Chronological Plan

¹Anyone born of woman is short of days and full of trouble.

²He blossoms like a flower, then withers; he flees like a shadow and does not last.

³Do you really take notice of one like this? Will you bring me into judgment against you?

⁴Who can produce something pure from what is impure? No one!

⁵Since a person’s days are determined and the number of his months depends on you, and since you have set limits he cannot pass,

⁶look away from him and let him rest so that he can enjoy his day like a hired worker.

⁷There is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its shoots will not die.

⁸If its roots grow old in the ground and its stump starts to die in the soil,

⁹the scent of water makes it thrive and produce twigs like a sapling.

¹⁰But a person dies and fades away; he breathes his last — where is he?

¹¹As water disappears from a lake and a river becomes parched and dry,

¹²so people lie down never to rise again. They will not wake up until the heavens are no more; they will not stir from their sleep.

¹³If only you would hide me in Sheol and conceal me until your anger passes. If only you would appoint a time for me and then remember me.

¹⁴When a person dies, will he come back to life? If so, I would wait all the days of my struggle until my relief comes.

¹⁵You would call, and I would answer you. You would long for the work of your hands.

¹⁶For then you would count my steps but would not take note of my sin.

¹⁷My rebellion would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.

¹⁸But as a mountain collapses and crumbles and a rock is dislodged from its place,

¹⁹as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil from the land, so you destroy a man’s hope.

²⁰You completely overpower him, and he passes on; you change his appearance and send him away.

²¹If his sons receive honor, he does not know it; if they become insignificant, he is unaware of it.

²²He feels only the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

²Does a wise man answer with empty counsel or fill himself with the hot east wind?

³Should he argue with useless talk or with words that serve no good purpose?

⁴But you even undermine the fear of God and hinder meditation before him.

⁵Your iniquity teaches you what to say, and you choose the language of the crafty.

⁶Your own mouth condemns you, not I; your own lips testify against you.

⁷Were you the first human ever born, or were you brought forth before the hills?

⁸Do you listen in on the council of God, or have a monopoly on wisdom?

⁹What do you know that we don’t? What do you understand that is not clear to us?

¹⁰Both the gray-haired and the elderly are with us— older than your father.

¹¹Are God’s consolations not enough for you, even the words that deal gently with you?

¹²Why has your heart misled you, and why do your eyes flash

¹³as you turn your anger against God and allow such words to leave your mouth?

¹⁴What is a mere human, that he should be pure, or one born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

¹⁵If God puts no trust in his holy ones and the heavens are not pure in his sight,

¹⁶how much less one who is revolting and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?

¹⁷Listen to me and I will inform you. I will describe what I have seen,

¹⁸what the wise have declared and not concealed, that came from their ancestors,

¹⁹to whom alone the land was given when no foreigner passed among them.

²⁰A wicked person writhes in pain all his days, throughout the number of years reserved for the ruthless.

²¹Dreadful sounds fill his ears; when he is at peace, a robber attacks him.

²²He doesn’t believe he will return from darkness; he is destined for the sword.

²³He wanders about for food, asking, “Where is it?” He knows the day of darkness is at hand.

²⁴Trouble and distress terrify him, overwhelming him like a king prepared for battle.

²⁵For he has stretched out his hand against God and has arrogantly opposed the Almighty.

²⁶He rushes headlong at him with his thick, studded shields.

²⁷Though his face is covered with fat and his waistline bulges with it,

²⁸he will dwell in ruined cities, in abandoned houses destined to become piles of rubble.

²⁹He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure. His possessions will not increase in the land.

³⁰He will not escape from the darkness; flames will wither his shoots, and by the breath of God’s mouth, he will depart.

³¹Let him not put trust in worthless things, being led astray, for what he gets in exchange will prove worthless.

³²It will be accomplished before his time, and his branch will not flourish.

³³He will be like a vine that drops its unripe grapes and like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms.

³⁴For the company of the godless will have no children, and fire will consume the tents of those who offer bribes.

³⁵They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb prepares deception.

¹Then Job answered:

²I have heard many things like these. You are all miserable comforters.

³Is there no end to your empty words? What provokes you that you continue testifying?

⁴If you were in my place I could also talk like you. I could string words together against you and shake my head at you.

⁵Instead, I would encourage you with my mouth, and the consolation from my lips would bring relief.

⁶If I speak, my suffering is not relieved, and if I hold back, does any of it leave me?

⁷Surely he has now exhausted me. You have devastated my entire family.

⁸You have shriveled me up  — it has become a witness; my frailty rises up against me and testifies to my face.

⁹His anger tears at me, and he harasses me. He gnashes his teeth at me. My enemy pierces me with his eyes.

¹⁰They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join themselves together against me.

¹¹God hands me over to the unjust; he throws me to the wicked.

¹²I was at ease, but he shattered me; he seized me by the scruff of the neck and smashed me to pieces. He set me up as his target;

¹³his archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and pours my bile on the ground.

¹⁴He breaks through my defenses again and again; he charges at me like a warrior.

¹⁵I have sewn sackcloth over my skin; I have buried my strength in the dust.

¹⁶My face has grown red with weeping, and darkness covers my eyes,

¹⁷although my hands are free from violence and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help find no resting place.

¹⁹Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is in the heights!

²⁰My friends scoff at me as I weep before God.

²¹I wish that someone might argue for a man with God just as anyone would for a friend.

²²For only a few years will pass before I go the way of no return.