The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV

  Since 11falsehood remains in your answers?”

  Job 22

  Eliphaz Accuses Job of Wickedness

  1Then aEliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

  2“Canb a man be profitable to God,

  Though he who is wise may be profitable to himself?

  3Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous?

  Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless?

  4“Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you,

  And enters into judgment with you?

  5Is not your wickedness great,

  And your iniquity without end?

  6For you have ctaken pledges from your brother for no reason,

  And stripped the naked of their clothing.

  7You have not given the weary water to drink,

  And you dhave withheld bread from the hungry.

  8But the 1mighty man possessed the land,

  And the honorable man dwelt in it.

  9You have sent widows away empty,

  And the 2strength of the fatherless was crushed.

  10Therefore snares are all around you,

  And sudden fear troubles you,

  11Or darkness so that you cannot see;

  And an abundance of ewater covers you.

  12“Is not God in the height of heaven?

  And see the highest stars, how lofty they are!

  13And you say, f‘What does God know?

  Can He judge through the deep darkness?

  14g Thick clouds cover Him, so that He cannot see,

  And He walks above the circle of heaven.’

  15Will you keep to the old way

  Which wicked men have trod,

  16Who hwere cut down before their time,

  Whose foundations were swept away by a flood?

  17i They said to God, ‘Depart from us!

  What can the Almighty do to 3them?’

  18Yet He filled their houses with good things;

  But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

  19“Thej righteous see it and are glad,

  And the innocent laugh at them:

  20‘Surely our 4adversaries are cut down,

  And the fire consumes their remnant.’

  21“Now acquaint yourself with Him, and kbe at peace;

  Thereby good will come to you.

  22Receive, please, linstruction from His mouth,

  And mlay up His words in your heart.

  23If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up;

  You will remove iniquity far from your tents.

  24Then you will nlay your gold in the dust,

  And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.

  25Yes, the Almighty will be your 5gold

  And your precious silver;

  26For then you will have your odelight in the Almighty,

  And lift up your face to God.

  27p You will make your prayer to Him,

  He will hear you,

  And you will pay your vows.

  28You will also declare a thing,

  And it will be established for you;

  So light will shine on your ways.

  29When they cast you down, and you say, ‘Exaltation will come!’

  Then qHe will save the humble person.

  30He will even deliver one who is not innocent;

  Yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands.”

  Job 23

  Job Proclaims God’s Righteous Judgments

  1Then Job answered and said:

  2“Even today my acomplaint is bitter;

  1 My hand is listless because of my groaning.

  3b Oh, that I knew where I might find Him,

  That I might come to His seat!

  4I would present my case before Him,

  And fill my mouth with arguments.

  5I would know the words which He would answer me,

  And understand what He would say to me.

  6c Would He contend with me in His great power?

  No! But He would take note of me.

  7There the upright could reason with Him,

  And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.

  8“Look,d I go forward, but He is not there,

  And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;

  9When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him;

  When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.

  10But eHe knows the way that I take;

  When fHe has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.

  11g My foot has held fast to His steps;

  I have kept His way and not turned aside.

  12I have not departed from the hcommandment of His lips;

  i I have treasured the words of His mouth

  More than my 2necessary food.

  13“But He is unique, and who can make Him change?

  And whatever jHis soul desires, that He does.

  14For He performs what is kappointed for me,

  And many such things are with Him.

  15Therefore I am terrified at His presence;

  When I consider this, I am afraid of Him.

  16For God lmade my heart weak,

  And the Almighty terrifies me;

  17Because I was not mcut off 3from the presence of darkness,

  And He did not hide deep darkness from my face.

  Job Complains of Violence on the Earth

  Job 24

  Job Complains of the Violence on the Earth

  1“Since atimes are not hidden from the Almighty,

  Why do those who know Him see not His bdays?

  2“ Some remove clandmarks;

  They seize flocks violently and feed on them;

  3They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;

  They dtake the widow’s ox as a pledge.

  4They push the needy off the road;

  All the epoor of the land are forced to hide.

  5Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert,

  They go out to their work, searching for food.

  The wilderness yields food for them and for their children.

  6They gather their fodder in the field

  And glean in the vineyard of the wicked.

  7They fspend the night naked, without clothing,

  And have no covering in the cold.

  8They are wet with the showers of the mountains,

  And ghuddle around the rock for want of shelter.

  9“ Some snatch the fatherless from the breast,

  And take a pledge from the poor.

  10They cause the poor to go naked, without hclothing;

  And they take away the sheaves from the hungry.

  11They press out oil within their walls,

  And tread winepresses, yet suffer thirst.

  12The dying groan in the city,

  And the souls of the wounded cry out;

  Yet God does not charge them with wrong.

  13“There are those who rebel against the light;

  They do not know its ways

  Nor abide in its paths.

  14i The murderer rises with the light;

  He kills the poor and needy;

  And in the night he is like a thief.

  15j The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,

  k Saying, ‘No eye will see me’;

  And he 1disguises his face.

  16In the dark they break into houses

  Which they marked for themselves in the daytime;

  l They do not know the light.

  17For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death;

  If someone recognizes them,

  They are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

  18“They should be swift on the face of the waters,

  Their portion should be cursed in the earth,

  So that no one would turn into the way of their vineyards.

  19As drought and heat 2consume the snow waters,

  So 3the grave consumes
those who have sinned.

  20The womb should forget him,

  The worm should feed sweetly on him;

  m He should be remembered no more,

  And wickedness should be broken like a tree.

  21For he 4preys on the barren who do not bear,

  And does no good for the widow.

  22“But God draws the mighty away with His power;

  He rises up, but no man is sure of life.

  23He gives them security, and they rely on it;

  Yet nHis eyes are on their ways.

  24They are exalted for a little while,

  Then they are gone.

  They are brought low;

  They are 5taken out of the way like all others;

  They dry out like the heads of grain.

  25“Now if it is not so, who will prove me a liar,

  And make my speech worth nothing?”

  Job 25

  Bildad: How Can Man Be Righteous?

  1Then aBildad the Shuhite answered and said:

  2“Dominion and fear belong to Him;

  He makes peace in His high places.

  31 Is there any number to His armies?

  Upon whom does bHis light not rise?

  4c How then can man be righteous before God?

  Or how can he be dpure who is born of a woman?

  5If even the moon does not shine,

  And the stars are not pure in His esight,

  6How much less man, who is fa maggot,

  And a son of man, who is a worm?”

  Job 26

  Job: Man’s Frailty and God’s Majesty

  1But Job answered and said:

  2“How have you helped him who is without power?

  How have you saved the arm that has no strength?

  3How have you counseled one who has no wisdom?

  And how have you declared sound advice to many?

  4To whom have you uttered words?

  And whose spirit came from you?

  5“The dead tremble,

  Those under the waters and those inhabiting them.

  6a Sheol is naked before Him,

  And Destruction has no covering.

  7b He stretches out the north over empty space;

  He hangs the earth on nothing.

  8c He binds up the water in His thick clouds,

  Yet the clouds 1are not broken under it.

  9He covers the face of His throne,

  And spreads His cloud over it.

  10d He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters,

  At the boundary of light and darkness.

  11The pillars of heaven tremble,

  And are 2astonished at His rebuke.

  12e He stirs up the sea with His power,

  And by His understanding He breaks up 3the storm.

  13f By His Spirit He adorned the heavens;

  His hand pierced gthe fleeing serpent.

  14Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,

  And how small a whisper we hear of Him!

  But the thunder of His power who can understand?”

  Job 27

  Job Maintains His Integrity

  1Moreover Job continued his discourse, and said:

  2“ As God lives, awho has taken away my justice,

  And the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,

  3As long as my breath is in me,

  And the breath of God in my nostrils,

  4My lips will not speak wickedness,

  Nor my tongue utter deceit.

  5Far be it from me

  That I should say you are right;

  Till I die bI will not put away my integrity from me.

  6My righteousness I chold fast, and will not let it go;

  d My heart shall not 1reproach me as long as I live.

  7“May my enemy be like the wicked,

  And he who rises up against me like the unrighteous.

  8e For what is the hope of the hypocrite,

  Though he may gain much,

  If God takes away his life?

  9f Will God hear his cry

  When trouble comes upon him?

  10g Will he delight himself in the Almighty?

  Will he always call on God?

  11“I will teach you 2about the hand of God;

  What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

  12Surely all of you have seen it;

  Why then do you behave with complete nonsense?

  13“Thish is the portion of a wicked man with God,

  And the heritage of oppressors, received from the Almighty:

  14i If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword;

  And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

  15Those who survive him shall be buried in death,

  And jtheir3 widows shall not weep,

  16Though he heaps up silver like dust,

  And piles up clothing like clay—

  17He may pile it up, but kthe just will wear it,

  And the innocent will divide the silver.

  18He builds his house like a 4moth,

  l Like a 5booth which a watchman makes.

  19The rich man will lie down,

  6 But not be gathered up;

  He opens his eyes,

  And he is mno more.

  20n Terrors overtake him like a flood;

  A tempest steals him away in the night.

  21The east wind carries him away, and he is gone;

  It sweeps him out of his place.

  22It hurls against him and does not ospare;

  He flees desperately from its 7power.

  23Men shall clap their hands at him,

  And shall hiss him out of his place.

  Job’s Discourse on Wisdom

  Job 28

  Wisdom Is God’s Gift

  1“Surely there is a mine for silver,

  And a place where gold is refined.

  2Iron is taken from the 1earth,

  And copper is smelted from ore.

  3Man puts an end to darkness,

  And searches every recess

  For ore in the darkness and the shadow of death.

  4He breaks open a shaft away from people;

  In places forgotten by feet

  They hang far away from men;

  They swing to and fro.

  5As for the earth, from it comes bread,

  But underneath it is turned up as by fire;

  6Its stones are the source of sapphires,

  And it contains gold dust.

  7That path no bird knows,

  Nor has the falcon’s eye seen it.

  8The 2proud lions have not trodden it,

  Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.

  9He puts his hand on the flint;

  He overturns the mountains 3at the roots.

  10He cuts out channels in the rocks,

  And his eye sees every precious thing.

  11He dams up the streams from trickling;

  What is hidden he brings forth to light.

  12“Buta where can wisdom be found?

  And where is the place of understanding?

  13Man does not know its bvalue,

  Nor is it found in the land of the living.

  14c The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;

  And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

  15It dcannot be purchased for gold,

  Nor can silver be weighed for its price.

  16It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,

  In precious onyx or sapphire.

  17Neither egold nor crystal can equal it,

  Nor can it be exchanged for 4jewelry of fine gold.

  18No mention shall be made of 5coral or quartz,

  For the price of wisdom is above frubies.

  19The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,

  Nor can it be valued in pure ggold.

  20“Fromh where then does wisdom come?

  And where is the place of understanding?

  21It is hidden fr
om the eyes of all living,

  And concealed from the birds of the 6air.

  22i Destruction7 and Death say,

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

  23God understands its way,

  And He knows its place.

  24For He looks to the ends of the earth,

  And jsees under the whole heavens,

  25k To establish a weight for the wind,

  And apportion the waters by measure.

  26When He lmade a law for the rain,

  And a path for the thunderbolt,

  27Then He saw 8wisdom and declared it;

  He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out.

  28And to man He said,

  ‘Behold, mthe fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,

  And to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”

  Job 29

  Job’s Summary Defense

  1Job further continued his discourse, and said:

  2“Oh, that I were as in months apast,

  As in the days when God bwatched over me;

  3c When His lamp shone upon my head,

  And when by His light I walked through darkness;

  4Just as I was in the days of my prime,

  When dthe friendly counsel of God was over my tent;

  5When the Almighty was yet with me,

  When my children were around me;

  6When emy steps were bathed with 1cream,

  And fthe rock poured out rivers of oil for me!

  7“When I went out to the gate by the city,

  When I took my seat in the open square,

  8The young men saw me and hid,

  And the aged arose and stood;

  9The princes refrained from talking,

  And gput their hand on their mouth;

  10The voice of nobles was hushed,

  And their htongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

  11When the ear heard, then it blessed me,

  And when the eye saw, then it approved me;

  12Because iI delivered the poor who cried out,

  The fatherless and the one who had no helper.

  13The blessing of a perishing man came upon me,

  And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

  14j I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;

  My justice was like a robe and a turban.

  15I was keyes to the blind,

  And I was feet to the lame.

  16I was a father to the poor,

  And lI searched out the case that I did not know.

  17I broke mthe fangs of the wicked,

  And plucked the victim from his teeth.

  18“Then I said, n‘I shall die in my nest,

  And multiply my days as the sand.