Chronological Plan

¹“I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

²I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me.

³Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked?

⁴Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as humans see?

⁵Are your days like the days of mortals, or your years like human years,

⁶that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin,

⁷although you know that I am not guilty, and there is no one to deliver out of your hand?

⁸Your hands fashioned and made me; and now you turn and destroy me.

⁹Remember that you fashioned me like clay; and will you turn me to dust again?

¹⁰Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?

¹¹You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.

¹²You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.

¹³Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose.

¹⁴If I sin, you watch me, and do not acquit me of my iniquity.

¹⁵If I am wicked, woe to me! If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look upon my affliction.

¹⁶Bold as a lion you hunt me; you repeat your exploits against me.

¹⁷You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me.

¹⁸“Why did you bring me forth from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me,

¹⁹and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave.

²⁰Are not the days of my life few? Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort

²¹before I go, never to return, to the land of gloom and deep darkness,

²²the land of gloom and chaos, where light is like darkness.”

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:

²“Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and should one full of talk be vindicated?

³Should your babble put others to silence, and when you mock, shall no one shame you?

⁴For you say, ‘My conduct is pure, and I am clean in God’s sight.’

⁵But O that God would speak, and open his lips to you,

⁶and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For wisdom is many-sided. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

⁷“Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?

⁸It is higher than heaven — what can you do? Deeper than Sheol — what can you know?

⁹Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

¹⁰If he passes through, and imprisons, and assembles for judgment, who can hinder him?

¹¹For he knows those who are worthless; when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?

¹²But a stupid person will get understanding, when a wild ass is born human.

¹³“If you direct your heart rightly, you will stretch out your hands toward him.

¹⁴If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and do not let wickedness reside in your tents.

¹⁵Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure, and will not fear.

¹⁶You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away.

¹⁷And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning.

¹⁸And you will have confidence, because there is hope; you will be protected and take your rest in safety.

¹⁹You will lie down, and no one will make you afraid; many will entreat your favor.

²⁰But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last.”

¹Then Job answered:

²“No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.

³But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?

⁴I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called upon God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, I am a laughingstock.

⁵Those at ease have contempt for misfortune, but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable.

⁶The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hands.

⁷“But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

⁸ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

⁹Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?

¹⁰In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being.

¹¹Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?

¹²Is wisdom with the aged, and understanding in length of days?

¹³“With God are wisdom and strength; he has counsel and understanding.

¹⁴If he tears down, no one can rebuild; if he shuts someone in, no one can open up.

¹⁵If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.

¹⁶With him are strength and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.

¹⁷He leads counselors away stripped, and makes fools of judges.

¹⁸He looses the sash of kings, and binds a waistcloth on their loins.

¹⁹He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.

²⁰He deprives of speech those who are trusted, and takes away the discernment of the elders.

²¹He pours contempt on princes, and looses the belt of the strong.

²²He uncovers the deeps out of darkness, and brings deep darkness to light.

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

²⁴He strips understanding from the leaders of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless waste.

²⁵They grope in the dark without light; he makes them stagger like a drunkard.

¹“Look, 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.

³But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God.

⁴As for you, you whitewash with lies; all of you are worthless physicians.

⁵If you would only keep silent, that would be your wisdom!

⁶Hear now my reasoning, and listen to the pleadings of my lips.

⁷Will you speak falsely for God, and speak deceitfully for him?

⁸Will you show partiality toward him, will you plead the case for God?

⁹Will it be well with you when he searches you out? Or can you deceive him, as one person deceives another?

¹⁰He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality.

¹¹Will not his majesty terrify you, and the dread of him fall upon you?

¹²Your maxims are proverbs of ashes, your defenses are defenses of clay.

¹³“Let me have silence, and I will speak, and let come on me what may.

¹⁴I will take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand.

¹⁵See, he will kill me; I have no hope; but I will defend my ways to his face.

¹⁶This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him.

¹⁷Listen carefully to my words, and let my declaration be in your ears.

¹⁸I have indeed prepared my case; I know that I shall be vindicated.

¹⁹Who is there that will contend with me? For then I would be silent and die.

²⁰Only grant two things to me, then I will not hide myself from your face:

²¹withdraw your hand far from me, and do not let dread of you terrify me.

²²Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and you reply to me.

²³How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin.

²⁴Why do you hide your face, and count me as your enemy?

²⁵Will you frighten a windblown leaf and pursue dry chaff?

²⁶For you write bitter things against me, and make me reap the iniquities of my youth.

²⁷You put my feet in the stocks, and watch all my paths; you set a bound to the soles of my feet.

²⁸One wastes away like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.