He Declares That Bildad’s Counsel has been Worthless (26:1-4)

CHAPTER 26

1 And Job answered and said, 2 How hast thou helped the powerless; how saved the arm that is without strength! 3 How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom, and abundantly declared the thing as it is! 4 For whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?

He Demonstrates His Own Ability to Describe the Greatness of God (26:5-14)

5 The shades tremble beneath the waters and the inhabitants thereof; 6 Sheol is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering. 7 He stretcheth out the north over empty space, he hangeth the earth upon nothing; 8 He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them. 9 He covereth the face of his throne, he spreadeth his cloud upon it. 10 He hath traced a fixed circle over the waters, unto the confines of light and darkness. 11 The pillars of the heavens tremble and are astonished at his rebuke. 12 He stirreth up the sea by his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through Rahab. 13 By his Spirit the heavens are adorned; his hand hath formed the fleeing serpent. 14 Lo, these are the borders of his ways; but what a whisper of a word do we hear of him! And the thunder of his power, who can understand?

As He Continues His Discourse, He Maintains His Integrity (27:1-10)

CHAPTER 27

1 And Job continued his parable and said, 2 As GOD liveth, who hath taken away my right, and the Almighty, who hath embittered my soul, 3 All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of +God is in my nostrils, 4 My lips shall not speak unrighteousness, nor my tongue utter deceit! 5 Be it far from me that I should justify you; till I die I will not remove my blamelessness from me. 6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart reproacheth me not one of my days. 7 Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous. 8 For what is the hope of the ungodly, when God cutteth him off, when +God taketh away his soul? 9 Will GOD hear his cry when distress cometh upon him? 10 Doth he delight himself in the Almighty? will he at all times call upon +God?

He Will Teach His Friends What God Will Do to the Wicked (27:11-23)

11 I will teach you concerning the hand of GOD; what is with the Almighty will I not conceal. 12 Behold, ye yourselves have all seen it; and why are ye thus altogether vain? 13 This is the portion of the wicked man with GOD, and the heritage of the violent, which they receive from the Almighty: — 14 If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword, and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread; 15 Those that remain of him shall be buried by death, and his widows shall not weep. 16 Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare clothing as the clay; 17 He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on; and the innocent shall divide the silver. 18 He buildeth his house as the moth, and as a booth that a keeper maketh. 19 He lieth down rich, but will do so no more; he openeth his eyes, and he is not. 20 Terrors overtake him like waters; a whirlwind stealeth him away in the night. 21 The east wind carrieth him away and he is gone; and as a storm it hurleth him out of his place. 22 And God shall cast upon him and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand. 23 Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.

He Gives a Discourse on the True Source of Wisdom (28)

CHAPTER 28

1 Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold which they refine; 2 Iron is taken out of the dust, and copper is molten out of the stone. 3 Man putteth an end to the darkness, and exploreth to the utmost limit, the stones of darkness and of the shadow of death. 4 He openeth a shaft far from the inhabitants of the earth: forgotten of the foot, they hang suspended; away below men they hover. 5 As for the earth, out of it cometh bread, and underneath it is turned up as by fire; 6 The stones of it are the place of sapphires, and it hath dust of gold. 7 It is a path no bird of prey knoweth, and the vulture’s eye hath not seen it; 8 The proud beasts have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed over it. 9 Man putteth forth his hand upon the flinty rock, he overturneth the mountains by the root. 10 He cutteth out channels in the rocks, and his eye seeth every precious thing. 11 He bindeth the streams that they drip not, and what is hidden he bringeth forth to light. 12 But wisdom, where shall it be found? and where is the place of understanding? 13 Man knoweth not the value thereof; and it is not found in the land of the living. 14 The deep saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith, It is not with me. 15 Choice gold cannot be given for it, nor silver be weighed for its price. 16 It is not set in the balance with gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, and the sapphire. 17 Gold and glass cannot be compared to it, nor vessels of fine gold be its exchange. 18 Corals and crystal are no more remembered; yea, the acquisition of wisdom is above rubies. 19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be compared to it, neither shall it be set in the balance with pure gold. 20 Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? 21 For it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the fowl of the heavens. 22 Destruction and death say, We have heard its report with our ears. 23 God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth its place: 24 For he looketh to the ends of the earth, he seeth under the whole heaven. 25 In making a weight for the wind, and meting out the waters by measure, 26 In appointing a statute for the rain, and a way for the thunder’s flash: 27 Then did he see it, and declare it; he established it, yea, and searched it out; 28 And unto man he said, Lo, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

As He Continues His Discourse, He Recalls the Good Days of His Past (29)

CHAPTER 29

1 And Job continued his parable and said, 2 Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when +God preserved me; 3 When his lamp shone over my head, and by his light I walked through darkness; 4 As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret counsel of +God was over my tent, 5 When the Almighty was yet with me, my young men round about me; 6 When my steps were bathed in milk, and the rock poured out beside me rivers of oil! … 7 When I went out to the gate by the city, when I prepared my seat on the broadway, 8 The young men saw me, and hid themselves; and the aged arose and stood up; 9 Princes refrained from talking, and laid the hand on their mouth; 10 The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue cleaved to their palate. 11 When the ear heard me, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me; 12 For I delivered the afflicted that cried, and the fatherless who had no helper. 13 The blessing of him that was perishing came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. 14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was as a mantle and a turban. 15 I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame; 16 I was a father to the needy, and the cause which I knew not I searched out; 17 And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth. 18 And I said, I shall die in my nest, and multiply my days as the sand; 19 My root shall be spread out to the waters, and the dew will lie all night on my branch; 20 My glory shall be fresh in me, and my bow be renewed in my hand. 21 Unto me they listened, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel: 22 After my words they spoke not again, and my speech dropped upon them; 23 And they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain. 24 If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and they troubled not the serenity of my countenance. 25 I chose their way, and sat as chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth mourners.

He Then Reflects Upon His Present Condition (30)

CHAPTER 30

1 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. 2 Yea, whereto should the strength of their hands profit me, men in whom vigour hath perished? 3 Withered up through want and hunger, they flee into waste places long since desolate and desert: 4 They gather the salt-wort among the bushes, and the roots of the broom for their food. 5 They are driven forth from among men — they cry after them as after a thief — 6 To dwell in gloomy gorges, in caves of the earth and the rocks: 7 They bray among the bushes; under the brambles they are gathered together: 8 Sons of fools, and sons of nameless sires, they are driven out of the land. 9 And now I am their song, yea, I am their byword. 10 They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, yea, they spare not to spit in my face. 11 For he hath loosed my cord and afflicted me; so they cast off the bridle before me. 12 At my right hand rise the young brood; they push away my feet, and raise up against me their pernicious ways; 13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, without any to help them; 14 They come in as through a wide breach: amid the confusion they roll themselves onward. 15 Terrors are turned against me; they pursue mine honour as the wind; and my welfare is passed away like a cloud. 16 And now my soul is poured out in me; days of affliction have taken hold upon me. 17 The night pierceth through my bones and detacheth them from me, and my gnawing pains take no rest: 18 By their great force they have become my raiment; they bind me about as the collar of my coat. 19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. 20 I cry unto thee, and thou answerest me not; I stand up, and thou lookest at me. 21 Thou art changed to a cruel one to me; with the strength of thy hand thou pursuest me. 22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to be borne away, and dissolvest my substance. 23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and into the house of assemblage for all living. 24 Indeed, no prayer availeth when he stretcheth out his hand: though they cry when he destroyeth. 25 Did not I weep for him whose days were hard? was not my soul grieved for the needy? 26 For I expected good, and there came evil; and I waited for light, but there came darkness. 27 My bowels well up, and rest not; days of affliction have confronted me. 28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up, I cry in the congregation. 29 I am become a brother to jackals, and a companion of ostriches. 30 My skin is become black and falleth off me, and my bones are parched with heat. 31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of weepers.

One Last Time, Job Maintains His Integrity (31)

CHAPTER 31

1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; and how should I fix my regard upon a maid? 2 For what would have been my portion of +God from above, and what the heritage of the Almighty from on high? 3 Is not calamity for the unrighteous? and misfortune for the workers of iniquity? 4 Doth not he see my ways, and number all my steps? 5 If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot hath hasted to deceit, 6 (Let me be weighed in an even balance, and +God will take knowledge of my blamelessness;) 7 If my step have turned out of the way, and my heart followed mine eyes, and if any blot cleaveth to my hands; 8 Let me sow, and another eat; and let mine offspring be rooted out. 9 If my heart have been enticed unto a woman, so that I laid wait at my neighbour’s door, 10 Let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down upon her. 11 For this is an infamy; yea, it is an iniquity to be judged by the judges: 12 For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase. 13 If I have despised the cause of my bondman or of my bondmaid, when they contended with me, 14 What then should I do when GOD riseth up? and if he visited, what should I answer him? 15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not One fashion us in the womb? 16 If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail; 17 Or have eaten my morsel alone, so that the fatherless ate not thereof, 18 (For from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have guided the widow from my mother’s womb;) 19 If I have seen any perishing for want of clothing, or any needy without covering; 20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my lambs; 21 If I have lifted up my hand against an orphan, because I saw my help in the gate: 22 Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone! 23 For calamity from GOD was a terror to me, and by reason of his excellency I was powerless. 24 If I have made gold my hope, or said to the fine gold, My confidence! 25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much; 26 If I beheld the sun when it shone, or the moon walking in brightness, 27 And my heart have been secretly enticed, so that my mouth kissed my hand: 28 This also would be an iniquity for the judge, for I should have denied the GOD who is above. 29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, and exulted when evil befell him; 30 (Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse;) 31 If the men of my tent said not, Who shall find one that hath not been satisfied with his meat? — 32 The stranger did not lodge without; I opened my doors to the pathway. 33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom, 34 Because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and went not out of the door, … 35 Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold my signature: let the Almighty answer me! And let mine opponent write an accusation! 36 Would I not take it upon my shoulder? I would bind it on to me as a crown; 37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I come near to him. 38 If my land cry out against me, and its furrows weep together; 39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, and have tormented to death the souls of its owners: 40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and tares instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.

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