When the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.

While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

When they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky.

“Then a spirit passed by my face;
The hair of my flesh bristled up.

‘Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them?
They die, yet without wisdom.’

“The paths of their course wind along,
They go up into nothing and perish.

“When a cloud vanishes, it is gone,
So he who goes down to Sheol does not come up.

“Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh?
Can the rushes grow without water?

Whose confidence is fragile,
And whose trust a spider’s web.

‘If I am wicked, woe to me!
And if I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head.
I am sated with disgrace and conscious of my misery.

‘Should my head be lifted up, You would hunt me like a lion;
And again You would show Your power against me.

“If He passes by or shuts up,
Or calls an assembly, who can restrain Him?

“Then, indeed, you could lift up your face without moral defect,
And you would be steadfast and not fear.

“Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up;
And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth.

“As water evaporates from the sea,
And a river becomes parched and dried up,

“My transgression is sealed up in a bag,
And You wrap up my iniquity.

“The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
And numbered are the years stored up for the ruthless.

“You have shriveled me up,
It has become a witness;
And my leanness rises up against me,
It testifies to my face.

“I was at ease, but He shattered me,
And He has grasped me by the neck and shaken me to pieces;
He has also set me up as His target.

“The upright will be appalled at this,
And the innocent will stir up himself against the godless.

“He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,
And He has put darkness on my paths.

“His troops come together,
And build up their way against me
And camp around my tent.

“Even young children despise me;
I rise up and they speak against me.

“He swallows riches,
But will vomit them up;
God will expel them from his belly.

“The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
And the earth will rise up against him.

“For then you will delight in the Almighty
And lift up your face to God.

“Why are times not stored up by the Almighty,
And why do those who know Him not see His days?

“In the dark they dig into houses,
They shut themselves up by day;
They do not know the light.

“They are exalted a little while, then they are gone;
Moreover, they are brought low and like everything gathered up;
Even like the heads of grain they are cut off.

“He wraps up the waters in His clouds,
And the cloud does not burst under them.

“His survivors will be buried because of the plague,
And their widows will not be able to weep.

“Though he piles up silver like dust
And prepares garments as plentiful as the clay,

“He has built his house like the spider’s web,
Or as a hut which the watchman has made.

“The earth, from it comes food,
And underneath it is turned up as fire.

“He dams up the streams from flowing,
And what is hidden he brings out to the light.

And Job again took up his discourse and said,

“On the right hand their brood arises;
They thrust aside my feet and build up against me their ways of destruction.

“They break up my path,
They profit from my destruction;
No one restrains them.

“I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me;
I stand up, and You turn Your attention against me.

“You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride;
And You dissolve me in a storm.

“I go about mourning without comfort;
I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.

“Therefore my harp is turned to mourning,
And my flute to the sound of those who weep.

(But from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,
And from infancy I guided her),

If I have lifted up my hand against the orphan,
Because I saw I had support in the gate,

“If my land cries out against me,
And its furrows weep together;

“What man is like Job,
Who drinks up derision like water,

“But the godless in heart lay up anger;
They do not cry for help when He binds them.

“For He draws up the drops of water,
They distill rain from the mist,

“Its noise declares His presence;
The cattle also, concerning what is coming up.

“Shall it be told Him that I would speak?
Or should a man say that he would be swallowed up?

“Now gird up your loins like a man,
And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!

“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
So that an abundance of water will cover you?

“Their offspring become strong, they grow up in the open field;
They leave and do not return to them.

“Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
And makes his nest on high?

“His young ones also suck up blood;
And where the slain are, there is he.”

“Now gird up your loins like a man;
I will ask you, and you instruct Me.

“His strong scales are his pride,
Shut up as with a tight seal.

“When he raises himself up, the mighty fear;
Because of the crashing they are bewildered.

Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him so that I may not do with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”