Chronological Plan

¹“My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me.

²Mockers are certainly with me, And my eye gazes on their provocation.

³“Make a pledge for me with Yourself; Who is there that will be my guarantor?

⁴For You have kept their hearts away from understanding; Therefore You will not exalt them.

⁵He who informs against friends for a share of the spoils, The eyes of his children also will perish.

⁶“But He has made me a proverb among the people, And I am one at whom people spit.

⁷My eye has also become inexpressive because of grief, And all my body parts are like a shadow.

⁸The upright will be appalled at this, And the innocent will stir himself up against the godless.

⁹Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his way, And the one who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.

¹⁰But come again all of you now, For I do not find a wise man among you.

¹¹My days are past, my plans are torn apart, The wishes of my heart.

¹²They make night into day, saying, ‘The light is near,’ in the presence of darkness.

¹³If I hope for Sheol as my home, I make my bed in the darkness;

¹⁴If I call to the grave, ‘You are my father’; To the maggot, ‘my mother and my sister’;

¹⁵Where then is my hope? And who looks at my hope?

¹⁶Will it go down with me to Sheol? Shall we together go down into the dust?”

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite responded,

²“How long will you hunt for words? Show understanding, and then we can talk.

³Why are we regarded as animals, As stupid in your eyes?

⁴You who tear yourself in your anger— Should the earth be abandoned for your sake, Or the rock moved from its place?

⁵“Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out, And the spark from his fire does not shine.

⁶The light in his tent is darkened, And his lamp goes out above him.

⁷His vigorous stride is shortened, And his own plan brings him down.

⁸For he is thrown into the net by his own feet, And he steps on the webbing.

⁹A snare seizes him by the heel, And a trap snaps shut on him.

¹⁰A noose for him is hidden in the ground, And a trap for him on the pathway.

¹¹All around sudden terrors frighten him, And harass him at every step.

¹²His strength is famished, And disaster is ready at his side.

¹³It devours parts of his skin, The firstborn of death devours his limbs.

¹⁴He is torn from the security of his tent, And they march him before the king of terrors.

¹⁵Nothing of his dwells in his tent; Brimstone is scattered on his home.

¹⁶His roots are dried below, And his branch withers above.

¹⁷The memory of him perishes from the earth, And he has no name abroad.

¹⁸He is driven from light into darkness, And chased from the inhabited world.

¹⁹He has no offspring or descendants among his people, Nor any survivor where he resided.

²⁰Those in the west are appalled at his fate, And those in the east are seized with horror.

²¹Certainly these are the dwellings of the wicked, And this is the place of him who does not know God.”

¹Then Job responded,

²“How long will you torment me And crush me with words?

³These ten times you have insulted me; You are not ashamed to wrong me.

⁴Even if I have truly done wrong, My error stays with me.

⁵If indeed you exalt yourselves against me And prove my disgrace to me,

⁶Know then that God has wronged me And has surrounded me with His net.

⁷“Behold, I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I get no answer; I shout for help, but there is no justice.

⁸He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass, And He has put darkness on my paths.

⁹He has stripped my honor from me And removed the crown from my head.

¹⁰He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; And He has uprooted my hope like a tree.

¹¹He has also kindled His anger against me And considered me as His enemy.

¹²His troops come together And build up their way against me And camp around my tent.

¹³“He has removed my brothers far from me, And my acquaintances have completely turned away from me.

¹⁴My relatives have failed, And my close friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵Those who live in my house and my servant women consider me a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight.

¹⁶I call to my servant, but he does not answer; I have to implore his favor with my mouth.

¹⁷My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am loathsome to my own brothers.

¹⁸Even young children despise me; I stand up and they speak against me.

¹⁹All my associates loathe me, And those I love have turned against me.

²⁰My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

²¹Pity me, pity me, you friends of mine, For the hand of God has struck me.

²²Why do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh?

²³“Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were recorded in a book!

²⁴That with an iron stylus and lead They were engraved in the rock forever!

²⁵Yet as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last, He will take His stand on the earth.

²⁶Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I will see God,

²⁷Whom I, on my part, shall behold for myself, And whom my eyes will see, and not another. My heart faints within me!

²⁸If you say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’ And ‘What pretext for a case against him can we find?’

²⁹Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves, For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, So that you may know there is judgment.”

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite responded,

²“Therefore my disquieting thoughts make me respond, Even because of my inward agitation.

³I listened to the reprimand which insults me, And the spirit of my understanding makes me answer.

⁴Do you know this from ancient times, From the establishment of mankind on earth,

⁵That the rejoicing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the godless momentary?

⁶Though his arrogance reaches the heavens, And his head touches the clouds,

⁷He perishes forever like his refuse; Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

⁸He flies away like a dream, and they cannot find him; Like a vision of the night he is chased away.

⁹The eye which saw him sees him no longer, And his place no longer beholds him.

¹⁰His sons favor the poor, And his hands give back his wealth.

¹¹His bones are full of his youthful strength, But it lies down with him in the dust.

¹²“Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth And he hides it under his tongue,

¹³Though he desires it and will not let it go, But holds it in his mouth,

¹⁴Yet his food in his stomach is changed To the venom of cobras within him.

¹⁵He swallows riches, But will vomit them up; God will expel them from his belly.

¹⁶He sucks the poison of cobras; The viper’s tongue kills him.

¹⁷He does not look at the streams, The rivers flowing with honey and curds.

¹⁸He returns the product of his labor And cannot swallow it; As to the riches of his trading, He cannot even enjoy them.

¹⁹For he has oppressed and neglected the poor; He has seized a house which he has not built.

²⁰“Because he knew no quiet within him, He does not retain anything he desires.

²¹Nothing remains for him to devour, Therefore his prosperity does not endure.

²²In the fullness of his excess he will be cramped; The hand of everyone who suffers will come against him.

²³When he fills his belly, God will send His fierce anger on him And rain it on him while he is eating.

²⁴He may flee from the iron weapon, But the bronze bow will pierce him.

²⁵It is drawn and comes out of his back, Even the flashing point from his gallbladder; Terrors come upon him,

²⁶Complete darkness is held in reserve for his treasures, And unfanned fire will devour him; It will consume the survivor in his tent.

²⁷The heavens will reveal his guilt, And the earth will rise up against him.

²⁸The increase of his house will disappear; His possessions will flow away on the day of His anger.

²⁹This is a wicked person’s portion from God, The inheritance decreed to him by God.”