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Job 22-27
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Job 22-27
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
IV. Third Cycle of Speeches[a]
Chapter 22
Eliphaz’s Third Speech. 1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 Can a man be profitable to God?(A)
Can a wise man be profitable to him?
3 Does it please the Almighty that you are just?(B)
Does he gain if your ways are perfect?[b]
4 Is it because of your piety that he reproves you—
that he enters into judgment with you?
5 Is not your wickedness great,
your iniquity endless?
6 You keep your relatives’ goods in pledge unjustly,[c]
leave them stripped naked of their clothing.(C)
7 To the thirsty you give no water to drink,
and from the hungry you withhold bread;
8 As if the land belonged to the powerful,
and only the privileged could dwell in it!
9 You sent widows away empty-handed,
and the resources of orphans are destroyed.(D)
10 Therefore snares are round about you,(E)
sudden terror makes you panic,
11 Or darkness—you cannot see!
A deluge of waters covers you.
12 Does not God, in the heights of the heavens,(F)
behold the top of the stars, high though they are?
13 Yet you say, “What does God know?(G)
Can he judge through the thick darkness?
14 Clouds hide him so that he cannot see
as he walks around the circuit of the heavens!”
15 Do you indeed keep to the ancient way
trodden by the worthless?
16 They were snatched before their time;
their foundations a river swept away.
17 They said to God, “Let us alone!”
and, “What can the Almighty do to us?”
18 Yet he had filled their houses with good things.
The designs of the wicked are far from me
19 The just look on and are glad,
and the innocent deride them:[e](I)
20 “Truly our enemies are destroyed,
and what was left to them, fire has consumed!”
21 Settle with him and have peace.
That way good shall come to you:
22 Receive instruction from his mouth,
and place his words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored;
if you put iniquity far from your tent,
24 And treat raw gold as dust,
the fine gold of Ophir[f] as pebbles in the wadi,
25 Then the Almighty himself shall be your gold
and your sparkling silver.
26 For then you shall delight in the Almighty,
you shall lift up your face toward God.
27 Entreat him and he will hear you,(J)
and your vows you shall fulfill.
28 What you decide shall succeed for you,
and upon your ways light shall shine.
29 For when they are brought low, you will say, “It is pride!”
But downcast eyes he saves.(K)
30 He will deliver whoever is innocent;
you shall be delivered if your hands are clean.(L)
Chapter 23
Job’s Seventh Reply. 1 Then Job answered and said:
2 Today especially my complaint is bitter,
his hand is heavy upon me in my groanings.
3 Would that I knew how to find him,
that I might come to his dwelling!
4 I would set out my case before him,
fill my mouth with arguments;
5 I would learn the words he would answer me,
understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he contend against me with his great power?
No, he himself would heed me!
7 There an upright man might argue with him,
and I would once and for all be delivered from my judge.
8 But if I go east, he is not there;[g]
or west, I cannot perceive him;
9 The north enfolds him, and I cannot catch sight of him;
The south hides him, and I cannot see him.
10 Yet he knows my way;
if he tested me, I should come forth like gold.(M)
11 My foot has always walked in his steps;
I have kept his way and not turned aside.
12 From the commands of his lips I have not departed;
the words of his mouth I have treasured in my heart.
13 But once he decides, who can contradict him?
What he desires, that he does.(N)
14 For he will carry out what is appointed for me,
and many such things he has in store.
15 Therefore I am terrified before him;
when I take thought, I dread him.
16 For it is God who has made my heart faint,
the Almighty who has terrified me.
17 Yes, would that I had vanished in darkness,
hidden by the thick gloom before me.
Chapter 24
1 Why are times not set by the Almighty,
and why do his friends not see his days?[h]
2 People remove landmarks;
they steal herds and pasture them.
3 The donkeys of orphans they drive away;
they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They force the needy off the road;
all the poor of the land are driven into hiding.
5 Like wild donkeys in the wilderness,
they go forth to their task of seeking prey;
the steppe provides food for their young;
6 They harvest fodder in the field,
and glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They pass the night naked, without clothing;
they have no covering against the cold;
8 They are drenched with rain from the mountains,
and for want of shelter they cling to the rock.
9 Orphans are snatched from the breast,
infants of the needy are taken in pledge.[i]
10 They go about naked, without clothing,
and famished, they carry the sheaves.[j]
11 Between the rows they press out the oil;
they tread the wine presses, yet are thirsty.
12 In the city the dying groan,
and the souls of the wounded cry out.
Yet God does not treat it as a disgrace!
13 They are rebels against the light:(O)
they do not recognize its ways;
they do not stay in its paths.
14 When there is no light the murderer rises,
to kill the poor and needy;
in the night he acts like a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight;(P)
he says, “No eye will see me.”
He puts a mask over his face;
16 in the dark he breaks into houses;
By day they shut themselves in;
they do not know the light.
17 Indeed, for all of them morning is deep darkness;
then they recognize the terrors of deep darkness.
18 He is swift on the surface of the water:[k]
their portion in the land is accursed,
they do not turn aside by way of the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters,
Sheol, those who have sinned.
20 May the womb forget him,
may the worm find him sweet,
may he no longer be remembered;
And may wickedness be broken like a tree.
21 May his companion be barren, unable to give birth,
may his widow not prosper!
22 He[l] sustains the mighty by his strength,
to him who rises without assurance of his life
23 he gives safety and support,
and his eyes are on their ways.
24 They are exalted for a while, and then are no more;
laid low, like everyone else they are gathered up;
like ears of grain they shrivel.
25 If this be not so, who can make me a liar,
and reduce my words to nothing?
Chapter 25
Bildad’s Third Speech. 1 [m]Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 Dominion and dread are his
who brings about harmony in his heavens.
3 Is there any numbering of his troops?[n]
Yet on which of them does his light not rise?
4 How can anyone be in the right against God,(Q)
or how can any born of woman be innocent?
5 Even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not clean in his eyes.
6 How much less a human being, who is but a worm,
a mortal, who is only a maggot?(R)
Chapter 26
Job’s Reply. 1 Then Job answered and said:[o]
2 What help you give to the powerless,
what strength to the feeble arm!
3 How you give counsel to one without wisdom;
how profuse is the advice you offer!
4 With whose help have you uttered those words,
whose breath comes forth from you?(S)
5 The shades[p] beneath writhe in terror,(T)
the waters, and their inhabitants.
6 Naked before him is Sheol,[q]
and Abaddon has no covering.(U)
7 He stretches out Zaphon[r] over the void,
and suspends the earth over nothing at all;
8 He binds up the waters in his clouds,
yet the cloud is not split by their weight;
9 He holds back the appearance of the full moon
by spreading his clouds before it.
10 He has marked out a circle[s] on the surface of the deep(V)
as the boundary of light and darkness.
11 The pillars of the heavens tremble
and are stunned at his thunderous rebuke;(W)
12 By his power he stilled Sea,
by his skill he crushed Rahab;[t]
13 By his wind the heavens were made clear,
his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.[u](X)
14 Lo, these are but the outlines of his ways,
and what a whisper of a word we hear of him:
Who can comprehend the thunder of his power?
Chapter 27
Job’s Reply. 1 Job took up his theme again and said:
2 As God lives,[v] who takes away my right,(Y)
the Almighty, who has made my life bitter,
3 So long as I still have life breath in me,
the breath of God in my nostrils,
4 My lips shall not speak falsehood,
nor my tongue utter deceit!
5 Far be it from me to account you right;
till I die I will not renounce my innocence.(Z)
6 My justice I maintain and I will not relinquish it;
my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.
7 [w]Let my enemy be as the wicked
and my adversary as the unjust!
8 For what hope has the impious when he is cut off,
when God requires his life?
9 Will God then listen to his cry
when distress comes upon him,
10 If he delights in the Almighty
and calls upon God constantly?
11 I will teach you what is in God’s hand,
and the way of the Almighty I will not conceal.
12 Look, you yourselves have all seen it;
why do you spend yourselves in empty words!
13 This is the portion of the wicked with God,
the heritage oppressors receive from the Almighty:(AA)
14 Though his children be many, the sword awaits them.
His descendants shall want for bread.
15 His survivors shall be buried in death;
their widows shall not weep.
16 Though he heap up silver like dust
and store away mounds of clothing,
17 What he has stored the righteous shall wear,
and the innocent shall divide the silver.
18 He builds his house as of cobwebs,
or like a booth put up by a watchman.
19 He lies down a rich man, one last time;
he opens his eyes—nothing is there.(AB)
20 Terrors flood over him like water,
at night the tempest carries him off.
21 The east wind seizes him and he is gone;
it sweeps him from his place;
22 It hurls itself at him without pity,
as he tries to flee from its power.
23 It claps its hands at him,
and whistles at him from its place.
Footnotes
- 22:1–27:23 The traditional three cycles of speeches breaks down in chaps. 22–27, because Zophar does not appear. This may be interpreted as a sign that the three friends see no point in further dialogue, or that Job’s replies have reduced them to silence, or that there has been a mistake in the transmission of the text (hence various transferrals of verses have been proposed to include Zophar, but without any textual evidence).
- 22:3 Another irony: God will “gain,” because he will have been proved right in his claim to the satan that Job is “perfect.”
- 22:6–9 This criticism of Job by Eliphaz is untrue (cf. 31:19), but he is driven to it by his belief that God always acts justly, even when he causes someone to suffer; suffering is due to wrongdoing (cf. v. 29).
- 22:18 The second part of the verse repeats 21:16.
- 22:19 Them: the wicked. Eliphaz obviously thinks that the just can be pleased by God’s punishment of the wicked. Such pleasure at the downfall of the wicked is expressed elsewhere, e.g., Ps 58:11; 63:12.
- 22:24 Ophir: see note on Ps 45:10.
- 23:8 Job’s confident desire to confront God (vv. 2–7, contrary to his fears in 9:14–20 and 13:21–27) gives way to his dark night: God’s absence (vv. 8–9), which also terrifies (vv. 13–17).
- 24:1 After his failure to find God, Job takes up the question: Why does God not favor his friends by the speedy punishment of his enemies?
- 24:9 This verse continues the description of the plight of the poor in vv. 2–4, and may belong there.
- 24:10 This verse is a variant of v. 7, and may be an erroneous scribal repetition.
- 24:18–24 These verses are inconsistent with Job’s views elsewhere. Moreover, they are in general poorly preserved, and in some cases obscure.
- 24:22 He: God.
- 25:1 At this point any structure in the dialogues disappears. Bildad’s speech is very short, and there follow two speeches attributed to Job, with significantly different introductions in 27:1 and 29:1, and with no intervening third speech of Zophar.
- 25:3 His troops: the heavenly host, or army, the stars (cf. Jgs 5:20), later understood as angels.
- 26:1–14 Perhaps to be read as Job’s reply to Bildad’s short speech.
- 26:5 Shades: the dead in Sheol, the nether world; cf. Ps 88:11; Is 26:14.
- 26:6 Sheol: cf. note on Ps 6:6. Abaddon: Hebrew for “(place of) destruction,” a synonym for nether world; cf. Jb 28:22; Rev 9:11.
- 26:7 Zaphon: lit., “the north,” used here as a synonym for the firmament, the heavens; cf. Is 14:13.
- 26:10 Circle: the horizon of the ocean which serves as the boundary for the activity of light and darkness; cf. Prv 8:27.
- 26:12 Rahab: another name for the primeval sea-monster; see notes on Jb 3:8 and Ps 89:11; cf. also Jb 7:12; 9:13.
- 26:13 The fleeing serpent: the same term occurs in Is 27:1 in apposition to Leviathan; see note on Jb 3:8.
- 27:2–6 As God lives…far be it: Job affirms two oaths about his innocence by the very God whom he has accused of violating his right. Such is the paradoxical situation of a tortured person who cannot give the lie to his personal justice, but also refuses to renounce God. He dares God to be “just” as he, Job, understands this.
- 27:7–23 These verses are inconsistent with Job’s views elsewhere, and may be part of a missing speech of Zophar; cf. notes on 24:18–24 and 25:1. Or possibly they are an ironic description of the fate of the three friends.
Job 22-27
New International Version
Job 22-27
New International Version
Eliphaz
22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite(A) replied:
2 “Can a man be of benefit to God?(B)
Can even a wise person benefit him?(C)
3 What pleasure(D) would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?(E)
What would he gain if your ways were blameless?(F)
4 “Is it for your piety that he rebukes you
and brings charges against you?(G)
5 Is not your wickedness great?
Are not your sins(H) endless?(I)
6 You demanded security(J) from your relatives for no reason;(K)
you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked.(L)
7 You gave no water(M) to the weary
and you withheld food from the hungry,(N)
8 though you were a powerful man, owning land(O)—
an honored man,(P) living on it.(Q)
9 And you sent widows(R) away empty-handed(S)
and broke the strength of the fatherless.(T)
10 That is why snares(U) are all around you,(V)
why sudden peril terrifies you,(W)
11 why it is so dark(X) you cannot see,
and why a flood of water covers you.(Y)
12 “Is not God in the heights of heaven?(Z)
And see how lofty are the highest stars!
13 Yet you say, ‘What does God know?(AA)
Does he judge through such darkness?(AB)
14 Thick clouds(AC) veil him, so he does not see us(AD)
as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.’(AE)
15 Will you keep to the old path
that the wicked(AF) have trod?(AG)
16 They were carried off before their time,(AH)
their foundations(AI) washed away by a flood.(AJ)
17 They said to God, ‘Leave us alone!
What can the Almighty do to us?’(AK)
18 Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things,(AL)
so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.(AM)
19 The righteous see their ruin and rejoice;(AN)
the innocent mock(AO) them, saying,
20 ‘Surely our foes are destroyed,(AP)
and fire(AQ) devours their wealth.’
21 “Submit to God and be at peace(AR) with him;(AS)
in this way prosperity will come to you.(AT)
22 Accept instruction from his mouth(AU)
and lay up his words(AV) in your heart.(AW)
23 If you return(AX) to the Almighty, you will be restored:(AY)
If you remove wickedness far from your tent(AZ)
24 and assign your nuggets(BA) to the dust,
your gold(BB) of Ophir(BC) to the rocks in the ravines,(BD)
25 then the Almighty will be your gold,(BE)
the choicest silver for you.(BF)
26 Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty(BG)
and will lift up your face(BH) to God.(BI)
27 You will pray to him,(BJ) and he will hear you,(BK)
and you will fulfill your vows.(BL)
28 What you decide on will be done,(BM)
and light(BN) will shine on your ways.(BO)
29 When people are brought low(BP) and you say, ‘Lift them up!’
then he will save the downcast.(BQ)
30 He will deliver even one who is not innocent,(BR)
who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”(BS)
Job
23 Then Job replied:
2 “Even today my complaint(BT) is bitter;(BU)
his hand[a] is heavy in spite of[b] my groaning.(BV)
3 If only I knew where to find him;
if only I could go to his dwelling!(BW)
4 I would state my case(BX) before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.(BY)
5 I would find out what he would answer me,(BZ)
and consider what he would say to me.
6 Would he vigorously oppose me?(CA)
No, he would not press charges against me.(CB)
7 There the upright(CC) can establish their innocence before him,(CD)
and there I would be delivered forever from my judge.(CE)
8 “But if I go to the east, he is not there;
if I go to the west, I do not find him.
9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.(CF)
10 But he knows the way that I take;(CG)
when he has tested me,(CH) I will come forth as gold.(CI)
11 My feet have closely followed his steps;(CJ)
I have kept to his way without turning aside.(CK)
12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips;(CL)
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.(CM)
13 “But he stands alone, and who can oppose him?(CN)
He does whatever he pleases.(CO)
14 He carries out his decree against me,
and many such plans he still has in store.(CP)
15 That is why I am terrified before him;(CQ)
when I think of all this, I fear him.(CR)
16 God has made my heart faint;(CS)
the Almighty(CT) has terrified me.(CU)
17 Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,(CV)
by the thick darkness that covers my face.
24 “Why does the Almighty not set times(CW) for judgment?(CX)
Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?(CY)
2 There are those who move boundary stones;(CZ)
they pasture flocks they have stolen.(DA)
3 They drive away the orphan’s donkey
and take the widow’s ox in pledge.(DB)
4 They thrust the needy(DC) from the path
and force all the poor(DD) of the land into hiding.(DE)
5 Like wild donkeys(DF) in the desert,
the poor go about their labor(DG) of foraging food;
the wasteland(DH) provides food for their children.
6 They gather fodder(DI) in the fields
and glean in the vineyards(DJ) of the wicked.(DK)
7 Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked;
they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.(DL)
8 They are drenched(DM) by mountain rains
and hug(DN) the rocks for lack of shelter.(DO)
9 The fatherless(DP) child is snatched(DQ) from the breast;
the infant of the poor is seized(DR) for a debt.(DS)
10 Lacking clothes, they go about naked;(DT)
they carry the sheaves,(DU) but still go hungry.
11 They crush olives among the terraces[c];
they tread the winepresses,(DV) yet suffer thirst.(DW)
12 The groans of the dying rise from the city,
and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.(DX)
But God charges no one with wrongdoing.(DY)
13 “There are those who rebel against the light,(DZ)
who do not know its ways
or stay in its paths.(EA)
14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up,
kills(EB) the poor and needy,(EC)
and in the night steals forth like a thief.(ED)
15 The eye of the adulterer(EE) watches for dusk;(EF)
he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’(EG)
and he keeps his face concealed.
16 In the dark, thieves break into houses,(EH)
but by day they shut themselves in;
they want nothing to do with the light.(EI)
17 For all of them, midnight is their morning;
they make friends with the terrors(EJ) of darkness.(EK)
18 “Yet they are foam(EL) on the surface of the water;(EM)
their portion of the land is cursed,(EN)
so that no one goes to the vineyards.(EO)
19 As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow,(EP)
so the grave(EQ) snatches away those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them,
the worm(ER) feasts on them;(ES)
the wicked are no longer remembered(ET)
but are broken like a tree.(EU)
21 They prey on the barren and childless woman,
and to the widow they show no kindness.(EV)
22 But God drags away the mighty by his power;(EW)
though they become established,(EX) they have no assurance of life.(EY)
23 He may let them rest in a feeling of security,(EZ)
but his eyes(FA) are on their ways.(FB)
24 For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone;(FC)
they are brought low and gathered up like all others;(FD)
they are cut off like heads of grain.(FE)
25 “If this is not so, who can prove me false
and reduce my words to nothing?”(FF)
Bildad
25 Then Bildad the Shuhite(FG) replied:
2 “Dominion and awe belong to God;(FH)
he establishes order in the heights of heaven.(FI)
3 Can his forces be numbered?
On whom does his light not rise?(FJ)
4 How then can a mortal be righteous before God?
How can one born of woman be pure?(FK)
5 If even the moon(FL) is not bright
and the stars are not pure in his eyes,(FM)
6 how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot—
a human being,(FN) who is only a worm!”(FO)
Job
26 Then Job replied:
2 “How you have helped the powerless!(FP)
How you have saved the arm that is feeble!(FQ)
3 What advice you have offered to one without wisdom!
And what great insight(FR) you have displayed!
4 Who has helped you utter these words?
And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?(FS)
5 “The dead are in deep anguish,(FT)
those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
6 The realm of the dead(FU) is naked before God;
Destruction[d](FV) lies uncovered.(FW)
7 He spreads out the northern skies(FX) over empty space;
he suspends the earth over nothing.(FY)
8 He wraps up the waters(FZ) in his clouds,(GA)
yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.
9 He covers the face of the full moon,
spreading his clouds(GB) over it.
10 He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters(GC)
for a boundary between light and darkness.(GD)
11 The pillars of the heavens quake,(GE)
aghast at his rebuke.
12 By his power he churned up the sea;(GF)
by his wisdom(GG) he cut Rahab(GH) to pieces.
13 By his breath the skies(GI) became fair;
his hand pierced the gliding serpent.(GJ)
14 And these are but the outer fringe of his works;
how faint the whisper(GK) we hear of him!(GL)
Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”(GM)
Job’s Final Word to His Friends
27 And Job continued his discourse:(GN)
2 “As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice,(GO)
the Almighty,(GP) who has made my life bitter,(GQ)
3 as long as I have life within me,
the breath of God(GR) in my nostrils,
4 my lips will not say anything wicked,
and my tongue will not utter lies.(GS)
5 I will never admit you are in the right;
till I die, I will not deny my integrity.(GT)
6 I will maintain my innocence(GU) and never let go of it;
my conscience(GV) will not reproach me as long as I live.(GW)
7 “May my enemy be like the wicked,(GX)
my adversary(GY) like the unjust!
8 For what hope have the godless(GZ) when they are cut off,
when God takes away their life?(HA)
9 Does God listen to their cry
when distress comes upon them?(HB)
10 Will they find delight in the Almighty?(HC)
Will they call on God at all times?
11 “I will teach you about the power of God;
the ways(HD) of the Almighty I will not conceal.(HE)
12 You have all seen this yourselves.
Why then this meaningless talk?
13 “Here is the fate God allots to the wicked,
the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty:(HF)
14 However many his children,(HG) their fate is the sword;(HH)
his offspring will never have enough to eat.(HI)
15 The plague will bury those who survive him,
and their widows will not weep for them.(HJ)
16 Though he heaps up silver like dust(HK)
and clothes like piles of clay,(HL)
17 what he lays up(HM) the righteous will wear,(HN)
and the innocent will divide his silver.(HO)
18 The house(HP) he builds is like a moth’s cocoon,(HQ)
like a hut(HR) made by a watchman.
19 He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;(HS)
when he opens his eyes, all is gone.(HT)
20 Terrors(HU) overtake him like a flood;(HV)
a tempest snatches him away in the night.(HW)
21 The east wind(HX) carries him off, and he is gone;(HY)
it sweeps him out of his place.(HZ)
22 It hurls itself against him without mercy(IA)
as he flees headlong(IB) from its power.(IC)
23 It claps its hands(ID) in derision
and hisses him out of his place.”(IE)
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