There once was a man in the land of Uz named Job. The man was blameless as well as upright. He feared God and kept away from evil.

Then the LORD asked Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on earth. The man is blameless as well as upright. He fears God and keeps away from evil."

The LORD asked Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on earth. The man is blameless as well as upright. He fears God and keeps away from evil. He remains firm in his integrity, even though you have been urging me to overwhelm him without cause."

"As far as I'm concerned, my food comes to me in the form of sighs, and my cries of anguish pour out like water.

But mankind is born headed for trouble, just as sparks soar skyward."

"Now as for me, I would seek God if I were you; I would commit my case to God.

They meet with darkness in broad daylight; at noonday they grope around as if it were night.

Am I as strong as a rock? Am I some kind of iron man?

When did I ever ask you for anything, say "Offer a bribe for me from your wealth?'

"When I lie down I ask, "When will I wake up?' But the night continues and I keep tossing and turning until dawn.

My days pass as swiftly as a hand-loom; they come to their conclusion without hope.

As a cloud fades away and vanishes, the one who descends to the afterlife doesn't return.

If you seek God, if you ask the Almighty for mercy,

Though I'm in the right, my own mouth will condemn me; though I'm blameless, he'll pronounce me as guilty.

Do you have eyes made of flesh? Can you look at things as humans do?

Can you live only as long as a human being? Or live the years of a mortal man?

as if I had never existed; carried from the womb to the grave.

"Ask the wild animals, and they'll teach you; the birds of the sky will tell you.

Or ask the green plants of the earth and they'll teach you; let the fish in the sea tell you.

The ear scrutinizes speech just as the palate tastes food."

"But as for you, you whitewash with lies; all of you are worthless quacks.

Will things go well for you under his cross-examination? Can you lie to him, as you would to a human being?

I have this as my salvation: the godless person won't be appearing before him.

Grant me only two things as you deal with me; then I won't hide from you.

Why do you hide your face and regard me as your enemy?

As water disappears from the sea, or water evaporates from a river,

Look, if God doesn't trust his holy ones, if even the heavens aren't pure as he looks at them,

then how much less is one who is abhorred and corrupted, such as a man who drinks injustice like water?"

Attack follows attack as he breaks through my defenses! He runs over me like a mighty warrior.

crying for him to arbitrate between this man and God; as a human being does with his fellow neighbor.

Now as for the one who testifies against his friends to take their property, even the eyes of his children will fail.

My eyes have grown weak from grief; and my whole body is as thin as a shadow.

His anger burns against me; he regards me as his adversary.

Why are you chasing me, as God has been doing? Aren't you satisfied that I'm sick?

"As for me, I know that my Vindicator is alive; And he, the Last One, will take his stand on the soil.

Though he grow as tall as the sky, or though his head touches the clouds,

he'll perish forever, like his own excrement; those who saw him will ask, "Where is he?'

It will impale him and come out through his back; the point will glisten as it protrudes through his gall bladder, and he will be terrified.

singing with tambourines and lyres as they rejoice to the sound of flutes.

They grow old in prosperity, as they descend peacefully into the afterlife.

You ask, "Where is the noble person's house?' and "Where are the tents where the wicked live?'

Thick clouds cover him so he can't see as he walks back and forth at heaven's horizon.

"If you return to the Almighty you'll be restored, as you remove iniquity from your household.

You'll entreat him and he'll listen to you as you fulfill your vows.

They drive away the orphan's donkey; they take the ox of the widow as security for a loan;

"Look! Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, they work diligently as they seek wild game in the desert, food for them and their young ones.

"The fatherless are torn from the breast; the poor are taken away as security for a loan.

As a group, deep darkness is their morning time; fear that lives in darkness is their friend."

As drought and heat evaporate melting snow, that's what Sheol does with sinners.

He has delimited a boundary over the surface of the oceans as a limit between light and darkness.

As long as I can breathe; as long as God's breath is in my nostrils,

but it will clap its hands over him, hissing at him as it lunges toward him."

Mankind limits the darkness as they search the deepest depths for ore in unfathomable darkness.

He sinks his shaft far from human habitations, in a place forgotten by explorers; they hang on harnesses as they swing back and forth.

For he looks as far as the ends of the earth and sees everything under the sky.

I served as eyes for the blind and feet for the lame.

"I used to say: "I will die in my home. I'm going to live as many days as there are grains of sand on the shore.

My glory renews for me and my bow is as good as new in my hand.'

"They listened and waited for me, as they remained in silence for my counsel.

They waited for me as one waits for rain, as one opens his mouth to drink in a spring rain shower.

I set an example of the way to live, as a leader would; I lived like a king among his army; like one who comforts mourners."

Driven away from human company, they were shouted at as though they were thieves.

They come like those who breach through a wall; as everything crashes around me they'll roll on and on!

My greatest fears have overcome me; my honor is assaulted as though by a wind storm; my prosperity evaporates like a morning cloud."

you carried me off in a wind storm, making me ride on it while you toss me about as the storm roars around me.

because something as lascivious as that is an iniquity that should be judged.

(even a poor man had grown up with me as if I were his father, and even though I had guided the widow from the time I was born),

if I look at the sun when it shines or the moon as it rises in steady splendor,

"If my land were to cry out against me or if all its furrows wept as one,

"I will contribute my arguments as an answer; I'll declare what I know,

since I don't know the first thing about how to flatter; and the one who made me would sweep me away as if I were nothing."

Look! As far as God is concerned, I'm just like you are I, too, have been pinched off from a piece of clay.

Let his flesh be rejuvenated as he was in his youth! Let him recover the strength of his youth.

There's no such thing as darkness to him not even deep darkness that can conceal those who practice evil.

As a result, the cries of the poor have reached him and he has heard the cry of the afflicted.

Oh, how Job needs to be given a full court trial, as a rebuke to those who practice evil,

"Indeed, God is exalted in his power. Who is like him as a teacher?

Can you spread out the skies like he does; can you cast them as one might a mirror?

Stand up like a man! I'll ask you some questions, and you give me some answers!"

Who prepares food for the raven, when its offspring cry out to God as they wander for lack of food?"

"Do you know when the mountain goat gives birth? Do you watch the doe as it calves its young?

She mistreats her young as though they're not hers, and she has no fear that her labor may be in vain,

"Stand up like a man! I'll ask you some questions, and you give me some answers!

What you see as a raging river doesn't alarm him; he is confident when the Jordan overflows.

His heart is as strong as stone, it is as hard as a lower millstone.

When he rears up, the mighty are terrified; they are bewildered as he thrashes about.

"Beneath him he is armored as with sharp potsherds; he tears through muddy ground like a threshing sledge through grain.

As a result, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."

After these words had been spoken by the LORD to Job, the LORD spoke to Eliphaz from Teman: "My anger is burning against you along with your two friends, since you haven't spoken correctly about me, as did my servant Job.

So take seven bulls and seven rams and bring them to my servant Job. And bring a whole burnt offering for yourselves and my servant Job will pray for you. I'll encourage him by not responding as your disgraceful folly deserves, since you didn't speak about me correctly as did my servant Job."

So Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuah, and Zophar from Naamath did precisely as the LORD had spoken to them, because the LORD showed favor to Job.