Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
"Can a man be of benefit to GOD?
Can even a wise man benefit HIM?
What pleasure would it give THE ALMIGHTY if you were righteous?
What would HE gain if your ways were blameless?
"Is it for your piety that HE rebukes you
and brings charges against you?
Is not your wickedness great?
Are not your sins endless?
You demanded security from your brothers for no reason;
you stripped men of their clothing, leaving them naked.
You gave no water to the weary
and you withheld food from the hungry,
though you were a powerful man, owning land--
an honored man, living on it.
And you sent widows away empty-handed
and broke the strength of the fatherless.
That is why snares are all around you,
why sudden peril terrifies you,
why it is so dark you cannot see,
and why a flood of water covers you.
"Is not GOD in the heights of heaven?
And see how lofty are the highest stars!
Yet you say, 'What does GOD know?
Does HE judge through such darkness?
Thick clouds veil HIM, so HE does not see us
as HE goes about in the vaulted heavens.'
Will you keep to the old path
that evil men have trod?
They were carried off before their time,
their foundations washed away by a flood.
They said to GOD, 'Leave us alone!
What can THE ALMIGHTY do to us?'
Yet it was HE who filled their houses with good things,
so I stand aloof from the counsel of the wicked.
"The righteous see their ruin and rejoice;
the innocent mock them, saying,
'Surely our foes are destroyed,
and fire devours their wealth.'
"Submit to GOD and be at peace with HIM;
in this way prosperity will come to you.
Accept instruction from HIS mouth
and lay up HIS words in your heart.
If you return to THE ALMIGHTY, you will be restored:
If you remove wickedness far from your tent
and assign your nuggets to the dust,
your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,
then THE ALMIGHTY will be your gold,
the choicest silver for you.
Surely then you will find delight in THE ALMIGHTY
and will lift up your face to GOD.
You will pray to HIM, and HE will hear you,
and you will fulfill your vows.
What you decide on will be done,
and light will shine on your ways.
When men are brought low and you say, 'Lift them up!'
then HE will save the downcast.
HE will deliver even one who is not innocent,
who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."
Job
Then Job replied:
"Even today my complaint is bitter;
HIS hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
If only I knew where to find HIM;
if only I could go to HIS dwelling!
I would state my case before HIM
and fill my mouth with arguments.
I would find out what HE would answer me,
and consider what HE would say.
Would HE oppose me with great power?
No, HE would not press charges against me.
There an upright man could present his case before HIM,
and I would be delivered forever from my judge.
"But if I go to the east, HE is not there;
if I go to the west, I do not find HIM.
When HE is at work in the north, I do not see HIM;
When HE turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of HIM.
But HE knows the way that I take;
when HE has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
My feet have closely followed HIS steps;
I have kept to HIS way without turning aside.
I have not departed from the commands of HIS lips;
I have treasured the words of HIS mouth more than my daily bread.
"But HE stands alone, and who can oppose HIM?
HE does whatever HE pleases.
HE carries out HIS decree against me,
and many such plans HE still has in store.
That is why I am terrified before HIM;
when I think of all this, I fear HIM.
GOD has made my heart faint;
THE ALMIGHTY has terrified me.
Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,
by the thick darkness that covers my face.
"Why does THE ALMIGHTY not set times for judgment?
Why must those who know HIM look in vain for such days?
Men move boundary stones;
they pasture flocks they have stolen.
They drive away the orphan's donkey
and take the widow's ox in pledge.
They thrust the needy from the path
and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
Like wild donkeys in the desert,
the poor go about their labor of foraging food;
the wasteland provides food for their children.
They gather fodder in the fields
and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked;
they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.
They are drenched by mountain rains
and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.
The fatherless child is snatched from the breast;
the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
Lacking clothes, they go about naked;
they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
They crush olives among the terraces;
they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
The groans of the dying rise from the city,
and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.
But GOD charges no one with wrongdoing.
"There are those who rebel against the light,
who do not know its ways
or stay in its paths.
When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up
and kills the poor and needy;
in the night he steals forth like a thief.
The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk;
he thinks, 'No eye will see me,'
and he keeps his face concealed.
In the dark, men break into houses,
but by day they shut themselves in;
they want nothing to do with the light.
For all of them, deep darkness is their morning;
they make friends with the terrors of darkness.
"Yet they are foam on the surface of the water;
their portion of the land is cursed,
so that no one goes to the vineyards.
As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow,
so the grave snatches away those who have sinned.
The womb forgets them,
the worm feasts on them;
evil men are no longer remembered
but are broken like a tree.
They prey on the barren and childless woman,
and to the widow show no kindness.
But GOD drags away the mighty by HIS power;
though they become established, they have no assurance of life.
HE may let them rest in a feeling of security,
but HIS eyes are on their ways.
For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone;
they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
they are cut off like heads of grain.
"If this is not so, who can prove me false
and reduce my words to nothing?"
Bildad
Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
"Dominion and awe belong to GOD;
HE establishes order in the heights of heaven.
Can HIS forces be numbered?
Upon whom does HIS light not rise?
How then can a man be righteous before GOD?
How can one born of woman be pure?
If even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not pure in HIS eyes,
how much less man, who is but a maggot--
a son of man, who is only a worm!"
Job
Then Job replied:
"How you have helped the powerless!
How you have saved the arm that is feeble!
What advice you have offered to one without wisdom!
And what great insight you have displayed!
Who has helped you utter these words?
And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?
"The dead are in deep anguish,
those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
Death is naked before GOD;
Destruction lies uncovered.
HE spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
HE suspends the earth over nothing.
HE wraps up the waters in HIS clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.
HE covers the face of the full moon,
spreading HIS clouds over it.
HE marks out the horizon on the face of the waters
for a boundary between light and darkness.
The pillars of the heavens quake,
aghast at HIS rebuke.
By HIS power HE churned up the sea;
by HIS wisdom HE cut Rahab to pieces.
By HIS breath the skies became fair;
HIS hand pierced the gliding serpent.
And these are but the outer fringe of HIS works;
how faint the whisper we hear of HIM!
Who then can understand the thunder of HIS power?"
And Job continued his discourse:
"As surely as GOD lives, who has denied me justice,
THE ALMIGHTY, who has made me taste bitterness of soul,
as long as I have life within me,
the breath of GOD in my nostrils,
my lips will not speak wickedness,
and my tongue will utter no deceit.
I will never admit you are in the right;
till I die, I will not deny my integrity.
I will maintain my righteousness and never let go of it;
my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.
"May my enemies be like the wicked,
my adversaries like the unjust!
For what hope has the godless when he is cut off,
when GOD takes away his life?
Does GOD listen to his cry
when distress comes upon him?
Will he find delight in THE ALMIGHTY?
Will he call upon GOD at all times?
"I will teach you about the power of GOD;
the ways of THE ALMIGHTY I will not conceal.
You have all seen this yourselves.
Why then this meaningless talk?
"Here is the fate GOD allots to the wicked,
the heritage a ruthless man receives from THE ALMIGHTY:
However many his children, their fate is the sword;
his offspring will never have enough to eat.
The plague will bury those who survive him,
and their widows will not weep for them.
Though he heaps up silver like dust
and clothes like piles of clay,
what he lays up the righteous will wear,
and the innocent will divide his silver.
The house he builds is like a moth's cocoon,
like a hut made by a watchman.
He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;
when he opens his eyes, all is gone.
Terrors overtake him like a flood;
a tempest snatches him away in the night.
The east wind carries him off, and he is gone;
it sweeps him out of his place.
It hurls itself against him without mercy
as he flees headlong from its power.
It claps its hands in derision
and hisses him out of his place.
"There is a mine for silver
and a place where gold is refined.
Iron is taken from the earth,
and copper is smelted from ore.
Man puts an end to the darkness;
he searches the farthest recesses
for ore in the blackest darkness.
Far from where people dwell he cuts a shaft,
in places forgotten by the foot of man;
far from men he dangles and sways.
The earth, from which food comes,
is transformed below as by fire;
sapphires come from its rocks,
and its dust contains nuggets of gold.
No bird of prey knows that hidden path,
no falcon's eye has seen it.
Proud beasts do not set foot on it,
and no lion prowls there.
Man's hand assaults the flinty rock
and lays bare the roots of the mountains.
He tunnels through the rock;
his eyes see all its treasures.
He searches the sources of the rivers
and brings hidden things to light.
"But where can wisdom be found?
Where does understanding dwell?
Man does not comprehend its worth;
it cannot be found in the land of the living.
The deep says, 'It is not in me';
the sea says, 'It is not with me.'
It cannot be bought with the finest gold,
nor can its price be weighed in silver.
It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir,
with precious onyx or sapphires.
Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it,
nor can it be had for jewels of gold.
Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention;
the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.
The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it;
it cannot be bought with pure gold.
"Where then does wisdom come from?
Where does understanding dwell?
It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing,
concealed even from the birds of the air.
Destruction and Death say,
'Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.'
GOD understands the way to it
and HE alone knows where it dwells,
for HE views the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
When HE established the force of the wind
and measured out the waters,
when HE made a decree for the rain
and a path for the thunderstorm,
then HE looked at wisdom and appraised it;
HE confirmed it and tested it.
And HE said to man,
'The fear of THE LORD--that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.' "
Job continued his discourse:
"How I long for the months gone by,
for the days when GOD watched over me,
when HIS lamp shone upon my head
and by HIS light I walked through darkness!
Oh, for the days when I was in my prime,
when GOD'S intimate friendship blessed my house,
when THE ALMIGHTY was still with me
and my children were around me,
when my path was drenched with cream
and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.
"When I went to the gate of the city
and took my seat in the public square,
the young men saw me and stepped aside
and the old men rose to their feet;
the chief men refrained from speaking
and covered their mouths with their hands;
the voices of the nobles were hushed,
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
Whoever heard me spoke well of me,
and those who saw me commended me,
because I rescued the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to assist him.
The man who was dying blessed me;
I made the widow's heart sing.
I put on righteousness as my clothing;
justice was my robe and my turban.
I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
I was a father to the needy;
I took up the case of the stranger.
I broke the fangs of the wicked
and snatched the victims from their teeth.
"I thought, 'I will die in my own house,
my days as numerous as the grains of sand.
My roots will reach to the water,
and the dew will lie all night on my branches.
My glory will remain fresh in me,
the bow ever new in my hand.'
"Men listened to me expectantly,
waiting in silence for my counsel.
After I had spoken, they spoke no more;
my words fell gently on their ears.
They waited for me as for showers
and drank in my words as the spring rain.
When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it;
the light of my face was precious to them.
I chose the way for them and sat as their chief;
I dwelt as a king among his troops;
I was like one who comforts mourners.
"But now they mock me,
men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to put with my sheep dogs.
Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,
since their vigor had gone from them?
Haggard from want and hunger,
they roamed the parched land
in desolate wastelands at night.
In the brush they gathered salt herbs,
and their food was the root of the broom tree.
They were banished from their fellow men,
shouted at as if they were thieves.
They were forced to live in the dry stream beds,
among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
They brayed among the bushes
and huddled in the undergrowth.
A base and nameless brood,
they were driven out of the land.
"And now their sons mock me in song;
I have become a byword among them.
They detest me and keep their distance;
they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
Now that GOD has unstrung my bow and afflicted me,
they throw off restraint in my presence.
On my right the tribe attacks;
they lay snares for my feet,
they build their siege ramps against me.
They break up my road;
they succeed in destroying me--
without anyone's helping them.
They advance as through a gaping breach;
amid the ruins they come rolling in.
Terrors overwhelm me;
my dignity is driven away as by the wind,
my safety vanishes like a cloud.
"And now my life ebbs away;
days of suffering grip me.
Night pierces my bones;
my gnawing pains never rest.
In HIS great power GOD becomes like clothing to me;
HE binds me like the neck of my garment.
HE throws me into the mud,
and I am reduced to dust and ashes.
"I cry out to YOU, O GOD, but YOU do not answer;
I stand up, but YOU merely look at me.
YOU turn on me ruthlessly;
with the might of YOUR hand YOU attack me.
YOU snatch me up and drive me before the wind;
YOU toss me about in the storm.
I know YOU will bring me down to death,
to the place appointed for all the living.
"Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man
when he cries for help in his distress.
Have I not wept for those in trouble?
Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked for light, then came darkness.
The churning inside me never stops;
days of suffering confront me.
I go about blackened, but not by the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
I have become a brother of jackals,
a companion of owls.
My skin grows black and peels;
my body burns with fever.
My harp is tuned to mourning,
and my flute to the sound of wailing.
"I made a covenant with my eyes
not to look lustfully at a girl.
For what is man's lot from GOD above,
his heritage from THE ALMIGHTY on high?
Is it not ruin for the wicked,
disaster for those who do wrong?
Does HE not see my ways
and count my every step?
"If I have walked in falsehood
or my foot has hurried after deceit--
let GOD weigh me in honest scales
and HE will know that I am blameless--
if my steps have turned from the path,
if my heart has been led by my eyes,
or if my hands have been defiled,
then may others eat what I have sown,
and may my crops be uprooted.
"If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
or if I have lurked at my neighbor's door,
then may my wife grind another man's grain,
and may other men sleep with her.
For that would have been shameful,
a sin to be judged.
It is a fire that burns to Destruction;
it would have uprooted my harvest.
"If I have denied justice to my menservants and maidservants
when they had a grievance against me,
what will I do when GOD confronts me?
What will I answer when called to account?
Did not HE who made me in the womb make them?
Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?
"If I have denied the desires of the poor
or let the eyes of the widow grow weary,
if I have kept my bread to myself,
not sharing it with the fatherless--
but from my youth I reared him as would a father,
and from my birth I guided the widow--
if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing,
or a needy man without a garment,
and his heart did not bless me
for warming him with the fleece from my sheep,
if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
knowing that I had influence in court,
then let my arm fall from the shoulder,
let it be broken off at the joint.
For I dreaded destruction from GOD,
and for fear of HIS splendor I could not do such things.
"If I have put my trust in gold
or said to pure gold, 'You are my security,'
if I have rejoiced over my great wealth,
the fortune my hands had gained,
if I have regarded the sun in its radiance
or the moon moving in splendor,
so that my heart was secretly enticed
and my hand offered them a kiss of homage,
then these also would be sins to be judged,
for I would have been unfaithful to GOD on high.
"If I have rejoiced at my enemy's misfortune
or gloated over the trouble that came to him--
I have not allowed my mouth to sin
by invoking a curse against his life--
if the men of my household have never said,
'Who has not had his fill of Job's meat?'--
but no stranger had to spend the night in the street,
for my door was always open to the traveler--
if I have concealed my sin as men do,
by hiding my guilt in my heart
because I so feared the crowd
and so dreaded the contempt of the clans
that I kept silent and would not go outside
("Oh, that I had someone to hear me!
I sign now my defense--let THE ALMIGHTY answer me;
let my accuser put his indictment in writing.
Surely I would wear it on my shoulder,
I would put it on like a crown.
I would give him an account of my every step;
like a prince I would approach him.)--
"if my land cries out against me
and all its furrows are wet with tears,
if I have devoured its yield without payment
or broken the spirit of its tenants,
then let briers come up instead of wheat
and weeds instead of barley."
The words of Job are ended.
The Book of Job: chapter 22 & chapter 23 & chapter 24 & chapter 25 & chapter 26 & chapter 27 & chapter 28 & chapter 29 & chapter 30 & chapter 31
No comments:
Post a Comment