and lead!
25But I know that my Vindicator lives;
In the end He will testify on earth—
26This, after my skin will have been peeled off.
But I would behold God while still in my flesh,
27I myself, not another, would behold Him;
Would see with my own eyes:
My heartc pines within me.
28You say, “How do we persecute him?
The root of the matter is in him.”d
29Be in fear of the sword,
For [your] fury is iniquity worthy of the sword;
Know there is a judgment!
20 Zophar the Naamathite said in reply:
2In truth, my thoughts urge me to answer
(It is because of my feelings
3When I hear reproof that insults me);
A spirit out of my understanding makes me reply:
4Do you not know this, that from time immemorial,
Since man was set on earth,
5The joy of the wicked has been brief,
The happiness of the impious, fleeting?
6Though he grows as high as the sky,
His head reaching the clouds,
7He perishes forever, like his dung;
Those who saw him will say, “Where is he?”
8He flies away like a dream and cannot be found;
He is banished like a night vision.
9Eyes that glimpsed him do so no more;
They cannot see him in his place any longer.
10His sons ingratiate themselves with the poor;
His own hands must give back his wealth.
11His bones, still full of vigor,
Lie down in the dust with him.
12Though evil is sweet to his taste,
And he conceals it under his tongue;
13Though he saves it, does not let it go,
Holds it inside his mouth,
14His food in his bowels turns
Into asps’ venom within him.
15The riches he swallows he vomits;
God empties it out of his stomach.
16He sucks the poison of asps;
The tongue of the viper kills him.
17Let him not enjoy the streams,
The rivers of honey, the brooks of cream.
18He will give back the goods unswallowed;
The value of the riches, undigested.
19Because he crushed and tortured the poor,
He will not build up the house he took by force.
20He will not see his children tranquil;
He will not preserve one of his dear ones.a
21With no survivor to enjoy it,
His fortune will not prosper.
22When he has all he wants, trouble will come;
Misfortunes of all kinds will batter him.
23Let that fill his belly;
Let Him loose His burning anger at him,
And rain down His weapons upon him.
24Fleeing from iron arrows,
He is shot through from a bow of bronze.
25Brandished and run through his body,
The blade, through his gall,
Strikes terror into him.
26Utter darkness waits for his treasured ones;
A fire fanned by no man will consume him;
Who survives in his tent will be crushed.
27Heaven will expose his iniquity;
Earth will rise up against him.
28His household will be cast forth by a flood,
Spilled out on the day of His wrath.
29This is the wicked man’s portion from God,
The lot God has ordained for him.
21 Job said in reply:
2Listen well to what I say,
And let that be your consolation.
3Bear with me while I speak,
And after I have spoken, you may mock.
4Is my complaint directed toward a man?
Why should I not lose my patience?
5Look at me and be appalled,
And clap your hand to your mouth.
6When I think of it I am terrified;
My body is seized with shuddering.
7Why do the wicked live on,
Prosper and grow wealthy?
8Their children are with them always,
And they see their children’s children.
9Their homes are secure, without fear;
They do not feel the rod of God.
10Their bull breeds and does not fail;
Their cow calves and never miscarries;
11They let their infants run loose like sheep,
And their children skip about.
12They sing to the music of timbrel and lute,
And revel to the tune of the pipe;
13They spend their days in happiness,
And go down to Sheol in peace.
14They say to God, “Leave us alone,
We do not want to learn Your ways;
15What is Shaddai that we should serve Him?
What will we gain by praying to Him?”
16Their happiness is not their own doing.
(The thoughts of the wicked are beyond me!)
17How seldom does the lamp of the wicked fail,
Does the calamity they deserve befall them,
Does He apportion [their] lot in anger!
18Let them become like straw in the wind,
Like chaff carried off by a storm.
19[You say,] “God is reserving his punishment for his sons”;
Let it be paid back to him that he may feel it,
20Let his eyes see his ruin,
And let him drink the wrath of Shaddai!
21For what does he care about the fate of his family,
When his number of months runs out?
22Can God be instructed in knowledge,
He who judges from such heights?
23One man dies in robust health,
All tranquil and untroubled;
24His pails are full of milk;
The marrow of his bones is juicy.
25Another dies embittered,
Never having tasted happiness.
26They both lie in the dust
And are covered with worms.
27Oh, I know your thoughts,
And the tactics you will devise against me.
28You will say, “Where is the house of the great man—
And where the tent in which the wicked dwelled?”
29You must have consulted the wayfarers;
You cannot deny their evidence.
30For the evil man is spared on the day of calamity,
On the day when wrath is led forth.
31Who will upbraid him to his face?
Who will requite him for what he has done?
32He is brought to the grave,
While a watch is kept at his tomb.
33The clods of the wadi are sweet to him,
Everyone follows behind him,
Innumerable are those who precede him.
34Why then do you offer me empty consolation?
Of your replies only the perfidy remains.
22 Eliphaz the Temanite said in reply:
2Can a man be of use to God,
A wise man benefit Him?
3Does Shaddai gain if you are righteous?
Does He profit if your conduct is blameless?
4Is it because of your piety that He arraigns you,
And enters into judgment with you?
5You know that your wickedness is great,
And that your iniquities have no limit.
6You exact pledges from your fellows without reason,
And leave them naked, stripped of their clothes;
7You do not give the thirsty water to drink;
You deny bread to the hungry.
8The land belongs to the strong;
The privileged occupy it.
9You have sent away windows empty-handed;
The strength of the fatherless is broken.
10Therefore snares are all around you,
And sudden terrors frighten you,
11Or darkness, so you cannot see;
A flood of waters covers you.
12God is in the heavenly heights;
See the highest stars, how lofty!
13You say, “What can God know?
Can He govern through the dense cloud?
14The clouds screen Him so He cannot see
As He moves about the circuit of heaven.”
15Have you observed the immemorial path
That evil men have trodden;
16How they were shriveled up before their time
And their foundation poured out like a river?
17They said to God, “Leave us alone;
What can Shaddai do about it?”
18But it was He who filled their houses with good things.
(The thoughts of the wicked are beyond me!)
19The righteous, seeing it,a rejoiced;
The innocent laughed with scorn.
20Surely their substance was destroyed,
And their remnant consumed by fire.
21Be close to Him and wholehearted;
Good things will come to you thereby.
22Accept instruction from His mouth;
Lay up His words in your heart.
23If you return to Shaddai you will be restored,
If you banish iniquity from your tent;
24If you regard treasure as dirt,
Ophir-gold as stones of the wadi,
25And Shaddai be your treasure
And precious silver for you,
26When you seek the favor of Shaddai,
And lift up your face to God,
27You will pray to Him, and He will listen to you,
And you will pay your vows.
28You will decree and it will be fulfilled,
And light will shine upon your affairs.
29When others sink low, you will say it is pride;
For He saves the humble.
30He will deliver the guilty;
He will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.
23 Job said in reply:
2Today again my complaint is bitter;
a-My strength is spent-a on account of my groaning.
3Would that I knew how to reach Him,
How to get to His dwelling-place.
4I would set out my case before Him
And fill my mouth with arguments.
5I would learn what answers He had for me
And know how He would reply to me.
6Would He contend with me overbearingly?
Surely He would not accuse me!
7There the upright would be cleared by Him,
And I would escape forever from my judge.
8But if I go East—He is not there;
West—I still do not perceive Him;
9North—since He is concealed, I do not behold Him;
South—He is hidden, and I cannot see Him.
10But He knows the way I take;
Would He assay me, I should emerge pure as gold.
11I have followed in His tracks,
Kept His way without swerving,
12I have not deviated from what His lips commanded;
I have treasured His words more than my daily bread.
13He is one; who can dissuade Him?
Whatever He desires, He does.
14For He will bring my term to an end,
But He has many more such at His disposal.
15Therefore I am terrified at His presence;
When I consider, I dread Him.
16God has made me fainthearted;
Shaddai has terrified me.
17Yet I am not cut off by the darkness;
He has concealed the thick gloom from me.
24
Why are times for judgment not reserved by Shaddai?
Even those close