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¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

²"Dominion and awe belong to God; He establishes peace and order in His high places.

³"Is there any number to His [vast celestial] armies? And upon whom does His light not rise?

⁴"How then can man be justified and righteous with God? Or how can he who is born of a woman be pure and clean?

⁵"Behold, even the moon has no brightness [compared to God's majesty and glory] And the stars are not pure in His sight,

⁶How much less man, that maggot, And the son of man, that worm!"

¹But Job answered and said,

²"What a help you are to the weak (powerless)! How you have saved the arm that is without strength!

³"How you have counseled the one who has no wisdom! And how abundantly you have provided sound wisdom and helpful insight!

⁴"To whom have you uttered [these] words? And whose spirit [inspired what] came forth from you?

⁵"The spirits of the dead tremble Underneath the waters and their inhabitants.

⁶"Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) is naked before God, And Abaddon (the place of destruction) has no covering [from His eyes].

⁷"It is He who spreads out the north over emptiness And hangs the earth on nothing.

⁸"He wraps the waters in His clouds [which otherwise would spill on earth all at once], And the cloud does not burst under them.

⁹"He covers the face of the full moon And spreads His cloud over it.

¹⁰"He has inscribed a circular limit (the horizon) on the face of the waters At the boundary between light and darkness.

¹¹"The pillars of the heavens tremble And are terrified at His rebuke.

¹²"He stirred up the sea by His power, And by His understanding He smashed [proud] Rahab.

¹³"By His breath the heavens are cleared; His hand has pierced the [swiftly] fleeing serpent.

¹⁴"Yet these are just the fringes of His ways [mere samples of His power], The faintest whisper of His voice! Who can contemplate the thunder of His [full] mighty power?"

¹Job continued his discourse and said,

²"As God lives, who has taken away my right and denied me justice, And the Almighty, who has caused bitterness and grief for my soul,

³As long as my life is within me, And the breath of God is [still] in my nostrils,

⁴My lips will not speak unjustly, Nor will my tongue utter deceit.

⁵"Far be it from me that I should admit you are right [in your accusations against me]; Until I die, I will not remove my integrity from me.

⁶"I hold fast my uprightness and my right standing with God and I will not let them go; My heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

⁷"May my enemy be as the wicked, And he who rises up against me be as the unrighteous (unjust).

⁸"For what is the hope of the godless, even though he has gained [in this world], When God takes his life?

⁹"Will God hear his cry When trouble and distress come upon him?

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

¹¹"I will teach you regarding the hand (power) of God; I will not conceal what is with the Almighty [God's actual treatment of the wicked].

¹²"Behold, all of you have seen it; Why then do you act vainly and foolishly [cherishing worthless concepts]?

¹³"This [which I am about to explain] is the portion of a wicked man from God, And the inheritance which tyrants and oppressors receive from the Almighty:

¹⁴"Though his children are many, they are destined for the sword; And his descendants will not have sufficient bread.

¹⁵"Those who survive him will be buried because of the plague, And [their] widows will not be able to weep.

¹⁶"Though he heaps up silver like dust And piles up clothing like clay,

¹⁷He may prepare it, but the just will wear it And the innocent will divide the silver.

¹⁸"He builds his house like a spider's web, Like a (temporary) hut which a watchman makes.

¹⁹"He lies down rich, but never will again; He opens his eyes, and it is gone.

²⁰"Terrors overtake him like a [suddenly rising] flood; A windstorm steals him away in the night.

²¹"The east wind lifts him up, and he is gone; It sweeps him out of his place.

²²"For it will hurl [thunderbolts of God's wrath] at him unsparingly and without compassion; He flees in haste from its power.

²³"People will clap their hands at him [to mock and ridicule him] And hiss him out of his place.

¹"Surely there is a mine for silver, And a place where they refine gold.

²"Iron is taken out of the earth, And copper is smelted from the stone ore.

³"Man puts an end to darkness [by bringing in a light], And to the farthest bounds he searches out The rock buried in gloom and deep shadow.

⁴"He breaks open (mine) shafts far away from where people live, [In places] forgotten by the [human] foot; They dangle [in the mines] and hang away from men.

⁵"[As for] the earth, out of it comes food, But underneath [its surface, down deep] it is turned over as fire.

⁶"Its stones are the bed of sapphires; It holds dust of gold.

⁷"The path [deep within] no bird of prey knows, And the falcon's eye has not caught sight of it.

⁸"The proud beasts [and their young] have not walked on it, Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.

⁹"Man puts his hand on [and tears apart] the flinty rock; He overturns the mountains at the base [looking for treasure].

¹⁰"He cuts out channels and passages among the rocks; And his eye sees every precious thing.

¹¹"Man dams up the streams from flowing [so that they do not trickle into the mine], And what is hidden he brings out to the light.

¹²"But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?

¹³"Man does not know the value of it; 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"It cannot be obtained for pure gold, Nor can silver be weighed as its price.

¹⁶"It cannot be valued in [terms of] the gold of Ophir, In the precious onyx or beryl, or the sapphire.

¹⁷"Gold and glass cannot equal wisdom, Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.

¹⁸"No mention of coral and crystal can be made; For the possession of wisdom is even above [that of] rubies or pearls.

¹⁹"The topaz of Ethiopia cannot compare with it, Nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰"From where then does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding?

²¹"It is hidden from the eyes of all the living And concealed from the birds of the heavens.

²²"Abaddon (the place of destruction) and Death say, 'We have [only] heard a report of it with our ears.'

²³"God understands the way [to wisdom] And He knows its place [for wisdom is with God alone].

²⁴"For He looks to the ends of the earth And sees everything under the heavens.

²⁵"When He gave weight and pressure to the wind And allotted the waters by measure,

²⁶When He made a limit for the rain And a way for the thunderbolt,

²⁷Then He saw wisdom and declared it; He established it and searched it out.

²⁸"But to man He said, 'Behold, the reverential and worshipful fear of the Lord—that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.'"

¹And Job again took up his discussion and said,

²"Oh, that I were as in the months of old, As in the days when God watched over me,

³When His lamp shone upon my head And by His light I walked through darkness;

⁴As I was in the prime of my days, When the friendship and counsel of God were over my tent,

⁵When the Almighty was still with me And my boys were around me,

⁶When my steps [through rich pastures] were washed with butter and cream [from my livestock], And the rock poured out for me streams of oil [from my olive groves].

⁷"When I went out to the gate of the city, When I took my seat [as a city father] in the square,

⁸The young men saw me and hid themselves, The aged arose and stood [respectfully];

⁹The princes stopped talking And put their hands on their mouths;

¹⁰The voices of the nobles were hushed, And their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

¹¹"For when an ear heard [my name mentioned], it called me happy and fortunate; And when an eye saw [me], it testified for me [approvingly],

¹²Because I rescued the poor who cried for help, And the orphan who had no helper.

¹³"The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, And I made the widow's heart sing for joy.

¹⁴"I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban!

¹⁵"I was eyes to the blind And I was feet to the lame.

¹⁶"I was a father to the needy; I investigated the case I did not know [and assured justice].

¹⁷"And I smashed the jaws of the wicked And snatched the prey from his teeth.

¹⁸"Then I said, 'I shall die in my nest, And I shall multiply my days as the sand.

¹⁹'My root is spread out and open to the waters, And the dew lies all night upon my branch.

²⁰'My glory and honor are fresh in me [being constantly renewed], And my bow gains [ever] new strength in my hand.'

²¹"They listened to me and waited And kept silent for my counsel.

²²"After I spoke, they did not speak again, And my speech dropped upon them [like a refreshing shower].

²³"They waited for me [and for my words] as for the rain, And they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.

²⁴"I smiled at them when they did not believe, And they did not diminish the light of my face.

²⁵"I chose a way for them and sat as chief, And dwelt as a king among his soldiers, As one who comforts mourners.

¹"But now those younger than I mock and laugh at me, Whose fathers I refused to put with the sheepdogs of my flock.

²"Indeed, how could the strength of their hands profit me? Vigor had perished from them.

³"They are gaunt with want and famine; They gnaw the dry and barren ground by night in [the gloom of] waste and desolation.

⁴"They pluck [and eat] saltwort (mallows) among the bushes, And their food is the root of the broom shrub.

⁵"They are driven from the community; They shout after them as after a thief.

⁶"They must dwell on the slopes of wadis And in holes in the ground and in rocks.

⁷"Among the bushes they cry out [like wild animals]; Beneath the prickly scrub they gather and huddle together.

⁸"They are the sons of [worthless and nameless] fools, They have been driven out of the land.

⁹"And now I have become [the subject of] their taunting; Yes, I am a byword and a laughingstock to them.

¹⁰"They hate me, they stand aloof from me, And do not refrain from spitting in my face.

¹¹"For God has loosed His bowstring [attacking me] and [He has] afflicted and humbled me; They have cast off the bridle [of restraint] before me.

¹²"On my right the [rabble] brood rises; They push my feet away, and they build up their ways of destruction against me [like an advancing army].

¹³"They break up and clutter my path [upsetting my plans], They profit from my destruction; No one restrains them.

¹⁴"As through a wide breach they come, Amid the crash [of falling walls] they roll on [over me].

¹⁵"Terrors are turned upon me; They chase away my honor and reputation like the wind, And my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

¹⁶"And now my soul is poured out within me; The days of affliction have seized me.

¹⁷"My bones are pierced [with aching] in the night season, And the pains that gnaw me take no rest.

¹⁸"By the great force [of my disease] my garment (skin) is disfigured and blemished; It binds about me [choking me] like the collar of my coat.

¹⁹"God has cast me into the mire [a swampland of crisis], And I have become [worthless] like dust and ashes.

²⁰"I cry to You for help, [Lord,] but You do not answer me; I stand up, but You [only] gaze [indifferently] at me.

²¹"You have become harsh and cruel to me; With the might of Your hand You [keep me alive only to] persecute me.

²²"You lift me up on the wind and cause me to ride [upon it]; And You toss me about in the tempest and dissolve me in the storm.

²³"For I know that You will bring me to death And to the house of meeting [appointed] for all the living.

²⁴"However, does not one falling in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand? Or in his disaster [will he not] therefore cry out for help?

²⁵"Did I not weep for one whose life was hard and filled with trouble? Was not my heart grieved for the needy?

²⁶"When I expected good, then came evil [to me]; And when I waited for light, then came darkness.

²⁷"I am seething within and my heart is troubled and cannot rest; Days of affliction come to meet me.

²⁸"I go about mourning without comfort [my skin blackened by disease, not by the heat of the sun]; I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.

²⁹"I am a brother to [howling] jackals, And a companion to ostriches [which scream dismally].

³⁰"My skin falls from me in blackened flakes, And my bones are burned with fever.

³¹"Therefore my lyre (harp) is used for [the sound of] mourning, And my flute for the [sound of the] voices of those who weep.