Job Replies: The Wicked Do Prosper
1 Then Job answered and said:
2 k“Keep listening to my words,
and let this be your comfort.
3 Bear with me, and I will speak,
and after I have spoken, lmock on.
4 As for me, is my mcomplaint against man?
Why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me and be appalled,
and nlay your hand over your mouth.
6 When I remember, I am dismayed,
and shuddering seizes my flesh.
7 oWhy do the wicked live,
reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
8 Their poffspring are established in their presence,
and their descendants before their eyes.
9 Their houses are qsafe from fear,
and rno rod of God is upon them.
10 Their bull breeds without fail;
their cow calves and sdoes not miscarry.
11 They send out their tlittle boys like a flock,
and their children dance.
12 They sing to uthe tambourine and vthe lyre
and rejoice to the sound of vthe pipe.
13 They wspend their days in prosperity,
and in xpeace they go down to ySheol.
14 They say to God, z‘Depart from us!
We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.
15 aWhat is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
And what bprofit do we get if we pray to him?’
16 Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand?
cThe counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17 “How often is it that dthe lamp of the wicked is put out?
That their calamity comes upon them?
That God1 distributes pains in his anger?
18 That they are like estraw before the wind,
and like fchaff that the storm carries away?
19 You say, ‘God gstores up their iniquity for their hchildren.’
Let him pay it out to them, that they may iknow it.
20 Let their own eyes see their destruction,
and let them jdrink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what do they care for their houses after them,
when kthe number of their months is cut off?
22 lWill any teach God knowledge,
seeing that he mjudges those who are on high?
23 One dies in his full vigor,
being wholly at ease and secure,
24 his pails2 full of milk
and nthe marrow of his bones moist.
25 Another dies in obitterness of soul,
never having tasted of prosperity.
26 They plie down alike in the dust,
and qthe worms cover them.
27 “Behold, I know your thoughts
and your schemes to wrong me.
28 For you say, r‘Where is the house of the prince?
Where is sthe tent in which the wicked lived?’
29 Have you not asked those who travel the roads,
and do you not accept their testimony
30 that tthe evil man is spared in the day of calamity,
that he is rescued in the day of wrath?
31 Who declares his way uto his face,
and who vrepays him for what he has done?
32 When he is wcarried to the grave,
watch is kept over his tomb.
33 xThe clods of the valley are sweet to him;
yall mankind follows after him,
and those who go before him are innumerable.
34 How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”
Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great
1 Then zEliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
Paul Surrenders His Rights
1 jAm I not free? kAm I not an apostle? lHave I not seen Jesus our Lord? mAre not you my workmanship in the Lord? 2 If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are nthe seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 This is my defense to those who would examine me. 4 oDo we not have the right to eat and drink? 5 pDo we not have the right to take along a believing wife,1 as do the other apostles and qthe brothers of the Lord and rCephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? 7 sWho serves as a soldier at his own expense? tWho plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?
8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, u“You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10 Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written vfor our sake, because wthe plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11 xIf we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12 If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?
Nevertheless, ywe have not made use of this right, but we endure anything zrather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that athose who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? 14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that bthose who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
15 But cI have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone ddeprive me of my ground for boasting. 16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For enecessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with fa stewardship. 18 What then is my reward? That in my preaching gI may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
19 For hthough I am free from all, iI have made myself a servant to all, that I might jwin more of them. 20 kTo the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To lthose outside the law I became mas one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but nunder the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 oTo the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. pI have become all things to all people, that qby all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, rthat I may share with them in its blessings.
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives sthe prize? So trun that you may obtain it. 25 Every uathlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we van imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I wdo not box as one xbeating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and ykeep it under control,2 lest after preaching to others zI myself should be adisqualified.
19 He made the moon to mark the sseasons;1
the sun knows its time for setting.
20 tYou make darkness, and it is night,
when all the beasts of the forest creep about.
21 uThe young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they steal away
and lie down in their vdens.
23 wMan goes out to his work
and to his labor until the evening.
24 O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In xwisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
4 The reward for humility and fear of the Lord
is triches and honor and life.1
5 uThorns and snares are in the way of the crooked;
whoever vguards his soul will keep far from them.
