Job 15-21
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
III. Second Cycle of Speeches
Chapter 15
Second Speech of Eliphaz. 1 [a]Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 Does a wise man answer with windy opinions,
or puff himself up with the east wind?
3 Does he argue in speech that does not avail,
and in words that are to no profit?
4 You in fact do away with piety,
you lessen devotion toward God,
5 Because your wickedness instructs your mouth,
and you choose to speak like the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, not I;(A)
your own lips refute you.
7 Were you the first to be born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
8 Do you listen in on God’s council(B)
and restrict wisdom to yourself?
9 What do you know that we do not know,(C)
or understand that we do not?
10 There are gray-haired old men among us,
more advanced in years than your father.
11 Are the consolations of God not enough for you,
and speech that deals gently with you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
13 So that you turn your anger against God
and let such words escape your mouth!
14 How can any mortal be blameless,(D)
anyone born of woman be righteous?(E)
15 If in his holy ones God places no confidence,(F)
and if the heavens are not without blame in his sight,
16 How much less so is the abominable and corrupt:
people who drink in iniquity like water!
17 I will show you, if you listen to me;
what I have seen I will tell—
18 What the wise relate
and have not contradicted since the days of their ancestors,
19 To whom alone the land was given,
when no foreigner moved among them:
20 The wicked is in torment all his days,
and limited years are in store for the ruthless;
21 The sound of terrors is in his ears;
when all is prosperous, a spoiler comes upon him.
22 He despairs of escaping the darkness,
and looks ever for the sword;
23 A wanderer, food for vultures,
he knows destruction is imminent.
24 A day of darkness fills him with dread;
distress and anguish overpower him,
like a king expecting an attack.
25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God
and arrogantly challenged the Almighty,
26 Rushing defiantly against him,
with the stout bosses of his shields.
27 Although he has covered his face with his crassness,
padded his loins with blubber,
28 He shall dwell in ruined cities,
in houses that are deserted,
crumbling into rubble.
29 He shall not be rich, his possessions shall not endure;
his property shall not spread over the land.
30 A flame shall sear his early growth,
and with the wind his blossoms shall disappear.
31 Let him not trust in his height, misled,
even though his height be like the palm tree.[b]
32 He shall wither before his time,
his branches no longer green.
33 He shall be like a vine that sheds its grapes unripened,
like an olive tree casting off its blossom.
34 For the breed of the impious shall be sterile,(G)
and fire shall consume the tents of extortioners.
35 They conceive malice, bring forth deceit,(H)
give birth to fraud.[c]
Chapter 16
Job’s Fourth Reply. 1 Then Job answered and said:
2 I have heard this sort of thing many times.(I)
Troublesome comforters, all of you!
3 Is there no end to windy words?
What sickness makes you rattle on?
4 I also could talk as you do,
were you in my place.
I could declaim over you,
or wag my head at you;
5 I could strengthen you with talk,
with mere chatter give relief.
6 If I speak, my pain is not relieved;
if I stop speaking, nothing changes.
7 But now he has exhausted me;
you have stunned all my companions.
8 You[d] have shriveled me up; it is a witness,
my gauntness rises up to testify against me;
9 His wrath tears and assails me,
he gnashes his teeth against me;
My enemy looks daggers at me.
10 They gape at me with their mouths;
They strike me on the cheek with insults;
they are all enlisted against me.
11 God has given me over to the impious;
into the hands of the wicked he has cast me.
12 I was in peace, but he dislodged me,
seized me by the neck, dashed me to pieces.
He has set me up for a target;
13 his arrows strike me from all directions.
He pierces my sides without mercy,
pours out my gall upon the ground.
14 He pierces me, thrust upon thrust,
rushes at me like a warrior.
15 I have sewn sackcloth on my skin,
laid my horn low in the dust.
16 My face is inflamed with weeping,
darkness covers my eyes,
17 Although my hands are free from violence,
and my prayer sincere.
18 O earth, do not cover my blood,
nor let my outcry come to rest![e]
19 Even now my witness[f] is in heaven,
my advocate is on high.
20 My friends it is who wrong me;
before God my eyes shed tears,
21 That justice may be done for a mortal with God:
as for a man with his neighbor.
22 For my years are numbered,
and I go the road of no return.
Chapter 17
1 My spirit is broken, my days finished,
my burial at hand.
2 Surely mockers surround me,
at their provocation, my eyes grow dim.
3 Put up a pledge for me with you:[g]
who is there to give surety for me?
4 You darken their minds to knowledge;
therefore you will not exalt them.
5 For a share of property he informs on friends,
while the eyes of his children grow dim.
6 I am made a byword of the people;(J)
I am one at whom people spit.
7 My eyes are blind with anguish,
and my whole frame is like a shadow.
8 The upright are astonished at this,
the innocent aroused against the wicked.
9 The righteous holds to his way,
the one with clean hands increases in strength.
10 But turn now, and come on again;
I do not find a wise man among you!
11 My days pass by, my plans are at an end,
the yearning of my heart.
12 They would change the night into day;
where there is darkness they talk of approaching light.
13 [h]If my only hope is dwelling in Sheol,
and spreading my couch in darkness,
14 If I am to say to the pit, “You are my father,”
and to the worm “my mother,” “my sister,”
15 Where then is my hope,
my happiness, who can see it?
16 Will they descend with me into Sheol?
Shall we go down together into the dust?
Chapter 18
Bildad’s Second Speech. 1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 When will you put an end to words?
Reflect, and then we can have discussion.
3 Why are we accounted like beasts,
equal to them in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself in your anger—
shall the earth be neglected on your account
or the rock be moved out of its place?
5 Truly, the light of the wicked is extinguished;
the flame of his fire casts no light.
6 In his tent light is darkness;
the lamp above him goes out.(K)
7 His vigorous steps are hemmed in,
his own counsel casts him down.
8 A net catches him by the feet,
he wanders into a pitfall.
9 A trap seizes him by the heel,
a snare lays hold of him.
10 A noose is hidden for him on the ground,
a netting for him on the path.
11 On every side terrors frighten him;(L)
they harry him at each step.
12 His strength is famished,
disaster is ready at his side,
13 His skin is eaten to the limbs,
the firstborn of Death[i] eats his limbs.
14 He is plucked from the security of his tent;
and marched off to the king of terrors.[j]
15 Fire lodges in his tent,
over his abode brimstone is scattered.
16 Below, his roots dry up,
and above, his branches wither.
17 His memory perishes from the earth,(M)
and he has no name in the countryside.
18 He is driven from light into darkness,
and banished from the world.
19 He has neither offshoot nor offspring among his people,
no survivor where once he dwelt.
20 Those who come after shall be appalled at his fate;
those who went before are seized with horror.
21 So is it then with the dwelling of the impious;
such is the place of the one who does not know God!
Chapter 19
Job’s Fifth Reply. 1 [k]Then Job answered and said:
2 How long will you afflict my spirit,
grind me down with words?
3 These ten times you have humiliated me,
have assailed me without shame!
4 Even if it were true that I am at fault,
my fault would remain with me;
5 If truly you exalt yourselves at my expense,
and use my shame as an argument against me,
6 Know then that it is God who has dealt unfairly with me,
and compassed me round with his net.
7 If I cry out “Violence!” I am not answered.(N)
I shout for help, but there is no justice.
8 He has barred my way and I cannot pass;
veiled my path in darkness;
9 He has stripped me of my glory,
taken the diadem from my brow.
10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone;
he has uprooted my hope like a tree.
11 He has kindled his wrath against me;
he counts me one of his enemies.(O)
12 His troops advance as one;
they build up their road to attack me,
encamp around my tent.
13 My family has withdrawn from me,(P)
my friends are wholly estranged.
14 My relatives and companions neglect me,
my guests have forgotten me.
15 Even my maidservants consider me a stranger;
I am a foreigner in their sight.
16 I call my servant, but he gives no answer,
though I plead aloud with him.
17 My breath is abhorrent to my wife;(Q)
I am loathsome to my very children.
18 Even young children despise me;
when I appear, they speak against me.
19 All my intimate friends hold me in horror;
those whom I loved have turned against me!(R)
20 My bones cling to my skin,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.[l]
21 Pity me, pity me, you my friends,
for the hand of God has struck me!
22 Why do you pursue me like God,
and prey insatiably upon me?
23 Oh, would that my words were written down!(S)
Would that they were inscribed in a record:[m]
24 That with an iron chisel and with lead
they were cut in the rock forever!
25 As for me, I know that my vindicator lives,[n]
and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust.(T)
26 This will happen when my skin has been stripped off,
and from my flesh I will see God:
27 I will see for myself,
my own eyes, not another’s, will behold him:
my inmost being is consumed with longing.
28 But you who say, “How shall we persecute him,
seeing that the root of the matter is found in him?”
29 Be afraid of the sword for yourselves,
for your anger is a crime deserving the sword;
that you may know that there is a judgment.
Chapter 20
Zophar’s Second Speech. 1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
2 So now my thoughts provide an answer for me,
because of the feelings within me.
3 A rebuke that puts me to shame I hear,
and from my understanding a spirit gives me a reply.
4 Do you not know this: from of old,
since human beings were placed upon the earth,
5 The triumph of the wicked is short
and the joy of the impious but for a moment?(U)
6 Though his pride mount up to the heavens
and his head reach to the clouds,
7 Yet he perishes forever like the dung he uses for fuel,
and onlookers say, “Where is he?”(V)
8 Like a dream he takes flight and cannot be found;
he fades away like a vision of the night.
9 The eye which saw him does so no more;
nor shall his dwelling again behold him.
10 His sons will restore to the poor,
and his hands will yield up his riches.(W)
11 Though his bones are full of youthful vigor,
it shall lie with him in the dust.
12 Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth,
and he hides it under his tongue,
13 Though he retains it and will not let it go
but keeps it still within his mouth,
14 Yet in his stomach the food shall turn;
it shall be venom of asps inside him.
15 The riches he swallowed he shall vomit up;
God shall make his belly disgorge them.
16 The poison of asps he shall drink in;
the viper’s fangs shall slay him.
17 He shall see no streams of oil,[o]
no torrents of honey or milk.
18 He shall give back his gains, never used;
like his profit from trade, never enjoyed.
19 Because he has oppressed and neglected the poor,
and stolen a house he did not build;
20 For he has known no quiet in his greed,
in his treasure he cannot save himself.(X)
21 None of his survivors will consume it,
therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
22 (Y)When he has more than enough, distress shall be his,
every sort of trouble shall come upon him.
23 When he has filled his belly,
God shall send against him the fury of his wrath
and rain down his missiles upon him.
24 Should he escape an iron weapon,
a bronze bow shall pierce him through;
25 The dart shall come out of his back,
a shining point out of his gall-bladder:
terrors fall upon him.
26 Complete darkness is in store for his treasured ones;
a fire unfanned shall consume him;(Z)
any survivor in his tent shall be destroyed.
27 The heavens shall reveal his guilt,
and the earth rise up against him.
28 The flood shall sweep away his house,
torrents in the day of God’s anger.
29 This is the portion of the wicked,
the heritage appointed him by God.[p](AA)
Chapter 21
Job’s Sixth Reply. 1 Then Job answered and said:
2 At least listen to my words,(AB)
and let that be the consolation you offer.
3 Bear with me while I speak;
and after I have spoken, you can mock!
4 Is my complaint toward any human being?
Why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me and be appalled,
put your hands over your mouths.
6 When I think of it, I am dismayed,
and shuddering seizes my flesh.
7 [q]Why do the wicked keep on living,
grow old, become mighty in power?(AC)
8 Their progeny is secure in their sight;
their offspring are before their eyes.
9 Their homes are safe, without fear,
and the rod of God is not upon them.
10 Their bulls breed without fail;
their cows calve and do not miscarry.
11 They let their young run free like sheep,
their children skip about.
12 They sing along with drum and lyre,
and make merry to the sound of the pipe.
13 They live out their days in prosperity,
and tranquilly go down to Sheol.(AD)
14 Yet they say to God, “Depart from us,(AE)
for we have no desire to know your ways!
15 What is the Almighty that we should serve him?
And what do we gain by praying to him?”(AF)
16 Their happiness is not in their own hands.
The designs of the wicked are far from me!(AG)
17 How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
How often does destruction come upon them,
the portion God allots in his anger?
18 Let them be like straw before the wind,
like chaff the storm carries away!
19 “God is storing up the man’s misery for his children”?—
let him requite the man himself so that he knows it!
20 Let his own eyes behold his calamity,
and the wrath of the Almighty let him drink!
21 For what interest has he in his family after him,
when the number of his months is finished?
22 Can anyone teach God knowledge,
seeing that he judges those on high?[r]
23 One dies in his full vigor,
wholly at ease and content;
24 His figure is full and nourished,
his bones are moist with marrow.
25 Another dies with a bitter spirit,
never having tasted happiness.
26 Alike they lie down in the dust,
and worms cover them both.
27 See, I know your thoughts,
and the arguments you plot against me.
28 For you say, “Where is the house of the great,
and where the dwelling place of the wicked?”
29 Have you not asked the wayfarers
and do you not acknowledge the witness they give?
30 On the day of calamity the evil man is spared,
on the day that wrath is released.
31 Who will charge him to his face about his conduct,
and for what he has done who will repay him?
32 He is carried to the grave
and at his tomb they keep watch.
33 Sweet to him are the clods of the valley.
All humankind will follow after him,
and countless others before him.
34 How empty the consolation you offer me!
Your arguments remain a fraud.
Footnotes
- 15:1 The tone of Eliphaz’s speech is now much rougher. In vv. 7–9 he ridicules Job’s knowledge with a sarcastic question about whether he was a member of the divine council before creation and thus had unique wisdom (according to Prv 8:22–31, only Woman Wisdom existed before creation). Verses 20–35 are a typical description of the fate of the wicked.
- 15:31 The translation is uncertain.
- 15:35 The plans of the wicked yield nothing but futile results. Cf. Ps 7:15; Is 59:4.
- 16:8 You: God. Job then describes in vv. 9–17 the savage treatment that he has received from God.
- 16:18 As the exposed blood of those who were unjustly slain cries to heaven for vengeance (Gn 4:10; Ez 24:6–9), so Job’s sufferings demand redress.
- 16:19 Witness: refers perhaps to God (is Job appealing to God against God?), or to a mediator (cf. 9:33), or to a personification of Job’s prayer.
- 17:3 Addressed to God; v. 10 to Job’s friends.
- 17:13–16 Job elaborates another of the vivid descriptions of “life” in Sheol; cf. 3:13–23; 10:21–22.
- 18:13 Firstborn of Death: that is, disease, plague.
- 18:14 The king of terrors: of Sheol, of Death (cf. the “terrors” in v. 11). However, the Hebrew of this verse is obscure.
- 19:1 Job continues railing against his friends (vv. 2–5), and describing God’s savage attack in words reminiscent of 16:9–17.
- 19:20 Skin of my teeth: although the metaphor is not clear, this has become a proverbial expression for a narrow escape. It does not fit Job’s situation here.
- 19:23–24 What Job is about to say is so important that he wants it recorded in a permanent manner.
- 19:25–27 The meaning of this passage is obscure because the original text has been poorly preserved and the ancient versions do not agree among themselves. Job asserts three times that he shall see a future vindicator (Hebrew goel), but he leaves the time and manner of this vindication undefined. The Vulgate translation has Job indicating a belief in resurrection after death, but the Hebrew and the other ancient versions are less specific.
- 20:17 Oil: olive oil, one of the main agricultural products of ancient Palestine, a land proverbially rich in honey and milk; see Ex 3:8; etc.
- 20:29 Zophar ends his lecture in the style of Bildad (cf. 18:19) with a summary appraisal of what he has been saying about the fate of the wicked.
- 21:7 In vv. 7–29 Job launches into a realistic description of the fate of the wicked, contrary to the claims made by the friends.
- 21:22 Those on high: the heavenly beings; cf. 1:6; Ps 82:1–8.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.