The Book of Job

Chapter 1
1 There was a man in the land of Uz. Job was his name. This man was flawless and upright, fearing Elohim and keeping away from evil.
2 Seven sons and three daughters were born to him,
3 and his acquisitions came to be seven thousand small cattle, three thousand camels, five hundred pair of oxen and five hundred jennies, beside very many servants, so that this man came to be the greatest of all the sons of the east.
4 Now his sons would go and hold a feast, each in his house on his day, and they would send and call to their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
5 And it came to be when the feast days were concluded, that Job would send and have them hallowed. He would rise early in the morning and offer up ascent offerings in number as them all. For Job would say, Perhaps my sons have sinned and have scorned Elohim in their heart. Thus Job was doing for all these days.
6 There was a day when the sons of Elohim would come to station themselves before Yahweh, and the Adversary came also in their midst.
7 Yahweh said to the Adversary, From where are you coming? Then the Adversary answered Yahweh and said, From going to and fro in the earth and from walking about in it.
8 So Yahweh said to the Adversary, Have you set your heart on My servant Job? For there is no one like him on earth, a man flawless and upright, fearing Elohim and keeping away from evil.
9 Then the Adversary answered Yahweh, saying, Does Job fear Elohim gratuitously?
10 Have you yourself not hedged him about, and about his house and about all that is his all around? The work of his hands you have blessed, and his cattle breach forth throughout the countryside.
11 Nevertheless, now put forth your hand and touch all that is his. He shall assuredly scorn you to your face.
12 Hence Yahweh said to the Adversary, Behold, all that he has is in your hand, but you must not put forth your hand upon himself. Then the Adversary went forth from Yahweh’s presence.
13 Now the day came when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their brother, the firstborn.
14 And a messenger came to Job and said, The oxen were plowing, and the jennies were grazing at their sides,
15 when the Sabeans swooped down and took them. Then they smote the lads with the edge of the sword, yet I escaped, but I myself alone, to tell it to you.
16 This one was still speaking when another came and said, The fire of Elohim, it fell from the heavens, it consumed the small cattle and the lads, and it devoured them, yet I escaped, but I myself alone, to tell it to you.
17 This one was still speaking when another came and said, The Chaldeans, they formed three bands, and they merged on the camels and took them. Then they smote the lads with the edge of the sword, yet I escaped, but I myself alone, to tell it to you.
18 This one was still speaking when another came and said, Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their brother, the firstborn,
19 when behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness, and it assaulted the four corners of the house. It fell upon the young people, and they died, yet I escaped, but I myself alone, to tell it to you.
20 Then Job arose, tore his robe and sheared his head. He fell to the earth and worshiped.
21 And he said, Naked I came forth from the belly of my mother, and naked I shall return there. Yahweh, He gives, and Yahweh, He takes away. Blessed be the Name of Yahweh.
22 In all this, Job neither sinned nor ascribed anything improper to Elohim.

Chapter 2
1 The day came around again when the sons of Elohim came to station themselves before Yahweh, and the Adversary came also in their midst to station himself before Yahweh.
2 Yahweh said to the Adversary, From where are you coming? Then the Adversary answered Yahweh, saying, From going to and fro in the earth and from walking about in it.
3 Yahweh said to the Adversary, Have you set your heart on My servant Job? For there is no one like him on earth, a man flawless and upright, fearing Elohim and keeping away from evil. And he still is holding fast to his integrity, though you would incite Me against him to swallow him up gratuitously.
4 Then the Adversary answered Yahweh, saying, Skin in behalf of skin, for all that a man has would he give in behalf of his soul.
5 Nevertheless, now put forth your hand and touch his bone and his flesh. He shall assuredly scorn you to your face.
6 Hence Yahweh said to the Adversary, Behold him in your hand; only keep his soul alive.
7 Then the Adversary went forth from Yahweh’s presence, and he smote Job with evil boils from the sole of his foot unto his scalp.
8 So he took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with it as he was sitting in the midst of ashes.
9 Then his wife said to him, Are you still holding fast to your integrity? Scorn Elohim and die.
10 Yet he said to her, As some decadent woman speaks are you speaking. Indeed should we receive good from the One, Elohim, and should we not receive evil? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips.
11 Now three associates of Job heard about all this evil coming on him, and they set out, each one from his place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come and condole with him and comfort him.
12 When they lifted their eyes from afar, they did not recognize him. Then they lifted their voice and lamented, while each one tore his robe, and they sprinkled soil toward the heavens on their heads.
13 They sat with him on the earth seven days and seven nights. And there was no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

Chapter 3
1 Afterward Job opened his mouth, and he maledicted his day.
2 Thus Job asserted, saying:
3 May the day perish in which I was born, And the night that said, A master is engendered!
4 That day! let it be darkness; Let not Eloah from above seek after it, And let not a light beam shine on it.
5 May darkness and the blackest shadow redeem it back; May a cloud tabernacle over it; May rolling fogs of the day frighten it.
6 That night! may gloom take hold of it; May it not be one of the days of the year; In the numbering of the months, may it not enter.
7 Behold, that night! may it be stark; Let no jubilant song enter into it.
8 May those who curse the day revile it, Who are equipped to rouse the dragon.
9 May the stars of its morning twilight be darkened; May it expect light and there be none, And let it not see the eyelids of the dawn.
10 For it did not close the doors of my mother’s belly Or conceal misery from my eyes.
11 Why did I not die from the womb, From the belly come forth and breathe my last?
12 For what reason did two knees anticipate me, And why the two breasts that I could suck?
13 For now I would lie and be quiet; I would sleep; then there would be rest for me,
14 With kings and counselors of the earth, The builders of desert tombs for themselves,
15 Or with chiefs who had gold, Who were filling their houses with silver.
16 Why was I not like a buried stillborn child, Like babes who have not seen light?
17 There the wicked leave off all disturbance, And there those wearied from vigor are resting.
18 Prisoners are tranquil together; They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.
19 Small or great, he is there, And the servant is free from his lords.
20 Why is He giving light to the miserable, And life to the bitter of soul
21 (Who tarry for death, yet it is not coming, And delve for it more than for buried treasures,
22 Who rejoice unto exultation, And are elated when they find the tomb),
23 To a master whose way is concealed When Eloah has screened him about?
24 For like my bread comes my sighing, And my roarings pour forth like water.
25 For the alarm I am afraid of, it arrives for me, And that which I shrink from comes to me.
26 I have no ease, and I am not quiet; I have no rest, and disturbance keeps coming.

Chapter 4
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, saying:
2 Can one try a word with you? You would tire; Yet who is able to restrain from declarations?
3 Behold, you have admonished many, And you reinforced slacking hands.
4 Your declarations raised one who was stumbling, And you made the bowing knees resolute.
5 But now it is coming on you, and you tire; It is touching unto you, and you are flustered.
6 Is not your devout fear your confidence, And your flawless ways your expectation?
7 Remember, I pray, who that is innocent perishes? And where are the upright suppressed?
8 Just as I have seen, those who plow lawlessness And sow misery are reaping it.
9 By the breath of Eloah are they perishing, And by the spirit of His nostrils are they being consumed.
10 The roaring of the lion and the voice of the black lion are gone, And the teeth of the sheltered lions are broken out;
11 The long-maned lion is perishing from lack of prey, And the cubs of the lioness are parted away.
12 Now a word was brought stealthily to me, And my ear took hold of a little buzz of it.
13 In disquieting thoughts from visions of the night, In that stupor which falls on mortals,
14 Alarm befell me and quivering, And it made the multitude of my bones afraid.
15 Then a wind passed by before my face; The hair of my flesh bristled.
16 Something stood there, yet I could not recognize its appearance; A representation was in front of my eyes; It was still, and I heard a voice:
17 Can a mortal be righteous before Eloah? Or a master be pure before his Maker?
18 If He places no faith in His servants, And He charges His messengers with impropriety,
19 How much more so those who tabernacle in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the soil? Forces crush them like a moth.
20 Between morning and evening they are being pounded; Without being regarded, they perish permanently.
21 Has not their tent cord been pulled up from them? They die, but not with wisdom.

Chapter 5
1 Call now! is there one who will answer you? And to whom from the holy ones shall you face?
2 Indeed vexation shall kill the foolish man, And jealousy shall put the simple one to death.
3 I myself have seen a foolish man taking root, And I saw his homestead suddenly reviled:
4 May his sons go far from safety, And may they be crushed in the gate when there is no rescuer.
5 His harvest, the hungry one shall eat, And he shall take it away to secluded places; And the thirsting one will gasp for their estate.
6 For sorrow does not grow forth from the soil, And from the ground, misery does not sprout,
7 But humanity is born to misery, Even as sparks of burning coal fly aloft.
8 Nevertheless, as for me, I inquire of El, And before Elohim do I place my cause,
9 Doer of great deeds, of which there is no fathoming, Marvelous works of which there is no enumeration,
10 Who is giving rain on the surface of the earth And sending waters over the surface of the open places.
11 In order to set the lowly on high, And so the somber may become impregnable in safety,
12 He is annulling the devisings of the crafty, So that their hands may not achieve prosperity,
13 Seizing the wise in their craftiness, So that the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.
14 By day they encounter darkness, And they grope at noon as in the night.
15 Yet He saves the needy from the sword of their mouth And from the hand of the unyielding.
16 Hence there comes to be expectation for the poor one, And iniquity, it shuts its mouth.
17 Behold, happy is the mortal whom Eloah corrects; Thus you must not reject the admonition of Him Who-Suffices.
18 For He Himself causes pain, and He shall bind up; He transfixes, and His hands, they shall heal.
19 In six distresses He shall rescue you, And in seven, evil shall not touch you.
20 In famine, He will ransom you from death, And in battle from the hands of the sword.
21 From scourge of tongue shall you be hidden, And you shall not fear devastation when it comes.
22 Devastation and starvation shall you ridicule, And you shall certainly not fear the wild animal of the land.
23 For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, And the wild animal of the field will be at peace with you.
24 You will know that your tent lies in peace, And you will check over your homestead and shall not miss anything.
25 You will know also that your seed will be abundant, And your offspring like the herbage of the earth.
26 You shall come to the tomb in mature age, Like a shock of grain that ascends in its season.
27 Behold this, we have investigated it; it is so; Do hear it; and you, get to know it for yourself.

Chapter 6
1 Then Job answered, saying:
2 O that my vexation could be weighed, yea weighed, And they could take up my woe upon the scales together with it.
3 Because now it is heavier than the sand of the seas, Therefore my words are impetuous.
4 For the arrows of Him Who-Suffices are in me; Their venom is what my spirit has been drinking; Frightenings from Eloah are arrayed against me.
5 Does an onager bray over verdure? Would a bull low over its fodder?
6 Is insipid food being eaten without salt? Or is there taste in the ooze of purslane?
7 My soul refuses to touch them; They are like bread of sickness to me.
8 O that my request would come, That Eloah would grant my expectation,
9 That Eloah would be disposed to crush me! May He let loose His hand and clip me off!
10 Then there would still be this consolation for me, While I flinch in the travail which He is not sparing, That I have not suppressed the words of the Holy One.
11 What is my vigor that I should wait? And what is my end that I should prolong my soul?
12 Is my vigor the vigor of stones, Or my flesh like bronze?
13 Isn’t it that there is nothing in me to help myself, And all prosperity has been driven away from me?
14 One who is in meltdown should have kindness from his associates, Even if he should forsake the fear of Him Who-Suffices.
15 My brothers, they are treacherous like a wadi, Like a channel of wadis that overflow,
16 That become somber because of ice, And snow obscures them.
17 In the season when they thaw they are effaced; In the bright warmth they are extinguished from their place.
18 Caravans are sent aside from their way; They ascend into the wasteland and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema look for waters; The wayfarers of Sheba expect to find them.
20 But they are ashamed that each one trusted the place; They come to it, and they are abashed.
21 Thus have you now become to me; You see catastrophe, and you are fearful.
22 Indeed have I said, Grant something to me? Or, Pay a bribe from your fortune in my behalf?
23 Or, Deliver me forth from the hand of a foe? Or, You shall ransom me from the hand of terrifiers?
24 Direct me, and I shall keep silent, And where I have erred, make me understand.
25 How savory are words of uprightness, Yet how can correction from you be correcting?
26 Are you designing to correct with declarations, Yet treat as wind the words of a desperate man?
27 Indeed, you would cast lots for the orphan, And you would barter over your associate.
28 Yet now be kindly disposed; face me; I shall assuredly not lie to your face.
29 Relent, I pray; let it not become iniquity, And relent further; my righteousness is at stake in it.
30 Is there iniquity on my tongue? Or does not my palate understand woes?

Chapter 7
1 Has not a mortal a hard enlistment on the earth? And his days, are they not like the days of a hireling?
2 Like a slave who is gasping after shade, And like a hireling who is expecting his wages,
3 So am I allotted months of futility for myself, And nights of misery have they assigned to me.
4 When I lie down, then I say, When shall I rise? Yet the evening is interminable, And I am surfeited with restlessness until the morning twilight.
5 My flesh is clothed with maggot and dirty scab; My skin is split apart and is fetid.
6 My days are fleeter than a weaver’s shuttle, And they shall conclude with the limit of the weaving thread.
7 Remember that my life is a wind; My eye shall not turn back to see good.
8 The eye of Him with sight shall not regard me; Your eyes will look for me, but I will not be there.
9 As a cloud vanishes and goes away, So one descending to the unseen shall not ascend.
10 He shall not return any more to his house, And his place shall not recognize him again.
11 Indeed for me, I shall not keep back my mouth; O let me speak in the distress of my spirit; O let me importune in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I the sea or the sea monster That You should place a guard over me?
13 For I said, My cot shall comfort me; My bed shall bear away my concern;
14 Yet You have dismayed me with dreams, And with visions You have frightened me.
15 So my soul would choose strangling, Death, rather than my bodily staunchness.
16 I reject this; I would not live for the eon; Let me alone, for my days are a transitory breath.
17 What is a mortal that You should make a great thing of him, Or that You should set Your heart on him?
18 Or You should check him every morning, And You should test him every moment?
19 How long? Shall You never take Your probing heed from me, Never let me relax even until I swallow my saliva?
20 I have sinned, Yet what do I contrive against You, O Preserver of mankind? Why have You established me as Your target mark, That I should become a load to You?
21 Why do You not bear my transgression And pass over my depravity? For now I shall lie in the soil, And You would seek me early, but I will not be there.

Chapter 8
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, saying:
2 How long shall you declare these things, And the sayings of your mouth be such abundant wind?
3 Does El distort judgment, And should He Who-Suffices distort justice?
4 If your sons sin against Him, Then He shall cast them out into the grip of their transgression.
5 Yet if you yourself seek early for El, And to Him Who-Suffices you supplicate,
6 If you are spotless and upright, Even now He would rouse Himself over you, And He would bring peace to your righteous homestead.
7 So your beginning will seem inferior, Yet your latter state shall grow very great.
8 For ask, I pray, of the former generation, And survey the investigations of their fathers.
9 For we are of yesterday, and we know nothing, For our days on the earth are but a shadow.
10 Shall they not direct you, apprise you And bring forth declarations from their heart?
11 Can papyrus grow with no marsh? Can marsh grass grow great without water?
12 Even while it is in its full pollination, though it be not plucked, Yet it would dry up before all other grass.
13 So are the paths laid for all those forgetting El, And so the expectation of the polluted man shall perish,
14 He whose confidence is cut asunder, And his trust is a spider’s house.
15 He leans on his house, but it does not stand; He holds fast to it, but it does not stand firm.
16 He is moist in the presence of the sun, And his young shoots are sent forth throughout his garden.
17 His roots become tangled about a mound; He holds on a house of stones.
18 But if one swallows him up from his place, Then it disavows him: I have not seen you.
19 Behold, this is the elation of his brief way, And from the soil others shall sprout.
20 Behold, El Himself does not reject the flawless man, And He does not hold fast on the hand of evildoers.
21 He shall yet fill your mouth with mirth, And your lips with joyful shouting.
22 Those hating you shall be clothed with shame, And the tent of the wicked, it shall be no more.

Chapter 9
1 So Job answered, saying:
2 Truly I know that this is so, Yet how can a mortal be righteous before El?
3 If he desires to contend with Him, He could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
4 He is wise in heart and resolute in vigor; Who has stiffened himself against Him and fared well?
5 He is the One shifting mountains, and they do not know it, Who overturns them in His anger,
6 The One disturbing the earth from its place, So that its columns are shuddering,
7 The One speaking to the sun’s disk so that it does not rise, And Who places a seal about the stars,
8 Who alone is stretching out the heavens, And Who is treading on the high swells of the sea,
9 Who is making the Great Bear, Orion And the Pleiades, besides the chambers of the south,
10 Who is doing great wonders until there can be no fathoming, And marvelous works until there can be no numbering.
11 Behold, when He passes before me I cannot see Him, And when He passes by, I cannot detect Him.
12 Behold, should He abduct, who could turn Him back? Who could say to Him, What are You doing?
13 Eloah, He does not reverse His anger; The helpers of Rahab prostrate beneath Him.
14 Indeed, how should I answer Him Or choose my words with Him?
15 I, who, though I were righteous, am not answered When I am supplicating to my Judge.
16 If I call out, and He should answer me, I could not believe that He is giving ear to my voice.
17 He Who is hurting me with a hurricane, And Who has multiplied my injuries gratuitously,
18 He does not allow me to get back my wind, But rather He surfeits me with bitter things.
19 As for vigor, behold the Resolute One, And as for judgment, who can summon Him?
20 Though I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; Though I were flawless, He would declare me perverse.
21 Were I flawless, I would not know my own soul; I would reject my life.
22 It is all one. Therefore I say, Both the flawless and wicked one Will He bring to their end.
23 If a scourge brings death suddenly, He derides the trial of the innocent.
24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He covers the faces of its judges; If not He, indeed who is it?
25 My days are fleeter than a runner; They race away; they see no good.
26 They pass on like ships of bulrush, Like the vulture that pounces down on its food.
27 If I say, Let me forget my concern, Let me set my face free and smile,
28 I still shrink before all my griefs; I know that You do not hold me innocent.
29 I am already being condemned; Why is this that I should be wearied in vain?
30 If I washed myself with waters of snow And purged my palms in purity,
31 Then You would dip me in the slough, And my own raiment would abhor me.
32 For He is not a man like me that I should assert to Him: Let us come together for judgment.
33 There is not any arbitrator between us, Who could set his hand on us both.
34 Let Him withdraw His club from me, And let not the dread of Him frighten me.
35 Let me speak and not fear Him, But I am not so within myself.

Chapter 10
1 My soul is disgusted with my life; Let me give free rein to myself and my concern; Let me speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 Let me say to Eloah, O do not condemn me! Let me know why You contend with me!
3 Is it good to You that You should work harm, That You should reject the labor of Your palms, And that You shine on the counsel of the wicked?
4 Do You have eyes of flesh? Can You see as a mortal sees?
5 Are Your days like a mortal’s days, Or Your years like the days of a human master,
6 That You should seek out my depravity And should inquire into my sin,
7 Although Your knowledge is that I am not wicked, And there is no one rescuing from Your hand?
8 Your hands shaped me and made me; Yet afterward You swallow me up round about.
9 Remember, I pray, that You molded me like clay, And You shall turn me back to soil.
10 Did You not pour me forth like milk And curdle me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh, And hedged me together with bones and sinews.
12 Life and benignity have You granted to me, And Your supervision has guarded my spirit.
13 Yet these things You secluded in Your heart; I know that this was in Your mind:
14 If I sin, then You observe me, And You do not hold me innocent of my depravity.
15 If I am wicked, woe to me! Yet if I am righteous, I shall not lift up my head, Surfeited with dishonor and satiated with my humiliation.
16 August, You hunt me like a black lion; Then You again and again send marvelous works against me.
17 You renew Your testimonies in front of me, And You increase Your vexation against me; Changes of hosts come upon me.
18 Then why did You bring me forth from the womb? I would have breathed my last, and no eye would have seen me.
19 I would have been just as if I had not come into being; I would have been fetched from the belly to the tomb.
20 Are not the days of my transient lifetime few? Turn away from me that I may smile a little,
21 Ere I go away and not return, To a country of darkness and the blackest shadow,
22 A country of such faintness as deepest gloom, Of blackest shadow and disorder, And which shines like deepest gloom.

Chapter 11
1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered, saying:
2 Shall this multitude of words not be answered? And should this man of glib lips be found righteous?
3 Shall your inventions turn men to silence? And shall you keep deriding while there is no one criticizing?
4 Now you say, My doctrine is spotless, And I am purified in Your eyes.
5 Nevertheless O that Eloah would speak, That He should open His lips before you!
6 Then He would tell you obscured secrets of wisdom, For reality has double sides; Hence know this: that Eloah is granting you oblivion of some of your depravity.
7 Can you find out the fathoming of Eloah? Could you find out the perfection of Him Who-Suffices?
8 These are loftier than the heavens; what can you contrive? Deeper than the unseen; what can you know?
9 Its measure is longer than the earth And wider than the sea.
10 If He should pass by or lock up Or call an assembly, who could turn Him back?
11 For He Himself knows men of hypocrisy; When He sees lawlessness, shall He not consider?
12 The hollow man shall become wise of heart Whenever the colt of an onager is born a human.
13 If you yourself prepare your heart, And you spread out your palms to Him,
14 If lawlessness is in your hand, put it far away, And do not allow iniquity to tabernacle in your tents,
15 Then without blemish, you may lift up your face, And you will become solidly set and shall not fear.
16 For you would forget the misery; You would remember it only like waters that have passed.
17 And higher than the noonday sun your life-course shall rise; Should it be faint, it shall become like the morning.
18 You will trust because there will be expectation; When you reconnoiter, you may lie down in trust.
19 When you recline, there will be no trembling, And many will beseech your face.
20 Yet the eyes of the wicked shall be exhausted, And flight to safety will perish for them And their expectation become an expiring of soul.

Chapter 12
1 So Job answered, saying:
2 Truly, you are the people, And with you wisdom shall die!
3 However, I have heart understanding as well as you; I am not falling behind you; For who is there not knowing such things as these?
4 As the sport of his associates am I becoming, Who was calling on Eloah, and He answered him, Made sport of, though righteous and flawless.
5 Contempt for misfortune is in the reflections of the self-satisfied one, Readied for those of tottering feet.
6 The tents of devastators are at ease, And for those disturbing El there is serenity, For him who brings along an eloah in his hand.
7 Nevertheless, ask, I pray, one of the beasts, and let it direct you, And the flyer of the heavens, and let it tell you,
8 Or importune to the earth, and it shall direct you, And let the fish of the sea recount it to you.
9 Who among all these does not know That the hand of Eloah, it has done this?
10 In Whose hand is the soul of every living creature And the spirit in all flesh of man.
11 Does not the ear test declarations As the palate tastes its food?
12 Does wisdom come with being hoary headed, And understanding with length of days?
13 With Him are wisdom and mastery; His are counsel and understanding.
14 If He demolishes, it shall not be rebuilt, Or He locks up a man, it shall not be opened.
15 If He restrains the waters, they shall dry up, Or He sends them forth, they shall overrun the earth.
16 With Him are strength and prosperity; Both the erring one and the one causing error are His.
17 Causing counselors to go forth looted, He also makes judges rave as fools.
18 He unlooses the disciplining authority of kings, And He binds a belt about their waists.
19 Causing priests to go forth looted, He also overthrows the well-established.
20 Putting away the eloquence of the sure, He also takes away the discretion of elders.
21 Pouring out contempt on patrons, He also makes the cordon of the mighty repressors fall slack.
22 Exposing the deep things out of darkness, He also brings forth the blackest shadow to light.
23 Making nations grow great, He also destroys them; Spreading out nations, He also guides them away.
24 Putting away heart understanding from the heads of the people of the earth, He also causes them to stray in a wayless wasteland.
25 They grope in darkness with no light, And He makes them stray like a drunkard.

Chapter 13
1 Behold, my eye has seen all these things; My ear has heard and understands it.
2 Where you have knowledge, so also do I know; I am not falling behind you.
3 Nevertheless, as for me, I would speak to Him Who-Suffices, And to plead with El is what I desire.
4 Nevertheless, you are smearing with falsehood; Useless healers are all of you.
5 O that you would keep silent, yea silent, That would be wisdom for you.
6 Hear now my pleading, And to the arguments of my lips, attend.
7 Is it for El that you speak iniquity? And for Him that you speak deceitfully?
8 Would you show partiality toward Him? Would you contend for El?
9 Would it be well if He were investigating you? Could you delude Him as one deludes a mortal?
10 He shall reprove, yea reprove you If in secrecy you show partiality.
11 Will His majestic bearing not frighten you, And alarm of Him fall upon you?
12 Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; Your bulwarks are bulwarks of clay.
13 Keep silent before me, and do let me speak, And let whatever comes pass upon me.
14 I shall take up my flesh in my teeth And place my soul in my palm.
15 Behold, He may despatch me, yet I shall wait for Him; Yea, I shall plead my ways before His face.
16 Moreover, this will be salvation for me, For a polluted man would not come before Him.
17 Hear, yea hear my declaration, And let my disclosure come into your ears.
18 Behold now, I have arranged a plea; I know that I shall be found righteous.
19 Who is he who shall contend against me? For I would then keep silent and breathe my last.
20 Only two things, O do not do to me; Then I shall not conceal myself from Your face:
21 Keep Your palm far from me, And let not the dread of You frighten me.
22 Either call, and I shall answer, Or I shall speak; then, I pray, reply to me.
23 How many are my depravities and sins? Let me know my transgression and my sin.
24 Why should You conceal Your face And reckon me as Your enemy?
25 Would You terrify a leaf being whisked away? And would You pursue dry stubble?
26 That You may list bitter things against me, And impute to me the depravities of my youth,
27 And that You may place my feet in shackles And keep watch over all my paths; That You may set a statute for the bottoms of my feet.
28 A man, like a rotten thing, he is disintegrating, Like a cloak when a moth has eaten it.

Chapter 14
1 A human, born of a woman, Is short of days and surfeited with disturbance.
2 He comes forth like a blossom and is snipped off; He races away like a shadow and does not stand.
3 Indeed, it is on one like this that You focus Your eyes, And You bring me into judgment before You.
4 Who can make what is clean from the unclean? No one.
5 Since his days are decided, The number of his months are set by You, And You have made his statutory time, Which he cannot surpass,
6 Be heedless of him, and forbear, Until, like a hireling, he may fill in his days.
7 For there is expectation for a tree: If it is cut down, then it may rejuvenate again, And its young shoots may not be halted.
8 If its roots grow old in the earth, And its trunk-base dies in the soil,
9 At the scent of water it shall bud, And it will produce harvest branches like a plant.
10 Yet a master shall die and be laid defeated; A human shall breathe his last, and where is he?
11 As waters depart from a lake, And a stream is drained and dries up,
12 So a man lies down and shall not rise; Until the heavens fail, they shall not awake, Nor shall they be roused from their sleep.
13 O that You would seclude me in the unseen, That You would conceal me until Your anger turns back, That You would set a statutory time for me and then remember me.
14 If a master dies shall he live again? All the days of my enlistment I shall wait until my relief comes.
15 You shall call, and I shall answer You; You shall long for the work of Your hands.
16 Even if You are now numbering my steps, You shall then no longer observe my sin,
17 My transgression shall be sealed up in a pouch, And You shall cover over my depravity.
18 Nevertheless, even the mountain falls and decays, And the rock shifts from its place.
19 Water reduces stones to powder; The flattening rain overflows the soil of the earth; So do You cause the expectation of a mortal to perish.
20 You overpower him permanently, and he goes away; His face alters, and You send him afar.
21 His sons may attain glory, yet he does not know it; Or they may be discredited, yet he does not understand it of them.
22 Yea, his flesh shall be in pain over himself, And his soul shall mourn over his state.

Chapter 15
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, saying:
2 Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge? Or should he fill his belly with the east wind?
3 Ought he to plead with speech that is unprofitable, And with declarations that have no benefit in them?
4 Yet you, indeed you quash devout fear, And you deprecate pious meditation before El.
5 For your depravity trains your mouth, So that you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, not I, And your lips answer against you.
7 Are you the first human ever born? Were you travailed in birth before the hills?
8 Do you hear the deliberation of Eloah, Or do you hold a monopoly for yourself on wisdom?
9 What do you know that we do not know, Or understand, and it is not with us?
10 Among us are both the greyhaired and hoary headed, More abundant in days than your father.
11 Are the consolations of El a little thing for you, Or the word gently shared with you?
12 Why does your heart take you away, And why do your eyes scowl,
13 That you should reverse your spirit against El And send forth these declarations from your mouth?
14 What is a mortal that he should be cleared, Or that one born of a woman should be found righteous?
15 If even on His holy ones, He puts no reliance, And the heavens are not purged in His eyes,
16 How much less man, Who is abhorrent and spoiled, Who is drinking iniquity like water.
17 I shall disclose it to you; hear me; This which I have perceived, let me recount it,
18 That which the wise can tell, And they suppressed nothing received from their fathers,
19 (To them, to them alone was given the countryside, And no alien passed in their midst):
20 All the days of the wicked man, he is travailing, Even throughout the number of years that are stored up for the terrifier.
21 The sound of alarming things is in his ears; When at peace, the devastator comes against him.
22 He cannot believe in restoration from darkness, And he must be on watch for the sword.
23 He is wandering about as bread for the falcon; He knows that the day of darkness is ready at hand.
24 Frightening him are distress and constraint; It shall overpower him like a king equipped for onslaught.
25 For he has stretched his hand out against El, And he makes himself an arrogant master against Him Who-Suffices.
26 He runs against Him with neck armor, With his thickly bossed shields.
27 Indeed he has covered his face with his fat, And he gathers fat pads on his hips.
28 Yet he shall tabernacle in suppressed cities, Houses in which no one shall later dwell, That are destined to become mounds.
29 He shall not be enriched; His estate shall not rise, And his shadow shall not stretch out over the earth.
30 He shall not be taken away from darkness; The blaze shall dry up his young shoot, And his bud shall be taken away by the wind.
31 Let him not rely on futility; He will be led astray, For his palm tree shall become futility.
32 When not yet its day, it shall be snipped off, And its fronds shall not be flourishing.
33 Like a vine he shall cast down his unripe grape, And he shall fling off his blossom like an olive.
34 For the congregation of the polluted is stark, And fire devours the tents of bribery.
35 They engender misery and beget lawlessness, And their belly, it prepares deceit.

Chapter 16
1 So Job answered, saying:
2 I have heard many things like these; Miserable comforters are you all.
3 Will there be an end to such windy words? Or what is so painful to you that you should answer?
4 I myself also could speak like you; O that your soul were in the place of my soul: I would indeed join declarations together against you, And I would indeed wag my head over you.
5 I could make you resolute with my mouth, And the condolence of my lips would keep back grief.
6 When I do speak, my pain is not being kept back, Yet when I do forbear, what pain is going away from me?
7 Surely, now it has made me tired; You have made all my company desolate,
8 And You arrest me. This has become a witness, And it rises against me: That is, my emaciation answers against my face.
9 His anger has found a prey and assailed me; He gnashes at me with His teeth. My Opponent hones His eyes against me.
10 Men gape at me with their mouth; In reproach they smite my cheeks; They mass themselves together against me.
11 El surrenders me over to iniquitous men, And He precipitates me into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, and He quashed me; He held me by the nape of my neck, and He shattered me; He set me up as His target.
13 His multitudes surround me; He thrusts through my kidneys and does not spare; He pours out my bile on the earth.
14 He breaches me, breach adjoining breach; He runs upon me like a master of war.
15 I sewed sackcloth over my hide, And I plowed down my horn into the soil.
16 My face is swollen out from weeping, And on my eyelids is the blackest shadow,
17 Although there is no violence in my palms, And my prayer is spotless.
18 O earth, do not cover my blood, And let there be no place for my outcry to rest.
19 Even now, behold, my Witness is in the heavens, And my Guarantor is in the heights.
20 My associates are my mockers; My eye weeps forth to Eloah,
21 That He may plead between a master and Eloah, As between a son of humanity and his associate.
22 For the years few in number have arrived, And I shall go on the path where I shall not return.

Chapter 17
1 My spirit is devitalized; My days are extinct; The tombs are ready for me.
2 Assuredly, captious men are all around me, And my eye lodges all night upon their bitterness.
3 Lay down, I pray, surety for me with Yourself; Who is he that would clasp my hand in pledge?
4 For You have secluded their heart from intelligence; Therefore, You shall not exalt them.
5 Such a one denounces his associates for a portion, While the eyes of his own sons are failing.
6 He has put me down as a proverb to the people, So that I become one spit at to the face.
7 My eye grows dim from vexation, And my features, all of them, are like a shadow.
8 Upright men are appalled at this, And the innocent man rouses himself against the polluted man,
9 But the righteous one holds to his way, And the one of clean hands continues in resoluteness.
10 Nevertheless, all of you, come forward again, I pray; Though I shall not find a wise man among you.
11 My days have passed; My plans are pulled apart, Even the proposal of my heart.
12 They convert night into day, Making light seem near in the face of darkness.
13 Since I expect the unseen as my house, I will strew out my berth in darkness;
14 I will call out to corruption, My father are you, To the maggot, My mother and my sister.
15 Where indeed is my expectation? And any good for me, who can regard it?
16 Shall they descend by my side to the unseen, Or will our rest be together in the soil?

Chapter 18
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, saying:
2 How long before you shall make an end to these declarations? May you understand, and after that we shall speak.
3 For what reason are we reckoned like beasts Or counted unclean in your eyes?
4 O one tearing his soul to pieces in his anger, On account of you shall the earth be forsaken, And the rock be shifted from its place?
5 Indeed the light of the wicked shall be extinguished, And the flare of his fire shall not brighten.
6 The light in his tent, it will become dark, And his lamp above him, it shall be extinguished.
7 The steps of his virility shall become constricted, And his own counsel shall fling him down.
8 For he will be sent forth into a net by his own feet, And he shall walk about on the mesh.
9 A snare shall hold him by his heel; Thirst shall hold fast onto him.
10 The rope line is buried for him in the earth, And a seizing device for him on his track.
11 Decadent things frighten him round about, And they hound him at his every footstep.
12 His virility shall be turned to famishing, And calamity stands ready against his reproductive organs.
13 His skin shall be eaten by sickness; The firstborn of death shall eat his organs.
14 He shall be pulled away from his tent where his trust had dwelt; And it makes him march to the king of decadent things.
15 It shall tabernacle in his tent which no longer is his; Sulfur shall be sifted about his homestead.
16 From beneath, his roots dry up, And from above, his harvest branches are snipped off.
17 His remembrance perishes from the earth, And he has no name on the face of the open place.
18 They shall thrust him from light into darkness, And they shall chase him from the habitance.
19 He will have no progeny and no posterity among his people, And there will be no survivor in the places of his sojourning.
20 Westerners are appalled at his day of ruin, And easterners hold back in horror.
21 Surely these were the tabernacles of an iniquitous man, And this was the place of one who knew not El.

Chapter 19
1 So Job answered, saying:
2 How long shall you afflict my soul And crush me with declarations?
3 These ten times have you mortified me; You are not ashamed that you ill-treat me.
4 Yet indeed, even if I truly have erred, My error would lodge in me.
5 If truly you would magnify yourselves over me And plead against me my reproach,
6 Know indeed that Eloah Himself has overturned me, And His weir trap has encompassed me.
7 Behold, I am crying out: Violence! Yet I am not being answered; I am imploring, Yet there is no right judgment.
8 He has diked up my path, and I cannot pass; He settles darkness over my tracks.
9 My glory He has stripped from me, And He takes away the crown from my head.
10 He breaks me down round about, so that I go away, And He uproots my expectation like a tree.
11 He heats up His anger against me, And to Himself He reckons me as one of His foes.
12 His troops come together And heap up their road against me, And they encamp round about my tent.
13 He has put my brothers far away from me, And my acquaintances have surely alienated themselves from me.
14 My near kinsmen have shunned me, And my acquaintances have forgotten me.
15 The sojourners in my house and my maidservants reckon me as an alien; I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
16 I call to my servant, yet he does not answer; With my mouth I supplicate to him.
17 My scent has become alien to my wife, And I have become repellent to the sons of my mother’s womb.
18 Even youngsters have rejected me; I rise up, and they speak against me.
19 All men of my intimate group abhor me, And those I have loved are turned against me.
20 My bones cling to my skin and my flesh, And I escape only with the skin of my teeth.
21 Be gracious to me! be gracious to me, you, my associates! For the hand of Eloah has touched me.
22 Why are you pursuing me like El And are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 O that indeed my declarations were written down! O that they were delineated in a scroll,
24 With iron pen and lead, That they should be hewn in rock for the future!
25 Yet as for me, I know my Redeemer is living, And after this He shall arise on the soil;
26 And behind my skin I will stand erect, And from my flesh I shall perceive Eloah,
27 Whom I shall perceive for myself, And my own eyes will see, and not an alien. My innermost being is consumed in my bosom.
28 If you are saying, How may we pursue him? And: The root of the matter is found in him,
29 Shrink for yourselves from the presence of the sword (For fury brings the wretchedness of the sword) That you may know what adjudication is.

Chapter 20
1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered, saying:
2 Therefore my disquieting thoughts are causing me to reply, On account of my hurried sense within me.
3 I am hearing admonition meant for my mortification, And the spirit of my understanding makes me respond.
4 Don’t you know this, from long ago, From when humanity was placed on the earth,
5 That the jubilant song of the wicked is brief, And the rejoicing of the polluted lasts but a moment?
6 Even if his dignity ascends to the heavens, And his head touches the thick clouds,
7 He shall perish permanently like his own ordure; Those having seen him shall say, Where is he?
8 He shall fly away like a dream, and they shall not find him, For he shall be bolted away like a vision of the night.
9 The eye that glimpsed him shall not do so anymore, Neither shall his place regard him further.
10 His sons shall seek benevolence from the poor, When his hands relinquish their virility.
11 His bones were filled by his adolescence, Yet that gain shall lie with him in the soil.
12 Even if evil is sweet in his mouth, And he suppresses it under his tongue,
13 Though he spares it and does not forsake it, And he holds fast to it on the midst of his palate,
14 Yet his bread will be turned sour in his bowels; The bile of cobras is within him.
15 The estate he has swallowed down, he shall vomit it up; El shall evict it from his belly.
16 He shall suck the poison of cobras; The tongue of a puff-adder shall kill him.
17 He shall certainly not see the rillets, The streams of torrents of honey and clotted cream.
18 He must return the fruit of his labor and not swallow it down, And in the estate of his commerce, he has no enjoyment.
19 For he has maltreated, he has forsaken the poor; He has pillaged a house which he did not build.
20 For he has not known ease in his belly; From his coveting, he has not tried to escape.
21 There is nothing in store of his food. Therefore his bounty cannot hope to last.
22 When his affluence is full there shall be distress for him; Every means of misery shall come upon him.
23 It shall come to be, in order to fill his belly, That He shall send against him the heat of His anger And shall rain it upon him as his nourishment.
24 He shall run away from a weapon of iron; From a bronze bow it shall cut into him.
25 It will be pulled out and brought forth from his body, And a flashing blade from his bile; Dread shall come over him.
26 Total darkness lies buried for his secluded riches; A fire that was not blown upon shall devour him; It shall imperil anything surviving in his tent.
27 The heavens shall expose his depravity, And the earth will rise against him.
28 The deluge shall deport his house, Spilling over in the day of His anger.
29 This is the portion from Elohim for the wicked person, And the allotment assigned him by El.

Chapter 21
1 So Job answered, saying:
2 Hearken, yea hearken to my declaration, And let this be your consolations to me.
3 Bear with me while I am speaking, And after I have spoken, you may deride.
4 As for me, is my concern directed to a human? And if so, for what reason should not my spirit be impatient?
5 Face me, and be desolated, And place your hand over your mouth.
6 When I remember this, I am filled with panic, And shuddering takes hold of my flesh.
7 For what reason should the wicked live on? They develop and become masterful with potent power.
8 Their seed is established with them in their presence, And their offspring in front of their eyes.
9 Their houses remain in peace apart from alarm, And no club of Eloah is upon them.
10 Their bull impregnates and is never fruitless; Their young cow delivers and does not miscarry.
11 They let their youngsters go forth like the flock, And their children are dancing.
12 They take up tambourine and harp, And they rejoice to the sound of the shepherd’s pipe.
13 They finish their days in well-being, And they settle down in a quiet moment to the unseen.
14 Yet they say to El, Go away from us, For we do not desire a knowledge of Your ways.
15 What is He Who-Suffices that we should serve Him? And what benefit would we gain that we should make intercession to Him?
16 Behold, is not their good in their hand? (Still, the counsel of the wicked is far from me.)
17 How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished That their calamity comes on them, That He apportions cramps in His anger?
18 Do they become like crushed straw before the wind, Or like trash that the sweeping whirlwind steals away?
19 Is Eloah secluding payment for his lawlessness to give to his sons? May He repay him that he may know!
20 May his own eyes see his downfall, And may he drink of the fury of Him Who-Suffices.
21 For what is his delight in his house after he is gone, When the number of his months has run out?
22 Who shall teach knowledge to El, Since He Himself shall judge the exalted ones?
23 This one dies in his robust plentifulness, His whole state snug and at ease;
24 His viscera are full of fat, And the marrow of his bones is hearty.
25 Yet another dies with a bitter soul, Who has never eaten of good.
26 They lie together in the soil, And maggots cover them both.
27 Behold, I know your devisings And the schemes that you wrongly make against me.
28 For you are saying, Where is the house of the tyrant, And where are the tent tabernacles of the wicked?
29 Have you not asked those passing on the way, And do you not admit their evidence,
30 That the evil one is kept back in the day of calamity; In the day of rage they are escorted safely?
31 Who denounces his way to his face, And who repays him for what he himself has done?
32 When he is fetched to the burying ground, Watch is set alert over the grave-mound.
33 The clods of the wadi are sweet to him; All humanity draws out after him, And there is no numbering of those before him.
34 How then can you comfort me with vanity, When only offense remains in your replies?

Chapter 22
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, saying:
2 Is it to El that a master is profitable? Rather the intelligent one is profitable to himself.
3 Is it delight to Him Who-Suffices that you should be found righteous? And should it be His gain that your ways become flawless?
4 Is it because of your devout fear that He is correcting you, That He is entering into judgment with you?
5 Is it not because your evil is great, And there is no end to your depravities?
6 For you have exacted pledge of your brothers gratuitously, And you have stripped off the garments of the naked.
7 No water have you given the faint to drink, And from the hungry have you withheld bread.
8 The man of the arm of power, he has the land, And he of repute is dwelling in it.
9 Widows you have sent away empty, And the arms of orphans you have crushed.
10 Therefore, snares are round about you, And sudden alarm fills you with panic;
11 Light has become darkness so you cannot see, And a concourse of water is covering you.
12 Is not Eloah loftier than the heavens? See the topmost stars, how high they are.
13 Yet you say, What does El know? Can He judge through murkiness?
14 Thick clouds are a concealment for Him, so that He cannot see, And He walks about the circle of the heavens.
15 Are you keeping the path of the eon of old That the men of lawlessness trod,
16 Who were arrested when not yet their time, When a stream was poured over their foundation,
17 Who were saying to El, Withdraw from us, And, What can He Who-Suffices effect for us?
18 Yet He Himself had filled their houses with good; (Still the counsel of the wicked is far from me.)
19 The righteous see it and rejoice, And the innocent one derides them, saying:
20 Assuredly whoever rose against us is suppressed, And fire has devoured their surplus.
21 Be careful, I pray, toward Him, and fare well; By these means good shall come to you.
22 Take hold, I pray, to the law from His mouth, And place His sayings in your heart.
23 If you return unto Him Who-Suffices and you submit, If you put iniquity far from your tent
24 And set aside your gold ore upon the soil, And wealth of Ophir among the rocks of the wadis,
25 Then He Who-Suffices will become your gold ore And rich pinnacles of silver for you.
26 For then you shall find pleasure for yourself in Him Who-Suffices, And you shall lift up your face to Eloah.
27 You shall entreat Him, and He shall hear you, And you shall pay your vows.
28 When you prescribe a matter, it shall be confirmed to you, And light will brighten your ways.
29 When they abase, then you may claim pride, For He shall save the downcast of eyes.
30 He shall give escape to the innocent man, And you shall escape by the purity of your palms.

Chapter 23
1 So Job answered, saying:
2 Today as well, my concern will seem rebellious; His hand is heavy on my sighing.
3 O that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come unto His establishment!
4 I would arrange a plea before Him And fill my mouth with pleadings.
5 I would know the declarations with which He shall answer, And I would understand what He shall say to me.
6 Shall He contend against me with an abundance of vigor? Surely He Himself shall not place charges against me!
7 There an upright man could plead with Him; And I would be delivered permanently from my Judge.
8 Behold, I go to the east, and He is not there, And back again, and I cannot detect Him.
9 When He is working to the left, I do not perceive Him; He is draped to the right, and I do not see Him.
10 But He knows the way with me; When He tests me, I shall go forth like gold.
11 My feet have held closely to His movement; I have kept to His way and have not turned aside.
12 From the instruction of His lips I do not remove myself; I have secluded in my bosom the sayings of His mouth.
13 Yet He is One, and who can turn Him back? What His soul has yearned for He shall do.
14 For He shall accomplish what is marked out for me, And many other plans are with Him like these.
15 Therefore, I am flustered at His presence; When I consider I am afraid of Him.
16 El Himself has made my heart timorous, And He Who-Suffices has flustered me.
17 But I am not effaced because of darkness And because gloom has covered my face.

Chapter 24
1 For what reason have times for judgment not been set aside by Him Who-Suffices, And why do those knowing Him not perceive His days?
2 The wicked move away boundary markers; They pillage the drove and openly graze them.
3 The orphans’ donkey they lead away; They take the widow’s bull as a pledge.
4 They turn aside the needy from the way; The humbled of the earth must hide together.
5 Behold, like onagers in the wilderness They go forth early for prey, In their contriving until the evening; Yet no nourishment for their youths!
6 They reap in the field at night, And they scavenge in the vineyard of the wicked.
7 Naked, they lodge at night without clothing, And they have no covering for the cold.
8 They are doused by the mountain storm, And without a refuge they hug to a rock.
9 Yet others snatch the orphan from the breast, And they take as a pledge the infant of the humble.
10 Naked they go about without clothing, And hungry they carry the sheaf.
11 Without their songs they clarify oil; They tread the winevats yet are thirsty.
12 In the city the dying moan, And the soul of the wounded implores for help; Yet Eloah, He does not place charges of impropriety.
13 They are among those revolting against the light; They neither recognize its ways Nor dwell in its tracks.
14 When the light is gone the murderer arises; He despatches the humble and needy one; And in the night he continues as a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer keeps watch for the twilight, Saying, No eye can regard me; And he places a concealment over his face;
16 In the darkness he burrows into houses. By day they seal themselves up; They do not know the light.
17 For altogether morning is blackest shadow to them, For each one values the decadent things of the blackest shadow.
18 He is fleet over the surface of the waters. May their portion be dishonored on the land; May he not face the way of the vineyards.
19 May aridity and warmth siphon away the snow waters, And the unseen those who have sinned.
20 May the city square forget him, The maggot find him sweet; May he not be remembered any more, So that, like a tree, iniquity shall be broken down.
21 He has done evil to the barren one who bears not, And he has not done good for the widow.
22 He draws forth the sturdy ones by his vigor; He arises, and none can put reliance in their lives.
23 He gives serenity to him, and he leans back, Yet His eyes are on their ways.
24 They are exalted a little while, but each will be no more; They will be reduced; Like all others they shall be shut off, And like the head of a grainstalk they shall be snipped off.
25 But if not so, indeed who can prove me a liar Or establish my declaration as nothing?

Chapter 25
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, saying:
2 Rule and awesome might are with Him, Who is establishing peace in His heights.
3 Is it possible to number His troops, And on whom does His light not rise?
4 How then can a mortal be found righteous before El, And how can one born of woman be spotless?
5 If even the moon does not irradiate, And the stars, they are not spotless in His eyes,
6 How much less a mortal, that maggot, And a son of humanity, that worm?

Chapter 26
1 So Job answered, saying:
2 How you have helped one without vigor And saved an arm without strength!
3 How you have counseled one without wisdom, And the reality of things you have abundantly made known!
4 For whom have you told these declarations, And whose breath has come forth from you?
5 The Rephaim, they travailed, Those beneath the waters and tabernacling in them.
6 The unseen was naked in front of Him, And there was no covering for Abaddon.
7 He stretched out the north over the chaos, Hanging the earth upon nothingness.
8 He bundled up the waters in His thick clouds, And the cloud was not rent beneath them.
9 He held back the face of the full moon, Spreading over it His cloud.
10 He delineated the horizon over the surface of the waters, Unto the boundary of light with darkness.
11 The columns of the heavens were made to collapse And were stunned at His rebuke.
12 By His vigor He lulled the sea, And by His understanding He transfixed Rahab.
13 By His spirit the heavens were made seemly; His hand travailed with the fugitive serpent.
14 Behold, these are but the fringes of His ways, And what a little buzz of a word is heard of Him! Yet the thunder of His masterful deeds, who shall understand it?

Chapter 27
1 Then Job continued to lift up his discourse, saying:
2 As El lives, Who has taken away judgment for me, He Who-Suffices, Who has brought bitterness on my soul,
3 As long as my breath is yet whole within me And the spirit of Eloah is in my nostrils,
4 My lips shall assuredly not speak iniquity, And my tongue, it shall assuredly not utter deceit.
5 Far be it from me should I ever justify you; Until I breathe my last, I shall not put away my integrity from me.
6 I will hold fast to my righteousness, and I shall not relax; My heart shall never reproach me throughout my days.
7 May my enemy become like the wicked, And the one rising against me like the iniquitous.
8 For what is the expectation of the polluted when he is clipped off, When Eloah eases away his soul?
9 Shall El hearken to his cry? When distress comes upon him,
10 Would he find pleasure in Him Who-Suffices? Would he call on Eloah at all times?
11 I shall direct back to you these matters about the hand of El; What is concerning Him Who-Suffices I shall not suppress.
12 If all of you have perceived this yourselves, Then why are you vain with this transitory breath?
13 “This is the portion of a wicked person from El And the allotment terrifiers procure from Him Who-Suffices.
14 However many are his sons, for them is the sword, And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
15 In a death plague his survivors shall be entombed, And his widows shall not lament.
16 If he piles up silver like soil And lays clothing in store like clay,
17 He shall lay it in store, yet the righteous one shall put it on, And the innocent one shall apportion the silver.
18 He builds his house like a cocoon, And like a booth that a field-keeper makes.
19 He shall lie down rich, yet he may not do so again; When he uncloses his eyes it shall not be there.
20 Decadent things shall overtake him by day; A sweeping whirlwind will steal him away at night.
21 The east wind shall carry him off so that he is gone, And it shall toss him away in a hurricane from his place.
22 It shall fling violently against him and not spare As he runs away, yea away from its hand.
23 It shall slap its palms at him And hiss him away from his place.”

Chapter 28
1 Indeed, for silver there is a mine, And for gold a place where they may purify it.
2 Iron may be taken from the soil, And from ore copper may be smelted.
3 He puts an end to darkness, And to every limit is He fathoming The ore in gloom and blackest shadow.
4 A torrent breaches forth away from people, sojourning; The forgotten-ones going by foot become impoverished; Far from mortal man, they rove about.
5 The earth, from her is coming forth bread, Yet beneath her, all is overturned as though by fire,
6 A place where her stones are sapphire, And it has the soil of gold;
7 That track, the bird of prey does not know it, And the eye of the falcon has never glimpsed it;
8 The strutting beasts have never trod along it; The black lion has never passed over it.
9 He has put forth His hand on the flintstone; He has overturned the root of the mountains.
10 He has rent open waterways through the rock, And His eye has seen every precious treasure.
11 He has bound up streams from their seeping, And the obscured secret He brings forth to light.
12 But wisdom, where can it be found? And just where is the place of understanding?
13 Mortal man does not know its appraisal, And it is not being found in the land of the living.
14 The abyss says, It is not in me! And the sea says, There is no such thing with me!
15 Solid gold cannot be given instead of it, And silver cannot be weighed as its price.
16 It cannot be classed with certified gold of Ophir, Or with precious onyx and sapphire.
17 Neither gold or glass can be its appraisal, Or articles of glittering gold its exchange.
18 Coral and crystal, such shall not even be mentioned; Wisdom is more attractive than rubies.
19 Peridot of Cush is not its appraisal; With pure certified gold it cannot be classed.
20 From where then can wisdom come? And just where is the place of understanding?
21 It has been obscured from the eyes of every living creature, And from the flyer of the heavens it has been concealed.
22 Abaddon and death say: With our ears we have heard report of it.
23 Elohim, He understands its way, And He, yea He Himself knows its place.
24 For He looks to the ends of the earth; He sees under the entire heavens.
25 When He granted weight to the wind And when He gauged the waters by measure,
26 When He imposed a statutory limit on the rain And a pathway for the thunderbolts,
27 Then He saw it and rehearsed it; He prepared it and also fathomed it.
28 And He said to mankind, Behold, the fear of Yahweh, it is wisdom, And to withdraw from evil is understanding.

Chapter 29
1 Then Job continued to lift up his discourse, saying:
2 O that I were as in former months, As in the days when He, Eloah, was guarding me,
3 When He caused His lamp to irradiate over my head, And by His light I went through the darkness,
4 Just as I was in the days of my autumn, When the deliberation of Eloah watched over my tent,
5 When He Who-Suffices was still with me, And my lads were around me,
6 When my goings were washed in clotted cream, And the rock poured out for me rillets of oil.
7 When I went forth to the gate standing over the town And prepared my seat in the square,
8 The youths would see me and hide themselves, While the hoary headed would rise and stand.
9 The chiefs would restrain their declarations And place the palm over their mouth;
10 The voices of the noblemen were hidden back, And their tongue would cling to their palate.
11 When the ear heard, it called me happy, And when the eye saw, it testified in my favor.
12 For I made a way of escape for the humble who implored, And the orphan and him who had no helper.
13 The blessing of the one perishing came on me, And I caused the heart of the widow to be jubilant.
14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My right judgment was like a robe and a turban.
15 I became eyes to the blind, And feet to the lame was I.
16 I was father to the needy ones, And the cause of him I knew not, I would investigate it.
17 I would break the fangs of the iniquitous And would fling the prey from his teeth.
18 And so I would say within myself: I shall breathe my last in old age, And I shall multiply my days like sand;
19 My root is open to the water, And the night mist lodges on my harvest branch;
20 My glory will keep new within me, And my bow shall rejuvenate in my hand.
21 Men hearkened to me, and they waited; They would stand still for my counsel.
22 After my speech they would not alter it, And my declaration dropped gently on them.
23 They waited for me as for rain, And they gaped with their mouth as for the latter rain.
24 I would uplift them when they were not sure, And the light of my countenance they would not cast down.
25 I would choose the way for them and would sit as their head, And I would tabernacle like a king among his troops, Just as one who comforts mourners.

Chapter 30
1 Yet now they make sport of me, Men junior to me in days, Whose fathers I would have rejected To set with the dogs of my flock.
2 Even the vigor of their hands, what use was it to me? Their strength had entirely perished.
3 In want and in stark starvation They were gnawing on arid ground Yesternight’s ruination and wasteness.
4 They were plucking the orach among the shrubs, And the root of the broom bush was their bread.
5 From society they were driven out; Men shouted after them as after a thief.
6 In the craters of the wadis they tabernacled, In holes of dirt and caverns.
7 Among the shrubs they brayed; Under the prickly acanthus they were huddled together.
8 Sons of decadence, even sons of those without a name, They were cut off from the land.
9 And now I have become their jest, And I continue as a mocking declaration of theirs.
10 They abhor me; they keep far from me, Yet they do not keep back their spitting from my face.
11 Now that He has unloosed my cord and is humbling me, They have let the restraining bridle go in my presence.
12 On the right hand the vile brood rise up; They have sent forth my feet, And they heap up their paths of calamity against me.
13 They have torn up my own track; They add on to my woe; No one is restraining them.
14 As through a wide breach they arrive; They have rolled themselves forward under the ruinations.
15 Decadent things have turned against me; My reputation is pursued as by the wind, And my salvation has passed away like a dense haze.
16 And now, my soul is poured out upon me; Days of humiliation are taking hold of me.
17 By night He gouges out my bones all over me, And my gnawing pains never lie still.
18 With His great vigor He grabs my clothing; He belts me about like the collar of my tunic.
19 He has shot me down into the clay, So that I am made comparable to dirt and ashes.
20 I implore to You, yet You do not answer me; I stand up, yet You do not consider me.
21 You are turned cruel toward me; With the staunchness of Your hand, You assail me.
22 You lift me up into the wind and make me ride on it, And You dissolve me in the tumult.
23 I know that You are returning me to death, To that house appointed for all the living.
24 Yea I did not put forth my hand against the humble, If in his misfortune he is imploring to me.
25 Would I not lament for one in hardship of days? My soul was always sorry for the needy.
26 Indeed I expected good, yet evil came, And I waited for light, yet gloom has come.
27 My bowels, they boil and are never still; Days of humiliation confront me.
28 I go about in somberness without sunshine; I rise up in the assembly and implore.
29 I have become a brother to wild jackals, And an associate to ostriches.
30 My skin, it blackens and falls from me, And my bones burn hot with scorching heat.
31 My harp is turned to mourning, And my shepherd’s pipe to the sound of lamenting.

Chapter 31
1 I contracted a covenant with my eyes, So how should I wrongly consider a virgin?
2 Yet what is the portion of Eloah from above, And the allotment of Him Who-Suffices from the heights?
3 Should not calamity be for the iniquitous, And disaster for contrivers of lawlessness?
4 Does He not see my ways And number all my steps?
5 If I have walked with hypocrisy, And my foot has hurried after deceit
6 (Let Him weigh me in the scales of justice, And let Eloah know my integrity),
7 If my movement has turned aside from the way, And my heart has run after what my eyes see, And any blemish clings to my palms,
8 Then let me sow, and another eat, And may my output be rooted out.
9 If my heart has been enticed by another’s wife, Or I have waited in ambush at my associate’s portal,
10 May my wife grind corn for another, And may others crouch down upon her.
11 For that would be a crime, And that would be depravity calling for judiciary mediators.
12 For that would be a fire that devours unto Abaddon And roots out all my yield.
13 If I have rejected the plea of my servant and my maidservant When they have brought an indictment against me,
14 Then what shall I do when El arises, And when He visits, what shall I reply to Him?
15 Did not He Who made me in the belly make him also, So that the same One prepared us both in the womb?
16 If I have withheld the desire of the poor And have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
17 And I have eaten my morsel by myself alone, So that the orphan could not eat of it
18 (Indeed from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, And from the belly of my mother I have guided her),
19 If I have seen anyone perishing from lack of clothing, And there was no covering for the needy,
20 If his loins did not bless me, Since he was warmed with the fleece of my lambs,
21 If I have swung my hand against the orphan Because I saw my backing was in the gate,
22 Then may my shoulder fall away from the back, And may my arm be broken from the clavicle.
23 (Indeed I have an awe of calamity from El, And I cannot endure before His majestic bearing.)
24 If I have made gold my confidence, And I have said to certified gold: My trust,
25 If I have rejoiced that my estate is vast And that my hand has found abundance,
26 If I have looked at the sunlight when it irradiates, And the moon advancing like a precious gem,
27 So that my heart was enticed in secret, And my hand kissed my mouth,
28 This also would be depravity calling for judiciary mediation, For I then would have disavowed El above.
29 If I have rejoiced in the misfortune of the one hating me, And I have roused myself in joy because evil had overtaken him
30 (Yet I have not allowed my mouth to sin By asking with an imprecation against his soul),
31 If the men of my tent have never said: Who can be found who has not been satisfied with his meat?
32 (The sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler),
33 If I have covered up my transgression like Adam, By burying my depravity in my lap,
34 Because I was terrified of the vast throng, And the contempt of families caused me dismay, And I kept still and would not go forth from the portal
35 (O that I had someone hearing me! Here is my mark; may He Who-Suffices answer me! Let a man write his indictment against me on a scroll;
36 Assuredly, I would bear it on my shoulder; I would wind it as a tiered crown upon me;
37 I would tell him the tale of my steps; Like a nobleman I would approach him.)
38 If my ground has cried out against me, And its furrows have wept together with it,
39 If I have eaten of its vigor without paying silver, So that I have caused the soul of its headmen to expire,
40 Then may the thistle come forth instead of wheat, And nightshade instead of barley! The words of Job are finished.

Chapter 32
1 So these three men ceased from answering Job, for he was righteous in his own eyes.
2 Yet the anger of Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, from the family of Ram, grew hot. His anger burned hot against Job because he justified his own soul rather than Elohim.
3 And his anger burned hot against his three associates because they had not found an answer, and so they condemned Elohim.
4 As for Elihu, he had tarried while they spoke to Job, for they were older than he was in days.
5 When Elihu saw that there was no further answer in the mouths of the three men, his anger grew even hotter.
6 So Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite answered, saying: I am junior to you in days, and you are hoary headed; Therefore I shrank back and was fearful From disclosing my knowledge to you.
7 I said to myself, Let days speak And many years make wisdom known.
8 But surely it is the spirit in a mortal, And the breath of Him Who-Suffices that gives them understanding.
9 Seniors may not be wise Or elders understand right judgment.
10 Therefore I say, Do hearken to me; Let me disclose my knowledge, me too.
11 Behold, I waited for your words; I listened for your understanding While you were sounding out declarations.
12 I gave consideration to you, Yet behold, there was no correcting of Job Or answer to his arguments from you.
13 Beware lest you say, We have found wisdom; El Himself is our Mentor, not man.
14 Hence I shall not array such declarations as these, And with your arguments I shall not reply to him.
15 They are dismayed; they do not answer further; They shift declarations away from them.
16 I have waited, but since they are not speaking, Since they stand and do not answer further,
17 Let me answer, me too, with my portion; Let me disclose my knowledge, me too.
18 For I am full of declarations; The spirit of my inner being constrains me.
19 Behold, my inner being is like wine that is not opened, Like new wineskins, it is ready to split.
20 Let me speak so that it can ventilate me; I must open my lips and answer.
21 Indeed I certainly shall not show partiality to any man, Nor shall I flatter a human.
22 For I do not know how I could flatter, Else my Maker would carry me off speedily.

Chapter 33
1 Nevertheless now, I pray, Job, hear my declarations, And do give ear to all my words.
2 Behold, now, I open my mouth; My tongue speaks on my palate.
3 My sayings reflect the uprightness of my heart, And my lips declare knowledge in purity.
4 The spirit of El, it has made me, And the breath of Him Who-Suffices, it preserves me alive.
5 Reply to me if you can; Do arrange yourself and stand up before me;
6 Behold, I am corresponding to you before El; I myself also was nipped off from the clay.
7 Behold, no dread of me should frighten you, And my palm shall not lie heavy on you.
8 Yea, you have spoken in my ears, And I have heard the sound of these declarations:
9 “I am spotless, without transgression; I am unstained, and no depravity is in me;
10 Behold, He finds reasons to repudiate me And reckons me as an enemy to Him;
11 He places my feet in shackles; He observes all my paths.”
12 Behold, I am answering you: In this you are not righteous, For Eloah is greater than a mortal.
13 For what reason do you contend against Him That He does not answer all his words?
14 Indeed El does speak once, And twice, yet no one regards it,
15 In a dream, a vision of the night, When stupor falls upon men, In slumberings on their bed;
16 Then He reveals matters to the ear of men, And He dismays them with admonitions,
17 To withdraw a human from his deed, And that He may obliterate pride in a master.
18 He keeps back his soul from the pit And his life from passing into the unseen.
19 Also he is corrected by pain on his bed, And by perennial disputing in his bones,
20 So that bread is repugnant to him, to his life, And to his soul, the food of yearning.
21 His flesh is vanishing from sight, And his bones are ridges that once were not seen.
22 His soul draws near to the pit And his life to the place of the dead.
23 If there is a messenger on his behalf, An intermediary, one out of a thousand, To tell the human what is upright for him,
24 And he is gracious to him and says, Do ransom him from descending to the pit; I have found a propitiatory shelter,
25 Then his flesh will become hale with youth And shall be restored to the days of his adolescence.
26 He shall entreat to Eloah, and He shall accept him; He shall see His face with joyful shouting, And He shall restore to the mortal his righteousness.
27 He shall sing before men and say, I have sinned and contorted what is upright, Yet He did not compensate it fully to me.
28 He ransomed my soul from passing into the pit, And my life is seeing the light.
29 Behold, El is effecting all these things Twice and thrice with a master,
30 To restore his soul from the pit, To enlighten him with the light of the living.
31 Attend, Job; hearken to me; Be silent, and I myself shall speak.
32 If there are declarations, reply to me; Speak, for I would delight to justify you.
33 If there is no word from you, hearken to me; Be silent, and I shall train you in wisdom.

Chapter 34
1 Then Elihu continued to answer, saying:
2 Hear my declarations, you wise men, And you having knowledge, give ear to me.
3 For the ear tests declarations As the palate tastes food.
4 Let us choose for ourselves what is due; Let us know among us what is good.
5 For Job has said: I am righteous, Yet El, He has taken away my due;
6 Concerning my due, should I lie? My lesion is mortal, yet I am without transgression.
7 What master is like Job? He drinks derision like water;
8 He travels in partnership with contrivers of lawlessness And goes about with men of wickedness.
9 For he says, It is unprofitable for a master When he strives to be acceptable to Elohim.
10 Wherefore, men of heart understanding, hearken to me: Far be it from El to do wickedness, And Him Who-Suffices to do iniquity.
11 For the contrivance of a human, He shall repay it to him, And according to man’s path, He shall provide it to him.
12 El, truly indeed He does not do wickedness, And He Who-Suffices does not distort judgment.
13 Who gave supervision to Him over the earth, And who placed Him over the habitance, all of it?
14 If He places it in His heart concerning him, He can gather back His spirit and His breath to Himself;
15 All flesh would breathe its last together, And humanity would return to the soil.
16 Now if you have understanding, do hear this; Do give ear to the sound of my declarations.
17 Indeed, can anyone hating right judgment govern? And would you condemn the Abundantly Righteous One,
18 Who says to a king, Worthless one, And to patrons, Wicked one,
19 Who does not repute chiefs, Nor is He partial to the rich-man above the poor one, For they all are the work of His hands?
20 In a moment they die; At midnight the people reel and pass away, And the sturdy are taken away by no human hand.
21 For His eyes are on the ways of a man, And He sees all his steps.
22 There is no darkness and no blackest shadow To conceal there the contrivers of lawlessness.
23 For it is not for a man that he may set an appointed time To go before El in judgment.
24 He smashes those of abundance without investigation And installs others in their stead.
25 Wherefore, He recognizes their occupations And overturns them in a night, and they are crushed.
26 He slaps them down with the wicked, In a place where all can see,
27 Because they withdrew from following Him And did not contemplate any of His ways,
28 But they caused the cry of the poor one to be brought before Him, So that He heard the cry of the humbled.
29 When He is quiet, who can condemn? When He conceals His face, who can regard Him? Yet He is over a nation and over humanity alike,
30 Lest a polluted human reign, One from the entrappers of the people.
31 Indeed has one said to El, I have been lured away; I shall not harm any more;
32 Until I can perceive, direct me Yourself; If I have contrived iniquity, I shall not do so again?
33 Shall He repay it on your terms since you have rejected otherwise, Since you yourself are choosing, and not I? Now what you know, speak.
34 Men of heart understanding shall say to me, And any wise master who is hearkening to me:
35 Job is not speaking with knowledge, And his words are not with intelligence.
36 My will is that Job should be tested unto permanence For making replies like men of lawlessness.
37 For he adds transgression to his sin; Among us he slaps his hands And increases his sayings against El.

Chapter 35
1 Then Elihu continued to answer, saying:
2 Is this what you reckon as right judgment? Do you say, This is my righteousness before El,
3 When you ask, How is it profitable to me? What more do I benefit than if I had sinned?
4 I myself shall reply to you with declarations, And to your associates with you.
5 Look at the heavens and see; Regard the skies; they are loftier than you.
6 If you sin, what effect do you have on Him, And if your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to Him? Or what does He derive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness affects a man like yourself, And your righteousness a son of humanity.
9 Under a multitude of exploitings they cry out; They implore under the arm of those with great power.
10 But not one has said, Where is Eloah, my Maker, Who is giving psalms in the night,
11 Training us by the beasts of the earth, And by the flyer of the heavens, He makes us wise?
12 There they cry, yet He does not answer Because of the pride of evil men.
13 Yea, it is futility; El does not hear, And He Who-Suffices does not regard it.
14 How much less when you complain you cannot find Him out, That adjudication is set before Him, and you are waiting for Him!
15 And now because He does not visit His anger And does not acknowledge the transgression of humanity,
16 Job is opening his mouth wide with transitory breath; He makes declarations abound without knowledge.

Chapter 36
1 Elihu continued, saying:
2 Compass about me a bit, and I shall disclose it all to you, For I still have declarations concerning Eloah.
3 I shall bear my knowledge from afar And ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
4 For truly my declarations are not false; One of integrity in knowledge is with you.
5 Behold, El is abundant in vigorAnd does not reject the pure of heart.
6 He does not keep the wicked alive But gives the humble redress.
7 He does not diminish the guard of His eyes over the righteous, But with kings on the throne He seats them permanently, And they are elevated.
8 But if being bound with manacles, They are seized by the cord lines of humiliation,
9 Then He is telling them of their deeds And their transgressions, that they are making themselves arrogant masters.
10 Thus He reveals to their ears His disciplining authority, And demands that they turn back from lawlessness.
11 If they hearken and serve Him, They finish their days in well-being And their years in pleasantness.
12 But if they do not hearken, They pass away by the javelin And breathe their last without knowledge.
13 As for the polluted of heart who nourish anger, Who do not implore when He binds them,
14 Their soul dies in youth, And their life ends among the cult-prostitutes.
15 He liberates the humble one by his humiliations And reveals truth to their ears by oppression.
16 Thus also He will allure you from the mouth of distress To a wide place without constraint, in its stead; And for rest at your table He will fill it with richness.
17 And with the adjudication of the wicked one you will be filled; Adjudication and right judgment shall be upheld.
18 But beware lest one should allure you with affluence; Let not the vastness of the sheltering gift turn you aside.
19 Shall He arrange your salvation without distress And all exertions of vigor?
20 Do not gasp after the night When peoples ascend to their place.
21 Beware, you must not turn around to lawlessness, For on account of this you have been tested by humiliation.
22 Behold, El is impregnable in His vigor; Who is a Director like Him?
23 Who calls His way to account against Him? Or who says, You have contrived iniquity?
24 Remember that you should extol His deeds, Of which men have sung.
25 All humanity have perceived it; A mortal, he looks from afar.
26 Behold, El is so great we cannot know it, And the number of His years is fathomless.
27 For He condenses the drops of water That filter as rain for His mist,
28 That exude from the skies And drip down on humanity as showers.
29 Indeed, can one understand the spreading, thick clouds, The thunderous tumults from His booth?
30 Behold, He spreads His mist over it, And covers the roots of the sea.
31 For with them He gives sustenance to the peoples; He gives food in abundance.
32 He covers lightning in His palms And instructs it with sure aim.
33 His thunder tells about it, The cattle, also, about what is coming up.

Chapter 37
1 Indeed, at this my heart trembles And leaps out of its place.
2 Hearken, yea hearken to the thunderous sound of His voice And the rumbling soliloquy that comes forth from His mouth;
3 Under the entire heavens He unleashes it, And His lightning over the wings of the earth.
4 After it roars a voice; He thunders with His swelling voice And does not stem them so that His voice is heard.
5 El thunders marvelously with His voice, Doing great things that we cannot know.
6 For He says to the snow, Fall on the earth, And to the downpour of rain, even His strong downpours of rains.
7 On the hand of every human He places a seal So that all men may know His work.
8 Then the wild animal enters into its lair, And tabernacles in its habitations.
9 From its chamber comes the sweeping whirlwind, And cold from the sifting winds.
10 By the breath of El ice is made, And the broad waters become a frozen solid.
11 Indeed, He encumbers the thick cloud with soaking moisture; He scatters His lightning cloud,
12 And He directs them round about, Turning according to His strategies, That their deeds be all that He instructs them On the face of the earth’s habitation.
13 Whether it be for a club that He fulfills His approved plan, Or for benignity, it is He Who causes it to occur.
14 Do give ear to this, Job; Stand and consider the marvelous works of El.
15 Do you know in what way Eloah sets direction over them And how He causes the lightning of His cloud to shine?
16 Do you know about the balancings of the thick cloud, The marvels of One flawless in knowledge,
17 You whose garments are warm When the earth is quiet because of the south wind?
18 Could you with Him have made the atmosphere in the skies, Steadfast as a mirror that is solidly set?
19 Inform us what we should say to Him; We cannot arrange our case because of the darkness.
20 Should it be recounted to Him that I would speak? Would a man ask that he be swallowed down?
21 Now men cannot examine the sunlight as it is ablaze in the skies, When the wind has passed and made them clean,
22 And from the north, rays of gold arrive. About Eloah is fearful splendor;
23 He Who-Suffices, we cannot find Him out, Great in vigor and right judgment, And abundant in righteousness, Who humbles not.
24 Wherefore, men fear Him; Do not all wise of heart stand in fear?

Chapter 38
1 Then Yahweh answered Job from the tempest, saying:
2 Who is this who darkens counsel By declarations without knowledge?
3 Belt up your loins now like a master; I shall ask of you, and you inform Me.
4 Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell if you know with understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements for surely you know! Or who stretched out a measuring tape upon it?
6 On what were its sockets sunk? Or who directed its cornerstone in place,
7 When the stars of the morning were jubilant together, And all the sons of Elohim raised a joyful shout?
8 Who shut in the sea with double doors When it rushed forth, when it came forth from the womb,
9 When I made the cloud its clothing And murkiness its swaddling band,
10 When I impressed My statute upon it And set bar and double doors,
11 When I said, Unto here shall you come but shall not proceed farther, And here a limit is set to your swelling billows?
12 In all your days have you ever instructed the morning? Have you made known to the dawn its place,
13 That it might take hold of the wings of the earth, And the wicked be shaken out of it?
14 It turns itself to hues like sealed clay Till they are set like those of clothing.
15 Then from the wicked their light is withheld And the exalted arm is broken.
16 Have you ever come unto the seepings of the sea Or walked about in the fathoms of the abyss?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you, And have you seen the gates of the blackest shadow?
18 Have you comprehended the vast width of the earth? Tell if you know all of it.
19 Where is this, the pathway where light tabernacles, And where is this, where darkness has its place,
20 That you may take it to its territory, And that you may understand the tracks to its home?
21 You know, for you were born back then! And the number of your days is vast!
22 Have you entered into the storehouses of snow, And have you seen the storehouses of hail,
23 Which I have kept back for the season of distress, For the day of attack and war?
24 Where is this, the pathway where light is apportioned, Where the east wind is scattered over the earth?
25 Who has divided off a trench for overflowing rains And set a pathway for the thunderbolts,
26 To bring rain on a land where no man is, A wilderness with no human in it,
27 To satisfy areas of ruination and wasteness, And to cause verdure to sprout from the arid place?
28 Is there a father for the rain? Or who has begotten the globules of dew?
29 From whose belly has the ice come forth? And the hoarfrost of the heavens, who has generated it,
30 When water hides itself as stone, And the face of the abyss is frozen over?
31 Can you tie up the windings of the Pleiades? Or can you unloose the draw-cords of Orion?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations of the zodiac in their season? And the Great Bear with her cubs, can you guide them?
33 Do you know the statutes of the heavens? Or can you establish its superintendence over the earth?
34 Can you raise up your voice to the thick clouds That the accumulation of water may cover you?
35 Can you send forth the lightning bolts that they may go? And do they say to you, Here we are?
36 Who has set wisdom in the hidden parts? Or who has given understanding to the intuition?
37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom? And the waterskins of the heavens, who can tip down,
38 When the soil is solidly set into lumpy casts, And the clods are clung together?
39 Can you hunt the prey for the lioness? And can you fill the life needs of the sheltered lions,
40 When they crouch prostrate in their habitations, Sit for ambush in their covert?
41 Who prepares its provision for the raven, When its young implore to El, Which stray from lack of food?

Chapter 39
1 Are you acquainted with the bearing of the ibexes of the crag? Do you observe the travailing in birth of the hinds?
2 Do you number the months they must fulfill, And do you know the time of their bearing?
3 They crouch; they deliver their young; They put forth the cause of their cramps.
4 Their young ones thrive; they grow up in the open; They go forth and return no more to them.
5 Who has sent forth the onager free, And who has unloosed the bonds of the wild donkey,
6 Whose home I have constituted the steppe, And the salty wastes as his habitat?
7 He makes sport of the clamor of the town; He does not hear the tumults of the taskmaster.
8 He explores the mountains as his pasture And seeks after every green thing.
9 Is the wild bull willing to serve you? Would he lodge all night at your crib?
10 Can you tie the wild bull with curb and rope? Would he harrow the vales after you?
11 Would you put trust in him because his vigor is great, And would you entrust your labor to him?
12 Would you put reliance on him that he would return And gather your seed to your threshing site?
13 The wing of the ostrich flaps joyously, But it is not the pinion of the stork with its feathers.
14 When she entrusts her eggs to the land And warms them on the soil,
15 She forgets that a foot may press down on it, Or a wild animal of the field may stomp on it.
16 She is made indurate to her young as though not hers, Without alarm that her labor be for nought.
17 For Eloah caused her to be oblivious to wisdom And did not apportion understanding to her.
18 Yet any time she springs up on high, She makes sport of the horse and his rider.
19 Do you give to the horse its mastery? Do you clothe its neck with thunder?
20 Do you make him quake like the locust? The splendor of his snorting strikes dread.
21 He paws in the vale and is elated in his vigor; He goes forth to meet the weapons of battle.
22 He makes sport of alarm and is not dismayed; Neither does he turn back because of the sword.
23 On him the quiver is jubilant, The blaze of spear and scimitar.
24 With quaking and thunderous sound, he gulps up the earth, And he cannot stand restfully at the sound of the trumpet.
25 As soon as the trumpet sounds, he shouts, Aha! And from afar he smells the battle, The thunder of the chiefs and the shouting!
26 Is it by your understanding that the hawk glides, That it spreads its wings southward?
27 Or is it by your bidding that the vulture soars aloft, And that he makes his nest so high?
28 He roosts on a crag and lodges himself On the tooth of a crag and a fastness;
29 From there he reconnoiters for food; His eyes scrutinize far off;
30 His brood imbibe the blood, And where there are the slain, there he is.

Chapter 40
1 So Yahweh answered Job, saying:
2 Will one contending with Him Who-Suffices admonish Him? The one reproving Eloah, let him answer it.
3 Then Job answered Yahweh, saying,
4 Behold, I am slight; how can I reply to You? I place my hand upon my mouth.
5 I spoke once but shall not answer further, Twice, but I shall not continue.
6 So Yahweh answered Job from the tempest, saying:
7 Belt up your loins then like a master; I shall ask of you, and you inform Me.
8 Indeed, would you ever annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you might be found righteous?
9 Do you have an arm like El’s? And can you thunder with a voice like His?
10 Ornament yourself then with augustness and loftiness, And with splendor and honor you shall clothe yourself.
11 Scatter forth the ragings of your anger; Discern every proud one and abase him.
12 Discern every proud one and bring him into submission; Crush the wicked where they are.
13 Bury them in the soil together; Bind up their faces in the burial crypt.
14 Then even I Myself shall acclaim you, Because your right hand has brought salvation to you.
15 Behold now, the behemoth that I made as I did you; He eats grass like the ox.
16 Behold now his vigor in his waist, His virility in the muscles of his belly;
17 He makes his tail taut like a cedar; The sinews of his awesome thighs are intertwined.
18 His bones are tubings of bronze, His ribs like bars of iron.
19 He is the first of the ways of El; The One Who made him, He brought close to him his sword.
20 Indeed the hills bear fodder for him, And all the wild animals of the field gambol there.
21 Under the lotuses he lies In the concealment of reeds and marsh.
22 The lotuses overshadow him for his shade; The oleanders of the wadi surround him.
23 If the stream threatens he does not hurry away; He is trusting even if Jordan rushes forth up to his mouth.
24 Can anyone take him by his eyes Or pierce his nose with a trap?

Chapter 41
1 Can you draw out the dragon with a fishhook, Or hold down his tongue with a line?
2 Can you place a rush rope in his nose, Or pierce his jawbone with a gaff?
3 Would he make many supplications to you, Or speak to you with tender words?
4 Would he contract a covenant with you That you may take him as a servant for the eon?
5 Can you sport with him as with a bird, Or tie him up for your maidens?
6 Would partners bargain over him That they may divide him up among traffickers?
7 Can you fill his skin with barbs Or his head with the fishing spear?
8 Place your palm on him; Remember the battle; you would certainly not do it again!
9 Behold, one’s hope is proved a lie; Even at the sight of him one is hurled down.
10 Is he not too cruel that one may rouse him? Who then is he who can station himself before Me?
11 Who can confront Me and would fare well? Whatever is under the entire heavens, it is Mine.
12 I shall not keep silence about his constitution Or the matter of his grand mastery that is without appraisal.
13 Who has rolled back his surface clothing? Who can enter through his double coat-of-armor?
14 Who has opened the doors of his face? All around his teeth is dread.
15 His body is made of channels of shields, Closed by a constricting seal.
16 One to the other, they are so close That the wind cannot enter between them.
17 They are clung together each to its fellow; They seize each other and cannot be parted.
18 His sneezings make the light irradiate, And his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
19 Flaming torches go out from his mouth; Darts of fire escape forth.
20 Out from his snorting nostrils smoke goes forth As from a steaming cauldron or burning rushes.
21 His soul sets embers aflame, And a blaze goes forth from his mouth.
22 In his neck lodges strength, And shock romps before him.
23 The flaps of his flesh cling together, Solidly set upon him; it is immovable.
24 His heart is solidly set like stone, Even solidly set like the lower grindstone.
25 At his lifting up, the subjectors shrink back; At his breaking forth, they recede.
26 Though the sword overtakes him, it does not avail, As also the spear, the dagger and the short arrow.
27 He reckons iron as crushed straw, Bronze as rotten wood.
28 The son of the bow cannot make him run away; Sling stones are turned to stubble for him.
29 The bludgeon is reckoned by him as stubble, And he ridicules the whizzing of the dart.
30 His underparts are sharp pieces of shard; He strews spike marks on the mud.
31 He makes the shadowy deep boil like a pot; He makes the sea appear like foaming ointment.
32 Behind him he makes his track resplendent; One would reckon the abyss to be greyhaired.
33 There is no one on the soil comparable to him, Who was made to be without dismay.
34 He stares down on every haughty creature; He is king over every strutting beast.

Chapter 42
1 Then Job answered Yahweh, saying:
2 I know that You are able in all things, And no plan of Yours can be thwarted.
3 Who is this who obscures counsel without knowledge?'' Wherefore I have professed ideas when I was not understanding, Marvelous thoughts from me, that I did not know. 4Hearken now, and I Myself shall speak;I shall ask of you, and you inform Me.”
5 With the hearing of the ear I had heard of You, But now my eye sees You.
6 Therefore I recant and repent On soil and ashes.
7 It came to pass after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job that Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite: My anger is hot against you and your two associates because you did not speak concerning Me what is rightly so as My servant Job has done.
8 Now take for yourselves seven young bulls and seven rams. Go to My servant Job, and offer up an ascent offering on behalf of yourselves. And Job, My servant, he shall pray for you. For then I shall lift up his face by not inflicting on you any disgrace. For you did not speak concerning Me what is rightly so as My servant Job has done.
9 So they went, Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, and they did just as Yahweh had spoken to them. And Yahweh lifted up Job’s face.
10 Then Yahweh Himself turned back the captivity of Job when he prayed on behalf of his associates. And Yahweh added to all that Job had by a double portion.
11 All his brothers and all his sisters came to him and all his acquaintances from before, and they ate bread with him in his house. Then they sympathized with him and comforted him over all the evil that Yahweh had brought upon him. Each of them gave to him one kesitah, and each, one pendant of gold.
12 Thus Yahweh Himself blessed the latter years of Job more than his beginning. He came to have a flock of fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand pair of oxen and a thousand jennies.
13 Also he came to have seven sons and three daughters.
14 He called the name of the first one Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch.
15 Women so lovely as the daughters of Job were not found in the whole land. Their father gave them an allotment in the midst of their brothers.
16 Job lived after this a hundred and forty years. And he saw his sons and his sons’ sons to four generations.
17 Then Job died, old and satisfied with days.