Job Reproaches His Friends

61 And Job answered and said, 2 Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! 3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; therefore my words are vehement. 4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, their poison drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of +God are arrayed against me. 5 Doth the wild ass bray by the grass? loweth an ox over his fodder? 6 Shall that which is insipid be eaten without salt? Is there any taste in the white of an egg? 7 What my soul refuseth to touch, that is as my loathsome food.

8 Oh that I might have my request, and that +God would grant my desire! 9 And that it would please +God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off! 10 Then should I yet have comfort; and in the pain which spareth not I would rejoice that I have not denied the words of the Holy One. 11 What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should have patience? 12 Is my strength the strength of stones? is my flesh of brass? 13 Is it not that there is no help in me, and soundness is driven away from me?

14 For him that is fainting kindness [is meet] from his friend; or he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. 15 My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a stream, as the channel of streams which pass away, 16 Which are turbid by reason of the ice, in which the snow hideth itself: 17 At the time they diminish, they are dried up; when heat affecteth them, they vanish from their place: 18 They wind about in the paths of their course, they go off into the waste and perish. 19 The caravans of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba counted on them: 20 They are ashamed at their hope; they come thither, and are confounded. 21 So now ye are nothing; ye see a terrible object and are afraid.

22 Did I say, Bring unto me, and make me a present from your substance? 23 Or, rescue me from the hand of the oppressor, and redeem me from the hand of the violent? 24 Teach me, and I will hold my tongue; and cause me to understand wherein I have erred. 25 How forcible are right words! but what doth your upbraiding reprove? 26 Do ye imagine to reprove words? The speeches of one that is desperate are indeed for the wind. 27 Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and dig [a pit] for your friend. 28 Now therefore if ye will, look upon me; and it shall be to your face if I lie. 29 Return, I pray you, let there be no wrong; yea, return again, my righteousness shall be in it. 30 Is there wrong in my tongue? cannot my taste discern mischievous things?

Job Remonstrates with God

71 Hath not man a life of labour upon earth? and are not his days like the days of a hireling? 2 As a bondman earnestly desireth the shadow, and a hireling expecteth his wages, 3 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. 4 If I lie down, I say, When shall I rise up, and the darkness be gone? and I am full of tossings until the dawn. 5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and suppurates. 6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.

7 Remember thou that my life is wind; mine eye shall no more see good. 8 The eye of him that hath seen me shall behold me no [more]: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. 9 The cloud consumeth and vanisheth away; so he that goeth down to Sheol shall not come up. 10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him again. 11 Therefore I will not restrain my mouth: I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 12 Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that thou settest a watch over me? 13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint; 14 Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions; 15 So that my soul chooseth strangling, death, rather than my bones. 16 I loathe it; I shall not live always: let me alone, for my days are a breath.

17 What is man, that thou makest much of him? and that thou settest thy heart upon him? 18 And that thou visitest him every morning, triest him every moment? 19 How long wilt thou not look away from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? 20 Have I sinned, what do I unto thee, thou Observer of men? Why hast thou set me as an object of assault for thee, so that I am become a burden to myself? 21 And why dost not thou forgive my transgression and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I lie down in the dust, and thou shalt seek me early, and I shall not be.

Bildad Affirms God's Justice

81 And Bildad the Shuhite answered and said, 2 How long wilt thou speak these things? and the words of thy mouth be a strong wind? 3 Doth God pervert judgment, and the Almighty pervert justice? 4 If thy children have sinned against him, he hath also given them over into the hand of their transgression. 5 If thou seek earnestly unto God, and make thy supplication to the Almighty, 6 If thou be pure and upright, surely now he will awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous; 7 And though thy beginning was small, yet thine end shall be very great.

8 For inquire, I pray thee, of the former generation, and attend to the researches of their fathers; 9 For we are [but] of yesterday, and know nothing, for our days upon earth are a shadow. 10 Shall not they teach thee, [and] tell thee, and utter words out of their heart? 11 Doth the papyrus shoot up without mire? doth the reed-grass grow without water? 12 Whilst it is yet in its greenness [and] not cut down, it withereth before any [other] grass. 13 So are the paths of all that forget God; and the profane man's hope shall perish, 14 Whose confidence shall be cut off, and his reliance is a spider's web. 15 He shall lean upon his house, and it shall not stand; he shall lay hold on it, but it shall not endure. 16 He is full of sap before the sun, and his sprout shooteth forth over his garden; 17 His roots are entwined about the stoneheap; he seeth the place of stones. 18 If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him: I have not seen thee! 19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the dust shall others grow.

20 Behold, God will not cast off a perfect man, neither will he take evil-doers by the hand. 21 Whilst he would fill thy mouth with laughing and thy lips with shouting, 22 They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked be no more.

Job's Inability to Answer God

91 And Job answered and said, 2 Of a truth I know it is so; but how can man be just with God? 3 If he shall choose to strive with him, he cannot answer him one thing of a thousand. 4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and had peace? 5 Who removeth mountains, and they know it not, when he overturneth them in his anger; 6 Who shaketh the earth out of its place, and the pillars thereof tremble; 7 Who commandeth the sun, and it riseth not, and he sealeth up the stars; 8 Who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the high waves of the sea; 9 Who maketh the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south; 10 Who doeth great things past finding out, and wonders without number. 11 Lo, he goeth by me, and I see [him] not; and he passeth along, and I perceive him not. 12 Behold, he taketh away: who will hinder him? Who will say unto him, What doest thou? 13 +God withdraweth not his anger; the proud helpers stoop under him:

14 How much less shall I answer him, choose out my words [to strive] with him? 15 Whom, though I were righteous, [yet] would I not answer; I would make supplication to my judge. 16 If I had called, and he had answered me, I would not believe that he hearkened to my voice,— 17 He, who crusheth me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause. 18 He suffereth me not to take my breath, for he filleth me with bitternesses. 19 Be it a question of strength, lo, [he is] strong; and be it of judgment, who will set me a time? 20 If I justified myself, mine own mouth would condemn me; were I perfect, he would prove me perverse. 21 Were I perfect, [yet] would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.

22 It is all one; therefore I said, he destroyeth the perfect and the wicked. 23 If the scourge kill suddenly, he mocketh at the trial of the innocent. 24 The earth is given over into the hand of the wicked [man]; he covereth the faces of its judges. If not, who then is it?

25 And my days are swifter than a runner: they flee away, they see no good. 26 They pass by like skiffs of reed; as an eagle that swoops upon the prey. 27 If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my [sad] countenance, and brighten up, 28 I am afraid of all my sorrows; I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent. 29 Be it that I am wicked, why then do I labour in vain? 30 If I washed myself with snow-water, and cleansed my hands in purity, 31 Then wouldest thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes would abhor me. 32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him; that we should come together in judgment. 33 There is not an umpire between us, who should lay his hand upon us both. 34 Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his terror make me afraid, 35 [Then] I will speak, and not fear him; but it is not so with me.