Through My Bible Yr 01 – August 03

Through My Bible – August 03

Job 15 – 17 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

² Does a wise man answer with windy bluster?
Does he fill his belly with the hot east wind?
³ Does he support his arguments with useless talk,
with words that provide no benefit?

⁴ But you even tear down reverence.
You hinder thoughtful reflection in the presence of God.
⁵ Your guilt instructs your mouth.
You choose deceptive language.
⁶ Your own mouth condemns you, not mine.
Your own lips testify against you.
⁷ Were you the first man to be born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
⁸ Do you listen in on the council meetings of God?
Do you lay claim to all wisdom for yourself?
⁹ What do you know that we do not know as well?
What do you understand that we do not?
¹⁰ The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
men older than your father.
¹¹ Are the consolations of God too small for you?
Do you think nothing of the gentle words spoken to you?
¹² Why does your heart carry you away?
Why do your eyes flash with such anger?
¹³ Why do you turn your spirit against God?
Why do you allow such words to pour out of your mouth?

¹⁴ What is man, that he could be pure,
or one born of woman, that he could be declared righteous?
¹⁵ If God does not trust in his holy ones,
and even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
¹⁶ how much less man who is repulsive and corrupt,
who drinks down injustice like water!
¹⁷ Let me instruct you! Listen to me!
This is what I have seen. Let me tell you about it.
¹⁸ This is what wise men have declared,
wise men who hid nothing of what they had received from their fathers,
¹⁹     to whom alone the land was given,
        at a time when no foreigners were present in their midst.
²⁰ Through all his days, a wicked man writhes in pain,
throughout the whole number of years stored up for a tyrant.
²¹ Terrifying sounds echo in his ears.
In peacetime the plunderer arrives.
²² The wicked man does not believe that he will return from darkness.
He is sentenced to the sword.
²³ He wanders around looking for food and asks, “Where is it?” ^[1]
He knows that a day of darkness is at hand.
²⁴ Pressure and distress terrify him.
They overpower him, like a king ready to attack,
²⁵ because he has stretched out his hand against God,
and he has been arrogant toward the Almighty.
²⁶ He charges at him defiantly ^[2] with a thick shield.
²⁷ Though now his face is covered with its fat,
and his hips bulge with lard,
²⁸ he will live in ruined cities,
in abandoned houses, reduced to rubble.
²⁹ He will no longer be rich.
His wealth will not last.
His possessions will no longer cover the ground.
³⁰ He will not escape from darkness.
Flames will dry up his shoots.
With a breath from God’s mouth, he will depart.
³¹ He should not trust in useless things.
He should not fool himself.
His only reward will be useless things.
³² Before his time, he will be paid in full.
His palm branches will not be green.
³³ His grapes will be shaken from the vine before they are ripe.
He will be like an olive tree that loses its blossoms.
³⁴ In the end, the community of the godless produces nothing,
and fire consumes the tents of those who take bribes.
³⁵ They conceive trouble and give birth to disaster.
Their womb produces treachery.

² I have heard many things just like these.
You are miserable comforters, all of you!
³ Is there any end to your windy words?
What provokes you to respond like this?

⁴ I also could speak just like you,
if your lives were in the same condition that my life is.
I could weave fancy words against you
and shake my head at you.
⁵ But instead, I would build you up with the words from my mouth,
and comforting words from my lips would ease your pain.
⁶ Now if I speak up, it does not lessen my pain,
and if I hold back, how much of my pain goes away?

⁷ Surely, he ^[3] has worn me out!
You have devastated everyone close to me.
⁸ You have made me shrivel up, ^[4]
and this testifies against me.
My emaciated body stands up
and is a witness against me.
⁹ His anger has torn me.
He has been hostile to me.
He has gnashed his teeth at me.
My opponent glares at me with piercing eyes.
¹⁰ People have opened their mouths wide against me.
They have slapped my face with contempt.
They have ganged up on me.
¹¹ God hands me over to evil people. ^[5]
He throws me into the hands of the wicked.
¹² When I was at ease, he shattered me. ^[6]
He seized me by the neck and has ripped me to pieces.
He has set me up as his target.
¹³ His archers surround me.
He pierces my kidneys and has no pity.
He pours out my bile on the earth.
¹⁴ He breaks down my walls in many places.
He runs against me like a warrior.
¹⁵ I have stitched sackcloth to my skin.
My horn ^[7] is stuck in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is red from my weeping.
There are dark circles under my eyes,
¹⁷ even though there is no violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.
¹⁸ O earth, do not cover my blood.
Let my cry never find a place to rest.
¹⁹ Even now, my witness is in heaven.
My advocate is on high.
²⁰ My intercessor is my friend.
My eyes never stop weeping to God.
²¹ My intercessor pleads with God for a man,
as another human pleads for his friend.
²² A few more years will come.
Then I will go the way of no return.

Job 17

¹ My spirit is broken.
My days are snuffed out.
The tomb is waiting for me.
² Surely mockery closes in on me.
My eyes must live with my enemies’ bitter contempt.

³ Please pay for me the deposit that you require from me.
Indeed, who else could guarantee this payment for me?

⁴ You have hidden understanding from their hearts.
Therefore, you will not let them win.
⁵ If someone denounces friends for a payoff,
his children’s eyes will fail.

⁶ He has made me a laughingstock among the people.
They spit in my face.
⁷ My vision is blurry from grief.
I am just a shadow of myself.
⁸ The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent are aroused against the godless.
⁹ In spite of it all, the righteous hold tight to their ways,
and everyone with clean hands grows stronger.

¹⁰ All right then—all of you, please come and try again,
but I will not find a wise man among you.
¹¹ My days have passed.
All the things I planned to do are ripped apart,
including the deepest desires of my heart.

¹² They turn night into day.
In the face of darkness, they claim light is near.

¹³ If I wait hopefully for the grave to become my house,
if I spread out my bed in the darkness,
¹⁴ if I cry out to the pit, “You are my father,”
and to the worm, “My mother” or “My sister,”
¹⁵ where then is my hope?
Who can find any hope for me?
¹⁶ Will it go down with me to the barred gates of the grave?
Will we rest in the dust together?

Footnotes

1. Job 15:23 The translation follows the Hebrew text. The Greek reads he wanders around as food for vultures or like a vulture looking for food.
2. Job 15:26 Literally with a neck
3. Job 16:7 The reading he follows the Hebrew text. It refers to God. Hebrew poetry sometimes alternates between third and second person pronouns, as is the case here.
4. Job 16:8 The meaning of this verb is uncertain.
5. Job 16:11 The reading evil people follows the ancient versions. The Hebrew reads a boy.
6. Job 16:12 Or tossed me about
7. Job 16:15 A horn is a symbol of strength.