Category: Job

Zophar Rebukes Job

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,

2 “Shall a multitude of words go unanswered,

And a talkative man be acquitted?

3 Shall your boasts silence men?

And shall you scoff and none rebuke?

4 For you have said, ‘My teaching is pure,

And I am innocent in your eyes.’

5 But would that God might speak,

And open His lips against you,

6 And show you the secrets of wisdom!

For sound wisdom has two sides.

Know then that God forgets a part of your iniquity.

7 “Can you discover the depths of God?

Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?

8 They arehigh as the heavens, what can you do?

Deeper than Sheol, what can you know?

9 Its measure is longer than the earth

And broader than the sea.

10 If He passes by or shuts up,

Or calls an assembly, who can restrain Him?

11 For He knows false men,

And He sees iniquity without investigating.

12 An idiot will become intelligent

When the foal of a wild donkey is born a man.

13 “If you would direct your heart right

And spread out your hand to Him,

14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,

And do not let wickedness dwell in your tents;

15 Then, indeed, you could lift up your face withoutmoraldefect,

And you would be steadfast and not fear.

16 For you would forgetyourtrouble,

As waters that have passed by, you would rememberit.

17 Your life would be brighter than noonday;

Darkness would be like the morning.

18 Then you would trust, because there is hope;

And you would look around and rest securely.

19 You would lie down and none would disturbyou,

And many would entreat your favor.

20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail,

And there will be no escape for them;

And their hope is to breathe their last.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/JOB/11-bb42a48af8c675580120cd9fb52d2a7c.mp3?version_id=100—

Job Chides His Accusers

1 Then Job responded,

2 “Truly then you are the people,

And with you wisdom will die!

3 But I have intelligence as well as you;

I am not inferior to you.

And who does not know such things as these?

4 I am a joke to my friends,

The one who called on God and He answered him;

The justandblamelessmanis a joke.

5 He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt,

As prepared for those whose feet slip.

6 The tents of the destroyers prosper,

And those who provoke God are secure,

Whom God brings into their power.

7 “But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;

And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.

8 Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you;

And let the fish of the sea declare to you.

9 Who among all these does not know

That the hand of the Lordhas done this,

10 In whose hand is the life of every living thing,

And the breath of all mankind?

11 Does not the ear test words,

As the palate tastes its food?

12 Wisdom is with aged men,

Withlong life is understanding.

Job Speaks of the Power of God

13 “With Him are wisdom and might;

To Him belong counsel and understanding.

14 Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt;

He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.

15 Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up;

And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth.

16 With Him are strength and sound wisdom,

The misled and the misleader belong to Him.

17 He makes counselors walk barefoot

And makes fools of judges.

18 He loosens the bond of kings

And binds their loins with a girdle.

19 He makes priests walk barefoot

And overthrows the secure ones.

20 He deprives the trusted ones of speech

And takes away the discernment of the elders.

21 He pours contempt on nobles

And loosens the belt of the strong.

22 He reveals mysteries from the darkness

And brings the deep darkness into light.

23 He makes the nations great, then destroys them;

He enlarges the nations, then leads them away.

24 He deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth’s people

And makes them wander in a pathless waste.

25 They grope in darkness with no light,

And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/JOB/12-7b67b89d6bc83190c505c7e0bf595761.mp3?version_id=100—

Job Says His Friends’ Proverbs Are Ashes

1 “Behold, my eye has seen allthis,

My ear has heard and understood it.

2 What you know I also know;

I am not inferior to you.

3 “But I would speak to the Almighty,

And I desire to argue with God.

4 But you smear with lies;

You are all worthless physicians.

5 O that you would be completely silent,

And that it would become your wisdom!

6 Please hear my argument

And listen to the contentions of my lips.

7 Will you speak what is unjust for God,

And speak what is deceitful for Him?

8 Will you show partiality for Him?

Will you contend for God?

9 Will it be well when He examines you?

Or will you deceive Him as one deceives a man?

10 He will surely reprove you

If you secretly show partiality.

11 Will not His majesty terrify you,

And the dread of Him fall on you?

12 Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes,

Your defenses are defenses of clay.

Job Is Sure He Will Be Vindicated

13 “Be silent before me so that I may speak;

Then let come on me what may.

14 Why should I take my flesh in my teeth

And put my life in my hands?

15 Though He slay me,

I will hope in Him.

Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.

16 This also will be my salvation,

For a godless man may not come before His presence.

17 Listen carefully to my speech,

And let my declarationfillyour ears.

18 Behold now, I have prepared my case;

I know that I will be vindicated.

19 Who will contend with me?

For then I would be silent and die.

20 “Only two things do not do to me,

Then I will not hide from Your face:

21 Remove Your hand from me,

And let not the dread of You terrify me.

22 Then call, and I will answer;

Or let me speak, then reply to me.

23 How many are my iniquities and sins?

Make known to me my rebellion and my sin.

24 Why do You hide Your face

And consider me Your enemy?

25 Will You cause a driven leaf to tremble?

Or will You pursue the dry chaff?

26 For You write bitter things against me

And make me to inherit the iniquities of my youth.

27 You put my feet in the stocks

And watch all my paths;

You set a limit for the soles of my feet,

28 While I am decaying like a rotten thing,

Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/JOB/13-44cad941287cb50a893f86d0c7cf4c63.mp3?version_id=100—

Job Speaks of the Finality of Death

1 “Man, who is born of woman,

Is short-lived and full of turmoil.

2 Like a flower he comes forth and withers.

He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.

3 You also open Your eyes on him

And bring him into judgment with Yourself.

4 Who can make the clean out of the unclean?

No one!

5 Since his days are determined,

The number of his months is with You;

And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.

6 Turn Your gaze from him that he may rest,

Until he fulfills his day like a hired man.

7 “For there is hope for a tree,

When it is cut down, that it will sprout again,

And its shoots will not fail.

8 Though its roots grow old in the ground

And its stump dies in the dry soil,

9 At the scent of water it will flourish

And put forth sprigs like a plant.

10 But man dies and lies prostrate.

Man expires, and where is he?

11 Aswater evaporates from the sea,

And a river becomes parched and dried up,

12 So man lies down and does not rise.

Until the heavens are no longer,

He will not awake nor be aroused out of his sleep.

13 “Oh that You would hide me in Sheol,

That You would conceal me until Your wrath returnsto You,

That You would set a limit for me and remember me!

14 If a man dies, will he liveagain?

All the days of my struggle I will wait

Until my change comes.

15 You will call, and I will answer You;

You will long for the work of Your hands.

16 For now You number my steps,

You do not observe my sin.

17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag,

And You wrap up my iniquity.

18 “But the falling mountain crumbles away,

And the rock moves from its place;

19 Water wears away stones,

Its torrents wash away the dust of the earth;

So You destroy man’s hope.

20 You forever overpower him and he departs;

Youchange his appearance and send him away.

21 His sons achieve honor, but he does not knowit;

Or they become insignificant, but he does not perceive it.

22 But his body pains him,

And he mourns only for himself.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/JOB/14-54a873a532a7cba59faa2607945be93c.mp3?version_id=100—

Eliphaz Says Job Presumes Much

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded,

2 “Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge

And fill himself with the east wind?

3 Should he argue with useless talk,

Or with words which are not profitable?

4 Indeed, you do away with reverence

And hinder meditation before God.

5 For your guilt teaches your mouth,

And you choose the language of the crafty.

6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;

And your own lips testify against you.

7 “Were you the first man to be born,

Or were you brought forth before the hills?

8 Do you hear the secret counsel of God,

And limit wisdom to yourself?

9 What do you know that we do not know?

Whatdo you understand that we do not?

10 Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,

Older than your father.

11 Are the consolations of God too small for you,

Even the wordspokengently with you?

12 Why does your heart carry you away?

And why do your eyes flash,

13 That you should turn your spirit against God

And allowsuchwords to go out of your mouth?

14 What is man, that he should be pure,

Or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

15 Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones,

And the heavens are not pure in His sight;

16 How much less one who is detestable and corrupt,

Man, who drinks iniquity like water!

What Eliphaz Has Seen of Life

17 “I will tell you, listen to me;

And what I have seen I will also declare;

18 What wise men have told,

And have not concealed from their fathers,

19 To whom alone the land was given,

And no alien passed among them.

20 The wicked man writhes in pain allhisdays,

And numbered are the years stored up for the ruthless.

21 Sounds of terror are in his ears;

While at peace the destroyer comes upon him.

22 He does not believe that he will return from darkness,

And he is destined for the sword.

23 He wanders about for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’

He knows that a day of darkness is at hand.

24 Distress and anguish terrify him,

They overpower him like a king ready for the attack,

25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God

And conducts himself arrogantly against the Almighty.

26 He rushes headlong at Him

With his massive shield.

27 For he has covered his face with his fat

And made his thighs heavy with flesh.

28 He has lived in desolate cities,

In houses no one would inhabit,

Which are destined to become ruins.

29 He will not become rich, nor will his wealth endure;

And his grain will not bend down to the ground.

30 He will not escape from darkness;

The flame will wither his shoots,

And by the breath of His mouth he will go away.

31 Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself;

For emptiness will be his reward.

32 It will be accomplished before his time,

And his palm branch will not be green.

33 He will drop off his unripe grape like the vine,

And will cast off his flower like the olive tree.

34 For the company of the godless is barren,

And fire consumes the tents of the corrupt.

35 They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity,

And their mind prepares deception.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/JOB/15-ef13bf06231a8f698d264943d7ae6d1b.mp3?version_id=100—

Job Says Friends Are Sorry Comforters

1 Then Job answered,

2 “I have heard many such things;

Sorry comforters are you all.

3 Is therenolimit to windy words?

Or what plagues you that you answer?

4 I too could speak like you,

If I were in your place.

I could compose words against you

And shake my head at you.

5 I could strengthen you with my mouth,

And the solace of my lips could lessenyour pain.

Job Says God Shattered Him

6 “If I speak, my pain is not lessened,

And if I hold back, what has left me?

7 But now He has exhausted me;

You have laid waste all my company.

8 You have shriveled me up,

It has become a witness;

And my leanness rises up against me,

It testifies to my face.

9 His anger has torn me and hunted me down,

He has gnashed at me with His teeth;

My adversary glares at me.

10 They have gaped at me with their mouth,

They have slapped me on the cheek with contempt;

They have massed themselves against me.

11 God hands me over to ruffians

And tosses me into the hands of the wicked.

12 I was at ease, but He shattered me,

And He has grasped me by the neck and shaken me to pieces;

He has also set me up as His target.

13 His arrows surround me.

Without mercy He splits my kidneys open;

He pours out my gall on the ground.

14 He breaks through me with breach after breach;

He runs at me like a warrior.

15 I have sewed sackcloth over my skin

And thrust my horn in the dust.

16 My face is flushed from weeping,

And deep darkness is on my eyelids,

17 Although there is no violence in my hands,

And my prayer is pure.

18 “O earth, do not cover my blood,

And let there be norestingplace for my cry.

19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,

And my advocate is on high.

20 My friends are my scoffers;

My eye weeps to God.

21 O that a man might plead with God

As a man with his neighbor!

22 For when a few years are past,

I shall go the way of no return.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/JOB/16-3403c2fada46c800b98b8bc5a224c413.mp3?version_id=100—

Job Says He Has Become a Byword

1 “My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished,

The grave isreadyfor me.

2 Surely mockers are with me,

And my eye gazes on their provocation.

3 “Lay down, now, a pledge for me with Yourself;

Who is there that will be my guarantor?

4 For You have kept their heart from understanding,

Therefore You will not exaltthem.

5 He who informs against friends for a shareof the spoil,

The eyes of his children also will languish.

6 “But He has made me a byword of the people,

And I am one at whom men spit.

7 My eye has also grown dim because of grief,

And all my members are as a shadow.

8 The upright will be appalled at this,

And the innocent will stir up himself against the godless.

9 Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his way,

And he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.

10 But come again all of you now,

For I do not find a wise man among you.

11 My days are past, my plans are torn apart,

Eventhe wishes of my heart.

12 They make night into day,saying,

‘The light is near,’ in the presence of darkness.

13 If I look for Sheol as my home,

I make my bed in the darkness;

14 If I call to the pit, ‘You are my father’;

To the worm, ‘my mother and my sister’;

15 Where now is my hope?

And who regards my hope?

16 Will it go down with me to Sheol?

Shall we together go down into the dust?”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/JOB/17-4c374ca0cf38df82b20ea4637a853d33.mp3?version_id=100—

Bildad Speaks of the Wicked

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite responded,

2 “How long will you hunt for words?

Show understanding and then we can talk.

3 Why are we regarded as beasts,

As stupid in your eyes?

4 O you who tear yourself in your anger—

For your sake is the earth to be abandoned,

Or the rock to be moved from its place?

5 “Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out,

And the flame of his fire gives no light.

6 The light in his tent is darkened,

And his lamp goes out above him.

7 His vigorous stride is shortened,

And his own scheme brings him down.

8 For he is thrown into the net by his own feet,

And he steps on the webbing.

9 A snare seizeshimby the heel,

Anda trap snaps shut on him.

10 A noose for him is hidden in the ground,

And a trap for him on the path.

11 All around terrors frighten him,

And harry him at every step.

12 His strength is famished,

And calamity is ready at his side.

13 His skin is devoured by disease,

The firstborn of death devours his limbs.

14 He is torn from the security of his tent,

And they march him before the king of terrors.

15 There dwells in his tent nothing of his;

Brimstone is scattered on his habitation.

16 His roots are dried below,

And his branch is cut off above.

17 Memory of him perishes from the earth,

And he has no name abroad.

18 He is driven from light into darkness,

And chased from the inhabited world.

19 He has no offspring or posterity among his people,

Nor any survivor where he sojourned.

20 Those in the west are appalled at his fate,

And those in the east are seized with horror.

21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked,

And this is the place of him who does not know God.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/JOB/18-a940c83221383d60c294f6293cae496b.mp3?version_id=100—

Job Feels Insulted

1 Then Job responded,

2 “How long will you torment me

And crush me with words?

3 These ten times you have insulted me;

You are not ashamed to wrong me.

4 Even if I have truly erred,

My error lodges with me.

5 If indeed you vaunt yourselves against me

And prove my disgrace to me,

6 Know then that God has wronged me

And has closed His net around me.

Everything Is against Him

7 “Behold, I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I get no answer;

I shout for help, but there is no justice.

8 He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,

And He has put darkness on my paths.

9 He has stripped my honor from me

And removed the crown from my head.

10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone;

And He has uprooted my hope like a tree.

11 He has also kindled His anger against me

And considered me as His enemy.

12 His 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 are completely estranged from me.

14 My relatives have failed,

And my intimate friends have forgotten me.

15 Those who live in my house and my maids consider me a stranger.

I am a foreigner in their sight.

16 I call to my servant, but he does not answer;

I have to implore him with my mouth.

17 My breath is offensive to my wife,

And I am loathsome to my own brothers.

18 Even young children despise me;

I rise up and they speak against me.

19 All my associates abhor me,

And those I love have turned against me.

20 My bone clings to my skin and my flesh,

And I have escapedonlyby the skin of my teeth.

21 Pity me, pity me, O you my friends,

For the hand of God has struck me.

22 Why do you persecute me as Goddoes,

And are not satisfied with my flesh?

Job Says, “My Redeemer Lives”

23 “Oh that my words were written!

Oh that they were inscribed in a book!

24 That with an iron stylus and lead

They were engraved in the rock forever!

25 As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,

And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.

26 Even after my skin is destroyed,

Yet from my flesh I shall see God;

27 Whom I myself shall behold,

And whom my eyes will see and not another.

My heart faints within me!

28 If you say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’

And ‘What pretext for a case against him can we find?’

29 Thenbe afraid of the sword for yourselves,

For wrathbringsthe punishment of the sword,

So that you may know there is judgment.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/JOB/19-c556ee1c55b510e134f41d51cd6e6db1.mp3?version_id=100—

Zophar Says, “The Triumph of the Wicked Is Short”

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,

2 “Therefore my disquieting thoughts make me respond,

Even because of my inward agitation.

3 I listened to the reproof which insults me,

And the spirit of my understanding makes me answer.

4 Do you know this from of old,

From the establishment of man on earth,

5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short,

And the joy of the godless momentary?

6 Though his loftiness reaches the heavens,

And his head touches the clouds,

7 He perishes forever like his refuse;

Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

8 He flies away like a dream, and they cannot find him;

Even like a vision of the night he is chased away.

9 The eye which saw him sees him no longer,

And his place no longer beholds him.

10 His sons favor the poor,

And his hands give back his wealth.

11 His bones are full of his youthful vigor,

But it lies down with him in the dust.

12 “Though evil is sweet in his mouth

Andhe hides it under his tongue,

13 Thoughhe desires it and will not let it go,

But holds it in his mouth,

14 Yethis food in his stomach is changed

To the venom of cobras within him.

15 He swallows riches,

But will vomit them up;

God will expel them from his belly.

16 He sucks the poison of cobras;

The viper’s tongue slays him.

17 He does not look at the streams,

The rivers flowing with honey and curds.

18 He returns what he has attained

And cannot swallowit;

As to the riches of his trading,

He cannot even enjoythem.

19 For he has oppressedandforsaken 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.

21 Nothing remains for him to devour,

Therefore his prosperity does not endure.

22 In the fullness of his plenty he will be cramped;

The hand of everyone who suffers will comeagainsthim.

23 When he fills his belly,

Godwill send His fierce anger on him

And will rainiton him while he is eating.

24 He may flee from the iron weapon,

Butthe bronze bow will pierce him.

25 It is drawn forth and comes out of his back,

Even the glittering point from his gall.

Terrors come upon him,

26 Complete darkness is held in reserve for his treasures,

And unfanned fire will devour him;

It will consume the survivor in his tent.

27 The heavens will reveal his iniquity,

And the earth will rise up against him.

28 The increase of his house will depart;

His possessionswill flow away in the day of His anger.

29 This is the wicked man’s portion from God,

Even the heritage decreed to him by God.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/JOB/20-86ed0787021126edfe2de02e797319b0.mp3?version_id=100—