Job 15-21
New Catholic Bible
Second Cycle of Speeches[a]
Eliphaz’s Second Speech[b]
Chapter 15
You in Fact Discredit Religion. 1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded:
2 “Would a wise man respond with empty arguments
and make himself a windbag?[c]
3 Would he fill his defense with pointless talk
and speeches that serve no purpose?
4 “You in fact discredit religion
and do away with devotion to God,
5 because your iniquity dictates what you say
and you choose to exhibit a deceitful tongue.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, not I;
your own lips testify against you.
Are You the Firstborn of the Human Race?[d]
7 “Are you the firstborn of the human race?
Did you come into existence before the hills?
8 Are you a member of God’s inner council?
Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?
9 What do you know that we do not know?
What insight do you have that we do not share?
10 We ourselves have age and gray hair on our side,
people who far surpass your father in years.
11 “Are the consolations that God offers insufficient for you,
words whispered gently in your ear?
12 Why do you allow your passions to erode your judgment,
and why do your eyes flash with anger
13 so that you vent your rage against God
and permit such words to escape your mouth?
14 “What is man, that he should be without fault,
or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
15 If God places no trust in his holy ones[e]
and the heavens are not pure in his sight,
16 how much less is man, who is vile and corrupt
and drinks up iniquity like water?
Listen to Experience and Tradition[f]
17 “I will tell you; listen to me.
I will recount what I have seen,
18 what has been related by wise men
who have faithfully transmitted the teachings of their ancestors,
19 to whom alone the land was given,
and no foreigner passed among them.
20 “The wicked man suffers torment all his days,
and limited are the years allotted to the tyrant.
21 Terrifying sounds echo in his ears,
and even when times are peaceful, marauders swoop down on him.
22 He despairs of escaping the darkness
and realizes that he is destined for the sword.
23 “In his wandering, he serves as food for vultures
and knows the day of darkness is at hand.
24 Distress and anguish overwhelm him;
they overpower him like a king prepared to attack.
25 “Because he has lifted his hands against God
and acted in brazen defiance of the Almighty,
26 rushing stubbornly against him
with his massive embossed shield,[g]
27 with his jowls heavy and gross
and his waist bulging with fat,
28 he will dwell in cities that lie in ruins,
in houses that have been abandoned
and are crumbling into a heap of rubble.
29 “He will no longer be wealthy and his riches will not endure;
no longer will his power prevail.
30 He will not escape the darkness;
intense heat will shrivel his roots,
and the wind will cause his blossoms to disappear.
31 Let him not deceive himself by trusting in what is worthless,
for he will be left bereft.
32 “His palm trees will wither before their time,
and his branches will never again be green.
33 He will be like a vine that sheds unripe grapes,
like an olive tree casting off its blossoms.
34 For the company of the godless will be completely barren,
and fire will consume the tents of those who are venal.
35 They conceive malice and breed evil,
and they give birth to deceit.”
Job’s Fourth Response[h]
Chapter 16
If You Were in My Place . . . 1 Job then answered with these words:
2 “I have heard similar comments on many occasions;
what wretched comforters you all are!
3 When will you cease your endless flow of foolish words?
Or what sickness afflicts you that you never cease babbling?
4 “I could also rant on as you do,
if you were in my place.
I could exhaust you with my words
and shake my head at you.[i]
5 But I would offer words of encouragement,
and comfort from my lips would alleviate your pain.
6 When I speak, my suffering is not eased,
and if I remain silent, my pain does not stop.
You Have Risen Up as a Witness against Me[j]
7 “Truly, my pain has left me exhausted,
and you have devastated my entire family.
8 You have risen up as a witness against me;
my gaunt appearance offers clear testimony to my plight.
9 Your anger has caused you to assail me,
and you gnash your teeth against me.
My enemies lord it over me;
10 they open their mouths to mock me.
They strike me insolently on the cheek;
they have all joined in league against me.
11 “God has left me as prey for the godless
and handed me over to the power of the wicked.
12 I was living at peace until he crushed me;
he seized me by the neck and broke me into pieces,
setting me up as a target.
13 His archers encompass me on every side;
he pierces my loins without mercy
and pours out my gall upon the ground.
14 He repeatedly bludgeons his way through my defenses
and rushes upon me like a warrior.
My Witness Is in Heaven[k]
15 “I have sewn sackcloth over my skin
and laid my forehead in the dust.
16 My face is red from incessant weeping,
and dark shadows ring my eyelids,
17 even though my hands are free of violence
and my prayer is pure.
18 “O earth, do not cover my blood;[l]
let my cries never cease to be heard.
19 Even now my witness is in heaven;
my defender is on high.
20 Although my friends scorn me,
I pour out tears before God,
21 pleading that he may listen to me
as a person would listen to a neighbor.
22 For there are only a few years left to me
before I set forth on that journey
from which there is no return.
Chapter 17
Where Then Will My Hope Be?[m]
1 “My spirit is broken,
my days are numbered,
and the grave is ready to receive me.
2 I am surrounded by mockers who taunt me,
and my eyes dwell on their hostility.
3 “I call upon you to be a witness on my behalf,
for there is no one else to whom I can turn.
4 You have closed the minds of others to reason,
but surely you will not allow them to triumph.
5 “Like a man who invites others to dine with him,
while the eyes of his children are failing,[n]
6 I have become a byword in every land,
someone people spit upon.
7 My eyes have become increasingly blinded with grief,
and all my members have been reduced to a shadow.
8 [o]The righteous are appalled at this,
and the innocent are indignant at the wicked.
9 The upright continue to adhere to a righteous path,
and those whose hands are pure will grow stronger.
10 “Even so, come forward, all of you, and continue your attack.
I will not find even one man among you who is wise.
11 My days have passed and my plans are foiled;
the strings of my heart have been severed.
12 My enemies would have me believe that night is day
and that the light will soon eradicate the darkness.
13 “If I foresee the netherworld as my dwelling,
if I spread out my bed in the darkness,
14 if I call the grave my father
and the worm my mother or my sister,
15 where then will my hope be,
and who can foresee any happiness for me?
16 Will they accompany me to the netherworld?
Will we descend together into the dust?”
Bildad’s Second Speech[p]
Chapter 18
The Light of the Wicked Is Extinguished.
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite responded:
2 “When will you cease this torrent of words?
Once you start to think rationally,
then we can have a sensible discussion.
3 Why do you treat us like animals
and regard us as ignorant?
4 In your anger you tear yourself to pieces,
but the earth will not be forsaken on your account,
nor will a single rock be moved from its place.
5 “The light of the wicked is extinguished,
and the flame of his fire no longer shines.
6 The light in his tent begins to fade
and the lamp above him is put out.
7 His vigorous stride begins to falter
and his own plans fail miserably.
8 He rushes headlong into a net,
and his feet are ensnared.
9 “A trap seizes him by the heel,
leaving him unable to escape.
10 A noose lies hidden on the ground for him;
pitfalls lie across his path.
11 Terrors alarm him on every side,
hounding his every step.
12 His strength is weakened by hunger,
and disaster awaits him on all sides.
13 “His skin is eaten away by disease;
the firstborn of death devours his limbs.[q]
14 He is dragged from the security of his tent
and carted off to the king of terrors.[r]
15 Anyone can live in his tent since it is no longer his;
brimstone[s] is scattered over his dwelling.
16 His roots dry up below,
and his branches wither above.
17 “All memory of him vanishes from the earth;
his name is quickly forgotten.
18 He is thrust from light into darkness
and banished from the world.
19 He leaves no offspring or posterity among his people;
there is no survivor where he once lived.
20 Inhabitants of the west are appalled at his fate,
while those of the east are struck with horror.
21 Such indeed is the dwelling of the impious;
such is the home of everyone who cares nothing for God.”
Job’s Fifth Response[t]
Chapter 19
God Has Wronged Me.[u] 1 Job then answered with these words:
2 “How much longer will you torment me
and oppress me with your words?
3 You have reproached me now ten times,
and you mistreat me shamelessly.
4 And even if it were true that I have erred,
the fault would be completely mine.
5 “If indeed you want to exalt yourselves above me
and use my humiliation against me,
6 know that God has wronged me
and cast his net over me.
7 Even when I protest that I have been wronged,
no one comes forward to support me,
and I receive no justice when I cry out for help.
8 “He has blocked my path so that I cannot pass,
and he has shrouded my way in darkness.
9 He has deprived me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.
10 He assails me on every side until I succumb;
he has uprooted my hope like a tree.
11 He has inflamed his anger against me
and looks upon me as his enemy.
12 His troops move forward as a single force;
they have surrounded me with siegeworks
and encamped around my tent.
13 “He has caused my brethren to turn against me;
my friends are completely estranged from me.
14 My relatives and my companions now ignore me,
and those who were guests in my house have forgotten me.
15 Even my serving girls regard me as a stranger;
I have become an alien in their eyes.
16 When I summon my servant, he does not respond,
no matter how much I plead with him.
17 “My wife finds my breath repulsive;
my stench is loathsome to my relatives.
18 Even young children despise me;[v]
when I approach, they turn their backs on me.
19 All of my dearest friends abhor me;
those I love have turned against me.
20 I have become just skin and bones
and have escaped with only my gums.[w]
21 “Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me,
for the hand of God has touched me.
22 Must you pursue me just as God does?
Will not my flesh ever be enough to satisfy you?[x]
I Know That My Redeemer Lives[y]
23 “How I wish that my words might be written down
and inscribed on a scroll!
24 How I wish that with an iron chisel and with lead
they were engraved in stone forever!
25 “But I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the end he will stand upon the dust.
26 After my awakening, he will call me close to him,
and then from my own flesh I will see God.
27 I will see him with my own eyes;
my eyes, not those of another, will behold him.
How my heart within me yearns for that moment!
28 “As for you who say,
‘How we will persecute him,
for the root of the trouble lies in him,’
29 beware of the sword that is pointed toward you,
for the avenger of wickedness is the sword,
and then you will know that there is indeed a judgment.”
Zophar’s Second Speech[z]
Chapter 20
The Joy of a Sinner Lasts Only for a Moment.
1 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
2 “The words you have spoken have caused me great distress,
and as a result, I am forced to reply.
3 I have been outraged by your censure,
but now a spirit beyond my understanding
provides me with the answers to rebuke you.
4 “Surely you must know that since time began
and man was first placed on the earth,
5 the triumph of the wicked has always been short-lived,
and the joy of the sinner lasts only for a moment.
6 Even though in his pride he towers to the sky
and his head touches the clouds,
7 he is destined to perish forever like his own dung,[aa]
and those who used to see him will ask:
‘Where is he?’
8 He will fade away like a dream and never be found again;
he will vanish like a vision of the night.
9 The eyes that saw him will see him no more,
and his dwelling will not behold him any longer.
He Wolfs Down Riches and Then Vomits Them Up
10 “His children will seek the favor of the poor,
and his hands will be forced to return his wealth.
11 The youthful vigor that once filled his body
will be stagnant with him in the earth.
12 “Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth
and he hides it under his tongue,
13 though he continues to keep it in his mouth
and is loath to let it go,
14 yet such food will turn sour in his stomach,
working inside him like the venom of asps.
15 He wolfs down riches and then vomits them up;
God forces him to disgorge them from his stomach.
16 “Such a person will suck the venom of asps;
the tongue of a viper will slay him.
17 He will see no streams of oil
or rivers flowing with honey and cream.[ab]
18 He will be forced to restore his gains without enjoying them;
even though his wealth increased, he will derive no enjoyment.
19 For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute,
seizing houses that he did not build.
20 “Since his avarice could never be satisfied,
no amount of hoarding will save him.
21 Since his greed was insatiable,
his prosperity will not endure.
22 When he possesses everything he desires,
his troubles will begin,
and the full force of misery will strike him down.
23 “God will unleash the fury of his wrath against him
and rain down upon him a hail of arrows.
24 If he escapes a weapon of iron,
a bow of bronze will pierce him through.
25 The tip of the arrow will protrude from his body
and the glittering point will emerge from his bladder;
terrors will descend upon him.
26 “Unrelieved darkness is what awaits him;
a fire[ac] that does not need to be fanned will devour him,
and anything left in his tent will be consumed.
27 The heavens will lay bare his iniquity,
and the earth will rise up against him.
28 Flood waters will sweep away his house
like the torrents on the day of God’s wrath.
29 This is the lot that God reserves for the wicked,
the heritage assigned to him by God.”
Job’s Sixth Response[ad]
Chapter 21
The Very Thought of My Plight Fills Me with Horror.[ae] 1 Job then answered with these words:
2 “Listen carefully to my words;
at the very least, grant me this consolation.
3 Bear with me while I speak;
once I have finished, you may jeer.
4 “Is my complaint limited to my fellow men?
Do I not have good reason to be impatient?
5 If you consider my plight carefully,
you will have good reason to be appalled
and to place your hand over your mouth.
6 The very thought of it fills me with horror,
and my entire body shudders.
Why Do the Wicked Continue To Survive?[af]
7 “Why do the wicked continue to survive,
achieving old age and increasing in power?
8 They behold their children established around them
and their descendants continuing to flourish.
9 Their households are secure, with no cause for fear;
the rod of God does not descend upon them.
10 Their bulls breed without fail;
their cows give birth without miscarriage.
11 “The wicked send forth children as a flock;
their little ones dance and frolic.
12 They sing to the sound of the tambourine and the harp
and rejoice at the playing of the flute.
13 They spend their days in prosperity
and go down to the netherworld in peace.
They Say to God, “Leave Us Alone!”
14 “Despite this, these people say to God,
‘Leave us alone!
We do not want to learn your ways.
15 Who is the Almighty that we should serve him?
And what would we gain by praying to him?’
16 Is not the prosperity of the wicked
the result of their own efforts,
since they have never sought God’s help?
How Often?[ag]
17 “Yet, how often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?
How often does calamity befall them
as God in his anger uses his retribution to repay them?
18 How often are they like straw blown away by the wind
or like chaff that the storm carries off?
What Concern Will He Have for His Family?[ah]
19 “According to you, God stores up punishment for a man’s children,
but the wicked should be the ones punished and requited for their evil.
20 Let his own eyes witness the destruction of God
that his sins have earned,
and let him quaff the wrath[ai] of the Almighty!
21 For what concern will he have for his family
once his allotted number of months has been completed?
All Are Consigned To Lie Down in the Earth
22 “Who can offer wisdom to God
when God judges those who are on high?
23 One man passes away while enjoying vigorous health,
blessed with security and contentment;
24 his loins are full of vigor
and his bones are rich in marrow.
25 Another dies in bitterness of soul,
never having tasted happiness.
26 Both are consigned to lie down in the earth
and worms soon cover them.
Have You Never Questioned Travelers?
27 “Believe me, I know what your thoughts are,
as well as the arguments you will use to counter me.
28 You will say, ‘Where now is the great lord’s house?
Where is the tent in which the wicked man dwelled?’
29 Have you never questioned travelers?
Do you ever listen to the evidence they proffer?
30 They testify that the wicked man is saved from disaster
and is rescued before the day of wrath.
31 “Who will reproach him for his conduct
and repay him for the evil he has done?
32 When he is carried to the grave,
a watch is maintained over his tomb.
33 The clods of the valley are sweet to him;[aj]
the remainder of mankind will follow him,
and those who preceded him are beyond counting.
34 How then can you possibly offer me any comfort
when your words lack any semblance of truth?”
Footnotes
- Job 15:1 In this second part of the debate, the friends of Job add nothing new, but their tone becomes more aggressive.
- Job 15:1 Eliphaz urges Job to reflect once again on the evil passions of human beings and on the fate of the wicked: after fleeting success, a time of remorse comes upon them and, soon after, the ruin of all their fortunes.
- Job 15:2 And make himself a windbag: literally, “and fill himself with a hot east wind,” i.e., the sirocco that comes in from the desert.
- Job 15:7 Eliphaz disparages humans in order to better destroy all of Job’s pretensions to justice.
- Job 15:15 Holy ones: i.e., the angels (see Job 5:1).
- Job 15:17 According to Eliphaz’s experience, the wicked are ceaselessly pursued by anxiety and all kinds of nightmares; they receive their punishment even in this life.
- Job 15:26 This is an image of an Assyrian or Babylonian soldier who takes part in an assault while protected by a massive round shield.
- Job 16:1 Seeing himself close to his end, Job again raises a heartrending lament so that this may serve before God as a powerful appeal to his justice.
- Job 16:4 Shaking the head signifies commiseration, scorn, or mockery (see Ps 22:8; Jer 48:27; Mt 27:39).
- Job 16:7 Job sees himself as summoned before the tribunal of God. The scene makes us think of the persecuted righteous person (Ps 22:13-14, 17; Isa 53:10-12) and the Passion of Jesus (Mt 26:60-68; Lk 22:37). God is transferred into a warrior, and he crushes his victim without pity (Lam 3:12-13).
- Job 16:15 Job, prostrate in suffering, rediscovers a little hope: his God can still hear him and become his defender.
- Job 16:18 Cover my blood: blood shed and not covered over is, as it were, a call for vengeance (see Gen 4:10-11; Isa 26:21; Ezek 24:7).
- Job 17:1 Job remains anxious: his strength declines, his solitude becomes more profound, and around him his misfortune provokes only mockery and scandal.
- Job 17:5 This verse is a kind of proverb; i.e., those who concern themselves with others when everything is amiss in their own home are regarded as a joke by people.
- Job 17:8 These verses are directed at Job’s three friends, false upright men who are indignant at Job’s impiety and profit from his misery to bestow upon themselves a certificate of sainthood.
- Job 18:1 The wrath of Job has the result of provoking Bildad to impatience. In the divine order of the universe, he says, there is no place for the problem of Job, whose words constitute a blasphemy.
- Job 18:13 The ancients regarded illnesses as the children of death; the allusion here, then, is to very serious illness.
- Job 18:14 King of terrors: i.e., death. In various civilizations the ruler of the realm of the dead was called Nergal, Pluto, or Moloch (see Isa 57:9).
- Job 18:15 Brimstone: an element used to disinfect a tent and remove every trace of the occupant.
- Job 19:1 Though persecuted by God and condemned by humans, Job remains certain that he will someday see his cause triumphant and God himself acting as his defender.
- Job 19:1 Job is not going to justify himself before his friends any longer; it is the justice of God and not his own that is at issue. Job lets forth an ardent lamentation, an appeal for pity.
- Job 19:18 Even young children despise me: this fact was a great embarrassment in a patriarchal society, which insisted that its elders be respected and honored (see Ex 20:12).
- Job 19:20 The translation of this verse is uncertain. Most commentators believe it means “I am nothing and possess nothing except my skin and bones.”
- Job 19:22 To eat someone’s flesh meant to mistreat him and especially to slander him (see Ps 27:2).
- Job 19:23 This is regarded as the best-known and most-beloved passage in the Book of Job as well as the culmination of Job’s understanding of his situation and his relationship with God. At the end of his life, Job is convulsed by a cry of hope, which he utters like a challenge, and also by the prospect of meeting his God, whom he will really see with his own eyes (Job 42:5).
God is Job’s defender; originally, a goel was a close relative of somebody slain, who had to avenge that relative’s blood, raise up a posterity to the dead man’s wife, and redeem his property. Job, therefore, expects a liberation.
The Vulgate Latin translation interpreted this as resurrection of the body after death. The direct meaning of the Hebrew text may be extended, in a Christian perspective, to include the resurrection, but the Book of Job does not perceive this so clearly. - Job 20:1 Job’s anguished appeal does not move his friend Zophar. Zophar once more paints a picture of Job as a proud and wicked man on whom the wrath of God will soon descend.
- Job 20:7 Dung: a symbol of everything that is ephemeral and without value (see 1 Ki 14:10).
- Job 20:17 Oil . . . honey and cream: these were staple products of Palestine.
- Job 20:26 Fire: i.e., lightning.
- Job 21:1 Looking beyond his own experience, Job thinks of the human condition as a whole. He is aware of how serious his claim is: he raises the problem of evil, and it is the very justice of God that seems to be in the wrong.
- Job 21:1 This new consciousness of the problem of evil overwhelms the author himself.
- Job 21:7 Job paints a picture of the scandalous success of the wicked: peace, riches, children, pleasures—nothing is lacking to this happiness that accompanies evildoers to their grave (see Jer 12:1-2).
- Job 21:17 People say that the happiness of the wicked is fragile and ephemeral. Job skeptically asks how often this is really the case.
- Job 21:19 The ancient principle of collective retribution said that children are punished for their parents’ sins (Job 5:4; 20:10; Deut 5:9). Job no longer accepts this explanation. Job demands that each person be repaid according to his or her deeds.
- Job 21:20 Let him quaff the wrath: an allusion to the cup containing the wine of the divine wrath (see Isa 51:17; Jer 25:15; Rev 16:19).
- Job 21:33 The clods of the valley are sweet to him: this line recalls the ancient wish spoken to those who were buried: “May the earth rest lightly upon you” (Sit tibi terra levis).
