Job 32-34

Evangelical Heritage Version

I am young and inexperienced, and you are aged.
That is why I held back,
and I was afraid to tell you what I know.
⁷ I thought that experience should speak.
Many years should give a man wisdom.
⁸ However, it is the spirit^[a] in a man
and the breath of the Almighty that give a man understanding.
⁹ It is not just the important men who are wise.
The elderly are not the only ones who know how to judge cases.
¹⁰ That is why I now say, “Listen to me.”
I will declare what I know—yes, I will.
¹¹ Notice that I waited for you to finish your words.
I have listened carefully to your conclusions.
The whole time you were searching for the right words,
¹² I paid attention to you.
But look, not one of you showed Job that he was wrong
or came up with an answer for Job.
¹³ So do not say, “We have found wisdom,
but it is God, not a man, who will have to refute him.”
¹⁴ Job has not drawn up his speeches against me,
so I will not respond to him with arguments like yours.

¹⁵ Those three are shattered. They no longer respond.
They have run out of words.
¹⁶ I have waited patiently,
but since they no longer speak,
and they just stand there and do not answer anymore,
¹⁷ I will now respond with my contribution.
I will now declare what I know,
¹⁸ for I am full of words.
A wind^[b] in my belly is building up pressure.
¹⁹ My belly is like unvented wine.
I am like a new wineskin ready to burst.
²⁰ I intend to speak, so that I can find relief for myself.
Let me open my lips and answer.
²¹ I will certainly not show favoritism to any man.
I will not address any man with flattering titles,
²² because I do not know how to pass out flattering titles.
If I did so, my Maker would quickly carry me away.

33 But now, Job, listen to my speech.
Pay close attention to all my words.
² Listen, because I have opened my mouth.
See how my tongue shapes words in my mouth.
³ My speech will reveal my upright heart.
My lips express my knowledge plainly.^[c]
4 The spirit^[d] of God made me.
The breath of the Almighty gave me life.

⁵ Refute me if you are able.
Lay out your case before me! Take your stand!
⁶ Look, my mouth belongs to God, just as your mouth does.
Like you I was snipped off from a lump of clay.
⁷ Look, you should not be terrified by how awesome I am.
Pressure from me should not intimidate you.

⁸ However, you said this in my hearing,
and I did hear the sound of these words:
⁹ “I am pure, without any sinful rebellion.
I am clean. I have no guilt.
¹⁰ But look how God finds pretexts to oppose me.
He treats me like his enemy.
¹¹ He has put my feet in stocks.
He patrols all my paths.”

¹² Job, listen to this!
You are not right.
I must refute you!
Certainly, God is greater than a man.
¹³ Why do you bring charges against him,
just because he does not answer all of a man’s questions?
¹⁴ God does speak, sometimes one way, sometimes another,
but people do not pay attention to it.
¹⁵ In a dream, in a vision in the night,
when people are falling into a deep sleep,
while they slumber on their beds,
¹⁶ he whispers a revelation into people’s ears,
and he confirms his warnings to them,
¹⁷ in order to turn a man from his course of action
and to suppress a person’s pride.
¹⁸ He spares his life from the pit.
He spares his life from crossing the stream of death.^[e]
19 Or a person may be disciplined on his bed by pain
and by continual agony in his bones,
²⁰ so that his life makes food disgusting to him,
and he has no appetite for delicious food.
²¹ His flesh wastes away and disappears,
and his bones, which were hidden, now stick out.
²² Then his soul draws near to destruction,
and his life to those who bring death.
²³ If there is a messenger at his side to mediate,
one out of a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him,
²⁴ if he is gracious to him,
if he says, “Spare him from going down to the pit.
I have found a ransom for him,”
²⁵ then his flesh would become more vigorous than it was in his youth.
He would return to days of youthful vitality.
²⁶ Then he would pray to God,
and God would be pleased with him.
With a joyful cry he would see God’s face,
and God would restore his righteousness to the man.
²⁷ Then the man would turn to people and say,^[f]
“I have sinned, and I have perverted what is right,
yet I was not punished as much as I deserved.
²⁸ God has redeemed my soul from passing into the pit,
and my life will see the light.”

²⁹ Look, God does all these things with a man—
two times, or even three times—
³⁰ to bring back his soul from the pit,
so that light shines on him among the living.
³¹ Pay attention, Job. Listen to me.
Be silent, so that I may speak.
³² If you have anything to say, answer me.
Speak up, for I would be delighted to declare you innocent.
³³ If you have nothing to say, listen to me
Be silent, so I may teach you wisdom.

² Hear my words, you wise men.
You learned men, pay attention to me.
³ It is true that the ear tests words as the mouth tastes food.
⁴ So now we should choose for ourselves what is just.
We should determine among ourselves what is good.

⁵ This is what Job said:
“I am in the right,
but God has deprived me of justice.
⁶ Would I lie about what is just for me?^[h]
His arrow has inflicted an incurable wound on me,
though I did not rebel.”

⁷ Who is like Job?
He drinks down derision against God like water.
⁸ He travels the road with evildoers,
and he walks with wicked men,
⁹ because he said,
“It is no benefit to a man when he takes pleasure in God.”
¹⁰ So then, you men with understanding, listen to me.
I swear that God never does anything wicked.
The Almighty is far from wrongdoing.
¹¹ He repays a man for what he does.
He causes the consequences of his ways to catch up with him.
¹² God would absolutely not do anything evil.
The Almighty does not pervert justice.
¹³ Did anyone put him in charge of the earth?
Did anyone place the whole world under his control?
¹⁴ If God resolved in his heart to recall his spirit and breath to himself,
¹⁵ all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.

¹⁶ But if you have understanding, listen to this.
Hear the sound of my words:
¹⁷ Is it possible that one who hates justice could govern?
Will you condemn the Righteous One, who is mighty?
¹⁸ He says to kings, “You are worthless,”
and tells nobles, “You are evil.”
¹⁹ He shows no favoritism to high officials,
and he shows no more regard for the rich than for the poor,
because they are all the work of his hands.
²⁰ In a moment they die, in the middle of the night.
People are shaken, and they pass away.
Even the mighty are taken away effortlessly, without a human hand,
²¹ because God’s eyes are on the ways of a man,
and he sees all his steps.
²² There is no darkness,
and there is no dark shadow where evildoers can hide,
²³ for God does not need to investigate further
or to set a time of judgment for a person.
²⁴ He breaks mighty rulers without further inquiry,
and he sets up others in their place.
²⁵ Because he knows their deeds,
he overthrows them at night,
and they lie crushed.
²⁶ Because of their wickedness,
    he strikes them in plain sight of everyone.
²⁷ He does this because they turned aside from following him,
and they were not wise enough to follow all his ways.
²⁸ They caused the poor to cry out to God,
so he heard the cry of the afflicted.

²⁹ But if God remains quiet, who can condemn him?
If he hides his face, who can observe him?
But even if he does, he still rules over both nations and individuals,
³⁰ to prevent a godless man from ruling,
so that the godless man does not lay snares for the people.
³¹ What if someone says to God,
“I have accepted my punishment.
I will not keep sinning.
³² Teach me about what I do not see.
If I have done evil, I will not do it again.”
³³ Would God then be obligated to repay you on your terms,
when you refuse to repent?^[i]

But, Job, it is your decision, not mine.
So tell me what you know.

³⁴ Men who have understanding say this to me,
and any wise person who listens tells me the same thing:
³⁵ “Job speaks without knowledge,
and his words reveal a lack of understanding.”
³⁶ I wish that Job would be tested to the limit,
because he responds like a wicked man.
³⁷ Yes, he even adds rebellion to his sin.
Among us he shows his contempt by clapping his hands,
and he multiplies his words against God.