6. Job's response: he rejects all "godly" theories (Job 12-14)

1 And Job answered and said, 2 Indeed, you are only men, and wisdom will die with you! 3 And I have a heart like you; I am not inferior to you; and who does not know the same? 4 I have become a laughingstock to my friend, I who cried out to God, and to whom he answered, a laughing stock, a righteous man, blameless. 5 Thus despised is the torch prepared for those who stumble with their feet. 6 The tents of robbers are safe, and the tents of those who provoke God to anger, who bear God in their hands, as it were. 7 And verily, ask the cattle, and he will teach thee, the bird of the air, and shall tell thee; 8 Or talk to the earth, and he will instruct you, and the fish of the sea will tell you. 9 Who in all these things shall not know that the hand of the Lord hath wrought these things? 10 In his hand is the soul of all living things, and the spirit of all human flesh. 11 Does not the ear discern words, and does not the tongue discern the taste of food? 12 In the elders is wisdom, and in the long-lived is understanding. 13 He has wisdom and power; His counsel and reason. 14 Whatsoever he destroyeth shall not be built; whoever He imprisons will not be freed. 15 He will stop the waters, and all things will dry up; let them go, and they will turn the earth. 16 With him is power and wisdom, before him that errs and deceives. 17 He makes the counselors foolish, and makes the judges foolish. 18 And he looseth the bands of kings, and bindeth their loins with girdles; 19 princes deprive of dignity and overthrow the brave; 20 He takes away the tongue of the eloquent, and deprives the elders of their sense; 21 He covers the famous with shame, and weakens the strength of the mighty; 22 reveals the deep out of the midst of darkness, and brings forth the shadow of death; 23 He multiplies the nations, and destroys them; He scatters the nations and gathers them; 24 He takes away the minds of the leaders of the people of the earth, and leaves them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way: 25 They grope in darkness without light, and stagger about like drunken men.

1 Behold, all these things my eye has seen, my ear has heard, and has taken note unto itself. 2 As much as you know, I also know, I am not inferior to you. 3 But I would speak to the Almighty, and I would contend with God. 4 But you are gossips of lies; All of you are useless doctors. 5 Oh, if only you were silent! this would be imputed to you for wisdom. 6 Hearken therefore to my reasoning, and heed the rebuttal of my mouth. 7 Ought you for God's sake to speak falsehood, and to speak falsehood for him? 8 Ought ye to have been partial to him, and thus contended for God? 9 Will it be good when He tests you? Will you deceive Him as a man is deceived? 10 He will punish you severely, though you are secretly hypocritical. 11 Does not his majesty terrify you, and his fear not attack you? 12 Your reminders are like ashes; your strongholds are strongholds of clay. 13 Be silent before me, and I will speak whatever befalls me. 14 Why should I tear my body with my teeth, and put my life in my hand? 15 Behold, he is killing me, but I will hope; I would only like to defend my ways before Him! 16 And this is for my justification, for the hypocrite will not go before him. 17 Listen attentively to my word and my explanation with your ears. E-18 Now, I've brought a lawsuit: I know I'll be right. 19 Who is able to challenge me? For I will soon be silent and give up my spirit. 20 Do not do two things to me, and then I will not hide myself from thy presence: 21 remove thy hand from me, and let not thy terror shake me. 22 Then call, and I will answer, or I will speak, and you answer me. 23 How many vices and sins do I have? show me my iniquity and my sin. 24 Why dost thou hide thy face, and consider me thy enemy? 25 Do you not break a plucked leaf, and pursue a dry straw? 26 For you write bitter things against me, and impute to me the sins of my youth, 27 and put my feet in the stock, and lie in wait for all my paths, and chase after the footsteps of my feet. 28 And he, like rot, disintegrates, like a garment eaten by moths.

1 A man born of a woman is short of days, and is full of sorrows: 2 like a flower, he goes out and falls; runs away like a shadow and does not stop. 3 And against him dost thou open thy eyes, and bring me to judgment with thee? 4 Who shall be born clean of uncleanness? None. 5 If the days are fixed for him, and the number of his months is with you, if you have set a limit for him that he will not pass, 6 then turn away from him: let him rest until he finishes his day as a hireling. 7 There is hope for the tree, that if it be cut down, it will come to life again, and the branches will not cease from it: 8 Though its root be old in the ground, and its stump is frozen in the dust, 9 but when it smells the water, it sprouts and sprouts branches, as if it were planted anew. 10 But man dies and disintegrates; departed, and where is he? 11 The waters of the lake go away, and the river dries up and dries up: 12 so a man shall lie down, and shall not be; until the end of heaven he will not awake and will not rise from his sleep. 13 Oh, that Thou wouldst hide me in hell, and hid me until Thy wrath was past, set a time for me, and then remembered me! 14 When a man dies, will he live again? On all the days of the time allotted to me, I would wait for my replacement. 15 Thou wouldst call, and I would give thee an answer, and thou wouldst show favor to the work of thy hands; 16 for then thou wouldst have numbered my steps, and would not have waited for my sin; 17 In the scroll my iniquity would have been sealed, and thou wouldst have covered my guilt. 18 But the mountain falleth down, and the rock departs from its place; 19 The water weareth away the stones; its flood washes away the dust of the earth: so Thou destroyest the hope of man. 20 Thou shalt press him to the end, and he departs; you betray his face and send him away. 21 Whether his children are honored, he does not know, whether they are humiliated, he does not perceive; 22 But his flesh hurts him, and his soul suffers in him.

SECOND CONVERSATION

I. The word of Eliphaz: Man is always sinful, and wickedness consists in resisting God, in pride, for which man is punished. The wicked are always punished (Job 15)

1 And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, 2 Will a wise man answer with vain knowledge, and fill his belly with a scorching wind, 3 justify himself with words that are useless, and with speech that has no power? 4 Thou hast put aside fear, and countest speech to God as a little. 5 Thy wickedness hath thus disposed thy mouth, and thou hast chosen the tongue of the wicked. 6 Thy mouth accuses thee, and not I, and thy tongue speaketh against thee. 7 Were you born the first man, and were you created before the hills? 8 Have you heard the counsel of God, and have you drawn wisdom unto you? 9 What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that we would not have? 10 And there is a gray-haired man and an old man among us, whose days are greater than thy father. 11 Is the consolation of God little for you? And this is unknown to you? 12 Wherefore hath thy heart torn thee, and wherefore dost thou look so proudly? 13 Why do you set your spirit against God, and with your mouth speakest such words? 14 What is man, that he should be pure, and that he who is born of a woman should be righteous? 15 Behold, he trusteth not even his saints, and the heavens are unclean in his sight: 16 how much more unclean and corrupt is the man who drinketh iniquity as water. 17 I will speak unto thee, hear me; I will tell you what I saw, 18 that the wise heard, and did not hide what they heard from their fathers, 19 to whom the land was given alone, and among whom no stranger walked. 20 The wicked torment himself all his days, and the number of years is hidden from the oppressor; 21 The sound of terrors is in his ears; in the midst of the world the destroyer is coming against him. 22 He does not hope to be saved from darkness; he sees a sword before him. 23 He wandereth about for a morsel of bread; He knows that he is ready, he has the day of darkness in his hands. 24 He is terrified by want and distress; overcomes him like a king prepared for battle, 25 because he stretched out his hand against God, and resisted the Almighty, 26 he rushed against him with a proud neck, under his thick shields; 27 For he has covered his face with his fat, and has overlaid his thighs with fat. 28 And he dwells in cities that are laid waste, in houses in which they do not live, which are doomed to ruin. 29 And he shall not be rich, neither shall his possessions survive, nor shall his gain be spread over the earth. 30 He will not escape from darkness; his branches will dry up the flame, and with the breath of his mouth will carry him away. 31 Let not the erring man trust vanity, for vanity shall also be his recompense. 32 He shall not die in his day, and his branches shall not be green. 33 He will cast off his unripe berry like a vine, and like an olive tree he will shake off his blossom. 34 Thus shall the house of the wicked be desolate, and the fire shall devour the tents of bribery. 35 He conceived evil, and gave birth to a lie, and his womb prepares deceit.

2. Job's answer: He does not look to his friends for help, but only to God (Job 16-17)

1 And Job answered and said, "2 I have heard many such things; Miserable comforters, all of you! 3 Will there be an end to windy words? And what prompted you to answer like that? 4 And I could speak as you do, if your soul were in the place of my soul; I would have taken up arms against you with words, and would have nodded my head at you; 5 I would strengthen you with my tongue, and comfort you with the movement of my lips. 6 If I speak, my affliction is not assuaged; Do I cease what departs from me? 7 But now he has worn me out. You have destroyed my whole family. 8 Thou hast covered me with wrinkles as a witness against me; My emaciation rises up against me, reproaches me to my face. 9 His wrath is tormented and enmity against me, gnashing his teeth against me; my enemy sharpens his eyes against me. 10 They have opened their mouths against me; swearing they beat me on the cheeks; Everyone conspired against me. 11 God delivered me up to the wicked, and cast me into the hands of the wicked. 12 I was calm, but He shook me; He took me by the neck and beat me, and made me a target for Himself. 13 His archers have surrounded me; He cuts my intestines and spares not, He has poured out my gall on the earth, 14 He breaks through me breach after break, He runs against me like a warrior. 15 And I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and laid my head in the dust. 16 My face is crimson with weeping, and the shadow of death is upon my eyelids, 17 for all that there is no theft in my hands, and my prayer is pure. 18 Earth! Cover not my blood, and let there be no place for my cry. 19 And now behold, in heaven is my witness, and my Advocate in the highest. 20 My friends who talk much! My eye weeps to God. 21 Oh, that a man could have a contest with God, as a son of man with his neighbor! 22 For my years are coming to an end, and I am going on a journey no return.

1 My breath is faint; My days are fading; The coffins are before me. 2 If it had not been for their mockery, my eye would have been calm even in the midst of their disputes. 3 Intercede, vouch for me before Thee! Otherwise, who will vouch for me? 4 For thou hast closed their hearts from understanding, and therefore thou wilt not suffer them to triumph. 5 Whoever condemns his friends to a prey, his children's eyes will fade. 6 He has made me a proverb to the people, and a laughing stock to them. 7 My eye is troubled with grief, and all my limbs are like a shadow. 8 The righteous shall be amazed at this, and the innocent shall be indignant at the hypocrite. 9 But the righteous shall hold fast to his way, and the clean with his hands shall be strengthened more and more. 10 Hear, all of you, and come near; I will not find wisdom among you. 11 My days are past; My thoughts, the property of my heart, are broken. 12 But they would turn night into day, and bring the light near to the face of darkness. 13 If I were to wait, the pit is my house; in darkness I will make my bed; 14 To the grave I will say, Thou art my father, to the worm: thou art my mother and my sister. 15 Where, then, is my hope after this? And who will see what I am expecting? 16 Into hell she shall descend, and shall rest with me in the dust.

3. Bildad's Word: The Law of Retribution Is Inviolable (Job 18)