Chronological Plan

¹“Since times are not hidden from the Almighty, Why do those who know Him see not His days?

²“Some remove landmarks; They seize flocks violently and feed on them;

³They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; They take the widow’s ox as a pledge.

⁴They push the needy off the road; All the poor of the land are forced to hide.

⁵Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, They go out to their work, searching for food. The wilderness yields food for them and for their children.

⁶They gather their fodder in the field And glean in the vineyard of the wicked.

⁷They spend the night naked, without clothing, And have no covering in the cold.

⁸They are wet with the showers of the mountains, And huddle around the rock for want of shelter.

⁹“Some snatch the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge from the poor.

¹⁰They cause the poor to go naked, without clothing; And they take away the sheaves from the hungry.

¹¹They press out oil within their walls, And tread winepresses, yet suffer thirst.

¹²The dying groan in the city, And the souls of the wounded cry out; Yet God does not charge them with wrong.

¹³“There are those who rebel against the light; They do not know its ways Nor abide in its paths.

¹⁴The murderer rises with the light; He kills the poor and needy; And in the night he is like a thief.

¹⁵The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Saying, ‘No eye will see me’; And he disguises his face.

¹⁶In the dark they break into houses Which they marked for themselves in the daytime; They do not know the light.

¹⁷For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death; If someone recognizes them, They are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

¹⁸“They should be swift on the face of the waters, Their portion should be cursed in the earth, So that no one would turn into the way of their vineyards.

¹⁹As drought and heat consume the snow waters, So the grave consumes those who have sinned.

²⁰The womb should forget him, The worm should feed sweetly on him; He should be remembered no more, And wickedness should be broken like a tree.

²¹For he preys on the barren who do not bear, And does no good for the widow.

²²“But God draws the mighty away with His power; He rises up, but no man is sure of life.

²³He gives them security, and they rely on it; Yet His eyes are on their ways.

²⁴They are exalted for a little while, Then they are gone. They are brought low; They are taken out of the way like all others; They dry out like the heads of grain.

²⁵“Now if it is not so, who will prove me a liar, And make my speech worth nothing?”

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

²“Dominion and fear belong to Him; He makes peace in His high places.

³Is there any number to His armies? Upon whom does His light not rise?

⁴How then can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman?

⁵If even the moon does not shine, And the stars are not pure in His sight,

⁶How much less man, who is a maggot, And a son of man, who is a worm?”

¹But Job answered and said:

²“How have you helped him who is without power? How have you saved the arm that has no strength?

³How have you counseled one who has no wisdom? And how have you declared sound advice to many?

⁴To whom have you uttered words? And whose spirit came from you?

⁵“The dead tremble, Those under the waters and those inhabiting them.

⁶Sheol is naked before Him, And Destruction has no covering.

⁷He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.

⁸He binds up the water in His thick clouds, Yet the clouds are not broken under it.

⁹He covers the face of His throne, And spreads His cloud over it.

¹⁰He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters, At the boundary of light and darkness.

¹¹The pillars of heaven tremble, And are astonished at His rebuke.

¹²He stirs up the sea with His power, And by His understanding He breaks up the storm.

¹³By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

¹⁴Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, And how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?”

¹Moreover Job continued his discourse, and said:

²“As God lives, who has taken away my justice, And the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,

³As long as my breath is in me, And the breath of God in my nostrils,

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

⁵Far be it from me That I should say you are right; Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

⁶My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go; My heart shall not reproach me as long as I live.

⁷“May my enemy be like the wicked, And he who rises up against me like the unrighteous.

⁸For what is the hope of the hypocrite, Though he may gain much, If God takes away his life?

⁹Will God hear his cry When trouble comes upon him?

¹⁰Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call on God?

¹¹“I will teach you about the hand of God; What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

¹²Surely all of you have seen it; Why then do you behave with complete nonsense?

¹³“This is the portion of a wicked man with God, And the heritage of oppressors, received from the Almighty:

¹⁴If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword; And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

¹⁵Those who survive him shall be buried in death, And their widows shall not weep,

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

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

¹⁸He builds his house like a moth, Like a booth which a watchman makes.

¹⁹The rich man will lie down, But not be gathered up; He opens his eyes, And he is no more.

²⁰Terrors overtake him like a flood; A tempest steals him away in the night.

²¹The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; It sweeps him out of his place.

²²It hurls against him and does not spare; He flees desperately from its power.

²³Men shall clap their hands at him, And shall hiss him out of his place.

¹“Surely there is a mine for silver, And a place where gold is refined.

²Iron is taken from the earth, And copper is smelted from ore.

³Man puts an end to darkness, And searches every recess For ore in the darkness and the shadow of death.

⁴He breaks open a shaft away from people; In places forgotten by feet They hang far away from men; They swing to and fro.

⁵As for the earth, from it comes bread, But underneath it is turned up as by fire;

⁶Its stones are the source of sapphires, And it contains gold dust.

⁷That path no bird knows, Nor has the falcon’s eye seen it.

⁸The proud lions have not trodden it, Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.

⁹He puts his hand on the flint; He overturns the mountains at the roots.

¹⁰He cuts out channels in the rocks, And his eye sees every precious thing.

¹¹He dams up the streams from trickling; What is hidden he brings forth to light.

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

¹³Man does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living.

¹⁴The deep says, ‘It is not in me’; And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

¹⁵It cannot be purchased for gold, Nor can silver be weighed for its price.

¹⁶It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, In precious onyx or sapphire.

¹⁷Neither gold nor crystal can equal it, Nor can it be exchanged for jewelry of fine gold.

¹⁸No mention shall be made of coral or quartz, For the price of wisdom is above rubies.

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

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

²¹It is hidden from the eyes of all living, And concealed from the birds of the air.

²²Destruction and Death say, ‘We have heard a report about it with our ears.’

²³God understands its way, And He knows its place.

²⁴For He looks to the ends of the earth, And sees under the whole heavens,

²⁵To establish a weight for the wind, And apportion the waters by measure.

²⁶When He made a law for the rain, And a path for the thunderbolt,

²⁷Then He saw wisdom and declared it; He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out.

²⁸And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, And to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”