The Choice of Trouble

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Pic - Restraining order

It took a lot of nerve, but he did it: In May of 2016 a man in Israel actually took out a restraining order against . . . God! Apparently, David Shoshan entered a court room in Haifa and told the court that God had been treating him harshly and not nicely, though he didn’t elaborate. Mr. Shoshan then told the court that he had made several attempts to get the Police to do something about God’s alleged crimes. In fact, patrol cars had been sent to his home on 10 different occasions. So, finally, the police suggested that David take out a restraining order. So . . . he did.

What happened? Well the judge said that the guy was delusional and required help that was beyond the power of the court to give.

Maybe you feel like Mr. Shoshan. You feel like god has been treating you harshly. Perhaps you’ve started to even carry some resentment against God because of what you’ve been going through. It might be that job you lost; It could be that bill you can’t pay; It might be that family member who keeps hurting you and you keep thinking, “If God was really taking care of me, this would not be happening right now. And the result is a boiling resentment that furrows your brow, clinches your stomach and tightens your jaw. And, if you really told the truth this morning, you’re a bit—or a lot—angry. You resent God.

And, if that is so, there are a few things I can tell you about, well, you! If you claim to be a Christian, YOU ARE NOT VERY HAPPY. You see genuine smiles do not grace the faces of resentful people. You are wrestling with your anger and you are afraid that, before long, you’re going to walk away from God.

And, then, if you claim to be a Christian, YOU ARE OUT OF FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. You, say, “Now wait a minute, Rusty, just who do you think you are? You can’t judge my fellowship with God.” Well, you’re right, I cannot look at your heart the way God does, but I do know this: When you choose to resent, you refuse to relate. Your trouble, whatever it may be, always presents you with a choice: you can either resent God and blame Him or you can choose to surrender to Him, trust Him, and walk with Him. You can only choose to relate when you refuse to resent. Today’s message makes this clear from the book of Job.

BACKGROUND

That’s where we are on the Journey. Our reading of Genesis was interrupted by the book of Job because Job was probably written even before Abraham came on the scene. It is only appropriate that one of the oldest books of the Bible address one of the oldest questions of man: Why do “good people” suffer?

In chapter one we meet Job who seems to have it all together. He’s a God-fearing man with lots of possessions and a great family. Both God and Satan take note and we are treated to a ringside seat in the court of heaven for an interesting conversation. Read with me:

Job 1:6–12 NKJV

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

Job 1:6-

6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. 7 And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” 8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” 9 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” 12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

Satan tells God that Job only fears Him because he doesn’t want to lose his blessings. If God takes all his stuff away, he will “curse You to Your face.” God tells Satan that he can take his stuff but he cannot touch his body. Read what happens next:

Job 1:13–19 NKJV

Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house; and a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided them and took them away—indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house; 14 and a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 when the Sabeans raided them and took them away—indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” 16 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” 17 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” 18 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

Satan is very effective when it comes to devastation: In one afternoon Job loses his oxen, his donkeys, his servants, his camels, his sons and his daughters. But he doesn’t crack. He still praises God.

The scene then turns back to heaven. Again we see God’s court. God tells Satan, “See, Job remained faithful.” Satan again accuses Job and tells God that if He takes away Job’s health, then Job will curse God, so, again, God allows Satan to move against Job: He can sicken his body, but he cannot kill him. What is Job’s reaction. Just as before: He says in :

Job 1:21–Job 25 NKJV

And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him. And when they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven. So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great. After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job spoke, and said: “May the day perish on which I was born, And the night in which it was said, ‘A male child is conceived.’ May that day be darkness; May God above not seek it, Nor the light shine upon it. May darkness and the shadow of death claim it; May a cloud settle on it; May the blackness of the day terrify it. As for that night, may darkness seize it; May it not rejoice among the days of the year, May it not come into the number of the months. Oh, may that night be barren! May no joyful shout come into it! May those curse it who curse the day, Those who are ready to arouse Leviathan. May the stars of its morning be dark; May it look for light, but have none, And not see the dawning of the day; Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, Nor hide sorrow from my eyes. “Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have been asleep; Then I would have been at rest With kings and counselors of the earth, Who built ruins for themselves, Or with princes who had gold, Who filled their houses with silver; Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, Like infants who never saw light? There the wicked cease from troubling, And there the weary are at rest. There the prisoners rest together; They do not hear the voice of the oppressor. The small and great are there, And the servant is free from his master. “Why is light given to him who is in misery, And life to the bitter of soul, Who long for death, but it does not come, And search for it more than hidden treasures; Who rejoice exceedingly, And are glad when they can find the grave? Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, And whom God has hedged in? For my sighing comes before I eat, And my groanings pour out like water. For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes.” Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: “If one attempts a word with you, will you become weary? But who can withhold himself from speaking? Surely you have instructed many, And you have strengthened weak hands. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, And you have strengthened the feeble knees; But now it comes upon you, and you are weary; It touches you, and you are troubled. Is not your reverence your confidence? And the integrity of your ways your hope? “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off? Even as I have seen, Those who plow iniquity And sow trouble reap the same. By the blast of God they perish, And by the breath of His anger they are consumed. The roaring of the lion, The voice of the fierce lion, And the teeth of the young lions are broken. The old lion perishes for lack of prey, And the cubs of the lioness are scattered. “Now a word was secretly brought to me, And my ear received a whisper of it. In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men, Fear came upon me, and trembling, Which made all my bones shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair on my body stood up. It stood still, But I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; There was silence; Then I heard a voice saying: ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker? If He puts no trust in His servants, If He charges His angels with error, How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before a moth? They are broken in pieces from morning till evening; They perish forever, with no one regarding. Does not their own excellence go away? They die, even without wisdom.’ “Call out now; Is there anyone who will answer you? And to which of the holy ones will you turn? For wrath kills a foolish man, And envy slays a simple one. I have seen the foolish taking root, But suddenly I cursed his dwelling place. His sons are far from safety, They are crushed in the gate, And there is no deliverer. Because the hungry eat up his harvest, Taking it even from the thorns, And a snare snatches their substance. For affliction does not come from the dust, Nor does trouble spring from the ground; Yet man is born to trouble, As the sparks fly upward. “But as for me, I would seek God, And to God I would commit my cause— Who does great things, and unsearchable, Marvelous things without number. He gives rain on the earth, And sends waters on the fields. He sets on high those who are lowly, And those who mourn are lifted to safety. He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands cannot carry out their plans. He catches the wise in their own craftiness, And the counsel of the cunning comes quickly upon them. They meet with darkness in the daytime, And grope at noontime as in the night. But He saves the needy from the sword, From the mouth of the mighty, And from their hand. So the poor have hope, And injustice shuts her mouth. “Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole. He shall deliver you in six troubles, Yes, in seven no evil shall touch you. In famine He shall redeem you from death, And in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, And you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes. You shall laugh at destruction and famine, And you shall not be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For you shall have a covenant with the stones of the field, And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. You shall know that your tent is in peace; You shall visit your dwelling and find nothing amiss. You shall also know that your descendants shall be many, And your offspring like the grass of the earth. You shall come to the grave at a full age, As a sheaf of grain ripens in its season. Behold, this we have searched out; It is true. Hear it, and know for yourself.” Then Job answered and said: “Oh, that my grief were fully weighed, And my calamity laid with it on the scales! For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea— Therefore my words have been rash. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; My spirit drinks in their poison; The terrors of God are arrayed against me. Does the wild donkey bray when it has grass, Or does the ox low over its fodder? Can flavorless food be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? My soul refuses to touch them; They are as loathsome food to me. “Oh, that I might have my request, That God would grant me the thing that I long for! That it would please God to crush me, That He would loose His hand and cut me off! Then I would still have comfort; Though in anguish I would exult, He will not spare; For I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. “What strength do I have, that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life? Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh bronze? Is my help not within me? And is success driven from me? “To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend, Even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. My brothers have dealt deceitfully like a brook, Like the streams of the brooks that pass away, Which are dark because of the ice, And into which the snow vanishes. When it is warm, they cease to flow; When it is hot, they vanish from their place. The paths of their way turn aside, They go nowhere and perish. The caravans of Tema look, The travelers of Sheba hope for them. They are disappointed because they were confident; They come there and are confused. For now you are nothing, You see terror and are afraid. Did I ever say, ‘Bring something to me’? Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth’? Or, ‘Deliver me from the enemy’s hand’? Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of oppressors’? “Teach me, and I will hold my tongue; Cause me to understand wherein I have erred. How forceful are right words! But what does your arguing prove? Do you intend to rebuke my words, And the speeches of a desperate one, which are as wind? Yes, you overwhelm the fatherless, And you undermine your friend. Now therefore, be pleased to look at me; For I would never lie to your face. Yield now, let there be no injustice! Yes, concede, my righteousness still stands! Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern the unsavory? “Is there not a time of hard service for man on earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired man? Like a servant who earnestly desires the shade, And like a hired man who eagerly looks for his wages, So I have been allotted months of futility, And wearisome nights have been appointed to me. When I lie down, I say, ‘When shall I arise, And the night be ended?’ For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn. My flesh is caked with worms and dust, My skin is cracked and breaks out afresh. “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, And are spent without hope. Oh, remember that my life is a breath! My eye will never again see good. The eye of him who sees me will see me no more; While your eyes are upon me, I shall no longer be. As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, So he who goes down to the grave does not come up. He shall never return to his house, Nor shall his place know him anymore. “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I a sea, or a sea serpent, That You set a guard over me? When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, My couch will ease my complaint,’ Then You scare me with dreams And terrify me with visions, So that my soul chooses strangling And death rather than my body. I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, For my days are but a breath. “What is man, that You should exalt him, That You should set Your heart on him, That You should visit him every morning, And test him every moment? How long? Will You not look away from me, And let me alone till I swallow my saliva? Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, So that I am a burden to myself? Why then do You not pardon my transgression, And take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust, And You will seek me diligently, But I will no longer be.” Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: “How long will you speak these things, And the words of your mouth be like a strong wind? Does God subvert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert justice? If your sons have sinned against Him, He has cast them away for their transgression. If you would earnestly seek God And make your supplication to the Almighty, If you were pure and upright, Surely now He would awake for you, And prosper your rightful dwelling place. Though your beginning was small, Yet your latter end would increase abundantly. “For inquire, please, of the former age, And consider the things discovered by their fathers; For we were born yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days on earth are a shadow. Will they not teach you and tell you, And utter words from their heart? “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water? While it is yet green and not cut down, It withers before any other plant. So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish, Whose confidence shall be cut off, And whose trust is a spider’s web. He leans on his house, but it does not stand. He holds it fast, but it does not endure. He grows green in the sun, And his branches spread out in his garden. His roots wrap around the rock heap, And look for a place in the stones. If he is destroyed from his place, Then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’ “Behold, this is the joy of His way, And out of the earth others will grow. Behold, God will not cast away the blameless, Nor will He uphold the evildoers. He will yet fill your mouth with laughing, And your lips with rejoicing. Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, And the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing.” Then Job answered and said: “Truly I know it is so, But how can a man be righteous before God? If one wished to contend with Him, He could not answer Him one time out of a thousand. God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered? He removes the mountains, and they do not know When He overturns them in His anger; He shakes the earth out of its place, And its pillars tremble; He commands the sun, and it does not rise; He seals off the stars; He alone spreads out the heavens, And treads on the waves of the sea; He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, And the chambers of the south; He does great things past finding out, Yes, wonders without number. If He goes by me, I do not see Him; If He moves past, I do not perceive Him; If He takes away, who can hinder Him? Who can say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’ God will not withdraw His anger, The allies of the proud lie prostrate beneath Him. “How then can I answer Him, And choose my words to reason with Him? For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him; I would beg mercy of my Judge. If I called and He answered me, I would not believe that He was listening to my voice. For He crushes me with a tempest, And multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not allow me to catch my breath, But fills me with bitterness. If it is a matter of strength, indeed He is strong; And if of justice, who will appoint my day in court? Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse. “I am blameless, yet I do not know myself; I despise my life. It is all one thing; Therefore I say, ‘He destroys the blameless and the wicked.’ If the scourge slays suddenly, He laughs at the plight of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, who else could it be? “Now my days are swifter than a runner; They flee away, they see no good. They pass by like swift ships, Like an eagle swooping on its prey. If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and wear a smile,’ I am afraid of all my sufferings; I know that You will not hold me innocent. If I am condemned, Why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow water, And cleanse my hands with soap, Yet You will plunge me into the pit, And my own clothes will abhor me. “For He is not a man, as I am, That I may answer Him, And that we should go to court together. Nor is there any mediator between us, Who may lay his hand on us both. Let Him take His rod away from me, And do not let dread of Him terrify me. Then I would speak and not fear Him, But it is not so with me. “My soul loathes my life; I will give free course to my complaint, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; Show me why You contend with me. Does it seem good to You that You should oppress, That You should despise the work of Your hands, And smile on the counsel of the wicked? Do You have eyes of flesh? Or do You see as man sees? Are Your days like the days of a mortal man? Are Your years like the days of a mighty man, That You should seek for my iniquity And search out my sin, Although You know that I am not wicked, And there is no one who can deliver from Your hand? ‘Your hands have made me and fashioned me, An intricate unity; Yet You would destroy me. Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay. And will You turn me into dust again? Did You not pour me out like milk, And curdle me like cheese, Clothe me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews? You have granted me life and favor, And Your care has preserved my spirit. ‘And these things You have hidden in Your heart; I know that this was with You: If I sin, then You mark me, And will not acquit me of my iniquity. If I am wicked, woe to me; Even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am full of disgrace; See my misery! If my head is exalted, You hunt me like a fierce lion, And again You show Yourself awesome against me. You renew Your witnesses against me, And increase Your indignation toward me; Changes and war are ever with me. ‘Why then have You brought me out of the womb? Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me! I would have been as though I had not been. I would have been carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my days few? Cease! Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort, Before I go to the place from which I shall not return, To the land of darkness and the shadow of death, A land as dark as darkness itself, As the shadow of death, without any order, Where even the light is like darkness.’ ” Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said: “Should not the multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk be vindicated? Should your empty talk make men hold their peace? And when you mock, should no one rebuke you? For you have said, ‘My doctrine is pure, And I am clean in your eyes.’ But oh, that God would speak, And open His lips against you, That He would show you the secrets of wisdom! For they would double your prudence. Know therefore that God exacts from you Less than your iniquity deserves. “Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea. “If He passes by, imprisons, and gathers to judgment, Then who can hinder Him? For He knows deceitful men; He sees wickedness also. Will He not then consider it? For an empty-headed man will be wise, When a wild donkey’s colt is born a man. “If you would prepare your heart, And stretch out your hands toward Him; If iniquity were in your hand, and you put it far away, And would not let wickedness dwell in your tents; Then surely you could lift up your face without spot; Yes, you could be steadfast, and not fear; Because you would forget your misery, And remember it as waters that have passed away, And your life would be brighter than noonday. Though you were dark, you would be like the morning. And you would be secure, because there is hope; Yes, you would dig around you, and take your rest in safety. You would also lie down, and no one would make you afraid; Yes, many would court your favor. But the eyes of the wicked will fail, And they shall not escape, And their hope—loss of life!” Then Job answered and said: “No doubt you are the people, And wisdom will die with you! But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Indeed, who does not know such things as these? “I am one mocked by his friends, Who called on God, and He answered him, The just and blameless who is ridiculed. A lamp is despised in the thought of one who is at ease; It is made ready for those whose feet slip. The tents of robbers prosper, And those who provoke God are secure— In what God provides by His hand. “But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? Does not the ear test words And the mouth taste its food? Wisdom is with aged men, And with length of days, understanding. “With Him are wisdom and strength, He has counsel and understanding. If He breaks a thing down, it cannot be rebuilt; If He imprisons a man, there can be no release. If He withholds the waters, they dry up; If He sends them out, they overwhelm the earth. With Him are strength and prudence. The deceived and the deceiver are His. He leads counselors away plundered, And makes fools of the judges. He loosens the bonds of kings, And binds their waist with a belt. He leads princes away plundered, And overthrows the mighty. He deprives the trusted ones of speech, And takes away the discernment of the elders. He pours contempt on princes, And disarms the mighty. He uncovers deep things out of darkness, And brings the shadow of death to light. He makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and guides them. He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth, And makes them wander in a pathless wilderness. They grope in the dark without light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken man. “Behold, my eye has seen all this, My ear has heard and understood it. What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. But I would speak to the Almighty, And I desire to reason with God. But you forgers of lies, You are all worthless physicians. Oh, that you would be silent, And it would be your wisdom! Now hear my reasoning, And heed the pleadings of my lips. Will you speak wickedly for God, And talk deceitfully for Him? Will you show partiality for Him? Will you contend for God? Will it be well when He searches you out? Or can you mock Him as one mocks a man? He will surely rebuke you If you secretly show partiality. Will not His excellence make you afraid, And the dread of Him fall upon you? Your platitudes are proverbs of ashes, Your defenses are defenses of clay. “Hold your peace with me, and let me speak, Then let come on me what may! Why do I take my flesh in my teeth, And put my life in my hands? Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him. He also shall be my salvation, For a hypocrite could not come before Him. Listen carefully to my speech, And to my declaration with your ears. See now, I have prepared my case, I know that I shall be vindicated. Who is he who will contend with me? If now I hold my tongue, I perish. “Only two things do not do to me, Then I will not hide myself from You: Withdraw Your hand far from me, And let not the dread of You make me afraid. Then call, and I will answer; Or let me speak, then You respond to me. How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin. Why do You hide Your face, And regard me as Your enemy? Will You frighten a leaf driven to and fro? And will You pursue dry stubble? For You write bitter things against me, And make me inherit the iniquities of my youth. You put my feet in the stocks, And watch closely all my paths. You set a limit for the soles of my feet. “Man decays like a rotten thing, Like a garment that is moth-eaten. “Man who is born of woman Is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and does not continue. And do You open Your eyes on such a one, And bring me to judgment with Yourself? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one! Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass. Look away from him that he may rest, Till like a hired man he finishes his day. “For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And that its tender shoots will not cease. Though its root may grow old in the earth, And its stump may die in the ground, Yet at the scent of water it will bud And bring forth branches like a plant. But man dies and is laid away; Indeed he breathes his last And where is he? As water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up, So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, They will not awake Nor be roused from their sleep. “Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, That You would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes. You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands. For now You number my steps, But do not watch over my sin. My transgression is sealed up in a bag, And You cover my iniquity. “But as a mountain falls and crumbles away, And as a rock is moved from its place; As water wears away stones, And as torrents wash away the soil of the earth; So You destroy the hope of man. You prevail forever against him, and he passes on; You change his countenance and send him away. His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; They are brought low, and he does not perceive it. But his flesh will be in pain over it, And his soul will mourn over it.” Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: “Should a wise man answer with empty knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind? Should he reason with unprofitable talk, Or by speeches with which he can do no good? Yes, you cast off fear, And restrain prayer before God. For your iniquity teaches your mouth, And you choose the tongue of the crafty. Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; Yes, your own lips testify against you. “Are you the first man who was born? Or were you made before the hills? Have you heard the counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not in us? Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, Much older than your father. Are the consolations of God too small for you, And the word spoken gently with you? Why does your heart carry you away, And what do your eyes wink at, That you turn your spirit against God, And let such words go out of your mouth? “What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous? If God puts no trust in His saints, And the heavens are not pure in His sight, How much less man, who is abominable and filthy, Who drinks iniquity like water! “I will tell you, hear me; What I have seen I will declare, What wise men have told, Not hiding anything received from their fathers, To whom alone the land was given, And no alien passed among them: The wicked man writhes with pain all his days, And the number of years is hidden from the oppressor. Dreadful sounds are in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer comes upon him. He does not believe that he will return from darkness, For a sword is waiting for him. He wanders about for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand. Trouble and anguish make him afraid; They overpower him, like a king ready for battle. For he stretches out his hand against God, And acts defiantly against the Almighty, Running stubbornly against Him With his strong, embossed shield. “Though he has covered his face with his fatness, And made his waist heavy with fat, He dwells in desolate cities, In houses which no one inhabits, Which are destined to become ruins. He will not be rich, Nor will his wealth continue, Nor will his possessions overspread the earth. He will not depart from darkness; The flame will dry out his branches, And by the breath of His mouth he will go away. Let him not trust in futile things, deceiving himself, For futility will be his reward. It will be accomplished before his time, And his branch will not be green. He will shake off his unripe grape like a vine, And cast off his blossom like an olive tree. For the company of hypocrites will be barren, And fire will consume the tents of bribery. They conceive trouble and bring forth futility; Their womb prepares deceit.” Then Job answered and said: “I have heard many such things; Miserable comforters are you all! Shall words of wind have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer? I also could speak as you do, If your soul were in my soul’s place. I could heap up words against you, And shake my head at you; But I would strengthen you with my mouth, And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief. “Though I speak, my grief is not relieved; And if I remain silent, how am I eased? But now He has worn me out; You have made desolate all my company. You have shriveled me up, And it is a witness against me; My leanness rises up against me And bears witness to my face. He tears me in His wrath, and hates me; He gnashes at me with His teeth; My adversary sharpens His gaze on me. They gape at me with their mouth, They strike me reproachfully on the cheek, They gather together against me. God has delivered me to the ungodly, And turned me over to the hands of the wicked. I was at ease, but He has shattered me; He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces; He has set me up for His target, His archers surround me. He pierces my heart and does not pity; He pours out my gall on the ground. He breaks me with wound upon wound; He runs at me like a warrior. “I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, And laid my head in the dust. My face is flushed from weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death; Although no violence is in my hands, And my prayer is pure. “O earth, do not cover my blood, And let my cry have no resting place! Surely even now my witness is in heaven, And my evidence is on high. My friends scorn me; My eyes pour out tears to God. Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, As a man pleads for his neighbor! For when a few years are finished, I shall go the way of no return. “My spirit is broken, My days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me. Are not mockers with me? And does not my eye dwell on their provocation? “Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he who will shake hands with me? For You have hidden their heart from understanding; Therefore You will not exalt them. He who speaks flattery to his friends, Even the eyes of his children will fail. “But He has made me a byword of the people, And I have become one in whose face men spit. My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow, And all my members are like shadows. Upright men are astonished at this, And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite. Yet the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger. “But please, come back again, all of you, For I shall not find one wise man among you. My days are past, My purposes are broken off, Even the thoughts of my heart. They change the night into day; ‘The light is near,’ they say, in the face of darkness. If I wait for the grave as my house, If I make my bed in the darkness, If I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ And to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister,’ Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it? Will they go down to the gates of Sheol? Shall we have rest together in the dust?” Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: “How long till you put an end to words? Gain understanding, and afterward we will speak. Why are we counted as beasts, And regarded as stupid in your sight? You who tear yourself in anger, Shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed from its place? “The light of the wicked indeed goes out, And the flame of his fire does not shine. The light is dark in his tent, And his lamp beside him is put out. The steps of his strength are shortened, And his own counsel casts him down. For he is cast into a net by his own feet, And he walks into a snare. The net takes him by the heel, And a snare lays hold of him. A noose is hidden for him on the ground, And a trap for him in the road. Terrors frighten him on every side, And drive him to his feet. His strength is starved, And destruction is ready at his side. It devours patches of his skin; The firstborn of death devours his limbs. He is uprooted from the shelter of his tent, And they parade him before the king of terrors. They dwell in his tent who are none of his; Brimstone is scattered on his dwelling. His roots are dried out below, And his branch withers above. The memory of him perishes from the earth, And he has no name among the renowned. He is driven from light into darkness, And chased out of the world. He has neither son nor posterity among his people, Nor any remaining in his dwellings. Those in the west are astonished at his day, As those in the east are frightened. Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, And this is the place of him who does not know God.” Then Job answered and said: “How long will you torment my soul, And break me in pieces with words? These ten times you have reproached me; You are not ashamed that you have wronged me. And if indeed I have erred, My error remains with me. If indeed you exalt yourselves against me, And plead my disgrace against me, Know then that God has wronged me, And has surrounded me with His net. “If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard. If I cry aloud, there is no justice. He has fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass; And He has set darkness in my paths. He has stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head. He breaks me down on every side, And I am gone; My hope He has uprooted like a tree. He has also kindled His wrath against me, And He counts me as one of His enemies. His troops come together And build up their road against me; They encamp all around my tent. “He has removed my brothers far from me, And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. My relatives have failed, And my close friends have forgotten me. Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants, Count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight. I call my servant, but he gives no answer; I beg him with my mouth. My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am repulsive to the children of my own body. Even young children despise me; I arise, and they speak against me. All my close friends abhor me, And those whom I love have turned against me. My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, And I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. “Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, For the hand of God has struck me! Why do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh? “Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’— Since the root of the matter is found in me, Be afraid of the sword for yourselves; For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, That you may know there is a judgment.” Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said: “Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer, Because of the turmoil within me. I have heard the rebuke that reproaches me, And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer. “Do you not know this of old, Since man was placed on earth, That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment? Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens, And his head reaches to the clouds, Yet he will perish forever like his own refuse; Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’ He will fly away like a dream, and not be found; Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night. The eye that saw him will see him no more, Nor will his place behold him anymore. His children will seek the favor of the poor, And his hands will restore his wealth. His bones are full of his youthful vigor, But it will lie down with him in the dust. “Though evil is sweet in his mouth, And he hides it under his tongue, Though he spares it and does not forsake it, But still keeps it in his mouth, Yet his food in his stomach turns sour; It becomes cobra venom within him. He swallows down riches And vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly. He will suck the poison of cobras; The viper’s tongue will slay him. He will not see the streams, The rivers flowing with honey and cream. He will restore that for which he labored, And will not swallow it down; From the proceeds of business He will get no enjoyment. For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor, He has violently seized a house which he did not build. “Because he knows no quietness in his heart, He will not save anything he desires. Nothing is left for him to eat; Therefore his well-being will not last. In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress; Every hand of misery will come against him. When he is about to fill his stomach, God will cast on him the fury of His wrath, And will rain it on him while he is eating. He will flee from the iron weapon; A bronze bow will pierce him through. It is drawn, and comes out of the body; Yes, the glittering point comes out of his gall. Terrors come upon him; Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. An unfanned fire will consume him; It shall go ill with him who is left in his tent. The heavens will reveal his iniquity, And the earth will rise up against him. The increase of his house will depart, And his goods will flow away in the day of His wrath. This is the portion from God for a wicked man, The heritage appointed to him by God.” Then Job answered and said: “Listen carefully to my speech, And let this be your consolation. Bear with me that I may speak, And after I have spoken, keep mocking. “As for me, is my complaint against man? And if it were, why should I not be impatient? Look at me and be astonished; Put your hand over your mouth. Even when I remember I am terrified, And trembling takes hold of my flesh. Why do the wicked live and become old, Yes, become mighty in power? Their descendants are established with them in their sight, And their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, Neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull breeds without failure; Their cow calves without miscarriage. They send forth their little ones like a flock, And their children dance. They sing to the tambourine and harp, And rejoice to the sound of the flute. They spend their days in wealth, And in a moment go down to the grave. Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us, For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’ Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand; The counsel of the wicked is far from me. “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their destruction come upon them, The sorrows God distributes in His anger? They are like straw before the wind, And like chaff that a storm carries away. They say, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity for his children’; Let Him recompense him, that he may know it. Let his eyes see his destruction, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. For what does he care about his household after him, When the number of his months is cut in half? “Can anyone teach God knowledge, Since He judges those on high? One dies in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and secure; His pails are full of milk, And the marrow of his bones is moist. Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, Never having eaten with pleasure. They lie down alike in the dust, And worms cover them. “Look, I know your thoughts, And the schemes with which you would wrong me. For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent, The dwelling place of the wicked?’ Have you not asked those who travel the road? And do you not know their signs? For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom; They shall be brought out on the day of wrath. Who condemns his way to his face? And who repays him for what he has done? Yet he shall be brought to the grave, And a vigil kept over the tomb. The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him; Everyone shall follow him, As countless have gone before him. How then can you comfort me with empty words, Since falsehood remains in your answers?” Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: “Can a man be profitable to God, Though he who is wise may be profitable to himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless? “Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you, And enters into judgment with you? Is not your wickedness great, And your iniquity without end? For you have taken pledges from your brother for no reason, And stripped the naked of their clothing. You have not given the weary water to drink, And you have withheld bread from the hungry. But the mighty man possessed the land, And the honorable man dwelt in it. You have sent widows away empty, And the strength of the fatherless was crushed. Therefore snares are all around you, And sudden fear troubles you, Or darkness so that you cannot see; And an abundance of water covers you. “Is not God in the height of heaven? And see the highest stars, how lofty they are! And you say, ‘What does God know? Can He judge through the deep darkness? Thick clouds cover Him, so that He cannot see, And He walks above the circle of heaven.’ Will you keep to the old way Which wicked men have trod, Who were cut down before their time, Whose foundations were swept away by a flood? They said to God, ‘Depart from us! What can the Almighty do to them?’ Yet He filled their houses with good things; But the counsel of the wicked is far from me. “The righteous see it and are glad, And the innocent laugh at them: ‘Surely our adversaries are cut down, And the fire consumes their remnant.’ “Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace; Thereby good will come to you. Receive, please, instruction from His mouth, And lay up His words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; You will remove iniquity far from your tents. Then you will lay your gold in the dust, And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. Yes, the Almighty will be your gold And your precious silver; For then you will have your delight in the Almighty, And lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you, And you will pay your vows. You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways. When they cast you down, and you say, ‘Exaltation will come!’ Then He will save the humble person. He will even deliver one who is not innocent; Yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands.” Then Job answered and said: “Even today my complaint is bitter; My hand is listless because of my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat! I would present my case before Him, And fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which He would answer me, And understand what He would say to me. Would He contend with me in His great power? No! But He would take note of me. There the upright could reason with Him, And I would be delivered forever from my Judge. “Look, I go forward, but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him; When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food. “But He is unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He does. For He performs what is appointed for me, And many such things are with Him. Therefore I am terrified at His presence; When I consider this, I am afraid of Him. For God made my heart weak, And the Almighty terrifies me; Because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness, And He did not hide deep darkness from my face. “Since times are not hidden from the Almighty, Why do those who know Him see not His days? “Some remove landmarks; They seize flocks violently and feed on them; They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; They take the widow’s ox as a pledge. They push the needy off the road; All the poor of the land are forced to hide. Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, They go out to their work, searching for food. The wilderness yields food for them and for their children. They gather their fodder in the field And glean in the vineyard of the wicked. They spend the night naked, without clothing, And have no covering in the cold. They are wet with the showers of the mountains, And huddle around the rock for want of shelter. “Some snatch the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge from the poor. They cause the poor to go naked, without clothing; And they take away the sheaves from the hungry. They press out oil within their walls, And tread winepresses, yet suffer thirst. The dying groan in the city, And the souls of the wounded cry out; Yet God does not charge them with wrong. “There are those who rebel against the light; They do not know its ways Nor abide in its paths. The murderer rises with the light; He kills the poor and needy; And in the night he is like a thief. The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Saying, ‘No eye will see me’; And he disguises his face. In the dark they break into houses Which they marked for themselves in the daytime; They do not know the light. For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death; If someone recognizes them, They are in the terrors of the shadow of death. “They should be swift on the face of the waters, Their portion should be cursed in the earth, So that no one would turn into the way of their vineyards. As drought and heat consume the snow waters, So the grave consumes those who have sinned. The womb should forget him, The worm should feed sweetly on him; He should be remembered no more, And wickedness should be broken like a tree. For he preys on the barren who do not bear, And does no good for the widow. “But God draws the mighty away with His power; He rises up, but no man is sure of life. He gives them security, and they rely on it; Yet His eyes are on their ways. They are exalted for a little while, Then they are gone. They are brought low; They are taken out of the way like all others; They dry out like the heads of grain. “Now if it is not so, who will prove me a liar, And make my speech worth nothing?” Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: “Dominion and fear belong to Him; He makes peace in His high places. Is there any number to His armies? Upon whom does His light not rise? How then can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman? If even the moon does not shine, And the stars are not pure in His sight, How much less man, who is a maggot, And a son of man, who is a worm?”

Job 1:21–Job 26 NKJV

And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him. And when they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven. So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great. After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job spoke, and said: “May the day perish on which I was born, And the night in which it was said, ‘A male child is conceived.’ May that day be darkness; May God above not seek it, Nor the light shine upon it. May darkness and the shadow of death claim it; May a cloud settle on it; May the blackness of the day terrify it. As for that night, may darkness seize it; May it not rejoice among the days of the year, May it not come into the number of the months. Oh, may that night be barren! May no joyful shout come into it! May those curse it who curse the day, Those who are ready to arouse Leviathan. May the stars of its morning be dark; May it look for light, but have none, And not see the dawning of the day; Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, Nor hide sorrow from my eyes. “Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have been asleep; Then I would have been at rest With kings and counselors of the earth, Who built ruins for themselves, Or with princes who had gold, Who filled their houses with silver; Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, Like infants who never saw light? There the wicked cease from troubling, And there the weary are at rest. There the prisoners rest together; They do not hear the voice of the oppressor. The small and great are there, And the servant is free from his master. “Why is light given to him who is in misery, And life to the bitter of soul, Who long for death, but it does not come, And search for it more than hidden treasures; Who rejoice exceedingly, And are glad when they can find the grave? Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, And whom God has hedged in? For my sighing comes before I eat, And my groanings pour out like water. For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes.” Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: “If one attempts a word with you, will you become weary? But who can withhold himself from speaking? Surely you have instructed many, And you have strengthened weak hands. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, And you have strengthened the feeble knees; But now it comes upon you, and you are weary; It touches you, and you are troubled. Is not your reverence your confidence? And the integrity of your ways your hope? “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off? Even as I have seen, Those who plow iniquity And sow trouble reap the same. By the blast of God they perish, And by the breath of His anger they are consumed. The roaring of the lion, The voice of the fierce lion, And the teeth of the young lions are broken. The old lion perishes for lack of prey, And the cubs of the lioness are scattered. “Now a word was secretly brought to me, And my ear received a whisper of it. In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men, Fear came upon me, and trembling, Which made all my bones shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair on my body stood up. It stood still, But I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; There was silence; Then I heard a voice saying: ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker? If He puts no trust in His servants, If He charges His angels with error, How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before a moth? They are broken in pieces from morning till evening; They perish forever, with no one regarding. Does not their own excellence go away? They die, even without wisdom.’ “Call out now; Is there anyone who will answer you? And to which of the holy ones will you turn? For wrath kills a foolish man, And envy slays a simple one. I have seen the foolish taking root, But suddenly I cursed his dwelling place. His sons are far from safety, They are crushed in the gate, And there is no deliverer. Because the hungry eat up his harvest, Taking it even from the thorns, And a snare snatches their substance. For affliction does not come from the dust, Nor does trouble spring from the ground; Yet man is born to trouble, As the sparks fly upward. “But as for me, I would seek God, And to God I would commit my cause— Who does great things, and unsearchable, Marvelous things without number. He gives rain on the earth, And sends waters on the fields. He sets on high those who are lowly, And those who mourn are lifted to safety. He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands cannot carry out their plans. He catches the wise in their own craftiness, And the counsel of the cunning comes quickly upon them. They meet with darkness in the daytime, And grope at noontime as in the night. But He saves the needy from the sword, From the mouth of the mighty, And from their hand. So the poor have hope, And injustice shuts her mouth. “Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole. He shall deliver you in six troubles, Yes, in seven no evil shall touch you. In famine He shall redeem you from death, And in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, And you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes. You shall laugh at destruction and famine, And you shall not be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For you shall have a covenant with the stones of the field, And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. You shall know that your tent is in peace; You shall visit your dwelling and find nothing amiss. You shall also know that your descendants shall be many, And your offspring like the grass of the earth. You shall come to the grave at a full age, As a sheaf of grain ripens in its season. Behold, this we have searched out; It is true. Hear it, and know for yourself.” Then Job answered and said: “Oh, that my grief were fully weighed, And my calamity laid with it on the scales! For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea— Therefore my words have been rash. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; My spirit drinks in their poison; The terrors of God are arrayed against me. Does the wild donkey bray when it has grass, Or does the ox low over its fodder? Can flavorless food be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? My soul refuses to touch them; They are as loathsome food to me. “Oh, that I might have my request, That God would grant me the thing that I long for! That it would please God to crush me, That He would loose His hand and cut me off! Then I would still have comfort; Though in anguish I would exult, He will not spare; For I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. “What strength do I have, that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life? Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh bronze? Is my help not within me? And is success driven from me? “To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend, Even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. My brothers have dealt deceitfully like a brook, Like the streams of the brooks that pass away, Which are dark because of the ice, And into which the snow vanishes. When it is warm, they cease to flow; When it is hot, they vanish from their place. The paths of their way turn aside, They go nowhere and perish. The caravans of Tema look, The travelers of Sheba hope for them. They are disappointed because they were confident; They come there and are confused. For now you are nothing, You see terror and are afraid. Did I ever say, ‘Bring something to me’? Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth’? Or, ‘Deliver me from the enemy’s hand’? Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of oppressors’? “Teach me, and I will hold my tongue; Cause me to understand wherein I have erred. How forceful are right words! But what does your arguing prove? Do you intend to rebuke my words, And the speeches of a desperate one, which are as wind? Yes, you overwhelm the fatherless, And you undermine your friend. Now therefore, be pleased to look at me; For I would never lie to your face. Yield now, let there be no injustice! Yes, concede, my righteousness still stands! Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern the unsavory? “Is there not a time of hard service for man on earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired man? Like a servant who earnestly desires the shade, And like a hired man who eagerly looks for his wages, So I have been allotted months of futility, And wearisome nights have been appointed to me. When I lie down, I say, ‘When shall I arise, And the night be ended?’ For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn. My flesh is caked with worms and dust, My skin is cracked and breaks out afresh. “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, And are spent without hope. Oh, remember that my life is a breath! My eye will never again see good. The eye of him who sees me will see me no more; While your eyes are upon me, I shall no longer be. As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, So he who goes down to the grave does not come up. He shall never return to his house, Nor shall his place know him anymore. “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I a sea, or a sea serpent, That You set a guard over me? When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, My couch will ease my complaint,’ Then You scare me with dreams And terrify me with visions, So that my soul chooses strangling And death rather than my body. I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, For my days are but a breath. “What is man, that You should exalt him, That You should set Your heart on him, That You should visit him every morning, And test him every moment? How long? Will You not look away from me, And let me alone till I swallow my saliva? Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, So that I am a burden to myself? Why then do You not pardon my transgression, And take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust, And You will seek me diligently, But I will no longer be.” Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: “How long will you speak these things, And the words of your mouth be like a strong wind? Does God subvert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert justice? If your sons have sinned against Him, He has cast them away for their transgression. If you would earnestly seek God And make your supplication to the Almighty, If you were pure and upright, Surely now He would awake for you, And prosper your rightful dwelling place. Though your beginning was small, Yet your latter end would increase abundantly. “For inquire, please, of the former age, And consider the things discovered by their fathers; For we were born yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days on earth are a shadow. Will they not teach you and tell you, And utter words from their heart? “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water? While it is yet green and not cut down, It withers before any other plant. So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish, Whose confidence shall be cut off, And whose trust is a spider’s web. He leans on his house, but it does not stand. He holds it fast, but it does not endure. He grows green in the sun, And his branches spread out in his garden. His roots wrap around the rock heap, And look for a place in the stones. If he is destroyed from his place, Then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’ “Behold, this is the joy of His way, And out of the earth others will grow. Behold, God will not cast away the blameless, Nor will He uphold the evildoers. He will yet fill your mouth with laughing, And your lips with rejoicing. Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, And the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing.” Then Job answered and said: “Truly I know it is so, But how can a man be righteous before God? If one wished to contend with Him, He could not answer Him one time out of a thousand. God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered? He removes the mountains, and they do not know When He overturns them in His anger; He shakes the earth out of its place, And its pillars tremble; He commands the sun, and it does not rise; He seals off the stars; He alone spreads out the heavens, And treads on the waves of the sea; He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, And the chambers of the south; He does great things past finding out, Yes, wonders without number. If He goes by me, I do not see Him; If He moves past, I do not perceive Him; If He takes away, who can hinder Him? Who can say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’ God will not withdraw His anger, The allies of the proud lie prostrate beneath Him. “How then can I answer Him, And choose my words to reason with Him? For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him; I would beg mercy of my Judge. If I called and He answered me, I would not believe that He was listening to my voice. For He crushes me with a tempest, And multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not allow me to catch my breath, But fills me with bitterness. If it is a matter of strength, indeed He is strong; And if of justice, who will appoint my day in court? Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse. “I am blameless, yet I do not know myself; I despise my life. It is all one thing; Therefore I say, ‘He destroys the blameless and the wicked.’ If the scourge slays suddenly, He laughs at the plight of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, who else could it be? “Now my days are swifter than a runner; They flee away, they see no good. They pass by like swift ships, Like an eagle swooping on its prey. If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and wear a smile,’ I am afraid of all my sufferings; I know that You will not hold me innocent. If I am condemned, Why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow water, And cleanse my hands with soap, Yet You will plunge me into the pit, And my own clothes will abhor me. “For He is not a man, as I am, That I may answer Him, And that we should go to court together. Nor is there any mediator between us, Who may lay his hand on us both. Let Him take His rod away from me, And do not let dread of Him terrify me. Then I would speak and not fear Him, But it is not so with me. “My soul loathes my life; I will give free course to my complaint, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; Show me why You contend with me. Does it seem good to You that You should oppress, That You should despise the work of Your hands, And smile on the counsel of the wicked? Do You have eyes of flesh? Or do You see as man sees? Are Your days like the days of a mortal man? Are Your years like the days of a mighty man, That You should seek for my iniquity And search out my sin, Although You know that I am not wicked, And there is no one who can deliver from Your hand? ‘Your hands have made me and fashioned me, An intricate unity; Yet You would destroy me. Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay. And will You turn me into dust again? Did You not pour me out like milk, And curdle me like cheese, Clothe me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews? You have granted me life and favor, And Your care has preserved my spirit. ‘And these things You have hidden in Your heart; I know that this was with You: If I sin, then You mark me, And will not acquit me of my iniquity. If I am wicked, woe to me; Even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am full of disgrace; See my misery! If my head is exalted, You hunt me like a fierce lion, And again You show Yourself awesome against me. You renew Your witnesses against me, And increase Your indignation toward me; Changes and war are ever with me. ‘Why then have You brought me out of the womb? Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me! I would have been as though I had not been. I would have been carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my days few? Cease! Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort, Before I go to the place from which I shall not return, To the land of darkness and the shadow of death, A land as dark as darkness itself, As the shadow of death, without any order, Where even the light is like darkness.’ ” Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said: “Should not the multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk be vindicated? Should your empty talk make men hold their peace? And when you mock, should no one rebuke you? For you have said, ‘My doctrine is pure, And I am clean in your eyes.’ But oh, that God would speak, And open His lips against you, That He would show you the secrets of wisdom! For they would double your prudence. Know therefore that God exacts from you Less than your iniquity deserves. “Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea. “If He passes by, imprisons, and gathers to judgment, Then who can hinder Him? For He knows deceitful men; He sees wickedness also. Will He not then consider it? For an empty-headed man will be wise, When a wild donkey’s colt is born a man. “If you would prepare your heart, And stretch out your hands toward Him; If iniquity were in your hand, and you put it far away, And would not let wickedness dwell in your tents; Then surely you could lift up your face without spot; Yes, you could be steadfast, and not fear; Because you would forget your misery, And remember it as waters that have passed away, And your life would be brighter than noonday. Though you were dark, you would be like the morning. And you would be secure, because there is hope; Yes, you would dig around you, and take your rest in safety. You would also lie down, and no one would make you afraid; Yes, many would court your favor. But the eyes of the wicked will fail, And they shall not escape, And their hope—loss of life!” Then Job answered and said: “No doubt you are the people, And wisdom will die with you! But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Indeed, who does not know such things as these? “I am one mocked by his friends, Who called on God, and He answered him, The just and blameless who is ridiculed. A lamp is despised in the thought of one who is at ease; It is made ready for those whose feet slip. The tents of robbers prosper, And those who provoke God are secure— In what God provides by His hand. “But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? Does not the ear test words And the mouth taste its food? Wisdom is with aged men, And with length of days, understanding. “With Him are wisdom and strength, He has counsel and understanding. If He breaks a thing down, it cannot be rebuilt; If He imprisons a man, there can be no release. If He withholds the waters, they dry up; If He sends them out, they overwhelm the earth. With Him are strength and prudence. The deceived and the deceiver are His. He leads counselors away plundered, And makes fools of the judges. He loosens the bonds of kings, And binds their waist with a belt. He leads princes away plundered, And overthrows the mighty. He deprives the trusted ones of speech, And takes away the discernment of the elders. He pours contempt on princes, And disarms the mighty. He uncovers deep things out of darkness, And brings the shadow of death to light. He makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and guides them. He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth, And makes them wander in a pathless wilderness. They grope in the dark without light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken man. “Behold, my eye has seen all this, My ear has heard and understood it. What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. But I would speak to the Almighty, And I desire to reason with God. But you forgers of lies, You are all worthless physicians. Oh, that you would be silent, And it would be your wisdom! Now hear my reasoning, And heed the pleadings of my lips. Will you speak wickedly for God, And talk deceitfully for Him? Will you show partiality for Him? Will you contend for God? Will it be well when He searches you out? Or can you mock Him as one mocks a man? He will surely rebuke you If you secretly show partiality. Will not His excellence make you afraid, And the dread of Him fall upon you? Your platitudes are proverbs of ashes, Your defenses are defenses of clay. “Hold your peace with me, and let me speak, Then let come on me what may! Why do I take my flesh in my teeth, And put my life in my hands? Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him. He also shall be my salvation, For a hypocrite could not come before Him. Listen carefully to my speech, And to my declaration with your ears. See now, I have prepared my case, I know that I shall be vindicated. Who is he who will contend with me? If now I hold my tongue, I perish. “Only two things do not do to me, Then I will not hide myself from You: Withdraw Your hand far from me, And let not the dread of You make me afraid. Then call, and I will answer; Or let me speak, then You respond to me. How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin. Why do You hide Your face, And regard me as Your enemy? Will You frighten a leaf driven to and fro? And will You pursue dry stubble? For You write bitter things against me, And make me inherit the iniquities of my youth. You put my feet in the stocks, And watch closely all my paths. You set a limit for the soles of my feet. “Man decays like a rotten thing, Like a garment that is moth-eaten. “Man who is born of woman Is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and does not continue. And do You open Your eyes on such a one, And bring me to judgment with Yourself? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one! Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass. Look away from him that he may rest, Till like a hired man he finishes his day. “For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And that its tender shoots will not cease. Though its root may grow old in the earth, And its stump may die in the ground, Yet at the scent of water it will bud And bring forth branches like a plant. But man dies and is laid away; Indeed he breathes his last And where is he? As water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up, So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, They will not awake Nor be roused from their sleep. “Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, That You would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes. You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands. For now You number my steps, But do not watch over my sin. My transgression is sealed up in a bag, And You cover my iniquity. “But as a mountain falls and crumbles away, And as a rock is moved from its place; As water wears away stones, And as torrents wash away the soil of the earth; So You destroy the hope of man. You prevail forever against him, and he passes on; You change his countenance and send him away. His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; They are brought low, and he does not perceive it. But his flesh will be in pain over it, And his soul will mourn over it.” Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: “Should a wise man answer with empty knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind? Should he reason with unprofitable talk, Or by speeches with which he can do no good? Yes, you cast off fear, And restrain prayer before God. For your iniquity teaches your mouth, And you choose the tongue of the crafty. Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; Yes, your own lips testify against you. “Are you the first man who was born? Or were you made before the hills? Have you heard the counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not in us? Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, Much older than your father. Are the consolations of God too small for you, And the word spoken gently with you? Why does your heart carry you away, And what do your eyes wink at, That you turn your spirit against God, And let such words go out of your mouth? “What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous? If God puts no trust in His saints, And the heavens are not pure in His sight, How much less man, who is abominable and filthy, Who drinks iniquity like water! “I will tell you, hear me; What I have seen I will declare, What wise men have told, Not hiding anything received from their fathers, To whom alone the land was given, And no alien passed among them: The wicked man writhes with pain all his days, And the number of years is hidden from the oppressor. Dreadful sounds are in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer comes upon him. He does not believe that he will return from darkness, For a sword is waiting for him. He wanders about for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand. Trouble and anguish make him afraid; They overpower him, like a king ready for battle. For he stretches out his hand against God, And acts defiantly against the Almighty, Running stubbornly against Him With his strong, embossed shield. “Though he has covered his face with his fatness, And made his waist heavy with fat, He dwells in desolate cities, In houses which no one inhabits, Which are destined to become ruins. He will not be rich, Nor will his wealth continue, Nor will his possessions overspread the earth. He will not depart from darkness; The flame will dry out his branches, And by the breath of His mouth he will go away. Let him not trust in futile things, deceiving himself, For futility will be his reward. It will be accomplished before his time, And his branch will not be green. He will shake off his unripe grape like a vine, And cast off his blossom like an olive tree. For the company of hypocrites will be barren, And fire will consume the tents of bribery. They conceive trouble and bring forth futility; Their womb prepares deceit.” Then Job answered and said: “I have heard many such things; Miserable comforters are you all! Shall words of wind have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer? I also could speak as you do, If your soul were in my soul’s place. I could heap up words against you, And shake my head at you; But I would strengthen you with my mouth, And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief. “Though I speak, my grief is not relieved; And if I remain silent, how am I eased? But now He has worn me out; You have made desolate all my company. You have shriveled me up, And it is a witness against me; My leanness rises up against me And bears witness to my face. He tears me in His wrath, and hates me; He gnashes at me with His teeth; My adversary sharpens His gaze on me. They gape at me with their mouth, They strike me reproachfully on the cheek, They gather together against me. God has delivered me to the ungodly, And turned me over to the hands of the wicked. I was at ease, but He has shattered me; He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces; He has set me up for His target, His archers surround me. He pierces my heart and does not pity; He pours out my gall on the ground. He breaks me with wound upon wound; He runs at me like a warrior. “I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, And laid my head in the dust. My face is flushed from weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death; Although no violence is in my hands, And my prayer is pure. “O earth, do not cover my blood, And let my cry have no resting place! Surely even now my witness is in heaven, And my evidence is on high. My friends scorn me; My eyes pour out tears to God. Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, As a man pleads for his neighbor! For when a few years are finished, I shall go the way of no return. “My spirit is broken, My days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me. Are not mockers with me? And does not my eye dwell on their provocation? “Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he who will shake hands with me? For You have hidden their heart from understanding; Therefore You will not exalt them. He who speaks flattery to his friends, Even the eyes of his children will fail. “But He has made me a byword of the people, And I have become one in whose face men spit. My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow, And all my members are like shadows. Upright men are astonished at this, And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite. Yet the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger. “But please, come back again, all of you, For I shall not find one wise man among you. My days are past, My purposes are broken off, Even the thoughts of my heart. They change the night into day; ‘The light is near,’ they say, in the face of darkness. If I wait for the grave as my house, If I make my bed in the darkness, If I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ And to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister,’ Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it? Will they go down to the gates of Sheol? Shall we have rest together in the dust?” Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: “How long till you put an end to words? Gain understanding, and afterward we will speak. Why are we counted as beasts, And regarded as stupid in your sight? You who tear yourself in anger, Shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed from its place? “The light of the wicked indeed goes out, And the flame of his fire does not shine. The light is dark in his tent, And his lamp beside him is put out. The steps of his strength are shortened, And his own counsel casts him down. For he is cast into a net by his own feet, And he walks into a snare. The net takes him by the heel, And a snare lays hold of him. A noose is hidden for him on the ground, And a trap for him in the road. Terrors frighten him on every side, And drive him to his feet. His strength is starved, And destruction is ready at his side. It devours patches of his skin; The firstborn of death devours his limbs. He is uprooted from the shelter of his tent, And they parade him before the king of terrors. They dwell in his tent who are none of his; Brimstone is scattered on his dwelling. His roots are dried out below, And his branch withers above. The memory of him perishes from the earth, And he has no name among the renowned. He is driven from light into darkness, And chased out of the world. He has neither son nor posterity among his people, Nor any remaining in his dwellings. Those in the west are astonished at his day, As those in the east are frightened. Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, And this is the place of him who does not know God.” Then Job answered and said: “How long will you torment my soul, And break me in pieces with words? These ten times you have reproached me; You are not ashamed that you have wronged me. And if indeed I have erred, My error remains with me. If indeed you exalt yourselves against me, And plead my disgrace against me, Know then that God has wronged me, And has surrounded me with His net. “If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard. If I cry aloud, there is no justice. He has fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass; And He has set darkness in my paths. He has stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head. He breaks me down on every side, And I am gone; My hope He has uprooted like a tree. He has also kindled His wrath against me, And He counts me as one of His enemies. His troops come together And build up their road against me; They encamp all around my tent. “He has removed my brothers far from me, And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. My relatives have failed, And my close friends have forgotten me. Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants, Count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight. I call my servant, but he gives no answer; I beg him with my mouth. My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am repulsive to the children of my own body. Even young children despise me; I arise, and they speak against me. All my close friends abhor me, And those whom I love have turned against me. My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, And I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. “Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, For the hand of God has struck me! Why do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh? “Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’— Since the root of the matter is found in me, Be afraid of the sword for yourselves; For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, That you may know there is a judgment.” Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said: “Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer, Because of the turmoil within me. I have heard the rebuke that reproaches me, And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer. “Do you not know this of old, Since man was placed on earth, That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment? Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens, And his head reaches to the clouds, Yet he will perish forever like his own refuse; Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’ He will fly away like a dream, and not be found; Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night. The eye that saw him will see him no more, Nor will his place behold him anymore. His children will seek the favor of the poor, And his hands will restore his wealth. His bones are full of his youthful vigor, But it will lie down with him in the dust. “Though evil is sweet in his mouth, And he hides it under his tongue, Though he spares it and does not forsake it, But still keeps it in his mouth, Yet his food in his stomach turns sour; It becomes cobra venom within him. He swallows down riches And vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly. He will suck the poison of cobras; The viper’s tongue will slay him. He will not see the streams, The rivers flowing with honey and cream. He will restore that for which he labored, And will not swallow it down; From the proceeds of business He will get no enjoyment. For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor, He has violently seized a house which he did not build. “Because he knows no quietness in his heart, He will not save anything he desires. Nothing is left for him to eat; Therefore his well-being will not last. In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress; Every hand of misery will come against him. When he is about to fill his stomach, God will cast on him the fury of His wrath, And will rain it on him while he is eating. He will flee from the iron weapon; A bronze bow will pierce him through. It is drawn, and comes out of the body; Yes, the glittering point comes out of his gall. Terrors come upon him; Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. An unfanned fire will consume him; It shall go ill with him who is left in his tent. The heavens will reveal his iniquity, And the earth will rise up against him. The increase of his house will depart, And his goods will flow away in the day of His wrath. This is the portion from God for a wicked man, The heritage appointed to him by God.” Then Job answered and said: “Listen carefully to my speech, And let this be your consolation. Bear with me that I may speak, And after I have spoken, keep mocking. “As for me, is my complaint against man? And if it were, why should I not be impatient? Look at me and be astonished; Put your hand over your mouth. Even when I remember I am terrified, And trembling takes hold of my flesh. Why do the wicked live and become old, Yes, become mighty in power? Their descendants are established with them in their sight, And their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, Neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull breeds without failure; Their cow calves without miscarriage. They send forth their little ones like a flock, And their children dance. They sing to the tambourine and harp, And rejoice to the sound of the flute. They spend their days in wealth, And in a moment go down to the grave. Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us, For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’ Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand; The counsel of the wicked is far from me. “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their destruction come upon them, The sorrows God distributes in His anger? They are like straw before the wind, And like chaff that a storm carries away. They say, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity for his children’; Let Him recompense him, that he may know it. Let his eyes see his destruction, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. For what does he care about his household after him, When the number of his months is cut in half? “Can anyone teach God knowledge, Since He judges those on high? One dies in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and secure; His pails are full of milk, And the marrow of his bones is moist. Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, Never having eaten with pleasure. They lie down alike in the dust, And worms cover them. “Look, I know your thoughts, And the schemes with which you would wrong me. For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent, The dwelling place of the wicked?’ Have you not asked those who travel the road? And do you not know their signs? For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom; They shall be brought out on the day of wrath. Who condemns his way to his face? And who repays him for what he has done? Yet he shall be brought to the grave, And a vigil kept over the tomb. The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him; Everyone shall follow him, As countless have gone before him. How then can you comfort me with empty words, Since falsehood remains in your answers?” Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: “Can a man be profitable to God, Though he who is wise may be profitable to himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless? “Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you, And enters into judgment with you? Is not your wickedness great, And your iniquity without end? For you have taken pledges from your brother for no reason, And stripped the naked of their clothing. You have not given the weary water to drink, And you have withheld bread from the hungry. But the mighty man possessed the land, And the honorable man dwelt in it. You have sent widows away empty, And the strength of the fatherless was crushed. Therefore snares are all around you, And sudden fear troubles you, Or darkness so that you cannot see; And an abundance of water covers you. “Is not God in the height of heaven? And see the highest stars, how lofty they are! And you say, ‘What does God know? Can He judge through the deep darkness? Thick clouds cover Him, so that He cannot see, And He walks above the circle of heaven.’ Will you keep to the old way Which wicked men have trod, Who were cut down before their time, Whose foundations were swept away by a flood? They said to God, ‘Depart from us! What can the Almighty do to them?’ Yet He filled their houses with good things; But the counsel of the wicked is far from me. “The righteous see it and are glad, And the innocent laugh at them: ‘Surely our adversaries are cut down, And the fire consumes their remnant.’ “Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace; Thereby good will come to you. Receive, please, instruction from His mouth, And lay up His words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; You will remove iniquity far from your tents. Then you will lay your gold in the dust, And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. Yes, the Almighty will be your gold And your precious silver; For then you will have your delight in the Almighty, And lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you, And you will pay your vows. You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways. When they cast you down, and you say, ‘Exaltation will come!’ Then He will save the humble person. He will even deliver one who is not innocent; Yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands.” Then Job answered and said: “Even today my complaint is bitter; My hand is listless because of my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat! I would present my case before Him, And fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which He would answer me, And understand what He would say to me. Would He contend with me in His great power? No! But He would take note of me. There the upright could reason with Him, And I would be delivered forever from my Judge. “Look, I go forward, but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him; When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food. “But He is unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He does. For He performs what is appointed for me, And many such things are with Him. Therefore I am terrified at His presence; When I consider this, I am afraid of Him. For God made my heart weak, And the Almighty terrifies me; Because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness, And He did not hide deep darkness from my face. “Since times are not hidden from the Almighty, Why do those who know Him see not His days? “Some remove landmarks; They seize flocks violently and feed on them; They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; They take the widow’s ox as a pledge. They push the needy off the road; All the poor of the land are forced to hide. Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, They go out to their work, searching for food. The wilderness yields food for them and for their children. They gather their fodder in the field And glean in the vineyard of the wicked. They spend the night naked, without clothing, And have no covering in the cold. They are wet with the showers of the mountains, And huddle around the rock for want of shelter. “Some snatch the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge from the poor. They cause the poor to go naked, without clothing; And they take away the sheaves from the hungry. They press out oil within their walls, And tread winepresses, yet suffer thirst. The dying groan in the city, And the souls of the wounded cry out; Yet God does not charge them with wrong. “There are those who rebel against the light; They do not know its ways Nor abide in its paths. The murderer rises with the light; He kills the poor and needy; And in the night he is like a thief. The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Saying, ‘No eye will see me’; And he disguises his face. In the dark they break into houses Which they marked for themselves in the daytime; They do not know the light. For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death; If someone recognizes them, They are in the terrors of the shadow of death. “They should be swift on the face of the waters, Their portion should be cursed in the earth, So that no one would turn into the way of their vineyards. As drought and heat consume the snow waters, So the grave consumes those who have sinned. The womb should forget him, The worm should feed sweetly on him; He should be remembered no more, And wickedness should be broken like a tree. For he preys on the barren who do not bear, And does no good for the widow. “But God draws the mighty away with His power; He rises up, but no man is sure of life. He gives them security, and they rely on it; Yet His eyes are on their ways. They are exalted for a little while, Then they are gone. They are brought low; They are taken out of the way like all others; They dry out like the heads of grain. “Now if it is not so, who will prove me a liar, And make my speech worth nothing?” Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: “Dominion and fear belong to Him; He makes peace in His high places. Is there any number to His armies? Upon whom does His light not rise? How then can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman? If even the moon does not shine, And the stars are not pure in His sight, How much less man, who is a maggot, And a son of man, who is a worm?” But Job answered and said: “How have you helped him who is without power? How have you saved the arm that has no strength? How have you counseled one who has no wisdom? And how have you declared sound advice to many? To whom have you uttered words? And whose spirit came from you? “The dead tremble, Those under the waters and those inhabiting them. Sheol is naked before Him, And Destruction has no covering. He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing. He binds up the water in His thick clouds, Yet the clouds are not broken under it. He covers the face of His throne, And spreads His cloud over it. He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters, At the boundary of light and darkness. The pillars of heaven tremble, And are astonished at His rebuke. He stirs up the sea with His power, And by His understanding He breaks up the storm. By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, And how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?”

Job 1:21 NKJV

And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Job 1:21–22 NKJV

And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.

Job 1:21–Job 26 NKJV

And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him. And when they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven. So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great. After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job spoke, and said: “May the day perish on which I was born, And the night in which it was said, ‘A male child is conceived.’ May that day be darkness; May God above not seek it, Nor the light shine upon it. May darkness and the shadow of death claim it; May a cloud settle on it; May the blackness of the day terrify it. As for that night, may darkness seize it; May it not rejoice among the days of the year, May it not come into the number of the months. Oh, may that night be barren! May no joyful shout come into it! May those curse it who curse the day, Those who are ready to arouse Leviathan. May the stars of its morning be dark; May it look for light, but have none, And not see the dawning of the day; Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, Nor hide sorrow from my eyes. “Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have been asleep; Then I would have been at rest With kings and counselors of the earth, Who built ruins for themselves, Or with princes who had gold, Who filled their houses with silver; Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, Like infants who never saw light? There the wicked cease from troubling, And there the weary are at rest. There the prisoners rest together; They do not hear the voice of the oppressor. The small and great are there, And the servant is free from his master. “Why is light given to him who is in misery, And life to the bitter of soul, Who long for death, but it does not come, And search for it more than hidden treasures; Who rejoice exceedingly, And are glad when they can find the grave? Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, And whom God has hedged in? For my sighing comes before I eat, And my groanings pour out like water. For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes.” Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: “If one attempts a word with you, will you become weary? But who can withhold himself from speaking? Surely you have instructed many, And you have strengthened weak hands. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, And you have strengthened the feeble knees; But now it comes upon you, and you are weary; It touches you, and you are troubled. Is not your reverence your confidence? And the integrity of your ways your hope? “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off? Even as I have seen, Those who plow iniquity And sow trouble reap the same. By the blast of God they perish, And by the breath of His anger they are consumed. The roaring of the lion, The voice of the fierce lion, And the teeth of the young lions are broken. The old lion perishes for lack of prey, And the cubs of the lioness are scattered. “Now a word was secretly brought to me, And my ear received a whisper of it. In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men, Fear came upon me, and trembling, Which made all my bones shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair on my body stood up. It stood still, But I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; There was silence; Then I heard a voice saying: ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker? If He puts no trust in His servants, If He charges His angels with error, How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before a moth? They are broken in pieces from morning till evening; They perish forever, with no one regarding. Does not their own excellence go away? They die, even without wisdom.’ “Call out now; Is there anyone who will answer you? And to which of the holy ones will you turn? For wrath kills a foolish man, And envy slays a simple one. I have seen the foolish taking root, But suddenly I cursed his dwelling place. His sons are far from safety, They are crushed in the gate, And there is no deliverer. Because the hungry eat up his harvest, Taking it even from the thorns, And a snare snatches their substance. For affliction does not come from the dust, Nor does trouble spring from the ground; Yet man is born to trouble, As the sparks fly upward. “But as for me, I would seek God, And to God I would commit my cause— Who does great things, and unsearchable, Marvelous things without number. He gives rain on the earth, And sends waters on the fields. He sets on high those who are lowly, And those who mourn are lifted to safety. He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands cannot carry out their plans. He catches the wise in their own craftiness, And the counsel of the cunning comes quickly upon them. They meet with darkness in the daytime, And grope at noontime as in the night. But He saves the needy from the sword, From the mouth of the mighty, And from their hand. So the poor have hope, And injustice shuts her mouth. “Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole. He shall deliver you in six troubles, Yes, in seven no evil shall touch you. In famine He shall redeem you from death, And in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, And you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes. You shall laugh at destruction and famine, And you shall not be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For you shall have a covenant with the stones of the field, And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. You shall know that your tent is in peace; You shall visit your dwelling and find nothing amiss. You shall also know that your descendants shall be many, And your offspring like the grass of the earth. You shall come to the grave at a full age, As a sheaf of grain ripens in its season. Behold, this we have searched out; It is true. Hear it, and know for yourself.” Then Job answered and said: “Oh, that my grief were fully weighed, And my calamity laid with it on the scales! For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea— Therefore my words have been rash. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; My spirit drinks in their poison; The terrors of God are arrayed against me. Does the wild donkey bray when it has grass, Or does the ox low over its fodder? Can flavorless food be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? My soul refuses to touch them; They are as loathsome food to me. “Oh, that I might have my request, That God would grant me the thing that I long for! That it would please God to crush me, That He would loose His hand and cut me off! Then I would still have comfort; Though in anguish I would exult, He will not spare; For I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. “What strength do I have, that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life? Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh bronze? Is my help not within me? And is success driven from me? “To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend, Even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. My brothers have dealt deceitfully like a brook, Like the streams of the brooks that pass away, Which are dark because of the ice, And into which the snow vanishes. When it is warm, they cease to flow; When it is hot, they vanish from their place. The paths of their way turn aside, They go nowhere and perish. The caravans of Tema look, The travelers of Sheba hope for them. They are disappointed because they were confident; They come there and are confused. For now you are nothing, You see terror and are afraid. Did I ever say, ‘Bring something to me’? Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth’? Or, ‘Deliver me from the enemy’s hand’? Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of oppressors’? “Teach me, and I will hold my tongue; Cause me to understand wherein I have erred. How forceful are right words! But what does your arguing prove? Do you intend to rebuke my words, And the speeches of a desperate one, which are as wind? Yes, you overwhelm the fatherless, And you undermine your friend. Now therefore, be pleased to look at me; For I would never lie to your face. Yield now, let there be no injustice! Yes, concede, my righteousness still stands! Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern the unsavory? “Is there not a time of hard service for man on earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired man? Like a servant who earnestly desires the shade, And like a hired man who eagerly looks for his wages, So I have been allotted months of futility, And wearisome nights have been appointed to me. When I lie down, I say, ‘When shall I arise, And the night be ended?’ For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn. My flesh is caked with worms and dust, My skin is cracked and breaks out afresh. “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, And are spent without hope. Oh, remember that my life is a breath! My eye will never again see good. The eye of him who sees me will see me no more; While your eyes are upon me, I shall no longer be. As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, So he who goes down to the grave does not come up. He shall never return to his house, Nor shall his place know him anymore. “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I a sea, or a sea serpent, That You set a guard over me? When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, My couch will ease my complaint,’ Then You scare me with dreams And terrify me with visions, So that my soul chooses strangling And death rather than my body. I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, For my days are but a breath. “What is man, that You should exalt him, That You should set Your heart on him, That You should visit him every morning, And test him every moment? How long? Will You not look away from me, And let me alone till I swallow my saliva? Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, So that I am a burden to myself? Why then do You not pardon my transgression, And take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust, And You will seek me diligently, But I will no longer be.” Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: “How long will you speak these things, And the words of your mouth be like a strong wind? Does God subvert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert justice? If your sons have sinned against Him, He has cast them away for their transgression. If you would earnestly seek God And make your supplication to the Almighty, If you were pure and upright, Surely now He would awake for you, And prosper your rightful dwelling place. Though your beginning was small, Yet your latter end would increase abundantly. “For inquire, please, of the former age, And consider the things discovered by their fathers; For we were born yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days on earth are a shadow. Will they not teach you and tell you, And utter words from their heart? “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water? While it is yet green and not cut down, It withers before any other plant. So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish, Whose confidence shall be cut off, And whose trust is a spider’s web. He leans on his house, but it does not stand. He holds it fast, but it does not endure. He grows green in the sun, And his branches spread out in his garden. His roots wrap around the rock heap, And look for a place in the stones. If he is destroyed from his place, Then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’ “Behold, this is the joy of His way, And out of the earth others will grow. Behold, God will not cast away the blameless, Nor will He uphold the evildoers. He will yet fill your mouth with laughing, And your lips with rejoicing. Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, And the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing.” Then Job answered and said: “Truly I know it is so, But how can a man be righteous before God? If one wished to contend with Him, He could not answer Him one time out of a thousand. God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered? He removes the mountains, and they do not know When He overturns them in His anger; He shakes the earth out of its place, And its pillars tremble; He commands the sun, and it does not rise; He seals off the stars; He alone spreads out the heavens, And treads on the waves of the sea; He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, And the chambers of the south; He does great things past finding out, Yes, wonders without number. If He goes by me, I do not see Him; If He moves past, I do not perceive Him; If He takes away, who can hinder Him? Who can say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’ God will not withdraw His anger, The allies of the proud lie prostrate beneath Him. “How then can I answer Him, And choose my words to reason with Him? For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him; I would beg mercy of my Judge. If I called and He answered me, I would not believe that He was listening to my voice. For He crushes me with a tempest, And multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not allow me to catch my breath, But fills me with bitterness. If it is a matter of strength, indeed He is strong; And if of justice, who will appoint my day in court? Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse. “I am blameless, yet I do not know myself; I despise my life. It is all one thing; Therefore I say, ‘He destroys the blameless and the wicked.’ If the scourge slays suddenly, He laughs at the plight of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, who else could it be? “Now my days are swifter than a runner; They flee away, they see no good. They pass by like swift ships, Like an eagle swooping on its prey. If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and wear a smile,’ I am afraid of all my sufferings; I know that You will not hold me innocent. If I am condemned, Why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow water, And cleanse my hands with soap, Yet You will plunge me into the pit, And my own clothes will abhor me. “For He is not a man, as I am, That I may answer Him, And that we should go to court together. Nor is there any mediator between us, Who may lay his hand on us both. Let Him take His rod away from me, And do not let dread of Him terrify me. Then I would speak and not fear Him, But it is not so with me. “My soul loathes my life; I will give free course to my complaint, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; Show me why You contend with me. Does it seem good to You that You should oppress, That You should despise the work of Your hands, And smile on the counsel of the wicked? Do You have eyes of flesh? Or do You see as man sees? Are Your days like the days of a mortal man? Are Your years like the days of a mighty man, That You should seek for my iniquity And search out my sin, Although You know that I am not wicked, And there is no one who can deliver from Your hand? ‘Your hands have made me and fashioned me, An intricate unity; Yet You would destroy me. Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay. And will You turn me into dust again? Did You not pour me out like milk, And curdle me like cheese, Clothe me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews? You have granted me life and favor, And Your care has preserved my spirit. ‘And these things You have hidden in Your heart; I know that this was with You: If I sin, then You mark me, And will not acquit me of my iniquity. If I am wicked, woe to me; Even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am full of disgrace; See my misery! If my head is exalted, You hunt me like a fierce lion, And again You show Yourself awesome against me. You renew Your witnesses against me, And increase Your indignation toward me; Changes and war are ever with me. ‘Why then have You brought me out of the womb? Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me! I would have been as though I had not been. I would have been carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my days few? Cease! Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort, Before I go to the place from which I shall not return, To the land of darkness and the shadow of death, A land as dark as darkness itself, As the shadow of death, without any order, Where even the light is like darkness.’ ” Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said: “Should not the multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk be vindicated? Should your empty talk make men hold their peace? And when you mock, should no one rebuke you? For you have said, ‘My doctrine is pure, And I am clean in your eyes.’ But oh, that God would speak, And open His lips against you, That He would show you the secrets of wisdom! For they would double your prudence. Know therefore that God exacts from you Less than your iniquity deserves. “Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea. “If He passes by, imprisons, and gathers to judgment, Then who can hinder Him? For He knows deceitful men; He sees wickedness also. Will He not then consider it? For an empty-headed man will be wise, When a wild donkey’s colt is born a man. “If you would prepare your heart, And stretch out your hands toward Him; If iniquity were in your hand, and you put it far away, And would not let wickedness dwell in your tents; Then surely you could lift up your face without spot; Yes, you could be steadfast, and not fear; Because you would forget your misery, And remember it as waters that have passed away, And your life would be brighter than noonday. Though you were dark, you would be like the morning. And you would be secure, because there is hope; Yes, you would dig around you, and take your rest in safety. You would also lie down, and no one would make you afraid; Yes, many would court your favor. But the eyes of the wicked will fail, And they shall not escape, And their hope—loss of life!” Then Job answered and said: “No doubt you are the people, And wisdom will die with you! But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Indeed, who does not know such things as these? “I am one mocked by his friends, Who called on God, and He answered him, The just and blameless who is ridiculed. A lamp is despised in the thought of one who is at ease; It is made ready for those whose feet slip. The tents of robbers prosper, And those who provoke God are secure— In what God provides by His hand. “But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? Does not the ear test words And the mouth taste its food? Wisdom is with aged men, And with length of days, understanding. “With Him are wisdom and strength, He has counsel and understanding. If He breaks a thing down, it cannot be rebuilt; If He imprisons a man, there can be no release. If He withholds the waters, they dry up; If He sends them out, they overwhelm the earth. With Him are strength and prudence. The deceived and the deceiver are His. He leads counselors away plundered, And makes fools of the judges. He loosens the bonds of kings, And binds their waist with a belt. He leads princes away plundered, And overthrows the mighty. He deprives the trusted ones of speech, And takes away the discernment of the elders. He pours contempt on princes, And disarms the mighty. He uncovers deep things out of darkness, And brings the shadow of death to light. He makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and guides them. He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth, And makes them wander in a pathless wilderness. They grope in the dark without light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken man. “Behold, my eye has seen all this, My ear has heard and understood it. What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. But I would speak to the Almighty, And I desire to reason with God. But you forgers of lies, You are all worthless physicians. Oh, that you would be silent, And it would be your wisdom! Now hear my reasoning, And heed the pleadings of my lips. Will you speak wickedly for God, And talk deceitfully for Him? Will you show partiality for Him? Will you contend for God? Will it be well when He searches you out? Or can you mock Him as one mocks a man? He will surely rebuke you If you secretly show partiality. Will not His excellence make you afraid, And the dread of Him fall upon you? Your platitudes are proverbs of ashes, Your defenses are defenses of clay. “Hold your peace with me, and let me speak, Then let come on me what may! Why do I take my flesh in my teeth, And put my life in my hands? Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him. He also shall be my salvation, For a hypocrite could not come before Him. Listen carefully to my speech, And to my declaration with your ears. See now, I have prepared my case, I know that I shall be vindicated. Who is he who will contend with me? If now I hold my tongue, I perish. “Only two things do not do to me, Then I will not hide myself from You: Withdraw Your hand far from me, And let not the dread of You make me afraid. Then call, and I will answer; Or let me speak, then You respond to me. How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin. Why do You hide Your face, And regard me as Your enemy? Will You frighten a leaf driven to and fro? And will You pursue dry stubble? For You write bitter things against me, And make me inherit the iniquities of my youth. You put my feet in the stocks, And watch closely all my paths. You set a limit for the soles of my feet. “Man decays like a rotten thing, Like a garment that is moth-eaten. “Man who is born of woman Is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and does not continue. And do You open Your eyes on such a one, And bring me to judgment with Yourself? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one! Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass. Look away from him that he may rest, Till like a hired man he finishes his day. “For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And that its tender shoots will not cease. Though its root may grow old in the earth, And its stump may die in the ground, Yet at the scent of water it will bud And bring forth branches like a plant. But man dies and is laid away; Indeed he breathes his last And where is he? As water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up, So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, They will not awake Nor be roused from their sleep. “Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, That You would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes. You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands. For now You number my steps, But do not watch over my sin. My transgression is sealed up in a bag, And You cover my iniquity. “But as a mountain falls and crumbles away, And as a rock is moved from its place; As water wears away stones, And as torrents wash away the soil of the earth; So You destroy the hope of man. You prevail forever against him, and he passes on; You change his countenance and send him away. His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; They are brought low, and he does not perceive it. But his flesh will be in pain over it, And his soul will mourn over it.” Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: “Should a wise man answer with empty knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind? Should he reason with unprofitable talk, Or by speeches with which he can do no good? Yes, you cast off fear, And restrain prayer before God. For your iniquity teaches your mouth, And you choose the tongue of the crafty. Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; Yes, your own lips testify against you. “Are you the first man who was born? Or were you made before the hills? Have you heard the counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not in us? Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, Much older than your father. Are the consolations of God too small for you, And the word spoken gently with you? Why does your heart carry you away, And what do your eyes wink at, That you turn your spirit against God, And let such words go out of your mouth? “What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous? If God puts no trust in His saints, And the heavens are not pure in His sight, How much less man, who is abominable and filthy, Who drinks iniquity like water! “I will tell you, hear me; What I have seen I will declare, What wise men have told, Not hiding anything received from their fathers, To whom alone the land was given, And no alien passed among them: The wicked man writhes with pain all his days, And the number of years is hidden from the oppressor. Dreadful sounds are in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer comes upon him. He does not believe that he will return from darkness, For a sword is waiting for him. He wanders about for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand. Trouble and anguish make him afraid; They overpower him, like a king ready for battle. For he stretches out his hand against God, And acts defiantly against the Almighty, Running stubbornly against Him With his strong, embossed shield. “Though he has covered his face with his fatness, And made his waist heavy with fat, He dwells in desolate cities, In houses which no one inhabits, Which are destined to become ruins. He will not be rich, Nor will his wealth continue, Nor will his possessions overspread the earth. He will not depart from darkness; The flame will dry out his branches, And by the breath of His mouth he will go away. Let him not trust in futile things, deceiving himself, For futility will be his reward. It will be accomplished before his time, And his branch will not be green. He will shake off his unripe grape like a vine, And cast off his blossom like an olive tree. For the company of hypocrites will be barren, And fire will consume the tents of bribery. They conceive trouble and bring forth futility; Their womb prepares deceit.” Then Job answered and said: “I have heard many such things; Miserable comforters are you all! Shall words of wind have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer? I also could speak as you do, If your soul were in my soul’s place. I could heap up words against you, And shake my head at you; But I would strengthen you with my mouth, And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief. “Though I speak, my grief is not relieved; And if I remain silent, how am I eased? But now He has worn me out; You have made desolate all my company. You have shriveled me up, And it is a witness against me; My leanness rises up against me And bears witness to my face. He tears me in His wrath, and hates me; He gnashes at me with His teeth; My adversary sharpens His gaze on me. They gape at me with their mouth, They strike me reproachfully on the cheek, They gather together against me. God has delivered me to the ungodly, And turned me over to the hands of the wicked. I was at ease, but He has shattered me; He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces; He has set me up for His target, His archers surround me. He pierces my heart and does not pity; He pours out my gall on the ground. He breaks me with wound upon wound; He runs at me like a warrior. “I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, And laid my head in the dust. My face is flushed from weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death; Although no violence is in my hands, And my prayer is pure. “O earth, do not cover my blood, And let my cry have no resting place! Surely even now my witness is in heaven, And my evidence is on high. My friends scorn me; My eyes pour out tears to God. Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, As a man pleads for his neighbor! For when a few years are finished, I shall go the way of no return. “My spirit is broken, My days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me. Are not mockers with me? And does not my eye dwell on their provocation? “Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he who will shake hands with me? For You have hidden their heart from understanding; Therefore You will not exalt them. He who speaks flattery to his friends, Even the eyes of his children will fail. “But He has made me a byword of the people, And I have become one in whose face men spit. My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow, And all my members are like shadows. Upright men are astonished at this, And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite. Yet the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger. “But please, come back again, all of you, For I shall not find one wise man among you. My days are past, My purposes are broken off, Even the thoughts of my heart. They change the night into day; ‘The light is near,’ they say, in the face of darkness. If I wait for the grave as my house, If I make my bed in the darkness, If I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ And to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister,’ Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it? Will they go down to the gates of Sheol? Shall we have rest together in the dust?” Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: “How long till you put an end to words? Gain understanding, and afterward we will speak. Why are we counted as beasts, And regarded as stupid in your sight? You who tear yourself in anger, Shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed from its place? “The light of the wicked indeed goes out, And the flame of his fire does not shine. The light is dark in his tent, And his lamp beside him is put out. The steps of his strength are shortened, And his own counsel casts him down. For he is cast into a net by his own feet, And he walks into a snare. The net takes him by the heel, And a snare lays hold of him. A noose is hidden for him on the ground, And a trap for him in the road. Terrors frighten him on every side, And drive him to his feet. His strength is starved, And destruction is ready at his side. It devours patches of his skin; The firstborn of death devours his limbs. He is uprooted from the shelter of his tent, And they parade him before the king of terrors. They dwell in his tent who are none of his; Brimstone is scattered on his dwelling. His roots are dried out below, And his branch withers above. The memory of him perishes from the earth, And he has no name among the renowned. He is driven from light into darkness, And chased out of the world. He has neither son nor posterity among his people, Nor any remaining in his dwellings. Those in the west are astonished at his day, As those in the east are frightened. Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, And this is the place of him who does not know God.” Then Job answered and said: “How long will you torment my soul, And break me in pieces with words? These ten times you have reproached me; You are not ashamed that you have wronged me. And if indeed I have erred, My error remains with me. If indeed you exalt yourselves against me, And plead my disgrace against me, Know then that God has wronged me, And has surrounded me with His net. “If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard. If I cry aloud, there is no justice. He has fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass; And He has set darkness in my paths. He has stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head. He breaks me down on every side, And I am gone; My hope He has uprooted like a tree. He has also kindled His wrath against me, And He counts me as one of His enemies. His troops come together And build up their road against me; They encamp all around my tent. “He has removed my brothers far from me, And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. My relatives have failed, And my close friends have forgotten me. Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants, Count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight. I call my servant, but he gives no answer; I beg him with my mouth. My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am repulsive to the children of my own body. Even young children despise me; I arise, and they speak against me. All my close friends abhor me, And those whom I love have turned against me. My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, And I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. “Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, For the hand of God has struck me! Why do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh? “Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’— Since the root of the matter is found in me, Be afraid of the sword for yourselves; For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, That you may know there is a judgment.” Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said: “Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer, Because of the turmoil within me. I have heard the rebuke that reproaches me, And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer. “Do you not know this of old, Since man was placed on earth, That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment? Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens, And his head reaches to the clouds, Yet he will perish forever like his own refuse; Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’ He will fly away like a dream, and not be found; Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night. The eye that saw him will see him no more, Nor will his place behold him anymore. His children will seek the favor of the poor, And his hands will restore his wealth. His bones are full of his youthful vigor, But it will lie down with him in the dust. “Though evil is sweet in his mouth, And he hides it under his tongue, Though he spares it and does not forsake it, But still keeps it in his mouth, Yet his food in his stomach turns sour; It becomes cobra venom within him. He swallows down riches And vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly. He will suck the poison of cobras; The viper’s tongue will slay him. He will not see the streams, The rivers flowing with honey and cream. He will restore that for which he labored, And will not swallow it down; From the proceeds of business He will get no enjoyment. For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor, He has violently seized a house which he did not build. “Because he knows no quietness in his heart, He will not save anything he desires. Nothing is left for him to eat; Therefore his well-being will not last. In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress; Every hand of misery will come against him. When he is about to fill his stomach, God will cast on him the fury of His wrath, And will rain it on him while he is eating. He will flee from the iron weapon; A bronze bow will pierce him through. It is drawn, and comes out of the body; Yes, the glittering point comes out of his gall. Terrors come upon him; Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. An unfanned fire will consume him; It shall go ill with him who is left in his tent. The heavens will reveal his iniquity, And the earth will rise up against him. The increase of his house will depart, And his goods will flow away in the day of His wrath. This is the portion from God for a wicked man, The heritage appointed to him by God.” Then Job answered and said: “Listen carefully to my speech, And let this be your consolation. Bear with me that I may speak, And after I have spoken, keep mocking. “As for me, is my complaint against man? And if it were, why should I not be impatient? Look at me and be astonished; Put your hand over your mouth. Even when I remember I am terrified, And trembling takes hold of my flesh. Why do the wicked live and become old, Yes, become mighty in power? Their descendants are established with them in their sight, And their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, Neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull breeds without failure; Their cow calves without miscarriage. They send forth their little ones like a flock, And their children dance. They sing to the tambourine and harp, And rejoice to the sound of the flute. They spend their days in wealth, And in a moment go down to the grave. Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us, For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’ Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand; The counsel of the wicked is far from me. “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their destruction come upon them, The sorrows God distributes in His anger? They are like straw before the wind, And like chaff that a storm carries away. They say, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity for his children’; Let Him recompense him, that he may know it. Let his eyes see his destruction, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. For what does he care about his household after him, When the number of his months is cut in half? “Can anyone teach God knowledge, Since He judges those on high? One dies in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and secure; His pails are full of milk, And the marrow of his bones is moist. Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, Never having eaten with pleasure. They lie down alike in the dust, And worms cover them. “Look, I know your thoughts, And the schemes with which you would wrong me. For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent, The dwelling place of the wicked?’ Have you not asked those who travel the road? And do you not know their signs? For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom; They shall be brought out on the day of wrath. Who condemns his way to his face? And who repays him for what he has done? Yet he shall be brought to the grave, And a vigil kept over the tomb. The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him; Everyone shall follow him, As countless have gone before him. How then can you comfort me with empty words, Since falsehood remains in your answers?” Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: “Can a man be profitable to God, Though he who is wise may be profitable to himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless? “Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you, And enters into judgment with you? Is not your wickedness great, And your iniquity without end? For you have taken pledges from your brother for no reason, And stripped the naked of their clothing. You have not given the weary water to drink, And you have withheld bread from the hungry. But the mighty man possessed the land, And the honorable man dwelt in it. You have sent widows away empty, And the strength of the fatherless was crushed. Therefore snares are all around you, And sudden fear troubles you, Or darkness so that you cannot see; And an abundance of water covers you. “Is not God in the height of heaven? And see the highest stars, how lofty they are! And you say, ‘What does God know? Can He judge through the deep darkness? Thick clouds cover Him, so that He cannot see, And He walks above the circle of heaven.’ Will you keep to the old way Which wicked men have trod, Who were cut down before their time, Whose foundations were swept away by a flood? They said to God, ‘Depart from us! What can the Almighty do to them?’ Yet He filled their houses with good things; But the counsel of the wicked is far from me. “The righteous see it and are glad, And the innocent laugh at them: ‘Surely our adversaries are cut down, And the fire consumes their remnant.’ “Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace; Thereby good will come to you. Receive, please, instruction from His mouth, And lay up His words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; You will remove iniquity far from your tents. Then you will lay your gold in the dust, And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. Yes, the Almighty will be your gold And your precious silver; For then you will have your delight in the Almighty, And lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you, And you will pay your vows. You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways. When they cast you down, and you say, ‘Exaltation will come!’ Then He will save the humble person. He will even deliver one who is not innocent; Yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands.” Then Job answered and said: “Even today my complaint is bitter; My hand is listless because of my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat! I would present my case before Him, And fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which He would answer me, And understand what He would say to me. Would He contend with me in His great power? No! But He would take note of me. There the upright could reason with Him, And I would be delivered forever from my Judge. “Look, I go forward, but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him; When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food. “But He is unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He does. For He performs what is appointed for me, And many such things are with Him. Therefore I am terrified at His presence; When I consider this, I am afraid of Him. For God made my heart weak, And the Almighty terrifies me; Because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness, And He did not hide deep darkness from my face. “Since times are not hidden from the Almighty, Why do those who know Him see not His days? “Some remove landmarks; They seize flocks violently and feed on them; They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; They take the widow’s ox as a pledge. They push the needy off the road; All the poor of the land are forced to hide. Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, They go out to their work, searching for food. The wilderness yields food for them and for their children. They gather their fodder in the field And glean in the vineyard of the wicked. They spend the night naked, without clothing, And have no covering in the cold. They are wet with the showers of the mountains, And huddle around the rock for want of shelter. “Some snatch the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge from the poor. They cause the poor to go naked, without clothing; And they take away the sheaves from the hungry. They press out oil within their walls, And tread winepresses, yet suffer thirst. The dying groan in the city, And the souls of the wounded cry out; Yet God does not charge them with wrong. “There are those who rebel against the light; They do not know its ways Nor abide in its paths. The murderer rises with the light; He kills the poor and needy; And in the night he is like a thief. The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Saying, ‘No eye will see me’; And he disguises his face. In the dark they break into houses Which they marked for themselves in the daytime; They do not know the light. For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death; If someone recognizes them, They are in the terrors of the shadow of death. “They should be swift on the face of the waters, Their portion should be cursed in the earth, So that no one would turn into the way of their vineyards. As drought and heat consume the snow waters, So the grave consumes those who have sinned. The womb should forget him, The worm should feed sweetly on him; He should be remembered no more, And wickedness should be broken like a tree. For he preys on the barren who do not bear, And does no good for the widow. “But God draws the mighty away with His power; He rises up, but no man is sure of life. He gives them security, and they rely on it; Yet His eyes are on their ways. They are exalted for a little while, Then they are gone. They are brought low; They are taken out of the way like all others; They dry out like the heads of grain. “Now if it is not so, who will prove me a liar, And make my speech worth nothing?” Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: “Dominion and fear belong to Him; He makes peace in His high places. Is there any number to His armies? Upon whom does His light not rise? How then can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman? If even the moon does not shine, And the stars are not pure in His sight, How much less man, who is a maggot, And a son of man, who is a worm?” But Job answered and said: “How have you helped him who is without power? How have you saved the arm that has no strength? How have you counseled one who has no wisdom? And how have you declared sound advice to many? To whom have you uttered words? And whose spirit came from you? “The dead tremble, Those under the waters and those inhabiting them. Sheol is naked before Him, And Destruction has no covering. He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing. He binds up the water in His thick clouds, Yet the clouds are not broken under it. He covers the face of His throne, And spreads His cloud over it. He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters, At the boundary of light and darkness. The pillars of heaven tremble, And are astonished at His rebuke. He stirs up the sea with His power, And by His understanding He breaks up the storm. By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, And how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?”

And yet, even though Job doesn’t curse God, his life is ruined. He says in 3:25:

Job 1:21 “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” 22 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. And yet, even though Job doesn’t curse God, his life is ruined. He says in 3:25: 25 What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true. 26 I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; only trouble comes.”

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” 22 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. And yet, even though Job doesn’t curse God, his life is ruined. He says in 3:25: 25 What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true. 26 I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; only trouble comes.”

Job 3:25–26 NKJV

For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes.”

25 What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true. 26 I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; only trouble comes.”

Have you been there? Have you been in that place where you felt like the thing you feared the worst had come true. The result is your peace may be disturbed. You may not be able to sleep. You feel absolutely devastated. At times like that, you need your friends to gather around and comfort you, right? Well, Job’s friends show up, but I don’t know how comforting they are. Look at 2:12:

Job 2:11–12 NKJV

Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him. And when they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven.

11 When three of Job’s friends heard of the tragedy he had suffered, they got together and traveled from their homes to comfort and console him. Their names were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. 12 When they saw Job from a distance, they scarcely recognized him. Wailing loudly, they tore their robes and threw dust into the air over their heads to show their grief.

Ok, maybe that’s not the reaction you want to have if you show up to comfort a grieving friend. Their advice, though well-intentioned, isn’t very helpful. You can tell that they want to help Job “feel better,” but it doesn’t. Their advice fails because it is religiously cliched. They have nothing to really offer Job but the kinds of things that religious people of that day would say that was supposed to chear someone up. We don’t have the time to go through thirty chapters today, so let me just give you a few of the things Job’s friends tell him about his suffering.

First, they tell him that bad people suffer punishment for their sins. The NLT renders

like this: 7 “Stop and think! Do the innocent die? When have the upright been destroyed? 8 My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same. 9 A breath from God destroys them. They vanish in a blast of his anger. In other words, “Job, if you really were as innocent as you claim to be, you would not be going through what you’re going through.

nlt

like this: 7 “Stop and think! Do the innocent die? When have the upright been destroyed? 8 My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same. 9 A breath from God destroys them. They vanish in a blast of his anger. In other words, “Job, if you really were as innocent as you claim to be, you would not be going through what you’re going through.

And then they add to that little nugget that God punishes people through suffering. 4:9 says that wicked people vanish in a blast of his anger.

And just in case Job might want to protest and defend himself, as he does, they tell him that it is his pride that is keeping him from repenting and admitting his wickedness. Job’s last friend tells him in 34:36:

Job 34:36–37 NKJV

Oh, that Job were tried to the utmost, Because his answers are like those of wicked men! For he adds rebellion to his sin; He claps his hands among us, And multiplies his words against God.”

In other words, “Job, you are too proud to humble yourself and repent.” No wonder Job tells his buddies that they are “poor counselors;” all of their advice fails. In fact, nothing changes until . . .

. . . until God shows up. That’s what happens in the last four chapters. God speaks and challenges Job. He doesn’t give him answers to why all the bad things have happened. What God does is let Job see Him for Who He is and experience His presence. Then something amazing happens: Job says this in 42:1:

Job 42:1–6 NKJV

Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.”

(NKJV)

1 Then Job answered the Lord and said: 2 “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 4 Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ 5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. 6 Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.”

Now I think it’s pretty safe to say that Job, up to this point, has been resentful. He does not understand what is happening and he doesn’t feel close to God. In fact, he says that he wants to sit down and have a conversation with God, but God is far away from him. But then, at the end of this book, he sees God for Who He is and he is brought to a clear choice. He can keep asking for answers and resent what has happened, or he can choose to know God. He learns that you can choose to relate when you refuse to resent.

TRANS

And the choice Job faced is the same choice you and I face when our worlds collapse. We can choose to resent God or we can choose to know Him. Which might bring you to this question today. If you are going through trouble, you might ask me, “Rusty, why should I? Why should I stop asking “why” questions and resenting God? As far as I can tell, He deserves my resentment. Why should I choose relationship over resentment?” Well, three answers surface in Job’s story. First, you can choose relationship over resentment because of:

D1

EXP

As disciples of Christ, our response to trouble is extremely important! You see that in this book. Job didn’t know the heavenly drama that was playing out. Satan had approached God and accused God’s servant, Job. He said that Job’s love for God was only a self-interested love. He only loved God for what He could get out of God. If God took Job’s stuff away, Job would turn on Him. God insisted that Job loved Him because of Who He was.

Now, Satan’s purpose in all of this was to rob God of His glory and show Him to be unworthy of the glory He received. God responds with confidence because He already knows Job’s response. Job will remain true and will choose relationship over resentment and God will be glorified.

APP

Here’s the point: Our response to our trouble is about more than our trouble: It’s about God’s glory. The reason we choose relationship over resentment is because that trouble we’re going through has an eternal component. God wants to use it to allow you to bring Him glory.

O, I know your heart is breaking because your loved one passed away, but your grief is about more than your grief: It has eternal implications! I know you are afraid of your latest diagnosis, but your disease is about more than your earthly survival: It has eternal implications. God’s glory is at stake! We are willing to choose relationship over resentment because of significance—because of what is at stake!

ILL

Pic: helen roseveare

Helen Roseveare is a British medical doctor who worked for many years as a missionary in Zaire. During the revolution of the 1960s, she often faced brutal beatings and other forms of physical torture. On one occasion, when she was about to be executed, she feared God had forsaken her.

In that moment, she sensed the Holy Spirit saying to her: Twenty years ago you asked me for the privilege of being identified with me. This is it. Don’t you want it? This is what it means. These are not your sufferings; they are my sufferings. All I ask of you is the loan of your body.

The privilege of serving Christ through her sufferings overwhelmed Dr. Roseveare. After she was delivered, she wrote about her experience with God: “He didn’t stop the sufferings. He didn’t stop the wickedness, the cruelties, the humiliation or anything. It was all there. The pain was just as bad. The fear was just as bad. But it was altogether different. It was in Jesus, for him, with him.”

TRANS

That’s why, in the middle of the worst trouble, for the Christian it makes sense to choose relationship over resentment. It’s because your suffering, no matter how it may be ignored by others, is never insignificant to God. It is an opportunity for glory.

I can choose relationship over resentment because of significance—what is at stake, and also, in the middle of trouble, I can choose relationship over resentment because of:

D2

EXP

One of your greatest temptations in the middle of trouble will be to doubt that God is really in charge. It’s easy to accept His control of circumstances when things are going well, but to really accept His control in the middle of trouble is quite different. After all, if He’s in control and I’m having trouble the obvious question is, “Why is God doing this to me?” Right?

I think Job had the same struggle and I don’t believe he gains the right perspective until the end of the book. When God appears to Job and he sees Him for Who He is, he changes what he thinks and what he says. In , now Job says to God,

Job 42:2 NKJV

“I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.

He now sees God’s POWER. He says I know that You can do anything. The man who a few chapters earlier was filled with doubt now confidently proclaims, “I know that You can do ANYTHING.” He sees God’s power . . .

And He sees God’s PURPOSE. He says And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. Before He doubted that God was up to anything. Now he recognizes that God has a purpose and that God’s purpose cannot be stopped. He sees God’s power and God’s purpose . . .

But, most importantly, He sees God’s PERSON. Look at v 5. Job says, I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Somehow this experience that Job has with God is like or is actually seeing Him with his eyes. There is something very personal and very intimate about that. Like Isaiah would later see God High and Lifted up, Job sees God and falls on His face. In fact, when Job sees God, he realizes some things about himself.

First, he sees his own LIMITATIONS. V3 says,

Job 42:3 NKJV

You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

Before, there was a little bit of a cavalier attitude. Job is saying, “I want to talk to God; I’m going to have it out with my Creator; I’m going to inform Him of some things.” In essence, “I need to straighten God out.” But now, when He sees God, Job backs up. He says, “I was like a 3 year old discussing nuclear fusion with Einstein: I had no idea what I was talking about.” Now that he sees God, He sees his limitations.

3 You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Before, there was a little bit of a cavalier attitude. Job is saying, “I want to talk to God; I’m going to have it out with my Creator; I’m going to inform Him of some things.” In essence, “I need to straighten God out.” But now, when He sees God, Job backs up. He says, “I was like a 3 year old discussing nuclear fusion with Einstein: I had no idea what I was talking about.” Now that he sees God, He sees his limitations.

And, then, having seen God, He sees his own IGNORANCE. V4 says,

Job

Job 42:4 NKJV

Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’

God is telling Job, here, that it is His turn to ask the questions. Of course, Job has no answers for God. When He sees God, he sees his own ignorance and he sees his own limitations and he is left to ponder two great truths about his trouble that shows God’s sovereign control.

First of all, GOD CONTROLS THE TROUBLE. I am so glad for the book of Job! Not only does it show how a righteous man can handle bad times, it also shows that God is ultimately in control of even our bad times. In , when Satan asks for permission to attack Job, notice how God replies:

Job 1:12 NKJV

And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

Now two things are obvious from these verses: First, God doesn’t prevent all trouble and that may not make you feel very good. Sometimes it is God’s will for us to go through trouble.

But I have to say that, even though He does not prevent all trouble, He controls all trouble. Even Satan ANSWERS TO HIM. Which just leads me to the second truth. Not only does God control the trouble, but

GOD EXPLOITS THE TROUBLER. Bottom line is this: Satan attacks God’s glory and Satan loses! You see Your sovereign God is in control exploiting the devil for His own Glory. And that’s why you should choose relationship over resentment. God will always win and you, when You glorify Him, actually win too! When you glorify Him, you fulfill your ultimate purpose and the net result of that will be JOY IN THE END!

ILL

Pic - wife in hospital

One Christian husband wrote:

Doctors and nurses were doing everything possible for my wife, the mother of my seven children, yet I could see the hopelessness in their faces. Through an emergency C-section during the fifth month of her pregnancy, it was discovered the detached placenta had grown through the uterus and attached itself to her bladder. Bleeding was so profuse during surgery that Kris was given 30 units of blood. As the night wore on, her battle for life became desperate.

I cried out, "God, what do you want? I know you can heal her; why don't you?" In the middle of my darkest night, God began to speak. I wanted a miracle. He wanted to discuss his nature.

"Do you believe I am a loving God?" the Spirit asked.

Sitting beside my wife's bed, amid the chaos of ICU, I needed to answer that question. I could have said, "No, God cannot be a loving God. Look around here. My wife is dying. My newborn daughter may die. I have to go home and tell six children that their mother will not come home again ever."

ever."

But that night God gave me the grace to see him as he is.

"Yes," I told him. "You are a loving God. No matter what happens here tonight I will not question your nature."

And, then, miraculously she was healed right? Well, no. She got worse and then, she died. The child she bore, little Grace, lived for 16 days. In the midst of that trial, this husband asked God, “God what about our plans. Who will teach the kids, guide them and love them like their mother?”

It was ata that point that God laid it on the heart of a friend to start a “Help bring hope to the Hoyt kids” fund. In six months, hundreds of people worked, sent money, donated supplies and loved his family. Churches provided daily food. On weekends as many as 50 people were fed. He received more than 500 letters, emails and cards from people who prayed for them. He continues:

I am writing this in the house God has given us. The medical bills are gone. The house is paid for. I am working as well as schooling my children.

One night I lay awake, tormented with the memory of Kris fighting for her life. I tried to remember her with the light of life in her eyes, but all I could see was death. I could feel myself falling into depression when suddenly before me was a vision of Kris, so perfectly alive in Christ, shining and healthy. No pain, just pure joy on her face.

"See her as she is now," the Holy Spirit seemed to say. "She is alive."

Someday we will all be together with Jesus and our daughter Grace.

I asked God for the life of my wife; I received instead a lesson on the nature of God. God is good. Armed with that knowledge, I have no fear for today or the future. God will always be enough for any situation.

APP

So here’s the deal: You and I are going to suffer. When it happens, it will seem unfair; it may seem random and without any purpose that makes sense; it will almost always seem overwhelming. But if you are a believer, please, please remember: Your trouble will always be sovereignly controlled. Nothing will pass on to you that has not passed through His hand. And your trouble can also be sovereignly exploited. If you will choose relationship over resentment, your trouble can be used to glorify God.

Listen, believer, you are going to suffer in this life. We live in a sin-cursed earth where disease proliferates, drunks drive, sexual predators are spawned by rampant pornography. You are going to suffer, so as a believer, MAKE IT COUNT! Choose relationship over resentment! Make that choice because of significance—what is at stake; make that choice because of sovereignty—Who is in charge. Last of all, choose relationship over resentment because of:

D3

EXP

If is the first appearance of the Gospel in the Scripture, the book of Job is, perhaps, the second. One commentator writes:

The helplessness of Job is pathetic. There is nothing he can do, except to cry out to God from the depths (). In this gulf of anger he is alone, until he discovers that God has not deserted him permanently. But, like Jesus, he does not at first—not for a long time!—receive any answer to his desolate cry, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ Yet the road to the Cross and to suffering becomes the road to God. Of all human beings, the innocent sufferer stands nearest to God. One might ask if there is any pathway into the light, except through suffering and seeming rejection by God, but Job’s final contentment is unexplainable unless he found in the valley of the shadow of death a place of spiritual growth.

Don’t miss what he said there: Job’s final satisfaction in God cannot be explained unless he found in his terrible trial a place where he grew like he had never grown before. Job, you see, is a picture of Christ. As Paul would later write to the Philippians, he “shared in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings.”

ARG

And I know what the skeptic would say to all of this. Your view of suffering just makes excuses either for God’s cruelty or His incompetence. The truth is we are suffering because He is too weak to stop the suffering or too unconcerned about our suffering to care. But for that to be true, God would have to deny Himself. Jesus was not just a man who suffered, He was also God in the flesh. As God in the flesh, He suffered greatly. Think about it: There would have been no reason for Him to have gone through that if our explanations for suffering were simply God making excuses for God. No, God’s word tells us that there was a purpose to the suffering of Christ. Hebrews says that Jesus “LEARNED OBEDIENCE THROUGH THE THINGS THAT HE SUFFERED.”

And Jesus confirmed this truth in .

John 17:1 NKJV

Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,

Right before He went to the cross, He made this amazing statement. He lifted His eyes to heaven, the Bible says, and said: (Listen carefully!!) Father the hour has come (in other words, “Father the hour of my suffering on the cross has come.”) Then he said, Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You. And by His suffering and death, He GLORIFIED God!

You say, “That’s great, Rusty, but what does it have to do with me?” If you’re a believer, EVERYTHING because Paul writes in

Romans 8:17 NKJV

and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

: if indeed we suffer WITH Him, THEN we may also be glorified together. Listen, if all you see when you look at your trouble is your trouble, you’re looking too low. If you will lift your eyes and take an eternal look, you will see not trouble, but glory. If you suffer with Him—if you choose relationship over resentment—you will share in His glory.

ILL

WW2 Surrender

On September 2, 1945 the documents of surrender officially ending World War II were signed by the Japanese and designated representatives of allied nations. General Douglas MacArthur officiated the ceremony aboard the USS Missouri and was the last to sign on behalf of the United States.

But MacArthur was not by himself. He was joined by two Generals, both of whom had suffered severe persecution as prisoners of war. So when MacArthur signed, he simply wrote his first name "Douglas." He then passed the pen to General Wainwright, who signed "Mac." MacArthur then handed the pen to General Percival, who signed "Arthur."

This unusual procedure was MacArthur's way of honoring the two United States generals who had suffered severe persecution as prisoners of war. They had persevered, and now they were allowed to share in the glory of victory.

In Paul describes the future of those who persevere in the spiritual battles we fight this side of heaven. He calls them joint-heirs. Those who share in the sufferings of Christ will also share in his glory. Now listen, I know that there will not be a signing ceremony in heaven, but if there were, picture the scene: Jesus signs the surrender of Satan and all his demons just before they are cast into the lake of fire. He turns to you and says: You suffered with me. You went through the pain of losing your child and you didn’t quit; You lost your job because you refused to cheat and you did that for me; You stood up in your University classroom when your proffessor belittled me. Now you get to sign. You get to share my Glory.

Why do you choose relationship over resentment? Because of your sight. You see your destiny. You see the glory that is waiting for you. You suffer with Him so that you can reign with Him.

But before the glory comes the pain. So let me draw this together with a few Applications. How can you and I see God in the middle of our suffering the way Job saw HIm so that we can overcome our resentment and choose to know Him not resent Him?

If you are going through trouble there are five things you can do. (By the way, I was praying through this sermon 3 or 4 weeks ago when Dad was in the hospital and these came to me as I was walking back into the ER to sit with him.) What do you need to do when you are in trouble?

MOURN: Mourning is a misunderstood concept but it’s really not complicated. Mourning is simply getting what is on the inside out. It means you face your feelings and call it like it is. That’s what you see David doing all throughout the psalms. You have to be honest about what you are going through. And remember, the Bible says, Blessed are those who mourn for what? . . . FOR THEY SHALL BE COMFORTED. You mourn and then you . . .

PRAY: Talk to God, even if you’re feeling resentful. If you’re mad, start by telling God you’re mad. Throughout this book, Job says over and over again. “I just wish I could talk to God.” Well, Christian, you can talk to God. Don’t try to fool Him. Don’t act like you’re feeling holy if you’re not. Simply speak the truth to God in prayer. You mourn and you pray and then you . . .

WAIT: You wait, even when you’re in the middle of pain. It takes 30 chapters of bad advice and religious clichés before Job has the experience with God that comforts his heart. You cannot rush God’s comfort. When you’re in trouble you mourn, you pray, you wait, and you also . . .

TRUST: I say you trust and that may actually be misunderstood. When I say to trust, I am not saying that you will not doubt. I say you trust, EVEN THOUGH you doubt. Job makes an amazing statement about God that expresses this. He says “Though He slay me, yet I will trust Him.” Some people think that faith is lying about your circumstances and acting like they don’t exist. You don’t find that in Scripture at all, especially not in Job. Job doesn’t deny his circumstances, he trusts THROUGH the DOUBT of his circumstances. When you’re in trouble you mourn, you pray, you wait, you trust and then you must . . .

CHOOSE: In the end, Job has to choose to relate to God. Think about it. God never tells him why. Yes, he gets new wealth, but God never tells him why he lost it in the first place. Yes, he even gets a new family, but God never tells him why they died in the first place. Job has to CHOOSE to trust. Job has to choose to relate not resent. His choice teaches us that we can resent or we can relate, but we cannot do both. If you choose to resent, you refuse to relate and you can only choose to relate when you refuse to resent

The Choice of Trouble

Series: The Journey: Strolling through the Scripture with the Savior

Title: The Choice of Trouble

You can choose relationship over resentment because of Significance: What is at stake.

You can choose relationship over resentment because of Sovereignty—Who is in charge.

When Job sees God, He sees God’s power.

When Job sees God, He sees God’s purpose.

When Job sees God, He sees God’s person.

When Job sees God, He sees his own limitations.

When Job sees God, He sees his own ignorance.

Job learns that God controls the trouble.

Job learns that God exploits the troubler.

You can choose relationship over resentment because of Sight: What is in sight.

There are five things to do when you suffer:

Mourn

There are five things to do when you suffer:

Pray

There are five things to do when you suffer:

Wait

There are five things to do when you suffer:

Trust

There are five things to do when you suffer:

Choose