Job Replies: Where Is God?
1 Then Job answered and said:
2 “Today also my rcomplaint is bitter;1
my shand is heavy on account of my groaning.
3 Oh, tthat I knew where I might find him,
that I might come even to his useat!
4 I would vlay my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know what he would answer me
and understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he wcontend with me in the greatness of his power?
No; he would pay attention to me.
7 There an upright man could argue with him,
and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.
8 “Behold, xI go forward, but he is not there,
and backward, but I do not perceive him;
9 on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;
he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
10 But he yknows zthe way that I atake;
when he has btried me, I shall come out as gold.
11 My foot chas held fast to his steps;
I have kept his way and have dnot turned aside.
12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have etreasured the words of his mouth more than my fportion of food.
13 But he is unchangeable,2 and gwho can turn him back?
What he hdesires, that he does.
14 For he will complete what he iappoints for me,
and many such things are jin his mind.
15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
when I consider, I am in dread of him.
16 God has made my kheart faint;
the Almighty has terrified me;
17 yet I am not silenced because of the darkness,
nor because thick darkness covers my face.
1 “Why are lnot times of judgment mkept by the Almighty,
and why do those who know him never see his ndays?
2 Some move olandmarks;
they seize flocks and pasture them.
3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;
they ptake the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They qthrust the poor off the road;
the poor of the earth rall hide themselves.
5 Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert
the poor3 sgo out to their toil, tseeking game;
the wasteland yields food for their children.
6 They gather their4 fodder in the field,
and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.
7 They ulie all night naked, without clothing,
and have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the rain of the mountains
and vcling to the rock for lack of shelter.
9 (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,
and they take a pledge against the poor.)
10 They go about naked, without clothing;
hungry, they wcarry the sheaves;
11 among the olive rows of the wicked5 they make oil;
they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.
12 From out of the city the dying6 groan,
and the soul of xthe wounded cries for help;
yet God charges no one with ywrong.
13 “There are those who rebel zagainst the light,
who are not acquainted with its ways,
and do not stay in its paths.
14 The murderer rises before it is light,
that he amay kill the poor and needy,
and in the night he is like a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer also waits for bthe twilight,
saying, ‘No ceye will see me’;
and he veils his face.
16 In the dark they ddig through houses;
by day they shut themselves up;
they do not know the light.
17 For edeep darkness is morning to all of them;
for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.
18 “You say, f‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;
their portion is cursed in the land;
no treader turns toward their vineyards.
19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;
so does gSheol those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them;
the worm finds them sweet;
they are hno longer remembered,
so wickedness is broken like ia tree.’
21 “They wrong the barren, childless woman,
and do no good to the widow.
22 Yet God7 prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
they rise up when they despair of life.
23 He gives them security, and they are supported,
and his jeyes are upon their ways.
24 They are exalted ka little while, and then lare gone;
they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
they are mcut off like the heads of grain.
25 If it is nnot so, who will prove me a liar
and show that there is nothing in what I say?”
Bildad Speaks: Man Cannot Be Righteous
1 Then oBildad the Shuhite answered and said:
Warning Against Idolatry
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,1 that our fathers were all under bthe cloud, and all cpassed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and dall ate the same espiritual food, 4 and fall drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for gthey were overthrown2 in the wilderness.
6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as hthey did. 7 iDo not be idolaters jas some of them were; as it is written, k“The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 lWe must not indulge in sexual immorality mas some of them did, and ntwenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ3 to the test, oas some of them did and pwere destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, qas some of them did and rwere destroyed by sthe Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but tthey were written down for our instruction, uon whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore vlet anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. wGod is faithful, and xhe will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
14 Therefore, my beloved, yflee from idolatry.
25 Here is the sea, great and wide,
ywhich teems with creatures innumerable,
living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships,
27 These ball look to you,
to cgive them their food in due season.
28 When you give it to them, they gather it up;
when you dopen your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you ehide your face, they are fdismayed;
when you gtake away their breath, they die
and hreturn to their dust.
30 When you isend forth your Spirit,2 they are created,
and you jrenew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord kendure forever;
may the Lord lrejoice in his works,
32 who looks on the earth and it mtrembles,
who ntouches the mountains and they smoke!
33 I will sing to the Lord oas long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my pmeditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.
35 Let qsinners be consumed from the earth,
and let the wicked be no more!
rBless the Lord, O my soul!
sPraise the Lord!
6 wTrain up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.
7 xThe rich rules over the poor,
and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
8 Whoever ysows injustice will reap calamity,
and zthe rod of his fury will fail.
