World English Bible

1 Then Job answered,

2 “Truly I know that it is so,

but how can man be just with God?

3 If he is pleased to contend with him,

he can’t answer him one time in a thousand.

4 God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength:

who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?

5 He removes the mountains, and they don’t know it,

when he overturns them in his anger.

6 He shakes the earth out of its place.

Its pillars tremble.

7 He commands the sun, and it doesn’t rise,

and seals up the stars.

8 He alone stretches out the heavens,

and treads on the waves of the sea.

9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,

and the rooms of the south.

10 He does great things past finding out;

yes, marvelous things without number.

11 Behold, he goes by me, and I don’t see him.

He passes on also, but I don’t perceive him.

12 Behold, he snatches away.

Who can hinder him?

Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’

13 “God will not withdraw his anger.

The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.

14 How much less shall I answer him,

And choose my words to argue with him?

15 Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn’t answer him.

I would make supplication to my judge.

16 If I had called, and he had answered me,

yet I wouldn’t believe that he listened to my voice.

17 For he breaks me with a storm,

and multiplies my wounds without cause.

18 He will not allow me to catch my breath,

but fills me with bitterness.

19 If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty!

If of justice, ‘Who,’ says he, ‘will summon me?’

20 Though I am righteous, my own mouth shall condemn me.

Though I am blameless, it shall prove me perverse.

21 I am blameless.

I don’t respect myself.

I despise my life.

22 “It is all the same.

Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.

23 If the scourge kills suddenly,

he will mock at the trial of the innocent.

24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked.

He covers the faces of its judges.

If not he, then who is it?

25 “Now my days are swifter than a runner.

They flee away, they see no good.

26 They have passed away as the swift ships,

as the eagle that swoops on the prey.

27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,

I will put off my sad face, and cheer up;’

28 I am afraid of all my sorrows,

I know that you will not hold me innocent.

29 I shall be condemned.

Why then do I labor in vain?

30 If I wash myself with snow,

and cleanse my hands with lye,

31 yet you will plunge me in the ditch.

My own clothes shall abhor me.

32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him,

that we should come together in judgment.

33 There is no umpire between us,

that might lay his hand on us both.

34 Let him take his rod away from me.

Let his terror not make me afraid;

35 then I would speak, and not fear him,

for I am not so in myself.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JOB/9-58aad04be40bac44bd4d67a7c4f65848.mp3?version_id=206—

1 “My soul is weary of my life.

I will give free course to my complaint.

I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2 I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me.

Show me why you contend with me.

3 Is it good to you that you should oppress,

that you should despise the work of your hands,

and smile on the counsel of the wicked?

4 Do you have eyes of flesh?

Or do you see as man sees?

5 Are your days as the days of mortals,

or your years as man’s years,

6 that you inquire after my iniquity,

and search after my sin?

7 Although you know that I am not wicked,

there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.

8 “‘Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether,

yet you destroy me.

9 Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay.

Will you bring me into dust again?

10 Haven’t you poured me out like milk,

and curdled me like cheese?

11 You have clothed me with skin and flesh,

and knit me together with bones and sinews.

12 You have granted me life and loving kindness.

Your visitation has preserved my spirit.

13 Yet you hid these things in your heart.

I know that this is with you:

14 if I sin, then you mark me.

You will not acquit me from my iniquity.

15 If I am wicked, woe to me.

If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head,

being filled with disgrace,

and conscious of my affliction.

16 If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion.

Again you show yourself powerful to me.

17 You renew your witnesses against me,

and increase your indignation on me.

Changes and warfare are with me.

18 “‘Why, then, have you brought me out of the womb?

I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.

19 I should have been as though I had not been.

I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

20 Aren’t my days few?

Cease then.

Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,

21 before I go where I shall not return from,

to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;

22 the land dark as midnight,

of the shadow of death,

without any order,

where the light is as midnight.’”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JOB/10-e3f516049673443617fcdca26abad00e.mp3?version_id=206—

1 Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered,

2 “Shouldn’t the multitude of words be answered?

Should a man full of talk be justified?

3 Should your boastings make men hold their peace?

When you mock, shall no man make you ashamed?

4 For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure.

I am clean in your eyes.’

5 But oh that God would speak,

and open his lips against you,

6 that he would show you the secrets of wisdom!

For true wisdom has two sides.

Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.

7 “Can you fathom the mystery of God?

Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty?

8 They are high as heaven. What can you do?

They are deeper than Sheol.What can you know?

9 Its measure is longer than the earth,

and broader than the sea.

10 If he passes by, or confines,

or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?

11 For he knows false men.

He sees iniquity also, even though he doesn’t consider it.

12 An empty-headed man becomes wise

when a man is born as a wild donkey’s colt.

13 “If you set your heart aright,

stretch out your hands toward him.

14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away.

Don’t let unrighteousness dwell in your tents.

15 Surely then you shall lift up your face without spot;

Yes, you shall be steadfast, and shall not fear:

16 for you shall forget your misery.

You shall remember it like waters that have passed away.

17 Life shall be clearer than the noonday.

Though there is darkness, it shall be as the morning.

18 You shall be secure, because there is hope.

Yes, you shall search, and shall take your rest in safety.

19 Also you shall lie down, and no one shall make you afraid.

Yes, many shall court your favor.

20 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail.

They shall have no way to flee.

Their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JOB/11-e5150b112f6d9a8163634d06a9100414.mp3?version_id=206—

1 Then Job answered,

2 “No doubt, but you are the people,

and wisdom shall die with you.

3 But I have understanding as well as you;

I am not inferior to you.

Yes, who doesn’t know such things as these?

4 I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor,

I, who called on God, and he answered.

The just, the blameless man is a joke.

5 In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune.

It is ready for them whose foot slips.

6 The tents of robbers prosper.

Those who provoke God are secure,

who carry their God in their hands.

7 “But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you;

the birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.

8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you.

The fish of the sea shall declare to you.

9 Who doesn’t know that in all these,

Yahweh’s hand has done this,

10 in whose hand is the life of every living thing,

and the breath of all mankind?

11 Doesn’t the ear try words,

even as the palate tastes its food?

12 With aged men is wisdom,

in length of days understanding.

13 “With God is wisdom and might.

He has counsel and understanding.

14 Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again.

He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.

15 Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up.

Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.

16 With him is strength and wisdom.

The deceived and the deceiver are his.

17 He leads counselors away stripped.

He makes judges fools.

18 He loosens the bond of kings.

He binds their waist with a belt.

19 He leads priests away stripped,

and overthrows the mighty.

20 He removes the speech of those who are trusted,

and takes away the understanding of the elders.

21 He pours contempt on princes,

and loosens the belt of the strong.

22 He uncovers deep things out of darkness,

and brings out to light the shadow of death.

23 He increases the nations, and he destroys them.

He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.

24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth,

and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

25 They grope in the dark without light.

He makes them stagger like a drunken man.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JOB/12-8a1b6267a20da5f70c695f0779aea16f.mp3?version_id=206—

1 “Behold, my eye has seen all this.

My ear has heard and understood it.

2 What you know, I know also.

I am not inferior to you.

3 “Surely I would speak to the Almighty.

I desire to reason with God.

4 But you are forgers of lies.

You are all physicians of no value.

5 Oh that you would be completely silent!

Then you would be wise.

6 Hear now my reasoning.

Listen to the pleadings of my lips.

7 Will you speak unrighteously for God,

and talk deceitfully for him?

8 Will you show partiality to him?

Will you contend for God?

9 Is it good that he should search you out?

Or as one deceives a man, will you deceive him?

10 He will surely reprove you,

if you secretly show partiality.

11 Shall not his majesty make you afraid,

And his dread fall on you?

12 Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes,

Your defenses are defenses of clay.

13 “Be silent, leave me alone, that I may speak.

Let come on me what will.

14 Why should I take my flesh in my teeth,

and put my life in my hand?

15 Behold, he will kill me.

I have no hope.

Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.

16 This also shall be my salvation,

that a godless man shall not come before him.

17 Hear diligently my speech.

Let my declaration be in your ears.

18 See now, I have set my cause in order.

I know that I am righteous.

19 Who is he who will contend with me?

For then would I hold my peace and give up the spirit.

20 “Only don’t do two things to me;

then I will not hide myself from your face:

21 withdraw your hand far from me;

and don’t let your terror make me afraid.

22 Then call, and I will answer;

or let me speak, and you answer me.

23 How many are my iniquities and sins?

Make me know my disobedience and my sin.

24 Why hide you your face,

and hold me for your enemy?

25 Will you harass a driven leaf?

Will you pursue the dry stubble?

26 For you write bitter things against me,

and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth:

27 You also put my feet in the stocks,

and mark all my paths.

You set a bound to the soles of my feet,

28 though I am decaying like a rotten thing,

like a garment that is moth-eaten.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JOB/13-e9fc0b6feba584f2e97aea97a0205bdd.mp3?version_id=206—

1 “Man, who is born of a woman,

is of few days, and full of trouble.

2 He grows up like a flower, and is cut down.

He also flees like a shadow, and doesn’t continue.

3 Do you open your eyes on such a one,

and bring me into judgment with you?

4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?

Not one.

5 Seeing his days are determined,

the number of his months is with you,

and you have appointed his bounds that he can’t pass;

6 Look away from him, that he may rest,

until he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day.

7 “For there is hope for a tree,

If it is cut down, that it will sprout again,

that the tender branch of it will not cease.

8 Though its root grows old in the earth,

and its stock dies in the ground,

9 yet through the scent of water it will bud,

and sprout boughs like a plant.

10 But man dies, and is laid low.

Yes, man gives up the spirit, and where is he?

11 As the waters fail from the sea,

and the river wastes and dries up,

12 so man lies down and doesn’t rise.

Until the heavens are no more, they shall not awake,

nor be roused out of their sleep.

13 “Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,

that you would keep me secret, until your wrath is past,

that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

14 If a man dies, shall he live again?

All the days of my warfare would I wait,

until my release should come.

15 You would call, and I would answer you.

You would have a desire to the work of your hands.

16 But now you count my steps.

Don’t you watch over my sin?

17 My disobedience is sealed up in a bag.

You fasten up my iniquity.

18 “But the mountain falling comes to nothing.

The rock is removed out of its place;

19 The waters wear the stones.

The torrents of it wash away the dust of the earth.

So you destroy the hope of man.

20 You forever prevail against him, and he departs.

You change his face, and send him away.

21 His sons come to honor, and he doesn’t know it.

They are brought low, but he doesn’t perceive it of them.

22 But his flesh on him has pain,

and his soul within him mourns.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JOB/14-6ee190fa15763ec7686c68ee09ed4718.mp3?version_id=206—

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

2 “Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge,

and fill himself with the east wind?

3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk,

or with speeches with which he can do no good?

4 Yes, you do away with fear,

and hinder devotion before God.

5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth,

and you choose the language of the crafty.

6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I.

Yes, your own lips testify against you.

7 “Are you the first man who was born?

Or were you brought out before the hills?

8 Have you heard the secret counsel of God?

Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

9 What do you know, that we don’t know?

What do you understand, which is not in us?

10 With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men,

much elder than your father.

11 Are the consolations of God too small for you,

even the word that is gentle toward you?

12 Why does your heart carry you away?

Why do your eyes flash,

13 That you turn your spirit against God,

and let such words go out of your mouth?

14 What is man, that he should be clean?

What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

15 Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones.

Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight;

16 how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,

a man who drinks iniquity like water!

17 “I will show you, listen to me;

that which I have seen I will declare

18 (which wise men have told by their fathers,

and have not hidden it;

19 to whom alone the land was given,

and no stranger passed among them):

20 the wicked man writhes in pain all his days,

even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.

21 A sound of terrors is in his ears.

In prosperity the destroyer shall come on him.

22 He doesn’t believe that he shall return out of darkness.

He is waited for by the sword.

23 He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’

He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

24 Distress and anguish make him afraid.

They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God,

and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty;

26 he runs at him with a stiff neck,

with the thick shields of his bucklers;

27 because he has covered his face with his fatness,

and gathered fat on his thighs.

28 He has lived in desolate cities,

in houses which no one inhabited,

which were ready to become heaps.

29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue,

neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.

30 He shall not depart out of darkness.

The flame shall dry up his branches.

By the breath of God’s mouth shall he go away.

31 Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself;

for emptiness shall be his reward.

32 It shall be accomplished before his time.

His branch shall not be green.

33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine,

and shall cast off his flower as the olive tree.

34 For the company of the godless shall be barren,

and fire shall consume the tents of bribery.

35 They conceive mischief, and produce iniquity.

Their heart prepares deceit.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JOB/15-04bcb3026f4b8dd1b5888338eb03e505.mp3?version_id=206—

1 Then Job answered,

2 “I have heard many such things.

You are all miserable comforters!

3 Shall vain words 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 join words together against you,

and shake my head at you,

5 but I would strengthen you with my mouth.

The solace of my lips would relieve you.

6 “Though I speak, my grief is not subsided.

Though I forbear, what am I eased?

7 But now, God, you have surely worn me out.

You have made desolate all my company.

8 You have shriveled me up. This is a witness against me.

My leanness rises up against me.

It testifies to my face.

9 He has torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me.

He has gnashed on me with his teeth.

My adversary sharpens his eyes on me.

10 They have gaped on me with their mouth.

They have struck me on the cheek reproachfully.

They gather themselves together against me.

11 God delivers me to the ungodly,

and casts me into the hands of the wicked.

12 I was at ease, and he broke me apart.

Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces.

He has also set me up for his target.

13 His archers surround me.

He splits my kidneys apart, and does not spare.

He pours out my gall on the ground.

14 He breaks me with breach on breach.

He runs on me like a giant.

15 I have sewed sackcloth on my skin,

and have thrust my horn in the dust.

16 My face is red with weeping.

Deep darkness is on my eyelids.

17 Although there is no violence in my hands,

and my prayer is pure.

18 “Earth, don’t cover my blood.

Let my cry have no place to rest.

19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven.

He who vouches for me is on high.

20 My friends scoff at me.

My eyes pour out tears to God,

21 that he would maintain the right of a man with God,

of a son of man with his neighbor!

22 For when a few years have come,

I shall go the way of no return.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JOB/16-28c5dff483ca2f12ff84fcba409377ab.mp3?version_id=206—

1 “My spirit is consumed.

My days are extinct,

And the grave is ready for me.

2 Surely there are mockers with me.

My eye dwells on their provocation.

3 “Now give a pledge, be collateral for me with yourself.

Who is there who will strike hands with me?

4 For you have hidden their heart from understanding,

Therefore you shall not exalt them.

5 He who denounces his friends for plunder,

Even the eyes of his children shall fail.

6 “But he has made me a byword of the people.

They spit in my face.

7 My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow.

All my members are as a shadow.

8 Upright men shall be astonished at this.

The innocent shall stir up himself against the godless.

9 Yet shall the righteous hold on his way.

He who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger.

10 But as for you all, come on now again;

I shall not find a wise man among you.

11 My days are past, my plans are broken off,

as are the thoughts of my heart.

12 They change the night into day,

saying ‘The light is near’ in the presence of darkness.

13 If I look for Sheolas my house,

if I have spread my couch in the darkness,

14 If I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father;’

to the worm, ‘My mother,’ and ‘my sister;’

15 where then is my hope?

as for my hope, who shall see it?

16 Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol,

or descend together into the dust?”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JOB/17-4f1bbc2d32383dcb4ef1fbd93e496266.mp3?version_id=206—

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

2 “How long will you hunt for words?

Consider, and afterwards we will speak.

3 Why are we counted as animals,

which have become unclean in your sight?

4 You who tear yourself in your anger,

shall the earth be forsaken for you?

Or shall the rock be removed out of its place?

5 “Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out,

The spark of his fire shall not shine.

6 The light shall be dark in his tent.

His lamp above him shall be put out.

7 The steps of his strength shall be shortened.

His own counsel shall cast him down.

8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet,

and he wanders into its mesh.

9 A snare will take him by the heel.

A trap will catch him.

10 A noose is hidden for him in the ground,

a trap for him on the path.

11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side,

and shall chase him at his heels.

12 His strength shall be famished.

Calamity shall be ready at his side.

13 The members of his body shall be devoured.

The firstborn of death shall devour his members.

14 He shall be rooted out of the security of his tent.

He shall be brought to the king of terrors.

15 There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his.

Sulfur shall be scattered on his habitation.

16 His roots shall be dried up beneath.

Above shall his branch be cut off.

17 His memory shall perish from the earth.

He shall have no name in the street.

18 He shall be driven from light into darkness,

and chased out of the world.

19 He shall have neither son nor grandson among his people,

nor any remaining where he lived.

20 Those who come after shall be astonished at his day,

as those who went before were frightened.

21 Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous.

This is the place of him who doesn’t know God.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JOB/18-e8170b598cff4cb3c21b4587a9e1b2cf.mp3?version_id=206—