June 12

Job 21:1 — 24:25

21 And Job proceeded to answer and say:

 2 “Listen, YOU men, attentively to my word,

          And let this become YOUR consolation.

 3 Put up with me, and I myself shall speak;

          And after my speaking you may [each] deride.

 4 As for me, is my concern [expressed] to man?

          Or why is it that my spirit does not get impatient?

 5 Turn YOUR faces to me and stare in amazement,

          And put [YOUR] hand upon [YOUR] mouth.

 6 And if I have remembered, I have also become disturbed,

          And shuddering has taken hold of my flesh.

 7 Why is it that the wicked themselves keep living,

          Have grown old, also have become superior in wealth?

 8 Their offspring are firmly established with them in their sight,

          And their descendants before their eyes.

 9 Their houses are peace itself, free from dread,

          And the rod of God is not upon them.

10 His own bull actually impregnates, and it does not waste semen;

          His cow brings forth and suffers no abortion.

11 They keep sending out their young boys just like a flock,

          And their own male children go skipping about.

12 They continue raising [their voice] with the tambourine and harp,

          And keep rejoicing at the sound of the pipe.

13 They spend their days in good times,

          And in a moment down to Sheol they descend.

14 And they say to the [true] God, ‘Turn away from us!

          And in the knowledge of your ways we have found no delight.

15 What does the Almighty amount to, that we should serve him,

          And how do we benefit ourselves in that we have come in touch with him?’

16 Look! Their well-being is not in their own power.

          The very counsel of wicked ones has kept far from me.

17 How many times is the lamp of the wicked ones extinguished,

          And [how many times] does their disaster come upon them?

          [How many times] in his anger does he apportion destruction?

18 Do they become like straw before a wind,

          And like chaff that a storm wind has stolen away?

19 God himself will store up one’s hurtfulness for one’s own sons;

          He will reward him that he may know [it].

20 His eyes will see his decay,

          And from the rage of the Almighty he will drink.

21 For what will his delight be in his house after him,

          When the number of his months will really be cut in two?

22 Will he teach knowledge even to God,

          When that One himself judges high ones?

23 This very one will die during his full self-sufficiency,

          When he is altogether carefree and at ease;

24 [When] his own thighs have become full of fat

          And the very marrow of his bones is being kept moist.

25 And this other one will die with a bitter soul

          When he has not eaten of good things.

26 Together in the dust they will lie down

          And maggots themselves will form a cover over them.

27 Look! I well know the thoughts of YOU men

          And the schemes with which YOU would act violently against me.

28 For YOU say, ‘Where is the house of the noble one,

          And where is the tent, the tabernacles of wicked ones?’

29 Have YOU not asked those traveling over the roads?

          And do YOU not carefully inspect their very signs,

30 That at the day of disaster an evil one is spared,

          At the day of fury he is delivered?

31 Who will tell him of his way to his very face?

          And for what he himself has done who will reward him?

32 As for him, to the graveyard he will be brought,

          And over a tomb a vigil will be kept.

33 To him the clods of earth of a torrent valley will certainly become sweet,

          And after him he will drag all mankind,

          And those before him were without number.

34 So how vainly YOU men try to comfort me,

          And YOUR very replies do remain as unfaithfulness!”

22 And Eliphaz the Temanite proceeded to answer and say:

 2 “Can an able-bodied man be of use to God himself,

          That anyone having insight should be of use toward him?

 3 Does the Almighty have any delight in that you are righteous,

          Or any gain in that you make your way blameless?

 4 For your reverence will he reprove you,

          Will he come with you into the judgment?

 5 Is not your own badness too much already,

          And will there be no end to your errors?

 6 For you seize a pledge from your brothers without cause,

          And you strip off even the garments of naked people.

 7 You do not give the tired one a drink of water,

          And from the hungry one you hold back bread.

 8 As for a man of strength, the land is his,

          And one who is treated with partiality himself dwells in it.

 9 Widows you have sent away empty-handed,

          And the arms of fatherless boys are crushed.

10 That is why bird traps are all around you,

          And sudden dread disturbs you;

11 Or darkness, [so that] you cannot see,

          And a heaving mass of water itself covers you.

12 Is not God the height of heaven?

          Also see the sum total of the stars, that they are high.

13 And yet you have said: ‘What does God really know?

          Through thick gloom can he judge?

14 Clouds are a concealment place for him so that he does not see,

          And on the vault of heaven he walks about.’

15 Will you keep to the very way of long ago

          That hurtful men have trodden,

16 [Men] who have been snatched away before their time,

          Whose foundation is poured away just as a river,

17 Who are saying to the [true] God: ‘Turn away from us!

          And what can the Almighty accomplish against us?’

18 Yet he himself has filled their houses with good things;

          And the very counsel of wicked ones has kept far from me.

19 The righteous ones will see and rejoice,

          And the innocent one himself will hold them in derision:

20 ‘Truly our antagonists have been effaced;

          And what is left of them a fire will certainly eat up.’

21 Acquaint yourself, please, with him, and keep peace;

          Thereby good things will come to you.

22 Take, please, the law from his own mouth,

          And put his sayings in your heart.

23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up;

           [If] you will keep unrighteousness far from your tent,

24 And [if] there is a placing of precious ore in the dust

          And gold of Ophir in the rock of torrent valleys,

25 The Almighty also will indeed become your precious ores,

          And silver, the choicest, to you.

26 For then in the Almighty you will find your exquisite delight,

          And you will raise your face to God himself.

27 You will make entreaty to him, and he will hear you;

          And your vows you will pay.

28 And you will decide on something, and it will stand for you;

          And upon your ways light will certainly shine.

29 For there must be a humiliation when you speak arrogantly;

          But one with downcast eyes he will save.

30 He will rescue an innocent man,

          And you will certainly be rescued for the cleanness of your hands.”

23 And Job proceeded to answer and say:

 2 “Even today my state of concern is rebelliousness;

          My own hand is heavy on account of my sighing.

 3 O that I really knew where I might find him!

          I would come clear to his fixed place.

 4 I would present before him a case of justice,

          And my mouth I would fill with counterarguments;

 5 I would know the words with which he answers me,

          And I would consider what he says to me.

 6 Would he with an abundance of power contend with me?

          O no! Surely he himself would pay heed to me.

 7 There the upright one himself will certainly set matters straight with him,

          And I would go safe forever from my judge.

 8 Look! To the east I go, and he is not there;

          And back again, and I cannot discern him;

 9 To the left where he is working, but I cannot behold [him];

          He turns aside to the right, but I do not see [him].

10 For he well knows the way I take.

          [After] he has tested me out, I shall come forth as gold itself.

11 Of his steps my foot has laid hold;

          His way I have kept, and I do not deviate.

12 [From] the commandment of his lips I do not move away.

          I have treasured up the sayings of his mouth more than what is prescribed for me.

13 And he is in one [mind], and who can resist him?

          And his own soul has a desire, and he will do [it].

14 For he will carry out completely what is prescribed for me,

          And things like these are many with him.

15 That is why I feel disturbed because of him;

          I show myself attentive and am in dread of him.

16 Even God himself has made my heart timid,

          And the Almighty himself has disturbed me.

17 For I have not been put to silence because of darkness,

          Nor because gloom has covered my own face.

24 “Why is it that times have not been stored up by the Almighty himself,

          And the very ones knowing him have not beheld his days?

 2 There are those who move back boundary marks;

          A drove they have snatched away, that they may shepherd [it].

 3 They drive off even the male ass of fatherless boys;

          They seize the widow’s bull as a pledge.

 4 They turn aside the poor ones from the way;

          At the same time the afflicted of the earth have kept themselves hidden.

 5 Look! [As] zebras in the wilderness

          They have gone forth in their activity, looking for food.

          The desert plain [gives] to each one bread for the boys.

 6 In the field its fodder they harvest,

          And the vineyard of the wicked one they hastily despoil.

 7 Naked, they pass the night without a garment,

          And without any covering in the cold.

 8 From the rainstorm of the mountains they get drenched,

          And because there is no shelter they have to hug a rock.

 9 They snatch away a fatherless boy even from the breast,

          And what is on the afflicted one they take as a pledge.

10 Naked, they have to go about without a garment,

          And, hungry, they have to carry the reaped ears.

11 Between the terrace walls they pass the noontime;

          Winepresses they have to tread, and yet they go thirsty.

12 From out of the city the dying keep groaning,

          And the soul of deadly wounded ones cries for help;

          And God himself considers [it] not as anything improper.

13 As for them, they proved to be among the rebels against light;

          They did not recognize its ways,

          And they did not dwell in its roadways.

14 At daylight the murderer gets up,

          He proceeds to slay the afflicted and the poor one;

          And during the night he becomes a regular thief.

15 As for the eye of the adulterer, it has watched for evening darkness,

          Saying, ‘No eye will behold me!’

          And over his face he puts a covering.

16 In the darkness he has dug into houses;

          By day they must keep themselves locked in.

          They have not known daylight.

17 For morning is the same as deep shadow for them,

          For they recognize what the sudden terrors of deep shadow are.

18 He is swift on the surface of the waters.

          Their tract of land will be cursed in the earth.

          He will not turn toward the way of the vineyards.

19 The drought, also the heat, snatch away the snow waters;

          So does Sheol those who have sinned!

20 The womb will forget him, the maggot will sweetly suck him,

          He will be remembered no more.

          And unrighteousness will be broken just like a tree.

21 He is having dealings with a barren woman who does not bear,

          And with a widow, to whom he does no good.

22 And he will certainly draw away strong people by his power;

          He will rise up and not be sure of his life.

23 He will grant him to become confident that he may support himself;

          And his eyes will be upon their ways.

24 They have become high up a little while, then they are no more,

          And they have been brought low; like everyone else they are plucked off,

          And like the head of an ear of grain they are cut off.

25 So really now, who will make me out a liar

          Or reduce my word to nothing?”