Job Continues: Where Then Is My Hope?
1 “My spirit is broken; my days are jextinct;
kthe graveyard is ready for me.
2 Surely there are mockers about me,
and my eye dwells on their lprovocation.
3 “Lay down a pledge for me with you;
who is there who will put up msecurity for me?
4 Since you have closed their hearts to understanding,
therefore you will not let them triumph.
5 He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property—
the neyes of his children will fail.
6 “He has made me oa byword of the peoples,
and I am one before whom men spit.
7 My peye has grown dim from vexation,
and all my members are like qa shadow.
8 The upright are rappalled at this,
and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
9 Yet the righteous holds to his way,
and he who has sclean hands grows stronger and stronger.
10 But you, tcome on again, all of you,
and I shall not find a wise man among you.
11 My udays are past; my plans are broken off,
the desires of my heart.
12 They vmake night into day:
‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’1
13 If I hope for wSheol as xmy house,
if I make my bed in darkness,
14 if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
15 where then is my hope?
Who will see my hope?
16 Will it go down to the bars of wSheol?
Bildad Speaks: God Punishes the Wicked
1 Then aBildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 “How long will you bhunt for words?
Consider, and then we will speak.
3 Why are we counted as ccattle?
Why are we stupid in your sight?
4 You who dtear yourself in your anger,
shall the earth be forsaken for you,
or ethe rock be removed out of its place?
5 “Indeed, fthe light of the wicked is put out,
and the flame of his fire does not shine.
6 The light is gdark in his tent,
and his lamp above him is put out.
7 His strong steps are shortened,
and his hown schemes throw him down.
8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet,
and he walks on its mesh.
9 iA trap seizes him by the heel;
a snare lays hold of him.
10 A rope is hidden for him in the ground,
a trap for him in the path.
11 jTerrors frighten him on every side,
and chase him at his heels.
12 His strength is famished,
and calamity is kready for his stumbling.
13 It consumes the parts of his skin;
lthe firstborn of death consumes his limbs.
14 He is torn from the tent in which he trusted
and is brought to mthe king of terrors.
15 In his tent dwells that which is none of his;
nsulfur is scattered over his habitation.
16 His oroots dry up beneath,
and his branches pwither above.
17 His qmemory perishes from the earth,
and he has no name in the street.
18 rHe is thrust from light into darkness,
and driven out of the world.
19 He has no sposterity or progeny among his people,
and no survivor where he used to live.
20 They of the west are appalled at his tday,
and uhorror seizes them of the east.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,
such is the place of him who vknows not God.”
Job Replies: My Redeemer Lives
1 Then Job answered and said:
2 “How long will you torment me
and break me in pieces with words?
3 These wten times you have cast reproach upon me;
are you not ashamed to wrong me?
4 And even if it be true that I have erred,
my error remains with myself.
5 If indeed you xmagnify yourselves against me
and make my disgrace an argument against me,
6 know then that God has yput me in the wrong
and closed his net about me.
7 Behold, I zcry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;
I call for help, but there is no justice.
8 He has awalled up my way, so that I cannot pass,
and he has set darkness upon my paths.
9 He has bstripped from me my glory
and taken the ccrown from my head.
10 He breaks me down on every side, and I dam gone,
and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.
11 He has kindled his wrath against me
and ecounts me as his adversary.
12 His ftroops come on together;
they have gcast up their siege ramp3 against me
and encamp around my tent.
13 “He has put my hbrothers far from me,
and ithose who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
14 My relatives jhave failed me,
my close kfriends have forgotten me.
15 The guests lin my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;
I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.
17 My breath is strange to my mwife,
and I am a stench to the children of nmy own mother.
18 Even young ochildren despise me;
when I rise they talk against me.
19 All my pintimate friends abhor me,
and those whom I loved have turned against me.
20 My qbones stick to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has rtouched me!
22 Why do you, like God, spursue me?
Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?
23 “Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were tinscribed in a book!
24 Oh that with an iron upen and lead
they were engraved in the rock forever!
25 For I vknow that my wRedeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the xearth.4
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in5 my flesh I shall ysee God,
27 whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not zanother.
My heart afaints within me!
28 If you say, ‘How we will spursue him!’
and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’6
29 be afraid of the sword,
for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
that you may know there is ba judgment.”
21 zBrother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 aand you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. bBut the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they cpersecute you in one town, dflee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel ebefore the Son of Man comes.
24 f“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant1 above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. gIf they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign2 those of his household.
Have No Fear
26 “So have no fear of them, ifor nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on jthe housetops. 28 And kdo not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him lwho can destroy both soul and body in hell.3 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?4 And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But meven the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; nyou are of more value than many sparrows. 32 oSo everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but pwhoever denies me before men, qI also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Not Peace, but a Sword
34 r“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. sI have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 rFor I have come tto set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 uAnd a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 vWhoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And wwhoever does not take his cross and xfollow me is not worthy of me. 39 yWhoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Rewards
40 z“Whoever receives you receives me, and awhoever receives me receives him who sent me. 41 bThe one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And cwhoever gives one of dthese little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
