Chronological
Chapter 17
Where Then Will My Hope Be?[a]
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,[b]
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 [c]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[d]
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.[e]
14 He is dragged from the security of his tent
and carted off to the king of terrors.[f]
15 Anyone can live in his tent since it is no longer his;
brimstone[g] 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[h]
Chapter 19
God Has Wronged Me.[i] 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;[j]
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.[k]
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?[l]
I Know That My Redeemer Lives[m]
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[n]
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,[o]
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.[p]
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[q] 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.”
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