Bildad Speaks of the Wicked
Then Bildad the Shuhite responded,
2 “How long will you hunt for words?
Show understanding and then we can talk.
3 “Why are we aregarded 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 alight of the wicked goes out,
And the flame of his fire gives no light.
6 “The light in his tent is adarkened,
And his lamp goes out above him.
7 “His vigorous stride is shortened,
And his aown scheme brings him down.
8 “For he is athrown into the net by his own feet,
And he steps on the webbing.
9 “A snare seizes him by the heel,
And a 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 aterrors frighten him,
And bharry him at every step.
12 “His strength is afamished,
And calamity is ready at his side.
13 “His skin is devoured by disease,
The firstborn of death adevours his limbs.
14 “He is atorn from the security of his tent,
And they march him before the king of bterrors.
15 “There dwells in his tent nothing of his;
aBrimstone is scattered on his habitation.
16 “His aroots are dried below,
And his bbranch is cut off above.
17 “aMemory of him perishes from the earth,
And he has no name abroad.
18 “He is driven from light ainto darkness,
And bchased from the inhabited world.
19 “He has no aoffspring or posterity among his people,
Nor any survivor where he sojourned.
20 “Those in the west are appalled at ahis fate,
And those in the east are seized with horror.
21 “Surely such are the adwellings of the wicked,
And this is the place of him who does not know God.”
Job Feels Insulted
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 avaunt yourselves against me
And prove my disgrace to me,
6 Know then that aGod has wronged me
And has closed bHis net around me.
Everything Is against Him
7 “Behold, aI cry, ‘Violence!’ but I get no answer;
I shout for help, but there is no justice.
8 “He has awalled up my way so that I cannot pass,
And He has put bdarkness on my paths.
9 “He has astripped my honor from me
And removed the bcrown from my head.
10 “He abreaks me down on every side, and I am gone;
And He has uprooted my bhope clike a tree.
11 “He has also akindled His anger against me
And bconsidered me as His enemy.
12 “His atroops come together,
And bbuild up their way against me
And camp around my tent.
13 “He has aremoved my brothers far from me,
And my bacquaintances are completely estranged from me.
14 “My relatives have failed,
And my aintimate 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 aassociates abhor me,
And those I love have turned against me.
20 “My abone clings to my skin and my flesh,
And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.
21 “Pity me, pity me, O you my friends,
For the ahand of God has struck me.
22 “Why do you apersecute me as God does,
And are not satisfied with my flesh?
Job Says, “My Redeemer Lives”
23 “Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were ainscribed 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 amy 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 asee God;
27 Whom I myself shall behold,
And whom my eyes will see and not another.
My heart afaints within me!
28 “If you say, ‘How shall we apersecute him?’
And ‘What pretext for a case against him can we find?’
29 “Then be afraid of athe sword for yourselves,
For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
So that you may know bthere is judgment.”
Zophar Says, “The Triumph of the Wicked Is Short”
Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,
2 “Therefore my disquieting thoughts make me respond,
Even because of my inward agitation.
3 “I listened to athe reproof which insults me,
And the spirit of my understanding makes me answer.
4 “Do you know this from aof old,
From the establishment of man on earth,
5 That the atriumphing of the wicked is short,
And bthe joy of the godless momentary?
6 “Though his loftiness areaches the heavens,
And his head touches the clouds,
7 He aperishes forever like his refuse;
Those who have seen him bwill say, ‘Where is he?’
8 “He flies away like a adream, and they cannot find him;
Even like a vision of the night he is bchased away.
9 “The aeye which saw him sees him no longer,
And bhis place no longer beholds him.
10 “His asons favor the poor,
And his hands bgive back his wealth.
11 “His abones are full of his youthful vigor,
But it lies down with him in the dust.
12 “Though aevil is sweet in his mouth
And he hides it under his tongue,
13 Though he desires it and will not let it go,
But holds it ain his mouth,
14 Yet his food in his stomach is changed
To the venom of cobras within him.
15 “He swallows riches,
But will avomit them up;
God will expel them from his belly.
16 “He sucks athe poison of cobras;
The viper’s tongue slays him.
17 “He does not look at athe streams,
The rivers flowing with honey and curds.
18 “He areturns what he has attained
And cannot swallow it;
As to the riches of his trading,
He cannot even enjoy them.
19 “For he has aoppressed and forsaken the poor;
He has seized a house which he has not built.
20 “Because he knew no quiet within him,
He does anot retain anything he desires.
21 “Nothing remains for him to devour,
Therefore ahis prosperity does not endure.
22 “In the fullness of his plenty he will be cramped;
The ahand of everyone who suffers will come against him.
23 “When he afills his belly,
God will send His fierce anger on him
And will brain it on him while he is eating.
24 “He may aflee from the iron weapon,
But the bronze bow will pierce him.
25 “It is drawn forth and comes out of his back,
Even the glittering point from ahis gall.
bTerrors come upon him,
26 Complete adarkness is held in reserve for his treasures,
And unfanned bfire will devour him;
It will consume the survivor in his tent.
27 “The aheavens will reveal his iniquity,
And the earth will rise up against him.
28 “The aincrease of his house will depart;
His possessions will flow away bin the day of His anger.
29 “This is the wicked man’s aportion from God,
Even the heritage decreed to him by God.”