6. Job's answer: The wicked enjoy prosperity (Job 21)

1 And Job answered, and said, 2 Listen attentively to my speech, and it shall be a comfort to me from you. 3 Be patient with me, and I will speak; and after I have spoken, mock. 4 Is my speech to man? How can I not be faint-hearted? 5 Look at me, and be terrified, and put your finger on your mouth. 6 As soon as I remember, I shudder, and trembling overcomes my body. 7 Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and be strong in strength? 8 Their children are with them before them, and their children are before their eyes. 9 Their houses are safe from fear, and the rod of God is not upon them. 10 The ox impregnates them, and does not cast them out: the cow conceives them, and does not cast them out. 11 Like a flock, they let out their little ones, and their children leap up. 12 They shout to the voice of the tympanum and the harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe; 13 spend their days in happiness and instantly descend into hell. 14 And yet they say unto God, Depart from us, for we do not want to know thy ways. 15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what is the use of having recourse to Him? 16 See, their happiness is not at their hands. "The counsel of the wicked, be far from me!" 17 How often does the lamp of the wicked go out, and trouble comes upon them, and he gives them afflictions in his wrath for their portion? 18 They must be like a straw before the wind, and like a chaff that is carried away by a whirlwind. 19 Thou shalt say, God preserves his misfortune for his children. "Let him reward him himself, that he may know it." 20 Let his eyes see his misfortune, and let him himself drink from the wrath of the Almighty. 21 For what care shall he have for his house after him, when the number of his months shall be ended? 22 But shall God teach wisdom, when he judges even those on high? 23 One dies in the fullness of his strength, perfectly calm and peaceful; 24 His intestines are full of fat, and his bones are watered with marrow. 25 And another dieth with a sorrowful soul, having tasted no good. 26 And they shall lie together in the dust, and the worm shall cover them. 27 I know your thoughts and the artifices that you weave against me. 28 You will say, 'Where is the house of the prince, and where is the tent in which the wicked dwelt?' 29 Have you not asked the travelers, and are you unacquainted with their observations, 30 that in the day of destruction the wicked man is spared, and in the day of wrath he is cast aside? 31 Who shall present to him before him his way, and who shall recompense him for what he has done? 32 He is escorted to the tombs, and a guard is placed on his grave. 33 Sweet to him are the blocks of the valley, and after him comes a crowd of people, and those who go before him are innumerable. 34 How then do you want to comfort me with vainness? There is only one lie left in your answers.

THIRD CONVERSATION

The order of the sections of the third discourse was apparently broken by ancient scribes. Here is a hypothetical reconstruction of the original sequence of the text in accordance with the works of biblical exegetes.

1. Eliphaz's Word: He accuses Job of iniquity and exhorts him to turn to God (Job 22)

1 And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, 2 Can a man be of benefit to God? A wise man benefits himself. 3 What pleasure is it to the Almighty that you are righteous? And will it profit Him that you keep your ways in integrity? 4 Shall he, fearing thee, enter into controversy with thee, and go to sue thee? 5 Surely thy wickedness is great, and thy iniquities have no end. 6 Surely thou hast taken pledges from thy brethren for nothing, and hast taken off the garments of the half-naked. 7 To him that was weary of thirst he gave not water to drink, and to him that was hungry he withheld bread; 8 And to the mighty man thou didst give the land, and the dignified dwelt therein. 9 Thou hast sent away widows empty-handed, and hast left orphans empty-handed. 10 Wherefore there are snares round about thee, and thou hast been troubled by sudden terror, 11 or darkness, in which thou canst see nothing, and a multitude of waters has covered thee. 12 Is not God above the heavens? Look up at the stars, how high they are! 13 And you say, 'What does God know?' Can He judge through the darkness? 14 The clouds are his veil, so that he does not see, but walks only in the circle of heaven. 15 Do you hold fast to the way of the ancients, in which wicked men walked, 16 who were prematurely cut off when the waters were poured out under their foundations? 17 And they said to God, 'Get thee behind us! and what will the Almighty do to them? 18 And he filled their houses with good. But the counsel of the wicked be far from me! 19 The righteous saw and rejoiced, and the blameless laughed at them: 20 Our enemy was destroyed, and the fire devoured what was left of them. 21 Draw near to him, and thou shalt be at peace; through this good will come to you. 22 Receive out of his mouth the law, and put his words in your heart. 23 If you turn to the Almighty, you will be settled again, you will remove iniquity from your tent 24 and you will count the shining metal to dust, and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the streams. 25 And thy Almighty shall be thy gold, and thy shining silver, 26 for then shalt thou rejoice in the Almighty, and lift up thy face to God. 27 Pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows. 28 Thou shalt set a purpose, and it shall come to pass with thee, and light shall shine upon thy ways. 29 And when any man shall be despised, thou shalt say, Exaltation! and he will save him who is downcast, 30 he will deliver him who is not innocent, and he will be saved by the cleanliness of your hands.

2. Job's answer: the expectation of God's Judgment. The Incomprehensible Triumph of Wicked Men (Job 23; 24:1-17, 25)

1 And Job answered, and said, 2 Even now my speech is bitter: my afflictions are heavier than my groans. 3 Oh, that I knew where to find Him, and could come to His throne! 4 I would have made my work known before him, and filled my mouth with excuses; 5 I would know the words with which he would answer me, and I would understand what he would say to me. 6 Would he contend with me in full might? Oh no! Let Him just pay attention to me. 7 Then the righteous man might contend with him, and I would have freedom forever from my Judge. 8 But behold, I go forward, and He is gone, back, and I do not find Him; 9 whether He does anything on the left side, I do not see; whether he is hiding on the right, I do not see. 10 But he knoweth my way; let him test me, and I will come out like gold. 11 My foot holds fast to his path; I have kept His ways, and have not deviated from it. 12 From the commandment of his mouth he did not depart; He kept the words of His mouth more than my rules. 13 But he is strong; and who will turn him away? He does what His soul wants. 14 So he will do what is due to me, and he has many like it. 15 Therefore I tremble before him; I meditate, and I fear Him. 16 God has weakened my heart, and the Almighty has terrified me. 17 Why am I not destroyed before this darkness, and he has not hidden the darkness from before me?

1 Why are not the times hidden from the Almighty, and those who know him do not see his days? 2 They move the boundaries, drive away the herds, and graze at home. 3 An ass is taken from the fatherless, an ox is taken from the widow; 4 the poor are pushed out of the way, all the despised lands are forced to hide. 5 Behold, they are like wild asses in the wilderness, going forth to their work, rising early to prey; the steppe gives bread for them and for their children; 6 They reap in a field that is not their own, and gather grapes from the wicked; 7 The naked sleep without covering, and without clothing, in the cold; 8 they get wet from the rains of the mountains, and having no shelter, they cling to the rock; 9 They tear the fatherless from the breasts, and take a pledge from the beggar; 10 They are forced to walk naked, without clothing, and they feed the hungry with ears of corn; 11 Between the walls they squeeze olive oil, and trample it in winepresses, and thirst. 12 In the city the people groan, and the soul of those who are slain cries, and God forbids not it. 13 And there are enemies of the light among them, who know not the ways thereof, and walk not in its paths. 14 At dawn a murderer rises, and kills the poor and needy, and by night he is a thief. 15 And the eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me, and covers his face. 16 In the darkness they dig under the houses that they have noticed for themselves by day; They do not know the light. 17 For to them the morning is the shadow of death, for they are acquainted with the terrors of the shadow of death.

25 If this is not so, who shall convict me of falsehood, and turn my speech to nothing?

3. Bildad's Word: God Almighty (Job 25; 26:5-14)