And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?

And Bildad the Shuhite will answer and say,

“Behold, even the moon has no brightness [compared to God’s majesty and glory]
And the stars are not pure in His sight,

How much less is man, who is only a maggot, or a man's children, who are only worms!"

And Job will answer and say,

What counsel you provide to the fool! What insight you provide so abundantly!

Who helped you say all of this? Who inspired you?"

He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.

See, these are only the outskirts of his ways; and how small is that which comes to our ears about him! But the thunder of his acts of power is outside all knowledge.

And Job will add to take up his parable, and say,

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

Truly, there is no deceit in my lips, and my tongue does not say what is false.

Far be it from me that {I would say that you are right}; until I pass away, I will not put away from me my blamelessness.

My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

What hope hath the hypocrite, though he have great good, and though God give him riches after his heart's desire?

“I will teach you regarding the hand (power) of God;
I will not conceal what is with the Almighty [God’s actual treatment of the wicked].

Look! All of you have been watching, so why have you become so completely worthless?

This is a wicked man’s lot from God,
the inheritance the ruthless receive from the Almighty.

The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon
or a booth set up by a watchman.

He lieth down rich, but will do so no more; he openeth his eyes, and he is not.

He breaks open a mine shaft {away from where people dwell}; [those] who are forgotten {by travelers}, they dangle, they sway [far away] from human beings.

There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen:

The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.

He cut rivers in the rocks, and his eye saw every precious thing.

“Man dams up the streams from flowing [so that they do not trickle into the mine],
And what is hidden he brings out to the light.

"Where can wisdom be found? Where is understanding's home?

The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me.

Black corals and crystal will not be mentioned, and wisdom's price [is] more than red corals.

Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.

For He to the ends of the earth doth look, Under the whole heavens He doth see,

In appointing a statute for the rain, and a way for the thunder's flash:

Then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out.

And he will say to man, Behold, the fear of Jehovah, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

So Job proceeded and went forth in his communication, saying,

Who doth make me as in months past, As in the days of God's preserving me?

when his lamp used to shine over my head, so I could walk through the dark,

as when I was in the days of my prime, when God's confiding [was] over my {house},

“When I went out to the gate of the city,
When I took my seat [as a city father] in the square,

The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up.

The noblemen’s voices were hushed,
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:

The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

I [was] a father to the poor, and I investigated {the stranger's} legal dispute.

And I broke [the] evil one's jaw bones, and I made [his] prey drop from his teeth.

And I say, 'With my nest I expire, And as the sand I multiply days.'

For my root was spread out by the water's side, and the dew lay upon my corn.

After I spoke, they had nothing to say, when what I said hit them.

plucking up herbs from among the bushes, and the Juniper's root was their meat.

So that they dwell in frightful valleys, In holes of the earth and of the rocks.

"Now, I've become the object of their mocking melodies; I'm nothing but a fool's proverb to them!

For he hath loosed my cord and afflicted me; so they cast off the bridle before me.

They mar my path, They set forward my calamity, without anyone's help.

By God's great force is my garment disfigured; It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

You have turned cruel to me; you persecute me with your hand's might.

I know that you're about to kill me, so I'm about to go to the house that's appointed for all the living."

So my lyre came to be [used] for mourning, and my flute [for the] voice of [those who] weep.

"I made a covenant with my eyes, so how could I look closely upon a virgin?

For what is God's reward from on high, or the heritage given by the Ruler of all from heaven?

Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?

(Let me be measured in upright scales, and let God see my righteousness:)

“If my step has turned away from the way [of God],
Or if my heart has [covetously] followed my eyes,
Or if any spot [of guilt] has stained my hands,

Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.

If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door;

O then let my wife be another man's harlot and let others lie with her.

“For it is a fire which consumes to Abaddon (destruction, ruin, final torment);
And [illicit passion] would burn and rage and uproot all my [life’s] increase [destroying everything].

"If I have rejected my male or female slave's case when their complaint [was] against me,

But seeing that God will sit in judgment, what shall I do? And for so much as he will needs visit me, what answer shall I give him?

He that fashioned me in my mother's womb, made he not him also? Were we not both shapen alike in our mother's bodies?

"If I have withheld [the] desire of [the] poor from [them], or I have caused [the] widow's eyes to fail,

Or have eaten my morsel alone, so that the fatherless ate not thereof,

(For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)

If I see any perishing without clothing, And there is no covering to the needy,

if his loins have not blessed me, or by means of my sheep's fleece he has warmed himself,

If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:

if I have rejoiced because my wealth is great
or because my own hand has acquired so much,

If I see the light when it shineth, And the precious moon walking,

And my heart have been secretly enticed, so that my mouth kissed my hand:

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

If not -- say ye, O men of my tent, 'O that we had of his flesh, we are not satisfied.'

The traveller did not take his night's rest in the street, and my doors were open to anyone on a journey;

Because I feared the great multitude, And the contempt of families terrified me, So that I kept silence, and went not out of the door-

"Who will grant me a hearing? Here's my signature let the Almighty answer! Since my adversary indicted me,

may thorns spring up instead of wheat, and obnoxious weeds instead of barley." With this, Job's discourse with his friends is completed.

So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

So Elihu the son of Barakel the Buzite, from the clan of Ram, {became angry}. {He became angry} at Job because he justified himself rather than God,

Elihu’s anger burned against Job’s three friends because they had found no answer [and were unable to determine Job’s error], and yet they had condemned Job and declared him to be in the wrong [and responsible for his own afflictions].

When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled.

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.

“I thought age should speak,
And a multitude of years should teach wisdom.

However, a spirit exists in mankind, and the Almighty's breath gives him insight."

Therefore I say, Hearken to me; I also will shew what I know.

Behold, I waited for your words; I gave ear to your reasons, whilst ye searched out what to say.

I was taking note; and truly not one of you was able to make clear Job's error, or to give an answer to his words.

Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom: God thrusteth him down, not man.

Job has not directed his words to me, and so I will not reply to him with your arguments.

They are amazed, they answer no more: They have not a word to say.

“And shall I wait, because they say nothing,
But stand still and say no more?

because I'm filled with things to say, and my spirit within me compels me to speak.

My insides feel like unvented wine, like it's about to burst like a new wineskin.

I must speak so that I can find relief;
I must open my lips and respond.