18:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
18:2 “How long until you 2 make an end of words? 3
You must consider, 4 and then 5 we can talk.
18:3 Why should we be regarded as beasts,
and considered stupid 6 in your sight?
18:4 You who tear yourself 7 to pieces in your anger,
will the earth be abandoned 8 for your sake?
Or will a rock be moved from its place? 9
18:5 “Yes, 10 the lamp 11 of the wicked is extinguished;
his flame of fire 12 does not shine.
18:6 The light in his tent grows dark;
his lamp above him is extinguished. 13
18:7 His vigorous steps 14 are restricted, 15
and his own counsel throws him down. 16
18:8 For he has been thrown into a net by his feet 17
and he wanders into a mesh. 18
18:9 A trap 19 seizes him by the heel;
a snare 20 grips him.
18:10 A rope is hidden for him 21 on the ground
and a trap for him 22 lies on the path.
18:11 Terrors 23 frighten him on all sides
and dog 24 his every step.
18:12 Calamity is 25 hungry for him, 26
and misfortune is ready at his side. 27
18:13 It eats away parts of his skin; 28
the most terrible death 29 devours his limbs.
18:14 He is dragged from the security of his tent, 30
and marched off 31 to the king 32 of terrors.
18:15 Fire resides in his tent; 33
over his residence burning sulfur is scattered.
18:16 Below his roots dry up,
and his branches wither above.
18:17 His memory perishes from the earth,
he has no name in the land. 34
18:18 He is driven 35 from light into darkness
and is banished from the world.
18:19 He has neither children nor descendants 36 among his people,
no survivor in those places he once stayed. 37
18:20 People of the west 38 are appalled at his fate; 39
people of the east are seized with horror, 40 saying, 41
18:21 ‘Surely such is the residence 42 of an evil man;
and this is the place of one who has not known God.’” 43
19:1 Then Job answered:
19:2 “How long will you torment me 45
and crush 46 me with your words? 47
19:3 These ten times 48 you have been reproaching me; 49
you are not ashamed to attack me! 50
19:4 But even if it were 51 true that I have erred, 52
my error 53 remains solely my concern!
19:5 If indeed 54 you would exalt yourselves 55 above me
and plead my disgrace against me, 56
19:6 know 57 then that God has wronged me 58
and encircled 59 me with his net. 60
19:7 “If 61 I cry out, 62 ‘Violence!’ 63
I receive no answer; 64
I cry for help,
but there is no justice.
19:8 He has blocked 65 my way so I cannot pass,
and has set darkness 66 over my paths.
19:9 He has stripped me of my honor
and has taken the crown off my head. 67
19:10 He tears me down 68 on every side until I perish; 69
he uproots 70 my hope 71 like one uproots 72 a tree.
19:11 Thus 73 his anger burns against me,
and he considers me among his enemies. 74
19:12 His troops 75 advance together;
they throw up 76 a siege ramp against me,
and they camp around my tent.
19:13 “He has put my relatives 77 far from me;
my acquaintances only 78 turn away from me.
19:14 My kinsmen have failed me;
my friends 79 have forgotten me. 80
19:15 My guests 81 and my servant girls
consider 82 me a stranger;
I am a foreigner 83 in their eyes.
19:16 I summon 84 my servant, but he does not respond,
even though I implore 85 him with my own mouth.
19:17 My breath is repulsive 86 to my wife;
I am loathsome 87 to my brothers. 88
19:18 Even youngsters have scorned me;
when I get up, 89 they scoff at me. 90
19:19 All my closest friends 91 detest me;
and those whom 92 I love have turned against me. 93
19:20 My bones stick to my skin and my flesh; 94
I have escaped 95 alive 96 with only the skin of my teeth.
19:21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me,
for the hand of God has struck me.
19:22 Why do you pursue me like God does? 97
Will you never be satiated with my flesh? 98
19:23 “O that 99 my words were written down,
O that they were written on a scroll, 100
19:24 that with an iron chisel and with lead 101
they were engraved in a rock forever!
19:25 As for me, I know that my Redeemer 102 lives,
and that as the last 103
he will stand upon the earth. 104
19:26 And after my skin has been destroyed, 105
yet in my flesh 106 I will see God, 107
19:27 whom I will see for myself, 108
and whom my own eyes will behold,
and not another. 109
My heart 110 grows faint within me. 111
19:28 If you say, ‘How we will pursue him,
since the root of the trouble is found in him!’ 112
19:29 Fear the sword yourselves,
for wrath 113 brings the punishment 114 by the sword,
so that you may know
that there is judgment.” 115
20:1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
20:2 “This is why 117 my troubled thoughts bring me back 118 –
because of my feelings 119 within me.
20:3 When 120 I hear a reproof that dishonors 121 me,
then my understanding 122 prompts me to answer. 123
20:4 “Surely you know 124 that it has been from old,
ever since humankind was placed 125 on the earth,
20:5 that the elation of the wicked is brief, 126
the joy of the godless 127 lasts but a moment. 128
20:6 Even though his stature 129 reaches to the heavens
and his head touches the clouds,
20:7 he will perish forever, like his own excrement; 130
those who used to see him will say, ‘Where is he?’
20:8 Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found, 131
and like a vision of the night he is put to flight.
20:9 People 132 who had seen him will not see him again,
and the place where he was
will recognize him no longer.
20:10 His sons must recompense 133 the poor;
his own hands 134 must return his wealth.
20:11 His bones 135 were full of his youthful vigor, 136
but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust.
20:12 “If 137 evil is sweet in his mouth
and he hides it under his tongue, 138
20:13 if he retains it for himself
and does not let it go,
and holds it fast in his mouth, 139
20:14 his food is turned sour 140 in his stomach; 141
it becomes the venom of serpents 142 within him.
20:15 The wealth that he consumed 143 he vomits up,
God will make him throw it out 144 of his stomach.
20:16 He sucks the poison 145 of serpents; 146
the fangs 147 of a viper 148 kill him.
20:17 He will not look on the streams, 149
the rivers, which are the torrents 150
of honey and butter. 151
20:18 He gives back the ill-gotten gain 152
without assimilating it; 153
he will not enjoy the wealth from his commerce. 154
20:19 For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them; 155
he has seized a house which he did not build. 156
20:20 For he knows no satisfaction in his appetite; 157
he does not let anything he desires 158 escape. 159
20:21 “Nothing is left for him to devour; 160
that is why his prosperity does not last. 161
20:22 In the fullness of his sufficiency, 162
distress 163 overtakes him.
the full force of misery will come upon him. 164
20:23 “While he is 165 filling his belly,
God 166 sends his burning anger 167 against him,
and rains down his blows upon him. 168
20:24 If he flees from an iron weapon,
then an arrow 169 from a bronze bow pierces him.
20:25 When he pulls it out 170 and it comes out of his back,
the gleaming point 171 out of his liver,
terrors come over him.
20:26 Total darkness waits to receive his treasures; 172
a fire which has not been kindled 173
will consume him
and devour what is left in his tent.
20:27 The heavens reveal his iniquity;
the earth rises up against him.
20:28 A flood will carry off his house,
rushing waters on the day of God’s wrath.
20:29 Such is the lot God allots the wicked,
and the heritage of his appointment 174 from God.”