Job 18:1-19:29

Bildad 1Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2“When will you end these speeches? Be sensible, and then we can talk.

3Why are we regarded as cattle and considered stupid in your sight?

4You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger, is the earth to be abandoned for your sake? Or must the rocks be moved from their place?

5“The lamp of a wicked man is snuffed out; the flame of his fire stops burning.

6The light in his tent becomes dark; the lamp beside him goes out.

7The vigor of his step is weakened; his own schemes throw him down.

8His feet thrust him into a net; he wanders into its mesh.

9A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare holds him fast.

10A noose is hidden for him on the ground; a trap lies in his path.

11Terrors startle him on every side and dog his every step.

12Calamity is hungry for him; disaster is ready for him when he falls.

13It eats away parts of his skin; death’s firstborn devours his limbs.

14He is torn from the security of his tent and marched off to the king of terrors.

15Fire resides Or Nothing he had remains in his tent; burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.

16His roots dry up below and his branches wither above.

17The memory of him perishes from the earth; he has no name in the land.

18He is driven from light into the realm of darkness and is banished from the world.

19He has no offspring or descendants among his people, no survivor where once he lived.

20People of the west are appalled at his fate; those of the east are seized with horror. 21Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man; such is the place of one who does not know God.”

Job 1Then Job replied:

2“How long will you torment me and crush me with words?

3Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me.

4If it is true that I have gone astray, my error remains my concern alone.

5If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my humiliation against me,

6then know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me.

7“Though I cry, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

8He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; he has shrouded my paths in darkness.

9He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.

10He tears me down on every side till I am gone; he uproots my hope like a tree.

11His anger burns against me; he counts me among his enemies.

12His troops advance in force; they build a siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent.

13“He has alienated my family from me; my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

14My relatives have gone away; my closest friends have forgotten me.

15My guests and my female servants count me a foreigner; they look on me as on a stranger.

16I summon my servant, but he does not answer, though I beg him with my own mouth.

17My breath is offensive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own family.

18Even the little boys scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me.

19All my intimate friends detest me; those I love have turned against me.

20I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth. Or only by my gums

21“Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.

22Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?

23“Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll,

24that they were inscribed with an iron tool on Or and lead, or engraved in rock forever!

25I know that my redeemer Or vindicator lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. Or on my grave

26And after my skin has been destroyed, yet Or And after I awake, / though this body has been destroyed, / then in Or destroyed, / apart from my flesh I will see God;

27I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

28“If you say, ‘How we will hound him, since the root of the trouble lies in him, Many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Vulgate; most Hebrew manuscripts me ’ 29you should fear the sword yourselves; for wrath will bring punishment by the sword, and then you will know that there is judgment. Or sword, / that you may come to know the Almighty ”