Psalm 9
God’s Power and JusticeTo the leader: according to Muth-labben. A Psalm of David.
1I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
3When my enemies turned back,
they stumbled and perished before you.
4For you have maintained my just cause;
you have sat on the throne giving righteous judgement.
5You have rebuked the nations, you have destroyed the wicked;
you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
6The enemies have vanished in everlasting ruins;
their cities you have rooted out;
the very memory of them has perished.
7But the Lord sits enthroned for ever,
he has established his throne for judgement.
8He judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with equity.
9The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
10And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
11Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion.
Declare his deeds among the peoples.
12For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;
he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
13Be gracious to me, O Lord.
See what I suffer from those who hate me;
you are the one who lifts me up from the gates of death,
14so that I may recount all your praises,
and, in the gates of daughter Zion,
rejoice in your deliverance.
15The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
in the net that they hid has their own foot been caught.
16The Lord has made himself known, he has executed judgement;
the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.
Higgaion. Selah
17The wicked shall depart to Sheol,
all the nations that forget God.
18For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
nor the hope of the poor perish for ever.
19Rise up, O Lord! Do not let mortals prevail;
let the nations be judged before you.
20Put them in fear, O Lord;
let the nations know that they are only human.
Selah
Psalm 10
Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies
1Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor—
let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.
3For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart,
those greedy for gain curse and renounce the Lord.
4In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, ‘God will not seek it out’;
all their thoughts are, ‘There is no God.’
5Their ways prosper at all times;
your judgements are on high, out of their sight;
as for their foes, they scoff at them.
6They think in their heart, ‘We shall not be moved;
throughout all generations we shall not meet adversity.’
7Their mouths are filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
under their tongues are mischief and iniquity.
8They sit in ambush in the villages;
in hiding-places they murder the innocent.
Their eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
9 they lurk in secret like a lion in its covert;
they lurk that they may seize the poor;
they seize the poor and drag them off in their net.
10They stoop, they crouch,
and the helpless fall by their might.
11They think in their heart, ‘God has forgotten,
he has hidden his face, he will never see it.’
12Rise up, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;
do not forget the oppressed.
13Why do the wicked renounce God,
and say in their hearts, ‘You will not call us to account’?
14But you do see! Indeed you note trouble and grief,
that you may take it into your hands;
the helpless commit themselves to you;
you have been the helper of the orphan.
15Break the arm of the wicked and evildoers;
seek out their wickedness until you find none.
16The Lord is king for ever and ever;
the nations shall perish from his land.
17O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek;
you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear
18to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed,
so that those from earth may strike terror no more.*
Psalm 11
Song of Trust in GodTo the leader. Of David.
1In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to me,
‘Flee like a bird to the mountains;*
2for look, the wicked bend the bow,
they have fitted their arrow to the string,
to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart.
3If the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?’
4The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord’s throne is in heaven.
His eyes behold, his gaze examines humankind.
5The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked,
and his soul hates the lover of violence.
6On the wicked he will rain coals of fire and sulphur;
a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
7For the Lord is righteous;
he loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold his face.
Psalm 12
Plea for Help in Evil TimesTo the leader: according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.
1Help, O Lord, for there is no longer anyone who is godly;
the faithful have disappeared from humankind.
2They utter lies to each other;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
3May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts,
4those who say, ‘With our tongues we will prevail;
our lips are our own—who is our master?’
5‘Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,
I will now rise up,’ says the Lord;
‘I will place them in the safety for which they long.’
6The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure,
silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
7You, O Lord, will protect us;
you will guard us from this generation for ever.
8On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among humankind.
Psalm 13
Prayer for Deliverance from EnemiesTo the leader. A Psalm of David.
1How long, O Lord? Will you forget me for ever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2How long must I bear pain* in my soul,
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4and my enemy will say, ‘I have prevailed’;
my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
5But I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Psalm 14
Denunciation of GodlessnessTo the leader. Of David.
1Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is no one who does good.
2The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind
to see if there are any who are wise,
who seek after God.
3They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse;
there is no one who does good,
no, not one.
4Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call upon the Lord?
5There they shall be in great terror,
for God is with the company of the righteous.
6You would confound the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is their refuge.
7O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.
Psalm 15
Who Shall Abide in God’s Sanctuary?A Psalm of David.
1O Lord, who may abide in your tent?
Who may dwell on your holy hill?
2Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right,
and speak the truth from their heart;
3who do not slander with their tongue,
and do no evil to their friends,
nor take up a reproach against their neighbours;
4in whose eyes the wicked are despised,
but who honour those who fear the Lord;
who stand by their oath even to their hurt;
5who do not lend money at interest,
and do not take a bribe against the innocent.
Those who do these things shall never be moved.
Psalm 16
Song of Trust and Security in GodA Miktam of David.
1Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
2I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.’*
3As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble,
in whom is all my delight.
4Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows;*
their drink-offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names upon my lips.
5The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
6The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
I have a goodly heritage.
7I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
8I keep the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.
10For you do not give me up to Sheol,
or let your faithful one see the Pit.
11You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.
Psalm 17
Prayer for Deliverance from PersecutorsA Prayer of David.
1Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry;
give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit.
2From you let my vindication come;
let your eyes see the right.
3If you try my heart, if you visit me by night,
if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me;
my mouth does not transgress.
4As for what others do, by the word of your lips
I have avoided the ways of the violent.
5My steps have held fast to your paths;
my feet have not slipped.
6I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me, hear my words.
7Wondrously show your steadfast love,
O saviour of those who seek refuge
from their adversaries at your right hand.
8Guard me as the apple of the eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings,
9from the wicked who despoil me,
my deadly enemies who surround me.
10They close their hearts to pity;
with their mouths they speak arrogantly.
11They track me down;* now they surround me;
they set their eyes to cast me to the ground.
12They are like a lion eager to tear,
like a young lion lurking in ambush.
13Rise up, O Lord, confront them, overthrow them!
By your sword deliver my life from the wicked,
14from mortals—by your hand, O Lord—
from mortals whose portion in life is in this world.
May their bellies be filled with what you have stored up for them;
may their children have more than enough;
may they leave something over to their little ones.
15As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness;
when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
May 30 Psalms 1-8
Psalm 1
The Two Ways
1Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
or sit in the seat of scoffers;
2but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
3They are like trees
planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.
4The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Psalm 2
God’s Promise to His Anointed
1Why do the nations conspire,
and the peoples plot in vain?
2The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and his anointed, saying,
3‘Let us burst their bonds asunder,
and cast their cords from us.’
4He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord has them in derision.
5Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6‘I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.’
7I will tell of the decree of the Lord:
He said to me, ‘You are my son;
today I have begotten you.
8Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9You shall break them with a rod of iron,
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’
10Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11Serve the Lord with fear,
with trembling 12kiss his feet,*
or he will be angry, and you will perish in the way;
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Happy are all who take refuge in him.
Psalm 3
Trust in God under AdversityA Psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom.
1O Lord, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
2many are saying to me,
‘There is no help for you* in God.’
Selah
3But you, O Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
4I cry aloud to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy hill.
Selah
5I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.
6I am not afraid of tens of thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.
7Rise up, O Lord!
Deliver me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.
8Deliverance belongs to the Lord;
may your blessing be on your people!
Selah
Psalm 4
Confident Plea for Deliverance from EnemiesTo the leader: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
1Answer me when I call, O God of my right!
You gave me room when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.
2How long, you people, shall my honour suffer shame?
How long will you love vain words, and seek after lies?
Selah
3But know that the Lord has set apart the faithful for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.
4When you are disturbed,* do not sin;
ponder it on your beds, and be silent.
Selah
5Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the Lord.
6There are many who say, ‘O that we might see some good!
Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!’
7You have put gladness in my heart
more than when their grain and wine abound.
8I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.
Psalm 5
Trust in God for Deliverance from EnemiesTo the leader: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.
1Give ear to my words, O Lord;
give heed to my sighing.
2Listen to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.
3O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch.
4For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil will not sojourn with you.
5The boastful will not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
6You destroy those who speak lies;
the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful.
7But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house,
I will bow down towards your holy temple
in awe of you.
8Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make your way straight before me.
9For there is no truth in their mouths;
their hearts are destruction;
their throats are open graves;
they flatter with their tongues.
10Make them bear their guilt, O God;
let them fall by their own counsels;
because of their many transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.
11But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
so that those who love your name may exult in you.
12For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
you cover them with favour as with a shield.
Psalm 6
Prayer for Recovery from Grave IllnessTo the leader: with stringed instruments; according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.
1O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger,
or discipline me in your wrath.
2Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.
3My soul also is struck with terror,
while you, O Lord—how long?
4Turn, O Lord, save my life;
deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.
5For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who can give you praise?
6I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
7My eyes waste away because of grief;
they grow weak because of all my foes.
8Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
9The Lord has heard my supplication;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
10All my enemies shall be ashamed and struck with terror;
they shall turn back, and in a moment be put to shame.
Psalm 7
Plea for Help against PersecutorsA Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjaminite.
1O Lord my God, in you I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me,
2or like a lion they will tear me apart;
they will drag me away, with no one to rescue.
3O Lord my God, if I have done this,
if there is wrong in my hands,
4if I have repaid my ally with harm
or plundered my foe without cause,
5then let the enemy pursue and overtake me,
trample my life to the ground,
and lay my soul in the dust.
Selah
6Rise up, O Lord, in your anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
awake, O my God;* you have appointed a judgement.
7Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered around you,
and over it take your seat* on high.
8The Lord judges the peoples;
judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.
9O let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous,
you who test the minds and hearts,
O righteous God.
10God is my shield,
who saves the upright in heart.
11God is a righteous judge,
and a God who has indignation every day.
12If one does not repent, God* will whet his sword;
he has bent and strung his bow;
13he has prepared his deadly weapons,
making his arrows fiery shafts.
14See how they conceive evil,
and are pregnant with mischief,
and bring forth lies.
15They make a pit, digging it out,
and fall into the hole that they have made.
16Their mischief returns upon their own heads,
and on their own heads their violence descends.
17I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,
and sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.
Psalm 8
Divine Majesty and Human DignityTo the leader: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.
1O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
3When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
4what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals* that you care for them?
5Yet you have made them a little lower than God,*
and crowned them with glory and honour.
6You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
7all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
The Two Ways
1Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
or sit in the seat of scoffers;
2but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
3They are like trees
planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.
4The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Psalm 2
God’s Promise to His Anointed
1Why do the nations conspire,
and the peoples plot in vain?
2The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and his anointed, saying,
3‘Let us burst their bonds asunder,
and cast their cords from us.’
4He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord has them in derision.
5Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6‘I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.’
7I will tell of the decree of the Lord:
He said to me, ‘You are my son;
today I have begotten you.
8Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9You shall break them with a rod of iron,
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’
10Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11Serve the Lord with fear,
with trembling 12kiss his feet,*
or he will be angry, and you will perish in the way;
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Happy are all who take refuge in him.
Psalm 3
Trust in God under AdversityA Psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom.
1O Lord, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
2many are saying to me,
‘There is no help for you* in God.’
Selah
3But you, O Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
4I cry aloud to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy hill.
Selah
5I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.
6I am not afraid of tens of thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.
7Rise up, O Lord!
Deliver me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.
8Deliverance belongs to the Lord;
may your blessing be on your people!
Selah
Psalm 4
Confident Plea for Deliverance from EnemiesTo the leader: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
1Answer me when I call, O God of my right!
You gave me room when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.
2How long, you people, shall my honour suffer shame?
How long will you love vain words, and seek after lies?
Selah
3But know that the Lord has set apart the faithful for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.
4When you are disturbed,* do not sin;
ponder it on your beds, and be silent.
Selah
5Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the Lord.
6There are many who say, ‘O that we might see some good!
Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!’
7You have put gladness in my heart
more than when their grain and wine abound.
8I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.
Psalm 5
Trust in God for Deliverance from EnemiesTo the leader: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.
1Give ear to my words, O Lord;
give heed to my sighing.
2Listen to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.
3O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch.
4For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil will not sojourn with you.
5The boastful will not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
6You destroy those who speak lies;
the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful.
7But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house,
I will bow down towards your holy temple
in awe of you.
8Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make your way straight before me.
9For there is no truth in their mouths;
their hearts are destruction;
their throats are open graves;
they flatter with their tongues.
10Make them bear their guilt, O God;
let them fall by their own counsels;
because of their many transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.
11But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
so that those who love your name may exult in you.
12For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
you cover them with favour as with a shield.
Psalm 6
Prayer for Recovery from Grave IllnessTo the leader: with stringed instruments; according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.
1O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger,
or discipline me in your wrath.
2Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.
3My soul also is struck with terror,
while you, O Lord—how long?
4Turn, O Lord, save my life;
deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.
5For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who can give you praise?
6I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
7My eyes waste away because of grief;
they grow weak because of all my foes.
8Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
9The Lord has heard my supplication;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
10All my enemies shall be ashamed and struck with terror;
they shall turn back, and in a moment be put to shame.
Psalm 7
Plea for Help against PersecutorsA Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjaminite.
1O Lord my God, in you I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me,
2or like a lion they will tear me apart;
they will drag me away, with no one to rescue.
3O Lord my God, if I have done this,
if there is wrong in my hands,
4if I have repaid my ally with harm
or plundered my foe without cause,
5then let the enemy pursue and overtake me,
trample my life to the ground,
and lay my soul in the dust.
Selah
6Rise up, O Lord, in your anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
awake, O my God;* you have appointed a judgement.
7Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered around you,
and over it take your seat* on high.
8The Lord judges the peoples;
judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.
9O let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous,
you who test the minds and hearts,
O righteous God.
10God is my shield,
who saves the upright in heart.
11God is a righteous judge,
and a God who has indignation every day.
12If one does not repent, God* will whet his sword;
he has bent and strung his bow;
13he has prepared his deadly weapons,
making his arrows fiery shafts.
14See how they conceive evil,
and are pregnant with mischief,
and bring forth lies.
15They make a pit, digging it out,
and fall into the hole that they have made.
16Their mischief returns upon their own heads,
and on their own heads their violence descends.
17I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,
and sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.
Psalm 8
Divine Majesty and Human DignityTo the leader: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.
1O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
3When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
4what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals* that you care for them?
5Yet you have made them a little lower than God,*
and crowned them with glory and honour.
6You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
7all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Friday, May 29, 2009
May 28 Job 38-42
38Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
2‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3Gird up your loins like a man,
I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
4‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone
7when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings* shouted for joy?
8‘Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb?—
9when I made the clouds its garment,
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10and prescribed bounds for it,
and set bars and doors,
11and said, “Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stopped”?
12‘Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
and caused the dawn to know its place,
13so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
and the wicked be shaken out of it?
14It is changed like clay under the seal,
and it is dyed* like a garment.
15Light is withheld from the wicked,
and their uplifted arm is broken.
16‘Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
18Have 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,
20that you may take it to its territory
and that you may discern the paths to its home?
21Surely you know, for you were born then,
and the number of your days is great!
22‘Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
23which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war?
24What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,
or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
25‘Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a way for the thunderbolt,
26to bring rain on a land where no one lives,
on the desert, which is empty of human life,
27to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
and to make the ground put forth grass?
28‘Has the rain a father,
or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29From whose womb did the ice come forth,
and who has given birth to the hoar-frost of heaven?
30The waters become hard like stone,
and the face of the deep is frozen.
31‘Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,
or loose the cords of Orion?
32Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,
or can you guide the Bear with its children?
33Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
Can you establish their rule on the earth?
34‘Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
so that a flood of waters may cover you?
35Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go
and say to you, “Here we are”?
36Who has put wisdom in the inward parts,*
or given understanding to the mind?*
37Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
38when the dust runs into a mass
and the clods cling together?
39‘Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40when they crouch in their dens,
or lie in wait in their covert?
41Who provides for the raven its prey,
when its young ones cry to God,
and wander about for lack of food?
39‘Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
Do you observe the calving of the deer?
2Can you number the months that they fulfil,
and do you know the time when they give birth,
3when they crouch to give birth to their offspring,
and are delivered of their young?
4Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open;
they go forth, and do not return to them.
5‘Who has let the wild ass go free?
Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,
6to which I have given the steppe for its home,
the salt land for its dwelling-place?
7It scorns the tumult of the city;
it does not hear the shouts of the driver.
8It ranges the mountains as its pasture,
and it searches after every green thing.
9‘Is the wild ox willing to serve you?
Will it spend the night at your crib?
10Can you tie it in the furrow with ropes,
or will it harrow the valleys after you?
11Will you depend on it because its strength is great,
and will you hand over your labour to it?
12Do you have faith in it that it will return,
and bring your grain to your threshing-floor?*
13‘The ostrich’s wings flap wildly,
though its pinions lack plumage.*
14For it leaves its eggs to the earth,
and lets them be warmed on the ground,
15forgetting that a foot may crush them,
and that a wild animal may trample them.
16It deals cruelly with its young, as if they were not its own;
though its labour should be in vain, yet it has no fear;
17because God has made it forget wisdom,
and given it no share in understanding.
18When it spreads its plumes aloft,*
it laughs at the horse and its rider.
19‘Do you give the horse its might?
Do you clothe its neck with mane?
20Do you make it leap like the locust?
Its majestic snorting is terrible.
21It paws* violently, exults mightily;
it goes out to meet the weapons.
22It laughs at fear, and is not dismayed;
it does not turn back from the sword.
23Upon it rattle the quiver,
the flashing spear, and the javelin.
24With fierceness and rage it swallows the ground;
it cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
25When the trumpet sounds, it says “Aha!”
From a distance it smells the battle,
the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26‘Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,
and spreads its wings towards the south?
27Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
and makes its nest on high?
28It lives on the rock and makes its home
in the fastness of the rocky crag.
29From there it spies the prey;
its eyes see it from far away.
30Its young ones suck up blood;
and where the slain are, there it is.’
40And the Lord said to Job:
2‘Shall a fault-finder contend with the Almighty?*
Anyone who argues with God must respond.’
Job’s Response to God
3Then Job answered the Lord:
4‘See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?
I lay my hand on my mouth.
5I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
twice, but will proceed no further.’
God’s Challenge to Job6 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
7‘Gird up your loins like a man;
I will question you, and you declare to me.
8Will you even put me in the wrong?
Will you condemn me that you may be justified?
9Have you an arm like God,
and can you thunder with a voice like his?
10‘Deck yourself with majesty and dignity;
clothe yourself with glory and splendour.
11Pour out the overflowings of your anger,
and look on all who are proud, and abase them.
12Look on all who are proud, and bring them low;
tread down the wicked where they stand.
13Hide them all in the dust together;
bind their faces in the world below.*
14Then I will also acknowledge to you
that your own right hand can give you victory.
15‘Look at Behemoth,
which I made just as I made you;
it eats grass like an ox.
16Its strength is in its loins,
and its power in the muscles of its belly.
17It makes its tail stiff like a cedar;
the sinews of its thighs are knit together.
18Its bones are tubes of bronze,
its limbs like bars of iron.
19‘It is the first of the great acts of God—
only its Maker can approach it with the sword.
20For the mountains yield food for it
where all the wild animals play.
21Under the lotus plants it lies,
in the covert of the reeds and in the marsh.
22The lotus trees cover it for shade;
the willows of the wadi surround it.
23Even if the river is turbulent, it is not frightened;
it is confident though Jordan rushes against its mouth.
24Can one take it with hooks*
or pierce its nose with a snare?
41*‘Can you draw out Leviathan* with a fish-hook,
or press down its tongue with a cord?
2Can you put a rope in its nose,
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
3Will it make many supplications to you?
Will it speak soft words to you?
4Will it make a covenant with you
to be taken as your servant for ever?
5Will you play with it as with a bird,
or will you put it on a leash for your girls?
6Will traders bargain over it?
Will they divide it up among the merchants?
7Can you fill its skin with harpoons,
or its head with fishing-spears?
8Lay hands on it;
think of the battle; you will not do it again!
9*Any hope of capturing it* will be disappointed;
were not even the gods* overwhelmed at the sight of it?
10No one is so fierce as to dare to stir it up.
Who can stand before it?*
11Who can confront it* and be safe?*
—under the whole heaven, who?*
12‘I will not keep silence concerning its limbs,
or its mighty strength, or its splendid frame.
13Who can strip off its outer garment?
Who can penetrate its double coat of mail?*
14Who can open the doors of its face?
There is terror all around its teeth.
15Its back* is made of shields in rows,
shut up closely as with a seal.
16One is so near to another
that no air can come between them.
17They are joined one to another;
they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
18Its sneezes flash forth light,
and its eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
19From its mouth go flaming torches;
sparks of fire leap out.
20Out of its nostrils comes smoke,
as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
21Its breath kindles coals,
and a flame comes out of its mouth.
22In its neck abides strength,
and terror dances before it.
23The folds of its flesh cling together;
it is firmly cast and immovable.
24Its heart is as hard as stone,
as hard as the lower millstone.
25When it raises itself up the gods are afraid;
at the crashing they are beside themselves.
26Though the sword reaches it, it does not avail,
nor does the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
27It counts iron as straw,
and bronze as rotten wood.
28The arrow cannot make it flee;
slingstones, for it, are turned to chaff.
29Clubs are counted as chaff;
it laughs at the rattle of javelins.
30Its underparts are like sharp potsherds;
it spreads itself like a threshing-sledge on the mire.
31It makes the deep boil like a pot;
it makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32It leaves a shining wake behind it;
one would think the deep to be white-haired.
33On earth it has no equal,
a creature without fear.
34It surveys everything that is lofty;
it is king over all that are proud.’
Job Is Humbled and Satisfied42Then Job answered the Lord:
2‘I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3“Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?”
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4“Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you declare to me.”
5I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
6therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.’
Job’s Friends Are Humiliated7 After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: ‘My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. 8Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt-offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done.’ 9So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.
Job’s Fortunes Are Restored Twofold10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money* and a gold ring. 12The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. 13He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 15In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. 16After this Job lived for one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children’s children, four generations. 17And Job died, old and full of days.
2‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3Gird up your loins like a man,
I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
4‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone
7when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings* shouted for joy?
8‘Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb?—
9when I made the clouds its garment,
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10and prescribed bounds for it,
and set bars and doors,
11and said, “Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stopped”?
12‘Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
and caused the dawn to know its place,
13so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
and the wicked be shaken out of it?
14It is changed like clay under the seal,
and it is dyed* like a garment.
15Light is withheld from the wicked,
and their uplifted arm is broken.
16‘Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
18Have 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,
20that you may take it to its territory
and that you may discern the paths to its home?
21Surely you know, for you were born then,
and the number of your days is great!
22‘Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
23which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war?
24What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,
or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
25‘Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a way for the thunderbolt,
26to bring rain on a land where no one lives,
on the desert, which is empty of human life,
27to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
and to make the ground put forth grass?
28‘Has the rain a father,
or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29From whose womb did the ice come forth,
and who has given birth to the hoar-frost of heaven?
30The waters become hard like stone,
and the face of the deep is frozen.
31‘Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,
or loose the cords of Orion?
32Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,
or can you guide the Bear with its children?
33Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
Can you establish their rule on the earth?
34‘Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
so that a flood of waters may cover you?
35Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go
and say to you, “Here we are”?
36Who has put wisdom in the inward parts,*
or given understanding to the mind?*
37Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
38when the dust runs into a mass
and the clods cling together?
39‘Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40when they crouch in their dens,
or lie in wait in their covert?
41Who provides for the raven its prey,
when its young ones cry to God,
and wander about for lack of food?
39‘Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
Do you observe the calving of the deer?
2Can you number the months that they fulfil,
and do you know the time when they give birth,
3when they crouch to give birth to their offspring,
and are delivered of their young?
4Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open;
they go forth, and do not return to them.
5‘Who has let the wild ass go free?
Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,
6to which I have given the steppe for its home,
the salt land for its dwelling-place?
7It scorns the tumult of the city;
it does not hear the shouts of the driver.
8It ranges the mountains as its pasture,
and it searches after every green thing.
9‘Is the wild ox willing to serve you?
Will it spend the night at your crib?
10Can you tie it in the furrow with ropes,
or will it harrow the valleys after you?
11Will you depend on it because its strength is great,
and will you hand over your labour to it?
12Do you have faith in it that it will return,
and bring your grain to your threshing-floor?*
13‘The ostrich’s wings flap wildly,
though its pinions lack plumage.*
14For it leaves its eggs to the earth,
and lets them be warmed on the ground,
15forgetting that a foot may crush them,
and that a wild animal may trample them.
16It deals cruelly with its young, as if they were not its own;
though its labour should be in vain, yet it has no fear;
17because God has made it forget wisdom,
and given it no share in understanding.
18When it spreads its plumes aloft,*
it laughs at the horse and its rider.
19‘Do you give the horse its might?
Do you clothe its neck with mane?
20Do you make it leap like the locust?
Its majestic snorting is terrible.
21It paws* violently, exults mightily;
it goes out to meet the weapons.
22It laughs at fear, and is not dismayed;
it does not turn back from the sword.
23Upon it rattle the quiver,
the flashing spear, and the javelin.
24With fierceness and rage it swallows the ground;
it cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
25When the trumpet sounds, it says “Aha!”
From a distance it smells the battle,
the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26‘Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,
and spreads its wings towards the south?
27Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
and makes its nest on high?
28It lives on the rock and makes its home
in the fastness of the rocky crag.
29From there it spies the prey;
its eyes see it from far away.
30Its young ones suck up blood;
and where the slain are, there it is.’
40And the Lord said to Job:
2‘Shall a fault-finder contend with the Almighty?*
Anyone who argues with God must respond.’
Job’s Response to God
3Then Job answered the Lord:
4‘See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?
I lay my hand on my mouth.
5I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
twice, but will proceed no further.’
God’s Challenge to Job6 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
7‘Gird up your loins like a man;
I will question you, and you declare to me.
8Will you even put me in the wrong?
Will you condemn me that you may be justified?
9Have you an arm like God,
and can you thunder with a voice like his?
10‘Deck yourself with majesty and dignity;
clothe yourself with glory and splendour.
11Pour out the overflowings of your anger,
and look on all who are proud, and abase them.
12Look on all who are proud, and bring them low;
tread down the wicked where they stand.
13Hide them all in the dust together;
bind their faces in the world below.*
14Then I will also acknowledge to you
that your own right hand can give you victory.
15‘Look at Behemoth,
which I made just as I made you;
it eats grass like an ox.
16Its strength is in its loins,
and its power in the muscles of its belly.
17It makes its tail stiff like a cedar;
the sinews of its thighs are knit together.
18Its bones are tubes of bronze,
its limbs like bars of iron.
19‘It is the first of the great acts of God—
only its Maker can approach it with the sword.
20For the mountains yield food for it
where all the wild animals play.
21Under the lotus plants it lies,
in the covert of the reeds and in the marsh.
22The lotus trees cover it for shade;
the willows of the wadi surround it.
23Even if the river is turbulent, it is not frightened;
it is confident though Jordan rushes against its mouth.
24Can one take it with hooks*
or pierce its nose with a snare?
41*‘Can you draw out Leviathan* with a fish-hook,
or press down its tongue with a cord?
2Can you put a rope in its nose,
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
3Will it make many supplications to you?
Will it speak soft words to you?
4Will it make a covenant with you
to be taken as your servant for ever?
5Will you play with it as with a bird,
or will you put it on a leash for your girls?
6Will traders bargain over it?
Will they divide it up among the merchants?
7Can you fill its skin with harpoons,
or its head with fishing-spears?
8Lay hands on it;
think of the battle; you will not do it again!
9*Any hope of capturing it* will be disappointed;
were not even the gods* overwhelmed at the sight of it?
10No one is so fierce as to dare to stir it up.
Who can stand before it?*
11Who can confront it* and be safe?*
—under the whole heaven, who?*
12‘I will not keep silence concerning its limbs,
or its mighty strength, or its splendid frame.
13Who can strip off its outer garment?
Who can penetrate its double coat of mail?*
14Who can open the doors of its face?
There is terror all around its teeth.
15Its back* is made of shields in rows,
shut up closely as with a seal.
16One is so near to another
that no air can come between them.
17They are joined one to another;
they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
18Its sneezes flash forth light,
and its eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
19From its mouth go flaming torches;
sparks of fire leap out.
20Out of its nostrils comes smoke,
as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
21Its breath kindles coals,
and a flame comes out of its mouth.
22In its neck abides strength,
and terror dances before it.
23The folds of its flesh cling together;
it is firmly cast and immovable.
24Its heart is as hard as stone,
as hard as the lower millstone.
25When it raises itself up the gods are afraid;
at the crashing they are beside themselves.
26Though the sword reaches it, it does not avail,
nor does the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
27It counts iron as straw,
and bronze as rotten wood.
28The arrow cannot make it flee;
slingstones, for it, are turned to chaff.
29Clubs are counted as chaff;
it laughs at the rattle of javelins.
30Its underparts are like sharp potsherds;
it spreads itself like a threshing-sledge on the mire.
31It makes the deep boil like a pot;
it makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32It leaves a shining wake behind it;
one would think the deep to be white-haired.
33On earth it has no equal,
a creature without fear.
34It surveys everything that is lofty;
it is king over all that are proud.’
Job Is Humbled and Satisfied42Then Job answered the Lord:
2‘I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3“Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?”
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4“Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you declare to me.”
5I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
6therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.’
Job’s Friends Are Humiliated7 After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: ‘My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. 8Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt-offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done.’ 9So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.
Job’s Fortunes Are Restored Twofold10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money* and a gold ring. 12The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. 13He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 15In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. 16After this Job lived for one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children’s children, four generations. 17And Job died, old and full of days.
May 28 Job 32-37
32So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became angry. He was angry at Job because he justified himself rather than God; 3he was angry also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, though they had declared Job to be in the wrong.* 4Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he. 5But when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of these three men, he became angry.
6 Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite answered:
‘I am young in years,
and you are aged;
therefore I was timid and afraid
to declare my opinion to you.
7I said, “Let days speak,
and many years teach wisdom.”
8But truly it is the spirit in a mortal,
the breath of the Almighty,* that makes for understanding.
9It is not the old* that are wise,
nor the aged that understand what is right.
10Therefore I say, “Listen to me;
let me also declare my opinion.”
11‘See, I waited for your words,
I listened for your wise sayings,
while you searched out what to say.
12I gave you my attention,
but there was in fact no one that confuted Job,
no one among you that answered his words.
13Yet do not say, “We have found wisdom;
God may vanquish him, not a human.”
14He 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.
16And am I to wait, because they do not speak,
because they stand there, and answer no more?
17I also will give my answer;
I also will declare my opinion.
18For I am full of words;
the spirit within me constrains me.
19My heart is indeed like wine that has no vent;
like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.
20I must speak, so that I may find relief;
I must open my lips and answer.
21I will not show partiality to any person
or use flattery towards anyone.
22For I do not know how to flatter—
or my Maker would soon put an end to me!
Elihu Rebukes Job33‘But now, hear my speech, O Job,
and listen to all my words.
2See, I open my mouth;
the tongue in my mouth speaks.
3My words declare the uprightness of my heart,
and what my lips know they speak sincerely.
4The spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty* gives me life.
5Answer me, if you can;
set your words in order before me; take your stand.
6See, before God I am as you are;
I too was formed from a piece of clay.
7No fear of me need terrify you;
my pressure will not be heavy on you.
8‘Surely, you have spoken in my hearing,
and I have heard the sound of your words.
9You say, “I am clean, without transgression;
I am pure, and there is no iniquity in me.
10Look, he finds occasions against me,
he counts me as his enemy;
11he puts my feet in the stocks,
and watches all my paths.”
12‘But in this you are not right. I will answer you:
God is greater than any mortal.
13Why do you contend against him,
saying, “He will answer none of my* words”?
14For God speaks in one way,
and in two, though people do not perceive it.
15In a dream, in a vision of the night,
when deep sleep falls on mortals,
while they slumber on their beds,
16then he opens their ears,
and terrifies them with warnings,
17that he may turn them aside from their deeds,
and keep them from pride,
18to spare their souls from the Pit,
their lives from traversing the River.
19They are also chastened with pain upon their beds,
and with continual strife in their bones,
20so that their lives loathe bread,
and their appetites dainty food.
21Their flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen;
and their bones, once invisible, now stick out.
22Their souls draw near the Pit,
and their lives to those who bring death.
23Then, if there should be for one of them an angel,
a mediator, one of a thousand,
one who declares a person upright,
24and he is gracious to that person, and says,
“Deliver him from going down into the Pit;
I have found a ransom;
25let his flesh become fresh with youth;
let him return to the days of his youthful vigour”;
26then he prays to God, and is accepted by him,
he comes into his presence with joy,
and God* repays him for his righteousness.
27 That person sings to others and says,
“I sinned, and perverted what was right,
and it was not paid back to me.
28He has redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit,
and my life shall see the light.”
29‘God indeed does all these things,
twice, three times, with mortals,
30to bring back their souls from the Pit,
so that they may see the light of life.*
31Pay heed, Job, listen to me;
be silent, and I will speak.
32If you have anything to say, answer me;
speak, for I desire to justify you.
33If not, listen to me;
be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.’
Elihu Proclaims God’s Justice34Then Elihu continued and said:
2‘Hear my words, you wise men,
and give ear to me, you who know;
3for the ear tests words
as the palate tastes food.
4Let us choose what is right;
let us determine among ourselves what is good.
5For Job has said, “I am innocent,
and God has taken away my right;
6in spite of being right I am counted a liar;
my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.”
7Who is there like Job,
who drinks up scoffing like water,
8who goes in company with evildoers
and walks with the wicked?
9For he has said, “It profits one nothing
to take delight in God.”
10‘Therefore, hear me, you who have sense,
far be it from God that he should do wickedness,
and from the Almighty* that he should do wrong.
11For according to their deeds he will repay them,
and according to their ways he will make it befall them.
12Of a truth, God will not do wickedly,
and the Almighty* will not pervert justice.
13Who gave him charge over the earth
and who laid on him* the whole world?
14If he should take back his spirit* to himself,
and gather to himself his breath,
15all flesh would perish together,
and all mortals return to dust.
16‘If you have understanding, hear this;
listen to what I say.
17Shall one who hates justice govern?
Will you condemn one who is righteous and mighty,
18who says to a king, “You scoundrel!”
and to princes, “You wicked men!”;
19who shows no partiality to nobles,
nor regards the rich more than the poor,
for they are all the work of his hands?
20In 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 his eyes are upon the ways of mortals,
and he sees all their steps.
22There is no gloom or deep darkness
where evildoers may hide themselves.
23For he has not appointed a time* for anyone
to go before God in judgement.
24He shatters the mighty without investigation,
and sets others in their place.
25Thus, knowing their works,
he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.
26He strikes them for their wickedness
while others look on,
27because they turned aside from following him,
and had no regard for any of his ways,
28so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him,
and he heard the cry of the afflicted—
29When he is quiet, who can condemn?
When he hides his face, who can behold him,
whether it be a nation or an individual?—
30so that the godless should not reign,
or those who ensnare the people.
31‘For has anyone said to God,
“I have endured punishment; I will not offend any more;
32teach me what I do not see;
if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more”?
33Will he then pay back to suit you,
because you reject it?
For you must choose, and not I;
therefore declare what you know.*
34Those who have sense will say to me,
and the wise who hear me will say,
35“Job speaks without knowledge,
his words are without insight.”
36Would that Job were tried to the limit,
because his answers are those of the wicked.
37For he adds rebellion to his sin;
he claps his hands among us,
and multiplies his words against God.’
Elihu Condemns Self-Righteousness35Elihu continued and said:
2‘Do you think this to be just?
You say, “I am in the right before God.”
3If you ask, “What advantage have I?
How am I better off than if I had sinned?”
4I will answer you
and your friends with you.
5Look at the heavens and see;
observe the clouds, which are higher than you.
6If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him?
And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
7If you are righteous, what do you give to him;
or what does he receive from your hand?
8Your wickedness affects others like you,
and your righteousness, other human beings.
9‘Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out;
they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.
10But no one says, “Where is God my Maker,
who gives strength in the night,
11who teaches us more than the animals of the earth,
and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?”
12There they cry out, but he does not answer,
because of the pride of evildoers.
13Surely God does not hear an empty cry,
nor does the Almighty* regard it.
14How much less when you say that you do not see him,
that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him!
15And now, because his anger does not punish,
and he does not greatly heed transgression,*
16Job opens his mouth in empty talk,
he multiplies words without knowledge.’
Elihu Exalts God’s Goodness36Elihu continued and said:
2‘Bear with me a little, and I will show you,
for I have yet something to say on God’s behalf.
3I will bring my knowledge from far away,
and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
4For truly my words are not false;
one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.
5‘Surely God is mighty and does not despise any;
he is mighty in strength of understanding.
6He does not keep the wicked alive,
but gives the afflicted their right.
7He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous,
but with kings on the throne
he sets them for ever, and they are exalted.
8And if they are bound in fetters
and caught in the cords of affliction,
9then he declares to them their work
and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.
10He opens their ears to instruction,
and commands that they return from iniquity.
11If they listen, and serve him,
they complete their days in prosperity,
and their years in pleasantness.
12But if they do not listen, they shall perish by the sword,
and die without knowledge.
13‘The godless in heart cherish anger;
they do not cry for help when he binds them.
14They die in their youth,
and their life ends in shame.*
15He delivers the afflicted by their affliction,
and opens their ear by adversity.
16He also allured you out of distress
into a broad place where there was no constraint,
and what was set on your table was full of fatness.
17‘But you are obsessed with the case of the wicked;
judgement and justice seize you.
18Beware that wrath does not entice you into scoffing,
and do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.
19Will your cry avail to keep you from distress,
or will all the force of your strength?
20Do not long for the night,
when peoples are cut off in their place.
21Beware! Do not turn to iniquity;
because of that you have been tried by affliction.
22See, God is exalted in his power;
who is a teacher like him?
23Who has prescribed for him his way,
or who can say, “You have done wrong”?
Elihu Proclaims God’s Majesty
24‘Remember to extol his work,
of which mortals have sung.
25All people have looked on it;
everyone watches it from far away.
26Surely God is great, and we do not know him;
the number of his years is unsearchable.
27For he draws up the drops of water;
he distils* his mist in rain,
28which the skies pour down
and drop upon mortals abundantly.
29Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds,
the thunderings of his pavilion?
30See, he scatters his lightning around him
and covers the roots of the sea.
31For by these he governs peoples;
he gives food in abundance.
32He covers his hands with the lightning,
and commands it to strike the mark.
33Its crashing* tells about him;
he is jealous* with anger against iniquity.
37‘At this also my heart trembles,
and leaps out of its place.
2Listen, listen to the thunder of his voice
and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3Under the whole heaven he lets it loose,
and his lightning to the corners of the earth.
4After it his voice roars;
he thunders with his majestic voice
and he does not restrain the lightnings* when his voice is heard.
5God thunders wondrously with his voice;
he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
6For to the snow he says, “Fall on the earth”;
and the shower of rain, his heavy shower of rain,
7serves as a sign on everyone’s hand,
so that all whom he has made may know it.*
8Then the animals go into their lairs
and remain in their dens.
9From its chamber comes the whirlwind,
and cold from the scattering winds.
10By the breath of God ice is given,
and the broad waters are frozen fast.
11He loads the thick cloud with moisture;
the clouds scatter his lightning.
12They turn round and round by his guidance,
to accomplish all that he commands them
on the face of the habitable world.
13Whether 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.
15Do you know how God lays his command upon them,
and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?
16Do you know the balancings of the clouds,
the wondrous works of the one whose knowledge is perfect,
17you whose garments are hot
when the earth is still because of the south wind?
18Can you, like him, spread out the skies,
unyielding as a cast mirror?
19Teach us what we shall say to him;
we cannot draw up our case because of darkness.
20Should he be told that I want to speak?
Did anyone ever wish to be swallowed up?
21Now, no one can look on the light
when it is bright in the skies,
when the wind has passed and cleared them.
22Out of the north comes golden splendour;
around God is awesome majesty.
23The Almighty*—we cannot find him;
he is great in power and justice,
and abundant righteousness he will not violate.
24Therefore mortals fear him;
he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.’
6 Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite answered:
‘I am young in years,
and you are aged;
therefore I was timid and afraid
to declare my opinion to you.
7I said, “Let days speak,
and many years teach wisdom.”
8But truly it is the spirit in a mortal,
the breath of the Almighty,* that makes for understanding.
9It is not the old* that are wise,
nor the aged that understand what is right.
10Therefore I say, “Listen to me;
let me also declare my opinion.”
11‘See, I waited for your words,
I listened for your wise sayings,
while you searched out what to say.
12I gave you my attention,
but there was in fact no one that confuted Job,
no one among you that answered his words.
13Yet do not say, “We have found wisdom;
God may vanquish him, not a human.”
14He 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.
16And am I to wait, because they do not speak,
because they stand there, and answer no more?
17I also will give my answer;
I also will declare my opinion.
18For I am full of words;
the spirit within me constrains me.
19My heart is indeed like wine that has no vent;
like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.
20I must speak, so that I may find relief;
I must open my lips and answer.
21I will not show partiality to any person
or use flattery towards anyone.
22For I do not know how to flatter—
or my Maker would soon put an end to me!
Elihu Rebukes Job33‘But now, hear my speech, O Job,
and listen to all my words.
2See, I open my mouth;
the tongue in my mouth speaks.
3My words declare the uprightness of my heart,
and what my lips know they speak sincerely.
4The spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty* gives me life.
5Answer me, if you can;
set your words in order before me; take your stand.
6See, before God I am as you are;
I too was formed from a piece of clay.
7No fear of me need terrify you;
my pressure will not be heavy on you.
8‘Surely, you have spoken in my hearing,
and I have heard the sound of your words.
9You say, “I am clean, without transgression;
I am pure, and there is no iniquity in me.
10Look, he finds occasions against me,
he counts me as his enemy;
11he puts my feet in the stocks,
and watches all my paths.”
12‘But in this you are not right. I will answer you:
God is greater than any mortal.
13Why do you contend against him,
saying, “He will answer none of my* words”?
14For God speaks in one way,
and in two, though people do not perceive it.
15In a dream, in a vision of the night,
when deep sleep falls on mortals,
while they slumber on their beds,
16then he opens their ears,
and terrifies them with warnings,
17that he may turn them aside from their deeds,
and keep them from pride,
18to spare their souls from the Pit,
their lives from traversing the River.
19They are also chastened with pain upon their beds,
and with continual strife in their bones,
20so that their lives loathe bread,
and their appetites dainty food.
21Their flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen;
and their bones, once invisible, now stick out.
22Their souls draw near the Pit,
and their lives to those who bring death.
23Then, if there should be for one of them an angel,
a mediator, one of a thousand,
one who declares a person upright,
24and he is gracious to that person, and says,
“Deliver him from going down into the Pit;
I have found a ransom;
25let his flesh become fresh with youth;
let him return to the days of his youthful vigour”;
26then he prays to God, and is accepted by him,
he comes into his presence with joy,
and God* repays him for his righteousness.
27 That person sings to others and says,
“I sinned, and perverted what was right,
and it was not paid back to me.
28He has redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit,
and my life shall see the light.”
29‘God indeed does all these things,
twice, three times, with mortals,
30to bring back their souls from the Pit,
so that they may see the light of life.*
31Pay heed, Job, listen to me;
be silent, and I will speak.
32If you have anything to say, answer me;
speak, for I desire to justify you.
33If not, listen to me;
be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.’
Elihu Proclaims God’s Justice34Then Elihu continued and said:
2‘Hear my words, you wise men,
and give ear to me, you who know;
3for the ear tests words
as the palate tastes food.
4Let us choose what is right;
let us determine among ourselves what is good.
5For Job has said, “I am innocent,
and God has taken away my right;
6in spite of being right I am counted a liar;
my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.”
7Who is there like Job,
who drinks up scoffing like water,
8who goes in company with evildoers
and walks with the wicked?
9For he has said, “It profits one nothing
to take delight in God.”
10‘Therefore, hear me, you who have sense,
far be it from God that he should do wickedness,
and from the Almighty* that he should do wrong.
11For according to their deeds he will repay them,
and according to their ways he will make it befall them.
12Of a truth, God will not do wickedly,
and the Almighty* will not pervert justice.
13Who gave him charge over the earth
and who laid on him* the whole world?
14If he should take back his spirit* to himself,
and gather to himself his breath,
15all flesh would perish together,
and all mortals return to dust.
16‘If you have understanding, hear this;
listen to what I say.
17Shall one who hates justice govern?
Will you condemn one who is righteous and mighty,
18who says to a king, “You scoundrel!”
and to princes, “You wicked men!”;
19who shows no partiality to nobles,
nor regards the rich more than the poor,
for they are all the work of his hands?
20In 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 his eyes are upon the ways of mortals,
and he sees all their steps.
22There is no gloom or deep darkness
where evildoers may hide themselves.
23For he has not appointed a time* for anyone
to go before God in judgement.
24He shatters the mighty without investigation,
and sets others in their place.
25Thus, knowing their works,
he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.
26He strikes them for their wickedness
while others look on,
27because they turned aside from following him,
and had no regard for any of his ways,
28so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him,
and he heard the cry of the afflicted—
29When he is quiet, who can condemn?
When he hides his face, who can behold him,
whether it be a nation or an individual?—
30so that the godless should not reign,
or those who ensnare the people.
31‘For has anyone said to God,
“I have endured punishment; I will not offend any more;
32teach me what I do not see;
if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more”?
33Will he then pay back to suit you,
because you reject it?
For you must choose, and not I;
therefore declare what you know.*
34Those who have sense will say to me,
and the wise who hear me will say,
35“Job speaks without knowledge,
his words are without insight.”
36Would that Job were tried to the limit,
because his answers are those of the wicked.
37For he adds rebellion to his sin;
he claps his hands among us,
and multiplies his words against God.’
Elihu Condemns Self-Righteousness35Elihu continued and said:
2‘Do you think this to be just?
You say, “I am in the right before God.”
3If you ask, “What advantage have I?
How am I better off than if I had sinned?”
4I will answer you
and your friends with you.
5Look at the heavens and see;
observe the clouds, which are higher than you.
6If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him?
And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
7If you are righteous, what do you give to him;
or what does he receive from your hand?
8Your wickedness affects others like you,
and your righteousness, other human beings.
9‘Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out;
they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.
10But no one says, “Where is God my Maker,
who gives strength in the night,
11who teaches us more than the animals of the earth,
and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?”
12There they cry out, but he does not answer,
because of the pride of evildoers.
13Surely God does not hear an empty cry,
nor does the Almighty* regard it.
14How much less when you say that you do not see him,
that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him!
15And now, because his anger does not punish,
and he does not greatly heed transgression,*
16Job opens his mouth in empty talk,
he multiplies words without knowledge.’
Elihu Exalts God’s Goodness36Elihu continued and said:
2‘Bear with me a little, and I will show you,
for I have yet something to say on God’s behalf.
3I will bring my knowledge from far away,
and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
4For truly my words are not false;
one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.
5‘Surely God is mighty and does not despise any;
he is mighty in strength of understanding.
6He does not keep the wicked alive,
but gives the afflicted their right.
7He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous,
but with kings on the throne
he sets them for ever, and they are exalted.
8And if they are bound in fetters
and caught in the cords of affliction,
9then he declares to them their work
and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.
10He opens their ears to instruction,
and commands that they return from iniquity.
11If they listen, and serve him,
they complete their days in prosperity,
and their years in pleasantness.
12But if they do not listen, they shall perish by the sword,
and die without knowledge.
13‘The godless in heart cherish anger;
they do not cry for help when he binds them.
14They die in their youth,
and their life ends in shame.*
15He delivers the afflicted by their affliction,
and opens their ear by adversity.
16He also allured you out of distress
into a broad place where there was no constraint,
and what was set on your table was full of fatness.
17‘But you are obsessed with the case of the wicked;
judgement and justice seize you.
18Beware that wrath does not entice you into scoffing,
and do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.
19Will your cry avail to keep you from distress,
or will all the force of your strength?
20Do not long for the night,
when peoples are cut off in their place.
21Beware! Do not turn to iniquity;
because of that you have been tried by affliction.
22See, God is exalted in his power;
who is a teacher like him?
23Who has prescribed for him his way,
or who can say, “You have done wrong”?
Elihu Proclaims God’s Majesty
24‘Remember to extol his work,
of which mortals have sung.
25All people have looked on it;
everyone watches it from far away.
26Surely God is great, and we do not know him;
the number of his years is unsearchable.
27For he draws up the drops of water;
he distils* his mist in rain,
28which the skies pour down
and drop upon mortals abundantly.
29Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds,
the thunderings of his pavilion?
30See, he scatters his lightning around him
and covers the roots of the sea.
31For by these he governs peoples;
he gives food in abundance.
32He covers his hands with the lightning,
and commands it to strike the mark.
33Its crashing* tells about him;
he is jealous* with anger against iniquity.
37‘At this also my heart trembles,
and leaps out of its place.
2Listen, listen to the thunder of his voice
and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3Under the whole heaven he lets it loose,
and his lightning to the corners of the earth.
4After it his voice roars;
he thunders with his majestic voice
and he does not restrain the lightnings* when his voice is heard.
5God thunders wondrously with his voice;
he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
6For to the snow he says, “Fall on the earth”;
and the shower of rain, his heavy shower of rain,
7serves as a sign on everyone’s hand,
so that all whom he has made may know it.*
8Then the animals go into their lairs
and remain in their dens.
9From its chamber comes the whirlwind,
and cold from the scattering winds.
10By the breath of God ice is given,
and the broad waters are frozen fast.
11He loads the thick cloud with moisture;
the clouds scatter his lightning.
12They turn round and round by his guidance,
to accomplish all that he commands them
on the face of the habitable world.
13Whether 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.
15Do you know how God lays his command upon them,
and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?
16Do you know the balancings of the clouds,
the wondrous works of the one whose knowledge is perfect,
17you whose garments are hot
when the earth is still because of the south wind?
18Can you, like him, spread out the skies,
unyielding as a cast mirror?
19Teach us what we shall say to him;
we cannot draw up our case because of darkness.
20Should he be told that I want to speak?
Did anyone ever wish to be swallowed up?
21Now, no one can look on the light
when it is bright in the skies,
when the wind has passed and cleared them.
22Out of the north comes golden splendour;
around God is awesome majesty.
23The Almighty*—we cannot find him;
he is great in power and justice,
and abundant righteousness he will not violate.
24Therefore mortals fear him;
he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.’
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
May 27 Job 28-31
28‘Surely there is a mine for silver,
and a place for gold to be refined.
2Iron is taken out of the earth,
and copper is smelted from ore.
3Miners put* an end to darkness,
and search out to the farthest bound
the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
4They open shafts in a valley away from human habitation;
they are forgotten by travellers,
they sway suspended, remote from people.
5As for the earth, out of it comes bread;
but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
6Its stones are the place of sapphires,*
and its dust contains gold.
7‘That path no bird of prey knows,
and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.
8The proud wild animals have not trodden it;
the lion has not passed over it.
9‘They put their hand to the flinty rock,
and overturn mountains by the roots.
10They cut out channels in the rocks,
and their eyes see every precious thing.
11The sources of the rivers they probe;*
hidden things they bring to light.
12‘But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13Mortals do not know the way to it,*
and it is not found in the land of the living.
14The deep says, “It is not in me”,
and the sea says, “It is not with me.”
15It cannot be bought for gold,
and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.
16It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
in precious onyx or sapphire.*
17Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
the price of wisdom is above pearls.
19The chrysolite of Ethiopia* cannot compare with it,
nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20‘Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is the place of understanding?
21It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
and concealed from the birds of the air.
22Abaddon and Death say,
“We have heard a rumour of it with our ears.”
23‘God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
24For he looks to the ends of the earth,
and sees everything under the heavens.
25When he gave to the wind its weight,
and apportioned out the waters by measure;
26when he made a decree for the rain,
and a way for the thunderbolt;
27then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
28And he said to humankind,
“Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
and to depart from evil is understanding.” ’
Job Finishes His Defence29Job again took up his discourse and said:
2‘O that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me;
3when his lamp shone over my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness;
4when I was in my prime,
when the friendship of God was upon my tent;
5when the Almighty* was still with me,
when my children were around me;
6when my steps were washed with milk,
and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
7When I went out to the gate of the city,
when I took my seat in the square,
8the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose up and stood;
9the nobles refrained from talking,
and laid their hands on their mouths;
10the voices of princes were hushed,
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
11When the ear heard, it commended me,
and when the eye saw, it approved;
12because I delivered the poor who cried,
and the orphan who had no helper.
13The blessing of the wretched came upon me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a turban.
15I was eyes to the blind,
and feet to the lame.
16I was a father to the needy,
and I championed the cause of the stranger.
17I broke the fangs of the unrighteous,
and made them drop their prey from their teeth.
18Then I thought, “I shall die in my nest,
and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix;*
19my roots spread out to the waters,
with the dew all night on my branches;
20my glory was fresh with me,
and my bow ever new in my hand.”
21‘They listened to me, and waited,
and kept silence for my counsel.
22After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word dropped upon them like dew.*
23They waited for me as for the rain;
they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
24I smiled on them when they had no confidence;
and the light of my countenance they did not extinguish.*
25I chose their way, and sat as chief,
and I lived like a king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.
30‘But now they make sport of me,
those who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to set with the dogs of my flock.
2What could I gain from the strength of their hands?
All their vigour is gone.
3Through want and hard hunger
they gnaw the dry and desolate ground,
4they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes,
and to warm themselves the roots of broom.
5They are driven out from society;
people shout after them as after a thief.
6In the gullies of wadis they must live,
in holes in the ground, and in the rocks.
7Among the bushes they bray;
under the nettles they huddle together.
8A senseless, disreputable brood,
they have been whipped out of the land.
9‘And now they mock me in song;
I am a byword to them.
10They abhor me, they keep aloof from me;
they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
11Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me,
they have cast off restraint in my presence.
12On my right hand the rabble rise up;
they send me sprawling,
and build roads for my ruin.
13They break up my path,
they promote my calamity;
no one restrains* them.
14As through a wide breach they come;
amid the crash they roll on.
15Terrors are turned upon me;
my honour is pursued as by the wind,
and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.
16‘And now my soul is poured out within me;
days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17The night racks my bones,
and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
18With violence he seizes my garment;*
he grasps me by* the collar of my tunic.
19He has cast me into the mire,
and I have become like dust and ashes.
20I cry to you and you do not answer me;
I stand, and you merely look at me.
21You have turned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand you persecute me.
22You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
23I know that you will bring me to death,
and to the house appointed for all living.
24‘Surely one does not turn against the needy,*
when in disaster they cry for help.*
25Did I not weep for those whose day was hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
26But when I looked for good, evil came;
and when I waited for light, darkness came.
27My inward parts are in turmoil, and are never still;
days of affliction come to meet me.
28I go about in sunless gloom;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29I am a brother of jackals,
and a companion of ostriches.
30My skin turns black and falls from me,
and my bones burn with heat.
31My lyre is turned to mourning,
and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
31‘I have made a covenant with my eyes;
how then could I look upon a virgin?
2What would be my portion from God above,
and my heritage from the Almighty* on high?
3Does not calamity befall the unrighteous,
and disaster the workers of iniquity?
4Does he not see my ways,
and number all my steps?
5‘If I have walked with falsehood,
and my foot has hurried to deceit—
6let me be weighed in a just balance,
and let God know my integrity!—
7if my step has turned aside from the way,
and my heart has followed my eyes,
and if any spot has clung to my hands;
8then let me sow, and another eat;
and let what grows for me be rooted out.
9‘If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
and I have lain in wait at my neighbour’s door;
10then let my wife grind for another,
and let other men kneel over her.
11For that would be a heinous crime;
that would be a criminal offence;
12for that would be a fire consuming down to Abaddon,
and it would burn to the root all my harvest.
13‘If I have rejected the cause of my male or female slaves,
when they brought a complaint against me;
14what then shall I do when God rises up?
When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
15Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
And did not one fashion us in the womb?
16‘If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,
or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
17or have eaten my morsel alone,
and the orphan has not eaten from it—
18for from my youth I reared the orphan* like a father,
and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow*—
19if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
or a poor person without covering,
20whose loins have not blessed me,
and who was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
21if I have raised my hand against the orphan,
because I saw I had supporters at the gate;
22then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
and let my arm be broken from its socket.
23For I was in terror of calamity from God,
and I could not have faced his majesty.
24‘If I have made gold my trust,
or called fine gold my confidence;
25if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,
or because my hand had acquired much;
26if I have looked at the sun* when it shone,
or the moon moving in splendour,
27and my heart has been secretly enticed,
and my mouth has kissed my hand;
28this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
for I should have been false to God above.
29‘If I have rejoiced at the ruin of those who hated me,
or exulted when evil overtook them—
30I have not let my mouth sin
by asking for their lives with a curse—
31if those of my tent ever said,
“O that we might be sated with his flesh!”*—
32the stranger has not lodged in the street;
I have opened my doors to the traveller—
33if I have concealed my transgressions as others do,*
by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
34because I stood in great fear of the multitude,
and the contempt of families terrified me,
so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors—
35O that I had one to hear me!
(Here is my signature! Let the Almighty* answer me!)
O that I had the indictment written by my adversary!
36Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;
I would bind it on me like a crown;
37I 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;
39if I have eaten its yield without payment,
and caused the death of its owners;
40let thorns grow instead of wheat,
and foul weeds instead of barley.’
The words of Job are ended.
and a place for gold to be refined.
2Iron is taken out of the earth,
and copper is smelted from ore.
3Miners put* an end to darkness,
and search out to the farthest bound
the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
4They open shafts in a valley away from human habitation;
they are forgotten by travellers,
they sway suspended, remote from people.
5As for the earth, out of it comes bread;
but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
6Its stones are the place of sapphires,*
and its dust contains gold.
7‘That path no bird of prey knows,
and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.
8The proud wild animals have not trodden it;
the lion has not passed over it.
9‘They put their hand to the flinty rock,
and overturn mountains by the roots.
10They cut out channels in the rocks,
and their eyes see every precious thing.
11The sources of the rivers they probe;*
hidden things they bring to light.
12‘But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13Mortals do not know the way to it,*
and it is not found in the land of the living.
14The deep says, “It is not in me”,
and the sea says, “It is not with me.”
15It cannot be bought for gold,
and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.
16It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
in precious onyx or sapphire.*
17Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
the price of wisdom is above pearls.
19The chrysolite of Ethiopia* cannot compare with it,
nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20‘Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is the place of understanding?
21It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
and concealed from the birds of the air.
22Abaddon and Death say,
“We have heard a rumour of it with our ears.”
23‘God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
24For he looks to the ends of the earth,
and sees everything under the heavens.
25When he gave to the wind its weight,
and apportioned out the waters by measure;
26when he made a decree for the rain,
and a way for the thunderbolt;
27then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
28And he said to humankind,
“Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
and to depart from evil is understanding.” ’
Job Finishes His Defence29Job again took up his discourse and said:
2‘O that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me;
3when his lamp shone over my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness;
4when I was in my prime,
when the friendship of God was upon my tent;
5when the Almighty* was still with me,
when my children were around me;
6when my steps were washed with milk,
and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
7When I went out to the gate of the city,
when I took my seat in the square,
8the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose up and stood;
9the nobles refrained from talking,
and laid their hands on their mouths;
10the voices of princes were hushed,
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
11When the ear heard, it commended me,
and when the eye saw, it approved;
12because I delivered the poor who cried,
and the orphan who had no helper.
13The blessing of the wretched came upon me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a turban.
15I was eyes to the blind,
and feet to the lame.
16I was a father to the needy,
and I championed the cause of the stranger.
17I broke the fangs of the unrighteous,
and made them drop their prey from their teeth.
18Then I thought, “I shall die in my nest,
and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix;*
19my roots spread out to the waters,
with the dew all night on my branches;
20my glory was fresh with me,
and my bow ever new in my hand.”
21‘They listened to me, and waited,
and kept silence for my counsel.
22After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word dropped upon them like dew.*
23They waited for me as for the rain;
they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
24I smiled on them when they had no confidence;
and the light of my countenance they did not extinguish.*
25I chose their way, and sat as chief,
and I lived like a king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.
30‘But now they make sport of me,
those who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to set with the dogs of my flock.
2What could I gain from the strength of their hands?
All their vigour is gone.
3Through want and hard hunger
they gnaw the dry and desolate ground,
4they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes,
and to warm themselves the roots of broom.
5They are driven out from society;
people shout after them as after a thief.
6In the gullies of wadis they must live,
in holes in the ground, and in the rocks.
7Among the bushes they bray;
under the nettles they huddle together.
8A senseless, disreputable brood,
they have been whipped out of the land.
9‘And now they mock me in song;
I am a byword to them.
10They abhor me, they keep aloof from me;
they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
11Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me,
they have cast off restraint in my presence.
12On my right hand the rabble rise up;
they send me sprawling,
and build roads for my ruin.
13They break up my path,
they promote my calamity;
no one restrains* them.
14As through a wide breach they come;
amid the crash they roll on.
15Terrors are turned upon me;
my honour is pursued as by the wind,
and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.
16‘And now my soul is poured out within me;
days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17The night racks my bones,
and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
18With violence he seizes my garment;*
he grasps me by* the collar of my tunic.
19He has cast me into the mire,
and I have become like dust and ashes.
20I cry to you and you do not answer me;
I stand, and you merely look at me.
21You have turned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand you persecute me.
22You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
23I know that you will bring me to death,
and to the house appointed for all living.
24‘Surely one does not turn against the needy,*
when in disaster they cry for help.*
25Did I not weep for those whose day was hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
26But when I looked for good, evil came;
and when I waited for light, darkness came.
27My inward parts are in turmoil, and are never still;
days of affliction come to meet me.
28I go about in sunless gloom;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29I am a brother of jackals,
and a companion of ostriches.
30My skin turns black and falls from me,
and my bones burn with heat.
31My lyre is turned to mourning,
and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
31‘I have made a covenant with my eyes;
how then could I look upon a virgin?
2What would be my portion from God above,
and my heritage from the Almighty* on high?
3Does not calamity befall the unrighteous,
and disaster the workers of iniquity?
4Does he not see my ways,
and number all my steps?
5‘If I have walked with falsehood,
and my foot has hurried to deceit—
6let me be weighed in a just balance,
and let God know my integrity!—
7if my step has turned aside from the way,
and my heart has followed my eyes,
and if any spot has clung to my hands;
8then let me sow, and another eat;
and let what grows for me be rooted out.
9‘If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
and I have lain in wait at my neighbour’s door;
10then let my wife grind for another,
and let other men kneel over her.
11For that would be a heinous crime;
that would be a criminal offence;
12for that would be a fire consuming down to Abaddon,
and it would burn to the root all my harvest.
13‘If I have rejected the cause of my male or female slaves,
when they brought a complaint against me;
14what then shall I do when God rises up?
When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
15Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
And did not one fashion us in the womb?
16‘If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,
or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
17or have eaten my morsel alone,
and the orphan has not eaten from it—
18for from my youth I reared the orphan* like a father,
and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow*—
19if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
or a poor person without covering,
20whose loins have not blessed me,
and who was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
21if I have raised my hand against the orphan,
because I saw I had supporters at the gate;
22then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
and let my arm be broken from its socket.
23For I was in terror of calamity from God,
and I could not have faced his majesty.
24‘If I have made gold my trust,
or called fine gold my confidence;
25if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,
or because my hand had acquired much;
26if I have looked at the sun* when it shone,
or the moon moving in splendour,
27and my heart has been secretly enticed,
and my mouth has kissed my hand;
28this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
for I should have been false to God above.
29‘If I have rejoiced at the ruin of those who hated me,
or exulted when evil overtook them—
30I have not let my mouth sin
by asking for their lives with a curse—
31if those of my tent ever said,
“O that we might be sated with his flesh!”*—
32the stranger has not lodged in the street;
I have opened my doors to the traveller—
33if I have concealed my transgressions as others do,*
by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
34because I stood in great fear of the multitude,
and the contempt of families terrified me,
so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors—
35O that I had one to hear me!
(Here is my signature! Let the Almighty* answer me!)
O that I had the indictment written by my adversary!
36Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;
I would bind it on me like a crown;
37I 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;
39if I have eaten its yield without payment,
and caused the death of its owners;
40let thorns grow instead of wheat,
and foul weeds instead of barley.’
The words of Job are ended.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
May 26 Job 22-27
22Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2‘Can a mortal be of use to God?
Can even the wisest be of service to him?
3Is it any pleasure to the Almighty* if you are righteous,
or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
4Is it for your piety that he reproves you,
and enters into judgement with you?
5Is not your wickedness great?
There is no end to your iniquities.
6For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason,
and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7You have given no water to the weary to drink,
and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8The powerful possess the land,
and the favoured live in it.
9You have sent widows away empty-handed,
and the arms of the orphans you have crushed.*
10Therefore snares are around you,
and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11or darkness so that you cannot see;
a flood of water covers you.
12‘Is not God high in the heavens?
See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13Therefore you say, “What does God know?
Can he judge through the deep darkness?
14Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see,
and he walks on the dome of heaven.”
15Will you keep to the old way
that the wicked have trod?
16They were snatched away before their time;
their foundation was washed away by a flood.
17They said to God, “Leave us alone”,
and “What can the Almighty* do to us?”*
18Yet he filled their houses with good things—
but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.
19The righteous see it and are glad;
the innocent laugh them to scorn,
20saying, “Surely our adversaries are cut off,
and what they left, the fire has consumed.”
21‘Agree with God,* and be at peace;
in this way good will come to you.
22Receive instruction from his mouth,
and lay up his words in your heart.
23If you return to the Almighty,* you will be restored,
if you remove unrighteousness from your tents,
24if you treat gold like dust,
and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed,
25and if the Almighty* is your gold
and your precious silver,
26then you will delight in the Almighty,*
and lift up your face to God.
27You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
and you will pay your vows.
28You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
and light will shine on your ways.
29When others are humiliated, you say it is pride;
for he saves the humble.
30He will deliver even those who are guilty;
they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.’*
Job Replies: My Complaint Is Bitter23Then Job answered:
2‘Today also my complaint is bitter;*
his* hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3O that I knew where I might find him,
that I might come even to his dwelling!
4I would lay my case before him,
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5I would learn what he would answer me,
and understand what he would say to me.
6Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No; but he would give heed to me.
7There an upright person could reason with him,
and I should be acquitted for ever by my judge.
8‘If I go forward, he is not there;
or backward, I cannot perceive him;
9on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him;
I turn* to the right, but I cannot see him.
10But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold.
11My foot has held fast to his steps;
I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
12I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured in* my bosom the words of his mouth.
13But he stands alone and who can dissuade him?
What he desires, that he does.
14For he will complete what he appoints for me;
and many such things are in his mind.
15Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
when I consider, I am in dread of him.
16God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty* has terrified me;
17If only I could vanish in darkness,
and thick darkness would cover my face!*
Job Complains of Violence on the Earth24‘Why are times not kept by the Almighty,*
and why do those who know him never see his days?
2The wicked* remove landmarks;
they seize flocks and pasture them.
3They drive away the donkey of the orphan;
they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4They thrust the needy off the road;
the poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5Like wild asses in the desert
they go out to their toil,
scavenging in the waste-land
food for their young.
6They reap in a field not their own
and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
7They lie all night naked, without clothing,
and have no covering in the cold.
8They are wet with the rain of the mountains,
and cling to the rock for want of shelter.
9‘There are those who snatch the orphan child from the breast,
and take as a pledge the infant of the poor.
10They go about naked, without clothing;
though hungry, they carry the sheaves;
11between their terraces* they press out oil;
they tread the wine presses, but suffer thirst.
12From the city the dying groan,
and the throat of the wounded cries for help;
yet God pays no attention to their prayer.
13‘There are those who rebel against the light,
who are not acquainted with its ways,
and do not stay in its paths.
14The murderer rises at dusk
to kill the poor and needy,
and in the night is like a thief.
15The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,
saying, “No eye will see me”;
and he disguises his face.
16In the dark they dig through houses;
by day they shut themselves up;
they do not know the light.
17For deep darkness is morning to all of them;
for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.
18‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;
their portion in the land is cursed;
no treader turns towards their vineyards.
19Drought and heat snatch away the snow-waters;
so does Sheol those who have sinned.
20The womb forgets them;
the worm finds them sweet;
they are no longer remembered;
so wickedness is broken like a tree.
21‘They harm* the childless woman,
and do no good to the widow.
22Yet God* prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
they rise up when they despair of life.
23He gives them security, and they are supported;
his eyes are upon their ways.
24They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;
they wither and fade like the mallow;*
they are cut off like the heads of grain.
25If it is not so, who will prove me a liar,
and show that there is nothing in what I say?’
Bildad Speaks: How Can a Mortal Be Righteous Before God?25Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2‘Dominion and fear are with God;*
he makes peace in his high heaven.
3Is there any number to his armies?
Upon whom does his light not arise?
4How then can a mortal be righteous before God?
How can one born of woman be pure?
5If even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not pure in his sight,
6how much less a mortal, who is a maggot,
and a human being, who is a worm!’
Job Replies: God’s Majesty Is Unsearchable26Then Job answered:
2‘How you have helped one who has no power!
How you have assisted the arm that has no strength!
3How you have counselled one who has no wisdom,
and given much good advice!
4With whose help have you uttered words,
and whose spirit has come forth from you?
5The shades below tremble,
the waters and their inhabitants.
6Sheol is naked before God,
and Abaddon has no covering.
7He stretches out Zaphon* over the void,
and hangs the earth upon nothing.
8He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
and the cloud is not torn open by them.
9He covers the face of the full moon,
and spreads over it his cloud.
10He has described a circle on the face of the waters,
at the boundary between light and darkness.
11The pillars of heaven tremble,
and are astounded at his rebuke.
12By his power he stilled the Sea;
by his understanding he struck down Rahab.
13By his wind the heavens were made fair;
his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
14These are indeed but the outskirts of his ways;
and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
But the thunder of his power who can understand?’
Job Maintains His Integrity27Job again took up his discourse and said:
2‘As God lives, who has taken away my right,
and the Almighty,* who has made my soul bitter,
3as long as my breath is in me
and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
4my lips will not speak falsehood,
and my tongue will not utter deceit.
5Far be it from me to say that you are right;
until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
6I hold fast my righteousness, and will not let it go;
my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.
7‘May my enemy be like the wicked,
and may my opponent be like the unrighteous.
8For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts them off,
when God takes away their lives?
9Will God hear their cry
when trouble comes upon them?
10Will they take delight in the Almighty?*
Will they call upon God at all times?
11I will teach you concerning the hand of God;
that which is with the Almighty* I will not conceal.
12All of you have seen it yourselves;
why then have you become altogether vain?
13‘This is the portion of the wicked with God,
and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:*
14If their children are multiplied, it is for the sword;
and their offspring have not enough to eat.
15Those who survive them the pestilence buries,
and their widows make no lamentation.
16Though they heap up silver like dust,
and pile up clothing like clay—
17they may pile it up, but the just will wear it,
and the innocent will divide the silver.
18They build their houses like nests,
like booths made by sentinels of the vineyard.
19They go to bed with wealth, but will do so no more;
they open their eyes, and it is gone.
20Terrors overtake them like a flood;
in the night a whirlwind carries them off.
21The east wind lifts them up and they are gone;
it sweeps them out of their place.
22It* hurls at them without pity;
they flee from its* power in headlong flight.
23It* claps its* hands at them,
and hisses at them from its* place.
2‘Can a mortal be of use to God?
Can even the wisest be of service to him?
3Is it any pleasure to the Almighty* if you are righteous,
or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
4Is it for your piety that he reproves you,
and enters into judgement with you?
5Is not your wickedness great?
There is no end to your iniquities.
6For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason,
and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7You have given no water to the weary to drink,
and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8The powerful possess the land,
and the favoured live in it.
9You have sent widows away empty-handed,
and the arms of the orphans you have crushed.*
10Therefore snares are around you,
and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11or darkness so that you cannot see;
a flood of water covers you.
12‘Is not God high in the heavens?
See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13Therefore you say, “What does God know?
Can he judge through the deep darkness?
14Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see,
and he walks on the dome of heaven.”
15Will you keep to the old way
that the wicked have trod?
16They were snatched away before their time;
their foundation was washed away by a flood.
17They said to God, “Leave us alone”,
and “What can the Almighty* do to us?”*
18Yet he filled their houses with good things—
but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.
19The righteous see it and are glad;
the innocent laugh them to scorn,
20saying, “Surely our adversaries are cut off,
and what they left, the fire has consumed.”
21‘Agree with God,* and be at peace;
in this way good will come to you.
22Receive instruction from his mouth,
and lay up his words in your heart.
23If you return to the Almighty,* you will be restored,
if you remove unrighteousness from your tents,
24if you treat gold like dust,
and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed,
25and if the Almighty* is your gold
and your precious silver,
26then you will delight in the Almighty,*
and lift up your face to God.
27You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
and you will pay your vows.
28You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
and light will shine on your ways.
29When others are humiliated, you say it is pride;
for he saves the humble.
30He will deliver even those who are guilty;
they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.’*
Job Replies: My Complaint Is Bitter23Then Job answered:
2‘Today also my complaint is bitter;*
his* hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3O that I knew where I might find him,
that I might come even to his dwelling!
4I would lay my case before him,
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5I would learn what he would answer me,
and understand what he would say to me.
6Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No; but he would give heed to me.
7There an upright person could reason with him,
and I should be acquitted for ever by my judge.
8‘If I go forward, he is not there;
or backward, I cannot perceive him;
9on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him;
I turn* to the right, but I cannot see him.
10But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold.
11My foot has held fast to his steps;
I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
12I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured in* my bosom the words of his mouth.
13But he stands alone and who can dissuade him?
What he desires, that he does.
14For he will complete what he appoints for me;
and many such things are in his mind.
15Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
when I consider, I am in dread of him.
16God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty* has terrified me;
17If only I could vanish in darkness,
and thick darkness would cover my face!*
Job Complains of Violence on the Earth24‘Why are times not kept by the Almighty,*
and why do those who know him never see his days?
2The wicked* remove landmarks;
they seize flocks and pasture them.
3They drive away the donkey of the orphan;
they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4They thrust the needy off the road;
the poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5Like wild asses in the desert
they go out to their toil,
scavenging in the waste-land
food for their young.
6They reap in a field not their own
and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
7They lie all night naked, without clothing,
and have no covering in the cold.
8They are wet with the rain of the mountains,
and cling to the rock for want of shelter.
9‘There are those who snatch the orphan child from the breast,
and take as a pledge the infant of the poor.
10They go about naked, without clothing;
though hungry, they carry the sheaves;
11between their terraces* they press out oil;
they tread the wine presses, but suffer thirst.
12From the city the dying groan,
and the throat of the wounded cries for help;
yet God pays no attention to their prayer.
13‘There are those who rebel against the light,
who are not acquainted with its ways,
and do not stay in its paths.
14The murderer rises at dusk
to kill the poor and needy,
and in the night is like a thief.
15The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,
saying, “No eye will see me”;
and he disguises his face.
16In the dark they dig through houses;
by day they shut themselves up;
they do not know the light.
17For deep darkness is morning to all of them;
for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.
18‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;
their portion in the land is cursed;
no treader turns towards their vineyards.
19Drought and heat snatch away the snow-waters;
so does Sheol those who have sinned.
20The womb forgets them;
the worm finds them sweet;
they are no longer remembered;
so wickedness is broken like a tree.
21‘They harm* the childless woman,
and do no good to the widow.
22Yet God* prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
they rise up when they despair of life.
23He gives them security, and they are supported;
his eyes are upon their ways.
24They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;
they wither and fade like the mallow;*
they are cut off like the heads of grain.
25If it is not so, who will prove me a liar,
and show that there is nothing in what I say?’
Bildad Speaks: How Can a Mortal Be Righteous Before God?25Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2‘Dominion and fear are with God;*
he makes peace in his high heaven.
3Is there any number to his armies?
Upon whom does his light not arise?
4How then can a mortal be righteous before God?
How can one born of woman be pure?
5If even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not pure in his sight,
6how much less a mortal, who is a maggot,
and a human being, who is a worm!’
Job Replies: God’s Majesty Is Unsearchable26Then Job answered:
2‘How you have helped one who has no power!
How you have assisted the arm that has no strength!
3How you have counselled one who has no wisdom,
and given much good advice!
4With whose help have you uttered words,
and whose spirit has come forth from you?
5The shades below tremble,
the waters and their inhabitants.
6Sheol is naked before God,
and Abaddon has no covering.
7He stretches out Zaphon* over the void,
and hangs the earth upon nothing.
8He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
and the cloud is not torn open by them.
9He covers the face of the full moon,
and spreads over it his cloud.
10He has described a circle on the face of the waters,
at the boundary between light and darkness.
11The pillars of heaven tremble,
and are astounded at his rebuke.
12By his power he stilled the Sea;
by his understanding he struck down Rahab.
13By his wind the heavens were made fair;
his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
14These are indeed but the outskirts of his ways;
and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
But the thunder of his power who can understand?’
Job Maintains His Integrity27Job again took up his discourse and said:
2‘As God lives, who has taken away my right,
and the Almighty,* who has made my soul bitter,
3as long as my breath is in me
and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
4my lips will not speak falsehood,
and my tongue will not utter deceit.
5Far be it from me to say that you are right;
until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
6I hold fast my righteousness, and will not let it go;
my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.
7‘May my enemy be like the wicked,
and may my opponent be like the unrighteous.
8For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts them off,
when God takes away their lives?
9Will God hear their cry
when trouble comes upon them?
10Will they take delight in the Almighty?*
Will they call upon God at all times?
11I will teach you concerning the hand of God;
that which is with the Almighty* I will not conceal.
12All of you have seen it yourselves;
why then have you become altogether vain?
13‘This is the portion of the wicked with God,
and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:*
14If their children are multiplied, it is for the sword;
and their offspring have not enough to eat.
15Those who survive them the pestilence buries,
and their widows make no lamentation.
16Though they heap up silver like dust,
and pile up clothing like clay—
17they may pile it up, but the just will wear it,
and the innocent will divide the silver.
18They build their houses like nests,
like booths made by sentinels of the vineyard.
19They go to bed with wealth, but will do so no more;
they open their eyes, and it is gone.
20Terrors overtake them like a flood;
in the night a whirlwind carries them off.
21The east wind lifts them up and they are gone;
it sweeps them out of their place.
22It* hurls at them without pity;
they flee from its* power in headlong flight.
23It* claps its* hands at them,
and hisses at them from its* place.
Friday, May 22, 2009
May 25 Job 19-21
19Then Job answered:
2‘How long will you torment me,
and break me in pieces with words?
3These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
are you not ashamed to wrong me?
4And even if it is true that I have erred,
my error remains with me.
5If indeed you magnify yourselves against me,
and make my humiliation an argument against me,
6know then that God has put me in the wrong,
and closed his net around me.
7Even when I cry out, “Violence!” I am not answered;
I call aloud, but there is no justice.
8He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,
and he has set darkness upon my paths.
9He has stripped my glory from me,
and taken the crown from my head.
10He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone,
he has uprooted my hope like a tree.
11He has kindled his wrath against me,
and counts me as his adversary.
12His troops come on together;
they have thrown up siege-works* against me,
and encamp around my tent.
13‘He has put my family far from me,
and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
14My relatives and my close friends have failed me;
15 the guests in my house have forgotten me;
my serving-girls count me as a stranger;
I have become an alien in their eyes.
16I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
I must myself plead with him.
17My breath is repulsive to my wife;
I am loathsome to my own family.
18Even young children despise me;
when I rise, they talk against me.
19All my intimate friends abhor me,
and those whom I loved have turned against me.
20My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has touched me!
22Why do you, like God, pursue me,
never satisfied with my flesh?
23‘O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!
24O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock for ever!
25For I know that my Redeemer* lives,
and that at the last he* will stand upon the earth;*
26and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in* my flesh I shall see God,*
27whom I shall see on my side,*
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!
28If you say, “How we will persecute him!”
and, “The root of the matter is found in him”;
29be afraid of the sword,
for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
so that you may know there is a judgement.’
Zophar Speaks: Wickedness Receives Just Retribution20Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
2‘Pay attention! My thoughts urge me to answer,
because of the agitation within me.
3I hear censure that insults me,
and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me.
4Do you not know this from of old,
ever since mortals were placed on earth,
5that the exulting of the wicked is short,
and the joy of the godless is but for a moment?
6Even though they mount up high as the heavens,
and their head reaches to the clouds,
7they will perish for ever like their own dung;
those who have seen them will say, “Where are they?”
8They will fly away like a dream, and not be found;
they will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9The eye that saw them will see them no more,
nor will their place behold them any longer.
10Their children will seek the favour of the poor,
and their hands will give back their wealth.
11Their bodies, once full of youth,
will lie down in the dust with them.
12‘Though wickedness is sweet in their mouth,
though they hide it under their tongues,
13though they are loath to let it go,
and hold it in their mouths,
14yet their food is turned in their stomachs;
it is the venom of asps within them.
15They swallow down riches and vomit them up again;
God casts them out of their bellies.
16They will suck the poison of asps;
the tongue of a viper will kill them.
17They will not look on the rivers,
the streams flowing with honey and curds.
18They will give back the fruit of their toil,
and will not swallow it down;
from the profit of their trading
they will get no enjoyment.
19For they have crushed and abandoned the poor,
they have seized a house that they did not build.
20‘They knew no quiet in their bellies;
in their greed they let nothing escape.
21There was nothing left after they had eaten;
therefore their prosperity will not endure.
22In full sufficiency they will be in distress;
all the force of misery will come upon them.
23To fill their belly to the full
God* will send his fierce anger into them,
and rain it upon them as their food.*
24They will flee from an iron weapon;
a bronze arrow will strike them through.
25It is drawn forth and comes out of their body,
and the glittering point comes out of their gall;
terrors come upon them.
26Utter darkness is laid up for their treasures;
a fire fanned by no one will devour them;
what is left in their tent will be consumed.
27The heavens will reveal their iniquity,
and the earth will rise up against them.
28The possessions of their house will be carried away,
dragged off on the day of God’s* wrath.
29This is the portion of the wicked from God,
the heritage decreed for them by God.’
Job Replies: The Wicked Often Go Unpunished21Then Job answered:
2‘Listen carefully to my words,
and let this be your consolation.
3Bear with me, and I will speak;
then after I have spoken, mock on.
4As for me, is my complaint addressed to mortals?
Why should I not be impatient?
5Look at me, and be appalled,
and lay your hand upon your mouth.
6When I think of it I am dismayed,
and shuddering seizes my flesh.
7Why do the wicked live on,
reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
8Their children are established in their presence,
and their offspring before their eyes.
9Their houses are safe from fear,
and no rod of God is upon them.
10Their bull breeds without fail;
their cow calves and never miscarries.
11They send out their little ones like a flock,
and their children dance around.
12They sing to the tambourine and the lyre,
and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
13They spend their days in prosperity,
and in peace they go down to Sheol.
14They say to God, “Leave us alone!
We do not desire to know your ways.
15What is the Almighty,* that we should serve him?
And what profit do we get if we pray to him?”
16Is not their prosperity indeed their own achievement?*
The plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.
17‘How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
How often does calamity come upon them?
How often does God* distribute pains in his anger?
18How often are they like straw before the wind,
and like chaff that the storm carries away?
19You say, “God stores up their iniquity for their children.”
Let it be paid back to them, so that they may know it.
20Let their own eyes see their destruction,
and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.*
21For what do they care for their household after them,
when the number of their months is cut off?
22Will any teach God knowledge,
seeing that he judges those that are on high?
23One dies in full prosperity,
being wholly at ease and secure,
24his loins full of milk
and the marrow of his bones moist.
25Another dies in bitterness of soul,
never having tasted of good.
26They lie down alike in the dust,
and the worms cover them.
27‘Oh, I know your thoughts,
and your schemes to wrong me.
28For you say, “Where is the house of the prince?
Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?”
29Have you not asked those who travel the roads,
and do you not accept their testimony,
30that the wicked are spared on the day of calamity,
and are rescued on the day of wrath?
31Who declares their way to their face,
and who repays them for what they have done?
32When they are carried to the grave,
a watch is kept over their tomb.
33The clods of the valley are sweet to them;
everyone will follow after,
and those who went before are innumerable.
34How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.’
2‘How long will you torment me,
and break me in pieces with words?
3These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
are you not ashamed to wrong me?
4And even if it is true that I have erred,
my error remains with me.
5If indeed you magnify yourselves against me,
and make my humiliation an argument against me,
6know then that God has put me in the wrong,
and closed his net around me.
7Even when I cry out, “Violence!” I am not answered;
I call aloud, but there is no justice.
8He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,
and he has set darkness upon my paths.
9He has stripped my glory from me,
and taken the crown from my head.
10He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone,
he has uprooted my hope like a tree.
11He has kindled his wrath against me,
and counts me as his adversary.
12His troops come on together;
they have thrown up siege-works* against me,
and encamp around my tent.
13‘He has put my family far from me,
and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
14My relatives and my close friends have failed me;
15 the guests in my house have forgotten me;
my serving-girls count me as a stranger;
I have become an alien in their eyes.
16I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
I must myself plead with him.
17My breath is repulsive to my wife;
I am loathsome to my own family.
18Even young children despise me;
when I rise, they talk against me.
19All my intimate friends abhor me,
and those whom I loved have turned against me.
20My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has touched me!
22Why do you, like God, pursue me,
never satisfied with my flesh?
23‘O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!
24O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock for ever!
25For I know that my Redeemer* lives,
and that at the last he* will stand upon the earth;*
26and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in* my flesh I shall see God,*
27whom I shall see on my side,*
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!
28If you say, “How we will persecute him!”
and, “The root of the matter is found in him”;
29be afraid of the sword,
for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
so that you may know there is a judgement.’
Zophar Speaks: Wickedness Receives Just Retribution20Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
2‘Pay attention! My thoughts urge me to answer,
because of the agitation within me.
3I hear censure that insults me,
and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me.
4Do you not know this from of old,
ever since mortals were placed on earth,
5that the exulting of the wicked is short,
and the joy of the godless is but for a moment?
6Even though they mount up high as the heavens,
and their head reaches to the clouds,
7they will perish for ever like their own dung;
those who have seen them will say, “Where are they?”
8They will fly away like a dream, and not be found;
they will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9The eye that saw them will see them no more,
nor will their place behold them any longer.
10Their children will seek the favour of the poor,
and their hands will give back their wealth.
11Their bodies, once full of youth,
will lie down in the dust with them.
12‘Though wickedness is sweet in their mouth,
though they hide it under their tongues,
13though they are loath to let it go,
and hold it in their mouths,
14yet their food is turned in their stomachs;
it is the venom of asps within them.
15They swallow down riches and vomit them up again;
God casts them out of their bellies.
16They will suck the poison of asps;
the tongue of a viper will kill them.
17They will not look on the rivers,
the streams flowing with honey and curds.
18They will give back the fruit of their toil,
and will not swallow it down;
from the profit of their trading
they will get no enjoyment.
19For they have crushed and abandoned the poor,
they have seized a house that they did not build.
20‘They knew no quiet in their bellies;
in their greed they let nothing escape.
21There was nothing left after they had eaten;
therefore their prosperity will not endure.
22In full sufficiency they will be in distress;
all the force of misery will come upon them.
23To fill their belly to the full
God* will send his fierce anger into them,
and rain it upon them as their food.*
24They will flee from an iron weapon;
a bronze arrow will strike them through.
25It is drawn forth and comes out of their body,
and the glittering point comes out of their gall;
terrors come upon them.
26Utter darkness is laid up for their treasures;
a fire fanned by no one will devour them;
what is left in their tent will be consumed.
27The heavens will reveal their iniquity,
and the earth will rise up against them.
28The possessions of their house will be carried away,
dragged off on the day of God’s* wrath.
29This is the portion of the wicked from God,
the heritage decreed for them by God.’
Job Replies: The Wicked Often Go Unpunished21Then Job answered:
2‘Listen carefully to my words,
and let this be your consolation.
3Bear with me, and I will speak;
then after I have spoken, mock on.
4As for me, is my complaint addressed to mortals?
Why should I not be impatient?
5Look at me, and be appalled,
and lay your hand upon your mouth.
6When I think of it I am dismayed,
and shuddering seizes my flesh.
7Why do the wicked live on,
reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
8Their children are established in their presence,
and their offspring before their eyes.
9Their houses are safe from fear,
and no rod of God is upon them.
10Their bull breeds without fail;
their cow calves and never miscarries.
11They send out their little ones like a flock,
and their children dance around.
12They sing to the tambourine and the lyre,
and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
13They spend their days in prosperity,
and in peace they go down to Sheol.
14They say to God, “Leave us alone!
We do not desire to know your ways.
15What is the Almighty,* that we should serve him?
And what profit do we get if we pray to him?”
16Is not their prosperity indeed their own achievement?*
The plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.
17‘How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
How often does calamity come upon them?
How often does God* distribute pains in his anger?
18How often are they like straw before the wind,
and like chaff that the storm carries away?
19You say, “God stores up their iniquity for their children.”
Let it be paid back to them, so that they may know it.
20Let their own eyes see their destruction,
and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.*
21For what do they care for their household after them,
when the number of their months is cut off?
22Will any teach God knowledge,
seeing that he judges those that are on high?
23One dies in full prosperity,
being wholly at ease and secure,
24his loins full of milk
and the marrow of his bones moist.
25Another dies in bitterness of soul,
never having tasted of good.
26They lie down alike in the dust,
and the worms cover them.
27‘Oh, I know your thoughts,
and your schemes to wrong me.
28For you say, “Where is the house of the prince?
Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?”
29Have you not asked those who travel the roads,
and do you not accept their testimony,
30that the wicked are spared on the day of calamity,
and are rescued on the day of wrath?
31Who declares their way to their face,
and who repays them for what they have done?
32When they are carried to the grave,
a watch is kept over their tomb.
33The clods of the valley are sweet to them;
everyone will follow after,
and those who went before are innumerable.
34How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.’
May 24 Job 15-18
15Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2‘Should the wise answer with windy knowledge,
and fill themselves with the east wind?
3Should they argue in unprofitable talk,
or in words with which they can do no good?
4But you are doing away with the fear of God,
and hindering meditation before God.
5For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
your own lips testify against you.
7‘Are you the firstborn of the human race?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
8Have you listened in the council of God?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
10The grey-haired and the aged are on our side,
those older than your father.
11Are the consolations of God too small for you,
or the word that deals gently with you?
12Why does your heart carry you away,
and why do your eyes flash,*
13so that you turn your spirit against God,
and let such words go out of your mouth?
14What are mortals, that they can be clean?
Or those born of woman, that they can be righteous?
15God puts no trust even in his holy ones,
and the heavens are not clean in his sight;
16how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
one who drinks iniquity like water!
17‘I will show you; listen to me;
what I have seen I will declare—
18what sages have told,
and their ancestors have not hidden,
19to whom alone the land was given,
and no stranger passed among them.
20The wicked writhe in pain all their days,
through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
21Terrifying sounds are in their ears;
in prosperity the destroyer will come upon them.
22They despair of returning from darkness,
and they are destined for the sword.
23They wander abroad for bread, saying, “Where is it?”
They know that a day of darkness is ready at hand;
24distress and anguish terrify them;
they prevail against them, like a king prepared for battle.
25Because they stretched out their hands against God,
and bid defiance to the Almighty,*
26running stubbornly against him
with a thick-bossed shield;
27because they have covered their faces with their fat,
and gathered fat upon their loins,
28they will live in desolate cities,
in houses that no one should inhabit,
houses destined to become heaps of ruins;
29they will not be rich, and their wealth will not endure,
nor will they strike root in the earth;*
30they will not escape from darkness;
the flame will dry up their shoots,
and their blossom* will be swept away* by the wind.
31Let them not trust in emptiness, deceiving themselves;
for emptiness will be their recompense.
32It will be paid in full before their time,
and their branch will not be green.
33They will shake off their unripe grape, like the vine,
and cast off their blossoms, like the olive tree.
34For the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
35They conceive mischief and bring forth evil
and their heart prepares deceit.’
Job Reaffirms His Innocence16Then Job answered:
2‘I have heard many such things;
miserable comforters are you all.
3Have windy words no limit?
Or what provokes you that you keep on talking?
4I also could talk as you do,
if you were in my place;
I could join words together against you,
and shake my head at you.
5I could encourage you with my mouth,
and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.
6‘If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
7Surely now God has worn me out;
he has* made desolate all my company.
8And he has* shrivelled me up,
which is a witness against me;
my leanness has risen up against me,
and it testifies to my face.
9He has torn me in his wrath, and hated me;
he has gnashed his teeth at me;
my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10They have gaped at me with their mouths;
they have struck me insolently on the cheek;
they mass themselves together against me.
11God gives me up to the ungodly,
and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12I was at ease, and he broke me in two;
he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
he set me up as his target;
13 his archers surround me.
He slashes open my kidneys, and shows no mercy;
he pours out my gall on the ground.
14He bursts upon me again and again;
he rushes at me like a warrior.
15I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin,
and have laid my strength in the dust.
16My face is red with weeping,
and deep darkness is on my eyelids,
17though there is no violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.
18‘O earth, do not cover my blood;
let my outcry find no resting-place.
19Even now, in fact, my witness is in heaven,
and he that vouches for me is on high.
20My friends scorn me;
my eye pours out tears to God,
21that he would maintain the right of a mortal with God,
as* one does for a neighbour.
22For when a few years have come,
I shall go the way from which I shall not return.
Job Prays for Relief17My spirit is broken, my days are extinct,
the grave is ready for me.
2Surely there are mockers around me,
and my eye dwells on their provocation.
3‘Lay down a pledge for me with yourself;
who is there that will give surety for me?
4Since you have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore you will not let them triumph.
5Those who denounce friends for reward—
the eyes of their children will fail.
6‘He has made me a byword of the peoples,
and I am one before whom people spit.
7My eye has grown dim from grief,
and all my members are like a shadow.
8The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent stir themselves up against the godless.
9Yet the righteous hold to their way,
and they that have clean hands grow stronger and stronger.
10But you, come back now, all of you,
and I shall not find a sensible person among you.
11My days are past, my plans are broken off,
the desires of my heart.
12They make night into day;
“The light”, they say, “is near to the darkness.”*
13If I look for Sheol as my house,
if I spread my couch in darkness,
14if I say to the Pit, “You are my father”,
and to the worm, “My mother”, or “My sister”,
15where then is my hope?
Who will see my hope?
16Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?
Shall we descend together into the dust?’
Bildad Speaks: God Punishes the Wicked18Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2‘How long will you hunt for words?
Consider, and then we shall speak.
3Why are we counted as cattle?
Why are we stupid in your sight?
4You who tear yourself in your anger—
shall the earth be forsaken because of you,
or the rock be removed out of its place?
5‘Surely the light of the wicked is put out,
and the flame of their fire does not shine.
6The light is dark in their tent,
and the lamp above them is put out.
7Their strong steps are shortened,
and their own schemes throw them down.
8For they are thrust into a net by their own feet,
and they walk into a pitfall.
9A trap seizes them by the heel;
a snare lays hold of them.
10A rope is hid for them in the ground,
a trap for them in the path.
11Terrors frighten them on every side,
and chase them at their heels.
12Their strength is consumed by hunger,*
and calamity is ready for their stumbling.
13By disease their skin is consumed,*
the firstborn of Death consumes their limbs.
14They are torn from the tent in which they trusted,
and are brought to the king of terrors.
15In their tents nothing remains;
sulphur is scattered upon their habitations.
16Their roots dry up beneath,
and their branches wither above.
17Their memory perishes from the earth,
and they have no name in the street.
18They are thrust from light into darkness,
and driven out of the world.
19They have no offspring or descendant among their people,
and no survivor where they used to live.
20They of the west are appalled at their fate,
and horror seizes those of the east.
21Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly,
such is the place of those who do not know God.’
2‘Should the wise answer with windy knowledge,
and fill themselves with the east wind?
3Should they argue in unprofitable talk,
or in words with which they can do no good?
4But you are doing away with the fear of God,
and hindering meditation before God.
5For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
your own lips testify against you.
7‘Are you the firstborn of the human race?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
8Have you listened in the council of God?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
10The grey-haired and the aged are on our side,
those older than your father.
11Are the consolations of God too small for you,
or the word that deals gently with you?
12Why does your heart carry you away,
and why do your eyes flash,*
13so that you turn your spirit against God,
and let such words go out of your mouth?
14What are mortals, that they can be clean?
Or those born of woman, that they can be righteous?
15God puts no trust even in his holy ones,
and the heavens are not clean in his sight;
16how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
one who drinks iniquity like water!
17‘I will show you; listen to me;
what I have seen I will declare—
18what sages have told,
and their ancestors have not hidden,
19to whom alone the land was given,
and no stranger passed among them.
20The wicked writhe in pain all their days,
through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
21Terrifying sounds are in their ears;
in prosperity the destroyer will come upon them.
22They despair of returning from darkness,
and they are destined for the sword.
23They wander abroad for bread, saying, “Where is it?”
They know that a day of darkness is ready at hand;
24distress and anguish terrify them;
they prevail against them, like a king prepared for battle.
25Because they stretched out their hands against God,
and bid defiance to the Almighty,*
26running stubbornly against him
with a thick-bossed shield;
27because they have covered their faces with their fat,
and gathered fat upon their loins,
28they will live in desolate cities,
in houses that no one should inhabit,
houses destined to become heaps of ruins;
29they will not be rich, and their wealth will not endure,
nor will they strike root in the earth;*
30they will not escape from darkness;
the flame will dry up their shoots,
and their blossom* will be swept away* by the wind.
31Let them not trust in emptiness, deceiving themselves;
for emptiness will be their recompense.
32It will be paid in full before their time,
and their branch will not be green.
33They will shake off their unripe grape, like the vine,
and cast off their blossoms, like the olive tree.
34For the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
35They conceive mischief and bring forth evil
and their heart prepares deceit.’
Job Reaffirms His Innocence16Then Job answered:
2‘I have heard many such things;
miserable comforters are you all.
3Have windy words no limit?
Or what provokes you that you keep on talking?
4I also could talk as you do,
if you were in my place;
I could join words together against you,
and shake my head at you.
5I could encourage you with my mouth,
and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.
6‘If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
7Surely now God has worn me out;
he has* made desolate all my company.
8And he has* shrivelled me up,
which is a witness against me;
my leanness has risen up against me,
and it testifies to my face.
9He has torn me in his wrath, and hated me;
he has gnashed his teeth at me;
my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10They have gaped at me with their mouths;
they have struck me insolently on the cheek;
they mass themselves together against me.
11God gives me up to the ungodly,
and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12I was at ease, and he broke me in two;
he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
he set me up as his target;
13 his archers surround me.
He slashes open my kidneys, and shows no mercy;
he pours out my gall on the ground.
14He bursts upon me again and again;
he rushes at me like a warrior.
15I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin,
and have laid my strength in the dust.
16My face is red with weeping,
and deep darkness is on my eyelids,
17though there is no violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.
18‘O earth, do not cover my blood;
let my outcry find no resting-place.
19Even now, in fact, my witness is in heaven,
and he that vouches for me is on high.
20My friends scorn me;
my eye pours out tears to God,
21that he would maintain the right of a mortal with God,
as* one does for a neighbour.
22For when a few years have come,
I shall go the way from which I shall not return.
Job Prays for Relief17My spirit is broken, my days are extinct,
the grave is ready for me.
2Surely there are mockers around me,
and my eye dwells on their provocation.
3‘Lay down a pledge for me with yourself;
who is there that will give surety for me?
4Since you have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore you will not let them triumph.
5Those who denounce friends for reward—
the eyes of their children will fail.
6‘He has made me a byword of the peoples,
and I am one before whom people spit.
7My eye has grown dim from grief,
and all my members are like a shadow.
8The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent stir themselves up against the godless.
9Yet the righteous hold to their way,
and they that have clean hands grow stronger and stronger.
10But you, come back now, all of you,
and I shall not find a sensible person among you.
11My days are past, my plans are broken off,
the desires of my heart.
12They make night into day;
“The light”, they say, “is near to the darkness.”*
13If I look for Sheol as my house,
if I spread my couch in darkness,
14if I say to the Pit, “You are my father”,
and to the worm, “My mother”, or “My sister”,
15where then is my hope?
Who will see my hope?
16Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?
Shall we descend together into the dust?’
Bildad Speaks: God Punishes the Wicked18Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2‘How long will you hunt for words?
Consider, and then we shall speak.
3Why are we counted as cattle?
Why are we stupid in your sight?
4You who tear yourself in your anger—
shall the earth be forsaken because of you,
or the rock be removed out of its place?
5‘Surely the light of the wicked is put out,
and the flame of their fire does not shine.
6The light is dark in their tent,
and the lamp above them is put out.
7Their strong steps are shortened,
and their own schemes throw them down.
8For they are thrust into a net by their own feet,
and they walk into a pitfall.
9A trap seizes them by the heel;
a snare lays hold of them.
10A rope is hid for them in the ground,
a trap for them in the path.
11Terrors frighten them on every side,
and chase them at their heels.
12Their strength is consumed by hunger,*
and calamity is ready for their stumbling.
13By disease their skin is consumed,*
the firstborn of Death consumes their limbs.
14They are torn from the tent in which they trusted,
and are brought to the king of terrors.
15In their tents nothing remains;
sulphur is scattered upon their habitations.
16Their roots dry up beneath,
and their branches wither above.
17Their memory perishes from the earth,
and they have no name in the street.
18They are thrust from light into darkness,
and driven out of the world.
19They have no offspring or descendant among their people,
and no survivor where they used to live.
20They of the west are appalled at their fate,
and horror seizes those of the east.
21Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly,
such is the place of those who do not know God.’
May 23 Job 11-14
11Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
2‘Should a multitude of words go unanswered,
and should one full of talk be vindicated?
3Should your babble put others to silence,
and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
4For you say, “My conduct* is pure,
and I am clean in God’s* sight.”
5But O that God would speak,
and open his lips to you,
6and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!
For wisdom is many-sided.*
Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.
7‘Can you find out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?*
8It is higher than heaven*—what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
9Its measure is longer than the earth,
and broader than the sea.
10If he passes through, and imprisons,
and assembles for judgement, who can hinder him?
11For he knows those who are worthless;
when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?
12But a stupid person will get understanding,
when a wild ass is born human.*
13‘If you direct your heart rightly,
you will stretch out your hands towards him.
14If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
and do not let wickedness reside in your tents.
15Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish;
you will be secure, and will not fear.
16You will forget your misery;
you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
17And your life will be brighter than the noonday;
its darkness will be like the morning.
18And you will have confidence, because there is hope;
you will be protected* and take your rest in safety.
19You will lie down, and no one will make you afraid;
many will entreat your favour.
20But the eyes of the wicked will fail;
all way of escape will be lost to them,
and their hope is to breathe their last.’
Job Replies: I Am a Laughing-stock12Then Job answered:
2‘No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.
3But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these?
4I am a laughing-stock to my friends;
I, who called upon God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, I am a laughing-stock.
5Those at ease have contempt for misfortune,*
but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable.
6The tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hands.*
7‘But ask the animals, and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8ask the plants of the earth,* and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of every human being.
11Does not the ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
12Is wisdom with the aged,
and understanding in length of days?
13‘With God* are wisdom and strength;
he has counsel and understanding.
14If he tears down, no one can rebuild;
if he shuts someone in, no one can open up.
15If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
16With him are strength and wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.
17He leads counsellors away stripped,
and makes fools of judges.
18He looses the sash of kings,
and binds a waistcloth on their loins.
19He leads priests away stripped,
and overthrows the mighty.
20He deprives of speech those who are trusted,
and takes away the discernment of the elders.
21He pours contempt on princes,
and looses the belt of the strong.
22He uncovers the deeps out of darkness,
and brings deep darkness to light.
23He makes nations great, then destroys them;
he enlarges nations, then leads them away.
24He strips understanding from the leaders* of the earth,
and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
25They grope in the dark without light;
he makes them stagger like a drunkard.
13‘Look, my eye has seen all this,
my ear has heard and understood it.
2What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
3But I would speak to the Almighty,*
and I desire to argue my case with God.
4As for you, you whitewash with lies;
all of you are worthless physicians.
5If you would only keep silent,
that would be your wisdom!
6Hear now my reasoning,
and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7Will you speak falsely for God,
and speak deceitfully for him?
8Will you show partiality towards him,
will you plead the case for God?
9Will it be well with you when he searches you out?
Or can you deceive him, as one person deceives another?
10He will surely rebuke you
if in secret you show partiality.
11Will not his majesty terrify you,
and the dread of him fall upon you?
12Your maxims are proverbs of ashes,
your defences are defences of clay.
13‘Let me have silence, and I will speak,
and let come on me what may.
14I will take my flesh in my teeth,
and put my life in my hand.*
15See, he will kill me; I have no hope;*
but I will defend my ways to his face.
16This will be my salvation,
that the godless shall not come before him.
17Listen carefully to my words,
and let my declaration be in your ears.
18I have indeed prepared my case;
I know that I shall be vindicated.
19Who is there that will contend with me?
For then I would be silent and die.
Job’s Despondent Prayer
20Only grant two things to me,
then I will not hide myself from your face:
21withdraw your hand far from me,
and do not let dread of you terrify me.
22Then call, and I will answer;
or let me speak, and you reply to me.
23How many are my iniquities and my sins?
Make me know my transgression and my sin.
24Why do you hide your face,
and count me as your enemy?
25Will you frighten a windblown leaf
and pursue dry chaff?
26For you write bitter things against me,
and make me reap* the iniquities of my youth.
27You put my feet in the stocks,
and watch all my paths;
you set a bound to the soles of my feet.
28One wastes away like a rotten thing,
like a garment that is moth-eaten.
14‘A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,
2 comes up like a flower and withers,
flees like a shadow and does not last.
3Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
Do you bring me into judgement with you?
4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
No one can.
5Since their days are determined,
and the number of their months is known to you,
and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,
6look away from them, and desist,*
that they may enjoy, like labourers, their days.
7‘For there is hope for a tree,
if it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
8Though its root grows old in the earth,
and its stump dies in the ground,
9yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth branches like a young plant.
10But mortals die, and are laid low;
humans expire, and where are they?
11As waters fail from a lake,
and a river wastes away and dries up,
12so mortals lie down and do not rise again;
until the heavens are no more, they will not awake
or be roused out of their sleep.
13O that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14If mortals die, will they live again?
All the days of my service I would wait
until my release should come.
15You would call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the work of your hands.
16For then you would not* number my steps,
you would not keep watch over my sin;
17my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.
18‘But the mountain falls and crumbles away,
and the rock is removed from its place;
19the waters wear away the stones;
the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
so you destroy the hope of mortals.
20You prevail for ever against them, and they pass away;
you change their countenance, and send them away.
21Their children come to honour, and they do not know it;
they are brought low, and it goes unnoticed.
22They feel only the pain of their own bodies,
and mourn only for themselves.’
2‘Should a multitude of words go unanswered,
and should one full of talk be vindicated?
3Should your babble put others to silence,
and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
4For you say, “My conduct* is pure,
and I am clean in God’s* sight.”
5But O that God would speak,
and open his lips to you,
6and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!
For wisdom is many-sided.*
Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.
7‘Can you find out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?*
8It is higher than heaven*—what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
9Its measure is longer than the earth,
and broader than the sea.
10If he passes through, and imprisons,
and assembles for judgement, who can hinder him?
11For he knows those who are worthless;
when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?
12But a stupid person will get understanding,
when a wild ass is born human.*
13‘If you direct your heart rightly,
you will stretch out your hands towards him.
14If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
and do not let wickedness reside in your tents.
15Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish;
you will be secure, and will not fear.
16You will forget your misery;
you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
17And your life will be brighter than the noonday;
its darkness will be like the morning.
18And you will have confidence, because there is hope;
you will be protected* and take your rest in safety.
19You will lie down, and no one will make you afraid;
many will entreat your favour.
20But the eyes of the wicked will fail;
all way of escape will be lost to them,
and their hope is to breathe their last.’
Job Replies: I Am a Laughing-stock12Then Job answered:
2‘No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.
3But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these?
4I am a laughing-stock to my friends;
I, who called upon God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, I am a laughing-stock.
5Those at ease have contempt for misfortune,*
but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable.
6The tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hands.*
7‘But ask the animals, and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8ask the plants of the earth,* and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of every human being.
11Does not the ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
12Is wisdom with the aged,
and understanding in length of days?
13‘With God* are wisdom and strength;
he has counsel and understanding.
14If he tears down, no one can rebuild;
if he shuts someone in, no one can open up.
15If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
16With him are strength and wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.
17He leads counsellors away stripped,
and makes fools of judges.
18He looses the sash of kings,
and binds a waistcloth on their loins.
19He leads priests away stripped,
and overthrows the mighty.
20He deprives of speech those who are trusted,
and takes away the discernment of the elders.
21He pours contempt on princes,
and looses the belt of the strong.
22He uncovers the deeps out of darkness,
and brings deep darkness to light.
23He makes nations great, then destroys them;
he enlarges nations, then leads them away.
24He strips understanding from the leaders* of the earth,
and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
25They grope in the dark without light;
he makes them stagger like a drunkard.
13‘Look, my eye has seen all this,
my ear has heard and understood it.
2What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
3But I would speak to the Almighty,*
and I desire to argue my case with God.
4As for you, you whitewash with lies;
all of you are worthless physicians.
5If you would only keep silent,
that would be your wisdom!
6Hear now my reasoning,
and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7Will you speak falsely for God,
and speak deceitfully for him?
8Will you show partiality towards him,
will you plead the case for God?
9Will it be well with you when he searches you out?
Or can you deceive him, as one person deceives another?
10He will surely rebuke you
if in secret you show partiality.
11Will not his majesty terrify you,
and the dread of him fall upon you?
12Your maxims are proverbs of ashes,
your defences are defences of clay.
13‘Let me have silence, and I will speak,
and let come on me what may.
14I will take my flesh in my teeth,
and put my life in my hand.*
15See, he will kill me; I have no hope;*
but I will defend my ways to his face.
16This will be my salvation,
that the godless shall not come before him.
17Listen carefully to my words,
and let my declaration be in your ears.
18I have indeed prepared my case;
I know that I shall be vindicated.
19Who is there that will contend with me?
For then I would be silent and die.
Job’s Despondent Prayer
20Only grant two things to me,
then I will not hide myself from your face:
21withdraw your hand far from me,
and do not let dread of you terrify me.
22Then call, and I will answer;
or let me speak, and you reply to me.
23How many are my iniquities and my sins?
Make me know my transgression and my sin.
24Why do you hide your face,
and count me as your enemy?
25Will you frighten a windblown leaf
and pursue dry chaff?
26For you write bitter things against me,
and make me reap* the iniquities of my youth.
27You put my feet in the stocks,
and watch all my paths;
you set a bound to the soles of my feet.
28One wastes away like a rotten thing,
like a garment that is moth-eaten.
14‘A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,
2 comes up like a flower and withers,
flees like a shadow and does not last.
3Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
Do you bring me into judgement with you?
4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
No one can.
5Since their days are determined,
and the number of their months is known to you,
and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,
6look away from them, and desist,*
that they may enjoy, like labourers, their days.
7‘For there is hope for a tree,
if it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
8Though its root grows old in the earth,
and its stump dies in the ground,
9yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth branches like a young plant.
10But mortals die, and are laid low;
humans expire, and where are they?
11As waters fail from a lake,
and a river wastes away and dries up,
12so mortals lie down and do not rise again;
until the heavens are no more, they will not awake
or be roused out of their sleep.
13O that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14If mortals die, will they live again?
All the days of my service I would wait
until my release should come.
15You would call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the work of your hands.
16For then you would not* number my steps,
you would not keep watch over my sin;
17my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.
18‘But the mountain falls and crumbles away,
and the rock is removed from its place;
19the waters wear away the stones;
the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
so you destroy the hope of mortals.
20You prevail for ever against them, and they pass away;
you change their countenance, and send them away.
21Their children come to honour, and they do not know it;
they are brought low, and it goes unnoticed.
22They feel only the pain of their own bodies,
and mourn only for themselves.’
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