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.

When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head.

May the day I was born perish,
and the night when they said,
“A boy is conceived.”

who are filled with much joy
and are glad when they reach the grave?

I sigh when food is put before me,
and my groans pour out like water.

Should anyone try to speak with you
when you are exhausted?
Yet who can keep from speaking?

Consider: who has perished when he was innocent?
Where have the honest been destroyed?

Among unsettling thoughts from visions in the night,
when deep sleep descends on men,

You will be safe from slander
and not fear destruction when it comes.

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

They are ashamed because they had been confident of finding water.
When they arrive there, they are frustrated.

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

When I lie down I think:
When will I get up?
But the evening drags on endlessly,
and I toss and turn until dawn.

When I say: My bed will comfort me,
and my couch will ease my complaint,

When disaster brings sudden death,
He mocks the despair of the innocent.

When He withholds the waters, everything dries up,
and when He releases them, they destroy the land.

When a man dies, will he come back to life?
If so, I would wait all the days of my struggle
until my relief comes.

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

Dreadful sounds fill his ears;
when he is at peace, a robber attacks him.

Even young boys scorn me.
When I stand up, they mock me.

When he fills his stomach,
God will send His burning anger against him,
raining it down on him while he is eating.

When I think about it, I am terrified
and my body trembles in horror.

For what does he care about his family once he is dead,
when the number of his months has run out?

When you make a decision, it will be carried out,
and light will shine on your ways.

When others are humiliated and you say, “Lift them up,”
God will save the humble.

When He is at work to the north, I cannot see Him;
when He turns south, I cannot find Him.

Yet He knows the way I have taken;
when He has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold.

Therefore I am terrified in His presence;
when I consider this, I am afraid of Him.

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

For what hope does the godless man have when he is cut off,
when God takes away his life?

Will God hear his cry
when distress comes on him?

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

When God fixed the weight of the wind
and limited the water by measure,

when He established a limit for the rain
and a path for the lightning,

If only I could be as in months gone by,
in the days when God watched over me,

when His lamp shone above my head,
and I walked through darkness by His light!

I would be as I was in the days of my youth
when God’s friendship rested on my tent,

when the Almighty was still with me
and my children were around me,

when my feet were bathed in cream
and the rock poured out streams of oil for me!

When I went out to the city gate
and took my seat in the town square,

When they heard me, they blessed me,
and when they saw me, they spoke well of me.

I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me;
when I stand up, You merely look at me.

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

But when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked for light, darkness came.

If I have dismissed the case of my male or female servants
when they made a complaint against me,

what could I do when God stands up to judge?
How should I answer Him when He calls me to account?

if I ever cast my vote against a fatherless child
when I saw that I had support in the city gate,

if I have gazed at the sun when it was shining
or at the moon moving in splendor,

Have I rejoiced over my enemy’s distress,
or become excited when trouble came his way?

But when he saw that the three men could not answer Job, he became angry.

In a dream, a vision in the night,
when deep sleep falls on people
as they slumber on their beds,

For he has said, “A man gains nothing
when he becomes God’s friend.”

But when God is silent, who can declare Him guilty?
When He hides His face, who can see Him?
Yet He watches over both individuals and nations,

Should God repay you on your terms
when you have rejected His?
You must choose, not I!
So declare what you know.

Do you think it is just when you say,
“I am righteous before God”?

how much less when you complain
that you do not see Him,
that your case is before Him
and you are waiting for Him.

Those who have a godless heart harbor anger;
even when God binds them, they do not cry for help.

Do not long for the night
when nations will disappear from their places.

Then there comes a roaring sound;
God thunders with His majestic voice.
He does not restrain the lightning
when His rumbling voice is heard.

You whose clothes get hot
when the south wind brings calm to the land,

Should He be told that I want to speak?
Can a man speak when he is confused?

Now men cannot even look at the sun
when it is in the skies,
after a wind has swept through and cleared them away.

Get ready to answer Me like a man;
when I question you, you will inform Me.

Where were you when I established the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.

Who enclosed the sea behind doors
when it burst from the womb,

when I made the clouds its garment
and thick darkness its blanket,

when I determined its boundaries
and put its bars and doors in place,

when I declared: “You may come this far, but no farther;
your proud waves stop here”?

when water becomes as hard as stone,
and the surface of the watery depths is frozen?

when the dust hardens like cast metal
and the clods of dirt stick together?

when they crouch in their dens
and lie in wait within their lairs?

Who provides the raven’s food
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?

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Do you know when mountain goats give birth?
Have you watched the deer in labor?

When she proudly spreads her wings,
she laughs at the horse and its rider.

When the trumpet blasts, he snorts defiantly.
He smells the battle from a distance;
he hears the officers’ shouts and the battle cry.

Get ready to answer Me like a man;
When I question you, you will inform Me.

When Leviathan rises, the mighty are terrified;
they withdraw because of his thrashing.

You said, “Listen now, and I will speak.
When I question you, you will inform Me.”

For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A Davidic psalm.Answer me when I call,
God, who vindicates me.
You freed me from affliction;
be gracious to me and hear my prayer.

Know that the Lord has set apart
the faithful for Himself;
the Lord will hear when I call to Him.

You have put more joy in my heart
than they have when their grain and new wine abound.

When I observe Your heavens,
the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which You set in place,

When my enemies retreat,
they stumble and perish before You.

When the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”

Oh, that Israel’s deliverance would come from Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of His people,
Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.

But I will see Your face in righteousness;
when I awake, I will be satisfied with Your presence.

You will make them burn
like a fiery furnace when you appear;
the Lord will engulf them in His wrath,
and fire will devour them.

Instead, you will put them to flight
when you aim your bow at their faces.

For He has not despised or detested
the torment of the afflicted.
He did not hide His face from him
but listened when he cried to Him for help.

Even when I go through the darkest valley,
I fear no danger,
for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff—they comfort me.

When evildoers came against me to devour my flesh,
my foes and my enemies stumbled and fell.

Lord, hear my voice when I call;
be gracious to me and answer me.

Listen to the sound of my pleading
when I cry to You for help,
when I lift up my hands
toward Your holy sanctuary.

When I was secure, I said,
“I will never be shaken.”

Lord, when You showed Your favor,
You made me stand like a strong mountain;
when You hid Your face, I was terrified.

I have heard the gossip of many;
terror is on every side.
When they conspired against me,
they plotted to take my life.

Lord, do not let me be disgraced when I call on You.
Let the wicked be disgraced;
let them be silent in Sheol.

In my alarm I had said,
“I am cut off from Your sight.”
But You heard the sound of my pleading
when I cried to You for help.

When I kept silent, my bones became brittle
from my groaning all day long.

Therefore let everyone who is faithful pray to You
at a time that You may be found.
When great floodwaters come,
they will not reach him.