Job Affirms God's Power and Wisdom

121 And Job made answer and said, 2 No doubt you have knowledge, and wisdom will come to an end with you. 3 But I have a mind as well as you; I am equal to you: yes, who has not knowledge of such things as these? 4 It seems that I am to be as one who is a cause of laughing to his neighbour, one who makes his prayer to God and is answered! the upright man who has done no wrong is to be made sport of! 5 In the thought of him who is in comfort there is no respect for one who is in trouble; such is the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

6 There is wealth in the tents of those who make destruction, and those by whom God is moved to wrath are safe; even those whose god is their strength. 7 But put now a question to the beasts, and get teaching from them; or to the birds of the heaven, and they will make it clear to you; 8 Or to the things which go flat on the earth, and they will give you wisdom; and the fishes of the sea will give you news of it. 9 Who does not see by all these that the hand of the Lord has done this? 10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all flesh of man. 11 Are not words tested by the ear, even as food is tasted by the mouth?

12 Old men have wisdom, and a long life gives knowledge. 13 With him there is wisdom and strength; power and knowledge are his. 14 Truly, there is no building up of what is pulled down by him; when a man is shut up by him, no one may let him loose. 15 Truly, he keeps back the waters and they are dry; he sends them out and the earth is overturned. 16 With him are strength and wise designs; he who is guided into error, together with his guide, are in his hands; 17 He takes away the wisdom of the wise guides, and makes judges foolish; 18 He undoes the chains of kings, and puts his band on them; 19 He makes priests prisoners, overturning those in safe positions; 20 He makes the words of responsible persons without effect, and takes away the good sense of the old; 21 He puts shame on chiefs, and takes away the power of the strong; 22 Uncovering deep things out of the dark, and making the deep shade bright; 23 Increasing nations, and sending destruction on them; making wide the lands of peoples, and then giving them up. 24 He takes away the wisdom of the rulers of the earth, and sends them wandering in a waste where there is no way. 25 They go feeling about in the dark without light, wandering without help like those overcome with wine.

Job Bewails His Birth

31 Then, opening his mouth, and cursing the day of his birth, 2 Job made answer and said, 3 Let destruction take the day of my birth, and the night on which it was said, A man child has come into the world. 4 That day—let it be dark; let not God take note of it from on high, and let not the light be shining on it; 5 Let the dark and the black night take it for themselves; let it be covered with a cloud; let the dark shades of day send fear on it. 6 That night—let the thick dark take it; let it not have joy among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. 7 As for that night, let it have no fruit; let no voice of joy be sounded in it; 8 Let it be cursed by those who put a curse on the day; who are ready to make Leviathan awake. 9 Let its morning stars be dark; let it be looking for light, but may it not have any; let it not see the eyes of the dawn. 10 Because it did not keep the doors of my mother's body shut, so that trouble might be veiled from my eyes.

11 Why did death not take me when I came out of my mother's body, why did I not, when I came out, give up my last breath? 12 Why did the knees take me, or why the breasts that they might give me milk? 13 For then I might have gone to my rest in quiet, and in sleep have been in peace, 14 With kings and the wise ones of the earth, who put up great houses for themselves; 15 Or with rulers who had gold, and whose houses were full of silver; 16 Or as a child dead at birth I might never have come into existence; like young children who have not seen the light. 17 There the passions of the evil are over, and those whose strength has come to an end have rest. 18 There the prisoners are at peace together; the voice of the overseer comes not again to their ears. 19 The small and the great are there, and the servant is free from his master.

20 Why does he give light to him who is in trouble, and life to the bitter in soul; 21 To those whose desire is for death, but it comes not; who are searching for it more than for secret wealth; 22 Who are glad with great joy, and full of delight when they come to their last resting-place; 23 To a man whose way is veiled, and who is shut in by God? 24 In place of my food I have grief, and cries of sorrow come from me like water. 25 For I have a fear and it comes on me, and my heart is greatly troubled. 26 I have no peace, no quiet, and no rest; nothing but pain comes on me.