Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.”

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him, to destroy him without just cause.”

Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.

Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very intense.

Yes, may that night be barren;
may no joyful shout be heard in it.

I cannot relax or be still;
I have no rest, for trouble comes.

But now that this has happened to you,
you have become exhausted.
It strikes you, and you are dismayed.

The strong lion dies if it catches no prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

If God puts no trust in His servants
and He charges His angels with foolishness,

They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk;
they perish forever while no one notices.

His children are far from safety.
They are crushed at the city gate,
with no one to rescue them.

He frustrates the schemes of the crafty
so that they achieve no success.

He will rescue you from six calamities;
no harm will touch you in seven.

You will know that your tent is secure,
and nothing will be missing when you inspect your home.

You will also know that your offspring will be many
and your descendants like the grass of the earth.

So this is what you have now become to me.
When you see something dreadful, you are afraid.

No doubt you would cast lots for a fatherless child
and negotiate a price to sell your friend.

But now, please look at me;
would I lie to your face?

The eye of anyone who looks on me
will no longer see me.
Your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.

He will never return to his house;
his hometown will no longer remember him.

if you are pure and upright,
then He will move even now on your behalf
and restore the home where your righteousness dwells.

since we were born only yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are but a shadow.

Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Do reeds flourish without water?

Your enemies will be clothed with shame;
the tent of the wicked will exist no longer.

Yes, I know what you’ve said is true,
but how can a person be justified before God?

Though I am blameless,
I no longer care about myself;
I renounce my life.

I would still live in terror of all my pains.
I know You will not acquit me.

There is no one to judge between us,
to lay his hand on both of us.

Let Him take His rod away from me
so His terror will no longer frighten me.

I will say to God:
“Do not declare me guilty!
Let me know why You prosecute me.

even though You know that I am not wicked
and that there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?

“Your hands shaped me and formed me.
Will You now turn and destroy me?

Please remember that You formed me like clay.
Will You now return me to dust?

“Yet You concealed these thoughts in Your heart;
I know that this was Your hidden plan:

You produce new witnesses against me
and multiply Your anger toward me.
Hardships assault me, wave after wave.

Should your babbling put others to silence,
so that you can keep on ridiculing
with no one to humiliate you?

He would show you the secrets of wisdom,
for true wisdom has two sides.
Know then that God has chosen to overlook some of your sin.

They are higher than the heavens—what can you do?
They are deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you!

But I also have a mind;
I am not inferior to you.
Who doesn’t know the things you are talking about?

Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?

Everything you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.

Hear now my argument,
and listen to my defense.

Yes, this will result in my deliverance,
for no godless person can appear before Him.

Now then, I have prepared my case;
I know that I am right.

Who can produce something pure from what is impure?
No one!

so man lies down never to rise again.
They will not wake up until the heavens are no more;
they will not stir from their sleep.

If his sons receive honor, he does not know it;
if they become insignificant, he is unaware of it.

Should he argue with useless talk
or with words that serve no good purpose?

What do you know that we don’t?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?

If God puts no trust in His holy ones
and the heavens are not pure in His sight,

the land was given to them alone
when no foreigner passed among them.

He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure.
His possessions will not increase in the land.

Is there no end to your empty words?
What provokes you that you continue testifying?

Surely He has now exhausted me.
You have devastated my entire family.

Earth, do not cover my blood;
may my cry for help find no resting place.

Even now my witness is in heaven,
and my advocate is in the heights!

For only a few years will pass
before I go the way of no return.

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All memory of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name anywhere.

He has no children or descendants among his people,
no survivor where he used to live.

Indeed, such is the dwelling of the unjust man,
and this is the place of the one who does not know God.

You have humiliated me ten times now,
and you mistreat me without shame.

I cry out: “Violence!” but get no response;
I call for help, but there is no justice.

But I know my living Redeemer,
and He will stand on the dust at last.

then be afraid of the sword,
because wrath brings punishment by the sword,
so that you may know there is a judgment.

Don’t you know that ever since antiquity,
from the time man was placed on earth,

he will vanish forever like his own dung.
Those who know him will ask, “Where is he?”

The eye that saw him will see him no more,
and his household will no longer see him.

Their homes are secure and free of fear;
no rod from God strikes them.

Yet they say to God: “Leave us alone!
We don’t want to know Your ways.

God reserves a person’s punishment for his children.
Let God repay the person himself, so that he may know it.

I know your thoughts very well,
the schemes you would wrong me with.

For you say, “Where now is the nobleman’s house?”
and “Where are the tents the wicked lived in?”

You gave no water to the thirsty
and withheld food from the famished,

Yet you say: “What does God know?
Can He judge through thick darkness?

If only I knew how to find Him,
so that I could go to His throne.

Would He prosecute me forcefully?
No, He will certainly pay attention to me.

Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment?
Why do those who know Him never see His days?

Without clothing, they spend the night naked,
having no covering against the cold.

From the city, men groan;
the mortally wounded cry for help,
yet God pays no attention to this crime.

The adulterer’s eye watches for twilight,
thinking: No eye will see me;
he covers his face.

The womb forgets them;
worms feed on them;
they are remembered no more.
So injustice is broken like a tree.

Yet God drags away the mighty by His power;
when He rises up, they have no assurance of life.

Sheol is naked before God,
and Abaddon has no covering.

He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;
when he opens his eyes, it is gone.

No bird of prey knows that path;
no falcon’s eye has seen it.

Proud beasts have never walked on it;
no lion has ever prowled over it.

No man can know its value,
since it cannot be found in the land of the living.

For I rescued the poor man who cried out for help,
and the fatherless child who had no one to support him.

But now they mock me,
men younger than I am,
whose fathers I would have refused to put
with my sheep dogs.

Now I am mocked by their songs;
I have become an object of scorn to them.

Now my life is poured out before my eyes,
and days of suffering have seized me.

Yes, I know that You will lead me to death—
the place appointed for all who live.

Yet no one would stretch out his hand
against a ruined man
when he cries out to him for help
because of his distress.

No stranger had to spend the night on the street,
for I opened my door to the traveler.

Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were all older than he.

So Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite replied:

I am young in years,
while you are old;
therefore I was timid and afraid
to tell you what I know.

Therefore I say, “Listen to me.
I too will declare what I know.”

I paid close attention to you.
Yet no one proved Job wrong;
not one of you refuted his arguments.

Job’s friends are dismayed and can no longer answer;
words have left them.