Study Desk

Bildad

Then Bildad the Shuhite^(a) replied:

"Dominion and awe belong to God;^(b) he establishes order in the heights of heaven.^(c)

Can his forces be numbered? On whom does his light not rise?^(d)

How then can a mortal be righteous before God? How can one born of woman be pure?^(e)

If even the moon^(f) is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes,^(g)

how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot— a human being,^(h) who is only a worm!"⁽ⁱ⁾

Job

Then Job replied:

"How you have helped the powerless!^(a) How you have saved the arm that is feeble!^(b)

What advice you have offered to one without wisdom! And what great insight^(c) you have displayed!

Who has helped you utter these words? And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?^(d)

"The dead are in deep anguish,^(e) those beneath the waters and all that live in them.

The realm of the dead^(f) is naked before God; Destruction^[a](g) lies uncovered.^(h)

He spreads out the northern skies⁽ⁱ⁾ over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing.^(j)

He wraps up the waters^(k) in his clouds,^(l) yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.

He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds^(m) over it.

He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters⁽ⁿ⁾ for a boundary between light and darkness.^(o)

The pillars of the heavens quake,^(p) aghast at his rebuke.

By his power he churned up the sea;^(q) by his wisdom^(r) he cut Rahab^(s) to pieces.

By his breath the skies^(t) became fair; his hand pierced the gliding serpent.^(u)

And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper^(v) we hear of him!^(w) Who then can understand the thunder of his power?"^(x)

Job's Final Word to His Friends

And Job continued his discourse:^(a)

"As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice,^(b) the Almighty,^(c) who has made my life bitter,^(d)

as long as I have life within me, the breath of God^(e) in my nostrils,

my lips will not say anything wicked, and my tongue will not utter lies.^(f)

I will never admit you are in the right; till I die, I will not deny my integrity.^(g)

I will maintain my innocence^(h) and never let go of it; my conscience⁽ⁱ⁾ will not reproach me as long as I live.^(j)

"May my enemy be like the wicked,^(k) my adversary^(l) like the unjust!

For what hope have the godless^(m) when they are cut off, when God takes away their life?⁽ⁿ⁾

Does God listen to their cry when distress comes upon them?^(o)

Will they find delight in the Almighty?^(p) Will they call on God at all times?

"I will teach you about the power of God; the ways^(q) of the Almighty I will not conceal.^(r)

You have all seen this yourselves. Why then this meaningless talk?

"Here is the fate God allots to the wicked, the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty:^(s)

However many his children,^(t) their fate is the sword;^(u) his offspring will never have enough to eat.^(v)

The plague will bury those who survive him, and their widows will not weep for them.^(w)

Though he heaps up silver like dust^(x) and clothes like piles of clay,^(y)

what he lays up^(z) the righteous will wear,^(aa) and the innocent will divide his silver.^(ab)

The house^(ac) he builds is like a moth's cocoon,^(ad) like a hut^(ae) made by a watchman.

He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;^(af) when he opens his eyes, all is gone.^(ag)

Terrors^(ah) overtake him like a flood;^(ai) a tempest snatches him away in the night.^(aj)

The east wind^(ak) carries him off, and he is gone;^(al) it sweeps him out of his place.^(am)

It hurls itself against him without mercy^(an) as he flees headlong^(ao) from its power.^(ap)

It claps its hands^(aq) in derision and hisses him out of his place."^(ar)