2  “Hear my words, you wise men,

and give ear to me, you who know;

3  for ⁱthe ear tests words

as the palate tastes food.

4  Let us choose what is right;

let us know among ourselves what is good.

5  For Job has said, ‘I am in the ^jright,

and ^kGod has taken away my right;

6  in spite of my right I am counted a liar;

my wound is incurable, though ^lI am without transgression.’

7  What man is like Job,

who ^mdrinks up scoffing like water,

8  who travels in company with evildoers

and walks with wicked men?

9  For he has said, ⁿ‘It profits a man nothing

that he should take delight in God.’

10  “Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding:

^ofar be it from God that he should do wickedness,

and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.

11  For ^paccording to the work of a man he will repay him,

and according to his ways he will make it befall him.

12  Of a truth, ^qGod will not do wickedly,

and the Almighty will not ^rpervert justice.

13  ^sWho gave him charge over the earth,

and who laid on him¹ the whole world?

14  If he should set his heart to it

and ^tgather to himself ^uhis spirit and his breath,

15  all flesh would perish together,

and man would ^vreturn to dust.

16  “If you have understanding, hear this;

listen to what I say.

17  Shall one who hates justice govern?

^wWill you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,

18  who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’

and to nobles, ‘Wicked man,’

19  who ^xshows no partiality to princes,

nor regards the rich more than the poor,

for ^ythey are all the work of his hands?

20  In a moment they die;

at midnight the people are shaken and pass away,

and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.

21  “For ^zhis eyes are on the ways of a man,

and he sees all his steps.

22  There is ^ano gloom or deep darkness

where evildoers may hide themselves.

23  For God² has no need to consider a man further,

that he should go before God in judgment.

24  He shatters the mighty without investigation

and ^bsets others in their place.

25  Thus, knowing their works,

he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.

26  He strikes them for their wickedness

in a place for all to see,

27  because they turned aside from following him

and had no regard for any of his ways,

28  so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him,

and ^che heard the cry of the afflicted—

29  When he is quiet, who can condemn?

When he hides his face, who can behold him,

whether it be a nation or a man?—

30  that a godless man should not reign,

that he should not ensnare the people.

31  “For has anyone said to God,

‘I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more;

32  teach me what I do not see;

if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?

33  Will he then make repayment to suit you,

because you reject it?

For you must choose, and not I;

therefore declare what you know.³

34  Men of understanding will say to me,

and the wise man who hears me will say:

35  ‘Job speaks ^dwithout knowledge;

his words are without insight.’

36  Would that Job were tried to the end,

because he answers like wicked men.

37  For he adds rebellion to his sin;

he claps his hands among us

and ^emultiplies his words against God.”

2  ^f“Do you think this to be just?

Do you say, ‘It is my right before God,’

3  that you ask, ^g‘What advantage have I?

How am I better off than if I had sinned?’

4  I will answer you

and your friends with you.

5  Look at the heavens, and see;

and behold the clouds, which are ^hhigher than you.

6  ⁱIf you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him?

And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?

7  ^jIf you are righteous, what do you give to him?

Or what does he receive from your hand?

8  Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself,

and your righteousness a ^kson of man.

9  “Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out;

they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.¹

10  But none says, ‘Where is God my Maker,

who gives songs in the ^lnight,

11  who teaches us ^mmore than the beasts of the earth

and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’

12  There they cry out, but he does not answer,

because of the pride of evil men.

13  Surely God does not hear an empty cry,

nor does the Almighty regard it.

14  ⁿHow much less when you say that ^oyou do not see him,

that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him!

15  And now, because his anger does not punish,

and he does not take much note of transgression,²

16  Job opens his mouth in empty talk;

he ^pmultiplies words ^qwithout knowledge.”

2  “Bear with me a little, and I will show you,

for I have yet something to say on God’s behalf.

3  I will get my knowledge from afar

and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

4  For truly my words are not false;

one who is ^rperfect in knowledge is with you.

5  “Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise any;

he is ^smighty in strength of understanding.

6  He does not keep the wicked alive,

but ^tgives the afflicted their right.

7  He does not withdraw his ^ueyes from the righteous,

but with kings on the throne

he sets them forever, and they are exalted.

8  And if they are bound in chains

and caught in the cords of affliction,

9  then he declares to them their work

and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.

10  He opens their ears to instruction

and commands that they return from iniquity.

11  ^vIf they listen and serve him,

they complete their days in prosperity,

and their years in pleasantness.

12  But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword

and die ^wwithout knowledge.

13  “The godless in heart cherish anger;

they do not cry for help when he binds them.

14  They die ^xin youth,

and their life ends among the cult prostitutes.

15  He delivers the afflicted by their affliction

and opens their ear by adversity.

16  He also allured you out of distress

into a ^ybroad place where there was no cramping,

and what was set on your ^ztable was full of fatness.

17  “But you are full of the judgment on the wicked;

judgment and justice seize you.

18  Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing,

and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

19  Will your cry for help avail to keep you from distress,

or all the force of your strength?

20  Do not long for the night,

when peoples vanish in their place.

21  Take care; do not turn to iniquity,

for this you have chosen rather than affliction.

22  Behold, God is exalted in his power;

who is a teacher like him?

23  ^aWho has prescribed for him his way,

or who can say, ^b‘You have done wrong’?

24  “Remember to extol his work,

of which men have sung.

25  All mankind has looked on it;

man beholds it from afar.

26  Behold, ^cGod is great, and we know him not;

^dthe number of his years is ^eunsearchable.

27  For he draws up the drops of water;

they distill his mist in rain,

28  which the skies pour down

and drop on mankind abundantly.

29  ^fCan anyone understand the spreading of the clouds,

the thunderings of his pavilion?

30  Behold, he scatters his lightning about him

and covers the roots of the sea.

31  For by these he ^gjudges peoples;

^hhe gives food in abundance.

32  He covers his hands with the lightning

and commands it to strike the mark.

33  Its crashing declares his presence;¹

the cattle also declare that he rises.

37  “At this also my heart trembles

and leaps out of its place.

2  ⁱKeep listening to the thunder of his voice

and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.

3  Under the whole heaven he lets it go,

and his lightning to the corners of the earth.

4  After it his voice roars;

he ^jthunders with his ^kmajestic voice,

and he does not restrain the lightnings¹ when his voice is heard.

5  God thunders wondrously with his voice;

he does great things ^lthat we cannot comprehend.

6  For to the ^msnow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’

likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.

7  He seals up the hand of every man,

that all men whom he made may know it.

8  Then the beasts go into their lairs,

and remain in their dens.

9  From its chamber comes the whirlwind,

and cold from the scattering winds.

10  By the breath of God ice is given,

and the broad waters are frozen fast.

11  He loads the thick cloud with moisture;

the clouds scatter his lightning.

12  They turn around and around by his guidance,

to accomplish all that he commands them

on the face of the habitable world.

13  Whether for correction or for his land

or for love, he causes it to happen.

14  “Hear this, O Job;

stop and consider the wondrous works of God.

15  Do you know how God lays his command upon them

and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?

16  ⁿDo you know the balancings² of the clouds,

the wondrous works of him who is ^operfect in knowledge,

17  you whose garments are hot

when the earth is still because of the south wind?

18  Can you, like him, ^pspread out the skies,

hard as a cast metal mirror?

19  Teach us what we shall say to him;

we cannot draw up our case because of darkness.

20  Shall it be told him that I would speak?

Did a man ever wish that he would be swallowed up?

21  “And now no one looks on the light

when it is bright in the skies,

when the wind has passed and cleared them.

22  Out of the north comes golden splendor;

God is ^qclothed with awesome majesty.

23  The Almighty—we cannot find him;

he is great in power;

^rjustice and abundant righteousness he will not violate.

24  Therefore men fear him;

he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.”³

2  ^t“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

3  ^uDress for action¹ like a man;

I will question you, and you make it known to me.

4  “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell me, if you have understanding.

5  Who determined its ^vmeasurements—surely you know!

Or who stretched the line upon it?

6  On what were its bases sunk,

or who laid its cornerstone,

7  when the morning stars sang together

and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8  “Or ^wwho shut in the sea with doors

when it burst out from the womb,

9  when I made clouds its garment

and thick darkness its swaddling band,

10  and ^xprescribed limits for it

and set bars and doors,

11  and said, ^y‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,

and ^zhere shall your proud waves be stayed’?

12  “Have you ^acommanded the morning since your days began,

and caused the dawn to know its place,

13  that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,

and the wicked be shaken out of it?

14  It is changed like clay under the seal,

and its features stand out like a garment.

15  From the wicked their ^blight is withheld,

and their uplifted arm is ^cbroken.

16  “Have you entered into the springs of the sea,

or walked in the recesses of the deep?

17  Have the gates of death been revealed to you,

or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

18  Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?

Declare, if you know all this.

19  “Where is the way to the dwelling of light,

and where is the place of darkness,

20  that you may take it to its territory

and that you may discern the paths to its home?

21  You know, for ^dyou were born then,

and the number of your days is great!

22  “Have you entered the ^estorehouses of the snow,

or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

23  which I have reserved for the time of trouble,

for the day of battle and war?

24  What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,

or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

25  “Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain

and a ^fway for the thunderbolt,

26  to bring rain on a land where no man is,

on the desert in which there is no man,

27  to satisfy the waste and desolate land,

and to make the ground sprout with grass?

28  “Has the rain a father,

or who has begotten the drops of dew?

29  From whose womb did the ^gice come forth,

and who has given birth to the ^hfrost of heaven?

30  The waters become hard like stone,

and the face of the deep is frozen.

31  “Can you bind the chains of ⁱthe Pleiades

or loose the cords of Orion?

32  Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth² in their season,

or can you guide the Bear with its children?

33  Do you know the ^jordinances of the heavens?

Can you establish their rule on the earth?

34  “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,

that ^ka flood of waters may cover you?

35  Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go

and say to you, ‘Here we are’?

36  Who has put wisdom ^lin the inward parts³

or given ^munderstanding to the mind?⁴

37  Who can number the clouds by wisdom?

Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,

38  when the dust runs into a mass

and the clods stick fast together?

39  “Can you hunt the prey ⁿfor the lion,

or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

40  when they crouch in their dens

or lie in wait in their thicket?

41  ^oWho provides for the raven its prey,

when its young ones cry to God for help,

and wander about for lack of food?