Job 20 – Job 24

20 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,

2 “Therefore my thoughts answer me,
even by reason of my haste that is in me.
3 I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame.
The spirit of my understanding answers me.
4 Don’t you know this from old time,
since man was placed on earth,
5 that the triumphing of the wicked is short,
the joy of the godless but for a moment?
6 Though his height mount up to the heavens,
and his head reach to the clouds,
7 yet he will perish forever like his own dung.
Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
8 He will fly away as a dream, and will not be found.
Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9 The eye which saw him will see him no more,
neither will his place see him any more.
10 His children will seek the favor of the poor.
His hands will give back his wealth.
11 His bones are full of his youth,
but youth will lie down with him in the dust.

12 “Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth,
though he hide it under his tongue,
13 though he spare it, and will not let it go,
but keep it still within his mouth,
14 yet his food in his bowels is turned.
It is cobra venom within him.
15 He has swallowed down riches, and he will vomit them up again.
God will cast them out of his belly.
16 He will suck cobra venom.
The viper’s tongue will kill him.
17 He will not look at the rivers,
the flowing streams of honey and butter.
18 He will restore that for which he labored, and will not swallow it down.
He will not rejoice according to the substance that he has gotten.
19 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor.
He has violently taken away a house, and he will not build it up.

20 “Because he knew no quietness within him,
he will not save anything of that in which he delights.
21 There was nothing left that he didn’t devour,
therefore his prosperity will not endure.
22 In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress will overtake him.
The hand of everyone who is in misery will come on him.
23 When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him.
It will rain on him while he is eating.
24 He will flee from the iron weapon.
The bronze arrow will strike him through.
25 He draws it out, and it comes out of his body.
Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver.
Terrors are on him.
26 All darkness is laid up for his treasures.
An unfanned fire will devour him.
It will consume that which is left in his tent.
27 The heavens will reveal his iniquity.
The earth will rise up against him.
28 The increase of his house will depart.
They will rush away in the day of his wrath.
29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God,
the heritage appointed to him by God.”

Job 21-39
World English Bible
21 Then Job answered,

2 “Listen diligently to my speech.
Let this be your consolation.
3 Allow me, and I also will speak.
After I have spoken, mock on.
4 As for me, is my complaint to man?
Why shouldn’t I be impatient?
5 Look at me, and be astonished.
Lay your hand on your mouth.
6 When I remember, I am troubled.
Horror takes hold of my flesh.

7 “Why do the wicked live,
become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?
8 Their child is established with them in their sight,
their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear,
neither is the rod of God upon them.
10 Their bulls breed without fail.
Their cows calve, and don’t miscarry.
11 They send out their little ones like a flock.
Their children dance.
12 They sing to the tambourine and harp,
and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their days in prosperity.
In an instant they go down to Sheol.[a]
14 They tell God, ‘Depart from us,
for we don’t want to know about your ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’
16 Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

17 “How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out,
that their calamity comes on them,
that God distributes sorrows in his anger?
18 How often is it that they are as stubble before the wind,
as chaff that the storm carries away?
19 You say, ‘God lays up his iniquity for his children.’
Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it.
20 Let his own eyes see his destruction.
Let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what does he care for his house after him,
when the number of his months is cut off?

22 “Shall any teach God knowledge,
since he judges those who are high?
23 One dies in his full strength,
being wholly at ease and quiet.
24 His pails are full of milk.
The marrow of his bones is moistened.
25 Another dies in bitterness of soul,
and never tastes of good.
26 They lie down alike in the dust.
The worm covers them.

27 “Behold, I know your thoughts,
the plans with which you would wrong me.
28 For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince?
Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’
29 Haven’t you asked wayfaring men?
Don’t you know their evidences,
30 that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity,
that they are led out to the day of wrath?
31 Who will declare his way to his face?
Who will repay him what he has done?
32 Yet he will be borne to the grave.
Men will keep watch over the tomb.
33 The clods of the valley will be sweet to him.
All men will draw after him,
as there were innumerable before him.
34 So how can you comfort me with nonsense,
because in your answers there remains only falsehood?”

22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

2 “Can a man be profitable to God?
Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous?
Or does it benefit him that you make your ways perfect?
4 Is it for your piety that he reproves you,
that he enters with you into judgment?
5 Isn’t your wickedness great?
Neither is there any end to your iniquities.
6 For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing,
and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You haven’t given water to the weary to drink,
and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth.
The honorable man, he lived in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty,
and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
10 Therefore snares are around you.
Sudden fear troubles you,
11 or darkness, so that you can not see,
and floods of waters cover you.

12 “Isn’t God in the heights of heaven?
See the height of the stars, how high they are!
13 You say, ‘What does God know?
Can he judge through the thick darkness?
14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see.
He walks on the vault of the sky.’
15 Will you keep the old way,
which wicked men have trodden,
16 who were snatched away before their time,
whose foundation was poured out as a stream,
17 who said to God, ‘Depart from us!’
and, ‘What can the Almighty do for us?’
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things,
but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 The righteous see it, and are glad.
The innocent ridicule them,
20 saying, ‘Surely those who rose up against us are cut off.
The fire has consumed their remnant.’

21 “Acquaint yourself with him now, and be at peace.
By it, good will come to you.
22 Please receive instruction from his mouth,
and lay up his words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up,
if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents.
24 Lay your treasure in the dust,
the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.
25 The Almighty will be your treasure,
and precious silver to you.
26 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty,
and will lift up your face to God.
27 You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you.
You will pay your vows.
28 You will also decree a thing, and it will be established to you.
Light will shine on your ways.
29 When they cast down, you will say, ‘be lifted up.’
He will save the humble person.
30 He will even deliver him who is not innocent.
Yes, he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

23 Then Job answered,

2 “Even today my complaint is rebellious.
His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
3 Oh that I knew where I might find him!
That I might come even to his seat!
4 I would set my cause in order before him,
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know the words which he would answer me,
and understand what he would tell me.
6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No, but he would listen to me.
7 There the upright might reason with him,
so I should be delivered forever from my judge.

8 “If I go east, he is not there.
If I go west, I can’t find him.
9 He works to the north, but I can’t see him.
He turns south, but I can’t catch a glimpse of him.

10 But he knows the way that I take.
When he has tried me, I will come out like gold.
11 My foot has held fast to his steps.
I have kept his way, and not turned away.
12 I haven’t gone back from the commandment of his lips.
I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
13 But he stands alone, and who can oppose him?
What his soul desires, even that he does.
14 For he performs that which is appointed for me.
Many such things are with him.
15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence.
When I consider, I am afraid of him.
16 For God has made my heart faint.
The Almighty has terrified me.
17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness,
neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.

24 “Why aren’t times laid up by the Almighty?
Why don’t those who know him see his days?
2 There are people who remove the landmarks.
They violently take away flocks, and feed them.
3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless,
and they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They turn the needy out of the way.
The poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5 Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert,
they go out to their work, seeking diligently for food.
The wilderness yields them bread for their children.
6 They cut their food in the field.
They glean the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They lie all night naked without clothing,
and have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains,
and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.
9 There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast,
and take a pledge of the poor,
10 so that they go around naked without clothing.
Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.
11 They make oil within the walls of these men.
They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst.
12 From out of the populous city, men groan.
The soul of the wounded cries out,
yet God doesn’t regard the folly.

13 “These are of those who rebel against the light.
They don’t know its ways,
nor stay in its paths.
14 The murderer rises with the light.
He kills the poor and needy.
In the night he is like a thief.
15 The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
saying, ‘No eye will see me.’
He disguises his face.
16 In the dark they dig through houses.
They shut themselves up in the daytime.
They don’t know the light.
17 For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness,
for they know the terrors of the thick darkness.

18 “They are foam on the surface of the waters.
Their portion is cursed in the earth.
They don’t turn into the way of the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters,
so does Sheol[b] those who have sinned.
20 The womb will forget him.
The worm will feed sweetly on him.
He will be no more remembered.
Unrighteousness will be broken as a tree.
21 He devours the barren who don’t bear.
He shows no kindness to the widow.
22 Yet God preserves the mighty by his power.
He rises up who has no assurance of life.
23 God gives them security, and they rest in it.
His eyes are on their ways.
24 They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone.
Yes, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others,
and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.
25 If it isn’t so now, who will prove me a liar,
and make my speech worth nothing?”