Job Keeps On Talking—Death Is Sure

14 “Man who is born of woman lives only a short time and is full of trouble. ² He grows up and dries like a flower. He leaves like a shadow and does not stay. ³ You open Your eyes on him and decide about him. ⁴ Who can make clean what is unclean? No one! ⁵ A man’s days are numbered. You know the number of his months. He cannot live longer than the time You have set. ⁶ So now look away from him that he may rest, until he has lived the time set for him like a man paid to work.

⁷ “For there is hope for a tree, when it is cut down, that it will grow again, and that its branches will not stop growing. ⁸ Its roots grow old in the ground, and the base of the tree dies in the dry ground. ⁹ But with water it will grow. Branches will grow from it like a plant. ¹⁰ But man dies and is laid low. Man dies, and where is he? ¹¹ As water goes into the air from the sea, and the river wastes away and dries up, ¹² so man lies down and does not get up again. Until the heavens are no more, he will not wake up or come out of his sleep.

¹³ “If only You would hide me in the place of the dead! If only You would hide me until Your anger is past, and set a time for me and remember me! ¹⁴ If a man dies, will he live again? I will wait all the days of my trouble until a change comes. ¹⁵ You will call and I will answer You. You will wait for the work of Your hands. ¹⁶ For now You number my steps. You do not write down my sin. ¹⁷ My sin is locked up in a bag. You cover my wrong-doing.

¹⁸ “But the mountain falls and breaks apart to nothing. The rock moves from its place. ¹⁹ Water wears away the stones. Its floods wash away the dust of the earth. So You destroy man’s hope. ²⁰ You have power over him forever, and he leaves. You change what he looks like and send him away. ²¹ His sons receive honor, but he does not know it. Or they lose honor, but he does not see it. ²² His body gives him pain, and he has sorrow only for himself.”

Eliphaz Talks

15 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, ² “Should a wise man answer with learning that is of no worth, and fill himself with the east wind? ³ Should he argue with talk that will not help, or with words that do no good? ⁴ For sure you are doing away with the fear of the Lord. You are stopping the quiet worship of God. ⁵ You show your sin by what you say. You are trying to hide behind your words. ⁶ Your own mouth says you are guilty, and not I. Your own lips speak against you.

⁷ “Were you the first man to be born? Or were you made before the hills? ⁸ Were you there to hear the secret plans of God? Are you the only one who has wisdom? ⁹ What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not clear to us? ¹⁰ Men whose hair has grown white and those who have lived many years are among us. They are older than your father. ¹¹ Are the gentle words spoken to you, which give comfort from God, too little for you? ¹² Why does your heart carry you away? And why do your eyes shine, ¹³ that you turn your spirit against God and let such words go out of your mouth? ¹⁴ What is man, that he can be pure, or he who is born of a woman, that he can be right and good? ¹⁵ See, God puts no trust in His holy ones. The heavens are not pure in His eyes. ¹⁶ How much less one who is hated and sinful, a man who drinks sin like water!

¹⁷ “I will tell you, listen to me. I will make known what I have seen, ¹⁸ what wise men have told that they learned from their fathers. They have not hidden anything. ¹⁹ These were the ones to whom the land was given, and no stranger passed among them. ²⁰ The sinful man suffers in pain all his days. His years are numbered because of all his sin. ²¹ Sounds of fear are in his ears. When all seems to be going well, the one who destroys will come upon him. ²² He does not believe that he will be taken away from darkness, and the sword is meant for him. ²³ He goes to look for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that a day of darkness is near. ²⁴ Trouble and pain fill him with fear. They have power over him like a king ready for battle. ²⁵ He has put out his hand against God, and is full of pride against the All-powerful. ²⁶ He rushes in pride against Him with his big battle-covering. ²⁷ His face is fat, and his thighs are heavy with fat. ²⁸ He has lived in cities that have been laid waste, in houses where no one lives which will be destroyed. ²⁹ He will no longer be rich, and what he has will not last. His grain will come to nothing. ³⁰ He will not get away from darkness. The fire will dry up his branches, and the breath of God’s mouth will drive him away. ³¹ Let him not lie to himself and trust in what is empty. For what is empty will be his reward. ³² It will be paid in full while he still lives, and his branch will not be green. ³³ He will be like the vine that drops off its grapes before they are ready. And he will throw off his flower like the olive tree. ³⁴ Those who visit the sinful bring no fruit. And fire destroys the tents of those who do wrong. ³⁵ They give birth to trouble and bring sin. Their minds plan lies.”

Job Talks

16 Then Job answered, ² “I have heard many such things. All of you bring trouble instead of comfort. ³ Is there no end to your words that are full of wind? What is your problem that you keep on talking? ⁴ I also could speak like you, if I were in your place. I could put words together against you, and shake my head at you. ⁵ I could give you strength with my mouth. I could speak words of comfort and make your pain less.

⁶ “If I speak, my pain is not made less. And if I keep quiet, it does not leave me. ⁷ But now God has taken away my strength. He has taken away all my family. ⁸ He has made me dry up, and this speaks against me. The wasting away of my body rises up against me. It speaks against me to my face. ⁹ His anger has torn me and hated me. He has ground His teeth at me. The one against me looks hard at me. ¹⁰ Men have looked at me with their mouths open. They have hit me on the face with anger. They have gathered together against me. ¹¹ God gives me over to bad men. He throws me into the hands of the sinful. ¹² I was living in comfort, but He has taken that away. He has taken hold of me by the neck and shaken me to pieces. He has set me up for something to shoot at. ¹³ His arrows are all around me. He cuts my kidneys open without pity. He pours the bitter insides on the ground. ¹⁴ He hurts me again and again. He runs at me like a man of war. ¹⁵ I have sewed cloth made from hair over my skin, and have laid my hope in the dust. ¹⁶ My face is red from crying, and darkness is over my eyes. ¹⁷ But my hands have done nothing bad, and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ “O earth, do not cover my blood. Let my cry have no place to rest. ¹⁹ See, even now there is One Who sees me from heaven. The One Who speaks for me is on high. ²⁰ My friends make fun of me. My eyes pour out tears to God. ²¹ If only a man could give reasons to God, as a man does for his neighbor! ²² In a few years I will go the way that I cannot return.

Job Keeps On Talking

17 “My spirit is broken. My days are gone. The grave is ready for me. ² For sure those with me make fun of me. My eyes see how they laugh at me.

³ “Promise that You will hear me. Who is there that will trust me? ⁴ For You have kept their heart from understanding, so You will not honor them. ⁵ If one speaks against friends to get money, the eyes of his children also will become weak.

⁶ “But He has made me an object of shame to the people. Men spit on me. ⁷ My eyes have become weak with sorrow. All the parts of my body are like a shadow. ⁸ Men who are right and good will be surprised and afraid at this. He who is without guilt will be moved to go against the sinful. ⁹ But the one who is right with God will hold to his way. And he who has clean hands will become stronger and stronger. ¹⁰ But all of you try again, and I will not find a wise man among you. ¹¹ My days are past. My plans are torn apart, even the wishes of my heart. ¹² They make night into day, saying, ‘The light is near,’ when there is darkness. ¹³ If I look for the place of the dead as my home, I make my bed in the darkness. ¹⁴ If I say to the grave, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother and my sister,’ ¹⁵ then where is my hope? Who sees hope for me? ¹⁶ Will it go down with me to the place of the dead? Will we go down together into the dust?”