Chronological Plan

¹“I am disgusted with my own life; I will express my complaint freely; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

²I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; Let me know why You contend with me.

³Is it right for You indeed to oppress, To reject the work of Your hands, And to look favorably on the plan of the wicked?

⁴Do You have eyes of flesh? Or do You see as mankind sees?

⁵Are Your days like the days of a mortal, Or Your years like a man’s year,

⁶That You should search for my guilt And carefully seek my sin?

⁷According to Your knowledge I am indeed not guilty, Yet there is no one to save me from Your hand.

⁸‘Your hands fashioned and made me altogether, Yet would You destroy me?

⁹Remember that You have made me as clay; Yet would You turn me into dust again?

¹⁰Did You not pour me out like milk, And curdle me like cheese,

¹¹Clothe me with skin and flesh, And intertwine me with bones and tendons?

¹²You have granted me life and goodness; And Your care has guarded my spirit.

¹³Yet You have concealed these things in Your heart; I know that this is within You:

¹⁴If I have sinned, You will take note of me, And will not acquit me of my guilt.

¹⁵If I am wicked, woe to me! But if I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head. I am full of shame, and conscious of my misery.

¹⁶And should my head be high, You would hunt me like a lion; And You would show Your power against me again.

¹⁷You renew Your witnesses against me And increase Your anger toward me; Hardship after hardship is with me.

¹⁸‘Why then did You bring me out of the womb? If only I had died and no eye had seen me!

¹⁹I should have been as though I had not been, Brought from womb to tomb.’

²⁰Would He not leave my few days alone? Withdraw from me so that I may have a little cheerfulness

²¹Before I go—and I shall not return— To the land of darkness and deep shadow,

²²The land of utter gloom like darkness itself, Of deep shadow without order, And it shines like darkness.”

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite responded,

²“Shall a multitude of words go unanswered, And a talkative man be acquitted?

³Shall your boasts silence people? And will you scoff, and no one rebuke?

⁴For you have said, ‘My teaching is pure, And I am innocent in your eyes.’

⁵But if only God would speak, And open His lips against you,

⁶And show you the secrets of wisdom! For sound wisdom has two sides. Know then that God forgets part of your guilt.

⁷“Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?

⁸They are as high as the heavens; what can you do? Deeper than Sheol; what can you know?

⁹Its measurement is longer than the earth And broader than the sea.

¹⁰If He passes by or apprehends people, Or calls an assembly, who can restrain Him?

¹¹For He knows false people, And He sees injustice without investigating.

¹²An idiot will become intelligent When a wild donkey is born a human.

¹³“If you would direct your heart rightly And spread out your hands to Him,

¹⁴If wrongdoing is in your hand, put it far away, And do not let malice dwell in your tents;

¹⁵Then, indeed, you could lift up your face without moral blemish, And you would be firmly established and not fear.

¹⁶For you would forget your trouble; Like waters that have passed by, you would remember it.

¹⁷Your life would be brighter than noonday; Darkness would be like the morning.

¹⁸Then you would trust, because there is hope; And you would look around and rest securely.

¹⁹You would lie down and none would disturb you, And many would flatter you.

²⁰But the eyes of the wicked will fail, And there will be no escape for them; And their hope is to breathe their last.”

¹Then Job responded,

²“Truly then you are the people, And with you wisdom will die!

³But I have intelligence as well as you; I am not inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these?

⁴I am a joke to my friends, The one who called on God and He answered him; The just and blameless man is a joke.

⁵He who is at ease holds disaster in contempt, As prepared for those whose feet slip.

⁶The tents of the destroyers prosper, And those who provoke God are secure, Whom God brings into their power.

⁷“But just ask the animals, and have them teach you; And the birds of the sky, and have them tell you.

⁸Or speak to the earth, and have it teach you; And have the fish of the sea tell you.

⁹Who among all these does not know That the hand of the LORD has done this,

¹⁰In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?

¹¹Does the ear not put words to the test, As the palate tastes its food?

¹²Wisdom is with the aged, And with long life comes understanding.

¹³“Wisdom and might are with Him; Advice and understanding belong to Him.

¹⁴Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt; He imprisons a person, and there is no release.

¹⁵Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up; And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth.

¹⁶Strength and sound wisdom are with Him. One who goes astray and one who leads astray belong to Him.

¹⁷He makes advisers walk barefoot And makes fools of judges.

¹⁸He undoes the binding of kings, And ties a loincloth around their waist.

¹⁹He makes priests walk barefoot, And overthrows the secure ones.

²⁰He deprives the trusted ones of speech, And takes away the discernment of the elders.

²¹He pours contempt on nobles, And loosens the belt of the strong.

²²He reveals mysteries from the darkness, And brings the deep darkness into light.

²³He makes the nations great, then destroys them; He enlarges the nations, then leads them away.

²⁴He deprives the leaders of the earth’s people of intelligence And makes them wander in a pathless wasteland.

²⁵They grope in darkness with no light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken person.

¹“Behold, my eye has seen all this, My ear has heard and understood it.

²What you know I also know; I am not inferior to you.

³“But I would speak to the Almighty, And I desire to argue with God.

⁴But you smear me with lies; You are all worthless physicians.

⁵Oh that you would be completely silent, And that it would become your wisdom!

⁶Please hear my argument, And give your attention to the contentions of my lips.

⁷Will you speak what is unjust for God, And speak what is deceitful for Him?

⁸Will you show partiality for Him? Will you contend for God?

⁹Will it go well when He examines you? Or will you deceive Him as one deceives a man?

¹⁰He will certainly punish you If you secretly show partiality.

¹¹Will His majesty not terrify you, And the dread of Him fall upon you?

¹²Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, Your defenses are defenses of clay.

¹³“Be silent before me so that I may speak; Then let come upon me what may.

¹⁴Why should I take my flesh in my teeth, And put my life in my hands?

¹⁵Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.

¹⁶This also will be my salvation, For a godless person cannot come before His presence.

¹⁷Listen carefully to my speech, And let my declaration fill your ears.

¹⁸Behold now, I have prepared my case; I know that I will be vindicated.

¹⁹Who could contend with me? For then I would be silent and die.

²⁰“Only two things I ask that You do not do to me, Then I will not hide from Your face:

²¹Remove Your hand from me, And may the dread of You not terrify me.

²²Then call and I will answer; Or let me speak, then reply to me.

²³How many are my guilty deeds and sins? Make known to me my wrongdoing and my sin.

²⁴Why do You hide Your face And consider me Your enemy?

²⁵Will You scare away a scattered leaf? Or will You pursue the dry chaff?

²⁶For You write bitter things against me And make me inherit the guilty deeds of my youth.

²⁷You put my feet in the stocks And watch all my paths; You set a limit for the soles of my feet,

²⁸While I am decaying like a rotten thing, Like a garment that is moth-eaten.