14 {Job said,} “We are all human beings.* Our life is short and full of trouble. ²Man’s life is like a flower. He grows quickly, and then dies away. Man’s life is like a shadow that is here for a short time, and then it is gone. ³That is true, but God, will you look at me, a man? And will you come into court with me and let us both give our arguments? ⁴“But what does something clean have in common with something dirty? Nothing! ⁵Man’s life is limited. God, you decide how long a man lives. You set those limits for a man and nothing can change them. ⁶So God, stop watching us. Leave us alone. Let us enjoy our hard life until our time is finished. ⁷“There is hope for a tree. If it is cut down, it can grow again. It will keep sending out new branches. ⁸Its roots might grow old in the ground and its stump die in the dirt, ⁹but with water it will grow again. It will grow branches like a new plant. ¹⁰But when man dies, he is finished! When man dies, he is gone. ¹¹You could take all the water from the sea, until the rivers all run dry, {and the man will still be dead}! ¹²When a person dies, he lies down and he doesn’t get up. The skies will all disappear before a dead man will wake up. No. People don’t wake up from that sleep. ¹³“I wish you would hide me in my grave. I wish you would hide me there, until your anger is gone. Then you could pick a time to remember me. ¹⁴If a person dies, will he live again? I would wait as long as I must until I could be set free. ¹⁵God, you would call me and I would answer you. Then I, the person you made, would be important to you. ¹⁶You would still watch every step I take, but you wouldn’t remember my sins. ¹⁷You would tie up my sins in a bag, seal it, {and throw it away}! ¹⁸“Mountains fall and crumble away. Large rocks break loose and fall. ¹⁹Water flowing over stones wears them down. Floods wash away the soil on the ground. In the same way, God, you destroy a person’s hope. ²⁰You defeat him completely and then you leave. You make him sad and send him away forever {to the place of death}. ²¹If his sons are honored, he never knows it. If his sons do wrong, he never sees it. ²²That man only feels the pain in his body, and he cries loudly only for himself.”

human beings Literally, “born of woman.”

Eliphaz Answers Job

15 Then Eliphaz from Teman answered Job: ²“Job, if you were really wise, you wouldn‘t answer with your worthless personal opinions! A wise man would not be so full of hot air. ³Do you think a wise man would argue with worthless words and with speeches that mean nothing? ⁴Job, if you had your way, no person would respect God and pray to him. ⁵The things you say clearly show your sin. Job, you are trying to hide your sin by using clever words. ⁶I don’t need to prove to you that you are wrong. Why? The things you say with your own mouth show that you are wrong. Your own lips speak against you. ⁷“Job, do you think you were the first person ever to be born? Were you born before the hills? ⁸Did you listen to God’s secret plans? Do you think you are the only wise person? ⁹Job, we know more than you do! We understand things that you don’t. ¹⁰The gray-haired men and the old people agree with us. Yes, even people older than your father are on our side. ¹¹God tries to comfort you, but that is not enough for you. We have spoken God’s message to you in a gentle way. ¹²Job, why won’t you understand? Why can’t you see the truth? ¹³You are against God when you say these angry words. ¹⁴“A man can’t really be pure. A person* can’t be more right than God! ¹⁵God doesn’t even trust his angels.* Compared to God even the heavens are not pure. ¹⁶Man is even worse. Man is dirty and ruined. He drinks up evil like water. ¹⁷“Listen to me Job, and I will explain it to you. I will tell you what I know. ¹⁸I will tell you the things wise men have told me. The wise men’s ancestors* told them these things. They didn’t hide any secrets from me. ¹⁹They alone lived in their country. There were no foreigners passing through. {So no person told them strange ideas.} ²⁰{These wise people said,} An evil person suffers all his life. A cruel person suffers all his numbered years. ²¹Every noise scares him. His enemy will attack him when he thinks he is safe. ²²The evil person is very frustrated, and there is no hope for him to escape the darkness. There is a sword somewhere that is waiting to kill him. ²³He wanders here and there, but his body will be food for the vultures. He knows that his death* is very near. ²⁴Worry and suffering make him afraid. These things attack him like a king ready to destroy him. ²⁵Why? Because the evil person refuses to obey God—He shakes his fist at God, and tries to defeat God All-Powerful. ²⁶That evil person is very stubborn. He tries to attack God with a thick, strong shield. ²⁷“A person might be rich and fat ²⁸but his town will be ruined, his home will be destroyed, his house will be empty. ²⁹The evil person won’t be rich for long. His wealth won’t last. His crops won’t grow large. ³⁰The evil person won’t escape the darkness. He will be like a tree whose leaves die from disease and a wind blows them all away. ³¹The evil person should not fool himself when he trusts worthless things. Why? He will get nothing. ³²Before his life is over, the evil person will be old and dried up. He will be like a dried branch, never to be green again. ³³The evil person will be like a vine that loses its grapes before they ripen. That person will be like an olive tree that loses its buds. ³⁴Why? Because people without God have nothing. People who love money will have their homes destroyed by fire. ³⁵Evil people are always planning ways to do evil and cause trouble. They are always planning ways to cheat people.”

person Literally, “A man born of woman.” angels Literally, “holy ones.” ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents, grandparents, and all the people they are descended from. death Literally, “day of darkness.”

Job Answers Eliphaz

16 Then Job answered, “I have heard ²all these things before. You three men give me trouble, not comfort. ³Your long speeches never end! Why do you continue arguing? ⁴I also could say the same things you say, if you had my troubles. I could say wise things against you and shake my head at you. ⁵But I could encourage you and give you hope with the things I say. ⁶“Nothing I say makes my pain go away. But keeping quiet doesn’t help either! ⁷Truly, God, you took away my strength. You destroyed my whole family. ⁸You have made me thin and weak, and people think that means I am guilty. ⁹“God attacks me, he is angry at me and tears my body apart. God grinds his teeth against me. My enemy looks at me with hate. ¹⁰People have crowded around me. They make fun of me and slap my face. ¹¹God has given me to evil people. He let wicked people hurt me. ¹²Everything was fine with me, but then God crushed me! Yes, he took me by the neck and broke me into pieces! God used me for target practice. ¹³God’s archers* are all around me. He shoots arrows in my kidneys. He shows no mercy. He spills my gall* on the ground. ¹⁴Again and again God attacks me. He runs at me like a soldier in battle. ¹⁵“I am very sad, so I wear these clothes of sadness. I sit here in the dust and ashes, and I feel defeated. ¹⁶My face is red from crying. There are dark rings around my eyes. ¹⁷I was never cruel to anyone {but these bad things happened to me}. My prayers are right and pure. ¹⁸“Earth, don’t hide the wrong things that were done to me. Don’t let my begging for fairness be stopped. ¹⁹Even now there is someone in heaven that will speak for me. There is someone above that will testify for me. ²⁰My friend speaks for me while my eyes pour out tears to God. ²¹He speaks to God for me like a person* arguing for his friend. ²²“In only a few years I will go to that place of no return (death).

archers Soldiers that use bows and arrows in war. gall The gall bladder is a pouch on the liver where bile or gall is stored. When the gall bladder is torn open, gall or bile comes out. Here this means having to endure something bitter and painful. person Literally, "son of man."