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¹Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

²Dominion and dread belong to him, the one who establishes harmony in his heights.

³Can his troops be numbered? Does his light not shine on everyone?

⁴How can a human be justified before God? How can one born of woman be pure?

⁵If even the moon does not shine and the stars are not pure in his sight,

⁶how much less a human, who is a maggot, a son of man, who is a worm!

¹Then Job answered:

²How you have helped the powerless and delivered the arm that is weak!

³How you have counseled the unwise and abundantly provided insight!

⁴With whom did you speak these words? Whose breath came out of your mouth?

⁵The departed spirits tremble beneath the waters and all that inhabit them.

⁶Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.

⁷He stretches the northern skies over empty space; he hangs the earth on nothing.

⁸He wraps up the water in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst beneath its weight.

⁹He obscures the view of his throne, spreading his cloud over it.

¹⁰He laid out the horizon on the surface of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.

¹¹The pillars that hold up the sky tremble, astounded at his rebuke.

¹²By his power he stirred the sea, and by his understanding he crushed Rahab.

¹³By his breath the heavens gained their beauty; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

¹⁴These are but the fringes of his ways; how faint is the word we hear of him! Who can understand his mighty thunder?

¹Job continued his discourse, saying:

²As God lives, who has deprived me of justice, and the Almighty who has made me bitter,

³as long as my breath is still in me and the breath from God remains in my nostrils,

⁴my lips will not speak unjustly, and my tongue will not utter deceit.

⁵I will never affirm that you are right. I will maintain my integrity until I die.

⁶I will cling to my righteousness and never let it go. My conscience will not accuse me as long as I live!

⁷May my enemy be like the wicked and my opponent like the unjust.

⁸For what hope does the godless person have when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?

⁹Will God hear his cry when distress comes on him?

¹⁰Will he delight in the Almighty? Will he call on God at all times?

¹¹I will teach you about God’s power. I will not conceal what the Almighty has planned.

¹²All of you have seen this for yourselves, why do you keep up this empty talk?

¹³This is a wicked man’s lot from God, the inheritance the ruthless receive from the Almighty.

¹⁴Even if his children increase, they are destined for the sword; his descendants will never have enough food.

¹⁵Those who survive him will be buried by the plague, yet their widows will not weep for them.

¹⁶Though he piles up silver like dust and heaps up fine clothing like clay —

¹⁷he may heap it up, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide up his silver.

¹⁸The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon or a shelter set up by a watchman.

¹⁹He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, it is gone.

²⁰Terrors overtake him like a flood; a storm wind sweeps him away at night.

²¹An east wind picks him up, and he is gone; it carries him away from his place.

²²It blasts at him without mercy, while he flees desperately from its force.

²³It claps its hands at him and scoffs at him from its place.

¹Surely there is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined.

²Iron is taken from the ground, and copper is smelted from ore.

³A miner puts an end to the darkness; he probes the deepest recesses for ore in the gloomy darkness.

⁴He cuts a shaft far from human habitation, in places unknown to those who walk above ground. Suspended far away from people, the miners swing back and forth.

⁵Food may come from the earth, but below the surface the earth is transformed as by fire.

⁶Its rocks are a source of lapis lazuli, containing flecks of gold.

⁷No bird of prey knows that path; no falcon’s eye has seen it.

⁸Proud beasts have never walked on it; no lion has ever prowled over it.

⁹The miner uses a flint tool and turns up ore from the root of the mountains.

¹⁰He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eyes spot every treasure.

¹¹He dams up the streams from flowing so that he may bring to light what is hidden.

¹²But where can wisdom be found, and where is understanding located?

¹³No one can know its value, since it cannot be found in the land of the living.

¹⁴The ocean depths say, “It’s not in me,” while the sea declares, “I don’t have it.”

¹⁵Gold cannot be exchanged for it, and silver cannot be weighed out for its price.

¹⁶Wisdom cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or lapis lazuli.

¹⁷Gold and glass do not compare with it, and articles of fine gold cannot be exchanged for it.

¹⁸Coral and quartz are not worth mentioning. The price of wisdom is beyond pearls.

¹⁹Topaz from Cush cannot compare with it, and it cannot be valued in pure gold.

²⁰Where then does wisdom come from, and where is understanding located?

²¹It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing and concealed from the birds of the sky.

²²Abaddon and Death say, “We have heard news of it with our ears.”

²³But God understands the way to wisdom, and he knows its location.

²⁴For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.

²⁵When God fixed the weight of the wind and distributed the water by measure,

²⁶when he established a limit for the rain and a path for the lightning,

²⁷he considered wisdom and evaluated it; he established it and examined it.

²⁸He said to mankind, “The fear of the LORD—that is wisdom. And to turn from evil is understanding.”

¹Job continued his discourse, saying:

²If only I could be as in months gone by, in the days when God watched over me,

³when his lamp shone above my head, and I walked through darkness by his light!

⁴I would be as I was in the days of my youth when God’s friendship rested on my tent,

⁵when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me,

⁶when my feet were bathed in curds and the rock poured out streams of oil for me!

⁷When I went out to the city gate and took my seat in the town square,

⁸the young men saw me and withdrew, while older men stood to their feet.

⁹City officials stopped talking and covered their mouths with their hands.

¹⁰The noblemen’s voices were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

¹¹When they heard me, they blessed me, and when they saw me, they spoke well of me.

¹²For I rescued the poor who cried out for help, and the fatherless child who had no one to support him.

¹³The dying blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart rejoice.

¹⁴I clothed myself in righteousness, and it enveloped me; my just decisions were like a robe and a turban.

¹⁵I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the needy, and I examined the case of the stranger.

¹⁷I shattered the fangs of the unjust and snatched the prey from his teeth.

¹⁸So I thought, “I will die in my own nest and multiply my days as the sand.

¹⁹My roots will have access to water, and the dew will rest on my branches all night.

²⁰My whole being will be refreshed within me, and my bow will be renewed in my hand.”

²¹Men listened to me with expectation, waiting silently for my advice.

²²After a word from me they did not speak again; my speech settled on them like dew.

²³They waited for me as for the rain and opened their mouths as for spring showers.

²⁴If I smiled at them, they couldn’t believe it; they were thrilled at the light of my countenance.

²⁵I directed their course and presided as chief. I lived as a king among his troops, like one who comforts those who mourn.

¹But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to put with my sheep dogs.

²What use to me was the strength of their hands? Their vigor had left them.

³Emaciated from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, the desolate wasteland by night.

⁴They plucked mallow among the shrubs, and the roots of the broom tree were their food.

⁵They were banished from human society; people shouted at them as if they were thieves.

⁶They are living on the slopes of the wadis, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.

⁷They bray among the shrubs; they huddle beneath the thistles.

⁸Foolish men, without even a name. They were forced to leave the land.

⁹Now I am mocked by their songs; I have become an object of scorn to them.

¹⁰They despise me and keep their distance from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

¹¹Because God has loosened my bowstring and oppressed me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.

¹²The rabble rise up at my right; they trap my feet and construct their siege ramp against me.

¹³They tear up my path; they contribute to my destruction, without anyone to help them.

¹⁴They advance as through a gaping breach; they keep rolling in through the ruins.

¹⁵Terrors are turned loose against me; they chase my dignity away like the wind, and my prosperity has passed by like a cloud.

¹⁶Now my life is poured out before me, and days of suffering have seized me.

¹⁷Night pierces my bones, but my gnawing pains never rest.

¹⁸My clothing is distorted with great force; he chokes me by the neck of my garment.

¹⁹He throws me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes.

²⁰I cry out to you for help, but you do not answer me; when I stand up, you merely look at me.

²¹You have turned against me with cruelty; you harass me with your strong hand.

²²You lift me up on the wind and make me ride it; you scatter me in the storm.

²³Yes, I know that you will lead me to death — the place appointed for all who live.

²⁴Yet no one would stretch out his hand against a ruined person when he cries out to him for help because of his distress.

²⁵Have I not wept for those who have fallen on hard times? Has my soul not grieved for the needy?

²⁶But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness came.

²⁷I am churning within and cannot rest; days of suffering confront me.

²⁸I walk about blackened, but not by the sun. I stood in the assembly and cried out for help.

²⁹I have become a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches.

³⁰My skin blackens and flakes off, and my bones burn with fever.

³¹My lyre is used for mourning and my flute for the sound of weeping.