1 “But now they ilaugh at me,
men who are jyounger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
3 Through want and hard hunger
they mgnaw nthe dry ground by night in owaste and desolation;
4 they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,
and the roots of the broom tree for their food.1
5 pThey are driven out from human company;
they shout after them as after a thief.
6 In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,
in holes of the earth and of qthe rocks.
7 Among the bushes they rbray;
under sthe nettles they huddle together.
8 A senseless, a nameless brood,
they have been whipped out of the land.
9 “And now I have become their tsong;
I am ua byword to them.
10 They vabhor me; they keep aloof from me;
they do not hesitate to wspit at the sight of me.
11 Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,
they have cast off restraint2 in my presence.
12 On my xright hand the rabble rise;
they push away my feet;
they ycast up against me their ways of destruction.
13 They break up my path;
they promote my zcalamity;
they need no one to help them.
14 As through a wide abreach they come;
amid the crash they roll on.
15 bTerrors are turned upon me;
my honor is pursued as by the wind,
and my prosperity has passed away like ca cloud.
16 “And now my soul is dpoured out within me;
days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17 eThe night fracks my bones,
and the pain that ggnaws me takes no rest.
18 With great force my garment is hdisfigured;
it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
19 God3 has cast me into the mire,
and I have become like idust and ashes.
20 I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;
I stand, and you only look at me.
21 You have jturned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand you kpersecute me.
22 lYou lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
23 mFor I know that you will bring me to death
and to the house appointed for nall living.
24 “Yet does not one in a oheap of ruins stretch out his hand,
and in his disaster cry for help?4
25 Did not I pweep for him whose day was hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
26 But qwhen I hoped for good, evil came,
and when I waited for light, rdarkness came.
27 My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;
days of affliction scome to meet me.
28 I tgo about darkened, but not by the sun;
I stand up in uthe assembly and cry for help.
29 I am a brother of vjackals
and a companion of wostriches.
30 My xskin turns black and falls from me,
and my ybones burn with heat.
31 My zlyre is aturned to mourning,
and my zpipe to the voice of those who weep.
Job’s Final Appeal
1 “I have made a covenant with my beyes;
how then could I gaze at a virgin?
2 What would be cmy portion from God above
and cmy heritage from the Almighty on high?
3 Is not calamity for the unrighteous,
and disaster for the workers of iniquity?
4 dDoes not he see my ways
and enumber all my steps?
5 “If I have walked with falsehood
and my foot has hastened to deceit;
6 (Let me be fweighed in a just balance,
and let God know my integrity!)
7 if my step has turned aside from the way
and gmy heart has gone after my eyes,
and if any hspot has stuck to my hands,
8 then let me isow, and another eat,
and let what grows for me5 be rooted out.
9 “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,
and I have jlain in wait at my neighbor’s door,
10 then let my wife kgrind for another,
and let others lbow down on her.
11 For that would be a heinous crime;
that would be an iniquity mto be punished by the judges;
12 for that would be a fire nthat consumes as far as Abaddon,
and it would burn to the root all my increase.
13 “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant,
when they brought a complaint against me,
14 what then shall I do when God rises up?
When he omakes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
15 Did pnot he who made me in the womb make him?
And did not one fashion us in the womb?
16 “If I have qwithheld anything that the poor desired,
or have rcaused the eyes of the widow to fail,
17 or have eaten my morsel alone,
and the fatherless has not eaten of it
18 (for from my youth the fatherless6 grew up with me as with a father,
and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow7),
19 if I have seen anyone sperish for tlack of clothing,
or the needy without tcovering,
20 if his body has not ublessed me,8
and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
21 if I have raised my hand against vthe fatherless,
because I saw my help in wthe gate,
22 then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
and let my arm be broken from its socket.
23 For I was xin terror of calamity from God,
and I could not have faced his xmajesty.
24 y“If I have made gold my ztrust
or called afine gold my confidence,
25 if I have brejoiced because my wealth was abundant
or because cmy hand had found much,
26 dif I have looked at the sun9 when it shone,
or ethe moon moving in splendor,
27 and my heart has been secretly enticed,
and my mouth has kissed my hand,
28 this also would be fan iniquity to be punished by the judges,
for I would have been false to God above.
29 “If I have grejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me,
or exulted when evil overtook him
30 (hI have not let my mouth sin
by asking for his life with a curse),
31 if the men of my tent have not said,
‘Who is there that has not been filled with his imeat?’
32 (jthe sojourner has not lodged in the street;
I have opened my doors to the traveler),
33 if I khave concealed my transgressions las others do10
by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
34 because I stood in great fear of mthe multitude,
and the contempt of families terrified me,
so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors—
35 Oh, that I had one to hear me!
(Here is my signature! Let the Almighty nanswer me!)
Oh, that I had othe indictment written by my adversary!
36 Surely I would carry it on my pshoulder;
I would qbind it on me as ra crown;
37 I would give him an account of all my steps;
like a prince I would approach him.
38 “If my land has cried out against me
and its furrows have wept together,
39 sif I have eaten its yield without payment
and made its owners tbreathe their last,
40 let uthorns grow instead of wheat,
and foul weeds instead of barley.”
The words of Job are ended.
Elihu Rebukes Job’s Three Friends
1 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was vrighteous in his own eyes. 2 Then Elihu the son of Barachel wthe Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself xrather than God. 3 He burned with anger also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, although they had ydeclared Job to be in the wrong. 4 Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he. 5 And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger.
6 And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said:
“I am young in years,
and you are zaged;
therefore I was timid and afraid
to declare my opinion to you.
7 I said, ‘Let days speak,
and many years teach wisdom.’
8 But it is athe spirit in man,
bthe breath of the Almighty, that makes him cunderstand.
9 dIt is not the old11 who are wise,
nor the aged who understand what is right.
10 Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me;
let me also declare my opinion.’
11 “Behold, I waited for your words,
I listened for your wise sayings,
while you searched out what to say.
12 I gave you my attention,
and, behold, there was none among you who refuted Job
or who answered his words.
13 Beware elest you say, ‘We have found wisdom;
God may vanquish him, not a man.’
14 He has not directed his words against me,
and I will not answer him with your speeches.
15 “They are dismayed; they answer no more;
they have not a word to say.
16 And shall I wait, because they do not speak,
because they stand there, and answer no more?
17 I also will answer with my share;
I also will declare my opinion.
18 For I am full of words;
the spirit within me constrains me.
19 Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent;
like new fwineskins ready to burst.
20 gI must speak, that I may find hrelief;
I must open my lips and answer.
21 I will not ishow partiality to any man
or use flattery toward any person.
22 For I do not know how to flatter,
else my Maker would soon take me away.
Dead to Sin, Alive to God
1 What shall we say then? mAre we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can nwe who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us owho have been baptized pinto Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were qburied therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as rChrist was raised from the dead by sthe glory of the Father, we too might walk in tnewness of life.
5 For uif we have been united with him in va death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that wour old self1 xwas crucified with him in order that ythe body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For zone who has died ahas been set free2 from sin. 8 Now bif we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that cChrist, being raised from the dead, will never die again; ddeath no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, eonce for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves fdead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Let not gsin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 hDo not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but ipresent yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For jsin kwill have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Slaves to Righteousness
15 What then? lAre we to sin mbecause we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves nto anyone as obedient slaves,3 you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But othanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the pstandard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, qhaving been set free from sin, rhave become slaves of righteousness. 19 sI am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For tjust as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members uas slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
20 vFor when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 wBut what fruit were you getting at that time from the things xof which you are now ashamed? yFor the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you zhave been set free from sin and ahave become slaves of God, bthe fruit you get leads to sanctification and cits end, eternal life. 23 dFor the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
