Job Chapter 24 to 27 : English Standard Version   | SearchSearch | Next Version | Previous Page | Next Page |

Other Versions24  24:1 “Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days? 2Some move landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them. 3They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge. 4They thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves. 5Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert the poor[1] go out to their toil, seeking game; the wasteland yields food for their children. 6They gather their [2] fodder in the field, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man. 7They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. 8They are wet with the rain of the mountains and cling to the rock for lack of shelter. 9(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.) 10They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they carry the sheaves; 11among the olive rows of the wicked[3] they make oil; they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst. 12From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with wrong.

13“There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths. 14The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief. 15The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’; and he veils his face. 16In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light. 17For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

18“You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards. 19Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned. 20The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like a tree.’

21“They wrong the barren childless woman, and do no good to the widow. 22Yet God[4] prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life. 23He gives them security, and they are supported, and his eyes are upon their ways. 24They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like the heads of grain. 25If it is not so, who will prove me a liar and show that there is nothing in what I say?”

[1] Hebrew they  [2] Hebrew his  [3] Hebrew their olive rows  [4] Hebrew he


25 Bildad Speaks: Man Cannot Be Righteous

25:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

2“Dominion and fear are with God;[5] he makes peace in his high heaven. 3Is there any number to his armies? Upon whom does his light not arise? 4How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure? 5Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in his eyes; 6how much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!”

[5] Hebrew him


26 Job Replies: God’s Majesty Is Unsearchable

26:1 Then Job answered and said:

2“How you have helped him who has no power! How you have saved the arm that has no strength! 3How you have counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge! 4With whose help have you uttered words, and whose breath has come out from you? 5The dead tremble under the waters and their inhabitants. 6Sheol is naked before God,[6] and Abaddon has no covering. 7He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing. 8He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them. 9He covers the face of the full moon[7] and spreads over it his cloud. 10He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness. 11The pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at his rebuke. 12By his power he stilled the sea; by his understanding he shattered Rahab. 13By his wind the heavens were made fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. 14Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

[6] Hebrew him  [7] Or his throne


27 Job Continues: I Will Maintain My Integrity

27:1 And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

2“As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter, 3as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, 4my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit. 5Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. 6I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

7“Let my enemy be as the wicked, and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous. 8For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life? 9Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him? 10Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times? 11I will teach you concerning the hand of God; what is with the Almighty I will not conceal. 12Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?

13“This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty: 14If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword, and his descendants have not enough bread. 15Those who survive him the pestilence buries, and his widows do not weep. 16Though he heap up silver like dust, and pile up clothing like clay, 17he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver. 18He builds his house like a moth’s, like a booth that a watchman makes. 19He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more; he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone. 20Terrors overtake him like a flood; in the night a whirlwind carries him off. 21The east wind lifts him up and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place. 22It[8] hurls at him without pity; he flees from its[9] power in headlong flight. 23It claps its hands at him and hisses at him from its place.

[8] Or He (that is, God); also verse 23  [9] Or his; also verse 23

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