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a Heb he
b Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain
c Heb his
20.6 Possibly an allusion to the Tower of Babel in Gen 11.1–9.
20.12 Woman Folly entices young men with the promise that “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant” (Prov 9.17).
20.17 According to ancient Yahwistic tradition, the land of promise was thought to have flowed with milk and honey.
20.18 Ancient futility curses spoke of fruitless effort, e.g., planting without reaping, building a house without living in it.
20.24 As in Am 5.19, flight from imminent danger only results in death by another means. Bronze arrow, lit. “bronze bow,” which may function here as synecdoche for bow and arrow.
JOB 21
Job Replies: The Wicked Often Go Unpunished
1Then Job answered:
2“Listen carefully to my words,
and let this be your consolation.
3Bear with me, and I will speak;
then after I have spoken, mock on.
4As for me, is my complaint addressed to mortals?
Why should I not be impatient?
5Look at me,
and be appalled, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
6When I think of it I am dismayed,
and shuddering seizes my flesh.
7Why do the wicked live on,
reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
8Their children are established in their presence,
and their offspring before their eyes.
9Their houses are safe from fear,
and no rod of God is upon them.
10Their bull breeds without fail;
their cow calves and never miscarries.
11They send out their little ones like a flock,
and their children dance around.
12They sing to the tambourine and the lyre,
and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
13They spend their days in prosperity,
and in peace they go down to Sheol.
14They say to God, ‘Leave us alone!
We do not desire to know your ways.
15What is the Almighty,d that we should serve him?
And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’
16Is not their prosperity indeed their own achievement?e
The plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.
17“How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
How often does calamity come upon them?
How often does Goda distribute pains in his anger?
18How often are they like straw before the wind,
and like chaff that the storm carries away?
19You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’
Let it be paid back to them, so that they may know it.
20Let their own eyes see their destruction,
and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.d
21For what do they care for their household after them,
when the number of their months is cut off?
22Will any teach God knowledge,
seeing that he judges those that are on high?
23One dies in full prosperity,
being wholly at ease and secure,
24his loins full of milk
and the marrow of his bones moist.
25Another dies in bitterness of soul,
never having tasted of good.
26They lie down alike in the dust,
and the worms cover them.
27“Oh, I know your thoughts,
and your schemes to wrong me.
28For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince?
Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’
29Have you not asked those who travel the roads,
and do you not accept their testimony,
30that the wicked are spared in the day of calamity,
and are rescued in the day of wrath?
31Who declares their way to their face,
and who repays them for what they have done?
32When they are carried to the grave,
a watch is kept over their tomb.
33The clods of the valley are sweet to them;
everyone will follow after,
and those who went before are innumerable.
34How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”
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a Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
b Heb in their hand
c Heb he
d Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
21.5 The gesture indicates speechlessness or awe.
21.15 The sufferer in “The Babylonian Theodicy” complains that “Those who do not seek the god go the way of prosperity, while those who pray to the goddess become destitute and impoverished” and asks, “What has it profited me that I have bowed down to my god?”
21.19 Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel challenge the sentiment, expressed in a proverb, that children suffer because of their parents’ misventures (Ezek 18.2; Jer 31.29).
JOB 22
Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great
1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2“Can a mortal be of use to God?
Can even the wisest be of service to him?
3Is it any pleasure to the Almightya if you are righteous,
or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
4Is it for your piety that he reproves you,
and enters into judgment with you?
5Is not your wickedness great?
There is no end to your iniquities.
6For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason,
and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7You have given no water to the weary to drink,
and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8The powerful possess the land,
and the favored live in it.
9You have sent widows away empty-handed,
and the arms of the orphans you have crushed.b
10Therefore snares are around you,
and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11or darkness so that you cannot see;
a flood of water covers you.
12“Is not God high in the heavens?
See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13Therefore you say, ‘What does God know?
Can he judge through the deep darkness?
14Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see,
and he walks on the dome of heaven.’
15Will you keep to the old way
that the wicked have trod?
16They were snatched away before their time;
their foundation was washed away by a flood.
17They said to God, ‘Leave us alone,’
and ‘What can the Almightya do to us?’c
18Yet he filled their houses with good things—
but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.
19The righteous see it and are glad;
the innocent laugh them to scorn,
20saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,
and what they left, the fire has consumed.’
21“Agree with God,d and be at peace;
in this way good will come to you.
22Receive instruction from his mouth,
and lay up his words in your heart.
23If you return to the Almighty,a you will be restored,
if you remove unrighteousness from your tents,
24if you treat gold like dust,
and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed,
25and if the Almightya is your gold
and your precious silver,
26then you will delight yourself in the Almighty,a
and lift up your face to God.
27You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
and you will pay your vows.
28You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
and light will shine on your ways.
29When others are humiliated, you say it is pride;
for he saves the humble.
30He will deliver even those who are guilty;
they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.”b
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a Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
b Gk Syr Tg Vg: Heb were crushed
c Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
d Gk Syr: Heb them
e Heb him
f Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
g Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
h Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
i Meaning of Heb uncertain
22.15 Another vocalization of the Hebrew word rendered old yields “hidden,” which would imply that the conduct is furtive rather than ancient.
22.21 Agree with God. The Mesopotamian parallel “I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom” advises correct ritual and repentance as a means to restoration.
22.24 Puns accentuate the expression here. The Hebrew word for “treasure,” here translated gold, resembles that for like (or among) the stones, and dust echoes Ophir.
22.27 Neglecting to keep one’s vows brought divine wrath, as the Canaanite hero Keret discovered. Eccl 5.4 strongly encourages the payment of vows, lest wrath break out with serious consequences.
JOB 23
Job Replies: My Complaint Is Bitter
1Then Job answered:
2“Today also my complaint is bitter;c
hisd hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3Oh, that I knew where I might find him,
that I might come even to his dwelling!
4I would lay my case before him,
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5I would learn what he would answer me,
and understand what he would say to me.
6Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No; but he would give heed to me.
7There an upright person could reason with him,
and I should be acquitted forever by my judge.
8“If I go forward, he is not there;
or backward, I cannot perceive him;
9on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him;
I turne to the right, but I cannot see him.
10But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold.
11My foot has held fast to his steps;
I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
12I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured inf my bosom the words of his mouth.
13But he stands alone and who can dissuade him?
What he desires, that he does.
14For he will complete what he appoints for me;
and many such things are in his mind.
15Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
when I consider, I am in dread of him.
16God has made my heart faint;
the Almightya has terrified me;
17If only I could vanish in darkness,
and thick darkness would cover my face!g
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a Syr Vg Tg: Heb rebellious
b Gk Syr: Heb my
c Syr Vg: Heb he turns
d Gk Vg: Heb from
e Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
f Or But I am not destroyed by the darkness; he has concealed the thick darkness from me
23.8–12 Indicators for directions derive from a position facing the rising sun. Forward is east, backward, west; to the left, north, to the right, south. Ps 139.7–12 is similarly comprehensive.
JOB 24
Job Complains of Violence on the Earth
1“Why are times not kept by the Almighty,a
and why do those who know him never see his days?
2The wickedh remove landmarks;
they seize flocks and pasture them.
3They drive away the donkey of the orphan;
they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4They thrust the needy off the road;
the poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5Like wild asses in the desert
they go out to their toil,
scavenging in the wasteland
food for their young.
6They reap in a field not their own
and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
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 want of shelter.
9“There are those who snatch the orphan child from the breast,
and take as a pledge the infant of the poor.
10They go about naked, without clothing;
though hungry, they carry the sheaves;
11between their terracesa they press out oil;
they tread the wine presses, but suffer thirst.
12From the city the dying groan,
and the throat of the wounded cries for help;
yet God pays no attention to their prayer.
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 at dusk
to kill the poor and needy,
and in the night is like a thief.
15The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,
saying, ‘No eye will see me’
and he disguises 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“Swift are they on the face of the waters;
their portion in the land is cursed;
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 harmb the childless woman,
and do no good to the widow.
22Yet Godc 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;
his eyes are upon their ways.
24They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;
they wither and fade like the mallow;d
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?”
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a Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
b Gk: Heb they
c Meaning of Heb uncertain
d Gk Tg: Heb feed on or associate with
e Heb he
f Gk: Heb like all others
24.1 Times of judgment.
24.9 These accusations recall Am 2.6–8, which mentions garments seized in pledge from the poor.
24.11 In the presence of so much, the poor suffer want—a poignant image of the hopelessness of victims of greed. They can’t even drink the wine they are making.
24.15 The futility of clandestine behavior is described in Prov 7.6–23.
JOB 25
Bildad Speaks: How Can a Mortal Be Righteous Before God?
1Then Bildad the Shuhite ans
wered:
2“Dominion and fear are with God;e
he makes peace in his high heaven.
3Is there any number to his armies?
Upon whom does his light not arise?
4How then can a mortal be righteous before God?
How can one born of woman be pure?
5If even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not pure in his sight,
6how much less a mortal, who is a maggot,
and a human being, who is a worm!”
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a Heb him
25.1 Bildad’s third speech is brief, and Zophar’s is missing altogether. Have the friends run out of arguments, or has the text fallen into disarray? In favor of the latter alternative, Job’s next speech contains sentiments not altogether in line with his previous thoughts.
JOB 26
Job Replies: God’s Majesty Is Unsearchable
1Then Job answered:
2“How you have helped one who has no power!
How you have assisted the arm that has no strength!
3How you have counseled one who has no wisdom,
and given much good advice!
4With whose help have you uttered words,
and whose spirit has come forth from you?
5The shades below tremble,
the waters and their inhabitants.
6Sheol is naked before God,
and Abaddon has no covering.
7He stretches out Zaphona over the void,
and hangs the earth upon nothing.
8He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
and the cloud is not torn open by them.
9He covers the face of the full moon,
and spreads over it his cloud.
10He has described 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.
HarperCollins Study Bible Page 200