Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

1 Next Elifaz the Teimani replied:

2 “Can a human be of advantage to God?

Can even the wisest benefit him?

3 DoesShaddaigain if you are righteous?

Does he profit if you make your ways blameless?

4 “Is he rebuking you because you fear him?

Is this why he enters into judgment with you?

5 Isn’t it because your wickedness is great?

Aren’t your iniquities endless?

6 “For you kept your kinsmen’s goods as collateral for no reason,

you stripped the poorly clothed of what clothing they have,

7 you didn’t give water to the weary to drink,

you withheld food from the hungry.

8 As a wealthy man, an owner of land,

and as a man of rank, who lives on it,

9 you sent widows away empty-handed

and left the arms of orphans crushed.

10 “No wonder there are snares all around you,

and sudden terror overwhelms you,

11 or darkness , so that you can’t see,

and a flood of water that covers you up!

12 “Isn’t God in the heights of heaven,

looking [down even] on the highest stars?

13 Yet you say, ‘What does God know?

Can he see through thick darkness to judge?

14 The clouds veil him off, so that he can’t see;

he just wanders around in heaven.’

15 “Are you going to keep to the old way,

the one the wicked have trodden,

16 the ones snatched away before their time,

whose foundations a flood swept away?

17 They said to God, ‘Leave us alone!

What canShaddaido to us?’

18 Yet he himself had filled their homes with good things!

(But the advice of the wicked is far away from me.)

19 The righteous saw this and rejoiced;

the innocent laughed them to scorn —

20 ‘Indeed, our substance has not been not cut off,

but the fire has consumed their wealth.’

21 “Learn to be at peace with [God];

in this way good will come [back] to you.

22 Please! Receive instruction from his mouth,

and take his words to heart.

23 If you return toShaddai, you will be built up.

If you drive wickedness far from your tents,

24 if you lay your treasure down in the dust

and the gold of Ofir among the rocks in thevadis,

25 and letShaddaibe your treasure

and your sparkling silver;

26 thenShaddaiwill be your delight,

you will lift up your face to God;

27 you will entreat him, and he will hear you,

and you will pay what you vowed;

28 what you decide to do will succeed,

and light will shine on your path;

29 when someone is brought down, you will say, ‘It was pride,

because [God] saves the humble.’

30 “He delivers even the unclean;

so if your hands are clean, you will be delivered.”

1 Then Iyov answered:

2 “Today too my complaint is bitter;

my hand is weighed down because of my groaning.

3 I wish I knew where I could find him;

then I would go to where he is.

4 I would state my case before him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

5 I would know his answering words

and grasp what he would tell me.

6 Would he browbeat me with his great power?

No, he would pay attention to me.

7 There an upright person could reason with him;

thus I might be forever acquitted by my judge.

8 “If I head east, he isn’t there;

if I head west, I don’t detect him,

9 if I turn north, I don’t spot him;

in the south he is veiled, and I still don’t see him.

10 Yet he knows the way I take;

when he has tested me, I will come out like gold.

11 My feet have stayed in his footsteps;

I keep to his way without turning aside.

12 I don’t withdraw from his lips’ command;

I treasure his words more than my daily food.

13 “But he has no equal, so who can change him?

What he desires, he does.

14 He will accomplish what is decreed for me,

and he has many plans like this.

15 This is why I am terrified of him;

the more I think about it, the more afraid I am —

16 God has undermined my courage;

Shaddaifrightens me.

17 Yet I am not cut off by the darkness;

he has protected me from the deepest gloom.

1 “Why are times not kept byShaddai?

Why do those who know him not see his days?

2 There are those who move boundary markers;

they carry off flocks and pasture them;

3 they drive away the orphan’s donkey;

as collateral, they seize the widow’s ox.

4 They push the needy out of the way —

the poor of the land are forced into hiding;

5 like wild donkeys in the wilderness,

they have to go out and scavenge food,

[hoping that] the desert

will provide food for their children.

6 They must reap in fields that are not their own

and gather late grapes in the vineyards of the wicked.

7 They pass the night without clothing, naked,

uncovered in the cold,

8 wet with mountain rain,

and hugging the rock for lack of shelter.

9 “There are those who pluck orphans from the breast

and [those who] take [the clothes of] the poor in pledge,

10 so that they go about stripped, unclothed;

they go hungry, as they carry sheaves [of grain];

11 between these men’s rows [of olives], they make oil;

treading their winepresses, they suffer thirst.

12 Men are groaning in the city,

the mortally wounded are crying for help,

yet God finds nothing amiss!

13 “There are those who rebel against the light —

they don’t know its ways or stay in its paths.

14 The murderer rises with the light

to kill the poor and needy;

while at night he is like a thief.

15 The eye of the adulterer too waits for twilight;

he thinks, ‘No eye will see me’;

but [to be sure], he covers his face.

16 When it’s dark, they break into houses;

in the daytime, they stay out of sight.

[None of them] know the light.

17 For to all of them deep darkness is like morning,

for the terrors of deep darkness are familiar to them.

18 “May they be scum on the surface of the water,

may their share of land be cursed,

may no one turn on the way of their vineyards,

19 may drought and heat steal away their snow water

and Sh’ol those who have sinned.

20 May the womb forget them,

may worms find them sweet,

may they no longer be remembered —

thus may iniquity be snapped like a stick.

21 They devour childless women

and give no help to widows.

22 “Yet God keeps pulling the mighty along —

they get up, even when not trusting their own lives.

23 However, even if God lets them rest in safety,

his eyes are on their ways.

24 They are exalted for a little while;

and then they are gone,

brought low, gathered in like all others,

shriveled up like ears of grain.

25 “And even if it isn’t so now,

still no one can prove me a liar

and show that my words are worthless.”

1 Bildad the Shuchi said,

2 “Dominion and fear belong to him;

he makes peace in his high places.

3 Can his armies be numbered?

On whom does his light not shine?

4 How then can humans be righteous with God?

How can those born of women be clean?

5 Why, before him even the moon lacks brightness,

and the stars themselves are not pure.

6 How much less a human, who is merely a maggot,

a mortal, who is only a worm?!”

1 Then Iyov replied,

2 “What great help you bring to the powerless!

what deliverance to the arm without strength!

3 Such wonderful advice for a man lacking wisdom!

So much common sense you’ve expressed!

4 Who helped you to say these words?

Whose spirit is it, coming forth from you?

5 “The ghosts of the dead tremble

beneath the water, with its creatures.

6 Sh’ol is naked before him;

Abaddon lies uncovered.

7 He stretches the north over chaos

and suspends the earth on nothing.

8 He binds up the water in his thick clouds,

yet no cloud is torn apart by it.

9 He shuts off the view of his throne

by spreading his cloud across it.

10 He fixed a circle on the surface of the water,

defining the boundary between light and dark.

11 The pillars of heaven tremble,

aghast at his rebuke.

12 He stirs up the sea with his power,

and by his skill he strikes down Rahav.

13 With his Spirit he spreads the heavens;

his hand pierces the fleeing serpent.

14 And these are but the fringes of his ways;

how faint the echo we hear of him!

But who is able to grasp the meaning

of his thundering power?”

1 Iyov continued his speech:

2 “I swear by the living God,

who is denying me justice,

and byShaddai,

who deals with me so bitterly,

3 that as long my life remains in me

and God’s breath is in my nostrils,

4 my lips will not speak unrighteousness,

or my tongue utter deceit.

5 Far be it from me to say you are right;

I will keep my integrity till the day I die.

6 I hold to my righteousness; I won’t let it go;

my heart will not shame me as long as I live.

7 “May my enemy meet the doom of the wicked;

my foe the fate of the unrighteous.

8 For what hope does the godless have from his gain

when God takes away his life?

9 Will God hear his cry

when trouble comes upon him?

10 Will he take delight inShaddai

and always call on God?

11 “I am teaching you how God uses his power,

not hiding whatShaddaiis doing.

12 Look, you all can see for yourselves;

so why are you talking such empty nonsense?

13 “This is God’s reward for the wicked man,

the heritage oppressors receive fromShaddai:

14 if his sons become many, they go to the sword;

and his children never have enough to eat.

15 Those of his who remain are buried by plague,

and their widows do not weep.

16 Even if he piles up silver like dust

and stores away clothing [in mounds] like clay —

17 he may collect it, but the just will wear it,

and the upright divide up the silver.

18 He builds his house weak as a spider’s web,

as flimsy as a watchman’s shack.

19 He may lie down rich, but his wealth yields nothing;

when he opens his eyes, it isn’t there.

20 Terrors overtake him like a flood;

at night a whirlwind steals him away.

21 The east wind carries him off, and he’s gone;

it sweeps him far from his place.

22 Yes, it hurls itself at him, sparing nothing;

he does all he can to flee from its power.

23 [People] clap their hands at him in derision

and hiss him out of his home.

1 “There are mines for silver

and places where gold is refined;

2 iron is extracted from the earth,

and copper is smelted from ore.

3 Miners conquer the darkness

and dig as far in as they can,

to the ore in gloom and deep darkness.

4 There where no one lives, they break open a shaft;

the feet passing over are oblivious to them;

far from people, suspended in space,

they swing to and fro.

5 “While the earth is [peacefully] yielding bread,

underneath, it is being convulsed as if by fire;

6 its rocks have veins of sapphire,

and there are flecks of gold.

7 Birds of prey don’t know that path,

no falcon’s eye has seen it,

8 the proud beasts have never set foot on it,

no lion has ever passed over it.

9 “[The miner] attacks the flint,

overturns mountains at their roots,

10 and cuts out galleries in the rock,

all the while watching for something of value.

11 He dams up streams to keep them from flooding,

and brings what was hidden out into the light.

12 “But where can wisdom be found?

Where is the source of understanding?

13 No one knows its value,

and it can’t be found in the land of the living.

14 The deep says, ‘It isn’t in me,’

and the sea says, ‘It isn’t with me.’

15 It can’t be obtained with gold,

nor can silver be weighed out to buy it.

16 It can’t be purchased with choice gold from Ofir,

or with precious onyx or sapphires.

17 Neither gold nor glass can be compared with it;

nor can it be exchanged for a bowl of fine gold,

18 let alone coral or crystal;

for indeed, the price of wisdom is above that of pearls.

19 It can’t be compared with Ethiopian topaz,

and it can’t be valued with pure gold.

20 “So where does wisdom come from?

where is the source of understanding,

21 inasmuch as it is hidden from the eyes of all living

and kept secret from the birds flying around in the sky?

22 Destruction and Death say,

‘We have heard a rumor about it with our ears.’

23 “God understands its way,

and he knows its place.

24 For he can see to the ends of the earth

and view everything under heaven.

25 When he determined the force of the wind

and parceled out water by measure,

26 when he made a law for the rain

and cleared a path for the thunderbolts;

27 then he saw [wisdom] and declared it,

yes, he set it up and searched it out.

28 And to human beings he said,

‘Look, fear ofAdonaiis wisdom!

Shunning evil is understanding!’”

1 Iyov went on speaking:

2 “I wish I were as in the old days,

back in the times when God watched over me;

3 when his lamp shone over my head,

and I walked through the dark by its light;

4 as I was when I was young,

and God’s counsel graced my tent.

5 ThenShaddaiwas still with me,

my children were around me;

6 my steps were awash in butter,

and the rocks poured out for me streams of olive oil.

7 I would go out to the city gate

and set up my seat in the open space;

8 when young men saw me they would hide themselves,

while the aged arose and stood;

9 leaders refrained from speaking —

they would lay their hands on their mouths;

10 the voices of nobles were silenced;

their tongues stuck to their palates.

11 Any ear that heard me blessed me,

any eye that saw me gave witness to me,

12 for I delivered the poor when they cried for assistance,

the orphan too, who had no one to help him.

13 Those who had been about to die would bless me,

and I made widows sing in their hearts for joy.

14 I clothed myself with righteousness, and it clothed itself with me;

my justice was like a robe and a crown.

15 I was eyes for the blind,

and I was feet for the lame.

16 I was a father to the needy,

and I investigated the problems of those I didn’t know.

17 I broke the jaws of the unrighteous

and snatched the prey from his teeth.

18 “I said, ‘I will die with my nest,

and I will live as long as a phoenix;

19 my root will spread till it reaches water,

and dew will stay all night on my branch;

20 my glory will always be fresh,

my bow always new in my hand.’

21 “People would listen to me;

they waited and were silent when I gave advice.

22 After I spoke, they didn’t talk back;

my words were like drops [of dew] on them.

23 They waited for me as if for rain,

as if for spring rain, with their mouths open wide.

24 When I joked with them, they couldn’t believe it;

and they never darkened the light on my face.

25 I chose their way [for them], sitting as chief;

I lived like a king in the army,

like one who comforts mourners.

1 “But now those younger than I

hold me in derision,

men whose fathers I wouldn’t even

have put with the dogs that guarded my sheep.

2 What use to me was the strength in their hands?

All their vigor had left them.

3 Worn out by want and hunger,

they gnaw the dry ground in the gloom

of waste and desolation.

4 They pluck saltwort and bitter leaves;

these, with broom tree roots, are their food.

5 They are driven away from society,

with men shouting after them as after a thief,

6 to live in gullies andvadis,

in holes in the ground and caves in the rocks.

7 Among the bushes they howl like beasts

and huddle among the nettles,

8 irresponsible nobodies

driven from the land.

9 “Now I have become their song;

yes, I am a byword with them.

10 They loathe me, they stand aloof from me;

they don’t hesitate to spit in my face!

11 For God has loosened my bowstring and humbled me;

they throw off restraint in my presence.

12 At my right the street urchins attack,

pushing me from place to place,

besieging me with their ways of destruction,

13 breaking up my path,

furthering my calamity —

even those who have no one to help them.

14 They move in as through a wide gap;

amid the ruin they roll on in waves.

15 Terrors tumble over me,

chasing my honor away like the wind;

my [hope of] salvation passes like a cloud.

16 “So now my life is ebbing away,

days of grief have seized me.

17 At night pain pierces me to the bone,

so that I never rest.

18 My clothes are disfigured by the force [of my disease];

they choke me like the collar of my coat.

19 [God] has thrown me into the mud;

I have become like dust and ashes.

20 “I call out to you [God], but you don’t answer me;

I stand up to plead, but you just look at me.

21 You have turned cruelly against me;

with your powerful hand you keep persecuting me.

22 You snatch me up on the wind and make me ride it;

you toss me about in the tempest.

23 For I know that you will bring me to death,

the house assigned to everyone living.

24 “Surely [God] wouldn’t strike at a ruin,

if in one’s calamity one cried out to him for help.

25 Didn’t I weep for those who were in trouble?

Didn’t I grieve for the needy?

26 Yet when I hoped for good, what came was bad;

when I expected light, what came was darkness.

27 My insides are in turmoil; they can’t find rest;

days of misery confront me.

28 I go about in sunless gloom,

I rise in the assembly and cry for help.

29 I have become a brother to jackals

and a companion of ostriches.

30 My skin is black and falling off me,

and my bones are burning with heat.

31 So my lyre is tuned for mourning,

my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

1 “I made a covenant with my eyes

not to let them lust after any girl.

2 “What share does God give from above?

What is the heritage fromShaddaion high?

3 Isn’t it calamity to the unrighteous?

disaster to those who do evil?

4 Doesn’t he see my ways

and count all my steps?

5 “If I have gone along with falsehood,

if my feet have hurried to deceit;

6 then let me be weighed on an honest scale,

so that God will know my integrity.

7 “If my steps have wandered from the way,

if my heart has followed my eyes,

if the least dirt has stuck to my hands;

8 then let me sow and someone else eat,

let what grows from my fields be uprooted.

9 “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,

and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door;

10 then let my wife grind for another man,

and let others kneel on her.

11 For that would be a heinous act,

a criminal offense,

12 a fire that would burn to the depths of Abaddon,

uprooting all I produce.

13 “If I ever rejected my slave or slave-girl’s cause,

when they brought legal action against me;

14 then what would I do if God stood up?

Were he to intervene, what answer could I give?

15 Didn’t he who made me in the womb make them too?

Didn’t the same one shape us both before our birth?

16 “If I held back anything needed by the poor

or made a widow’s eye grow dim [with tears],

17 or ate my portion of food by myself,

without letting the orphan eat any of it —

18 No! From my youth he grew up

with me as if with a father,

and I have been her guide

from my mother’s womb! —

19 or if I saw a traveler needing clothing,

someone in need who had no covering,

20 who didn’t bless me from his heart

for being warmed with the fleece from my sheep,

21 or if I lifted my hand against an orphan,

knowing that no one would dare charge me in court;

22 then let my arm fall from its socket,

and let my forearm be broken at the elbow!

23 For calamity from God has always terrified me;

before his majesty I could never do a thing [like that].

24 “If I made gold my hope,

if I said to fine gold, ‘You are my security,’

25 if I took joy in my great wealth,

in my having acquired so much;

26 or if, on seeing the shining sun

or the full moon as it moved through the sky,

27 my heart was secretly seduced,

so that I would wave them a kiss with my hand;

28 then this too would be a criminal offense,

for I would have been lying to God on high.

29 “Did I rejoice at the destruction of him who hated me?

Was I filled with glee when disaster overtook him?

30 No, I did not allow my mouth to sin

by asking for his life with a curse.

31 “Was there anyone in my tent who didn’t say,

‘No one can find a single person

whom he has not filled with his meat’?

32 No stranger had to sleep in the street;

I kept my house open to the traveler.

33 “If I concealed my sins, as most people do,

by hiding my wrongdoing in my heart,

34 from fear of general gossip

or dread of some family’s contempt.

keeping silent and not going outdoors —

35 I wish I had someone who would listen to me!

Here is my signature; letShaddaianswer me!

I wish I had the indictment my adversary has written!

36 I would carry it on my shoulder;

I would bind it on me like a crown.

37 I would declare to him every one of my steps;

I would approach him like a prince.

38 “If my land cried out against me,

if its furrows wept together,

39 if I ate its produce without paying

or made its owners despair;

40 then let thistles grow instead of wheat

and noxious weeds instead of barley!

“The words of Iyov are finished.”