21:1 Then Job answered:
21:2 “Listen carefully 2 to my words;
let this be 3 the consolation you offer me. 4
21:3 Bear with me 5 and I 6 will speak,
and after I have spoken 7 you may mock. 8
21:4 Is my 9 complaint against a man? 10
If so, 11 why should I not be impatient? 12
21:5 Look 13 at me and be appalled;
put your hands over your mouths. 14
21:6 For, when I think 15 about this, I am terrified 16
and my body feels a shudder. 17
21:7 “Why do the wicked go on living, 18
grow old, 19 even increase in power?
21:8 Their children 20 are firmly established
in their presence, 21
their offspring before their eyes.
21:9 Their houses are safe 22 and without fear; 23
and no rod of punishment 24 from God is upon them. 25
21:10 Their bulls 26 breed 27 without fail; 28
their cows calve and do not miscarry.
21:11 They allow their children to run 29 like a flock;
their little ones dance about.
21:12 They sing 30 to the accompaniment of tambourine and harp,
and make merry to the sound of the flute.
21:13 They live out 31 their years in prosperity
and go down 32 to the grave 33 in peace.
21:14 So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us!
We do not want to 34 know your ways. 35
21:15 Who is the Almighty, that 36 we should serve him?
What would we gain
if we were to pray 37 to him?’ 38
21:16 But their prosperity is not their own doing. 39
The counsel of the wicked is far from me! 40
21:17 “How often 41 is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?
How often does their 42 misfortune come upon them?
How often does God apportion pain 43 to them 44 in his anger?
21:18 How often 45 are they like straw before the wind,
and like chaff swept away 46 by a whirlwind?
21:19 You may say, 47 ‘God stores up a man’s 48 punishment for his children!’ 49
Instead let him repay 50 the man himself 51
so that 52 he may know it!
21:20 Let his own eyes see his destruction; 53
let him drink of the anger of the Almighty.
21:21 For what is his interest 54 in his home
after his death, 55
when the number of his months
has been broken off? 56
21:22 Can anyone teach 57 God knowledge,
since 58 he judges those that are on high? 59
21:23 “One man dies in his full vigor, 60
completely secure and prosperous,
21:24 his body 61 well nourished, 62
and the marrow of his bones moist. 63
21:25 And another man 64 dies in bitterness of soul, 65
never having tasted 66 anything good.
21:26 Together they lie down in the dust,
and worms cover over them both.
21:27 “Yes, I know what you are thinking, 67
the schemes 68 by which you would wrong me. 69
21:28 For you say,
‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, 70
and where are the tents in which the wicked lived?’ 71
21:29 Have you never questioned those who travel the roads?
Do you not recognize their accounts 72 –
21:30 that the evil man is spared
from the day of his misfortune,
that he is delivered 73
from the day of God’s wrath?
21:31 No one denounces his conduct to his face;
no one repays him for what 74 he has done. 75
21:32 And when he is carried to the tombs,
and watch is kept 76 over the funeral mound, 77
21:33 The clods of the torrent valley 78 are sweet to him;
behind him everybody follows in procession,
and before him goes a countless throng.
21:34 So how can you console me with your futile words?
Nothing is left of your answers but deception!” 79
22:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
22:2 “Is it to God that a strong man is of benefit?
Is it to him that even a wise man is profitable? 81
22:3 Is it of any special benefit 82 to the Almighty
that you should be righteous,
or is it any gain to him
that you make your ways blameless? 83
22:4 Is it because of your piety 84 that he rebukes you
and goes to judgment with you? 85
22:5 Is not your wickedness great 86
and is there no end to your iniquity?
22:6 “For you took pledges 87 from your brothers
for no reason,
and you stripped the clothing from the naked. 88
22:7 You gave the weary 89 no water to drink
and from the hungry you withheld food.
22:8 Although you were a powerful man, 90 owning land, 91
an honored man 92 living on it, 93
22:9 you sent widows away empty-handed,
and the arms 94 of the orphans you crushed. 95
22:10 That is why snares surround you,
and why sudden fear terrifies you,
22:11 why it is so dark you cannot see, 96
and why a flood 97 of water covers you.
22:12 “Is not God on high in heaven? 98
And see 99 the lofty stars, 100 how high they are!
22:13 But you have said, ‘What does God know?
Does he judge through such deep darkness? 101
22:14 Thick clouds are a veil for him, so he does not see us, 102
as he goes back and forth
in the vault 103 of heaven.’ 104
22:15 Will you keep to the old path 105
that evil men have walked –
22:16 men 106 who were carried off 107 before their time, 108
when the flood 109 was poured out 110
on their foundations? 111
22:17 They were saying to God, ‘Turn away from us,’
and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’ 112
22:18 But it was he 113 who filled their houses
with good things –
yet the counsel of the wicked 114
was far from me. 115
22:19 The righteous see their destruction 116 and rejoice;
the innocent mock them scornfully, 117 saying,
22:20 ‘Surely our enemies 118 are destroyed,
and fire consumes their wealth.’
22:21 “Reconcile yourself 119 with God, 120
and be at peace 121 with him;
in this way your prosperity will be good.
22:22 Accept instruction 122 from his mouth
and store up his words 123 in your heart.
22:23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; 124
if you remove wicked behavior far from your tent,
22:24 and throw 125 your gold 126 in the dust –
your gold 127 of Ophir
among the rocks in the ravines –
22:25 then the Almighty himself will be your gold, 128
and the choicest 129 silver for you.
22:26 Surely then you will delight yourself 130 in the Almighty,
and will lift up your face toward God.
22:27 You will pray to him and he will hear you,
and you will fulfill your vows to him. 131
22:28 Whatever you decide 132 on a matter,
it will be established for you,
and light will shine on your ways.
22:29 When people are brought low 133 and you say
‘Lift them up!’ 134
then he will save the downcast; 135
22:30 he will deliver even someone who is not innocent, 136
who will escape 137 through the cleanness of your hands.”
23:1 Then Job answered:
23:2 “Even today my complaint is still bitter; 139
his 140 hand is heavy despite 141 my groaning.
23:3 O that I knew 142 where I might find him, 143
that I could come 144 to his place of residence! 145
23:4 I would lay out my case 146 before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
23:5 I would know with what words 147 he would answer me,
and understand what he would say to me.
23:6 Would he contend 148 with me with great power?
No, he would only pay attention to me. 149
23:7 There 150 an upright person
could present his case 151 before him,
and I would be delivered forever from my judge.
23:8 “If I go to the east, he is not there,
and to the west, yet I do not perceive him.
23:9 In the north 152 when he is at work, 153
I do not see him; 154
when he turns 155 to the south,
I see no trace of him.
23:10 But he knows the pathway that I take; 156
if he tested me, I would come forth like gold. 157
23:11 My feet 158 have followed 159 his steps closely;
I have kept to his way and have not turned aside. 160
23:12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my allotted portion. 161
23:13 But he is unchangeable, 162 and who can change 163 him?
Whatever he 164 has desired, he does.
23:14 For he fulfills his decree against me, 165
and many such things are his plans. 166
23:15 That is why I am terrified in his presence;
when I consider, I am afraid because of him.
23:16 Indeed, God has made my heart faint; 167
the Almighty has terrified me.
23:17 Yet I have not been silent because of the darkness,
because of the thick darkness
that covered my face. 168