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Bildad Speaks: Man Cannot Be Righteous

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

2  “Dominion and fear are with God; ^{1 25:2 Hebrew him}
    he makes peace in his high heaven.
3  Is there any number to his armies?
    Upon whom does his light not arise?
4  How then can man be in the right before God?
    How can he who is born of woman be pure?
5  Behold, even the moon is not bright,
    and the stars are not pure in his eyes;
6  how much less man, who is a maggot,
    and the son of man, who is a worm!”

Job Replies: God's Majesty Is Unsearchable

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!
3  How you have counseled him who has no wisdom,
    and plentifully declared sound knowledge!
4  With whose help have you uttered words,
    and whose breath has come out from you?
5  The dead tremble
    under the waters and their inhabitants.
6  Sheol is naked before God, ^{2 26:6 Hebrew him}
    and Abaddon has no covering.
7  He stretches out the north over the void
    and hangs the earth on nothing.
8  He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
    and the cloud is not split open under them.
9  He covers the face of the full moon ^{3 26:9 Or his throne}
    and spreads over it his cloud.
10  He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters
    at the boundary between light and darkness.
11  The pillars of heaven tremble
    and are astounded at his rebuke.
12  By his power he stilled the sea;
    by his understanding he shattered Rahab.
13  By his wind the heavens were made fair;
    his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
14  Behold, 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?”

Job Continues: I Will Maintain My Integrity

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,
3  as long as my breath is in me,
    and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
4  my lips will not speak falsehood,
    and my tongue will not utter deceit.
5  Far be it from me to say that you are right;
    till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
6  I 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.
8  For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off,
    when God takes away his life?
9  Will God hear his cry
    when distress comes upon him?
10  Will he take delight in the Almighty?
    Will he call upon God at all times?
11  I will teach you concerning the hand of God;
    what is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
12  Behold, 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:
14  If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword,
    and his descendants have not enough bread.
15  Those who survive him the pestilence buries,
    and his widows do not weep.
16  Though he heap up silver like dust,
    and pile up clothing like clay,
17  he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it,
    and the innocent will divide the silver.
18  He builds his house like a moth's,
    like a booth that a watchman makes.
19  He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more;
    he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.
20  Terrors overtake him like a flood;
    in the night a whirlwind carries him off.
21  The east wind lifts him up and he is gone;
    it sweeps him out of his place.
22  It ^{4 27:22 Or He (that is, God); also verse 23} hurls at him without pity;
    he flees from its ^{5 27:22 Or his; also verse 23} power in headlong flight.
23  It claps its hands at him
    and hisses at him from its place.

Job Continues: Where Is Wisdom?

1  Surely there is a mine for silver,
    and a place for gold that they refine.
2  Iron is taken out of the earth,
    and copper is smelted from the ore.
3  Man puts an end to darkness
    and searches out to the farthest limit
    the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
4  He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;
    they are forgotten by travelers;
    they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.
5  As for the earth, out of it comes bread,
    but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
6  Its stones are the place of sapphires, ^{6 28:6 Or lapis lazuli; also verse 16}
    and it has dust of gold.

7  That path no bird of prey knows,
    and the falcon's eye has not seen it.
8  The proud beasts have not trodden it;
    the lion has not passed over it.

9  Man puts his hand to the flinty rock
    and overturns mountains by the roots.
10  He cuts out channels in the rocks,
    and his eye sees every precious thing.
11  He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,
    and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

12  But where shall wisdom be found?
    And where is the place of understanding?
13  Man does not know its worth,
    and it is not found in the land of the living.
14  The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
    and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15  It cannot be bought for gold,
    and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
16  It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
    in precious onyx or sapphire.
17  Gold and glass cannot equal it,
    nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18  No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
    the price of wisdom is above pearls.
19  The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
    nor can it be valued in pure gold.

20  From where, then, does wisdom come?
    And where is the place of understanding?
21  It is hidden from the eyes of all living
    and concealed from the birds of the air.
22  Abaddon and Death say,
    ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

23  God understands the way to it,
    and he knows its place.
24  For he looks to the ends of the earth
    and sees everything under the heavens.
25  When he gave to the wind its weight
    and apportioned the waters by measure,
26  when he made a decree for the rain
    and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
27  then he saw it and declared it;
    he established it, and searched it out.
28  And he said to man,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
    and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”