|
JOB: CHAPTER
23-28
JOB: CHAPTER
23
Job Says
He Longs for God
1 Then Job replied,
2 "Even today my complaint is rebellion;
His hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3 "Oh that I knew where I might find Him,
That I might come to His seat!
4 "I would present my case before Him
And fill my mouth with arguments.
5 "I would learn the words which He would
answer,
And perceive what He would say to me.
6 "Would He contend with me by the greatness
of His power?
No, surely He would pay attention to me.
7 "There the upright would reason with Him;
And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.
8 "Behold, I go forward but He is not
there,
And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
9 When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him;
He turns on the right, I cannot see Him.
10 "But He knows the way I take;
When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
11 "My foot has held fast to His path;
I have kept His way and not turned aside.
12 "I have not departed from the command of His
lips;
I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.
13 "But He is unique and who can turn Him?
And what His soul desires, that He does.
14 "For He performs what is appointed for me,
And many such decrees are with Him.
15 "Therefore, I would be dismayed at His presence;
When I consider, I am terrified of Him.
16 "It is God who has made my heart
faint,
And the Almighty who has dismayed me,
17 But I am not silenced by the darkness,
Nor deep gloom which covers me.
JOB: CHAPTER
24
Job Says
God Seems to Ignore Wrongs
1 "Why are times not stored up by the Almighty,
And why do those who know Him not see His days?
2 "Some remove the landmarks;
They seize and devour flocks.
3 "They drive away the donkeys of the orphans;
They take the widow's ox for a pledge.
4 "They push the needy aside from the road;
The poor of the land are made to hide themselves altogether.
5 "Behold, as wild donkeys in the wilderness
They go forth seeking food in their activity,
As bread for their children in the desert.
6 "They harvest their fodder in the field
And glean the vineyard of the wicked.
7 "They spend the night naked, without clothing,
And have no covering against the cold.
8 "They are wet with the mountain rains
And hug the rock for want of a shelter.
9 "Others snatch the orphan from the breast,
And against the poor they take a pledge.
10 "They cause the poor to go about naked
without clothing,
And they take away the sheaves from the hungry.
11 "Within the walls they produce oil;
They tread wine presses but thirst.
12 "From the city men groan,
And the souls of the wounded cry out;
Yet God does not pay attention to folly.
13 "Others have been with those who rebel
against the light;
They do not want to know its ways
Nor abide in its paths.
14 "The murderer arises at dawn;
He kills the poor and the needy,
And at night he is as a thief.
15 "The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
Saying, 'No eye will see me.'
And he disguises his face.
16 "In the dark they dig into houses,
They shut themselves up by day;
They do not know the light.
17 "For the morning is the same to him as thick
darkness,
For he is familiar with the terrors of thick darkness.
18 "They are insignificant on the surface
of the water;
Their portion is cursed on the earth.
They do not turn toward the vineyards.
19 "Drought and heat consume the snow waters,
So does Sheol those who have sinned.
20 "A mother will forget him;
The worm feeds sweetly till he is no longer remembered.
And wickedness will be broken like a tree.
21 "He wrongs the barren woman
And does no good for the widow.
22 "But He drags off the valiant by His power;
He rises, but no one has assurance of life.
23 "He provides them with security, and they
are supported;
And His eyes are on their ways.
24 "They are exalted a little while, then they
are gone;
Moreover, they are brought low and like everything gathered up;
Even like the heads of grain they are cut off.
25 "Now if it is not so, who can prove me a liar,
And make my speech worthless?"
JOB: CHAPTER
25
Bildad Says
Man Is Inferior
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,
2 "Dominion and awe belong to Him
Who establishes peace in His heights.
3 "Is there any number to His troops?
And upon whom does His light not rise?
4 "How then can a man be just with God?
Or how can he be clean who is born of woman?
5 "If even the moon has no brightness
And the stars are not pure in His sight,
6 How much less man, that maggot,
And the son of man, that worm!"
JOB: CHAPTER
26
Job Rebukes
Bildad
1 Then Job responded,
2 "What a help you are to the weak!
How you have saved the arm without strength!
3 "What counsel you have given to one
without wisdom!
What helpful insight you have abundantly provided!
4 "To whom have you uttered words?
And whose spirit was expressed through you?
The Greatness
of God
5 "The departed spirits tremble
Under the waters and their inhabitants.
6 "Naked is Sheol before Him,
And Abaddon has no covering.
7 "He stretches out the north over empty space
And hangs the earth on nothing.
8 "He wraps up the waters in His clouds,
And the cloud does not burst under them.
9 "He obscures the face of the full moon
And spreads His cloud over it.
10 "He has inscribed a circle on the surface
of the waters
At the boundary of light and darkness.
11 "The pillars of heaven tremble
And are amazed at His rebuke.
12 "He quieted the sea with His power,
And by His understanding He shattered Rahab.
13 "By His breath the heavens are cleared;
His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent.
14 "Behold, these are the fringes of His ways;
And how faint a word we hear of Him!
But His mighty thunder, who can understand?"
JOB: CHAPTER
27
Job Affirms
His Righteousness
1 Then Job continued his discourse and said,
2 "As God lives, who has taken away my right,
And the Almighty, who has embittered my soul,
3 For as long as life is in me,
And the breath of God is in my nostrils,
4 My lips certainly will not speak unjustly,
Nor will my tongue mutter deceit.
5 "Far be it from me that I should declare you
right;
Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
6 "I hold fast my righteousness and will not
let it go.
My heart does not reproach any of my days.
The State
of the Godless
7 "May my enemy be as the wicked
And my opponent as the unjust.
8 "For what is the hope of the godless when he
is cut off,
When God requires his life?
9 "Will God hear his cry
When distress comes upon him?
10 "Will he take delight in the Almighty?
Will he call on God at all times?
11 "I will instruct you in the power of God;
What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
12 "Behold, all of you have seen it;
Why then do you act foolishly?
13 "This is the portion of a wicked man
from God,
And the inheritance which tyrants receive from the Almighty.
14 "Though his sons are many, they are destined
for the sword;
And his descendants will not be satisfied with bread.
15 "His survivors will be buried because of the
plague,
And their widows will not be able to weep.
16 "Though he piles up silver like dust
And prepares garments as plentiful as the clay,
17 He may prepare it, but the just will
wear it
And the innocent will divide the silver.
18 "He has built his house like the spider's
web,
Or as a hut which the watchman has made.
19 "He lies down rich, but never again;
He opens his eyes, and it is no longer.
20 "Terrors overtake him like a flood;
A tempest steals him away in the night.
21 "The east wind carries him away, and he is
gone,
For it whirls him away from his place.
22 "For it will hurl at him without sparing;
He will surely try to flee from its power.
23 "Men will clap their hands at him
And will hiss him from his place.
JOB: CHAPTER
28
Job Tells
of Earth's Treasures
1 "Surely there is a mine for silver
And a place where they refine gold.
2 "Iron is taken from the dust,
And copper is smelted from rock.
3 "Man puts an end to darkness,
And to the farthest limit he searches out
The rock in gloom and deep shadow.
4 "He sinks a shaft far from habitation,
Forgotten by the foot;
They hang and swing to and fro far from men.
5 "The earth, from it comes food,
And underneath it is turned up as fire.
6 "Its rocks are the source of sapphires,
And its dust contains gold.
7 "The path no bird of prey knows,
Nor has the falcon's eye caught sight of it.
8 "The proud beasts have not trodden it,
Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.
9 "He puts his hand on the flint;
He overturns the mountains at the base.
10 "He hews out channels through the rocks,
And his eye sees anything precious.
11 "He dams up the streams from flowing,
And what is hidden he brings out to the light.
The Search
for Wisdom Is Harder
12 "But where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13 "Man does not know its value,
Nor is it found in the land of the living.
14 "The deep says, 'It is not in me';
And the sea says, 'It is not with me.'
15 "Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for
it,
Nor can silver be weighed as its price.
16 "It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx, or sapphire.
17 "Gold or glass cannot equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.
18 "Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned;
And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls.
19 "The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20 "Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is the place of understanding?
21 "Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living
And concealed from the birds of the sky.
22 "Abaddon and Death say,
'With our ears we have heard a report of it.'
23 "God understands its way,
And He knows its place.
24 "For He looks to the ends of the earth
And sees everything under the heavens.
25 "When He imparted weight to the wind
And meted out the waters by measure,
26 When He set a limit for the rain
And a course for the thunderbolt,
27 Then He saw it and declared it;
He established it and also searched it out.
28 "And to man He said, 'Behold, the fear of
the Lord, that is wisdom;
And to depart from evil is understanding.' " |
