Job (NAB) 1
1 1 In the land of Uz there was a blameless and upright man named Job, who feared God and avoided evil. 2 Seven sons and three daughters were born to him; 3 and he had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she-asses, and a great number of work animals, so that he was greater than any of the men of the East.
4 His sons used to take turns giving feasts, sending invitations to their three sisters to eat and drink with them.5 And when each feast had run its course, Job would send for them and sanctify them, rising early and offering holocausts for every one of them. For Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned and blasphemed God in their hearts." This Job did habitually.
6 One day, when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, Satan also came among them. 7 And the LORD said to Satan, "Whence do you come?" Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming the earth and patrolling it."8 And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job, and that there is no one on earth like him, blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil?"9 But Satan answered the LORD and said, "Is it for nothing that Job is God-fearing?10 Have you not surrounded him and his family and all that he has with your protection? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock are spread over the land.11 But now put forth your hand and touch anything that he has, and surely he will blaspheme you to your face."12 And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand upon his person." So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
13 And so one day, while his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother,14 a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the asses grazing beside them,15 and the Sabeans carried them off in a raid. They put the herdsmen to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you." 16 While he was yet speaking, another came and said, "Lightning has fallen from heaven and struck the sheep and their shepherds and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you." 17 While he was yet speaking, another came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three columns, seized the camels, carried them off, and put those tending them to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."18 While he was yet speaking, another came and said, "Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother,19 when suddenly a great wind came across the desert and smote the four corners of the house. It fell upon the young people and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you."
20 Then Job began to tear his cloak and cut off his hair. He cast himself prostrate upon the ground,21 and said, "Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, and naked shall I go back again. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD!" 22 In all this Job did not sin, nor did he say anything disrespectful of God.
2 1 Once again the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them.2 And the LORD said to Satan, "Whence do you come?" And Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming the earth and patrolling it."3 And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job, and that there is no one on earth like him, faultless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil? He still holds fast to his innocence although you incited me against him to ruin him without cause."4 And Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! All that a man has will he give for his life. 5 But now put forth your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and surely he will blaspheme you to your face."6 And the LORD said to Satan, "He is in your power; only spare his life."
7 So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD and smote Job with severe boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.8 And he took a potsherd to scrape himself, as he sat among the ashes.9 Then his wife said to him, "Are you still holding to your innocence? Curse God and die." 10 But he said to her, "Are even you going to speak as senseless women do? We accept good things from God; and should we not accept evil?" Through all this, Job said nothing sinful.
11 Now when three of Job's friends heard of all the misfortune that had come upon him, they set out each one from his own place: Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuh, and Zophar from Naamath. They met and journeyed together to give him sympathy and comfort. 12 But when, at a distance, they lifted up their eyes and did not recognize him, they began to weep aloud; they tore their cloaks and threw dust upon their heads.13 Then they sat down upon the ground with him seven days and seven nights, but none of them spoke a word to him; for they saw how great was his suffering.
3 1 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day.
2 Job spoke out and said:
3 Perish the day on which I was born, the night when they said, "The child is a boy!"
4 May that day be darkness: let not God above call for it, nor light shine upon it!
5 May darkness and gloom claim it, clouds settle upon it, the blackness of night affright it!
6 May obscurity seize that day; let it not occur among the days of the year, nor enter into the count of the months!
7 May that night be barren; let no joyful outcry greet it!
8 Let them curse it who curse the sea, the appointed disturbers of Leviathan!
9 May the stars of its twilight be darkened; may it look for daylight, but have none, nor gaze on the eyes of the dawn,
10 Because it kept not shut the doors of the womb to shield my eyes from trouble!
11 Why did I not perish at birth, come forth from the womb and expire?
12 Wherefore did the knees receive me? or why did I suck at the breasts?
13 For then I should have lain down and been tranquil; had I slept, I should then have been at rest
14 With kings and counselors of the earth who built where now there are ruins
15 Or with princes who had gold and filled their houses with silver.
16 Or why was I not buried away like an untimely birth, like babes that have never seen the light?
17 There the wicked cease from troubling, there the weary are at rest.
18 There the captives are at ease together, and hear not the voice of the slave driver.
19 Small and great are there the same, and the servant is free from his master.
20 Why is light given to the toilers, and life to the bitter in spirit?
21 They wait for death and it comes not; they search for it rather than for hidden treasures,
22 Rejoice in it exultingly, and are glad when they reach the grave:
23 Men whose path is hidden from them, and whom God has hemmed in!
24 For sighing comes more readily to me than food, and my groans well forth like water.
25 For what I fear overtakes me, and what I shrink from comes upon me.
26 I have no peace nor ease; I have no rest, for trouble comes!
4 1 Then spoke Eliphaz the Temanite, who said:
2 If someone attempts a word with you, will you mind? For how can anyone refrain from speaking?
3 Behold, you have instructed many, and have made firm their feeble hands.
4 Your words have upheld the stumbler; you have strengthened his faltering knees.
5 But now that it comes to you, you are impatient; when it touches yourself, you are dismayed.
6 Is not your piety a source of confidence, and your integrity of life your hope?
7 Reflect now, what innocent person perishes? Since when are the upright destroyed?
8 As I see it, those who plow for mischief and sow trouble, reap the same.
9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his wrath they are consumed.
10 Though the lion roars, though the king of beasts cries out, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken;
11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12 For a word was stealthily brought to me, and my ear caught a whisper of it.
13 In my thoughts during visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
14 Fear came upon me, and shuddering, that terrified me to the bones.
15 Then a spirit passed before me, and the hair of my flesh stood up.
16 It paused, but its likeness I could not discern; a figure was before my eyes, and I heard a still voice:
17 "Can a man be righteous as against God? Can a mortal be blameless against his Maker?
18 Lo, he puts no trust in his servants, and with his angels he can find fault.
19 How much more with those that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed more easily than the moth!
20 Morning or evening they may be shattered; with no heed paid to it, they perish forever.
21 The pegs of their tent are plucked up; they die without knowing wisdom."
5 1 Call now! Will anyone respond to you? To which of the holy ones will you appeal?
2 Nay, impatience kills the fool and indignation slays the simpleton.
3 I have seen a fool spreading his roots, but his household suddenly decayed.
4 His children shall be far from safety; they shall be crushed at the gate without a rescuer.
5 What they have reaped the hungry shall eat up; (or God shall take it away by blight;) and the thirsty shall swallow their substance.
6 For mischief comes not out of the earth, nor does trouble spring out of the ground;
7 But man himself begets mischief, as sparks fly upward.
8 In your place, I would appeal to God, and to God I would state my plea.
9
10 He gives rain upon the earth and sends water upon the fields;
11 He sets up on high the lowly, and those who mourn he exalts to safety.
12 He frustrates the plans of the cunning, so that their hands achieve no success;
13 He catches the wise in their own ruses, and the designs of the crafty are routed.
14 They meet with darkness in the daytime, and at noonday they grope as though it were night.
15 But the poor from the edge of the sword and from the hand of the mighty, he saves.
16 Thus the unfortunate have hope, and iniquity closes her mouth.
17 Happy is the man whom God reproves! The Almighty's chastening do not reject.
18 For he wounds, but he binds up; he smites, but his hands give healing.
19 Out of six troubles he will deliver you, and at the seventh no evil shall touch you.
20 In famine he will deliver you from death, and in war from the threat of the sword;
21 From the scourge of the tongue you shall be hidden, and shall not fear approaching ruin.
22 At destruction and want you shall laugh; the beasts of the earth you need not dread.
23 You shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the wild beasts shall be at peace with you.
24 And you shall know that your tent is secure; taking stock of your household, you shall miss nothing.
25 You shall know that your descendants are many, and your offspring as the grass of the earth.
26 You shall approach the grave in full vigor, as a shock of grain comes in at its season.
27 Lo, this we have searched out; so it is! This we have heard, and you should know.
6 1 Then Job answered and said:
2 Ah, could my anguish but be measured and my calamity laid with it in the scales,
3 They would now outweigh the sands of the sea! Because of this I speak without restraint.
4 For the arrows of the Almighty pierce me, and my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
5 Does the wild ass bray when he has grass? Does the ox low over his fodder?
6 Can a thing insipid be eaten without salt? Is there flavor in the white of an egg?
7 I refuse to touch them; they are loathsome food to me.
8 Oh, that I might have my request, and that God would grant what I long for:
9 Even that God would decide to crush me, that he would put forth his hand and cut me off!
10 Then I should still have consolation and could exult through unremitting pain, because I have not transgressed the commands of the Holy One.
11 What strength have I that I should endure, and what is my limit that I should be patient?
12 Have I the strength of stones, or is my flesh of bronze?
13 Have I no helper, and has advice deserted me?
14 A friend owes kindness to one in despair, though he have forsaken the fear of the Almighty.
15 My brethren are undependable as a brook, as watercourses that run dry in the wadies;
16 Though they may be black with ice, and with snow heaped upon them,
17 Yet once they flow, they cease to be; in the heat, they disappear from their place.
18 Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go into the desert and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema search, the companies of Sheba have hopes;
20 They are disappointed, though they were confident; they come there and are frustrated.
21 It is thus that you have now become for me; you see a terrifying thing and are afraid.
22 Have I asked you to give me anything, to offer a gift for me from your possessions,
23 Or to deliver me from the enemy, or to redeem me from oppressors?
24 Teach me, and I will be silent; prove to me wherein I have erred.
25 How agreeable are honest words; yet how unconvincing is your argument!
26 Do you consider your words as proof, but the sayings of a desperate man as wind?
27 You would even cast lots for the orphan, and would barter away your friend!
28 Come, now, give me your attention; surely I will not lie to your face.
29 Think it over; let there be no injustice. Think it over; I still am right.
30 Is there insincerity on my tongue, or cannot my taste discern falsehood?
7 1 Is not man's life on earth a drudgery? Are not his days those of a hireling?
2 He is a slave who longs for the shade, a hireling who waits for his wages.
3 So I have been assigned months of misery, and troubled nights have been told off for me.
4 If in bed I say, "When shall I arise?" then the night drags on; I am filled with restlessness until the dawn.
5 My flesh is clothed with worms and scabs; my skin cracks and festers;
6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle; they come to an end without hope.
7 Remember that my life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again.
8 The eye that now sees me shall no more behold me; as you look at me, I shall be gone.
9 As a cloud dissolves and vanishes, so he who goes down to the nether world shall come up no more.
10 He shall not again return to his house; his place shall know him no more.
11 My own utterance I will not restrain; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I the sea, or a monster of the deep, that you place a watch over me? Why have you set me up as an object of attack; or why should I be a target for you?
13 When I say, "My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint,"
14 Then you affright me with dreams and with visions terrify me,
15 So that I should prefer choking and death rather than my pains.
16 I waste away: I cannot live forever; let me alone, for my days are but a breath.
17 What is man, that you make much of him, or pay him any heed?
18 You observe him with each new day and try him at every moment!
19 How long will it be before you look away from me, and let me alone long enough to swallow my spittle?
20 Though I have sinned, what can I do to you, O watcher of men?
21 Why do you not pardon my offense, or take away my guilt? For soon I shall lie down in the dust; and should you seek me I shall then be gone.
8 1 Bildad the Shuhite spoke out and said:
2 How long will you utter such things? The words from your mouth are like a mighty wind!
3 Does God pervert judgment, and does the Almighty distort justice?
4 If your children have sinned against him and he has left them in the grip of their guilt,
5 Still, if you yourself have recourse to God and make supplication to the Almighty,
6 Should you be blameless and upright, surely now he will awake for you and restore your rightful domain;
7 Your former state will be of little moment, for in time to come you will flourish indeed.
8 If you inquire of the former generations, and give heed to the experience of the fathers
9 (As we are but of yesterday and have no knowledge, because our days on earth are but a shadow),
10 Will they not teach you and tell you and utter their words of understanding?
11 Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the reed grass flourish without water?
12 While it is yet green and uncut, it withers quicker than any grass.
13 So is the end of everyone who forgets God, and so shall the hope of the godless man perish.
14 His confidence is but a gossamer thread and his trust is a spider's web.
15 He shall rely upon his family, but it shall not last; he shall cling to it, but it shall not endure.
16 He is full of sap before sunrise, and beyond his garden his shoots go forth;
17 About a heap of stones are his roots entwined; among the rocks he takes hold.
18 Yet if one tears him from his place, it will disown him: "I have never seen you!"
19 There he lies rotting beside the road, and out of the soil another sprouts.
20 Behold, God will not cast away the upright; neither will he take the hand of the wicked.
21 Once more will he fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with rejoicing.
22 They that hate you shall be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked shall be no more.
9 1 Then Job answered and said:
2 I know well that it is so; but how can a man be justified before God?
3 Should one wish to contend with him, he could not answer him once in a thousand times.
4 God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has withstood him and remained unscathed?
5 He removes the mountains before they know it; he overturns them in his anger.
6 He shakes the earth out of its place, and the pillars beneath it tremble.
7 He commands the sun, and it rises not; he seals up the stars.
8 He alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the crests of the sea.
9 He made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south;
10 He does great things past finding out, marvelous things beyond reckoning.
11 Should he come near me, I see him not; should he pass by, I am not aware of him;
12 Should he seize me forcibly, who can say him nay? Who can say to him, "What are you doing?"
13 He is God and he does not relent; the helpers of Rahab bow beneath him.
14 How much less shall I give him any answer, or choose out arguments against him!
15 Even though I were right, I could not answer him, but should rather beg for what was due me.
16 If I appealed to him and he answered my call, I could not believe that he would hearken to my words;
17 With a tempest he might overwhelm me, and multiply my wounds without cause;
18 He need not suffer me to draw breath, but might fill me with bitter griefs.
19 If it be a question of strength, he is mighty; and if of judgment, who will call him to account?
20 Though I were right, my own mouth might condemn me; were I innocent, he might put me in the wrong.
21 Though I am innocent, I myself cannot know it; I despise my life.
22 It is all one! therefore I say: Both the innocent and the wicked he destroys.
23 When the scourge slays suddenly, he laughs at the despair of the innocent.
24 The earth is given into the hands of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges. If it is not he, who then is it?
25 My days are swifter than a runner, they flee away; they see no happiness;
26 They shoot by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping upon its prey.
27 If I say: I will forget my complaining, I will lay aside my sadness and be of good cheer,
28 Then I am in dread of all my pains; I know that you will not hold me innocent.
29 If I must be accounted guilty, why then should I strive in vain?
30 If I should wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,
31 Yet you would plunge me in the ditch, so that my garments would abhor me.
32 For he is not a man like myself, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment.
33 Would that there were an arbiter between us, who could lay his hand upon us both
34 and withdraw his rod from me. Would that his terrors did not frighten me;
35 that I might speak without being afraid of him. Since this is not the case with me,
10 1 I loathe my life. I will give myself up to complaint; I will speak from the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God: Do not put me in the wrong! Let me know why you oppose me.
3 Is it a pleasure for you to oppress, to spurn the work of your hands, and smile on the plan of the wicked?
4 Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees?
5 Are your days as the days of a mortal, and are your years as a man's lifetime,
6 That you seek for guilt in me and search after my sins,
7 Even though you know that I am not wicked, and that none can deliver me out of your hand?
8 Your hands have formed me and fashioned me; will you then turn and destroy me?
9 Oh, remember that you fashioned me from clay! Will you then bring me down to dust again?
10 Did you not pour me out as milk, and thicken me like cheese?
11 With skin and flesh you clothed me, with bones and sinews knit me together.
12 Grace and favor you granted me, and your providence has preserved my spirit.
13 Yet these things you have hidden in your heart; I know that they are your purpose:
14 If I should sin, you would keep a watch against me, and from my guilt you would not absolve me.
15 If I should be wicked, alas for me! if righteous, I dare not hold up my head, filled with ignominy and sodden with affliction!
16 Should it lift up, you hunt me like a lion: repeatedly you show your wondrous power against me,
17 You renew your attack upon me and multiply your harassment of me; in waves your troops come against me.
18 Why then did you bring me forth from the womb? I should have died and no eye have seen me.
19 I should be as though I had never lived; I should have been taken from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not the days of my life few? Let me alone, that I may recover a little
21 Before I go whence I shall not return, to the land of darkness and of gloom,
22 The black, disordered land where darkness is the only light.
11 1 And Zophar the Naamathite spoke out and said:
2 Should not the man of many words be answered, or must the garrulous man necessarily be right?
3 Shall your babblings keep men silent, and shall you deride and no one give rebuke?
4 Shall you say: "My teaching is pure, and I am clean in your sight"?
5 But oh, that God would speak, and open his lips against you,
6 And tell you that the secrets of wisdom are twice as effective: So you might learn that God will make you answer for your guilt.
7 Can you penetrate the designs of God? Dare you vie with the perfection of the Almighty?
8 It is higher than the heavens; what can you do? It is deeper than the nether world; what can you know?
9 It is longer than the earth in measure, and broader than the sea.
10 If he seize and imprison or call to judgment, who then can say him nay?
11 For he knows the worthlessness of men and sees iniquity; will he then ignore it?
12 Will empty man then gain understanding, and the wild jackass be made docile?
13 If you set your heart aright and stretch out your hands toward him,
14 If you remove all iniquity from your conduct, and let not injustice dwell in your tent,
15 Surely then you may lift up your face in innocence; you may stand firm and unafraid.
16 For then you shall forget your misery, or recall it like waters that have ebbed away.
17 Then your life shall be brighter than the noonday; its gloom shall become as the morning,
18 And you shall be secure, because there is hope; you shall look round you and lie down in safety,
19 and you shall take your rest with none to disturb. Many shall entreat your favor,
20 but the wicked, looking on, shall be consumed with envy. Escape shall be cut off from them, they shall wait to expire.
12 1 Then Job replied and said:
2 No doubt you are the intelligent folk, and with you wisdom shall die!
3 But I have intelligence as well as you; for who does not know such things as these?
4 I have become the sport of my neighbors: "The one whom God answers when he calls upon him, The just, the perfect man," is a laughing-stock;
5 The undisturbed esteem my downfall a disgrace such as awaits unsteady feet;
6 Yet the tents of robbers are prosperous, and those who provoke God are secure.
7 But now ask the beasts to teach you, and the birds of the air to tell you;
8 Or the reptiles on earth to instruct you, and the fish of the sea to inform you.
9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of God has done this?
10 In his hand is the soul of every living thing, and the life breath of all mankind.
11 Does not the ear judge words as the mouth tastes food?
12 So with old age is wisdom, and with length of days understanding.
13 With him are wisdom and might; his are counsel and understanding.
14 If he breaks a thing down, there is no rebuilding; if he imprisons a man, there is no release.
15 He holds back the waters and there is drought; he sends them forth and they overwhelm the land.
16 With him are strength and prudence; the misled and the misleaders are his.
17 He sends counselors away barefoot, and of judges he makes fools.
18 He loosens the bonds imposed by kings and leaves but a waistcloth to bind the king's own loins.
19 9) and lets their never-failing waters flow away.
20 He silences the trusted adviser, and takes discretion from the aged.
21 He breaks down the barriers of the streams
22 The recesses of the darkness he discloses, and brings the gloom forth to the light.
23 He makes nations great and he destroys them; he spreads peoples abroad and he abandons them.
24 He takes understanding from the leaders of the land,
25 till they grope in the darkness without light; he makes them stagger like drunken men.
13 1 Lo, all this my eye has seen; my ear has heard and perceived it.
2 What you know, I also know; I fall not short of you.
3 But I would speak with the Almighty; I wish to reason with God.
4 You are glossing over falsehoods and offering vain remedies, every one of you!
5 Oh, that you would be altogether silent! This for you would be wisdom.
6 Hear now the rebuke I shall utter and listen to the reproof from my lips.
7 Is it for God that you speak falsehood? Is it for him that you utter deceit?
8 Is it for him that you show partiality? Do you play advocate on behalf of God?
9 Will it be well when he shall search you out? Would you impose on him as one does on men?
10 He will openly rebuke you if even in secret you show partiality.
11 Surely will his majesty affright you and the dread of him fall upon you.
12 Your reminders are ashy maxims, your fabrications are mounds of clay.
13 Be silent, let me alone! that I may speak and give vent to my feelings.
14 I will carry my flesh between my teeth, and take my life in my hand.
15 Slay me though he might, I will wait for him; I will defend my conduct before him.
16 And this shall be my salvation, that no impious man can come into his presence.
17 Pay careful heed to my speech, and give my statement a hearing.
18 Behold, I have prepared my case, I know that I am in the right.
19 If anyone can make a case against me, then I shall be silent and die.
20 These things only do not use against me, then from your presence I need not hide:
21 Withdraw your hand far from me, and let not the terror of you frighten me.
22 Then call me, and I will respond; or let me speak first, and answer me.
23 What are my faults and my sins? My misdeeds and my sins make known to me!
24 Why do you hide your face and consider me your enemy?
25 Will you harass a wind-driven leaf, or pursue a withered straw?
26 For you draw up bitter indictments against me, and punish in me the faults of my youth.
27 You put my feet in the stocks; you watch all my paths and trace out all my footsteps.
28 Though he wears out like a leather bottle, like a garment that the moth has consumed?
14 1 Man born of woman is short-lived and full of trouble,
2 Like a flower that springs up and fades, swift as a shadow that does not abide.
3 Upon such a one will you cast your eyes so as to bring him into judgment before you,
4 Can a man be found who is clean of defilement? There is none,
5 however short his days. You know the number of his months; you have fixed the limit which he cannot pass.
6 Look away from him and let him be, while, like a hireling, he completes his day.
7 For a tree there is hope, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again and that its tender shoots will not cease.
8 Even though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the dust,
9 Yet at the first whiff of water it may flourish again and put forth branches like a young plant.
10 But when a man dies, all vigor leaves him; when man expires, where then is he?
11 As when the waters of a lake fail, or a stream grows dry and parches,
12 So men lie down and rise not again. Till the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.
13 Oh, that you would hide me in the nether world and keep me sheltered till your wrath is past; would fix a time for me, and then remember me!
14 When a man has died, were he to live again, all the days of my drudgery I would wait, until my relief should come.
15 You would call, and I would answer you; you would esteem the work of your hands.
16 Surely then you would count my steps, and not keep watch for sin in me.
17 My misdeeds would be sealed up in a pouch, and you would cover over my guilt.
18 But as a mountain falls at last and its rock is moved from its place,
19 As waters wear away the stones and floods wash away the soil of the land, so you destroy the hope of man.
20 You prevail once for all against him and he passes on; with changed appearance you send him away.
21 If his sons are honored, he is not aware of it; if they are in disgrace, he does not know about them.
22 Only his own flesh pains him, and his soul grieves for him.
15 1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite spoke and said:
2 Should a wise man answer with airy opinions, or puff himself up with wind?
3 Should he argue in speech which does not avail, and in words which are to no profit?
4 You in fact do away with piety, and you lessen devotion toward God,
5 Because your wickedness instructs your mouth, and you choose to speak like the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, not I; you own lips refute you.
7 Are you indeed the first-born of mankind, or were you brought forth before the hills?
8 Are you privy to the counsels of God, and do you restrict wisdom to yourself?
9 What do you know that we do not know? What intelligence have you which we have not?
10 There are gray-haired old men among us more advanced in years than your father.
11 Are the consolations of God not enough for you, and speech that deals gently with you?
12 Why do your notions carry you away, and why do your eyes blink,
13 So that you turn your anger against God and let such words escape your mouth!
14 What is a man that he should be blameless, one born of woman that he should be righteous?
15 If in his holy ones God places no confidence, and if the heavens are not clean in his sight,
16 How much less so is the abominable, the corrupt: man, who drinks in iniquity like water!
17 I will show you, if you listen to me; what I have seen I will tell--
18 What wise men relate and have not contradicted since the days of their fathers,
19 To whom alone the land was given, when no foreigner moved among them.
20 The wicked man is in torment all his days, and limited years are in store for the tyrant;
21 The sound of terrors is in his ears; when all is prosperous, the spoiler comes upon him.
22 He despairs of escaping the darkness, and looks ever for the sword;
23 A wanderer, food for the vultures, he knows that his destruction is imminent.
24 By day the darkness fills him with dread; distress and anguish overpower him.
25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God and bade defiance to the Almighty,
26 One shall rush sternly upon him with the stout bosses of his shield, like a king prepared for the charge.
27 Because he has blinded himself with his crassness, padding his loins with fat,
28 He shall dwell in ruinous cities, in houses that are deserted, That are crumbling into clay
29 with no shadow to lengthen over the ground. He shall not be rich, and his possessions shall not endure;
30 A flame shall wither him up in his early growth, and with the wind his blossoms shall disappear.
31 1) for vain shall be his bartering.
32 His stalk shall wither before its time, and his branches shall be green no more.
33 He shall be like a vine that sheds its grapes unripened, and like an olive tree casting off its bloom.
34 For the breed of the impious shall be sterile, and fire shall consume the tents of extortioners.
35 They conceive malice and bring forth emptiness; they give birth to failure.
Job (NAB) 1