Esther 10; Job 1; Job 2; Job 3; Job 4; Job 5; Job 6; Job 7; Job 8; Job 9; Job 10; Job 11; Job 12

1 King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea.

2 And all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?

3 For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.

1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.

2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.

3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.

4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, "It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did continually.

6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.

7 The LORD said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it."

8 And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?"

9 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for no reason?

10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face."

12 And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand." So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house,

14 and there came a messenger to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,

15 and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

16 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, "The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

17 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, "The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

18 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, "Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house,

19 and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.

21 And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."

22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.

2 And the LORD said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it."

3 And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason."

4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life.

5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face."

6 And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life."

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.

9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die."

10 But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?"In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.

12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven.

13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

2 And Job said:

3 "Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, 'A man is conceived.'

4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.

5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

6 That night--let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.

7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.

8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.

9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,

10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes.

11 "Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?

12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?

13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,

14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,

15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?

17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.

18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.

19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master.

20 "Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,

21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,

22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave?

23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

24 For my sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.

25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.

26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes."

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2 "If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking?

3 Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.

4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees.

5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed.

6 Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?

7 "Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?

8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.

9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.

10 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions are broken.

11 The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

12 "Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it.

13 Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,

14 dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.

15 A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.

16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:

17 'Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?

18 Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error;

19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like the moth.

20 Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it.

21 Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?'

1 "Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?

2 Surely vexation kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple.

3 I have seen the fool taking root, but suddenly I cursed his dwelling.

4 His children are far from safety; they are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them.

5 The hungry eat his harvest, and he takes it even out of thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth.

6 For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground,

7 but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.

8 "As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause,

9 who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number:

10 he gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields;

11 he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.

12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.

13 He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.

14 They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope at noonday as in the night.

15 But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth and from the hand of the mighty.

16 So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.

17 "Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty.

18 For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal.

19 He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no evil shall touch you.

20 In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword.

21 You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes.

22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the beasts of the earth.

23 For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.

24 You shall know that your tent is at peace, and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.

25 You shall know also that your offspring shall be many, and your descendants as the grass of the earth.

26 You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, like a sheaf gathered up in its season.

27 Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and know it for your good."

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 "Oh that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!

3 For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash.

4 For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

5 Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass, or the ox low over his fodder?

6 Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any taste in the juice of the mallow?

7 My appetite refuses to touch them; they are as food that is loathsome to me.

8 "Oh that I might have my request, and that God would fulfill my hope,

9 that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!

10 This would be my comfort; I would even exult in pain unsparing, for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

11 What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient?

12 Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze?

13 Have I any help in me, when resource is driven from me?

14 "He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

15 My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed, as torrential streams that pass away,

16 which are dark with ice, and where the snow hides itself.

17 When they melt, they disappear; when it is hot, they vanish from their place.

18 The caravans turn aside from their course; they go up into the waste and perish.

19 The caravans of Tema look, the travelers of Sheba hope.

20 They are ashamed because they were confident; they come there and are disappointed.

21 For you have now become nothing; you see my calamity and are afraid.

22 Have I said, 'Make me a gift'? Or, 'From your wealth offer a bribe for me'?

23 Or, 'Deliver me from the adversary's hand'? Or, 'Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless'?

24 "Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray.

25 How forceful are upright words! But what does reproof from you reprove?

26 Do you think that you can reprove words, when the speech of a despairing man is wind?

27 You would even cast lots over the fatherless, and bargain over your friend.

28 "But now, be pleased to look at me, for I will not lie to your face.

29 Please turn; let no injustice be done. Turn now; my vindication is at stake.

30 Is there any injustice on my tongue? Cannot my palate discern the cause of calamity?

1 "Has not man a hard service on earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired hand?

2 Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages,

3 so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me.

4 When I lie down I say, 'When shall I arise?' But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn.

5 My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh.

6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and come to their end without hope.

7 "Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good.

8 The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone.

9 As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up;

10 he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him anymore.

11 "Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

12 Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that you set a guard over me?

13 When I say, 'My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,'

14 then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions,

15 so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones.

16 I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.

17 What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him,

18 visit him every morning and test him every moment?

19 How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?

20 If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you?

21 Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be."

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

2 "How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind?

3 Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?

4 If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.

5 If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy,

6 if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation.

7 And though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great.

8 "For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out.

9 For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, for our days on earth are a shadow.

10 Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their understanding?

11 "Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water?

12 While yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant.

13 Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish.

14 His confidence is severed, and his trust is a spider's web.

15 He leans against his house, but it does not stand; he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.

16 He is a lush plant before the sun, and his shoots spread over his garden.

17 His roots entwine the stone heap; he looks upon a house of stones.

18 If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, 'I have never seen you.'

19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the soil others will spring.

20 "Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers.

21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouting.

22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more."

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 "Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be in the right before God?

3 If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times.

4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength --who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?--

5 he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger,

6 who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble;

7 who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars;

8 who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea;

9 who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;

10 who does great things beyond searching out, and marvelous things beyond number.

11 Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.

12 Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?'

13 "God will not turn back his anger; beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab.

14 How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him?

15 Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.

16 If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.

17 For he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause;

18 he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

19 If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?

20 Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.

21 I am blameless; I regard not myself; I loathe my life.

22 It is all one; therefore I say, He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.

23 When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.

24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges-- if it is not he, who then is it?

25 "My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away; they see no good.

26 They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey.

27 If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer,'

28 I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent.

29 I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?

30 If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,

31 yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me.

32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.

33 There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.

34 Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me.

35 Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself.

1 "I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2 I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me.

3 Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked?

4 Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees?

5 Are your days as the days of man, or your years as a man's years,

6 that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin,

7 although you know that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of your hand?

8 Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether.

9 Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust?

10 Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?

11 You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.

12 You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.

13 Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose.

14 If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity.

15 If I am guilty, woe to me! If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look on my affliction.

16 And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me.

17 You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me.

18 "Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me

19 and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave.

20 Are not my days few? Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer

21 before I go--and I shall not return-- to the land of darkness and deep shadow,

22 the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness."

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

2 "Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and a man full of talk be judged right?

3 Should your babble silence men, and when you mock, shall no one shame you?

4 For you say, 'My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in God's eyes.'

5 But oh, that God would speak and open his lips to you,

6 and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

7 "Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?

8 It is higher than heaven--what can you do? Deeper than Sheol--what can you know?

9 Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.

10 If he passes through and imprisons and summons the court, who can turn him back?

11 For he knows worthless men; when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?

12 But a stupid man will get understanding when a wild donkey's colt is born a man!

13 "If you prepare your heart, you will stretch out your hands toward him.

14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not injustice dwell in your tents.

15 Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure and will not fear.

16 You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away.

17 And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning.

18 And you will feel secure, because there is hope; you will look around and take your rest in security.

19 You will lie down, and none will make you afraid; many will court your favor.

20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last."

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 "No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.

3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?

4 I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called to God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.

5 In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip.

6 The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hand.

7 "But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;

8 or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

9 Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?

10 In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

11 Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?

12 Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.

13 "With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding.

14 If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open.

15 If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.

16 With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.

17 He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools.

18 He looses the bonds of kings and binds a waistcloth on their hips.

19 He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty.

20 He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders.

21 He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong.

22 He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light.

23 He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away.

24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a pathless waste.

25 They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.