IOB
TO THE READER

EDITION OF THE GREEK TEXT

The NETS translation of Iob is based on the critical edition prepared by Joseph Ziegler (Septuaginta: Vetus Testamentum Graecum Auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Gottingensis editum XI.4: Iob [Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1982]). There are a few divergences from this edition, following suggestions made by A. Pietersma in his review of Iob and by P. Gentry in “Proposed Corrections to the Lemma of Ziegler’s Edition,” Appendix D in his The Asterisked Materials in the Greek Job. Departures from Ziegler are signaled in textual notes except for four of Gentry’s five corrections to the presentation of the Origenian asterisk tradition (2.1d, 13a; 9.3b; 12.21b—27.19a is retained as Old Greek in NETS).

TRANSLATION PROFILE OF THE GREEK

General Character

Though the Hebrew text of Iob has, for the most part, been composed in poetry, it includes three sections in prose as well, namely, 1.1–2.13; 32.1–5 and 42.7–17. In the Greek, the entire book is in prose, even though arranged stichometrically, in the manuscript tradition. Ziegler reflects the Greek manuscripts, but NETS follows the NRSV, except when the Greek text demands otherwise.

The Old Greek (OG) Iob is a work of good literary quality. Absent are the usual “Hebraisms” that are the tell-tale signs of translation Greek in much of the Septuagint corpus. For example, at 1.5 we find the common construction “and it happened” in the Hebrew text. This is commonly translated in the LXX by “and it came to pass.” Most modern English translations disregard this Hebraism, as does the NRSV. The OG translator is not satisfied with it either, choosing to begin the sentence with “And when.” Similarly, in the previous verse, 1.4, the Hebrew conjunction (usually “and”) + verb . . . + verb . . . + verb . . . + verb is rendered by participle + (“and”) . . . verb . . . participle—the last two Hebrew verbs folded into a single participle. The participial constructions represent standard Greek style. The NRSV translation of v. 4 is “[And] his sons used to go and hold feasts . . . and they would send and invite”; that of NETS is “Now his sons used to gather …, and hold a feast . . . they used to take along their three sisters.” Many other examples could be cited, but the point is that OG Iob stands as a clear foil to the interlinear paradigm of translation.

A cursory overview of the OG text of Iob reveals that it is substantially shorter than the MT, the form of the Hebrew text which appears to have been its parent text. This abbreviation increases as one reads through the book. Gray calculated that the proportion of omissions grows as follows: 4% until chapter 15; 16% of chapters 15–21; 25% of chapters 22–31; 35% of chapters 32–37; 16% of chapters 38–42 (lxxv; repeated in Dhorme, ccii–cciii). The shorter Greek text seems to be rooted in at least two characteristics of the Hebrew text. First, the meaning of the Hebrew is sometimes obscure; second, the argumentation in the book is repetitious. A third consideration may have made abbreviation acceptable: Iob may not have carried the same authority as other books of the Hebrew Scriptures. Abbreviation also extends to the “micro-level” where it can involve the reduction of two lines to one—something we might call paraphrasing.

It has sometimes been suggested that Greek Iob is based upon an equally shorter Hebrew parent text. However, on the basis of what we can establish about the translator’s technique, i.e., his rather free, even paraphrastic approach, it seems more likely that the shorter text is to be attributed to the time of translation.

The usual categories of characterizing a translation fail us when we assess Iob. It is not just free or paraphrastic, it is also something of an epitome of the longer and often difficult original. OG Iob is one of a kind in the Septuagint corpus. We can typify it as among the least literal, both in its attitude toward abbreviating the parent text and in the way the translator worked with that portion of the text for which we have a translation.

While the text as a whole reveals conscious shortening, there are various additions made along the way. The major ones are: the diatribe of Iob’s wife in 2.9a–d—though this may be a later addition (“probably,” according to Fernández Marcos, 261, citing Heater, 31–36)—and 42.17aα–eα, which is said to derive “from the Syriac book.”

Another general characteristic of the translation consists of transferring passages from elsewhere in Iob or from other parts of the Septuagint into the translation. This practice was detected by Dhorme and Ziegler and has been the subject of a study by Heater, who calls it “the anaphoric translation technique.” For example, 4.21a = Esa 40.24b; 22.2 = 21.22a; 22.28a = 8.6b; 34.13 was inspired by Ps 24.1; 34.15b; “[W]hence too he was formed” is a gloss that derives from Gen 3.19; 36.5a = 8.20a.

Finally, the translator’s use of particles of all kinds should be noted. As Kitto says, “Greek is well stocked with little words, conjunctions that hunt in couples or in packs, whose sole function is to make the structure clear. They act, as it were, as signposts” (27). This seems to be the translator’s intent in Iob, i.e., to give the rather loosely linked Hebrew text a connectedness. So the translation is heavily salted with particles: “and,” “but,” “now,” “because,” “for,” “really?,” “on the one hand . . . on the other,” “however,” “therefore,” “rather,” “again,” “or” and others. None of these is more striking than the multi-particle “but; nonetheless; to the contrary” (2.5a; 5.8a; 12.6a; 13.3a; 17.10a; 21.17a; 27.7a; 33.1a; 34.36a). The interest in structure seems evident, for example, in chapter 9 where γάρ—commonly “for”—is added thirteen times: vv. 2b, 3a, 4a, 13a, 15a, 18a, 19a, 20a, 21a, 24a, 27a, 28b, 30a, in addition to its use as translation at vv. 32a, 35b, or at 22.5b–9 where each line begins with “and; but,” “but not; nor” (7a) or “but” (7b) to form a list and to add connectors to the Hebrew for vv. 7a and 9a. In short, unlike most other Septuagintal translators, Iob uses particles more in accord with standard Greek discourse.

Specific Comments on the Old Greek Translation

We must imagine the Hebrew text in front of the translator. It was an unvocalized text—that is, it had only the consonants—and there may have been no divisions between the words (on this issue: Tov, 117–121); there was no versification. The lack of vowel markings permitted the text to be vocalized, and therefore understood, in more than one way sometimes—though there was doubtless a tradition of vocalization. A different vocalization helps to explain some instances where the English translation of the Greek appears to be rather different from the NRSV. For example, at 24.18b was vocalized not (“not) but as (“Let”).

The translator was responsible for dividing the text into small segments according to sense. Sometimes this results in a somewhat different division than is reflected in the MT. For example, the words “with you” at 36.4b have been taken with v. 5 (paraphrased as “But know that”—so Dhorme).

Some letters of the Hebrew alphabet are easily confused in the manuscript tradition, and Greek Iob reflects this. Indeed, it might even be that the translator, aware of these confusions, bore them in mind as he tried out various possibilities for producing a translation. Numerous examples can be cited. First, in Hebrew manuscripts the (daleth) and (resh) can be confused because they look alike. For example, we find read as at 21.22b (so “murders” instead of “those that are on high”); 40.11a (“messengers” instead of “overflowings”); read as at 41.14b (NRSV 22b) (“runs” instead of “dances”). Second, the consonants y (yod) and (waw) can be confused: so we find for (twice) at 26.13a (“bars of” instead of “By his wind”). Third, (sin) and (shin) share the same consonant: so appears to have been read instead of at 41.22a (NRSV 30) (“sharp” rather than “potsherds”).

Sometimes the translator re-orders the Hebrew consonants: for example, for (19.20a—where is also read for , therefore “rotted” instead of “cling”); possibly for (39.4a[Greek 3a], “did you rear” rather than “become strong”); for (21.10b, “falter” instead of “miscarries”); for (41.1b[NRSV 9b], “what is said” instead of “the sight of it”). Indeed, the translator sometimes changes consonants: for example, for (32.13b, “[we] contributed it” instead of “[God] may vanquish him”); for (41.26b[NRSV 34b], “that are in the waters” instead of “that are proud”); for (22.23a, “[you] humble yourself” rather than “you will be restored”). It seems that these changes result from a particular approach to the Hebrew text, one that goes to considerable lengths to make a certain sense of it, even to the extent of changing and rearranging letters of words to do so.

An awareness of these aspects of the translator’s work helps one to understand why an English translation of the OG looks quite different from a translation of the Hebrew text.

THE ECCLESIASTICAL TEXT

OG Iob is about one-sixth shorter than the MT. That shorter text, without the fragments of Theodotion, is attested only in the Sahidic version and some Old Latin quotations. Except for these witnesses the entire textual tradition has been accommodated to the work of the third century CE text critic Origen in his massive project we call “the Hexapla.”

The designation “Hexapla” is given to a presumed six-columned book—only fragments are extant—in which Origen compared the Septuagint and several other translations with the traditional Hebrew text of his day. From the left, the six columns were: the Hebrew, the Hebrew in Greek transliteration, Aquila’s translation, Symmachus’ translation, the Septuagint, and Theodotion’s translation. The texts were reproduced word-by-word or phrase-by-phrase down the page and, by following the columns across, one could compare the texts at a glance. Origen’s primary interest was in the first and fifth columns, that is, the Hebrew and the Septuagint.

Now the Septuagint is not always of the same length as the Hebrew, and in the book of Iob that is dramatically the case. Where the OG is longer than the Hebrew, Origen marked what makes it longer with an obelus (÷) in front and a metobelus () at the end; where the OG was shorter than the Hebrew, he added to it, typically from Theodotion, in order to make it the same length as the Hebrew and marked it with an asterisk () and a metobelus. (The translation we designate “Theodotion” is associated with the name of a translator or reviser who lived at the end of the second century CE. It is a literal translation and even includes some transliterations, as at Iob 37.12; 39.13.)

The consequences of Origen’s work on Iob are chiefly two: first, two entirely different translations are now intermingled; second, since the OG translator sometimes uses only one line to render two lines of Hebrew, the “ecclesiastical” text produces a translation where some lines of the Hebrew are represented twice, once in the OG and again in Theodotion. For example, the OG translator omitted 18.9a and translated only 18.9b, but Origen’s mechanical approach led him to add 18.9b from Theodotion. This means that 18.9b has two renderings in the ecclesiastical text, though 18.9a is not represented at all. Similarly, 23.14 was not part of the OG, but what Origen added from Theodotion is v. 15. As a result, v. 15 appears twice in the ecclesiastical text, in the OG as v. 15ab and from Theodotion under the asterisk as v. 15cd. There is no translation of v. 14.

Both Rahlfs’ provisional edition (1935) and Ziegler’s critical edition reproduce the text that Origen conflated, and the two translations are punctuated as if they were one translation. The NETS translation follows the OG text but, as an aid to readers, includes Theodotion, inserted into the appropriate places but not integrated. Not only have the intrusive fragments of text been duly marked, they also lack initial uppercase, as well as closing punctuation. The English translation of Theodotion’s work seeks to be more “literal” than that of OG Iob, reflecting the nature of its parent text.

THE NETS TRANSLATION OF IOB

The Hebrew text of Iob presents such a level of difficulty in translation that those who work on it have often made recourse to the OG translation. This is reflected in the notes that accompany translations into English, including the NRSV. Therefore, readers of NETS Iob will find occasional points of contact between the NRSV and NETS that are due to the NRSV adopting an understanding of the Hebrew that is dependent upon the OG.

The NETS translation of Iob aspires to the same economy of expression that is true of the NRSV, which makes the translator’s interest in “connector words” all the more apparent.

Readers of NETS will often note a difference in the tense of verbs from what is found in the NRSV. Usually this has resulted from the rendering of the Hebrew prefixed conjugation into Greek by an aorist (“simple past”) tense. It appears that the translator understood these prefixed forms as preterites, i.e., as expressions of the simple past. Normally the aorist tense in NETS Iob is rendered by an English simple past, though at times a present perfect is used when the context seems to require it.

Gender Specific Language in NETS Iob

The NRSV usually accomplishes gender inclusivity by rendering masculine singular forms as plurals. The NETS Iob differs from the NRSV in this respect, for the following reason. The change the NRSV incorporates is most noticeable in passages that involve either “the life of a mortal” (e.g., 10.4–5; 14.5–6) or groups of people, usually the impious or wicked (the most extensive passage is 15.20–35). In the NRSV these all become plural for the sake of inclusivity. But in the former case, involving “the life of a mortal,” the remarks, on Iob’s lips, have “a person like me” sense and on his opponents’ “a person like you” sense, and the edge is taken away if one uses the plural. The same holds true for passages about the impious or wicked. Here the opponents and Iob argue back and forth. The fact that the opponents speak of the wicked in the singular might lead one to think that they do not have “the wicked” in general in view, but Iob; the same holds true when Iob responds using the singular: he has his immediate opponent in view! In two passages Iob speaks of the wicked in the plural (12.5–6a; 21.7–18) and in those cases one might argue that he has his three friends in mind. So NETS Iob follows the OG in number to preserve “the bite” of the argument.

EDITORIAL DETAIL

Generally the translation has been divided into portions within chapters according to the NRSV; occasional divergences in this regard result from the translator’s abbreviation of the Hebrew text. So, for example, there is a division between 16.6 and 7, rather than between 16.5 and 6 as found in the NRSV.

Punctuation usually follows Ziegler’s edition, but not always, because Ziegler treats the ecclesiastical text as of one piece. The translation of Theodotion has also been punctuated, according to the NRSV, where the fragments are of sufficient length to make that possible.

There is a difference in versification among English translations, MT and OG as reflected in Ziegler at the end of chapter 40 and the beginning of chapter 41. I have followed Ziegler and MT but noted the versification of the NRSV.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Along with the standard Greek and Hebrew lexica and grammars the following works have played an active role in my work on NETS Iob: Georg Beer, Der Text des Buches Hiob (Marburg: N.G. Elwertsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1897); Shaye J. D. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah (LEC 7; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1987); édouard Dhorme, A Commentary on the Book of Job (Tr. Harold Knight; Nashville: Nelson, 1984 [1967; French, 1926]); Samuel Rolles Driver and George Buchanan Gray, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Book of Job (ICC; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1921; reprint, 1986); Peter J. Gentry, The Askerisked Materials in the Greek Job (SBLSCS 38; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995); Natalio Fernández Marcos, “The Septuagint Reading of the Book of Job,” in The Book of Job (Ed. W. A. M. Beuken; BETL 114; Leuven: University Press/Peeters, 1994) 251–266; Homer Heater, Jr., A Septuagint Translation Technique in the Book of Job (CBQMS 11; Washington DC: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1982); H. D. F. Kitto, The Greeks (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1973 (1951; revised ed., 1957); Albert Pietersma, Review of Iob. Septuaginta: Vetus Testamentum Graecum, 11/4, ed. by Joseph Ziegler, in JBL 104 (1985) 305–311; Alfred Rahlfs, Septuaginta. Id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interpretes (Stuttgart: Würtembergische Bibelanstalt, 1935); Emanuel Tov, The Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint in Biblical Research (2nd ed., revised and enlarged; Jerusalem Biblical Studies 8; Jerusalem: Simor Ltd., 1997).

Finally, it has been an experience full of insights to have had Albert Pietersma work closely with me on revising my translation of OG Iob for publication. The resulting translation is vastly improved and our extended conversation always stimulated my thinking about OG Iob, in connection with both its text and its message.

CLAUDE E. COX

1 There was a certain man in the land of Ausitis, whose name was Iob, and that man was genuine, blameless, righteous, religious, staying away from every evil thing. ²Now there were born to him seven sons and three daughters. ³And his livestock was: seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she-donkeys at pasture; as well he had very many servants and extensive activities in the land, and that man was well-born among those of the east. ⁴ Now his sons used to gather with one another and hold a feast each day; they used to take along their three sisters as well, to eat and drink with them. ⁵And when the feast days had run their course, Iob used to send and purify them, rising early in the morning, and he used to offer a sacrifice on their behalf, according to their number, and one bull calf as a sin offering for their souls—for Iob said, “Perhaps my sons thought bad things in their mind toward God.” So this is what Iob would always do.

6 And when the set day came, then, look, the angels of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and the slanderer came with them. ⁷And the Lord said to the slanderer, “Where have you come from?” And the slanderer answered the Lord, “I have come, after going round the earth and walking about what is under heaven.” ⁸And the Lord said to him, “Did you give thought to your disposition against my servant Iob—because there is no one of those on the earth like him, a man who is blameless, genuine, religious, staying away from every evil thing?” ⁹Then the slanderer answered and said before the Lord, “Does Iob really worship the Lord for nothing? ¹⁰Have you not put a fence around things external to him, both what is within his household as well as what is outside of all that belongs to him, all around? You blessed the works of his hands, and his livestock you increased on the earth. ¹¹But stretch out your hand, and touch all that he has; surely he will bless^a you to your face!” ¹²Then the Lord said to the slanderer, “Look, all that he has I am giving into your power, but do not touch him.” So the slanderer went out from the Lord.

13 So it was, when it was the set day, Iob’s sons and daughters were drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house. ¹⁴And, look, a messenger came to Iob and said to him, “The yokes of oxen were plowing, and the she-donkeys were feeding beside them, ¹⁵and marauders came and carried them off, and they killed the servants with daggers, but when I alone escaped, I came to tell you.” ¹⁶While he was still speaking, a further messenger came and said to Iob, “Fire fell from the sky and burned up the sheep, and it likewise consumed the shepherds, and when I alone escaped, I came to tell you.” ¹⁷While he was still speaking, a further messenger came and said to Iob, “Horsemen formed three columns against us, and they encircled the camels and carried them off and killed the servants with daggers, but I alone escaped, and I came to tell you.” ¹⁸While he was still speaking, another messenger came, saying to Iob, “As your sons and daughters were eating and drinking at their elder brother’s, ¹⁹suddenly a great wind came from the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and the house fell on your children, and they died, but I alone escaped, and I came to tell you.”

20 So Iob arose, tore his clothes and shaved the hair of his head and fell on the ground and did obeisance and said, ²¹“I came naked from my mother’s womb; naked also shall I return there; the Lord gave; the Lord has taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so it turned out; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

22 In all these things that happened to him Iob did not sin at all before the Lord, and he did not charge God with folly.

2 Now it happened, when it was the set day and the angels of God came to present themselves before the Lord, the slanderer also came among them. [¹ to present himself before the Lord^b .] ²And the Lord said to the slanderer, “Where are you coming from?” Then the slanderer said before the Lord, “I have come, after traversing what is under heaven and walking about everywhere.” ³ Then the Lord said, “So did you notice my attendant Iob—that there is no one of those on the earth like him, an innocent, genuine, blameless, religious man, staying away from all wrong? And he still maintains his innocence, though you said to destroy his possessions for no reason.” ⁴Then the slanderer continued and said to the Lord, “Skin for skin; whatever a person has he will use to pay for his life. ⁵However, stretch out your hand, and touch his bones and his flesh; surely he will bless^a you to your face!” ⁶Then the Lord said to the slanderer, “Very well, I am handing him over to you; only spare his life.”

7 So the slanderer went out from the Lord, and he struck Iob with a grievous festering sore from his feet to his head. ⁸And he took a potsherd, so that he could scrape away the pus, and sat on the rubbish heap outside the city.

9 Then after a long time had passed, his wife said to him, “How long will you persist and say, ^9a ‘Look, I will hang on a little longer, while I wait for the hope of my deliverance?’ ^9bFor look, your legacy has vanished from the earth—sons and daughters, my womb’s birth pangs and labors, for whom I wearied myself with hardships in vain. ^9c And you? You sit in the refuse of worms as you spend the night in the open air. ^9dAs for me, I am one that wanders about and a hired servant—from place to place and house to house, waiting for when the sun will set, so I can rest from the distresses and griefs that now beset me. ^9eNow say some word to the Lord and die!” ¹⁰But Iob looked up and said to her, “You have spoken like one of the foolish women. If we received the good things from the Lord’s hand, shall we not bear the bad?” In all these things that happened to him Iob did not sin at all with his lips before God.

11 Now when his three friends heard of all the troubles that had come upon him, they came to him, each one from his own country—Eliphaz^c, the king of the Thaimanites, Baldad, the tyrant of the Sauchites, Sophar, the king of the Minites. And they came to him of one accord, to comfort and to visit with him. ¹²But when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they cried out with a loud voice and wept; each of them tore his robe, and they sprinkled themselves with dust. ¹³They sat with him seven days, [¹³ and seven nights ] and none of them spoke, for they saw that the calamity was dire and very great.

3 After this Iob opened his mouth and cursed
his day^d, ²saying:

³ “May the day perish in which I was born,
and the night in which they said,
‘Look, a man-child!’

⁴ May that day be darkness!
And may the Lord above not seek it,
or light come to it.

⁵ But may darkness and deathly shadow seize
         it.
May gloom come upon it.

⁶ May that day and night be cursed; may
         darkness carry it away!

May it not exist among the days of the
year

or be numbered among the days of the
months.

⁷ Rather, may that night be anguish,
and may gladness and joy not come upon
         it.

⁸ Rather, may he who curses that day curse
         it^a—

he who is about to subdue the great sea-
monster.

⁹ May the stars of that night be dark;
may it remain so and not be lit up,
and may it not see the morning-star
         rising—

¹⁰ because it did not shut the gates of my
         mother’s womb,

for it would have put away trouble from
my eyes.

¹¹ “For what reason did I not die in the womb
or come forth from the belly and not
         perish at once?

¹² Why then did knees meet me?
Why then did I suck breasts?

¹³ Now I would have lain down quiet
and in sleep would have been at rest,

¹⁴ with kings, counselors of the earth,
who used to act proudly thanks to rapiers,

¹⁵ or with rulers, who had much gold,
who had filled their houses with silver.

¹⁶ Or why was I not like a premature birth that
         comes from a mother’s womb
or like infants that did not see the light?

¹⁷ There the impious have kindled a terrible
         wrath;
there the very weary have found rest for
         the body,

¹⁸ and those of old, together,
have not heard the voice of the tax-
         gatherer.

¹⁹ Small and great are there,
and the attendant who lived in fear of his
         master.

²⁰ “Why then is light given to those in
         bitterness,
and life to souls in pain,

²¹ who long for death and do not find it,
though they are digging for it as for
         treasures?

²² Yet they would be very joyful,
if they were successful.

²³ Death is rest for such a man,
for God shut him in.

²⁴ For sighing comes before my food,
and I cry, gripped by fear.

²⁵ For fear—which was my worry—came to
         me,
and the fear I dreaded befell me.

²⁶ I was neither at peace, nor did I have quiet,
nor was I at rest, but anger came to me.”

4 Now Eliphaz^b the Thaimanite said in reply,
² “Have you often been addressed when in
            distress?

But who can endure the force of your
words?

³ So what, if you instructed many
and encouraged the hands of the weak
         one,

⁴ lifted up the weak with your words
and wrapped feeble knees in courage—

⁵ but now distress has come upon you
and touched you, and you acted in haste.

⁶ Is your fear not based on a lack of sense,
so too your hope and the innocence of
         your way?

⁷ “Think now, who, being pure, perished,
or when did the true perish root and all?

⁸ For instance, I saw those who plow wrongs,
and those who sow them reap torments
         for themselves.

⁹ By the command of the Lord they will
         perish,

and by the breath of his anger they will
disappear.

¹⁰ The strength of the lion and the voice of the
         lioness

and the pride of dragons^c was
extinguished;

¹¹ the ant lion perished for lack of food,
and lions’ whelps abandoned one
         another.

¹² But if there had been anything truthful in
         your words,

nothing bad in them would have met
you.

“Will my ear not receive remarkable things
         from him^d?

¹³ Now there was awe and a ringing sound in
         the night—
an awe falling on mortals;

¹⁴ then shuddering fell upon me, and a
         trembling,
and my bones shook mightily.

¹⁵ And a spirit came upon my face,
and my hair and flesh quivered.

¹⁶ I stood up,
and I did not recognize it.

I looked, and there was no shape before my
         eyes,
though I heard a breeze and a voice:

¹⁷ ‘What? Can a mortal be pure before the
         Lord,
or a man be blameless in his actions?’

¹⁸ Whether he believes charges against his
         servants, ^ewho knows^e,

but he took note of any crookedness in
his angels.

¹⁹ But as for those that inhabit houses of
         clay—

being their offspring, we ourselves too are
of the same clay—

he struck them like a moth!

²⁰ And so between morning and evening they
         ceased to exist;

they perished, because they were not able
to help themselves.

²¹ That is, he breathed on them, and they
         withered;

they perished, because they did not
possess wisdom.

5 “But call, if anyone will respond to you or if you
will see any of the holy angels.

² To be sure, anger kills the fool,
and jealousy slays the one misled.

³ Now, I have seen fools taking root,
but at once their way of living was
         devoured.

⁴ May their children be far from safety,
and may they be derided at the doors of
         their inferiors,
and there will be no one to deliver them.

⁵ For what they gathered, the upright shall
         eat,

and they will not be excepted from
harmful things;

may their strength be drained.

⁶ For hardship shall not come from the
         earth,
nor will trouble sprout from mountains,

⁷ but a human being is born to hardship,
whereas the vulture’s young soar on high.

⁸ “Nonetheless, I will entreat the Lord,
and I will call on the Lord, the master of
         all,

⁹ who does great and inscrutable things,
things both glorious and extraordinary,
         without number,

¹⁰ who gives rain on the earth,
sending water on what is under heaven,

¹¹ who sets on high those that are lowly
and lifts up those that are in ruin,

¹² frustrating the schemes of the crafty—
and their hands shall not produce what is
         genuine,

¹³ he who takes the wise in their cleverness—
and he subverted the scheming of the
         wily.

¹⁴ Darkness will meet them in the daytime,
and may they grope at noonday as in the
         night.

¹⁵ And may they perish in war,
and may the powerless escape from the
         hand of the mighty.

¹⁶ So may the powerless have hope,
but the mouth of the unjust be shut.

¹⁷ “But happy is the one whom the Lord
         reproved,
and do not reject the admonition of the
         Almighty,

¹⁸ for he makes one suffer and restores again;
he struck, and his hands healed.

¹⁹ Six times he will deliver you from troubles,
and the seventh time no harm shall
         touch you.

²⁰ In famine he will rescue you from death,
and in war he will free you from a blade’s
         power.

²¹ He shall hide you from the scourge of the
         tongue,

and you shall not fear harmful things
that come.

²² At the unjust and lawless you shall laugh,
and you shall not fear wild animals—

²³ for wild animals shall be at peace with
         you.

²⁴ Next, you shall know that your household
         will be at peace,

and the livelihood of your tent shall not
fall short.

²⁵ And you shall know that your descendants
         will be many,

and your offspring shall be as the grass of
the field.

²⁶ And you shall come to your grave like ripe
         grain,
harvested at the right time,

or as a heap on the threshing floor,
gathered in its season.

²⁷ Look, these things we traced to be so.
These are the things we have heard,
but do know for yourself whether you
         have done anything.”

6 Now Iob said in reply:

² “If someone really sets about to weigh
         ^awhat angers me^a

and to put my sorrows together in a
balance,

³ then indeed they will be heavier than the
         sand of the seashore,
but as it seems, my words are careless.

⁴ For the arrows of the Lord are in my body;
their wrath drinks my blood;
when I begin to speak, they pierce me.

⁵ Why, will the wild ass bray for no reason?
Is it not rather looking for grain?

Yes, and will an ox break into lowing at its
         manger when it has food?

⁶ Can bread be eaten without salt?
And is there any taste in empty words?

⁷ So my life cannot cease,
for I loathe my food like the smell of a
         lion.

⁸ “O that he were willing, and my request
         proceed,
and the Lord would grant my hope.

⁹ Let the Lord begin by wounding me,
but let him not kill me outright.

¹⁰ And may my city, whose walls I used to leap
         upon, be my grave—
I will not spare myself,

for I did not belie the holy words of my
God.

¹¹ For what is my strength, that I endure,
or what is my lifespan, that my life
         sustains itself?

¹² Is my strength the strength of stones,
or is my flesh bronze?

¹³ Did I not trust in him?
But help is far from me.

¹⁴ “Mercy has renounced me,
and the visitation of the Lord has
         disregarded me.

¹⁵ My nearest kin did not look at me;
like a wadi running dry
or like a wave they passed by me.

¹⁶ Those who held me in respect have now
         fallen on me like snow
or like solid ice.

¹⁷ Just as, melted, with heat coming on,
it was not recognized for what it was,

¹⁸ so I too was abandoned by all,
and I perished and became homeless.

¹⁹ Look at the roads of the Thaimanites,
the paths of the Sabeans, you who see so
         clearly.

²⁰ They also will incur shame,
who put their confidence in cities and
         wealth.

²¹ But yet you too trod on me without
         mercy;

so now that you have seen my hurt, be
afraid!

²² What? Did I ask anything of you?
Or, am I in need of your strength

²³ to save me from enemies
or to rescue me from the hand of the
         powerful?

²⁴ “Teach me, and I will shut up;
if I have gone wrong in any way, show me.

²⁵ Rather, it seems that the words of one who
         is genuine are careless,
so I do not seek strength from you.

²⁶ Not even your reproof with words will make
         me stop,
nor indeed will I endure the sound of
         what you say.

²⁷ Fact is, you fall on an orphan
and jump on your friend.

²⁸ “But now that I have looked into your faces
         I will not lie.

²⁹ Do sit down, and may no wrong be done,
and gather again with him who is just.

³⁰ For there is nothing at all unjust on my
         tongue—

or does my throat not endeavor
understanding?

7 “Is not the life of a human being on earth a
         trial,

and is not his life like that of a day
laborer?

² Or like an attendant who fears his master
         and finds shadow,

or like a wage-earner waiting for his
wages?

³ I too spent empty months in this way,
and nights of pain have been
         apportioned to me.

⁴ If I lie down, I say, ‘When will it be day?’
But when I get up, again I say, ‘When will
         it be evening?’

And I am full of pain from evening until
morning.

⁵ As well, my body is defiled with the rot of
         worms,

and I dissolve, scraping away lumps of
dirt with the pus.

⁶ Again, my life is lighter than talk,
and it has perished in an empty hope.

⁷ “Remember then that my life is a breath,
and my eye will never come to see good
         again—

[8 the eye of one who beholds me will not look
         around for me;

your eyes are upon me, and I am no more ]

⁹ like a cloud, cleared from heaven.

For if a mortal goes down to Hades,
he does not come up again,

¹⁰ and he shall never return to his house,
nor does his place know him any more.

¹¹ “That said, however, I will not be sparing
         with my mouth;
I will speak, though I am in anguish;

I will open up the bitterness of my soul,
though I am in dire straits.

¹² Am I Sea or Dragon,
that you placed a guard over me?

¹³ I said, ‘My couch will comfort me,’
and ‘I will have a word with myself
         privately on my bed.’

¹⁴ You scare me with dreams
and terrify me with visions.

¹⁵ You will release my soul from my spirit
and my bones from death.

¹⁶ For I will not live forever, or I would be
         patient.
Let me alone, for my life is empty.

¹⁷ What then is a human being, that you made
         so much of him
or that you turn your attention to him,

¹⁸ or will visit him until the morning
and scrutinize him until he goes to rest?

¹⁹ How long are you going to restrict me
and not let go of me, until I swallow my
         spittle in pain?

²⁰ If I did sin, what can I do to you, you
         knower of the mind of humans?
Why did you make me your accuser,
and why am I a burden on you?

²¹ Why did you not assign my lawlessness to
         oblivion
and my sin to purging?

But now I shall depart to the ground,
and early in the morning I shall be no
         more.”

8 Now Baldad the Sauchite said in reply:
² “How long will you say these things?

They are a wordy wind of your mouth!

³ Will the Lord act unjustly when he judges,
or will the maker of all things pervert
         what is right?

⁴ If your children sinned before him,
he sent them off by force of their
         lawlessness.

⁵ But you, quickly approach the Lord
         Almighty in prayer.

⁶ If you are pure and genuine, he will hear
         your entreaty
and restore to you a righteous way of life.

⁷ Then, though your first things be few,
your last things will be unspeakably many.

⁸ “For inquire of an earlier generation,
and trace it out through a line of
         ancestors;

⁹ for we are of yesterday and we know
         nothing,
for our life is a shadow on the earth.

¹⁰ Will they not teach you and declare
and bring forth words from the heart?

¹¹ “Does papyrus grow without water,
or sedge become tall without drink?

¹² While it is still on the root, it will in no way
         be harvested;

no plant becomes dry, in preference to
drinking!

¹³ Such indeed will be the end of all who
         forget the Lord,
for the hope of the impious shall perish.

¹⁴ For his house will be uninhabited,
and his tent will prove to be a spider’s
         web.

¹⁵ If he props up his house, it will not stand,
and when he lays hold of it, it will not
         remain,

¹⁶ for he is languid beneath the sun
and his shoot will spread forth out of his
         rottenness.

¹⁷ He goes to sleep on a gathering of stones,
and he will live among rubble.

¹⁸ If it swallows him up, the place will deny
         him;
you have not seen such things,

¹⁹ because such is the ruin of the impious,
but from the soil something else will
         sprout up.

²⁰ “For the Lord will not reject the blameless
         person,

but no gift will he accept from the
impious.

²¹ But he will fill the mouths of the sincere
         with laughter
and their lips with confession,

²² but their enemies will clothe themselves
         with shame,

and the way of life of the impious will be
no more.”

9 Now Iob said in reply:
² “Of a truth I know that it is so,

for how can a mortal be right before the
Lord?

³ For if one wishes to go to law with him,
^ahe will not even answer him^a,
lest he contest one charge of his out of a
         thousand.

⁴ For he is clever in mind, both powerful and
         big—

who, though being unyielding, has
endured against him?—

⁵ he who ages mountains, and they do not
         know it,
who overturns them in anger,

⁶ who shakes what is under heaven from its
         foundations,
and its pillars tremble,

⁷ who speaks to the sun, and it does not rise,
and seals up the stars,

⁸ who alone stretched out the sky
and walks on the sea as on dry ground,

⁹ who makes Pleiades and Venus
and Arcturus and the chambers of the
         south,

¹⁰ who does great and inscrutable things,
things both glorious and extraordinary,
         without number.

¹¹ If he passed over me, I would certainly not
         see him,
and if he went by me, I would not even
         know.

¹² If he takes away, who will put back?
Or who will say to him, ‘What did you
         do?’

¹³ “For he has not turned away from anger;
the sea-monsters under heaven were
         bowed down by him.

¹⁴ But if he has me respond,
will he judge my words with
         discernment?

¹⁵ For if I am in the right, he will not listen to
         me;

[15 I will entreat his judgment ]

¹⁶ and if I call and he responds,
I am not going to believe that he has
         listened to me.

¹⁷ Would he really crush me with gloom?
But he has made my wounds many
         without cause.

¹⁸ For he does not let me get my breath,
but he has filled me with bitterness.

¹⁹ Because, for one thing, he really prevails by
         force,
who then can withstand his judgment?

²⁰ For instance, should I be right, my mouth
         will turn out impious!

And should I be blameless, I will prove to
be perverse!

²¹ For even if I acted impiously, I do not know
         it within myself—except that my life is being taken away.

²² Therefore I said, ‘Anger destroys the great
         and powerful,

²³ because the worthless do exceptionally well
         in death,

but those in the right are laughed to
scorn—

²⁴ for they have been given over into the hands
         of the wicked.’

[24 he covers the faces of its judges,

and if it is not he, who is it ]

²⁵ “Now, my life is swifter than a runner;
they^a fled away, and they saw nothing.

²⁶ Is any trace at all left of a way taken by ships
or of an eagle flying in search of prey?

²⁷ For if in fact I say, ‘I will forget about
         speaking,’
with my face bowed down, I will groan.

²⁸ I quiver in all my limbs,
for I know you will not let me be
         innocent.

²⁹ But since I am impious, why have I not died?

³⁰ For if I wash myself with snow
and cleanse myself with pure hands,

³¹ you have plunged me fully in filth,
and my robe abhorred me.

³² For you are not a mortal like me, with
         whom I would contend,
that we should agree to come to trial.

³³ Would that there were an arbiter for us and
         an investigator
and one to hear the case between us two.

³⁴ Let him remove the rod from me,
and let not the fear of him distract me—

³⁵ then I will not be afraid, but I will speak;
for as it is, I am baffled.

10 “Weary within,

I will let loose my words upon him in
groans;

I will speak, tormented by the bitterness of
         my soul,

² and I will say to the Lord, Do not teach me
         to be impious,
and why did you judge me like this?

³ Does it seem good to you, if I be in the
         wrong,
that you despise the work of your hands
but favored the advice of the impious?

⁴ Do you see as a mortal sees?

[4 or will you see as a human sees ]

⁵ Is your life human,
or your years those of a man?

⁶ Because you sought out my lawlessness
and tracked down my sins.

⁷ For you know that I did not act impiously,
but who is there to deliver from your
         hands?

⁸ Your hands fashioned me and made me;
then you did an about face and struck
         me.

⁹ Remember that you fashioned me as clay,
and you are going to return me again to
         earth.

¹⁰ Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?

¹¹ You clothed me with skin and flesh
and knitted me together with bones and
         sinews.

¹² Then you granted me life and mercy,
and your care preserved my spirit.

¹³ Since you have these things in you, I know
         that you can do anything,
and nothing is impossible for you.

¹⁴ For two things: should I sin, you watch me,
and you have not acquitted me of
         lawlessness.

¹⁵ For if I be impious, alas!
If I be righteous, I cannot lift up my
         head,

for I am filled with disgrace.

¹⁶ To wit, I am hunted like a lion for killing,
and again, you make an about face and
         destroy me terribly.

¹⁷ You renewed your scrutiny of me
and treated me with great anger
and brought trials on me.

¹⁸ “Why then did you bring me out of the
         womb?
And why did I not die and no eye see me

¹⁹ and I be as if I had not been?
For why was I not carried from the womb
         to the grave?

²⁰ Is not the length of my life short?
Let me rest a little

²¹ before I go whence I will not return,
to a land, dark and gloomy,

²² to a land of perpetual darkness, where there
         is no light
and no glimpse of human life.”

11 Now Sophar the Minite said in reply:
² “He who says much will also listen in
         turn,

or does he who is eloquent think he is
right?

Blessed is the short-lived offspring of
woman.

³ Do not become talkative,
for there is no one to contend with you.

⁴ For example, do not say, ‘I am pure in my
         actions
and blameless before him.’

⁵ In that case, how could the Lord speak to
         you?

[5 and he will open his lips with you ]

⁶ Then he will disclose to you the power of
         wisdom,
because it will be double what you have.

And then you will know that what has come
         upon you from the Lord is equal to
         your sins.

⁷ “Can you find the Lord’s footprint,
or have you reached the limits that the
         Almighty made?

⁸ The sky is high, and what will you do?
And there are deeper things than in
         Hades; what do you know?

⁹ Or are they not more extensive than the
         measure of the earth
or the breadth of the sea?

¹⁰ And if he overturns all that is,
who will say to him, ‘What did you do?’

¹¹ Indeed he knows the deeds of the lawless,
and when he sees wrongs, he will not
         look aside.

¹² On the other hand, a human keeps afloat
         with words,

and a mortal, born of woman, is like a
desert ass.

¹³ “For if you have made your heart pure,
and you lift up your hands toward him—

¹⁴ if anything lawless is in your hands, put it
         far away from you,

and let no injustice lodge in your
dwelling.

¹⁵ For in this way your face will shine again
         like pure water,

and you will put away defilement, and
you shall not fear.

¹⁶ And you will forget trouble
like a passing wave and not be terrified.

¹⁷ And your prayer will be as the morning star,
and at midday life will dawn for you.

¹⁸ You will be confident, because there is hope
         for you;

as well, out of worry and care peace will
appear clearly for you,

¹⁹ for you will be at rest, and there will be no
         one to fight you;

instead, many will do an about face and
entreat your favor.

²⁰ But deliverance will fail them,
for their hope is destruction,
and the eyes of the impious will waste
         away.”

12 Now Iob said in reply:
² “So, are you alone human beings?;
Will wisdom die with you?

³ For one thing, I too have a heart, just like
         you.

⁴ A just and blameless man, you see, has
         become a laughingstock.

⁵ To be sure, he had been ordained to fall
         under others for a set time

and that his houses be plundered by the
lawless.

⁶ Nonetheless, let the wicked not trust that he
         will be guiltless—
as many as provoke the Lord—

as if indeed there will be no scrutiny of
them.

⁷ “But, do ask the quadrupeds, if they should
         speak to you,

and the birds of the air, if they should
         declare to you,

⁸ and tell the earth in detail, if it should
         expound to you.

[8 and the fish of the sea will explain to you.

⁹ Who among all these did not know

that the hand of the Lord made these things ]

¹⁰ Is not the life of all living things in his
         hand,
and the breath of every human being?

¹¹ For it is the mind that discerns words
but the throat that tastes food.

¹² Wisdom comes with much time,
and knowledge with much living.

¹³ “With him^a are wisdom and power;
counsel and understanding are his.

¹⁴ If he tears down, who can rebuild?
If he shuts out people, who can open?

¹⁵ If he withholds the water, he will dry up the
         earth,

but if he lets it loose, he has destroyed it
completely.

¹⁶ With him are strength and power;
knowledge and understanding are his.

¹⁷ Leading counselors away captive,
he maddened earthly judges.

¹⁸ Seating kings upon thrones,

[18 and he bound their loins with a belt ]

¹⁹ sending away priests captive,
he overthrew earth’s mighty ones.

²⁰ Disrupting the lips of the trustworthy,
he found out the understanding of
         elders

[21 pouring dishonor on rulers ]

^{21 b}but healed the humble^b.

²² Revealing deep things out of darkness,
he brought death’s shadow to light.

[23 leading nations astray and destroying them,

scattering nations and guiding them ]

²⁴ Changing the hearts of earthly rulers,
he made them wander by a way that they
         did not know:

²⁵ ‘May they grope in the dark without light,
and may they wander about like a
         drunkard.’

13 “Look, my eye has seen these things,
and my ear has heard them,

² and I know what you too understand
and am no less intelligent than you.

³ Nonetheless, I will speak to the Lord
and argue my case before him, if he
         wishes.

⁴ But you are injurious physicians
and wrongful healers, all of you.

⁵ But oh that you would be quiet
and wisdom be yours as a result.

⁶ Hear the refutation of my mouth,
and give heed to the argument of my lips.

⁷ Are you not speaking before the Lord
and before him uttering deceit?

⁸ Will you prevaricate?
Go ahead; become judges yourselves!

⁹ It would indeed be good, if he traced your
         footsteps;

for if, in doing everything you can, you
will join yourselves to him,

¹⁰ he will convict you nonetheless.
And even if secretly you will show
         partiality,

¹¹ will not his terrors distract you
and fear from him assail you?

¹² Your arrogance, however, will turn out to be
         like ashes,
and your body made of clay.

¹³ “Be quiet! so I may speak and be relieved of
         rage.

¹⁴ Having taken my flesh in my teeth,
I will put my life in my hand.

¹⁵ Though the Mighty One overpower me—
         inasmuch as he has begun—

certainly I will speak and argue my case
before him.

¹⁶ And this for me will prove to be
         salvation,
for deceit cannot enter before him.

¹⁷ Hear, hear my words,
for I will declare, while you listen.

¹⁸ Look, I am near my trial;
I know that I will be shown to be in the
         right.

¹⁹ For who is there that will find fault with
         me?

[19 because now I will be quiet and expire ]

²⁰ But you shall indulge me in two things:

[20 then I will not hide myself from your face ]

²¹ withdraw your hand from me,
and let fear of you not terrify me.

²² Then you will call, and I will answer you,
or you will speak, and I will give you a
         response.

²³ How many are my sins and my acts of
         lawlessness?
Teach me what they are.

²⁴ Why do you hide from me
and regard me your opponent?

²⁵ Will you be wary of one that is like a
         windblown leaf,

or do you oppose me, one like
windborne grass?—

²⁶ because you wrote harmful things against
         me

and surrounded me with the sins of my
youth.

²⁷ And you put my foot in a hobble
and watched all my actions,
and you reached to the bottoms of my
         feet.

²⁸ A worn out thing, like a skin, ^aI am^a,
or like a moth-eaten garment.

14 “For a mortal, born of woman,
is short-lived and full of aggravation

² or, like a flower that has bloomed, drops
         off

and flees like a shadow and will not
halt.

³ Of him did you not in fact take account
and make him enter into judgment
         before you?

⁴ For who can be pure from filth? None, not
         one!

⁵ Even if his life on the earth be but one
         day
and his months be counted out to him,

you have set a time, and he shall not go
beyond it.

⁶ Depart from him, that he may have quiet
and enjoy life, like a wage-earner!

⁷ “For there is hope for a tree;
for if it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its branch will not fail.

⁸ For, if its root grow old in earth
and the crown of its root die in a rock,

⁹ at the scent of water it will sprout
and produce a crop like one newly
         planted.

¹⁰ But a man, once dead, is gone,
and a mortal, once fallen, is no more.

¹¹ For a sea with time diminishes,
and a river, laid waste, is dried up,

¹² but a person, once lying down, shall never
         rise again
until the sky become unstitched.

[12 and they will not be roused out of their sleep ]

¹³ O that you had kept me in Hades
and had concealed me until your anger
         had ceased,

and you had set me a time, when you
would remember me.

¹⁴ For, if a person died, then would live
         again,

when he has completed the days of his
life,

I would endure until I would be born
again.

¹⁵ Presently you would call, and I would
         answer you—

only do not reject the works of your
hands.

¹⁶ But you tabulated my pursuits,
and not one of my sins will pass by you,

¹⁷ and you have sealed up my lawless acts in a
         pouch

and marked down if I had somehow
transgressed inadvertently.

[18 but even a falling mountain will crumble
         away,

and a rock will be worn out of its place.

¹⁹ Waters made stones smooth,

and roiling waters eroded the mound of earth,

and you destroyed human endurance ]

²⁰ “You thrust him aside completely, and he
         was gone;

you set your face against him and sent
him away.

²¹ And though his sons become many, he does
         not know,
and if they become few, he is not aware.

²² Ah, but his flesh suffered pain,
and his soul grieved.”

15 Now Eliphaz^a the Thaimanite said in reply:
² “Will a wise man give an answer of
         windy insight,

and did he satisfy the ache in his belly—

³ arguing with statements that are beside the
         point,
with words that are of no benefit?

⁴ Have you not as well set aside fear
and exhausted such statements before the
         Lord?

⁵ You are guilty by the statements of your
         mouth

and did not discern statements of the
mighty.

⁶ May your mouth refute you, and not I,
and your lips will testify against you.

⁷ “What? Were you the first of the human race
         to be born?

Or were you established before the
dunes?

⁸ Did you hear the plan of the Lord,
and did wisdom reach only you?

⁹ For what do you know that we do not
         know?

Or what do you understand that we do
not as well?

[10 both the old and aged man are among us,

more advanced in days than your father ]

¹¹ You have been scourged for but few of your
         sins;
you have spoken wildly extravagantly.

¹² What did your heart dare,
or what did your eyes set themselves
         upon,

¹³ that you burst forth in rage before the Lord
and brought out such remarks from your
         mouth?

¹⁴ For who, being mortal, can be blameless,
or who can be in the right, born of
         woman?

¹⁵ If he places no faith in his holy ones,
then heaven is not pure before him.

¹⁶ But aha, abominable and impure,
a man drinking injustices like a drink!

¹⁷ “But I will declare to you; hear me;
indeed, what I have seen I will declare to
         you—

¹⁸ what sages will say
and did not hide from their ancestors;

¹⁹ to them alone the earth was given,
and no alien came upon them.

²⁰ The entire life of the impious is spent in
         anxiety,

and the years given to the mighty are
numbered.

²¹ And the dread of him is in his ears;
just when he thinks he is at peace, his
         destruction will come.

²² Let him not believe he will return from
         darkness,

for he has already been consigned to a
blade’s power;

²³ moreover, he has been allocated as food for
         vultures,

and he knows within himself that he
remains as a carcass.

And a dark day will whirl him around,

²⁴ and distress and anguish will take hold of
         him;

he will be like a general falling in the
front rank.

²⁵ Because he lifted his hands against the Lord
and stiffened his neck against the Lord
         Almighty

²⁶ and ran against him with insolence,

[26 with the thickness of the back of his shield,

²⁷ because he covered his face with his fat

and made it a band on his thighbones ]

²⁸ then may he lodge in desolate cities
and enter uninhabited houses,

and what they prepared, others will carry
away.

²⁹ Neither shall he ever become rich, nor shall
         his possessions last.

He shall not cast a shadow upon the
ground,

³⁰ nor shall he escape darkness.
May the wind dry up his bud,
and may his blossom fall off.

³¹ Let him not believe that he will endure,
for emptiness will turn out to be his lot.

³² His stump will perish before its time,
and his branch will provide no cover.

³³ But may he be picked like unripe grapes,
         before his time,
and fall off, like an olive blossom.

³⁴ For the testimony of the impious is death,
and fire will burn the houses of bribe-
         takers.

³⁵ And he will conceive sorrows,
and his lot will turn out to be emptiness,
and his belly will carry deceit.”

16 Now Iob said in reply:
²“I have heard many such things;
comforters of what’s worthless are you
         all.

³ What? Is there any rhyme or reason to
         windy words?

[3 or what will provoke you, that you are
         answering ]

⁴ I also would talk as you do, if your life were in fact in the place of
mine;

then I would jump at you with words
and shake my head at you.

⁵ But may there be strength in my mouth—
then I shall not spare you the moving of
         my lips!

⁶ For if I speak, I shall not aggravate my
         wound,

but even if I remain silent, how shall I be
wounded less?

⁷ “But as it is, he has made me worn out, a
         fool, wasted away.

[8 and you took hold of me, which became a
         testimony;

and my lie rose up against me—

it answered back to my face ]

⁹ Acting in wrath, he has thrown me down;
he has gnashed his teeth at me;
his brigands’ arrows fell on me.

¹⁰ With darts from his eyes he dashed at me;
he struck me on the cheek with
         something sharp,
and they ran at me with one accord.

¹¹ For the Lord delivered me into the hands of
         the unjust
and cast me to the impious.

¹² When I was at peace, he scattered me;
he seized me by the hair and pulled it
         out;

he set me up like a target.

¹³ They surrounded me with spears,

hurling them into my kidneys, without
         sparing;
they poured out my gall on the ground.

¹⁴ They threw me down, fall upon fall;
they rushed at me powerfully.

¹⁵ I sewed sackcloth upon my skin,
and my strength was extinguished in dust.

¹⁶ My belly is aflame from weeping,
and there is a shadow on my eyelids.

¹⁷ But there was nothing unjust in my hands,
and my prayer was pure.

¹⁸ “O earth, do not cover up the blood of my
         flesh,
nor may there be a place for my cry.

¹⁹ Even now, look, my witness is in the heavens,
and my corroborator is on high.

²⁰ May my petition reach the Lord,
and before him may my eye shed a tear.

²¹ And may a man have proof before the Lord!

[21 and a son of man for his neighbor ]

²² But the numbered years have come to an
         end,

and I shall go the way by which I shall
not return.

17 “I perish, being carried off by the wind,
and I beg for burial and do not find it.

² I pray wearily, and what have I achieved?

³ No, strangers have stolen my possessions,

[3 who is this? Let him join hands with me.

⁴ Because you have hid their heart from
         intelligence,

therefore you shall not exalt them.

⁵ He will report evils to the party ]

⁵ and my eyes have dissolved over my
         children.

⁶ “And you have made me common talk
         among nations,

and I have become a laughingstock to
them,

⁷ for my eyes have turned to stone from
         anger;

I am greatly besieged by all.

⁸ Wonder at this has seized the truthful,
and may the just rise up against the
         transgressor,

⁹ and the faithful hold to his own way,
and may one with pure hands take
         courage.

¹⁰ Nonetheless, you all keep pressing hard,

[10 and do come.] for I find nothing true in you.

¹¹ My days have passed in a roar, and my heartstrings were broken.

[12 they have made night into day;

light is near ^afrom before^a darkness ]

¹³ For if I last, Hades is my house,
and my bed lies spread in gloom.

¹⁴ I called on death to be my father
and decay to be my mother and
         sister.

¹⁵ Where then is yet my hope?
Shall I see my goods?

¹⁶ Will they go down with me to Hades?”

[16 or shall we go down of one accord to the
         grave ]

18 Now Baldad the Sauchite said in reply:
² “How long before you stop?
Hold back, so that we too can speak.

³ Why have we, like quadrupeds,
been silent before you?

⁴ Anger has used you.

What? If you die, will what is under
heaven be uninhabited?

Or will mountains be overthrown from
their foundations?

⁵ “Yes, the light of the impious will be put
         out,
and their flame will not do well.

⁶ His light is darkness in his dwelling,
and his lamp will be put out on him.

⁷ May those of least account chase down his
         possessions,
and may his counsel trip him up.

⁸ But his foot has been thrust into a snare;
may he be entangled in a net,

⁹ and may snares come upon him!

[9 he^a will strengthen those who thirst against
         him;

¹⁰ his rope is hid in the ground,

and the means of his capture upon paths ]

¹¹ May pains destroy him on every side,
and may many beset him in severe
         famine.

¹² But an extraordinary fall has been prepared
         for him—

¹³ may the digits of his feet be devoured,
and death will consume his maturity.

¹⁴ And may healing be torn from his dwelling,
and may duress take hold of him by royal
         charge.

[15 it will encamp in his tent in his night;

his lovely things will be sown with brimstone;

¹⁶ his roots will be dried up beneath,

and his crop will fall off above ]

¹⁷ May mention of him perish from earth;

[17 and he has no name before the face of the
         wider outside ]

¹⁸ may he^a drive him away from light into
         darkness.

¹⁹ He will no longer be known among his
         people,

nor will his house be preserved on what
is under heaven;

rather, others will live in what is his.

²⁰ The last groaned over him,
and wonder seized the first.

²¹ These are the houses of the unjust,
and this is the place of those that do not
         know the Lord.”

19 Now Iob said in reply:
² “How long will you make my soul
         weary

and destroy me with words?

³ Know only that the Lord treated me this
         way;

you speak against me; shamelessly you
press upon me.

⁴ Yes indeed, I have truly erred,
and error lodges with me—

to have spoken a word that was not fitting,
and my words err and are inappropriate.

⁵ But alas, it is because you magnify
         yourselves against me
and jump at me with reproach.

⁶ Know then that it is the Lord who troubles
         me,

and he raised up his stronghold against
me.

⁷ Look, I laugh at reproach, and I will not
         speak;

I will cry out, and nowhere is there
judgment.

⁸ I am hemmed in all around and cannot get
         out;
he has placed darkness upon my face.

⁹ And he has stripped my glory from me
and taken the crown from my head.

¹⁰ He tore me apart on all sides, and I was gone,
and he has cut down my hope like a
         tree.

¹¹ And he has dealt with me terribly in anger
and has counted me as an enemy.

¹² And with one accord his gangs of brigands
         came against me;

they encircled me on my paths, lying in
ambush.

¹³ “And my brothers turned away from me;
they recognized strangers rather than me.
And friends of mine became merciless.

¹⁴ My nearest kin disowned me,
and those who knew my name forgot
         me.

¹⁵ As for neighbors next door and my servant
         girls—
I became an alien to them.

¹⁶ I called my attendant, and he did not
         respond;
yet my mouth kept pleading.

¹⁷ I also repeatedly implored my wife,
and, using flattery, I kept summoning
         sons of my concubines,

¹⁸ but they rejected me for all time;
when I rise, they talk against me.

¹⁹ My acquaintances abhorred me,
and those I had loved rose up against me.

²⁰ My flesh rotted under my skin,
and my bones are held in my teeth.

²¹ Pity me; pity me, O my friends,
for it is the Lord’s hand that has touched
         me.

²² But why do you pursue me just as the Lord
         does,

and why are you not satisfied with my
flesh?

²³ “For who would grant that my words be
         written
and that they be put in a book forever

[24 with an iron and lead pen ]

²⁴ or be carved in rock?

²⁵ To be sure, I know that he who is about to
         undo me on earth is everlasting.

²⁶ May my skin, which patiently endures these
         things, rise up;

for these things have been accomplished
on me by the Lord—

²⁷ things I am conscious of in myself,
things my eye has seen and no other,
and all of them have come to an end for
         me in my bosom.

²⁸ But even if you say, ‘What shall we say
before him?’

[28 and the root of the matter we will find in
         him ]

²⁹ Do as well be afraid of a cover-up,
for wrath will come upon the lawless,
and then they will find out where their
         substance is.”

20 Now Sophar the Minite said in reply:
² “I did not suppose that you would
            counter these things so,

and surely the rest of you have gained no
better understanding than I—

[3 I will hear instruction of my shame,

and a spirit from understanding answers me.

⁴ Did you not know these things before now ]

⁴ not since mortals were placed on the
         earth!

⁵ For the merriment of the impious ends in
         an extraordinary fall,

and the enjoyment of transgressors in
destruction,

⁶ even if his gifts go up to heaven
and his sacrifice touches the clouds.

⁷ For just when he thinks he is firmly
         established,

at that point he will be utterly
destroyed,

and those who saw him will say, ‘Where
is he?’

⁸ Like a dream that has taken to flight, he
         shall not be found,

but he has flown away like a nocturnal
apparition!

[9 an eye caught a glimpse and will not continue,

and his place will observe him no longer ]

¹⁰ “May his inferiors do away with his sons,
and his hands kindle pains.

[11 his bones were filled with his youth,

and it will lie down with him on a burial
         mound.

¹² If evil is sweet in his mouth,

he will hide it under his tongue;

¹³ he will not spare it and will not leave it behind

and will hold it in the middle of his throat ]

¹⁴ And he shall not be able to help himself.

[14 the venom of an asp is in his belly ]

¹⁵ “Wealth being gathered unjustly will be
         disgorged;

a messenger will drag it out of his
house.

¹⁶ And may he suck the wrath of dragons,
and may a snake’s tongue kill him.

¹⁷ May he not see the milk of pastures
nor pasturage of honey and butter.

¹⁸ Vainly and foolishly he has toiled for wealth
         of which he will not taste;

it will be like something tough,
unchewable, impossible to swallow.

¹⁹ For he has broken down the houses of many
         who are powerless,

and he has seized a dwelling, though he
did not build it.

²⁰ “His possessions hold no security for him;

[20 in his desire he will not escape.

²¹ There is nothing left of his provisions ]

²¹ therefore his goods will not flourish.

²² But just when he thinks he has fully
         satisfied himself, he will be
         afflicted,
and every distress will come upon him.

[23 if somehow he would fill his belly ]

²³ May he^a send on him fierce wrath;
may he wash pains on him.

²⁴ And he shall not escape a blade’s power;
may a bronze bow wound him.

²⁵ Yes, may an arrow pass through his body,
and may lightning bolts strut about in his
         dwellings.

[25 terrors upon him ]

²⁶ Then may utter darkness await him;
unquenchable fire will devour him—
and may a stranger afflict his house.

²⁷ And may the sky uncover his acts of
         lawlessness
and earth rise up against him.

²⁸ May destruction drag his house to an end;
may a day of anger come upon him.

²⁹ This is the portion of an impious person
         from the Lord,

and possession of his things is from the
Overseer.”

21 Now Iob said in reply:
²“ Listen, listen to my words,

lest this be your consolation for me.

³ Lift me up, and I will speak;
then you will not laugh me to scorn.

⁴ What? My argument is not with a mortal,
         is it?
Or, why should I not be angry?

⁵ Look at me, and marvel,
laying your hand on your cheek.

⁶ For even when I remember, I am in
         haste,
and pains seize my flesh.

⁷ Why do the impious live on
and grow old, even in wealth?

⁸ Their progeny are according to their
         pleasure,
and their children in their sight.

⁹ Their houses prosper without any fear,
and no scourge from the Lord is upon
         them.

¹⁰ Their cow did not miscarry,
and their pregnant one came through
         safely and did not falter.

¹¹ And they remain as ageless sheep,
and their children play about

¹² when they take up the harp and lyre
and make merry to the sound of a
         melody.

¹³ And they finished their life in prosperity
and lay down in the repose of Hades.

¹⁴ But he^b says to the Lord, ‘Stay away from
         me;

I do not wish to know your ways.’

[15 what is the Sufficient One that we should be
         subject to him?

and what profit is there that we should
         approach him ]

¹⁶ For their good things were in their hands,
but he^a does not regard the works of the
         impious.

¹⁷ “Nonetheless, the lamp of the impious shall
         also be put out,
and destruction shall come upon them,

and sharp pains shall seize them, because
of anger.

¹⁸ And they shall be as chaff before the wind
or as dust that the whirlwind has sucked
         up.

¹⁹ May his possessions fail his sons.

[19 he^a will make payment back to him, and he
         will know ]

²⁰ May his eyes see his own slaughter,
and may he not escape from the Lord.

[21 because what is his desire in his house after
         him?

And the number of his months has been cut
         off ]

²² Is it not the Lord who teaches
         understanding and knowledge?
But he will discerningly judge murders.

[23 he shall die in the strength of his sincerity,

and wholly at ease and prosperous ]

²⁴ And ^bhis inwards are full of fat^b,
and his marrow is being dispersed.

²⁵ And he dies of bitterness of soul,
not eating anything good.

²⁶ But one and all, they lay down on the
         ground,
and decay covered them.

²⁷ “So I know you, that you daringly attack
         me.

[28 because you will say, ‘Where is the house of
         the ruler?’

and ‘Where is the shelter of the coverts of the
         impious?’

²⁹ Ask those who pass by the way,

and their signs you will not dismiss,

³⁰ that the wicked obtains relief for the day of
         destruction;

they will be carried off to the day of his
         wrath.

³¹ Who will declare his way to his face,

and he acted, who will repay him?

³² And he has been carried away to the graves,

and he has watched over the bier.

³³ The pebbles of the wadi were sweet to him,

and every mortal will follow after him,

and those before him are innumerable ]

³⁴ How then will you comfort me with
         emptiness?
And I have no rest at all from you.”

22 Now Eliphaz^c the Thaimanite said in reply:
² “Is it not the Lord who teaches
           understanding and knowledge?

³ For what does it matter to the Lord
if you were blameless in your actions?

[3 or is it an advantage that you will make your
         way simple ]

⁴ Though he makes an account of you, will he
         reprove you,
and will he go to trial with you?

⁵ Is your evil not abundant,
and are your sins not without number?

⁶ Yes, you used to take a pledge of your
         brothers for no reason

and took away the clothing of the
naked.

⁷ Nor did you give water to the thirsty to
         drink
but withheld a morsel from the hungry.

⁸ And you made favorites of some
and settled them on the land,

⁹ but you sent away widows empty
and mistreated orphans.

¹⁰ Therefore snares have encircled you,
and an extraordinary conflict has hurried
         you.

¹¹ The light has proved to be darkness for
         you,

and water has covered you while you
slept.

¹² “Does not he who dwells on high observe,
and has he not humbled those borne
         along by pride?

[13 and you said, ‘What does the Strong One
         know?

Will he judge down through the gloom?

¹⁴ Clouds are his hiding-place, and he will not be
         seen,

and he will pass through the circle of heaven.’

¹⁵ Will you keep the ageless way

that unjust men trod

¹⁶ who were seized before their time?

Their foundations are a flooding river ]

¹⁷ Those who say, ‘What will the Lord do to
         us?’

or, ‘What will the Almighty bring against
us?’—

¹⁸ yet he it was who filled their houses with
         good things,

though the counsel of the impious is far
from him.

¹⁹ Those in the right laughed when they saw it,
and the blameless mocked.

[20 except their substance vanished,

and fire will consume what of theirs is left ]

²¹ “Do be unyielding, if you would endure;
then your fruit will prosper.

²² And accept an utterance from his mouth,
and take up his words in your heart.

²³ And if you turn and humble yourself before
         the Lord,

you have put what is unjust far from your
dwelling.

[24 you will place on a mound in a rock

and as though in a rock of^a a wadi of Ophir ]

²⁵ Therefore the Almighty will be your help
         from enemies,

and he will render you pure as silver tried
by fire.

²⁶ Then you will speak frankly before the Lord,
looking up to the sky cheerfully.

²⁷ And when you pray to him, he will listen to
         you
and give to you to pay your vows.

²⁸ Yes, he will restore to you a righteous way of
         life,
and there will be light on your ways.”

[29 because he humbled him, and you will say,
         ‘He acted arrogantly. ’

And he will save one bent forward with the
         eyes;

³⁰ he will deliver the innocent

and be preserved by your pure hands ]

23 Iob said in reply:
²”Yes, I do know that argumentation is
            out of my reach,

and his hand has become heavy on my
groaning.

³ But who would then know that I might find
         him
and come to a resolution?

⁴ But might I state my case before
         him
and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵ Then I would know the words that he would
         say to me

and perceive what he would declare to
me.

⁶ Even if he comes upon me with great
         strength,
then he will not treat me with a threat;

⁷ for truth and reproof are from him—
but oh that he would bring my case to an
         end!

⁸ Can I then go to first things—and I am no more?
And as for last things—what do I know?

[9 when he acted on the left, then I did not grasp
         it;

on the right he will encircle me, and I will not
         see it ]

¹⁰ “For
he already knows my way
and has discerningly judged me like gold.

¹¹ But I will go forth when he commands,
for I have kept his ways and I will never
         turn aside.

¹² Nor shall I go away from what he
         commands,

but I have treasured his words in my
bosom.

¹³ But if even he has so judged, who is there to
         contradict him?
For what he has wanted he also has done.

¹⁵ Therefore I am in haste about him,
and when I was admonished, I gave heed
         to him.

[15 at this let me hasten from his presence;

^bI will^b observe, and I will be terrified of him ]

¹⁶ But the Lord enfeebled my heart,
and the Almighty hurried me.

¹⁷ For I did not know that darkness would
         come upon me,

but gloom has fallen as a covering before
my face.

24 “But why did times escape the notice of the
         Lord,

² and the impious overstepped the limit,
when they seized flock with shepherd?

³ They led away the orphans’ beast of
         burden
and took the widow’s ox in pledge.

⁴ They turned aside the powerless from the
         righteous way.

[4 the meek of the earth have hidden of one
         accord ]

⁵ And they proved to be like donkeys in a
         field,
because of me doing their own thing.

[5 the bread he had was sweet to the young ]

⁶ They reaped a field not their own before its
         time,

but the powerless worked vineyards of
the impious without pay or food.

⁷ They made many go to sleep naked, without
         clothes,

and took away the covering from their
person.

[8 they are wet with the showers of the
         mountains ]

⁸ Because they had no shelter, they
         surrounded themselves with rock.

⁹ “They snatched the orphan from the breast
and humiliated one that had fallen.

¹⁰ And they had the naked sleep, unjustly,
and took away the morsel of the hungry.

¹¹ They unjustly laid in wait in narrow places
and did not know the righteous way.

¹² Those who cast them^c out of the city and
         their own houses,

though the soul of the young groaned
loudly—

and he, why has he^d not paid these a visit?

¹³ “While they were on earth, they did not
         even notice them,

and they did not know the way of
righteousness,

nor did they travel its pathways.

¹⁴ But when he knew their deeds, he handed
         them over to darkness.

[14 and at night he will be like a thief.

¹⁵ And the eye of the adulterer watched for
         darkness,

saying, ‘No eye will observe me,’

and he placed a concealment of his face.

¹⁶ In the dark he dug through houses;

by day they sealed themselves up;

they did not know light,

¹⁷ because with one accord the morning is death’s
         shadow to them,

because he will recognize the troubles of
         death’s shadow.

¹⁸ He is nimble on the face of the water ]

¹⁸ “May their earthly portion be cursed,

¹⁹ and may their plants on earth appear
         withered,
for they seized the orphans’ armful.

²⁰ Then ^ahis sin was remembered^a,
and he disappeared like a dewy mist,

but may what he did be paid back to him,
and may every unjust person be crushed
         like an incurable tree!

²¹ “For he did not treat well the barren woman
and had no pity on the weak woman.

²² And in wrath he overthrew the powerless.
Therefore, when he has risen up,
he will not feel secure about his own life.

²³ When he is sickly, let him not hope to
         regain health;
rather, he will fall by disease.

²⁴ For his loftiness harmed many,
but he shriveled away like a mallow in
         the heat

or as an ear of grain, fallen off the stalk of
itself.

²⁵ But if it is not so, who is there to say that I
         speak what is false?”

[25 and will he place my words as nothing ]

25 Now Baldad the Sauchite said in reply:
²“Why, what preamble or fear is there
         with him,

he who on high keeps making the entire
earth?

³ For would there be anyone who thinks there
         is respite for brigands?

And upon whom will not come
ambushes from him?

⁴ For how can a mortal be right before the
         Lord?

Or who, born of woman, could purify
himself?

⁵ If he instructs the moon, then it does not
         shine,
and the stars are not pure before him.

⁶ But alas, a human being is rot!”

[⁶ and a son of man is a worm ]

26 Now Iob said in reply:
² “To whom are you devoted, or to whom
         are you about to provide help?

Is it not to him who has much strength
and a strong arm?

³ With whom have you taken counsel?
Is it not with him who has all wisdom?
Or whom will you follow?

Is it not he who has the greatest
power?

⁴ To whom did you utter words?
And whose breath is it that comes forth
         from you?

[⁵ will giants be brought forth

beneath the water and its neighbors?

⁶ Hades is naked before him,

and there is no covering for destruction.

⁷ Stretching out the north over nothing,

hanging the earth upon nothing.

⁸ Binding water in his clouds,

and the mass of cloud is not torn open under
         it.

⁹ He who holds firmly the face of the throne,

spreading over it his mass of cloud.

¹⁰ He circumscribed a decree on the face of the
         waters,

as far as the limit of light with darkness.

¹¹ The pillars of heaven were spread wide

and were astonished from his rebuke ]

¹² By force he calmed the sea,
and by knowledge he struck down the
         sea-monster,

¹³ and heaven’s bars fear him,
and by decree he put to death the
         rebellious dragon.

[¹⁴ look, these are parts of his way,

and at a droplet of a word we will give ear to
         him ]

¹⁴ And the force of his thunder—who knows
         when it will act?”

27 Now Iob, yet further to his preamble, said:
² “The Lord lives, who has judged me so,
and the Almighty, who has embittered
            my soul—

³ indeed, while my breath is still within me
and a divine puff of air is what remains
         in my nostrils,

⁴ my lips will not speak lawless things,
nor will my soul ponder injustices.

⁵ Far be it from me to declare that you are
         right, until I die,
for I will not relinquish my innocence.

⁶ But holding fast to righteousness, I will
         never let it go,

for I am not conscious within myself of
having done anything amiss.

⁷ “Nonetheless, may my enemies be like the
         ruin of the impious,

and those who rise up against me like the
destruction of the transgressors.

⁸ To be sure, what hope does the impious
         have that he hangs on?

When he trusts in the Lord, will he be
saved?

⁹ Will the Lord listen to his petition?

Or when distress comes upon him,

¹⁰ does he have any confidence before him?
Or as he calls upon him, will he listen to
         him?

¹¹ Well then, I will declare to you what is in
         the Lord’s hand;

what is with the Almighty, I will not
falsify.

¹² Look here, all of you know
that you are piling nothing upon
         nothing.

¹³ “This is the portion of an impious person
         from the Lord,

and the possession of the powerful will
come from the Almighty upon
them.

¹⁴ Now if his sons be many, they shall be for
         slaughter,

and if perchance they reach manhood,
they shall be beggars.

¹⁵ And those of his who survive will end in
         death,
and no one will pity their widows.

¹⁶ If he gathers silver like dirt
and prepares gold like clay,

¹⁷ all these the righteous will gain,
and his money the truthful will
         possess.

¹⁸ And his house turned out like moths and
like a spider’s web.

¹⁹ Though he lies down rich, he will not in fact
         add to it.

[¹⁹ he opened his eyes, and he is not ]

²⁰ Pain came upon him like water,
and gloom carried him off by night.

[²¹ burning wind will take him up, and he will
         depart,

and it will winnow him from his place.

²² And it will hurl at him and not spare;

he will flee in flight from its hand.

²³ It will strike their hands against them

and hiss him from his place ]

28 “For silver has a place from which it comes,
and gold a place from where it is sifted.

² For whereas iron comes out of the earth,
copper is quarried like stone.

³ He imposed order on darkness,

[³ and he searches out every limit;

stone is darkness and death’s shadow,

⁴ cleft of a wadi, away from dust ]

⁴ and those of mortals who kept forgetting
         the righteous way became weak.

[5 as for the earth—out of it will come bread;

under it, it was turned about like fire.

⁶ Its stones are the place of lapis lazuli,

and its mound has gold.

⁷ The path—no bird has known it,

and the vulture’s eye has not glanced at it.

⁸ The sons of braggarts have not trodden it;

the lion has not passed over it.

⁹ He stretched out his hand with sharp rock ]

⁹ And he overturned mountains from their
         roots

¹⁰ and broke whirlpools of rivers—
and my eye saw every precious thing.

¹¹ And he uncovered rivers’ depths
and showed his own power to the light.

¹² “But wisdom—where was it found?
And of what sort is the place of
         knowledge?

¹³ No mortal knows its way,
nor will it ever be discovered among
         human beings.

[¹⁴ the deep said, ‘It is not in me,’

and the sea said, ‘It is not with me.’

¹⁵ He will not give a confinement in its place,

and silver cannot be weighed in exchange for
         it.

¹⁶ And it cannot rank with the gold of Ophir,

with precious onyx and lapis lazuli.

¹⁷ Gold and glass cannot equal it,

nor is its exchange a gold vessel.

¹⁸ Celestial objects and gabis^a cannot be
         mentioned,

and draw wisdom above what is innermost.

¹⁹ The topaz of Ethiopia will not be equal to it;

with pure gold it cannot be compared ]

²⁰ “But wisdom—where was it found?
And of what sort is the place of
         knowledge?

²¹ It has escaped notice by any human,

[²¹ and it was hidden from birds of the air.

²² Destruction and death said ]

²² but we have heard of its renown.

²³ “God has established well its way,
and he himself knows its place,

²⁴ for he observes all that is under heaven,
since he knows all the earth contains, that
         which he made—

²⁵ the weight of winds and the measures of
         water!

²⁶ When he had done so, ^bhe looked and^b
         made a count;

[²⁶ and a way^c in the shaking, noises^c;

²⁷ then he saw it and declared it ]

²⁷ since he prepared them, he kept track of
         them.

²⁸ And he said to humankind, ‘Look, the
         worship of God is wisdom,

and to stay away from evil is
knowledge.’ “

29 Now Iob, yet further to his preamble, said:
²“Who might put me in a month of
         former days,

when God watched over me,

³ as when his lamp would shine over my
         head,
when by his light I strode in darkness,

⁴ when I was pressing on my ways,
when God would pay a visit to my house,

⁵ when I was very much a person of
         substance
and my children were around me,

⁶ when my roads were flowing with butter
and my hills flowed with milk!—

⁷ when I would go out early in the city
and my seat was placed in the squares.

⁸ When young men saw me, they hid,
and the aged, all of them stood,

⁹ and prominent men stopped talking,
putting a finger to their mouth.

¹⁰ And those who heard counted me happy,

[¹⁰ and their tongues stuck to their throat.

¹¹ Because the ear heard and pronounced me
         happy ]

¹¹ and the eye that saw me averted its
         glance,

¹² for I delivered the poor from the hand of
         the powerful,

and the orphan, who had no helper, I
helped,

[¹³ may the blessing of the one perishing come
         upon me ]

¹³ and the widow’s mouth blessed me.

¹⁴ Yes, I put on righteousness
and was clothed with justice like a cloak.

¹⁵ I was the eye of the blind
and the foot of the lame.

¹⁶ It was I that was a father to the powerless,
and a case I did not know I investigated.

¹⁷ And I broke the molars of the unjust
and tore prey from between their teeth.

¹⁸ And I said, ‘My manhood will see old age;
I shall live a long while, like the trunk of
         a palm tree.’

[19 the root has opened out upon water,

and dew will lodge on my crop.

²⁰ My glory is fresh with me,

and my bow will go in its^a hand ]

²¹ “When they heard me, they took heed
and fell silent at my counsel.

²² And they did not add to what I said
but became overjoyed whenever I spoke
         to them.

²³ As thirsty earth welcomes the rain,
so these welcomed what I said.

²⁴ If I smiled toward them, they would not
         believe it.

[²⁴ and the light of my face did not fade.

²⁵ I chose their way and sat as ruler,

and I used to encamp like a king among light-
         armed men,

as one comforting mourners ]

30 “But now they have laughed me to scorn;
now the least of them reprove me in turn—

[¹ whose fathers I used to disdain ]

whom I did not deem worthy of my
shepherd dogs!

[² indeed, the strength of their hands—what is it
         to me?

Completion perished upon them.

³ In want and hunger, he was childless,

those who yesterday were fleeing an arid place,

dismay and misery,

⁴ those who break off saltwort at one making a
         sound ]

⁴ Who indeed! Saltwort was their food,

and they were without honor and
         disparaged, in want of everything
         good,

who also chewed on tree roots out of
great hunger.

⁵ Thieves have risen up against me,

⁶ whose houses were caves in the rocks,

[⁷ among pleasant sounds they will cry out ]

⁷ who spent their lives under wild
         bushes—

⁸ sons of fools and of people dishonored in
         name,
and a reputation quenched from earth.

⁹ “But now I am their lyre,
and they have me as common talk;

¹⁰ yes, they abhorred me, standing afar off,
and they did not spare my face their
         spit.

¹¹ For he^b opened his quiver and harmed me,

[¹¹ and they have cast off the restraint of my
         presence.

¹² On the right of offspring they rose up;

they stretched out their foot

and leveled out upon me paths of their
         destruction.

¹³ My paths were erased ]

¹³ for he took off my robe.

¹⁴ He shot me down with his arrows;
he has treated me as he wishes; I am a
         jumble of pain.

¹⁵ My pains are returning;
my hope has gone away like a puff of
         air,
and my safety like a cloud.

[¹⁶ and now my soul will be poured out upon me ]

¹⁶ “And days of pain seize me,

¹⁷ while at night my bones are inflamed,
and my sinews are dissolved.

¹⁸ With great force he took hold of my robe.

[¹⁸ he encircled me like the collar of my tunic ]

¹⁹ “And you have treated me like clay,
my lot is in dust and ashes.

²⁰ But I have cried to you, and you do not
         listen to me.

[²⁰ they stood and observed me ]

²¹ Yes, you fell upon me without mercy;
with a strong hand you have scourged
         me,

²² and you arrayed me in pains.

[²² and you cast me away from deliverance ]

²³ You see, I know that death will crush me,
for earth is home to every mortal.

²⁴ “Oh that I might be able to lay hands on
         myself

or, at least, entreat another, and he will
do this for me.

²⁵ But I, I wept over every powerless person,
and I groaned when I saw a man in dire
         straits.

²⁶ But I, when I was intent on good,
look, days of evil met me all the more.

[²⁷ my belly boiled, and it will not be still;

days of poverty outran me ]

²⁸ I have gone about, groaning without
         restraint,

and I have stood in the assembly, crying
out.

²⁹ I have become a brother of sirens
and a companion of ostriches.

³⁰ As well, my skin has blackened greatly,
and my bones, from heat.

³¹ Yes, my lyre has been turned into
         mourning,
and my melody into weeping for me.

31 [I made a covenant with my eyes,
and I will not take note of a virgin.

² And what has God apportioned from above,

and is there an inheritance of the Sufficient
         One from on high?

³ Does not destruction belong to the unrighteous,

and alienation to those who do lawlessness?

⁴ Will he not see my way,

and all my steps be counted ]

⁵ “But if I had walked with jesters
and if too my foot hurried to deceit,

⁶ then may he^a place me in a just balance—
but the Lord knows my innocence.

⁷ If my foot has turned aside from the way
and if too my heart followed my eye
and if too I touched gifts with my
         hands,

⁸ then may I sow and others eat,
and may I become without root on
         earth.

⁹ “If my heart followed another man’s wife,
if in fact I lay in wait at her doors,

¹⁰ then may my wife too be pleasing to
         another,
and may my children be humiliated.

¹¹ For a fit of passion is uncontrollable,
namely, the defiling of a man’s wife;

¹² for a fire is set burning in all parts,
and wherever it has gone, it has destroyed
         root and branch.

¹³ “And if too I have disparaged the case of my
         male or female attendant
when they bring a complaint against me,

¹⁴ what then shall I do, if the Lord puts me
         under scrutiny?

And if too he pays a visit, what answer
shall I give?

¹⁵ Just as I was conceived in the belly, were not
         they also?
Yes, we were conceived in the same cavity.

¹⁶ “But as for the powerless,
what need they had—I did not miss it,

and the eye of the widow I did not let
waste away.

¹⁷ And if too I ate my morsel alone
and did not share with the orphan,

[¹⁸ because from my youth I nurtured like a
         father

and from my mother’s womb I gave
         guidance ]

¹⁹ and if too I overlooked a naked person,
         perishing,
and did not clothe him,

²⁰ and as for the powerless, if they did not
         bless me—

yet their shoulders were warmed with the
fleece of my lambs—

²¹ if I raised a hand against an orphan,
confident that I have much help at my
         disposal,

²² then may my shoulder separate from its
         socket
and my arm be crushed from the elbow.

²³ To be sure, fear of the Lord controlled me.

[²³ and because of his load I shall not endure.

²⁴ If I arrayed gold as my strength ]

²⁴ “And if too I trusted in a precious stone

²⁵ and if too I rejoiced when much wealth
         accrued to me

and if too I placed my hand on things
without number—

²⁶ do I not see the shining sun setting,
and the moon waning? For they do not
         have it in them.

[²⁷ and if my heart was secretly enticed ]

²⁷ And if too I placed my hand on my mouth
         and kissed it,

²⁸ then may this too be reckoned to me as the
         greatest lawlessness,

because I played false before the Lord
Most High.

²⁹ “And if too I was gratified at my enemies’
         fall,
and my heart said, ‘Good!’—

³⁰ then may my ear hear a curse against me;
yes, then may I be gossiped about by my
         people as one afflicted.

³¹ And if too my female attendants often said,
‘Who might grant us to be filled with his
         flesh?’
though I was very kind—

³² and no stranger would lodge outside, but my door stood open to everyone that
came,

³³ and if too, having sinned haplessly, I hid my
         sin—

³⁴ for I was not deterred by the populous
         multitude from speaking out before
         them—

and if too I permitted the powerless to
leave my door with empty pockets,

[³⁵ who might grant someone to hear me ]

³⁵ and if I had not feared the hand of the Lord,
then the writ that I had against someone

³⁶ I would have placed on my shoulders as a
         chaplet and read it aloud,

³⁷ and if I did not tear it up and hand it back,
having taken nothing from the debtor—

³⁸ “if at any time the land groaned over me
and if too its furrows wept with one
         accord

³⁹ and if too I ate its strength alone, without
         payment,

and if too I, in throwing it away, grieved
the soul of the land’s owner^a,

⁴⁰ then may nettles come forth to me instead
         of wheat,
and a bramble instead of barley.”

And Iob ceased speaking.

32 Now too, his three friends gave up taking issue with Iob any longer, for Iob was righteous before them. ²But Elious the son of Barachiel, the Bouzite, of the kinfolk of Ram in the region of Ausitis, became angry, but he was very angry with Iob, because he declared himself in the right before the Lord. ³But he was very angry also with the three friends, because they were unable to give Iob counter-argument, and they made him out to be impious. ⁴Yet Elious waited to give an answer to Iob.

[⁴ because they are older than he in days.

⁵ And Elious saw that there was no answer

in the mouth of the three men,

and his anger was inflamed ]

⁶ Now Elious the son of Barachiel, the Bouzite, stated in reply:

“I am rather young in age, but you are older;
so I held my peace, being reticent
to declare my own learning to you.

⁷ But I said, ‘It is not time that speaks,
and with many years they do not know
         wisdom.’

⁸ Rather, there is a spirit in mortals,
and it is a breath of the Almighty that
         teaches.

⁹ It is not the long-lived that are wise,
nor do the aged know discernment.

¹⁰ So I said, ‘Hear me,
and I will declare to you what I know.’

¹¹ “Give ear to my words,
for I will speak, while you hear,

[¹¹ until you put words to the test.

¹² And I shall understand as far as you,

and look, there was no one that confuted Iob,

that countered his words, among you ]

¹³ lest you say, ‘We discovered wisdom and
         contributed it to the Lord,’

¹⁴ but you gave a person^b the occasion to utter
         such words!”

[¹⁵ they were terrified, they answered no more;

they made words from them obsolete.

¹⁶ I waited, for they did not speak;

because they stood still, they did not
         answer ]

¹⁷ And Elious resumed and said:

¹⁸ “I will speak again, for I am full of
         words;
for my gastral spirit is killing me

¹⁹ and my belly is like a bound wineskin of
         new wine in ferment
or like a burst bellows of a blacksmith.

²⁰ I will speak, that I may find relief when I
         open my lips,

²¹ for I will not be in awe of a human being;
to the contrary, I will have no regard for
         any mortal,

²² for I do not know how to show respect;
if that is not so, moths will also eat
         me!

33 “Nonetheless, O Iob, hear my words,
and give ear to what I say.

² For look, I have opened my mouth,
and my tongue has spoken.

³ My heart will be seen pure by my words,
and the thought of my lips pure by my
         interpretation.

⁴ It is the divine spirit that has made me
and the Almighty’s breath that teaches
         me.

⁵ Give me an answer to these things, if you
         can;

wait, take a stand against me, and I
against you.

⁶ You have been fashioned from clay, even as
         I am;

we have been fashioned from the same
thing.

⁷ No fear of me will send you spinning,
nor will my hand be heavy on you.

[⁸ however, you spoke in my ears ]

⁸ “I have heard the sound of your words,

⁹ that you say, ‘I am pure, since I have done
         no wrong,

and I am blameless, for I did not act
lawlessly.

¹⁰ But he found a basis for complaint against
         me
and has reckoned me as an adversary,

¹¹ and he put my foot in the stocks
and watched all my paths.’

¹² “How then do you say, ‘I am righteous, and
         he has paid no heed to me?’
for he that is above mortals is everlasting.

¹³ But you say, ‘Why has he not heeded one
         word of my case?’

¹⁴ For may the Lord speak just this once,
and the second time, through a dream

¹⁵ or during reflection by night—
as when a fearful dread falls on people,
while they slumber on their bed.

¹⁶ Then he lays bare the human mind;
he frightened them with such scary
         apparitions,

¹⁷ to turn a person from injustice,
and he saved his body from a fall.

¹⁸ And he has spared his soul from death
and from his falling in battle.

¹⁹ Then again, he reproved him with sickness
         upon his bed,

[¹⁹ and a great many of his bones grew stiff ]

²⁰ and he shall not be able to take any edible
         bit of food

[²⁰ and his soul will long for food ]

²¹ until his flesh rots
and he shows his bones to be bare.

²² Yes, his soul drew near to death,
and his life was in Hades.

²³ If there be a thousand death-bearing angels,
not one of them shall wound him;

if he purpose with his heart to turn to the
         Lord
and declare to a person his own fault
and reveal his folly,

²⁴ he^a will provide support so that he does not
         fall into death
and renew his body like paint does a wall
and fill his bones with marrow

²⁵ and will make his flesh soft like an infant’s
and restore him full-grown among
         people.

²⁶ And when he makes vows to the Lord,
they will also be acceptable to him,

and he will enter with a pure look, with a
declaration,

and he^a will repay people with
         righteousness.

²⁷ After that, the same person will chastise
         himself, saying:

‘Given the kinds of things I was doing,
he has not even tried me commensurate
         with my sin!

[²⁸ deliver my soul so that it may not go to
         corruption,

and my life shall see the light.

²⁹ Look, the Strong One works all these things,

three ways with a man ]

³⁰ Rather, he delivered my soul from death,
that my life may praise him in the
         light.’

³¹ Give ear, O Iob, and keep hearing me.”

[³¹ be quiet! and I am he that will do the talking.

³² If there are words, answer me;

speak, for I desire you to be justified.

³³ If not, you hear me;

be quiet! and I will teach you wisdom ]

34 Now Elious resumed and said:
²“Hear me, you wise men;
O you who know, give ear ^bto what is
         good^b—

[³ because the ear tries words

and the throat tastes food.

⁴ Let us choose judgment for ourselves;

let us know among ourselves what is good ]

⁵ because Iob has said, ‘I am righteous;
the Lord dismissed my case,

⁶ but he lied with respect to my case,

[⁶ my arrow is violent, though I am without
         injustice.

⁷ What man is like Iob,

drinking mockery like water ]

⁸ seeing that I have not sinned or acted
         impiously

or shared a way with doers of lawless
acts,

to walk with the impious.’

⁹ For do not say, ‘There will be no visitation
         of a man’—

and there is visitation to him from the
Lord!

¹⁰ “Therefore, you intelligent of heart, hear me:
far be it from me to act impiously before
         the Lord

and before the Almighty, to pervert what
is right.

¹¹ Rather, he repays a person according to what
         each of them does.

[¹¹ and in a man’s path he will find him ]

¹² Now, do you think the Lord will do what is
         amiss?

Or will the Almighty pervert justice?

¹³ He it is who made the earth.

And who is it that sustains what is under
heaven and all it contains?

¹⁴ For if he should wish to confine
and to keep his spirit with himself,

¹⁵ all flesh will die together,
and every mortal return to dust, whence
         too he was formed.

¹⁶ “But lest he rebuke you, hear these
         things;
give ear to a sound of words.

¹⁷ Look then at him that hates lawless acts
and destroys the wicked,
since he is forever just.

¹⁸ Impious is he who says to a king, ‘You are
         acting lawlessly,’—

[¹⁸ to rulers, ‘O most impious’ ]

¹⁹ he who felt no reticence before a person of
         worth

nor knows how to accord honor to the
prominent so that their persons be respected.

²⁰ But the crying out and begging of a man
         will prove to be of no use to them,
for they treated them contrary to the law

when the powerless were being turned aside.

²¹ “For he is an eyewitness of human deeds,
and nothing of what they do has escaped
         him,

²² nor will there be a place
to hide for those that do lawless acts.

[²³ because he will not put upon a man any
         longer ]

²³ For the Lord observes all people—

²⁴ he who comprehends inscrutable things,
things both glorious and extraordinary,
         without number,

²⁵ he who discloses their workings.

[²⁵ and he will turn night about, and they^a will be
         brought low ]

²⁶ Now, he extinguished the impious —
but visible before him —

²⁷ because they turned aside from God’s law
and his requirements they did not recognize.

[²⁸ to bring upon him the cry of the needy,

and he will listen to the cry of the poor.

²⁹ And he will furnish quiet, and who can
         condemn?

And he will hide his face, and who can behold
         him?

Both against a nation and against a person
         together,

³⁰ making king a person, a pretender,

due to the people’s discontent.

³¹ Because he that is saying to the Strong One,

‘I have seized; I will not take a pledge;

³² I will look apart from myself; do show me!

If I have practiced injustice, I will not add.’

³³ Will he exact it from you?

Because you will reject, because you will
         choose, and not I,

and what you knew, speak ]

³⁴ “So, the intelligent of heart will say these
         things,

and a wise man will have grasped what I
said.

³⁵ But Iob did not speak with intelligence,
and his words were without
         knowledge.

³⁶ Nonetheless, learn O Iob!
No longer give a response as fools do,

³⁷ lest we add to our sins
and lawlessness be reckoned against us,

while speaking many words before the
Lord.”

35 Now Elious resumed and said:
² “What is this you thought to be in
           dispute?

Who are you that you said, ‘I am in the
right before the Lord?’

³ Or will you say, ‘What am I to do, if I
         sinned?’

⁴ I will give an answer to you,
as well as to your three friends.

⁵ Look up to the sky, and see,
and take a close look at the clouds, how
         high they are beyond you.

⁶ If you sinned, what will you do?
And if too you broke the law many times,
         what can you do?

⁷ Now then, inasmuch as you are righteous,
what will you concede to him?

[⁷ or what will he receive from your hand?

⁸ Your impiety belongs to a man the likes of
         you,

and your righteousness to a son of man.

⁹ Because of a multitude, the falsely accused will
         cry out;

they will call for help because of the arm of
         many.

¹⁰ And he did not say, ‘Where is the God that
         made me’ ]

¹⁰ He it is that appoints the watches of the
         night;

¹¹ he it is that sets me apart from earth’s four-
         footed animals
and from the birds of the air

[¹² there they will cry out, and he will not
         listen ]

¹² and from the insolence of the wicked.

¹³ For the Lord does not wish to see
         wrongs,
for he, the Almighty, is an eyewitness of

¹⁴ those who perform lawless acts, and he will
         save me!
But submit to judgment before him,
if you can approve of him as he is.”

[¹⁵ and now, because there is none that observes
         his anger

and he did not know very well by transgression

¹⁶ and Iob opens his mouth vainly,

in ignorance he makes words weighty ]

36 Now Elious added still more and said:
²“Wait for me a little longer so that I may
           teach you,

for there is still more speech in me.

³ Having fetched my knowledge from afar,
yes, in my efforts I will speak what is
         just,

⁴ in truth, and not unjust words;
you understand wrongly!

⁵ “But know that the Lord will not reject the
         innocent;

[⁵ powerful in strength of heart,

⁶ he will never make alive the impious

and will grant the judgment of the poor.

⁷ He will not remove his eyes from the righteous,

and with kings on the throne,

and he will seat them in victory, and they will
         be exalted.

⁸ And if, having been bound with handcuffs,

they will be held in the cords of poverty,

⁹ then he will declare to them their works

and their transgressions, that they will
         prevail ]

¹⁰ rather, he will listen to the righteous.

[¹⁰ and he said that they should turn from
         injustice.

¹¹ If they hear and are subject,

they will complete their days in good things

and their years in splendor ]

¹² But the impious he does not deliver,
because they do not wish to know the
         Lord

and because, when they were being
admonished,

they were unreceptive.

[¹³ and hypocrites in heart will marshal wrath;

they will not shout, because he has bound
         them ]

¹⁴ “Well then, may their soul die in youth,
and their life, being wounded by
         messengers^a,

¹⁵ because they afflicted the weak and
         powerless,

but he^b will expose judgment against the
meek.

[¹⁶ and besides, he enticed you out of the enemy’s
         mouth,

a deep, an affusion beneath it,

and your table came down, full of fatness ]

¹⁷ “Yes, justice will not be wanting for those in
         the right,

¹⁸ but wrath will fall on the impious
on account of the impiety of gifts they
         would receive for injustices.

¹⁹ Let not your mind purposely turn you
         aside

from the petition of the powerless when
they are in distress.

[¹⁹ and all that strengthen might.

²⁰ Do not draw out the night

so that peoples may go up in place of them ]

²¹ Rather, be careful that you do no wrongs;

[²¹ for you chose for this one because of poverty.

²² See, the Strong One will prevail by his
         power ]

²² for who is a mighty one like him?

²³ And who is it that examines his works,
or who is it that states, ‘He has done
         injustice’?

²⁴ “Remember that his works are great,

[²⁴ over which men ruled.

²⁵ Every human saw in himself ]

²⁵ however many mortals are being
         wounded.

[²⁶ see, the Strong One is abundant, and we will
         not know him;

the number of his years is also boundless ]

²⁷ But to him raindrops are numbered,

[²⁷ and they will be poured out by rain into a
         cloud.

²⁸ Things grown old will flow ]

²⁸ and clouds cast a shadow on untold
         mortals.

He appointed a time for cattle,
and they know their schedule for rest.

Is your mind not amazed at all these
         things,

and does your heart not take leave of
your body?

[²⁹ even if he understands the spreading out of a
         cloud,

the proportions of his tent,

³⁰ look, he stretches out edo^c against him

and has covered the root-masses of the sea,

³¹ for by them he will judge peoples;

he will give food to him that has strength.

³² He has covered light on his hands

and commanded concerning her^d in one that
         meets.

³³ He will report his friend concerning it;

there is acquisition too concerning injustice.

37 And at this my heart was troubled
and dropped from its place.

² Hear a report in the anger of the Lord’s
         wrath,

and a discourse will come out of his mouth.

³ Under all of heaven is his rule,

and his light is upon the wings of the earth.

⁴ Behind him a voice will cry out;

he will thunder with a voice of his
         insolence,

and he will not exchange them, because he
         will hear his voice.

⁵ The Strong One will thunder wondrous things
         with his voice ]

⁵ For he did great things that we did not
         know,

⁶ instructing the snow, ‘Come upon the
         earth!’

[^{6 e}and winter, rain^e and winter of rains of his
         dominance.

⁷ In the hand of every human he seals up ]

⁷ so that every human being may know his
         own weakness.

⁸ But the wild animals came in under
         shelter
and were quiet upon their lair.

⁹ From their chambers whirlwinds come,

and cold from the peaks.

[¹⁰ and from the breath of the Strong One frost
         will give ]

¹⁰ And he steers the water as he wishes—

[¹¹ and a cloud plasters over a choice
         thing;

his light will scatter the cloud.

¹² And he will twist round the discs

by theebulatho^a to their works—

everything, whatsoever he command them ]

¹² these things have been instructed by him on
         the earth.

[¹³ if for correction, if for his land,

if for mercy, he will find him ]

¹⁴ “Give ear to these things, O Iob;
stand still, be warned of the Lord’s
         power.

¹⁵ We know that God ordained his works,
when he made light out of darkness.

¹⁶ And he understands the division of the
         clouds

and the extraordinary falls of the
wicked.

¹⁷ But your cloak is hot;
yet there is quiet on the earth.

[¹⁸ solidifications are with him for things grown
         old,

strong like an appearance of outpouring ]

¹⁹ Why? Teach me what we shall say to him,
and let us cease talking so much.

²⁰ Is book or scribe in attendance on me,
that I stand and put a person to silence?

²¹ But the light is not visible to all,

[²¹ radiant it is among things grown old ]

just as the light from him is upon the
clouds.

²² From the north are clouds shining like
         gold;

on these is great the glory and honor of
the Almighty.

²³ And we do not find another like him in
         strength.

As for him that judges rightly, do you not
think he pays heed?

²⁴ Therefore humans will fear him;
yes, the wise in heart too will fear him.”

38 Now after Elious stopped his speech, the Lord said to Iob through a whirlwind and clouds:

² “Who is this that hides counsel from me
but confines words in his heart and
         thinks to hide them from me?

³ Gird up your loins like a man,
and I will question you, but as for you,
         just answer me!

⁴ “Where were you when I was laying the
         earth’s foundation?

Now tell me, if you are endowed with
understanding.

⁵ Who determined its measures, if you know?
Or who was it that stretched a line upon
         it?

⁶ On what have its rings been fastened?
And who is he that cast a cornerstone
         upon it?

⁷ When the stars were born,

all my angels praised me with a loud
voice.

⁸ “Again, I shut up the sea with gates,
when it quivered with eagerness, as it
         issued from its mother’s womb,

⁹ and I made the cloud its clothing,
and with mist I swaddled it;

¹⁰ yes, I prescribed bounds for it,
setting bars and gates around it.

¹¹ And I said to it, ‘Thus far you shall come,
and you shall not go beyond;
rather, your waves shall be broken up
         within you!’

¹² “Was it in your time that I instructed
         the morning light
and that the morning star saw its post,

¹³ to take hold of earth’s wings,
to shake the impious off it?

¹⁴ Was it you that took clay soil and
         formed a living creature,
and, able to talk, set him on earth?

¹⁵ Again, did you remove the light from the
         impious
and crush the arm of the proud?

¹⁶ “And did you go to the source of the sea
and walk in the tracks of the deep?

¹⁷ Again, do the gates of death open to you out
         of fear,

and did the gatekeepers of Hades cower when
they saw you?

¹⁸ Again, have you been advised of the breadth
         of what is under heaven?
Do tell me how much it is.

¹⁹ “As well, in what kind of land does the light
         dwell,

and of what kind is the place of
darkness?

²⁰ Might you perhaps lead me to their borders?
And perhaps too you know their paths?

²¹ Thereby I know that you were born then,
and the number of your years is great!

²² “And have you gone to the storehouses of
         the snow,

and have you seen the storehouses of the
hail?

²³ But it is at your disposal for a time of
         enemies,
for a day of war and battle.

²⁴ And from where does the hoarfrost come,
or from where is the south wind
         dispersed to what is under heaven?

²⁵ “And who prepared a course for the driving
         rain
and a way for the tumults?

[²⁶ to bring rain on land, where there is no
         man,

wilderness, where there is no human in it,

²⁷ to feed the untrodden and uninhabited

and to cause it to grow an effusion of
         greenery ]

²⁸ “Who is the rain’s father?
And who is it that has given birth to the
         dew’s nuggets?

²⁹ And from whose womb does the ice come
         forth?

And who has given birth to freezing rain
in heaven

³⁰ that descends like flowing water?
And who froze the face of the deep?

³¹ “And did you understand the bond of
         Pleiades,
and did you open the barrier of Orion?

[³² truly, will you open Mazouroth in its season,

and the Evening Star with its luminous tail—
         will you lead them ]

³³ And do you know heaven’s changes
or the corresponding events under
         heaven?

³⁴ “And will you summon a cloud by voice,
and will it obey you with a violent burst
         of water?

³⁵ And will you send out thunderbolts—and
         will they go?
And will they say to you, ‘What is it?’

³⁶ And who gave to women skill in weaving
or knowledge of embroidery?

³⁷ And who is he that numbers the clouds in
         wisdom
and inclined sky to earth?

³⁸ And dust has been poured out like soil,
but I have cemented it, like a block to a
         stone.

³⁹ “And will you hunt prey for the lions
and satisfy the appetite of dragons?

⁴⁰ For they are in a state of fear in their lairs,
and they crouch in the woods, lying in
         wait.

⁴¹ And who prepared food for the raven?
For its young have cried to the Lord
as they wander about, searching for
         food.

39 [if you knew the birthing season of the wild
goats of the rock ]

¹ “And did you protect the birth pangs of the
         deer?

² And did you check off their months full of
         pregnancy,
and did you relieve their birth pangs?

³ And did you rear their young without fear?

[3 will you send away their birth pangs?

⁴ Their young will break forth;

they will be multiplied with offspring;

they will go forth and never return to them ]

⁵ “And who is he that let the wild ass go
         free,
and its bonds—who loosed them?

⁶ Yes, I made its home the wilderness,

[⁶ and its coverts are the salt land ]

⁷ while it laughs to scorn the city’s crowds
and hears not the chiding of the tax-
         gatherer.

[⁸ it will survey mountains as its pasture,

and it searches after every green thing ]

⁹ “And will the unicorn be willing to be your
         slave
or to lie down at your manger?

¹⁰ And will you bind its yoke with straps,
or will it draw your furrows in the
         plain?

¹¹ Again, do you trust it, because its strength is
         great,
and will you discharge to it your work?

¹² And will you believe that it will return your
         seed to you
and bring it to your threshing floor?

[¹³ the wing of those that take delight neelasa^a,

if it conceives asida^b and nessa^c.

¹⁴ Because it will leave its eggs to the ground

and warm them on the soil,

¹⁵ and it forgot that a foot will scatter them

and that wild animals of the field will trample
         them.

¹⁶ It hardened its young so as not to be her
         own;

in vain it labored without fear,

¹⁷ because God caused wisdom to be silent to
         her

and did not give her a portion in
         understanding.

¹⁸ At the right time it will lift up on high;

it will laugh to scorn the horse and its rider ]

¹⁹ “Was it you that endowed the horse
         with power
and clothed its neck with terror?

²⁰ And did you endow it with full armor
and the majesty of its breast with
         courage?

²¹ Pawing at the plain, it bears itself proudly,
and it goes forth into the plain in
         strength.

²² Meeting up with an arrow, it laughs in scorn
and will never turn back from a blade.

²³ Upon it exult the bow and dagger,

²⁴ and in rage it will stamp out the ground
and will not steady itself until the
         trumpet sounds.

²⁵ But when the trumpet sounds, it says,
         ‘Good!’

and from afar it scents battle with leap
and cry.

²⁶ “And is it by your understanding that the
         hawk stops still, having spread its wings, motionless,
eyeing what lies to the south?

²⁷ And is it at your decree that the eagle rises
         up

and the vulture lodges, sitting on its
brood?

[²⁸ on the crag of a rock and in secret ]

²⁹ From there it searches for food,

[²⁹ from afar its eyes watch keenly ]

³⁰ and its young are drenched in blood,
and, wherever there are carcasses, at once
         they are found.”

40 [and the Lord God answered Iob and said:
² “Will he turn away judgment with the
            Sufficient One?

While reproving God will he answer it ]

³ Now Iob said in reply to the Lord:

⁴ “Why do I yet contend—being rebuked even
         while confuting the Lord,
hearing such things—when I am nothing?

And I, what answer shall I give to these
         things?
I will lay my hand on my mouth.

⁵ I have spoken once, but I will not add to a
         second time.”

6 Now yet again the Lord said in reply to Iob from the mass of cloud:

⁷ “No, but gird up your loins like a man,
and I will question you, but as for you,
         just answer me!

⁸ Do not shrug off my judgment.
And do you think I have dealt with you
         in any other way
than that you might appear to be right?

⁹ Do you have an arm like the Lord,
or do you thunder with a voice like his?

¹⁰ “Go ahead take on loftiness and power,
and put on glory and honor.

¹¹ And send forth messengers in wrath
and humble any insolent person.

¹² Yes, extinguish the proud,
and at once make putrid the impious.

¹³ And hide them outside together in the earth,
and fill their faces with dishonor;

¹⁴ then I will acknowledge that your right
         hand can save.

¹⁵ “But look now, you are familiar with
         ‘monsters’;
they eat grass like cows.

¹⁶ Look now, its strength is in its loins,
and its power in its belly’s navel.

¹⁷ It stood up its tail like a cypress,
and its sinews have been interwoven.

¹⁸ Its flanks are flanks of copper,
and its spine is cast iron.

¹⁹ “This is the chief of what the Lord created,
made to be mocked at by his angels.

²⁰ But when it went up on a steep mountain,
it brought gladness to the quadrupeds in
         Tartarus^a.

²¹ Under trees of every kind it lies down,
by the papyrus and reed and sedge.

²² And tall trees find themselves in its shade,
with limbs, as do the chaste-tree’s
         branches.

²³ If there is a flood, it will never notice.

[23 it trusts that the Jordan will tumble into its
         mouth.

²⁴ Will he catch it in his eye;

while bent back, will he pierce its nose ]

25(41.1) “And will you catch a dragon with a fish hook
and put a halter around its nose?

[²⁶ if you will fasten a ring in its nostril ]

²⁶ And will you pierce its lip with a ring?

²⁷ And will it address you with a petition,
with a supplication, softly?

²⁸ And will it make a covenant with you,
and will you take it as your perpetual
         slave?

²⁹ And will you play with it as with a bird,
or tie it up like a sparrow for a child?

³⁰ And do nations feed on it,
and do the Phoenician races divvy it up?

³¹ And a whole fleet, gathered, cannot carry
         the mere skin of its tail.

[³¹ and its head in fishermen’s boats ]

³² But you will lay a hand on it,
though you remember the battle that is
         waging in its body,
and let it happen no more!

41 ⁽⁹⁾ “Have you not seen it,
and have you not marveled at what is said?

² Do you not fear because it has been
         prepared for me?
For who is it that withstands me?

³ Or who will withstand me and survive,
if all that is under heaven is
         mine?

[⁴ I will not be silent because of it,

and a word of power, it will show mercy to its
         equal ]

⁵ “Who will uncover the front of what it is
         wearing?

And who could enter the plate of its
cuirass?

⁶ Who will open the gates of its face?
Fear is all around its teeth.

⁷ Its inwards are bronze shields,
and its ligament is like emery stone—

[⁸ they cling, one to one ]

⁸ and no puff of air will ever pass through
         it!

[⁹ a man will cleave to his brother,

they are bound and will never be drawn
         apart ]

¹⁰ Light shines forth at its sneezing, and its eyes have the look of the morning
star.

¹¹ From its mouth proceed flaming torches,
and fiery braziers are being cast forth.

¹² From its nostrils proceeds smoke
of a furnace burning with the fire of
         coals.

¹³ Its soul is coals,
and a flame proceeds from its mouth.

¹⁴ And in its neck lodges power;
destruction runs before it.

¹⁵ And the flesh of its body cleaves together.

[¹⁵ it will flow down on it; it will not be
         shaken ]

¹⁶ Its heart is solid like stone,
and it stands like an unyielding anvil.

¹⁷ And when it turns, fear takes hold of the
         quadrupeds jumping upon the
         earth.

¹⁸ If spears meet it, they will do nothing,

[¹⁸ raised spear and breastplate ]

¹⁹ for it regards iron as chaff
and bronze as rotten wood.

²⁰ A bronze bow will never wound it;
it regards a catapult as grass

[²¹ mallets were reckoned as stubble ]

²¹ and laughs to scorn the waving of a
         firebrand.

²² Its bed is sharp points,
and all the sea’s gold under it is like
         untold clay.

²³ It makes the deep boil like a caldron
and regards the sea as a pot of ointment

²⁴ and Tartarus^a of the deep as a captive.

[²⁴ it reckoned the deep for a promenade ]

²⁵ There is nothing on earth like it,
made to be mocked at by my angels.

²⁶ Everything high it sees,
and it is king over all that are in the
         waters.”

42 Now Iob said in reply to the Lord:
² “ I know that you can do anything,
and nothing is impossible for you.

³ For who is it that hides counsel from you,
and being sparing with words thinks to
         hide them from you as well?

But who will tell me what I did not know,
great and marvelous things that I did not
         understand?

⁴ Now hear me, Lord, that I too may speak;
then I will question you, and you, teach
         me!

⁵ Whereas before I would hear an aural report
         of you,
now, however, my eye has seen you;

⁶ therefore I disparaged myself and wasted
         away,
and I regard myself as dust and ashes.”

7 Now it happened, after the Lord spoke all these words to Iob, that the Lord said to Eliphaz^b the Thaimanite: “You have sinned, and your two friends, for you have spoken nothing true in my presence, as has my attendant Iob. ⁸Now then, take seven calves and seven rams, and go to my attendant Iob, and he will make offerings for you, and Iob, my attendant, will pray for you, [⁸ because only his face will I accept ] for, if not for him, I would have destroyed you; for what you spoke against my attendant Iob is not true.” ⁹Then Eliphaz^b the Thaimanite went, and Baldad the Sauchite and Sophar the Minite, and they did as the Lord instructed them, and he absolved them of their sin on Iob’s account.

10 And the Lord gave Iob increase, and when he also prayed for the friends, he forgave them their sin, and the Lord gave Iob twice as much as he had before so that he had double.

11 Now all his brothers and his sisters heard about all that had happened to him, and they came to him, and all, as many as had known him from the first. Now when they ate and drank with him, they comforted him and wondered at all that the Lord had brought upon him, and each gave him a lamb and a four-drachma weight of gold bullion. ¹²Yes, the Lord blessed the last years of Iob more than the ones before, and his livestock was: fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, a thousand female donkeys at pasture. ¹³And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters, ¹⁴and he called the first Day and the second Cassia and the third Horn of Amaltheia. ¹⁵And there were not found women more excellent than Iob’s daughters under heaven, and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. ^16a Now Iob lived after his calamity one hundred and seventy years, ^16band all the years he lived were two hundred and forty-eight years. [¹⁶ and Iob saw his sons and the sons of his sons, a fourth generation, ¹⁷ and Iob died, old and full of days ] ^17aαAnd it is written that he will rise again with those the Lord raises up. ^17bαThis man is interpreted from the Syriac book as living in the land of Ausitis, on the borders of Idumea and Arabia, and previously his name was Iobab; ^17cαnow he took an Arabian wife and fathered a son, whose name was Ennon, and he in turn had as father Zare, a son of the sons of Esau, and as mother Bosorra, so that he was the fifth from Abraam. ^17dαAnd these are the kings who reigned in Edom, which country he too ruled: first Balak the son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dennaba, and after Balak, Iobab, who is called Iob, and after him Hasom, who was a leader from the Thaimanite country, and after him Hadad son of Barad, who cut down Madiam in the plain of Moab, and the name of his city was Geththaim. ^17eαNow the friends who came to him were: Eliphaz^b, of the sons of Esau, king of the Thaimanites, Baldad, the tyrant of the Sauchites, Sophar, the king of the Minites.