Job 15-26

New King James Version

² “Should a wise man answer with empty knowledge,
And fill ^[a]himself with the east wind?
³ Should he reason with unprofitable talk,
Or by speeches with which he can do no good?
⁴ Yes, you cast off fear,
And restrain ^[b]prayer before God.
⁵ For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
And you choose the tongue of the crafty.
^6 (B)Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
Yes, your own lips testify against you.

⁷ “Are you the first man who was born?
^(C)Or were you made before the hills?
^8 (D)Have you heard the counsel of God?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
^9 (E)What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not in us?
^10 (F)Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,
Much older than your father.
¹¹ Are the consolations of God too small for you,
And the word spoken ^[c]gently with you?
¹² Why does your heart carry you away,
And ^[d]what do your eyes wink at,
¹³ That you turn your spirit against God,
And let such words go out of your mouth?

¹⁴ “What^(G) is man, that he could be pure?
And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous?
^15 (H)If God puts no trust in His saints,
And the heavens are not pure in His sight,
^16 (I)How much less man, who is abominable and filthy,
^(J)Who drinks iniquity like water!

¹⁷ “I will tell you, hear me;
What I have seen I will declare,
¹⁸ What wise men have told,
Not hiding anything received ^(K)from their fathers,
¹⁹ To whom alone the ^[e]land was given,
And ^(L)no alien passed among them:
²⁰ The wicked man writhes with pain all his days,
^(M)And the number of years is hidden from the oppressor.
^21 [f]Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
^(N)In prosperity the destroyer comes upon him.
²² He does not believe that he will ^(O)return from darkness,
For a sword is waiting for him.
²³ He ^(P)wanders about for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows ^(Q)that a day of darkness is ready at his hand.
²⁴ Trouble and anguish make him afraid;
They overpower him, like a king ready for ^[g]battle.
²⁵ For he stretches out his hand against God,
And acts defiantly against the Almighty,
²⁶ Running stubbornly against Him
With his strong, embossed shield.

²⁷ “Though^(R) he has covered his face with his fatness,
And made his waist heavy with fat,
²⁸ He dwells in desolate cities,
In houses which no one inhabits,
Which are destined to become ruins.
²⁹ He will not be rich,
Nor will his wealth ^(S)continue,
Nor will his possessions overspread the earth.
³⁰ He will not depart from darkness;
The flame will dry out his branches,
And ^(T)by the breath of His mouth he will go away.
³¹ Let him not ^(U)trust in futile things, deceiving himself,
For futility will be his reward.
³² It will be accomplished ^(V)before his time,
And his branch will not be green.
³³ He will shake off his unripe grape like a vine,
And cast off his blossom like an olive tree.
³⁴ For the company of hypocrites will be barren,
And fire will consume the tents of bribery.
^35 (W)They conceive trouble and bring forth futility;
Their womb prepares deceit.”

² “I have heard many such things;
^(X)Miserable^[h] comforters are you all!
³ Shall ^[i]words of wind have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
⁴ I also could speak as you do,
If your soul were in my soul’s place.
I could heap up words against you,
And ^(Y)shake my head at you;
⁵ But I would strengthen you with my mouth,
And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.

⁶ “Though I speak, my grief is not relieved;
And if I remain silent, how am I eased?
⁷ But now He has ^(Z)worn me out;
You ^(AA)have made desolate all my company.
⁸ You have shriveled me up,
And it is a ^(AB)witness against me;
My leanness rises up against me
And bears witness to my face.
^9 (AC)He tears me in His wrath, and hates me;
He gnashes at me with His teeth;
^(AD)My adversary sharpens His gaze on me.
¹⁰ They ^(AE)gape at me with their mouth,
They ^(AF)strike me reproachfully on the cheek,
They gather together against me.
¹¹ God ^(AG)has delivered me to the ungodly,
And turned me over to the hands of the wicked.
¹² I was at ease, but He has ^(AH)shattered me;
He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces;
He has ^(AI)set me up for His target,
¹³ His archers surround me.
He pierces my ^[j]heart and does not pity;
He pours out my gall on the ground.
¹⁴ He breaks me with wound upon wound;
He runs at me like a ^[k]warrior.

¹⁵ “I have sewn sackcloth over my skin,
And ^(AJ)laid my ^[l]head in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is ^[m]flushed from weeping,
And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
¹⁷ Although no violence is in my hands,
And my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ “O earth, do not cover my blood,
And ^(AK)let my cry have no resting place!
¹⁹ Surely even now ^(AL)my witness is in heaven,
And my evidence is on high.
²⁰ My friends scorn me;
My eyes pour out tears to God.
^21 (AM)Oh, that one might plead for a man with God,
As a man pleads for his ^[n]neighbor!
²² For when a few years are finished,
I shall ^(AN)go the way of no return.

³ “Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself.
Who is he who ^(AQ)will shake hands with me?
⁴ For You have hidden their heart from ^(AR)understanding;
Therefore You will not exalt them.
⁵ He who speaks flattery to his friends,
Even the eyes of his children will ^(AS)fail.

⁶ “But He has made me ^(AT)a byword of the people,
And I have become one in whose face men spit.
^7 (AU)My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow,
And all my members are like shadows.
⁸ Upright men are astonished at this,
And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite.
⁹ Yet the righteous will hold to his ^(AV)way,
And he who has ^(AW)clean hands will be stronger and stronger.

¹⁰ “But please, ^(AX)come back again, ^[p]all of you,
For I shall not find one wise man among you.
^11 (AY)My days are past,
My purposes are broken off,
Even the ^[q]thoughts of my heart.
¹² They change the night into day;
‘The light is near,’ they say, in the face of darkness.
¹³ If I wait for the grave as my house,
If I make my bed in the darkness,
¹⁴ If I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’
And to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister,’
¹⁵ Where then is my ^(AZ)hope?
As for my hope, who can see it?
¹⁶ Will they go down ^(BA)to the gates of ^[r]Sheol?
Shall we have ^(BB)rest together in the dust?”

² “How long till you put an end to words?
Gain understanding, and afterward we will speak.
³ Why are we counted ^(BD)as beasts,
And regarded as stupid in your sight?
^4 (BE)You^[s] who tear yourself in anger,
Shall the earth be forsaken for you?
Or shall the rock be removed from its place?

⁵ “The^(BF) light of the wicked indeed goes out,
And the flame of his fire does not shine.
⁶ The light is dark in his tent,
^(BG)And his lamp beside him is put out.
⁷ The steps of his strength are shortened,
And ^(BH)his own counsel casts him down.
⁸ For ^(BI)he is cast into a net by his own feet,
And he walks into a snare.
⁹ The net takes him by the heel,
And ^(BJ)a snare lays hold of him.
¹⁰ A noose is hidden for him on the ground,
And a trap for him in the road.
^11 (BK)Terrors frighten him on every side,
And drive him to his feet.
¹² His strength is starved,
And ^(BL)destruction is ready at his side.
¹³ It devours patches of his skin;
The firstborn of death devours his ^[t]limbs.
¹⁴ He is uprooted from ^(BM)the shelter of his tent,
And they parade him before the king of terrors.
¹⁵ They dwell in his tent who are none of his;
Brimstone is scattered on his dwelling.
^16 (BN)His roots are dried out below,
And his branch withers above.
^17 (BO)The memory of him perishes from the earth,
And he has no name ^[u]among the renowned.
^18 [v]He is driven from light into darkness,
And chased out of the world.
^19 (BP)He has neither son nor posterity among his people,
Nor any remaining in his dwellings.
²⁰ Those ^[w]in the west are astonished ^(BQ)at his day,
As those ^[x]in the east are frightened.
²¹ Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked,
And this is the place of him who ^(BR)does not know God.”

² “How long will you torment my soul,
And break me in pieces with words?
³ These ten times you have ^[y]reproached me;
You are not ashamed that you ^[z]have wronged me.
⁴ And if indeed I have erred,
My error remains with me.
⁵ If indeed you ^(BS)exalt yourselves against me,
And plead my disgrace against me,
⁶ Know then that ^(BT)God has wronged me,
And has surrounded me with His net.

⁷ “If I cry out concerning ^[aa]wrong, I am not heard.
If I cry aloud, there is no justice.
^8 (BU)He has ^[ab]fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass;
And He has set darkness in my paths.
^9 (BV)He has stripped me of my glory,
And taken the crown from my head.
¹⁰ He breaks me down on every side,
And I am gone;
My ^(BW)hope He has uprooted like a tree.
¹¹ He has also kindled His wrath against me,
And ^(BX)He counts me as one of His enemies.
¹² His troops come together
And build up their road against me;
They encamp all around my tent.

¹³ “He^(BY) has removed my brothers far from me,
And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
¹⁴ My relatives have failed,
And my close friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants,
Count me as a stranger;
I am an alien in their sight.
¹⁶ I call my servant, but he gives no answer;
I beg him with my mouth.
¹⁷ My breath is offensive to my wife,
And I am ^[ac]repulsive to the children of my own body.
¹⁸ Even ^(BZ)young children despise me;
I arise, and they speak against me.
^19 (CA)All my close friends abhor me,
And those whom I love have turned against me.
^20 (CB)My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh,
And I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

²¹ “Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends,
For the hand of God has struck me!
²² Why do you ^(CC)persecute me as God does,
And are not satisfied with my flesh?

²³ “Oh, that my words were written!
Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!
²⁴ That they were engraved on a rock
With an iron pen and lead, forever!
²⁵ For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
²⁶ And after my skin is ^[ad]destroyed, this I know,
That ^(CD)in my flesh I shall see God,
²⁷ Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my ^[ae]heart yearns within me!
²⁸ If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’—
Since the root of the matter is found in me,
²⁹ Be afraid of the sword for yourselves;
For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
That you may know there is a judgment.”

² “Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer,
Because of the turmoil within me.
³ I have heard the rebuke ^[af]that reproaches me,
And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.

⁴ “Do you not know this of ^(CF)old,
Since man was placed on earth,
^5 (CG)That the triumphing of the wicked is short,
And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a ^(CH)moment?
^6 (CI)Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens,
And his head reaches to the clouds,
⁷ Yet he will perish forever like his own refuse;
Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
⁸ He will fly away ^(CJ)like a dream, and not be found;
Yes, he ^(CK)will be chased away like a vision of the night.
⁹ The eye that saw him will see him no more,
Nor will his place behold him anymore.
¹⁰ His children will seek the favor of the poor,
And his hands will restore his wealth.
¹¹ His bones are full of ^(CL)his youthful vigor,
^(CM)But it will lie down with him in the dust.

¹² “Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
And he hides it under his tongue,
¹³ Though he spares it and does not forsake it,
But still keeps it in his ^[ag]mouth,
¹⁴ Yet his food in his stomach turns sour;
It becomes cobra venom within him.
¹⁵ He swallows down riches
And vomits them up again;
God casts them out of his belly.
¹⁶ He will suck the poison of cobras;
The viper’s tongue will slay him.
¹⁷ He will not see ^(CN)the streams,
The rivers flowing with honey and cream.
¹⁸ He will restore that for which he labored,
And will not swallow it down;
From the proceeds of business
He will get no enjoyment.
¹⁹ For he has ^[ah]oppressed and forsaken the poor,
He has violently seized a house which he did not build.

²⁰ “Because^(CO) he knows no quietness in his ^[ai]heart,
He will not save anything he desires.
²¹ Nothing is left for him to eat;
Therefore his well-being will not last.
²² In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress;
Every hand of ^[aj]misery will come against him.
²³ When he is about to fill his stomach,
God will cast on him the fury of His wrath,
And will rain it on him while he is eating.
^24 (CP)He will flee from the iron weapon;
A bronze bow will pierce him through.
²⁵ It is drawn, and comes out of the body;
Yes, ^(CQ)the glittering point comes out of his ^[ak]gall.
^(CR)Terrors come upon him;
²⁶ Total darkness is reserved for his treasures.
^(CS)An unfanned fire will consume him;
It shall go ill with him who is left in his tent.
²⁷ The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
And the earth will rise up against him.
²⁸ The increase of his house will depart,
And his goods will flow away in the day of His ^(CT)wrath.
^29 (CU)This is the portion from God for a wicked man,
The heritage appointed to him by God.”

² “Listen carefully to my speech,
And let this be your ^[al]consolation.
³ Bear with me that I may speak,
And after I have spoken, keep ^(CV)mocking.

⁴ “As for me, is my complaint against man?
And if it were, why should I not be impatient?
⁵ Look at me and be astonished;
^(CW)Put your hand over your mouth.
⁶ Even when I remember I am terrified,
And trembling takes hold of my flesh.
^7 (CX)Why do the wicked live and become old,
Yes, become mighty in power?
⁸ Their descendants are established with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes.
⁹ Their houses are safe from fear,
^(CY)Neither is ^[am]the rod of God upon them.
¹⁰ Their bull breeds without failure;
Their cow calves ^(CZ)without miscarriage.
¹¹ They send forth their little ones like a flock,
And their children dance.
¹² They sing to the tambourine and harp,
And rejoice to the sound of the flute.
¹³ They ^(DA)spend their days in wealth,
And ^[an]in a moment go down to the ^[ao]grave.
^14 (DB)Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us,
For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.
^15 (DC)Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?
And ^(DD)what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’
¹⁶ Indeed ^[ap]their prosperity is not in their hand;
^(DE)The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁷ “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
How often does their destruction come upon them,
The sorrows God ^(DF)distributes in His anger?
^18 (DG)They are like straw before the wind,
And like chaff that a storm ^[aq]carries away.
¹⁹ They say, ‘God ^[ar]lays up ^[as]one’s iniquity ^(DH)for his children’;
Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.
²⁰ Let his eyes see his destruction,
And ^(DI)let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
²¹ For what does he care about his household after him,
When the number of his months is cut in half?

²² “Can^(DJ) anyone teach God knowledge,
Since He judges those on high?
²³ One dies in his full strength,
Being wholly at ease and secure;
²⁴ His ^[at]pails are full of milk,
And the marrow of his bones is moist.
²⁵ Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul,
Never having eaten with pleasure.
²⁶ They ^(DK)lie down alike in the dust,
And worms cover them.

²⁷ “Look, I know your thoughts,
And the schemes with which you would wrong me.
²⁸ For you say,
‘Where is the house of the prince?
And where is ^[au]the tent,
The dwelling place of the wicked?’
²⁹ Have you not asked those who travel the road?
And do you not know their signs?
^30 (DL)For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom;
They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.
³¹ Who condemns his way to his face?
And who repays him for what he has done?
³² Yet he shall be brought to the grave,
And a vigil kept over the tomb.
³³ The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him;
^(DM)Everyone shall follow him,
As countless have gone before him.
³⁴ How then can you comfort me with empty words,
Since ^[av]falsehood remains in your answers?”

² “Can^(DO) a man be profitable to God,
Though he who is wise may be profitable to himself?
³ Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous?
Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless?

⁴ “Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you,
And enters into judgment with you?
⁵ Is not your wickedness great,
And your iniquity without end?
⁶ For you have ^(DP)taken pledges from your brother for no reason,
And stripped the naked of their clothing.
⁷ You have not given the weary water to drink,
And you ^(DQ)have withheld bread from the hungry.
⁸ But the ^[aw]mighty man possessed the land,
And the honorable man dwelt in it.
⁹ You have sent widows away empty,
And the ^[ax]strength of the fatherless was crushed.
¹⁰ Therefore snares are all around you,
And sudden fear troubles you,
¹¹ Or darkness so that you cannot see;
And an abundance of ^(DR)water covers you.

¹² “Is not God in the height of heaven?
And see the highest stars, how lofty they are!
¹³ And you say, ^(DS)‘What does God know?
Can He judge through the deep darkness?
^14 (DT)Thick clouds cover Him, so that He cannot see,
And He walks above the circle of heaven.’
¹⁵ Will you keep to the old way
Which wicked men have trod,
¹⁶ Who ^(DU)were cut down before their time,
Whose foundations were swept away by a flood?
^17 (DV)They said to God, ‘Depart from us!
What can the Almighty do to ^[ay]them?’
¹⁸ Yet He filled their houses with good things;
But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁹ “The^(DW) righteous see it and are glad,
And the innocent laugh at them:
²⁰ ‘Surely our ^[az]adversaries are cut down,
And the fire consumes their remnant.’

²¹ “Now acquaint yourself with Him, and ^(DX)be at peace;
Thereby good will come to you.
²² Receive, please, ^(DY)instruction from His mouth,
And ^(DZ)lay up His words in your heart.
²³ If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up;
You will remove iniquity far from your tents.
²⁴ Then you will ^(EA)lay your gold in the dust,
And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.
²⁵ Yes, the Almighty will be your ^[ba]gold
And your precious silver;
²⁶ For then you will have your ^(EB)delight in the Almighty,
And lift up your face to God.
^27 (EC)You will make your prayer to Him,
He will hear you,
And you will pay your vows.
²⁸ You will also declare a thing,
And it will be established for you;
So light will shine on your ways.
²⁹ When they cast you down, and you say, ‘Exaltation will come!’
Then ^(ED)He will save the humble person.
³⁰ He will even deliver one who is not innocent;
Yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands.”

² “Even today my ^(EE)complaint is bitter;
^[bb]My hand is listless because of my groaning.
^3 (EF)Oh, that I knew where I might find Him,
That I might come to His seat!
⁴ I would present my case before Him,
And fill my mouth with arguments.
⁵ I would know the words which He would answer me,
And understand what He would say to me.
^6 (EG)Would He contend with me in His great power?
No! But He would take note of me.
⁷ There the upright could reason with Him,
And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.

⁸ “Look,^(EH) I go forward, but He is not there,
And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
⁹ When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him;
When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.
¹⁰ But ^(EI)He knows the way that I take;
When ^(EJ)He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
^11 (EK)My foot has held fast to His steps;
I have kept His way and not turned aside.
¹² I have not departed from the ^(EL)commandment of His lips;
^(EM)I have treasured the words of His mouth
More than my ^[bc]necessary food.

¹³ “But He is unique, and who can make Him change?
And whatever ^(EN)His soul desires, that He does.
¹⁴ For He performs what is ^(EO)appointed for me,
And many such things are with Him.
¹⁵ Therefore I am terrified at His presence;
When I consider this, I am afraid of Him.
¹⁶ For God ^(EP)made my heart weak,
And the Almighty terrifies me;
¹⁷ Because I was not ^(EQ)cut off ^[bd]from the presence of darkness,
And He did not hide deep darkness from my face.

² “Some remove ^(ET)landmarks;
They seize flocks violently and feed on them;
³ They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;
They ^(EU)take the widow’s ox as a pledge.
⁴ They push the needy off the road;
All the ^(EV)poor of the land are forced to hide.
⁵ Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert,
They go out to their work, searching for food.
The wilderness yields food for them and for their children.
⁶ They gather their fodder in the field
And glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
⁷ They ^(EW)spend the night naked, without clothing,
And have no covering in the cold.
⁸ They are wet with the showers of the mountains,
And ^(EX)huddle around the rock for want of shelter.

⁹ “Some snatch the fatherless from the breast,
And take a pledge from the poor.
¹⁰ They cause the poor to go naked, without ^(EY)clothing;
And they take away the sheaves from the hungry.
¹¹ They press out oil within their walls,
And tread winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
¹² The dying groan in the city,
And the souls of the wounded cry out;
Yet God does not charge them with wrong.

¹³ “There are those who rebel against the light;
They do not know its ways
Nor abide in its paths.
^14 (EZ)The murderer rises with the light;
He kills the poor and needy;
And in the night he is like a thief.
^15 (FA)The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
^(FB)Saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
And he ^[be]disguises his face.
¹⁶ In the dark they break into houses
Which they marked for themselves in the daytime;
^(FC)They do not know the light.
¹⁷ For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death;
If someone recognizes them,
They are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

¹⁸ “They should be swift on the face of the waters,
Their portion should be cursed in the earth,
So that no one would turn into the way of their vineyards.
¹⁹ As drought and heat ^[bf]consume the snow waters,
So ^[bg]the grave consumes those who have sinned.
²⁰ The womb should forget him,
The worm should feed sweetly on him;
^(FD)He should be remembered no more,
And wickedness should be broken like a tree.
²¹ For he ^[bh]preys on the barren who do not bear,
And does no good for the widow.

²² “But God draws the mighty away with His power;
He rises up, but no man is sure of life.
²³ He gives them security, and they rely on it;
Yet ^(FE)His eyes are on their ways.
²⁴ They are exalted for a little while,
Then they are gone.
They are brought low;
They are ^[bi]taken out of the way like all others;
They dry out like the heads of grain.

²⁵ “Now if it is not so, who will prove me a liar,
And make my speech worth nothing?”

² “Dominion and fear belong to Him;
He makes peace in His high places.
^3 [bj]Is there any number to His armies?
Upon whom does ^(FG)His light not rise?
^4 (FH)How then can man be righteous before God?
Or how can he be ^(FI)pure who is born of a woman?
⁵ If even the moon does not shine,
And the stars are not pure in His ^(FJ)sight,
⁶ How much less man, who is ^(FK)a maggot,
And a son of man, who is a worm?”

² “How have you helped him who is without power?
How have you saved the arm that has no strength?
³ How have you counseled one who has no wisdom?
And how have you declared sound advice to many?
⁴ To whom have you uttered words?
And whose spirit came from you?

⁵ “The dead tremble,
Those under the waters and those inhabiting them.
^6 (FL)Sheol is naked before Him,
And Destruction has no covering.
^7 (FM)He stretches out the north over empty space;
He hangs the earth on nothing.
^8 (FN)He binds up the water in His thick clouds,
Yet the clouds ^[bk]are not broken under it.
⁹ He covers the face of His throne,
And spreads His cloud over it.
^10 (FO)He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters,
At the boundary of light and darkness.
¹¹ The pillars of heaven tremble,
And are ^[bl]astonished at His rebuke.
^12 (FP)He stirs up the sea with His power,
And by His understanding He breaks up ^[bm]the storm.
^13 (FQ)By His Spirit He adorned the heavens;
His hand pierced ^(FR)the fleeing serpent.
¹⁴ Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?”