Job 25

Bildad

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2 "Dominion and awe belong to God;
he establishes order in the heights of heaven.

3 Can his forces be numbered?
On whom does his light not rise?

4 How then can a mortal be righteous before God?
How can one born of woman be pure?

5 If even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not pure in his eyes,

6 how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot—
a human being, who is only a worm!"

Job 26

Job

1 Then Job replied:

2 "How you have helped the powerless!
How you have saved the arm that is feeble!

3 What advice you have offered to one without wisdom!
And what great insight you have displayed!

4 Who has helped you utter these words?
And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?

5 "The dead are in deep anguish,
those beneath the waters and all that live in them.

6 The realm of the dead is naked before God;
Destructiont lies uncovered.

7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth over nothing.

8 He wraps up the waters in his clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.

9 He covers the face of the full moon,
spreading his clouds over it.

10 He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters
for a boundary between light and darkness.

11 The pillars of the heavens quake,
aghast at his rebuke.

12 By his power he churned up the sea;
by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces.

13 By his breath the skies became fair;
his hand pierced the gliding serpent.

14 And these are but the outer fringe of his works;
how faint the whisper we hear of him!
Who then can understand the thunder of his power?"

Job 27

Job's Final Word to His Friends

1 And Job continued his discourse:

2 "As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice,
the Almighty, who has made my life bitter,

3 as long as I have life within me,
the breath of God in my nostrils,

4 my lips will not say anything wicked,
and my tongue will not utter lies.

5 I will never admit you are in the right;
till I die, I will not deny my integrity.

6 I will maintain my innocence and never let go of it;
my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.

7 "May my enemy be like the wicked,
my adversary like the unjust!

8 For what hope have the godless when they are cut off,
when God takes away their life?

9 Does God listen to their cry
when distress comes upon them?

10 Will they find delight in the Almighty?
Will they call on God at all times?

11 "I will teach you about the power of God;
the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal.

12 You have all seen this yourselves.
Why then this meaningless talk?

13 "Here is the fate God allots to the wicked,
the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty:

14 However many his children, their fate is the sword;
his offspring will never have enough to eat.

15 The plague will bury those who survive him,
and their widows will not weep for them.

16 Though he heaps up silver like dust
and clothes like piles of clay,

17 what he lays up the righteous will wear,
and the innocent will divide his silver.

18 The house he builds is like a moth's cocoon,
like a hut made by a watchman.

19 He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;
when he opens his eyes, all is gone.

20 Terrors overtake him like a flood;
a tempest snatches him away in the night.

21 The east wind carries him off, and he is gone;
it sweeps him out of his place.

22 It hurls itself against him without mercy
as he flees headlong from its power.

23 It claps its hands in derision
and hisses him out of his place."