unfoldingWord® Translation Questions
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| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| There was a man in the land of Uz. Job was his name, and that man was blameless and righteous, both fearful of God and turning from evil. | In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. He was a man of complete integrity. He respected God and so he avoided doing evil things. |
He was blameless and righteous and honored God and turned from evil.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. | Now Job had seven sons and three daughters. |
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| And his stock was 7,000 sheep and 3,000 camels and 500 pairs of oxen and 500 donkeys and a very large retinue. And that man was greater than all the sons of the East. | He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 1,000 oxen, and 500 donkeys. He also had many servants. Job was richer than anyone else who lived in the area east of the Jordan River. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And his sons went and made a feast, a man in {his} house on his day, and they sent and called their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. | Job’s sons often held feasts in their homes. Whenever any of them held a feast, he would invite all of his brothers and sisters to share the meal with him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it happened that when the days of the feast had gone around, Job sent and consecrated them. He arose early in the morning and offered burnt offerings {according to} the number of all of them. For Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and blessed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did all the days. | After all of the sons had each held a feast, Job would gather his children together. He would ask Yahweh to cleanse them from any action they might have committed during their feasting that would have made them unacceptable to him. He would get up early in the morning, kill animals, and burn them on the altar {as sacrifices}, one for each {of his children}. {For} Job {always said}, “Perhaps my children have sinned by saying something evil about God in their thoughts. {If they have, I need to ask God to forgive them.}” Job did this after each time his sons had all hosted feasts. |
Job would consecrate them to God, offer burnt offerings, and pray for them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it was the day, and the sons of God came to present themselves to Yahweh. And the adversary also came in the midst of them. | One day the angels came and gathered together in front of Yahweh, and Satan came too. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Yahweh said to the adversary, “From where have you come?” And the adversary answered Yahweh and said, “From wandering on the earth and from going back and forth on it.” | Yahweh asked Satan, “Where have you just come from?” Satan replied, “I have come from the earth, where I was traveling around {to see what was happening}.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Yahweh said to the adversary, “Have you set your heart upon my servant Job? For {there is} not like him on the earth, a blameless and righteous man, fearful of God and turning from evil.” | Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you noticed Job, who worships me? I mention him because no one else on earth has such complete integrity as he does. He respects me and so he refuses to do anything evil.” |
There was no one like Job on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the adversary answered Yahweh and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? | Satan replied to Yahweh, “Job only worships you because of what you have done for him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Have you not put a hedge around him and around his house and around all that {is} his, from every side? You have blessed the works of his hands, and his cattle have burst forth in the land. | You have always protected him, his family, and everything he owns. You make him succeed in whatever work he does. As a result, he has built very large herds of livestock. |
He made a hedge around Job, around his house, and around all that he had on every side.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| However, just stretch out your hand and touch all that {is} his, if he will not bless you to your face.” | But if you attack what he owns and take it away, he will certainly curse you in front of everyone.” |
He said to Job would renounce God if God attacked all Job’s possessions.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Yahweh said to the adversary, “Behold, all that {is} his {is} in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” And the adversary went away from the face of Yahweh. | Yahweh replied to Satan, “All right, I permit you to take away everything that he has. But do not harm him in his own body.” Satan {agreed and then} left Yahweh {in order to carry out his attack on Job}. |
He gave Satan permission to take everything from Job, but not to lay a hand on his person.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it was the day, and his sons and his daughters {were} eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother. | One day after that, Job’s sons and daughters were attending a feast at the home of the oldest brother. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys {were} feeding at their hand. | {While they were doing that,} a messenger arrived at Job’s home. He told Job, “Your oxen were plowing the fields and your donkeys were grazing nearby. |
They killed all Job’s servants in the field and took away all the oxen and donkeys.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Sheba fell {on them} and took them, and they struck the servants with the edge of the sword, and only I alone have escaped to tell you.” | But a group of men, Sabeans, came and attacked us. They killed all of your servants who were working in the fields. They took away all the oxen and donkeys! I am the only one who has escaped to come and tell you what happened.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| That one {was} still speaking and another came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and only I alone have escaped to tell you.” | While he was still talking to Job, another messenger arrived. He said to Job, “Lightning from the sky struck and killed all the sheep and all the men who were taking care of them! I am the only one who has escaped to come and tell you what happened.” |
The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned them up along with the servants.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| That one {was} still speaking and another came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and rushed against the camels and took them, and they struck the servants with the edge of the sword, and only I alone have escaped to tell you.” | While he was still talking to Job, a third messenger arrived. He said to Job, “Three groups of robbers from the region of Chaldea came and attacked us. They stole all the camels and killed all the men who were taking care of them. I am the only one who has escaped to come and tell you what happened.” |
Three groups of robbers came and attacked them. They stole all the camels and killed all the men that were caring for them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| That one {was} still speaking and another came and said, “Your sons and your daughters {were} eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother. | While he was still talking to Job, a fourth messenger arrived. He said to Job: “Your sons and daughters were feasting in the home of their oldest brother. |
Job’s sons and daughters were feasting in their brother’s home when a great wind came and struck the house, which collapsed on them and killed them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And behold, a great wind came from across the desert and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and only I alone have escaped to tell you.” | Suddenly a very strong wind came from the desert and struck the house. The house collapsed on your sons and daughters and killed them all! I am the only one who has escaped to come and tell you what happened.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell to the ground and prostrated himself. | Then Job stood up and tore his robe and shaved his head {because he was very sad}. Then he lay down on the ground to worship God. |
Job tore his robe, shaved his head, lay facedown on the ground, and worshiped God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he said, “Naked I came from the womb of my mother, and naked I will return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken. May the name of Yahweh be blessed.” | He said, “When I was born, I was wearing no clothes. When I die, I will not take any clothes with me. It is Yahweh who gave me everything that I possessed, and it is Yahweh who has taken it all away. I find no fault with Yahweh.” |
He said he came naked from his mother’s womb, and he would return naked.
Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| In all of this, Job did not sin and he did not ascribe impropriety to God. | So in spite of all the things that had happened to him, Job did not sin by saying that what God had done was wrong. |
Job did not sin, nor did he foolishly accuse God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it was the day, and the sons of God came to present themselves to Yahweh, and the adversary also came in their midst to present himself to Yahweh. | On another day, the angels came again and gathered together in front of Yahweh. Satan also came again. |
Satan also came and presented himself.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Yahweh said to the adversary, “From where have you come?” And the adversary answered Yahweh and said, “From wandering on the earth and from going back and forth on it.” | Yahweh asked Satan, “Where have you come from {this time}?” Satan replied, “I have come from the earth, where I was traveling around {to see what was happening}.” |
He said he was going to and fro on the earth, and walking back and forth on it.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Yahweh said to the adversary, “Have you set your heart on my servant Job? For there is not like him on the earth, a blameless and righteous man, fearful of God and turning from evil. And still he is holding firmly to his integrity, although you incited me against him, to devour him for nothing.” | Yahweh asked Satan, “Have you noticed that Job continues to worship me? I mention him again because no one else on earth has such complete integrity as he does. He respects me, and so he refuses to do anything evil. He still does this even though you persuaded me to {permit you to} attack him for no reason.” |
Job held fast to his integrity.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the adversary answered Yahweh and said, “Skin for skin! Indeed, all that {is} to a man, he will give for his life. | Satan replied to Yahweh, “Job still worships you because he is glad you destroyed his herds and family rather than destroying him. People will give up everything they have in order to save their own lives. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| However, just stretch out your hand and touch upon his bones and upon his flesh, if he will not bless you to your face.” | But if you harm his body, he will certainly curse you in front of everyone!” |
Satan wants to touch Job’s bones and his body to hurt him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Yahweh said to the adversary, “Behold him in your hand; only spare his life.” | Yahweh replied to Satan, “All right, I permit you to harm his body. But you must leave him alive.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the adversary went away from the face of Yahweh, and he struck Job with bad boils from the sole of his foot to his pate. | Satan {agreed and he} left. He went and caused Job to suffer from very painful boils all over his body. |
He afflicted Job with severe boils from the sole of his foot to the top of his head.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he took for himself a shard to scrape himself with it, and he was sitting in the midst of the ash pile. | Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped the boils on his skin. He sat down in a pile of ashes {outside the city}. |
He took a potshard and scraped himself as he sat in ashes.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And his wife said to him, “{Are} you still holding firmly to your integrity? Bless God and die.” | His wife said to him, “You should not still be loyal to God! You should curse God and then go ahead and die.” |
Job’s wife wanted him to curse God and die.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But he said to her, “Like the speaking of the foolish one, you are speaking. Indeed, will we receive the good from God and not receive the bad?” In all of this, Job did not sin with his lips. | But Job replied, “You are talking the way people talk who do not know God. We should be willing to receive whatever God sends us.” So in spite of all the things that had happened to him, Job did not sin by saying that what God had done was wrong. |
He accused her of thinking they should receive good at the hand of God but not evil.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the three friends of Job heard {that} all this evil had come on him, and they each came from his place, Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, and they gathered together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him. | Job had some good and wise friends. One of them was Eliphaz from the town of Teman. Another was Bildad, who was a Shuhite. A third friend was Zophar from the town of Naamah. These men heard about the terrible things that had happened to Job. So they each left their homes and went together to visit Job to comfort him sincerely. |
They came to mourn with him and comfort him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they raised their eyes from afar and they did not recognize him, and they raised their voice and wept, and they each tore his robe, and they threw dust heavenward upon their heads. | But when they saw Job from a distance, they almost did not recognize him. They wailed loudly, they all tore their clothing, and they threw dust into the air that settled on their heads. {They did these things to demonstrate how sorry they were for Job.} |
They raised their voices and wept, tore their robes, threw dust on their heads, and sat on the ground in silence for seven days and nights.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, and {there was} no speaking a word to him, for they saw that {his} grief was very great. | Then they sat on the ground with Job for seven days. {During that time} none of them said anything to him, out of respect for how greatly he was suffering. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. | At the end of those seven days, Job started speaking. He cursed the day when he was born. |
He cursed the day he was born and asked that it would perish.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Job answered and said, | He said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “May the day on which I was born perish, and the night {that} said, ‘A boy has been conceived.’ | “I wish that the day of my birth had never existed! {I feel the same way about} the night when my mother conceived me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| That day—may it be dark! May God not seek it from above, and may light not shine upon it. | I wish that there would only be darkness on that day {so that it would not even be a day}. I wish that God in heaven would not care about that day and so not make the sun shine on it. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| May darkness and a dark shadow claim it; may a cloud dwell over it; may the blacknesses of the day terrify it. | I wish that that day were only darkness, with clouds blocking out the sunlight and many other things also making it very dark. |
He wants that day to be claimed by darkness and the shadow of death.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| That night—may gloom take it! May it not rejoice among the days of the year; into the number of the months may it not come. | I wish that the moon and stars would not shine on the night when my mother conceived me. I wish that the day of my birth was not part of any month. Indeed, I wish that it was not a day in the year at all. |
Job wants that night to be seized by gloom.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold: That night—may it be barren! May a joyful shout not come into it. | I mean it—I wish that no mother would ever again bear a child on that date. I wish that no one would ever again rejoice {over a child’s birth} on that date. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| May the ones cursing a day curse it, the ones skillful to awaken Leviathan. | There are magicians who know how to agitate the chaos monster. I want them to curse the day of my birth! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| May the stars of its twilight be dark; may it wait for light but {there be} none, and may it not see the eyelids of the dawn, | I wish that the stars that shone early in the morning of that day would never shine again. I wish that it would never become light on that day. I wish that not even the first rays of the rising sun would appear on that day. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| because it did not close the doors of my womb and hide trouble from my eyes. | I wish that day did not exist, because my mother gave birth to me on that day, and because I became alive, I have now experienced all these terrible things. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Why did I not die from the womb, come out of the belly and expire? | I wish that I had died right after my mother gave birth to me! I wish I had stopped breathing after being alive for only a short time! |
He wishes he had died at birth.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Why did knees welcome me, and why breasts, that I should suck? | I wish that my mother had never held me on her lap and nursed me! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For now I had lain down and was reposing, I had slept, then it was being rest to me | If I had died shortly after my mother gave birth to me, I would now be resting peacefully among all the other people who had died. |
He would be sleeping and at rest with kings and counselors of the earth.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| with kings and counselors of the earth, the ones having built monuments for themselves, | {I would be resting} with great kings and their advisers. They built beautiful tombs on spacious grounds {and are now resting in them}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| or with princes, gold {having been} to them, the ones having filled their houses with silver. | Or {I would be resting} with princes who owned great quantities of gold and silver. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Or, like a hidden stillborn child, I might not have been, as infants {sometimes} do not see the light. | I wish that I had died in my mother’s womb and never lived for even a moment. Then people would have buried me privately. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| There the wicked stop troubling, and there the weary in strength rest. | After wicked people die, they do not cause any more trouble. That allows the people whom they were oppressing to rest. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Captives relax together; they do not hear the voice of a taskmaster. | Those who were prisoners all rest peacefully {after they die}. They no longer have slave drivers ordering them around. |
The prisoner is released from the voice of the slave driver, and the servant is free from his master.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Small and great {are} there the same, and a servant {is} free from his master. | Everyone, whether rich or poor, goes to the realm of the dead. Those who were slaves no longer have to obey their masters. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Why is light given to the miserable, and life to the bitter in soul, | God should not allow those who are suffering greatly like me to continue to remain alive! God should not allow those who are very miserable to live! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the ones longing for death, but {it is} not to them, and they dig for it more than for hidden treasure, | They long to die, but they do not die. They desire to die more than people desire to find buried treasure. |
It does not come to the one who longs for death and who searches for it more than those who search for hidden treasure.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the ones rejoicing unto gladness, and they celebrate when they find a grave, | {God should not give life in the first place} to people who are very happy when they finally die! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| to a man whose way is hidden, and God has hedged around him? | God should not give life to people if he is going to keep them from knowing what to do or from understanding what is really happening to them! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For my sighing comes before my food, my groaning flows out like waters. | I am wishing that I were dead because now I cry so much that I cannot eat. I just keep groaning loudly. |
His groaning flows out like water.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For I feared a fear and it has arrived with me; what I dreaded has come to me. | There were things that I always worried might happen to me. Those things have now happened! |
| ULT | UST |
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| I have not relaxed, and I have not reposed, and I have not rested, but trouble comes.” | I really have no peace of mind at all. My troubles keep disturbing me.” |
He cannot be at ease or quiet and has no rest.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, | Then Eliphaz, Job’s friend from the town of Teman, replied to what Job had said. Eliphaz said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “If a word is tried with you, will you tire? But to refrain from a word, who is able? | “Will you please allow me to say something to you? I feel compelled to speak to you. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, you have instructed many, you have strengthened weak hands. | You yourself have given good advice to many people. You have encouraged people who were discouraged. |
Job had instructed many and strengthened weak hands.
| ULT | UST |
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| Your words have upheld the one stumbling, and buckling knees you have strengthened. | When people were struggling, you were able to say the right thing to help them. You enabled them to be brave again. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But now it comes to you and you tire; it touches you and you panic. | But now that you yourself are suffering, you have become discouraged. You are not facing your troubles bravely {as you have helped others to do}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {Is} not your fear your confidence, your hope, even the integrity of your ways? | You should be confident because you honor God. You should be hopeful because you conduct yourself with integrity. |
Job’s fear of God is his confidence, and the integrity of his ways is his hope.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Remember, now: Who, he {being} innocent, has perished? And when were the righteous destroyed? | Think about this: God does not destroy people who are innocent! No, God never kills people who are doing what is right! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| According to what I have seen, the ones plowing misery and sowing trouble reap it. | I know from experience that this is true: When people plan to do bad things to others, those bad things happen to them instead. |
Those who plow misery and sow trouble perish and cease to exist.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his nose they cease {to be}. | God becomes very angry with them {because of the wrong things they plan to do}, and so God commands that they will die, and they do die. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The roar of the lion! The voice of the fierce lion! But the teeth of the young lions are broken. | Wicked people may boast and threaten, but God destroys them. |
The teeth of young lions are broken.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. | Those wicked people will have nothing in the end, like lions that starve to death because God keeps them from catching any prey. Different relatives will have to take care of the children of those wicked people, as if they were lion cubs whose parents caught no prey and they had to separate from each other in order to search for food. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now a word was confided to me, and my ear received a whisper of it. | I once heard a message that someone came and whispered to me. |
He heard a whisper in his ear and saw visions in the night.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| In troubling thoughts from visions of the night, in the falling of deep sleep upon men, | One night I fell deeply asleep and had a dream that made me very perplexed. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| fear happened to me, and trembling, and it frightened all my bones. | I was so scared that I started to shake all over. |
Fear and trembling came on him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And a spirit was gliding before my face; the hair of my flesh was bristling. | Then a spirit slid into view right in front of me! This caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand straight up. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It was standing still, but I was not recognizing its appearance. An image {was} in front of my eyes. {There was} silence, then I heard a voice: | The spirit stopped there, but I could not see what it really looked like. However, I knew that there was some being in front of me. At first it did not speak, but then it said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| ‘Will a man be more righteous than God? If a man will be more pure than his Maker?’ | ‘No human being can be more righteous than God. No person can be better than his Creator. |
It asked if a mortal man can be more righteous than God, more pure than his Maker.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, he does not trust in his servants, and he charges his angels with folly. | Consider this: God recognizes that even his own angels may not always do what is right. If they do not act wisely, he corrects them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| How much less dwellers in houses of clay that {have} their foundation in the dust! They crumble them before a moth! | So God is even more careful to discipline human beings, knowing how very frail they are. |
They live in houses of clay with their foundation in the dust, and they are crushed sooner than a moth.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| From morning to evening they are destroyed; they perish forever without {anyone} noticing. | {Humans are so fragile that} they can be here today and gone tomorrow. {And humans are so insignificant that} a person can die, never to return to earth, and no one will even notice. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Is not their tent cord pulled up away from them? They will die, and not in wisdom. | Humans are {fragile,} like tents that collapse if someone pulls up their stakes. And they may live their whole lives on earth without ever learning to be wise.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Call out now; is there one answering you? To which of the holy ones will you turn? | If you ask someone to judge between you and God, no one will agree to do that for you. Not even an angel would have the authority or wisdom to judge your case. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For indignation kills the foolish, and resentment kills the one being simple. | People who do not respect God get angry with God {instead of considering how they have sinned}. Naïve people resent God {when they do not get what they think they deserve}. {Their anger and resentment lead them to disobey God, so that} God punishes them severely and even kills them. So respect God and do not be naïve! |
Indignation kills the foolish man, and resentment kills the simple one.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I myself have seen the foolish taking root, but right away I cursed his abode. | I have seen foolish people who seemed to be successful. But immediately I recognized that they would not prosper for long. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| His children are far from safety, and they are crushed at the gate, and {there is} none rescuing {them}, | Their children are never safe. They always lose to their opponents in court because no one defends them. |
They are unsafe, they are crushed in the gate and are not rescued.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| whose harvest the hungry one devours; they even take it from among the thorns, and the thirsty ones pant for their wealth. | People who do not respect God are not able to harvest the crops that they plant. Poor people come and claim the grain—right to the edges of the field! Yes, poor people see their crops and are glad to have them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For misery does not come out from the dust, and trouble does not sprout from the ground. | After all, trouble does not come out of nowhere. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For man is born to trouble, and sons of the flame soar to fly. | No, people cause trouble for themselves throughout their lives. This is as certain as the fact that sparks shoot up from a fire. |
All his life, man makes his own trouble.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But I myself would seek for God, and to God I would commit my cause, | If I were suffering as you are, I would ask God for help and trust God to help me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one doing great {things} and {there is} no searching, marvelous {things} until {there is} no number, | God does great things that we can not understand. We can not even count the marvelous things that God does. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one giving rain on the face of the earth and sending waters on the face of the fields, | God is the one who sends rain onto the earth so that it waters our fields. |
He gives rain on the earth and sends water on the fields.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| setting the humble on high, and the ones mourning are high in safety, | God defends people who are humble. He gives widows safe places to live. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| frustrating the plans of the crafty, and their hands do not accomplish an initiative, | God keeps devious people from being able to do what they plan. |
He frustrates their schemes so that their hands cannot carry out their plots.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| catching the cunning in their craftiness, and the plan of the ones being deceptive is hastened. | When people try cleverly to make others suffer, God makes this cause suffering for them instead. When people try to trick others, God shows that it is a trick before it can fool the others. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They encounter darkness by day, and they grope at midday as at night. | God keeps wicked people from knowing how to fulfill their plans. It is as if the wicked people are always in the dark, even during the day, and they need to feel around with their hands to try to find where to go. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But he saves the poor from the sword in their mouths and from the hand of the mighty. | When powerful people threaten or accuse weak people, God rescues the weak people. He keeps the powerful people from harming them. |
He saves the poor person from the threats and accusations of the mighty and saves the needy person from harm by the mighty people.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And hope is to the poor, and injustice shuts her mouth. | {Because they know that God will help them,} poor people can confidently expect that good things will happen to them. God proves that they are innocent when people accuse them falsely. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, blessed is the man God corrects, and the chastening of the Almighty do not despise. | Consider this: Anyone whom God corrects is better off because of it. So you should be thankful that God is disciplining you. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For he injures and binds up, he wounds and his hands heal. | You should be thankful because God allows people to suffer {in order to correct them} and then he restores them. |
He is happy because the wounds, God binds up wounds, and his hands heal.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| In six troubles he will rescue you, and in seven, harm will not touch you. | Whenever you are in trouble, God will keep rescuing you. God will keep bad things from happening to you. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war, from the hands of the sword. | When there is little food to eat, God will not allow you to starve to death. When there is war, God will not allow your enemies to kill you. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| From the scourge of the tongue you will be hidden, and you will not fear destruction when it comes. | God will protect you when people say bad things about you. God will protect you from things that could badly harm you. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You will laugh at destruction and at famine, and you will not fear the beast of the earth. | You will not worry about things like that or about not having enough to eat. You will not be afraid that wild animals will hurt you, |
He will laugh at destruction and famine.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For with the stones of the field {will be} your covenant, and the beast of the field will be made peaceable to you. | because you will be confident that those wild animals will not attack you. You will not have big rocks in your fields that make plowing difficult. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You will know that your tent {is in} peace; you will visit your sheepfold and you will not miss {anything}. | You will know that things will go well for you in your home. When you check on your animals, you will see that they are all there. |
He will find that nothing will be missing.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And you will know that your seed {will be} great and your offspring, like the grass of the earth. | You will be certain that you will have many descendants. They will be as numerous as blades of grass. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You will come to the grave in old age, like the lifting of a stack of grain in its time. | You will live a long life, like grain that grows to become fully ripe before it is harvested. |
He will come to his grave at a full age.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold this: We have examined it, thus it {is}; listen to it and know {it} for yourself.” | I can assure you that my friends and I have thought carefully about these things. We know that they are true, so please pay careful attention to what I have said! You also will realize that it is true.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Job answered and said, | Then Job replied to Eliphaz and the others. He said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “If only my anguish, being weighed, were weighed, and my calamity lay in the balances together {with it}! | “If I could put all my troubles and misery on a scale and weigh them, |
If his anguish and calamity were weighed, they would be heavier than the sand of the seas.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; therefore my words raved. | they would certainly be heavier than all the sand along the ocean shores. That is why I spoke very rashly about the day when I was born. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For the arrows of the Almighty are in me, whose poison my spirit is drinking; the terrors of God array themselves against me. | It is as if Almighty God had shot me with arrows. It is as if those arrows had poison on their tips and that poison had gone into my spirit. The things that God has done to me are like soldiers lined up to attack me. |
His arrows are in Job, and Job’s spirit drinks up the poison.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Does a wild donkey bray over grass? If an ox bellows over its fodder? | Just as a wild donkey does not complain by braying when it has plenty of grass to eat, and an ox does not complain by bellowing when it has food to eat, I would not complain if you were really helping me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will the unsavory be eaten without salt? If there is taste in the white of an egg? | People use salt to help them eat food that has little taste. People do that with the white of an egg, for example. I have been saying how I feel in order to help me deal with my situation. |
He says the white of an egg does not have any taste.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My soul has refused to touch; they {are} like disease {in} my food. | But regarding food itself, I actually do not want to eat at all, because my troubles are making me too upset to eat. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who will grant that my request may come? And may God grant my longing | I wish that God would do for me what I have asked of him: |
He wants God to crush him and cut him loose from his life.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and may God be willing and may he crush me, may he loose his hand and cut me off! | I wish that God would agree to let me die! God is certainly able to end my life. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Yet may it still be my consolation— indeed, let me exult in pain, may he not spare— that I have not concealed the sayings of the Holy One. | If he did that, I would be comforted: I would know that in spite of the unrelenting pain I had suffered, I would still always have obeyed God’s commands. |
His consolation is that he has not have denied the words of the Holy One.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| What {is} my strength, that I should wait? And what {is} my end, that I should prolong my life? | I do not have the strength to endure until these troubles are over. I have nothing to look forward to, so I do not want to live any longer! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If my strength {is} the strength of stones? If my flesh {is} bronze? | I am not strong like stone, my body is not sturdy like bronze, so I will not be able to endure these troubles for a long time. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If my help {is} not in me, and initiative has been taken away from me? | I am no longer able to help myself. My troubles are keeping me from doing that. |
Initiative has been taken away from him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| To the despairing, covenant faithfulness from his friend, and the fear of the Almighty he forsakes. | When a man has many troubles, his friends should be kind to him, even if he stops honoring Almighty God. |
A friend should show faithfulness to the despairing person.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My brothers have dealt treacherously like a wadi, like a channel of wadis they pass away, | But you, my friends, have not helped me. You are like streams in the wilderness that travelers cannot depend on, because they leave their channels empty in the dry season. |
They have dealt treacherously like a wadi: they disappear in the dry season.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the ones being dark from ice over it, it hides itself with snow. | These streams are full of water when the melting ice and snow make them overflow, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| In the time they dry up, they are annihilated; in their being hot, they are exterminated from their place. | but when the dry season comes, there is no water flowing in those streams, and the channels dry up. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Caravans turn themselves aside from their way; they go up into wasteland and they perish. | Merchant caravans turn off the road to search for water. {However, there is no water in those stream beds, so} the merchants die in the desert. |
They wandered into barren land and then perished. They were disappointed and deceived.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Caravans from Tema looked; processions of Sheba hoped in them. | The men in those caravans searched for some water because they were sure that they would find some. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They were ashamed, because they had been confident; they went as far as it, and they were confounded. | They were very disappointed, because they had been sure that they would find water. They traveled a long distance to the stream bed, but there was no water in it. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For now you are nothing; you see a terror and you fear. | Similarly, you three have not helped me at all! You have seen that terrible things have happened to me, and you are not helping me, because you are afraid that God might do similar things to you. |
They saw his dreadful situation and were afraid, so they did not help him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {Is it} that I said, ‘Give me {something}’? Or, ‘Make a gift to me from your wealth’? | {After I lost all my wealth,} I did not ask any of you to give me money. I did not plead with any of you to spend some of your money to help me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Or, ‘Save me from the hand of the enemy’? Or, ‘From the hand of the oppressors rescue me’? | I never asked any of you to rescue me from my enemies. No, I did not ask you to save me from people who were oppressing me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Teach me, and I will be silent, and how I have strayed, make me understand. | Answer me now, and then I will be quiet; tell me what wrong things I have done! |
He will be silent.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| How words of uprightness are forceful! But what does correcting from you correct? | I would be willing to listen to what you had to say, even if it were painful, as long as it was helpful. But though you are trying to correct me, you are not really helping me at all. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Do you think to correct my words, and to the wind the words of one despairing? | I am a man who has nothing to hope for, but you try to correct me, and you think what I say is as useless as the wind! |
They plan to correct his words and ignore what he has said.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Indeed, you cast {lots} for the fatherless, and you haggle over your friend. | In fact, you are treating me as callously as if you were gambling for an orphan or arguing over the price of a friend you were selling into slavery! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But now, be willing, look at me, and if I would lie to your faces! | Please look at me! I will not lie while I am talking straight to you. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Please turn, let injustice not be; yes, turn, my righteousness {is} yet in it. | Please stop saying that I have sinned! Stop criticizing me unfairly! You should realize that I have not done anything wrong. |
Job’s cause is just.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Is there injustice on my tongue? If my mouth does not discern iniquity? | You must not think that I am lying! I know what is right to say and what is wrong to say. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {Is} not hardship to a man on earth? And {are not} his days like the days of a hireling? | Life is very difficult for all of us on this earth! Like manual laborers, our days are long and hard. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| As a slave longs for shade, and as a hireling awaits his wages, | We are like slaves who keep wanting to be in the cool of evening. We are like workers who have to wait to be paid. |
He compares them to a slave desiring relief from heat, or a hired man looking for his wages.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| so I have been caused to inherit months of futility, and they have appointed nights of trouble to me. | Like a slave, I am enduring a time when it feels useless to be alive. I have been experiencing many miserable nights. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| When I lie down, I say, ‘When will I get up?’ But the night extends, and I am full of tossings until dawn. | When I go to bed I say, ‘I hope I will be able to sleep for a long time!’ But I never really get to sleep. I am restless right through to the morning. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My flesh wears the worm and the clod of dust; my skin breaks and festers. | My body is covered with maggots and dirt; pus oozes out of my open sores. |
Worms and clods of dust, open sores and infection cover his flesh.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My days are swifter than a shuttle, and they end without hope. | I am running out of days faster than a shuttle releases yarn into a loom, and I have no reason to hope that my life will end well. |
His days pass more swiftly than a weaver’s shuttle.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Remember that my life {is} a breath; my eye will not return to see good. | God, remember that my life will soon end. {I do not think that} I will ever be happy again. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The eye of the one seeing me will not regard me; your eyes {will be} on me, but I will not exist. | God, you see me now, but {after I die,} you will not see me anymore. You may look for me then, but {you will not find me, because} I will not exist. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| A cloud disappears and goes away; so the one descending to Sheol does not ascend. | Just as a cloud never appears in the sky again once it fades, so when people die and go to the place where dead people are, they never return to earth. |
He is like a cloud that is consumed and vanishes away.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He will not return again to his house, and his place will not know him again. | They never return and live in their houses again. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the distress of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. | So I will say everything I want to say. I will speak because I am so upset. I will complain because I am so bitter. |
He will speak in the anguish of his spirit and complain in the bitterness of his soul.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {Am} I the sea or the sea monster, that you will set a guard over me? | God, you do not need to watch what I am doing so closely! I am not a dangerous sea monster! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| When I say, ‘My couch will comfort me, my bed will take away my complaint,’ | Sometimes I think that if I could just go to sleep, I would stop suffering; my pain would be less while I was sleeping. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| then you scare me with dreams and you terrify me through visions, | But then you make me have terrible nightmares! |
God scares him with dreams and terrifies him through visions.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and my soul chooses strangling, death, rather than my bones. | And I wish someone would kill me by choking me so that I would not have to stay alive {and suffer so much}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I loathe; I will not live forever. Cease from me, for my days {are} vapor. | I hate being alive {and suffering so much}! I do not want to live any longer! Stop afflicting me, because I will only be alive for a short time. |
Job said his days are useless.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| What is man, that you will magnify him and that you will set your heart on him, | We human beings are not very important! You should not think that we are so important that you need to pay attention to what we do. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and you will visit him in the mornings and you will test him in the moments? | You do not need to check every morning to see what we are doing! You do not need to evaluate us at every moment! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For how long will you not look away from me? Will you not slacken until I swallow my saliva? | I wish you would stop watching me and leave me alone for at least a little while! |
He asks to be left alone long enough to swallow his own saliva.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {If} I have sinned, what have I done to you, the one watching man? Why have you made me a target for you? Indeed, am I a burden to myself? | You watch me constantly, but if I sin, that certainly does not harm you! I feel as if I am your target and that you are shooting at me! You act as if I am bothering you all the time! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Why will you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust, and you will seek me diligently, but I will not exist.” | If I have done wrong things, you could just forgive me. I am going to die soon. When I do, then if you decide you want us to be friends, it will be too late, because I will be dead.” |
Job thinks God will not pardon his transgression and take away his iniquity.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Bildad the Shuhite answered and said, | Then Bildad, Job’s friend who was a Shuhite, responded to Job. He said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Until when will you say these things, and the words of your mouth {be} a mighty wind? | “Job, you should not continue to talk like this. You are saying a lot of things, but they are not sensible. |
He compared them to a mighty wind.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness? | God always does things fairly. Yes, Shaddai always does what is right. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If your children sinned against him, then he put them in the hand of their sins. | Your children sinned against God. This is evident, because God has punished them for the evil things they did. |
He said he knew this because God had punished them for their sins.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If you seek diligently for God, and to the Almighty you appeal, | But as for you, you should pray to God. Yes, you should ask Shaddai to help you. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| if you {are} pure and upright, surely now he will rouse himself for you and restore the habitation of your righteousness. | If you are genuinely good, then God will certainly do something good for you. He will give you back the abundant prosperity that good people have. |
God would reward Job by restoring his former home and wealth.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Though your beginning was small, yet your end will increase greatly. | God would make you so wealthy later in life that it would seem as if you were not very prosperous before! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For inquire now of the former generations and consider the finding of their fathers. | You should really consider the wise teachings of the people who lived before us. Yes, you should think about what our ancestors learned about life. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For we {are} of yesterday and we do not know, for our days on earth {are} a shadow. | I advise you to consider the wisdom of our ancestors because we have only been alive for a short time and we know very little. This is because our time here on the earth is very short, like a shadow that appears briefly and then goes away. |
He says they are a shadow.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will they not teach you? They will speak to you, and from their hearts they will bring forth words. | But if you consider the wisdom of our ancestors, you will learn useful things. Indeed, you will learn very profound things. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Does papyrus grow without a marsh? Does a reed grow without waters? | Papyrus certainly does not grow away from marshland. No, reeds certainly cannot grow where there is no water. |
Papyrus requires a marsh, and reeds need water to grow.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It {is} still in its greenness, it is not cut down, but it withers before any {other} plant. | If their water dries up while they are blossoming, they wither, while plants that do have water keep flourishing. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Thus {are} the paths of all the ones forgetting God, and the hope of the godless will perish, | People who do not pay attention to God are like those reeds. Such people hope for good things, but they do not get them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| whose confidence snaps and whose trust {is} the house of a spider. | Godless people confidently expect good things to happen to them, but those things do not happen. Godless people trust certain other people to help them, but those others prove unreliable. |
Their trust is as fragile as a spider’s web.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He leans himself against his house and it does not stand; he takes hold of it, but it does not arise. | Godless people think they are secure because they are wealthy, but ultimately they can not rely on their wealth for security. When they begin to fail despite their wealth, they try to preserve their status, but they fail anyway. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It {is} lush to the face of the sun, and its shoots go out over its garden. | Godless people are like plants that formerly flourished in abundant sunshine, whose branches once spread out over the ground. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Its roots are wrapped around a heap; it looks for a house of rocks. | Godless people are like plants whose roots once twisted securely around piles of stones and clung tightly to rocks. |
The roots are wrapped around heaps of stone and look for good places among the rocks.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| When one destroys it from its place, then it will deny him, ‘I did not see you.’ | But a person can still pull a plant completely out of the ground even if it is that healthy and securely rooted. Then it will be as if the plant was never there in the first place. People who do not pay attention to God will perish just as completely. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, this is the joy of his way, and from the dust other {plants} will sprout. | So people who do not pay attention to God will be sad in the end. Other people will come and take their places. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, God will not reject the innocent, but he will not hold the hand of evildoers. | So I tell you, Job, that God will help you if you do what is right. But God will not help you if you do what is wrong. |
He will not cast away an innocent man, but will not take the hand of evildoers.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting. | God can still make you happy, yes, very happy. |
He will fill his mouth with laughter and his lips with shouting.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The ones hating you will wear shame, and the tent of the wicked will not exist.” | {When God blesses you,} everyone who opposed you will be very ashamed. God will completely destroy wicked people.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Job answered and said, | Then Job replied to Bildad and the others. He said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “I know truly that {this is} so. But how will a man be righteous with God? | “I certainly know that what you have said is true. But a person can not prove that he has done the right thing {and that God should not punish him}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If he desires to contend with him, he will not answer him one from a thousand. | If someone wanted to argue with God about that, God would ask him many questions and that person would not be able to answer any of them! |
The man could not answer God once in a thousand times.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {He is} wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him and been whole?— | God thinks very deeply and he is very powerful. No one who has tried to argue against him has ever been able to win. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one removing mountains and they do not know, who in his nose overturns them; | God moves mountains {in earthquakes} without anyone knowing in advance what he is going to do. God knocks down mountains when he is angry. |
He removes the mountains without warning and overturns them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one shaking the earth from its place and causing its pillars to tremble; | God causes earthquakes far below the surface of the earth that shake the ground and make it move. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one speaking to the sun and it does not rise, and upon the stars he seals; | On some days, God makes it so cloudy that people can not see the sun in the sky. On some nights, God makes it so cloudy that people can not see the stars shining. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| stretching out the heavens by himself and treading on the waves of the sea; | God created the sky all by himself. God defeated the forces of chaos {so that he could make an orderly universe}. |
He tramples down and subdues the waves of the sea.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| making the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south; | God arranged the stars in the sky to make constellations such as the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades. God arranged stars into many other constellations as well. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| doing great {things} until there is no searching and distinguished {things} until there is no number. | God does amazing things that people can not understand. God does more marvelous things than people are able to count. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, he goes by me, but I do not see, and he passes, but I do not perceive him. | If God passed by where I was, I would not be able to see him. Yes, he might be going by, but I would not notice him. |
God goes by him and Job does not see or perceive him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If he takes away, who will turn him back? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’ | If God wants to take something away, no one can stop him from doing that. No one can require God to defend what he is doing. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| God will not turn aside his nose; the helpers of Rahab bow beneath him. | God would continue to be angry {even if someone tried to calm him down}. {No one can oppose him;} he {even} defeated the forces of Rahab, the great sea monster. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Indeed that I will answer him, choose words with him!— | So I could hardly think of the right words to say in order to argue a case against God! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| whom, if I were righteous, I would not answer; I would plead to my judge for mercy. | Even if I were innocent, I would not be able to argue a case against him. All I could do would be to ask God, as my judge, to be merciful to me. |
Job could not answer him, but could only plead for mercy.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If I called and he answered me, I would not believe that he was giving ear to my voice, | Even if he agreed to hear my case, I would not believe that he was genuinely considering my arguments. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who would break me with a tempest and multiply my wounds for nothing. | He keeps causing troubles that batter me. He hurts me many times for no good reason. |
Job believed God multiplied his wounds without cause.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He does not allow me to cause my breath to return, for he fills me with bitterness. | He causes me to suffer all the time. It is as if he will not even let me get my breath again {before he causes the next disaster}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If to strength, behold, {he is} mighty! And if to justice, who will summon him? | Suppose I did make a case against him. And suppose the winner would be the one who was stronger. Then he would win, because he is far stronger than I am. And it would not matter who was right, since no one could make him obey what a judge decided. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; {if} I {were} blameless, yet it would convict me. | Even though I was innocent, he would find grounds in what I said to punish me. Even though I had not done anything wrong, he would still decide, based on what I said, that I was guilty. |
No, even then, his mouth would condemn him and prove him guilty.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I {am} blameless. I do not know my soul; I loathe my life. | I have not done anything wrong, {but that does not matter anymore because} I do not care what happens to me. I do not care whether I live or die. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It {is} one; therefore I have said, ‘The blameless and the wicked, he is destroying.’ | God punishes everyone the same way. As I have been saying, God destroys everyone whether they have done wrong or not. |
He says God destroys both perfect people and wicked people together.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| When a scourge suddenly kills, he mocks the despair of the innocent {ones}. | When people experience disaster and it causes them to die suddenly, God laughs when he sees them suffer, even if they are innocent. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not, then who {is} it? | God has allowed wicked people to control what happens to everyone else. It is as though God has caused judges not to be able to judge fairly. If it is not God who has done that, who, then, has done it? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And my days are swifter than a runner, they flee. They do not see good. | I am approaching the end of my life more quickly than a messenger runs to bring news. It is as if the days of my life are running away from me. Good things do not happen to me. |
They are swifter than a running messenger, they are as fast as reed boats, and as fast as the swooping eagle.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They glide with boats of papyrus, as an eagle pounces on food. | My life is going by very rapidly, as fast as a sailing boat made from reeds, as fast as an eagle swooping down to seize an animal. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If I said, ‘Let me forget my complaint, let me change my face, let me be cheerful,’ | If I decide that I will just forget what I am complaining about, if I decide to stop looking sad and try to be cheerful, |
God would not consider him innocent, but Job would be condemned.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I would fear all my sorrows; I know that you would not acquit me. | I still become afraid again because I know that God does not consider me innocent and so I think that he will punish me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I am wicked; why, then, would I toil in vain? | He will condemn me anyway, so why should I keep trying in vain to defend myself? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If I washed myself with water of snow and cleansed my hands with lye, | If I washed my body with pure water from melted snow and cleansed my hands with strong soap {to show how innocent I am}, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| then you would plunge me into a ditch, and my clothes would abhor me. | God would just throw me into a filthy pit {to show how guilty he considers me to be}. My body would become so dirty that it would be as if my own clothes did not want to be on it! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For I would not be answering a man like me, we would {not} be coming together into judgment. | God is not a human, as I am, so I could not refute him to prove that I am innocent if we went together to have a trial in a courtroom. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| There would be no judge between us who would lay his hand upon the two of us, | There is no one to mediate, no one who has authority over both of us. |
No judge would lay his hand on both Job and God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who would turn from upon me his rod, and his terror, may it not frighten me. | There is no one who could keep God from causing me to suffer, who could keep God from doing terrifying things that frighten me. |
There is no other judge who can take God’s rod from Job, or keep God’s terror from frightening Job.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I would speak and I would not fear him. But I {am} not thus with me. | {If someone could protect me and judge between us,} I would declare that I am innocent without being afraid of God. But I can not do that now. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My soul is weary of my life; I will abandon my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. | I am tired of living, so I will freely express everything I want to complain about {without worrying about what God will do to me}. Yes, I will say exactly how unhappy I am. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; cause me to know for what you are accusing me. | I will say to God, ‘If you are going to punish me, you should tell me what I have done wrong!’ |
He wants God to show Job why he accuses him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Is it good to you that you will oppress {me}, that you will despise the work of your hands, but on the plans of the wicked you shine? | You seem to think that it is all right to harm me and to abandon me, whom you created. But at the same time, you seem pleased to allow wicked people to do the things that they plan to do! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {Are} eyes of flesh to you? If you see according to the seeing of a man? | Certainly you know and understand more than what people can see with their eyes! {So you should understand my true motives and know that I am innocent.} |
Job asks him if he has eyes of flesh and sees like a man sees.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {Are} your days like the days of a man? If your years {are} like the days of a man, | You do not live for only a short time as people do! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| that you seek for my iniquity and for my sin you search, | So you do not need to act as if you would run out of time if you did not discover all of my sins right away! |
God inquires after Job’s iniquity and searches after his sin.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| above your knowledge that I am not wicked and there is no one rescuing {me} from your hand? | {You do not need to work hard to discover any sins that I may have committed, because} you know that I am not guilty. And there is no one who could help me get away from you {if you decided you should punish me}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Your hands formed me and made me entirely round about, yet you are destroying me. | You personally created every single part of me. So it is not right for you to destroy someone whom you created yourself. |
They had framed and fashioned Job, yet they are destroying him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Remember, please, that you made me like clay, and will you turn me into dust? | Please recall how you made me! You molded me the way people mold objects out of clay. If you destroy me, I will crumble into dust {and you will lose your marvelous creative work}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Have you not poured me like milk and caused me to curdle like cheese? | You made me through a careful process, the way people carefully make cheese out of milk. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You have clothed me with skin and flesh and you have knit me together with bones and tendons. | You attached my bones together with tendons, and then you covered them with flesh inside my skin. |
He clothed him with skin and flesh.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You made life and covenant faithfulness alongside me, and your visitation has guarded my spirit. | You are the one who made me alive. {It seemed that} you were faithfully taking care of me. {It seemed that} you were protecting me. |
God granted him life and covenant faithfulness.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But in your heart you hid these things (I know that this {was} with you): | But you kept secret what you were planning to do to me. I am certain that you were planning to do these things to me! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If I sinned, then you would notice me, and you would not acquit me of my iniquity. | You were watching me to see if I would sin so that you could punish me for sinning. |
God will notice his sin, and not acquit him of his iniquity.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If I am wicked, woe to me! And {if} I am righteous, I will not lift my head. {I am} full of disgrace. Yes, see my affliction! | If I am a wicked man, then I hope that terrible things will happen to me. But even if I am a good man, I must still act ashamed because you are punishing me as if I had sinned. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And should it arise, you would stalk me like a lion, and you would return, you would distinguish yourself against me. | If I did act like the good man that I am, you would {conclude that you should punish me further and you would} hunt for me the way a lion hunts for some animal to kill. {When you caught me,} you would do even more things to harm me greatly. |
God would hunt him down like a lion.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You would renew your witnesses against me and you would increase your anger against me; changes and an army {are} with me. | You would claim that I had committed even more sins. You would become even more angry with me. You would keep punishing me in new ways. |
God would bring new witnesses against him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had expired and an eye had not seen me! | God, you should not have allowed my mother to give birth to me! I wish that I had died at birth! Yes, I wish that my parents had never shown me to anyone. |
He wishes he had died and that no eye had ever seen him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Would that I had been as though I had not existed! Would that I had been brought from the womb to the grave! | I wish that I had never even existed! I wish that I had died at birth so that people had buried me right away. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {Are} my days not few? So cease and put from me, and let me smile a little. | I am not going to live very much longer! So please leave me alone and let me have a little peace. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Before I go—and do not return— to the land of darkness and deep darkness, | {Let me have some peace now because} soon I will go to the place from which I will never return. In that place {where dead people go} it is always gloomy. Yes, it is very dark. |
He is going to the land of darkness.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the land of obscurity like the gloom of dark shadow and no order, and it shines like gloom.’” | Yes, in that place it is very dark, the way it is in deep shadow. Things are very chaotic there. Even the small light that is there is like darkness.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said, | Then Zophar, Job’s friend from the town of Naamah, responded to Job. He said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “The multitude of words, will it not be answered? Or if a man of lips will be justified? | “I would like to respond to the long speech that you have just given. You talk a lot about how innocent you are, but that does not mean that you truly are innocent. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will your boastings make people silent? Or will you mock and no one {is} shaming? | You have boasted that you are innocent, and I need to talk back in response. You have said disrespectful things about God. I need to tell you that you should be ashamed! |
He thought Job had mocked his friends’ teaching.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For you have said, ‘My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in your eyes.’ | I need to correct you because you have told God, ‘I believe the right things, and you know that I have done the right things.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But who will give God to speak and open his lips against you | If only God would speak and say something to correct you! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and declare to you the secrets of wisdom? For {it is} double to understanding. And know that God is forgetting for you {some} of your iniquity. | If only God would tell you the secrets that he knows because he is so wise! {You need to realize that} God knows far more than you do. If you could understand as God does, you would realize that God is punishing you less than you deserve! |
He said God has demanded less from Job than his iniquity deserved.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will you find God by searching? If unto perfection you will find the Almighty? | You will never be able to understand God by thinking hard about him. No, you will never be able to find out everything about Shaddai. |
Zophar thinks that it is impossible because God is as high as the heavens, deeper than Sheol, longer than the earth, and wider than the sea.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The height of the heavens! What will you do? Deeper than Sheol! What will you know? | God’s wisdom is so much greater than ours, it is as if it is higher than the sky. So there is nothing you can do to understand it all. It is as if God’s wisdom is deeper below the earth than the place where dead people go. So it is impossible for you to know it all. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Its measure {is} longer than the earth and wider than the sea. | There is so much to know about God that it is as if that knowledge is longer than the earth and wider than the ocean. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If he comes and imprisons and assembles, then who will turn him back? | If God wants to arrest you and put you on trial, no one can stop him from doing that. |
It is impossible to stop God because he knows false people and punishes iniquity.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For he knows people of worthlessness, and will he see iniquity and not notice it? | {God is a trustworthy judge} because he knows which people have bad character. When God sees people doing wicked things, he punishes them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But an empty man will get a heart and the colt of a wild donkey will be born to a man. | Some people simply have no understanding. They will become wise when humans start having wild donkeys as babies{—that is, never!} |
They will have understanding when the colt of a wild donkey will be born to a man, meaning never!
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If you prepare your heart and stretch out your hands to him; | Job, I urge you to repent humbly and pray sincerely to God. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| if iniquity {is} in your hand, put it far away, and do not let unrighteousness dwell in your tents; | If you have been doing evil things, stop doing them. If you do nothing wrong in any part of your life, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| for then you will lift your face without blemish, and you will be established and you will not fear; | then you will be able to act as a person who is not ashamed of anything. You will be strong, and you will not be afraid of anything. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| for you will forget trouble; as waters pass by, you will remember {it}. | You will not be afraid, because you will forget all the bad things that happened to you. They will all be gone, like the water that flows away down a river. |
Job would forget his misery and remember it only like waters that have flowed away.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And life will arise more than noon; darkness will become like dawn. | Your life will be happy again. It will be as if the sun were shining on you as brightly as it shines at mid-day. You have had many troubles, but they will end, just as night ends when the sun rises. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You will be confident, because there is hope, and you will look around, you will lie down in safety. | You will feel safe because you will be confident that good things will happen to you. You will think about your life and realize that you can go to bed and sleep peacefully. |
He would be secure because there would be hope.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Yes, you will recline and no one {will be} making {you} afraid, and many will stroke your face. | You will lie down to sleep and nothing will scare you. Many people will come and ask you to be kind to them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will perish from them, and their hope {will be} an expiration of breath.” | But God will punish wicked people by making them die. They will not be able to escape from God’s punishment. They will hope to live, but they will die anyway.” |
He says that their hope will be an expiration of breath, meaning that they can only hope to die.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Job answered and said, | Then Job replied to Zophar and the others. He said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Truly, then, you {are} the people, and wisdom will die with you. | “You are speaking as if you were the people to whom everyone should listen. You seem to believe that you are the only wise people who are now alive. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| A heart {is} also to me, like you. I {am} not falling below you. And with whom {are} not such {things} as these? | But I have as much good sense as you do. I am just as wise as you are. People certainly know, in general, the things that you have said. |
He says he also has understanding and is not inferior to them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I, the one calling on God and he answered him, have become laughter to his neighbor: just, blameless—laughter! | Before, when I prayed to God for help, God would help me. But now{, because God is not helping me in my suffering,} other people laugh at me. I am righteous and I honor God, but they laugh at me! |
They laugh at him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| In the thought of the secure {there is} contempt for misfortune, prepared for the ones slipping of foot. | People like you who have no troubles think that others are suffering because of their sins. You think that God is punishing us and that is why we are suffering. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The tents of robbers prosper, and securities {are} to the provokers of God, to {the one} who carries God in his hand. | Meanwhile, bandits get rich by robbing people. Those who defiantly disobey God live peacefully. Such people believe that God cannot stop them from doing what they want to do. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But now ask the beasts, and one will teach you, the birds of the heavens, and one will declare to you. | But if the wild animals could speak, and if you asked them {what they know about God}, they would tell you {that God is responsible when someone suffers as I am suffering}. If the birds could speak, and if you asked them {the same question}, they would tell you {the same thing}. |
The beasts, the birds, the earth, and the fish of the sea could teach his friends.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, and the fish of the sea will recount to you. | If the ground could talk, and if you asked it about God, or if fish could talk and you asked them, they too would tell you that God is responsible when people suffer. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Which of all these does not know that the hand of Yahweh has done this?— | All of them certainly know that it is Yahweh himself who has caused me to suffer. |
They know that the hand of Yahweh has given them life.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| in whose hand {is} the life of every living thing and the breath of all flesh of man. | He controls whether all living creatures live or die, including whether any person dies or continues to live. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Does not the ear test words and the palate taste the food {that is} to it? | We decide whether our food is good or bad by tasting it. In the same way, we think carefully about what we hear people say in order to decide whether it is good or bad advice. {I have listened carefully to you, and I have decided that you are giving me bad advice!} |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| With the aged {is} wisdom, and in length of days {is} understanding. | Older people have usually become wise. Because they have lived a long time, they have learned many things. |
Wisdom and understanding come as people grow old.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| With him {are} wisdom and might; to him {are} counsel and understanding. | God himself is wise and very powerful. He has good sense and he understands everything. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, he breaks down and it is not rebuilt; he closes upon a man and it is not opened. | Indeed, if God tears something down, no one can build it back up again. If God puts someone in prison, no one can enable that person to escape. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, he withholds the waters and they dry up, and he sends them out and they overthrow the land. | Yes, God is so powerful that if he prevents rain from falling, then the water on the earth dries up. If God causes a lot of rain to fall, then water floods onto the land. |
He with holds them and they dry up, and he sends them out and they overwhelm the land.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| With him {are} strength and prudence; to him {are} the one straying and the one causing to stray. | God is the one who is truly strong and wise. He does not let anyone get away with doing wrong or with convincing others to do wrong. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {He is} the one leading counselors away naked, and judges he makes foolish. | {God is so powerful that} he can remove royal advisors from their positions, and he can cause judges to become fools. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He removes the bond of kings and he wraps a cloth around their loins, | God can take away the ruling authority that kings have and make those kings become slaves instead. |
He takes off the chain of authority from them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one leading priests away naked, and the incumbent ones, he overthrows; | God can remove priests from their positions and take the power away from those who have long ruled others. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one removing the lip {that is} to the ones being trusted, and the discernment of the elders he takes away; | God can cause trusted counselors not to know what to say, and he can cause wise elders no longer to have good sense. |
He can remove the speech of the trustworthy and take away the understanding of elders.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one pouring contempt on nobles, and the belt of the mighty ones he loosens; | God can cause princes to lose the respect of others, and he can cause those who are powerful to become weak. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one revealing deep things out of darkness, and he brings dark shadow into the light; | God can enable people to understand things that are very difficult to understand. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one magnifying nations, and he destroys them; the one enlarging nations, and he exiles them; | God causes some nations to become very great, but later he destroys them. God enables some nations to enlarge their territory greatly, but later he allows others to conquer them and take their people away as prisoners. |
He makes them strong or destroys them, and enlarges them or leads them along as prisoners.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one removing a heart from the leaders of the people of the earth, and he causes them to wander in a wasteland {with} no path. | He causes some human rulers to become foolish. As a result, they try one thing after another without success, as if they were lost in a desert without roads. |
He causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no path.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They grope in darkness and not in light; he makes them wander like a drunkard. | It is as if they were trying to feel their way in complete darkness. It is as if they were staggering around drunk.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, my eye has seen all; my ear has heard and understood it. | “I can assure you, my friends, that I already know everything that you have been telling me. Yes, I have heard and understood all that you have said. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| As you know, I also know. I {am} not falling below you. | I know everything that you know. I do not know less than you do. |
Job says that he knows the same as they know, and he is not inferior to them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But I will speak with the Almighty, and to plead with God I desire. | But I would like to speak with Almighty God{, not with you}. I would like to convince him {that I am innocent}. |
He would rather speak to the Almighty because Job wants to reason with God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But you {are} plasterers of a lie; all of you {are} healers of no value. | As for you, you are telling so many lies about me that other people can hardly recognize what I am really like. Your advice is so worthless that you are all like doctors who sell people useless medicine. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who will give {that} being silent, you will be silent? And it will be to you for wisdom. | I wish that you would just stop talking. Then you would really seem to be wise! |
He says that the silence of his friends would be wisdom.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Please hear my reasoning and heed the pleadings of my lips. | Please pay attention to what I am telling you! |
He wants them to listen to his reasoning and the pleading of his lips.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will you speak unrighteously for God, and will you talk deceitfully for him? | You are speaking on God’s behalf, but you are not telling the truth! You are speaking deceptively, but you think that you are helping God! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will you lift his face? Or will you plead for God? | You are not being fair to me. Instead, you are acting as if you are God’s lawyers defending him in court! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {Is it} good that he will examine you? Or will you deceive him as deceiving a man? | If God investigates what you are doing, he will find that you are doing wrong. No, you can not deceive him as you might deceive a human being! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Reproving, he would reprove you if in secret you were lifting faces. | God would certainly rebuke you when he discovered that you were pretending to be fair but were actually being unfair. |
No, he would strongly reprove them if they showed favoritism.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {Would} not his majesty terrify you and the dread of him fall on you? | He would certainly bring the full force of his power against you. That would make you very afraid of him! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Your maxims {are} proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay. | You are quoting traditional sayings, but they have no value in my situation. Your arguments in support of your position are very easy for someone to refute. |
He says their sayings are proverbs made of ashes, and their defenses are made of clay.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Be silent from me and let me speak, and let come upon me what {will}. | So stop talking to me. Allow me to speak. I do not care what God does to me as a result of what I say. |
Job asks them to hold their peace and let him speak.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Why do I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hands? | I will be risking my life. I will be taking the chance that God will execute me for what I say. But I have good reason to do that. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, he kills me, I will hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face. | Indeed, God might kill me {for starting to argue a case against him}, but I hope that he {would still judge me fairly after I die}. So I am going to defend my behavior to him in person. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Even this {will be} for salvation to me: that the godless will not enter to his face. | I believe that arguing a case against God will actually help convince God that I am innocent. After all, no wicked person would dare to approach God personally.” |
He does not come before God like a godless man.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Hearing, hear my word, and {may} my declaration {be} in your ears. | “God, listen very carefully to what I say. Pay attention to me as I speak. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold now, I have prepared my defense; I know that I am righteous. | Please pay careful attention because I will be defending myself by telling you things I have thought carefully about. I have examined myself, and I am convinced that I am innocent. |
He has set his defense in order.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who {is} he {who} will contend with me? For then I will be silent and expire. | I do not believe that anyone could prove that what I am going to say is false. If I knew that it was false, I would not argue this case. I would accept dying {as my fair punishment}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Only two {things} do not do to me, then I will not hide myself from your face: | However, I must ask you to stop doing two things to me. Then I will be able to speak with you in person. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Withdraw your hand from upon me, and {with} your fear do not terrify me. | The first thing I ask is that you stop punishing me. The second thing I ask is that you stop scaring me. |
Job wants God to withdraw his oppressive hand from Job and stop terrifying him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And call, and I will answer, or I will speak, and answer me. | {If you agree to stop punishing me and stop scaring me, then} go ahead and start questioning me, and I will respond. Or allow me to question you first, and then you respond to my questions. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| How many iniquities and sins {are} to me? Make me know my transgression and my sin. | Tell me what I have done that is wrong. Tell me what sins I have committed. Show me how I have disobeyed you. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Why do you hide your face and consider me an enemy to you? | I do not understand why you are avoiding me. I do not understand why you are treating me like your enemy. |
He treats Job like his enemy.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will you terrify a driven leaf? Or will you pursue dry stubble? | I am as insignificant as a leaf that the wind blows, so you do not need to punish me {as if I were a dangerous criminal}. I am as unimportant as a bit of dry chaff, so you do not need to chase me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For you write bitter things against me, and you make me inherit the iniquities of my youth, | {From the way I am suffering, it appears that you are punishing me because} you consider that I have done terrible things. It seems that you are punishing me even for the wrong things I did when I was young {and I did not know any better}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and you put my feet in shackles, and you watch all of my paths; you engrave around the soles of my feet. | It seems as if {you are judging me too strictly, as if} you had put chains on my feet {to keep me from going anywhere}. It feels as if you are watching everything that I do very closely. It is as if you will only let me do a few specific things. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he decays like a rotten thing, like a garment—a moth has eaten it. | {But you do not need to watch me so closely.} I am a mere human being with a body that is as fragile as rotten wood that is falling apart, as fragile a piece of cloth that the larvae of moths are eating. |
He is like a rotten thing that wastes away, like a garment that moths have eaten.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Man, born of woman— few of days and full of trouble! | Human beings live only a short time, and during that time they experience much trouble. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Like a flower, he comes forth and withers, and like a shadow, he flees and does not stand. | People live brief lives, like flowers that appear quickly but then wither and fall to the ground. Yes, people’s lives are temporary, like shadows that appear only for a short time. |
Man sprouts from the ground like a flower, and then withers.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Even on such do you open your eye, and do you bring me into judgment with you? | God, you do not need to watch fragile humans so carefully. You do not need to judge everything that I do. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who will bring clean from unclean? Not one! | No one can make something that is acceptable to God out of something that is not acceptable to him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Since his days are determined, the number of his months {is} with you; you have set his limit and he will not pass {it}, | You have decided how many days each human life will last. Yes, you have decided how many months each person will live. No one can live any longer than the time you have decided. Because this is true, |
God has determined his days and the number of his months.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| look away from him, that he may desist until he fulfills his day like a hireling. | please stop watching people so closely. Give them relief so that they can live out their brief lives in peace. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For there is hope for a tree if it is cut down, that it will sprout again and its stalk will not cease. | Now even after people cut a tree down, it is possible for it to start growing again and make new branches. |
There can be hope for a tree that has been cut down, for it can sprout again.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Though its root grows old in the earth and its stump dies in the ground, | Its roots in the ground may be very old, and its stump may be decaying, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| from the scent of waters it will bud and make a branch like a plant. | but when rain falls on it, it may revive and send up shoots just as a young plant does. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But a man dies, and a man weakens and expires, and where {is} he? | But even the strongest people die. They grow weak and stop breathing, and then they are gone forever. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Waters disappear from a lake and a river dwindles and dries up, | Just as water evaporates from a lake, and just as a riverbed dries up, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and a man lies down and does not arise. Until the heavens {are} no more, they will not awake and they will not be roused from their sleep. | so people die and do not become alive again. Until the heavens do not exist any longer, people who die will not come back to life. No, no one will be able to make them alive again. |
He says that people do not rise up again, and will not be roused out of their sleep.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who will give {that} you will conceal me in Sheol, {that} you will hide me until the turning of your nose, {that} you will set a limit for me and remember me? | I wish that you, God, would put me safely in the place where dead people go and forget about me. That way I would not suffer any more until you were no longer angry with me. I wish that you would decide how much time I need to spend there and then come and rescue me from that place. |
Job wants God to hide him away in Sheol, away from troubles.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If a man dies, will he live? All the days of my hardship I will wait until the coming of my change. | I do not believe that we humans live again after we die. If I knew that I would live again, I would wait patiently throughout this difficult life. I would know that after I died, things would become different for me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You would call, and I would answer you. You would desire the work of your hands. | {After I had been in the place where dead people go for the time you had determined,} you would call for me, and I would answer you. You would be eager to see me, one of the creatures that you had made. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For then you would number my steps; you would not watch over my sin. | Yes, then you would protect me wherever I went, and you would not be watching to see whether I sinned or not. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My transgression {would be} sealed in a bag, and you would plaster over my iniquity. | You would forgive the things I had done wrong. Yes, it would be as if I had not done them at all. |
God would seal up Job’s transgression in a bag, and cover up Job’s iniquity.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| However, a falling mountain crumbles, and a rock moves from its place, | But just as mountains erode away and rocks tumble down slopes, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| waters wear down stones, its flooding washes away the dust of the earth, and you destroy the hope of man. | just as water wears away stones and floods wash away soil, so you make all people die, even though they hope to keep living. |
Water can wear down stones.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You forever overpower him, and he goes away; changing his face, you send him away. | You make us age the whole time we are living, and then we die. Yes, you make our faces show that we are old and about to die, and then you make us go to the place where dead people go. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| His sons achieve honor and he does not know, or they become insignificant and he does not perceive them. | When we die, we do not know whether our children will grow up and do things that will cause other people to honor them. If they do shameful things instead, we do not know that either. |
If they achieve honor or become insignificant, he does not know it.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Only his flesh grieves for him, and {only} his soul mourns for him.” | When we die, we feel sorry for ourselves, but no one else feels sorry for us. Yes, we grieve for ourselves, but no one else grieves for us.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, | Then Eliphaz, Job’s friend from the town of Teman, replied to what Job had said. Eliphaz told him, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Will the wise answer {with} knowledge of wind and fill his belly {with} the east wind, | “If you were truly wise, you would not have said such useless things. You have said a lot, but it has all been insignificant. |
He should not fill himself with the east wind.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| reasoning with a word {that} does not benefit and {with} words {that} do not have profit in them? | You should not be saying things that do not benefit anyone. No, you should not speak things that are not helpful. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Indeed, you destroy fear, and you diminish devotion to the face of God, | You are actually encouraging others not to respect God. Yes, you are discouraging people from honoring him. |
He thinks Job destroys fear and diminishes devotion to God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| for your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty. | You are wicked, and that is why you say what you do. You are talking in the way that deceptive people talk. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Your mouth condemns you, and not I, and your lips testify against you. | Everything that you say shows that God should punish you. It is not necessary for me to prove that. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Were you born the first man, and to the face of the hills were you formed? | {You should not think that you know so much} You were not the first person whom God created. God did not make you when he first formed the world. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Do you hear the counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? | You do not listen as God makes his plans. You should not think that you are the only person who is wise. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| What do you know, and we do not know? {What} do you understand, and it {is} not with us? | We know everything that you know. We understand everything that you understand. |
He does not think that Job knows what they do not know, or that he understands they do not understand.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Both the gray-haired and the aged {are} with us, greater than your father {in} days. | My friends and I are saying the same things that old, wise people say, people who were born before your father was. |
The gray-headed and very aged men who are older than Job’s father are with Eliphaz and his friends.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {Are} the consolations of God too small for you, or a word in gentleness to you? | God wants to comfort you and speak gently to you, but you do not appreciate that. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Why does your heart carry you away and why do your eyes flash, | You should not be allowing yourself to become so emotional. No, you should not be allowing yourself to lose your temper. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| that you turn your spirit against God and bring out words from your mouth? | You have become angry with God, and so you are saying harsh things against him. |
He thinks Job has turned his spirit against God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| What {is} man, that he should be pure, or that one born of a woman should be righteous? | No human being can be sinless. No one on this earth can be completely righteous. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, he does not trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in his eyes; | God does not even trust his own angels {to do the right thing every time}. He does not consider the heavens to be completely pure. |
He puts no trust even in his holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in his sight.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| indeed that the abominable and the corrupted, a man drinking iniquity like water! | So God certainly does not consider people to be pure who commit terrible wrongs, who do evil deeds as often as they drink water. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I will show you; listen to me, and what I have seen, let me also recount, | Job, I want to explain {why you are experiencing so much suffering}. Please listen to me. I have learned many things, and I want to explain them to you. |
The things he has seen are things that wise men passed down from their fathers, and things that ancestors did not hide.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| what the wise have declared— and not hidden—from their fathers. | These are things that wise people have passed down from their ancestors. These wise people have declared all these things openly. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| To them alone the land was given, and no stranger passed in their midst. | God gave the land {of Edom} exclusively to my wise ancestors. No one came from another country and caused them to think wrongly about God. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| All of the days of the wicked, he is writhing, and the number of years, they are reserved for the oppressor. | Wicked people suffer great pain the whole time that they are alive. God has determined that this will happen constantly to those who oppress others. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The sound of terrors {is} in his ears; in prosperity the destroyer comes upon him. | Wicked people constantly experience terrible things. They may become wealthy, but they will lose that wealth. |
The destroyer will come upon him while he is in his prosperity.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He does not believe to return from darkness, and he is selected for the sword. | Wicked people lose hope that their troubles will ever end. They are always afraid that they are going to die violently. |
The sword waits for the wicked man.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He {is} wandering for bread—‘Where {is it}?’ He knows that the day of darkness {is} prepared at hand. | They have to go and search for food to eat. They do not know where to find it. They know that they will certainly experience disasters soon. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Distress and anguish terrify him; it overpowers him like a king ready for battle, | Wicked people are always afraid that bad things will happen to them. Their fear keeps them from taking actions that might protect them, as if an opposing king had defeated them in a battle {and they had become helpless}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| because he has stretched out his hand against God and against the Almighty he has vaunted himself. | These things happen to wicked people because they oppose God. They think they are strong enough to defeat Shaddai. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He rushes against him with the neck, with the thickness of the bosses of his shields, | Wicked people stubbornly oppose God as if they had a strong shield to protect themselves against God. |
He runs at God with a stiff neck and a thick shield.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| though he has covered his face with his fat and made blubber on the flanks. | But they are so fat that they would not be able to fight! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he lives {in} ruined cities, {in} houses that no one dwells in, which are ready {to be} heaps. | Wicked people have to live in cities that others have deserted. They live in homes that others have abandoned. Those homes are about to collapse into a pile of ruins. |
They are ready to become heaps.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He will not be rich, and his wealth will not stand, and their possessions will not spread over the land. | Few wicked people become rich, and those who do become rich do not stay rich for very long. No, they do not acquire great wealth. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He will not depart from darkness; a flame will dry up his shoots, and he will depart at the breath of his mouth. | Wicked people will always be in trouble. They will be like trees whose branches burn up. When God gives the command, they will die. |
He will go away at the breath of God’s mouth.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; for emptiness will be his recompense. | Wicked people are often foolish and want to get things that are actually worthless. In the end, all they have are those worthless things. |
Emptiness will be his reward.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| When {it is} not his day, it will be fulfilled, and his branch will not be green. | While they are still young, they will die. They are like branches that have broken off a tree and dried up. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He will shake off his unripe grapes like a grapevine, and he will cast off his blossoms like an olive tree. | Wicked people are like vines whose grapes fall off before they are ripe. They are like olive trees whose blossoms fall off before they produce any fruit. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For the company of the godless {is} barren, and fire devours the tents of bribery. | Surely wicked people will not have any descendants. Those who took money from bribes will not have any money left in the end. |
It will be barren, and fire will consume their tents of bribery.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They conceive trouble and bear iniquity, and their womb fashions deceit.” | They plan to cause trouble and to do evil things. They continually think of ways to deceive other people.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Job answered and said, | Then Job replied to Eliphaz and the others. He said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “I have heard many such things; all of you {are} comforters of trouble. | “I have heard many things like that before. All of you, instead of helping me, are only causing me to feel more miserable. |
Job said they were making him more miserable with their endless, useless words.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {Is there} an end to words of wind? Or what compels you that you answer? | I wish that you would stop saying these things that are not helping me. Eliphaz, I do not understand why you feel that you must keep replying to me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I also would speak like you if your souls were where my soul is. I would join words together against you and I would shake my head at you. | I could say the same things that you are saying if you were the ones suffering instead of me. I could make great speeches to criticize you, and I could shake my head at you {to ridicule you}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips would relieve {you}. | I would think that I was encouraging you by what I said. Yes, I would think that I was relieving you by speaking with you |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If I speak, my pain is not relieved, but {if} I refrain, what goes from me? | But as it is, if I talk, I continue to suffer just as much, and if I do not talk, that does not reduce my suffering either. |
If he speaks, his grief is not lessened, and if he keeps from speaking, he is not helped.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But now he has exhausted me; you have devastated my whole family, | But now {I will speak to God}. God, you have taken away all my strength, and you have killed all of my children. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and you have shriveled me— it has become a witness, and my leanness rises up against me, it testifies against my face. | You have made me sick, and I have lost a lot of weight, and people think that shows that I am a sinner. They see how thin I am, and they think that proves that I am guilty. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| In his nose, he has torn {me} and he has attacked me; he gnashes his teeth against me. My enemy sharpens his eyes against me. | God is so angry with me that he has attacked me and hurt me. Now he is moving his teeth back and forth because he is still so angry with me. He is watching me closely {to see how he can attack me again}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They have gaped at me with their mouth; in reproach they have struck my cheek; they have gathered themselves together against me. | People look at me with their mouths wide open in order to humiliate me. They hit me in the face because they think I have done wrong. They crowd around me to threaten me. |
They gape at Job with open mouth, hit him reproachfully on the cheek, and gathered together against him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| God delivers me to sinners, and into the hands of the wicked he throws me. | God has allowed people who do not honor him to mistreat me. He has allowed wicked people to do whatever they want to me. |
God handed him over to the ungodly and threw him into the hands of wicked people.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I was tranquil, but he has shattered me, and he has seized my neck and shaken me to pieces. And he has set me up as a target for him; | Previously, I was living peacefully, but then God caused great trouble for me. It is as if he grabbed my neck and shook me to pieces. It is as if he set me up as a target |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| his archers have surrounded me. He pierces my kidneys and he does not spare; he pours my bile on the ground. | and people were surrounding me and shooting arrows at me. It is as if those arrows cut open my kidneys and caused the gall from my liver to spill onto the ground. God is not having any mercy on me at all! |
He has pierced Job’s kidneys and poured out his bile on the ground.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He breaches me, breach upon the face of breach; he runs against me like a warrior. | It is as if I were a wall that God was breaking down in many places. It is as if God were rushing at me like a soldier who was attacking his enemy. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I have sewn sackcloth on my skin, and I have thrust my horn into the dust. | {I am grieving so deeply that} it is as if I have sewn rough mourning cloth right onto my skin! I feel weak and humiliated. |
He has sewn sackcloth on his skin.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids {is} a dark shadow, | My face is red because I have cried so much. I have dark circles around my eyes because I have not been sleeping well. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| although violence {is} not in my hands and my prayer {is} pure. | All this has happened to me even though I have not violently harmed anyone and even though I pray sincerely to God. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Earth, do not conceal my blood, and may {there} not be a {hiding} place for my cry. | I feel as if I am the victim of a violent crime, and I want people to show concern about what has happened to me. I do not want anyone to stop me while I am demanding that God act justly toward me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Even now, behold, my witness {is} in the heavens, and my advocate {is} in the heights. | But even now, I know that there is someone in heaven who will testify for me. He will confirm that what I have done is right. |
Job’s witness is in heaven, and the one who is for him is on high.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My intercessors {are} my friends; my eye weeps to God. | This person in heaven is my friend, and he will plead with God for me. {At the same time, I will also plead with God so earnestly} that I will weep. |
Job pours out his tears to God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he will argue for a man with God, and a son of man for his neighbor. | My friend will plead with God for me in heaven the same way one person pleads for another person here on earth. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For years of number will come, and I will go {on} a path, I will not return. | {I want God to treat me justly now, while there is still time,} because within a few years I will die. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My spirit is destroyed, my days are extinguished; graves {are} for me. | My time to live is almost over. I have no strength left. I am just about to die. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If {there are} not mockers with me? And on their provocations my eye lingers. | The people who are around me are continually making fun of me. I have to watch them taunt me. |
He must always see the provocation of the mockers who are with him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Please set down, be surety for me with you. Who {is} he {who} will strike himself to my hand? | God, even though you would be trying my case, please also guarantee to yourself that I will appear in court and behave as a defendant should. There is certainly no one else who will do that for me. |
He wants God to pledge himself to be a guarantee for Job.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For you have hidden their hearts away from understanding; therefore you will not exalt {them}. | My friends will not vouch for me, because you have prevented them from understanding that I am innocent. Nevertheless, you will not prove them right by declaring me guilty. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He {who} denounces friends for a reward, even the eyes of his sons will fail. | {I know that you will treat me justly because you make sure that people act justly. For example,} you punish people who give false testimony against their neighbors in exchange for a bribe. You make their whole families suffer if they do that. |
The one who denounces his friends for a reward will cause the eyes of his children to fail.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But he has made me a saying of the peoples, and I have become a spitting in the face, | But because God is punishing me, people use my name to mean someone who was formerly prosperous but who experienced disaster because he was wicked. People even spit in my face {to insult me}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and my eye is dim from sorrow, and my members {are} like a shadow, all of them. | Because I am very sad, it has become hard for me to see. My whole body has become so thin that it is as if I am not even here. |
His eye is dim and all his body parts are as thin a shadow.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The upright wonder at this, and the innocent rouses himself against the godless. | When people who are truly righteous see what has happened to me, it shocks them. It makes them want to punish people who really disobey God. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the righteous will hold his way, and the clean of hands will add strength. | Those who are truly righteous will continue to do what is right, and those who are innocent will continue to become stronger. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But all of them, may you return, and come now, but I will not find a wise {person} among you. | But as for you friends of mine, we could continue talking, but I do not think that I will conclude that even one of you is wise. |
Job knows that he will not find a wise man among them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My days have passed, my plans are broken, the desires of my heart. | My time to live has almost ended. I have not been able to do the things that I planned to do. I can no longer hope that the things I most desired will happen. |
Job’s plans are over, as are the wishes of his heart.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They change night into day. Light is near from the face of darkness. | My friends say that the troubles I am experiencing are actually a good thing {because God is using the troubles to correct me}. My friends say that because my troubles have become so bad, that means they must nearly be over. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If I hope for Sheol {as} my house, {if} in the darkness I have spread out my bed, | Suppose the only home I could hope to have was the place where dead people go. Suppose I were going to stay in that dark place. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {if} I call to the pit, ‘You {are} my father,’ to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’ | Suppose I considered the grave to be my family home, and suppose I considered the worms that live in graves to be my family. |
The pit has become his father, and the worm is his mother and sister.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| where then {would be} my hope? And my hope, who would see it? | Then that would show that I truly do not have good things to hope for. Everyone would recognize that I was not really hoping for anything. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will they descend to the bars of Sheol? If {our} rest {will be} together in the dust?” | It would be as if everything I hoped for were going to the place where dead people go. Yes, it would be as if people were burying the things I have hoped for with me in a grave.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Bildad the Shuhite answered and said, | Then Bildad, Job’s friend who was a Shuhite, responded to Job. He said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Until when will you make ends of words? Consider, and afterward we will speak. | “Please stop talking! If you would stop talking and listen, we could tell you something. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Why are we regarded as beasts, {as if} we are stupid in your eyes? | You seem to think that we are as stupid as cattle. |
Bildad thought Job regarded them as beasts and thought they were stupid.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The one tearing himself in his nose— will the earth be forsaken for your sake, or will the rock move from its place? | But by being so angry, you are only hurting yourself. You seem to think that everyone should abandon the earth because life on earth is no longer worth living for anyone after what has happened to you. You seem to think that there should be a great earthquake {as a sign of what an awful thing has happened to you}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out; the flame of his fire will not shine. | But actually, what has happened to you is not momentous. Wicked people are bound to lose their prosperity. They will not continue to enjoy happiness. |
His light goes out; the flame of his fire will not shine.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The light in his tent will be dark, and his lamp will go out above him. | It will be as if the light went out in the tent in which they were living, so that they could not enjoy living there. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The steps of his strength will shorten, and his plan will cast him down. | Wicked people become weaker {because of the troubles they cause for themselves}. They try to take advantage of other people, but they hurt themselves instead. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For he will be cast into a net by his feet, and he will wander into a pitfall. | Yes, it is as if they walk into a net that they do not realize is there or fall into a pit that someone has concealed as a trap. |
He will be thrown into a net by his own feet, and he will walk into a pitfall.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| A snare will seize {him} by the heel; a trap will hold onto him. | It is as if their feet get caught in a trap that does not let them go. |
He will be caught by a trap, a snare, and a noose.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| His rope is hidden in the ground, and his trap for him {on} the path. | It is as if a loop of rope that someone has hidden on the ground springs up and seizes them when they walk onto it. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Terrors on every side will frighten him, and they will chase him at his feet. | Everywhere they go, things cause them to be terrified. It is as if those things are pursuing them and biting at their heels. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| His strength becomes hungry, and disaster {is} prepared at his side. | They will become weak, as if they did not have enough food to eat. They will always be at risk of disaster. |
His strength will turn into hunger.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It devours parts of his skin; the firstborn of death devours his parts. | Diseases will spread all over their skin. Yes, a horrible disease will cause their bodies to decay. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He is pulled from his tent, his safety, and one marches him to the king of terrors. | They have a secure life, but it ends suddenly. They die without being able to do anything to save their lives. |
He will no longer live in his tent but will be unable to save himself.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| One will dwell in his tent, {which is} not to him; sulfur is scattered upon his home. | Then all of their possessions will belong to other people. Wicked people will have nothing left, as if God had burned up everything they had by making burning stones fall on it. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Below, his roots dry up, and above, his branch withers. | They will be lifeless, like trees whose roots have dried up and whose branches have all withered. |
He describes the wicked man as a tree whose roots will dry up beneath the ground, and whose branch will wither above.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| His memory will perish from the earth, and no name {will be} to him upon the face of the land. | No one on the earth will remember them anymore. No, no one anywhere in the world will recall what they were like. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They will drive him from light into darkness, and they will chase him from the world. | Suddenly wicked people will die and no longer be alive. They will no longer be able to live in this world. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| No son {is} to him, and no grandson among his people, and no survivor in his dwellings. | They will have no children or grandchildren living in their people group after they die. They will have no descendants living where they previously lived. |
He will have no son or son’s son among his people, nor any remaining kinfolk where he had stayed.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The ones after will wonder at his day, and the ones before will seize horror. | Anyone who hears about what happened to them will be shocked. |
People will be shocked and horrified at what happens to the wicked man.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Surely these {are} the dwellings of the wicked, and this {is} the place of one {who} does not know God.” | This is certainly what happens to unrighteous people. Yes, this is what happens to people who do not honor God.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Job answered and said, | Then Job replied to Bildad and the others. He said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Until when will you afflict my soul and crush me with words? | “The three of you must stop hurting me and discouraging me by saying that I am wicked! |
Job asks his friends to stop hurting him and discouraging him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| These ten times you have reproached me; you are not ashamed, you mistreat me. | You have insulted me repeatedly. You should be ashamed for speaking so harshly to me! |
They have reproached him ten times.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And even {if} truly I have erred, my error remains with me. | Even if it were true that I had done wrong, that would be my concern, not yours! |
Job says the error should be his own concern.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If truly you will exalt yourselves above me and plead my disgrace against me, | If you truly think that you are better than I am, and if you are claiming that I must be guilty because I am suffering, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| then know that God has wronged me, and his net has closed around me. | you should realize that it is God who has caused me to suffer. It is as if he had a net and caught me in it, like an animal he wanted to trap. |
Job says God has done wrong to Job and caught him in God’s net.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered; I call for help, but {there is} no justice. | Listen to me: I protest that God is punishing me unfairly, but no one agrees with me. I cry for help, but no one, not even God, treats me fairly. |
He is not answered and there is no justice.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He has walled up my way and I do not pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths. | It is as if God has blocked my road so that I can not go anywhere. It is as if God has forced me to try to find my way in total darkness. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He has stripped my glory from upon me, and he has removed the crown of my head. | He has taken away my good reputation. It is as if he has taken a crown of authority off my head. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He has broken me down on every side, and I have gone away, and he has removed my hope like a tree. | He is ruining everything that I have. I no longer hope to experience good things in this life. I expect that I will soon die, as if I were a tree that he had pulled completely out of the ground. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he has kindled his nose against me, and he regards me as an enemy to him. | He attacks me because he is very angry with me. He treats me as if I were his enemy. |
Job says God has regarded him as one of his enemies.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| His troops come together, and they build up their ramps against me, and they encamp around my tent. | It is as if he were sending an army against me that has surrounded me and is getting ready to destroy me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He has put my brothers far from me, and my acquaintances indeed have turned away from me. | God has caused my family to abandon me. Those who know me now act like strangers toward me. |
God has put his brothers far from him, his acquaintances are alienated, his kinsfolk fail him, and his close friends have forgotten him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My kin have forsaken me, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. | My relatives have left me and my good friends ignore me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Guests of my house and my female servants regard me as a stranger; I have become a foreigner in their eyes. | People who were guests in my house and even my female servants act as if they do not recognize me. They treat me like a foreigner whom they do not know. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I call to my servant, but he does not answer; with my mouth I entreat him. | When I order my servants to come, they do not obey. I have to beg my servants to help me. |
His servant does not respond when Job gives an order.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My breath is strange to my wife, though I was gracious to the sons of my womb. | My wife stays away from me, even though I was a good father to our children. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Even young children despise me; let me arise, and they speak against me. | Even young children disrespect me. When I stand up to talk, they laugh at me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| All of the friends of my counsel abhor me, and those I love have been turned against me. | All of my intimate friends now detest me. The people I love are hostile to me. |
His former friends have turned against him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped with the skin of my teeth. | I have become so thin that my bones are visible beneath my skin; I am barely alive. |
He survives only with the skin of his teeth.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Pity me, pity me, you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me. | I plead with you, my three friends, pity me because God is making me suffer greatly. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Why do you pursue me as God {would}? And will you not be satisfied with my flesh? | You should not be making me suffer as well, as if you were God and had to punish sin. You seem to think that you need to keep accusing me of doing things wrong! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who will give {that} now my words will be written down? Who will give {that} they will be inscribed on a scroll? | I wish that someone would now write what I have been saying in a book {so that people could read it}. |
He wants them to be written down and inscribed in a book, or engraved with pen and lead in the rock forever.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| With a stylus of iron and {with} lead may they be engraved on a rock forever! | {Or else,} I wish that someone would carve what I have said onto a rock with a chisel and highlight it with lead so that people could always read it. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But I know {that} my redeemer lives, and {that at} the last he will stand upon the dust, | But I know that there is someone who will defend me and that some day he will appear here on the earth and declare me innocent. |
He knows that his Redeemer lives, and that at last his Redeemer will stand on the earth.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and {that} after my skin, they strike this off, yet from my flesh I will behold God, | Even after I die and people bury me and my body decays, still, in my body I will see God. |
Job in his flesh will see God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| whom I will behold for myself and my eyes will see, and not a stranger. My kidneys fail within my belly. | I will see him myself! Yes, I will see him personally! My emotions overwhelm me as I think about that! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If you say, ‘How we will persecute him! For the root of the matter is found in me,’ | But if you three men still think that you need to accuse me of doing wrong because you believe I am responsible for the sufferings I am experiencing, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| be afraid for yourselves of the face of the sword, for {from} wrath {is} the punishment of the sword, so that you will know that there is judgment.” | then you should fear that God will punish you, because God becomes angry with unfair people like you and he punishes them. When that happens, you will know that God punishes people fairly.” |
Wrath brings the punishment of the sword.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said, | Then Zophar, Job’s friend from the town of Naamah, responded to Job. He said, |
He answered Job quickly he was troubled by what Job said. He hears Job’s rebuke and says it puts him to shame.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Therefore my thoughts turn me back, because of my urgency in me. | “What you have said troubles me greatly, so I want to reply to you right away. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I hear a rebuke of dishonor to me, but a spirit from my understanding answers me. | You have insulted me by what you have said. But I have had a good idea about how I should respond to you. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Do you {not} know this from long ago, from the placing of man upon the earth, | People have known this for a long time, for as long as they have existed: |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| that the triumph of the wicked {is} from near, and the joy of the godless {is} for a moment? | Wicked people are only briefly successful; people who refuse to honor God are happy only for a short time. |
The joy of the godless only lasts for a moment.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Though his height rises to the skies and his head reaches to the cloud, | They may seem for a while to be very great and very powerful, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| he will perish forever like his dung. The ones having seen him will say, ‘Where {is he}?’ | but they will disappear forever like refuse that people throw away. People who knew them will wonder where they have gone. |
He will perish permanently, like garbage disappears.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He will fly away like a dream, and they will not find him, and he will be chased away like a vision of the night. | They will disappear the way a dream ends abruptly when a person wakes up. They will no longer exist. Yes, they will vanish just like the dreams that people have at night. |
He will fly away like a dream, and be chased away like a vision of the night.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The eye {that} saw him will not continue, and his place will no longer observe him. | Those who once saw those wicked people will never see them again. Those wicked people will no longer live where they once lived. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| His children will recompense the poor, and his hands will return his wealth. | They will have to return the valuable things that they stole from poor people. If they die before they can do that, their children will have to do it. |
His children will apologize to poor people.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| His bones are full of vigor, but it will lie down with him in the dust. | Wicked people will die before they grow old and others will bury them in the ground. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Although wickedness is sweet in his mouth, he hides it under his tongue, | For wicked people, doing wrong things is like having sweet food in their mouths that they want to continue tasting. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| he has pity on it and does not forsake it but keeps it in the midst of his palate, | They do not want to stop doing wrong things, as if those things were delicious food that they enjoyed eating. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| his food changes in his bowels; {it becomes} the bitterness of asps inside him. | {But they will regret doing those wrong things.} They will feel like people who eat what they should not eat and get a badly upset stomach that feels as if it is full of poison. |
It will cause the food in his intestines to turn bitter, and will becomes like the poison of asps inside him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He swallows wealth, but he will vomit it; God will expel it from his belly. | Wicked people try to get as much money as they can but they do not keep it, just as people who eat too much throw up the food that they ate. God makes sure that they lose their wealth. |
He will vomit them up again.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He will suck the poison of asps; the tongue of the viper will kill him. | A person who does evil deeds will die as a result, as certainly as the bite of a poisonous snake kills a person. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers of torrents of honey and butter. | A wicked person will not experience the abundant blessings that flow like a stream from God. |
He will not live to enjoy the blessings that flow from God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He will return {his} gain and will not consume {it}, and he will not have enjoyment according to the wealth of his commerce. | Wicked people will have to give back the things that they acquired dishonestly. They will not be able to continue using those things. They will not have the opportunity to enjoy the things they got by doing business, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For he has oppressed, he has forsaken the poor; he has seized a house and he did not build it. | because they oppressed poor people and refused to help them, and they took other people’s houses by cheating them. |
He has oppressed and neglected the poor people, and has violently taken away houses that he did not build.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Because he has not known satisfaction in his belly, he will not rescue {any} desired {thing} of his. | No matter how much they got, they still remained greedy, and as a result, they lost the things that they enjoyed having. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| There is no remnant for his eating; therefore his prosperity does not endure. | When they finish eating their food, there is never anything left over, because they greedily eat it all. That is why they do not remain wealthy. |
It will not be permanent because there is nothing left that he did not devour.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| In the filling of his wealth it will become narrow to him; every hand of the troubling will come against him. | While they are still very wealthy, they will suddenly experience trouble. Many people will be hostile to them and hurt them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He will be {about} to fill his belly, he will send the burning of his nose against him, and he will rain {it} upon him in his eating. | Even as wicked people are enjoying luxuries, God will show that he is very angry with them. He will punish them with great suffering, even as they are indulging themselves. |
God will rain down the fierceness of his wrath on him while he is eating.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He flees from a weapon of iron, a bow of bronze pierces him. | Even as they are trying to escape from smaller punishments, they will experience greater punishments. |
A bow of bronze will shoot him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He pulls, and it comes out of his back, and the gleaming goes out of his liver. Terrors {are} upon him! | It will be as if God had shot an arrow through a wicked person’s body and he had to pull it out of his back. But the shiny point of the arrow would have cut a gash in his liver, and he would know that he was going to die. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| All darkness is hidden for his treasured {things}; a fire not blown will devour him; it will consume the remnant in his tent. | God has decided that he will destroy the valuable possessions that wicked people have. It will be as if a fire that God starts will burn them up. Yes, God will destroy every last thing that they have in their homes. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will raise itself up against him. | The sins that those wicked people have committed will become apparent. If the sky could speak, it would tell all the wrong things it saw them do. If the earth could speak, it would also be a witness against them. |
The heavens will reveal his iniquity and the earth will be a witness against him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The wealth of his house will depart, flowing away on the day of his nose. | On the day when God punishes people, he will take away all the possessions of wicked people. It will be as if a flood had washed them away. |
The wealth of his house will vanish and his goods will flow away.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| This {is} the portion of the wicked man from God, and the heritage of his appointment from God.” | That is what God will do to wicked people. That is what God has decreed will happen to them.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Job answered and said, | Then Job replied to Zophar and the others. He said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Hearing, hear my words, and let this be your consolation. | “Please listen carefully to what I say. That is something that you can do to comfort me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Tolerate me and I will speak, and after I have spoken, you may mock. | Be patient with me, and allow me to speak. Then, after I have finished speaking, you can continue to make fun of me if you wish{, although I hope you will not}. |
He thinks they will continue to mock him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| As for me, {is} my complaint to a man? And if, why may my breath not be short? | I am not protesting to people about my suffering, I am protesting to God! And so it is certainly acceptable for me to be impatient! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Look at me and wonder, and lay the hand upon the mouth. | If you consider my situation, it will shock you. That should make you put your hands over your mouths {and say no more}! |
They will be astonished and lay their hands upon their mouths.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For when I remember, then I am terrified, and trembling seizes my flesh. | When I think about what has happened to me, I am frightened and my entire body shakes. |
He is terrified; his flesh trembles.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Why do the wicked live, grow old, and become mighty {in} power? | I do not understand why wicked people live long lives and become very powerful. |
Job asks, “Why do they continue to live, become old, and grow mighty in power?”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Their seed is established with them to their faces, and their descendants to their eyes. | They live to see their children grow up and start their own households nearby. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Their houses {are} peace, without fear, and the rod of God {is} not upon them. | Wicked people live safely in their homes without being afraid. God does not punish them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| His bull breeds and it does not fail; his cow calves and it does not miscarry. | Their bulls mate with their cows successfully. Their cows give birth to calves. They do not miscarry. |
The bull does not fail to breed and the cow does not lose her calf prematurely.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They send out their babes like a flock, and their children dance. | Wicked people are able to send their young children outside to play {without worrying about what will happen to them}. Their children dance playfully. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They lift up the tambourine and the harp, and they rejoice to the sound of the flute. | The children play tambourines and lyres {as they sing}, and they also play flutes happily. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They spend their days in prosperity, and they go down {to} Sheol in a moment. | Wicked people enjoy having good things while they are alive, and then they die peacefully and go to the place where dead people go. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They say to God, ‘Turn away from us, for we do not desire knowledge of your ways. | While they are alive, they say to God, ‘Leave us alone; we do not care about how you want us to live our lives!’ |
They tell God to depart from them, for they do not wish any knowledge of his ways.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who {is} the Almighty, that we should serve him? And how will we profit, that we should pray to him?’ | Those wicked people also say, ‘It does not matter whether we worship Shaddai. We would not get any advantage by praying to him.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, their prosperity {is} not in their hand! {May} the counsel of the wicked {be} far from me! | Wicked people wrongly think that they have become prosperous because of what they have done. I want to think completely differently from the way they think. |
He wants nothing to do with their advice.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| How often does the lamp of the wicked go out, or does their calamity come upon them? {How often,} in his nose, does he distribute pains? | It often happens that wicked people die without experiencing any disasters. I do not think that God actually becomes angry with them and punishes them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {How often} are they like stubble to the face of the wind or like chaff that a storm carries away? | God does not destroy them like straw that the wind blows away. It is never as if a whirlwind carries them off. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| ‘God lays up his guilt for his sons.’ Let him repay to him, and he will know! | You say, ‘When people have committed sins, God remembers and punishes their children for those sins.’ I say that God should punish the people who sin, not their children. That way sinners will know that God is punishing them for their own sins. |
Job wants the wicked person to pay for his guilt, and not his children, so that he would know his guilt.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Let his eyes see his destruction, and from the wrath of the Almighty let him drink. | Wicked people should have the experience of God destroying them. They should know what it is like for Shaddai to punish them in his wrath. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For what {is} his interest in his house after him when the number of his months is cut off? | After all, once wicked people die, they are no longer concerned for their families who are still alive. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will one teach knowledge to God, since he judges the ones being high? | Since God judges everyone, even those who are in heaven, no one can teach him anything. |
No, for he judges even those who are high.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| This one dies in the bone of his perfection; all of him {is} tranquil and secure. | Some people die while they are still very healthy. They die when their lives are peaceful and they are not afraid that bad things will happen to them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| His pails are full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is moistened. | Their bodies are fat. Their bones are strong. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But that one dies in the soul of bitterness, and he has not eaten the good. | Other people are very miserable when they die. They die before good things have happened to them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They lie down alike in the dust, and the worm covers over them. | Both kinds of people die, and other people bury them. Their bodies all decompose. {Everyone dies, so it is clear that dying is not always the punishment for being wicked.} |
They both lie down alike in the dust and the worms cover them both.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, I know your thoughts and the notions you wrest against me. | Listen, I know what you three are thinking about me. You are wrongly applying to me things that are true about wicked people. |
He knows their thoughts and the ways in which they wrong him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For you say, ‘Where {is} the house of the tyrant? Where {is} the tent of the habitation of the wicked?’ | I know you are wrong because you say, ‘God does not allow evil rulers to keep living! God does not allow wicked people to keep living!’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Have you not asked travelers of the way? Or do you not acknowledge their signs, | If you want to know what life on earth is really like, you should ask people who travel much {and see many things}. You will have to admit that the things they see and describe show what life is really like. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| that the wicked is spared in the day of calamity; in the day of wrath they are brought forth? | {Travelers will report} that wicked people do not suffer when there are great disasters. {They will report} that wicked people escape from God’s punishment. |
They have seen that the wicked man is kept from the day of calamity, and that he is led away from the day of wrath.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who will denounce his way to his face? And what he has done, who will repay to him? | No one dares to accuse wicked people openly of doing wrong. No one punishes them for the evil things they have done. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Indeed, he will be brought forth to the grave, and one will watch over the burial mound. | When wicked people die, others carry their bodies to their graves in a solemn procession. Then people guard their graves to protect them. |
Men will keep watch over his tomb.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The clods of the torrent will be sweet to him, and every man will extend after him, and to his face there is not numbering. | It would please wicked people to see how others build mounds over their graves to honor them. It would also please them to see how many people take part in their funeral processions. Many people walk in front of their bodies and many others walk behind them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So how do you comfort me in vain? And falsehood is left in your answers!” | Since all of this is true about wicked people, what you have been telling me does not make sense, and it has not comforted me. You have been trying to answer me by telling me things that are not true!” |
Job says Zophar was trying to comfort him with things that are not true.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, | Then Eliphaz, Job’s friend from the town of Teman, replied to what Job had said. Eliphaz told him, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Can a man be useful to God? For the one being wise is useful to himself. | “No one can do anything to benefit God! No, people can only do things to benefit themselves, and only if they are wise. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {Is it} pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or if {it is} gain that you perfect your ways? | It does not give Shaddai any extra pleasure if you live in the way you are supposed to live anyway. It does not make him better off if you improve the way you are living. |
He asks if it brings any pleasure to the Almighty if Job is righteous.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For your fear does he rebuke you, enter into judgment with you? | God would not be punishing you in this way if you truly honored him. God would not judge you to be guilty for doing that. |
He mockingly says that God would not punish Job if Job had truly been righteous.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Is not your wickedness great? And there is no end to your iniquities! | No, God must be punishing you because you are very wicked. You must have done a great number of evil things. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For you have bound your brother {with a pledge} without cause, and you have stripped off the clothing of the naked. | You must have unfairly forced poor people to give you things to guarantee that they would pay money back to you. You must have taken the cloaks that they needed to keep them warm. |
He says that Job has stripped the naked of their clothing.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You have not quenched the weary with water, and from the hungry you have withheld bread. | You must not have given water to people who were thirsty. You must not have given food to people who were hungry. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the man of arm, the earth {was} to him, and the lifted of face dwelt upon it. | You must have refused to help others even though you were a wealthy man who owned a lot of land. You must have enjoyed a life of privilege {without being concerned for others}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. | When widows came to you for help, you must have sent them away without giving them anything. You must have oppressed orphans. |
He claims Job has sent widows away empty.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore snares {are} around you and fear suddenly terrifies you. | Because you did all those things, now you are having difficulties in many different areas of your life. Things are happening all of a sudden that scare you. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Or darkness—you cannot see! And an abundance of waters covers you. | And so you do not know what to do, as if it had become very dark and you could not see anything. You cannot solve your problems; it is as if you were drowning in a flood of water. |
He says Job is in darkness so that he does not know what to do.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Is not God in the height of the heavens? And behold the head of the stars, that they are high! | But God lives high up in the heavens. He looks at the earth from a place that is even higher than the stars. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But you say, ‘What does God know? Will he judge through thick darkness? | So you should not say, ‘God does not know what people are doing.’ You should not say, ‘Dark clouds keep him from seeing us, so he cannot judge us.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Clouds {are} a covering to him and he does not see; indeed, he walks around on the dome of the heavens.’ | You should not say, ‘Since he walks on the dome that covers the sky, where there are thick clouds around him, and he can not see what we do.’ |
Job says, “Thick clouds are a covering to God, so that he does not see people.”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will you keep the old way that men of iniquity have walked, | You should not continue to conduct your life in the way that evil people have done for many years. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who were carried off and {it was} not time; their foundations were washed away by a torrent; | God makes evil people die suddenly while they are still young. They go away completely, as if a flood had swept them away. |
The wicked men’s foundations have washed away, as if by a flooding river.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the ones saying to God, ‘Turn away from us,’ and, ‘What will the Almighty do to them?’ | Those evil people told God, ‘Leave us alone!’ They also said defiantly, ‘Shaddai can do nothing to harm us!’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Yet he filled their houses with good, so {may} the counsel of the wicked {be} far from me! | Even so, God mercifully gave them many things to enjoy. Nevertheless, I want to think completely differently from the way evil people think. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The righteous see and rejoice, and the innocent scorn them. | When good people see that God punishes evil people, they are glad. People who have not done wrong say that those evil people are getting what they deserve. |
The righteous see their fate and are glad.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| ‘If our enemy is not cut off? And fire has devoured their possessions!’ | Those good people say, ‘Now God has destroyed our enemies! It is as if a fire has burned up everything they owned.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Reconcile now with him and be at peace; by these, good will come to you. | So, Job, I urge you to ask God to forgive you. Restore your relationship with him. If you do that, good things will happen to you. |
If Job is at peace with God, good will come to him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now accept instruction from his mouth, and set his words in your heart. | Do pay attention to what God teaches you. Meditate on what he says. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up, if you distance unrighteousness from your tent. | If you come humbly to Shaddai, he will restore you. {God will certainly do that} if you stop doing the evil things that you have been doing. |
If Job returns to the Almighty, he will be built up.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And set gold in the dust, and Ophir among the stones of the torrents, | Stop trusting in your wealth. It should be as if you are throwing away your gold, even the finest gold you have, onto the dirt and rocks. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| then the Almighty will be your golds and silver of heights to you. | If you do that, then Shaddai will be more precious to you than your gold and your silver ever were. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and you will lift your face to God. | If you do that, then your relationship with Shaddai will make you very happy. You will be able to approach God confidently. |
When Job takes pleasure in the Almighty, he will lift up his face to God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and your vows you will pay. | When you pray to God, he will do what you ask him to do. You will have many things to praise God for. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And you will decree a word and it will stand for you, and on your paths light will shine. | The things that you decide to do will be successful. It will be as if a light were shining on the road in front of you so that you knew just where to walk. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| When they cast down and you say, ‘Lifting up!’ then he will save the lowered of eyes. | People may cause great difficulties for you. But when you pray and humbly ask God to help you, he will save you. |
God saves those who are humble.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He will rescue the not-innocent, indeed, he will be rescued through the cleanness of your hands.” | God will even help people who have done wrong things if you pray for them. God will answer your prayer because you will not have done wrong things.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Job answered and said, | Then Job replied to Eliphaz and the others. He said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Even today my complaint is bitter; my hand is heavy upon my groaning. | “I must still complain about many distressing things. There is much more that I could have protested about. |
No. Job said that there is much more he could protest about.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who will give {that} I knew and I would find him? I would come to his place! | I wish that I knew where I could find God. {If I knew that,} I would go to the place where he lives. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I would set forth my case to his face, and I would fill my mouth with arguments. | I would present much evidence to God that I am innocent. I would offer many arguments to prove that. |
He would lay his case in order before God and fill his mouth with arguments.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I would know the words he would answer me, and I would perceive what he would say to me. | That way I would know what God would say in reply to everything I would say to him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Would he argue against me in the greatness of power? No, he would only set upon me. | He would not use his great power to defeat me. He would listen to me fairly. |
No, he thinks God would listen to him fairly.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| There the upright is arguing with him, and I would escape forever the one judging me. | I am an honest man, so if I met with God personally, I would be able to discuss things with him reasonably. {If we could do that,} he would declare that I am innocent. After that, he would not punish me again as if I had sinned. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, I go to the east, but he is not there, and to the west, but I do not perceive him; | {But I do not know where to find God.} If I went to the east, he would not be there. If I went to the west, I would not see him there. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| in his working in the north, I do not behold {him}; he turns to the south, but I do not see {him}. | He makes natural things happen beautifully in the north, but no one there sees him doing those things. He must also go to the south, but no one sees him there either. |
Job says in the south, God hides himself so that no one can see what he does there.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Nevertheless, he knows the way {that is} with me; he has tested me, I have come out like gold. | Still, he knows how I have conducted my life. When he has finished testing me, he will see that I am as pure as gold whose impurities fire has burned out. |
When God has tested Job, he will come out like gold.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My foot has held onto his step; I have kept {to} his way and I have not turned aside. | I have lived faithfully in the manner that God wants people to live. I have not stopped living that way. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion. | I have always obeyed the commandments that he has given. I would rather go without food than disobey what God has told us to do. |
Job has treasured up in his heart the words of God’s mouth.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But he {is} of one, and who will turn him back? For his soul desires, and he does. | But God seems to have made up his mind that I am a sinner, and no one can make God change his mind. Whatever he wants to do, he does. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For he will carry out my decree, and many like these {are} with him. | So it seems that God will keep on punishing me until I die. If my present troubles do not kill me, I am sure that God will cause many more troubles for me! |
God will carry out his decrees for Job.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore, I am terrified from his face; I consider, and I am afraid of him. | So the thought of coming into his presence greatly frightens me. When I think about what he can do, that makes me very afraid of him. |
When Job thinks about him, he is afraid of him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For God has softened my heart, and the Almighty has terrified me. | I am afraid because I am no longer brave after what God has done to me. Shaddai has made me very frightened. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For I was not cut off from the face of the darkness, and from my face gloom covers. | I have lived to experience terrible things, and that is why I am so frightened. I can only imagine that the future will be just as bad as the present. |
The thick darkness covers Job’s face.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Why are times not set by the Almighty? And {why} do the ones knowing him not see his days? | Shaddai should set times when he judges evil people. The people who obey God never seem to see him judge evil people. |
Job asks why times for judging the wicked are not set by the Almighty.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They remove boundary markers; they seize the flock and pasture {it}. | Some evil people remove boundary markers so that they can steal other people’s land. Some evil people steal other people’s sheep and put them in with their own sheep. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The donkey of the fatherless they lead away; they take in pledge the ox of the widow. | Some evil people take away donkeys that belong to children who have no fathers to protect them. They make loans to widows, and then they take oxen that belong to them to guarantee that the widows will pay back the money. {But without the oxen, the widows cannot grow crops, so they cannot repay the loans, and the evil people keep the oxen.} |
They drive away the donkey of the fatherless.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They turn the needy from the way; the poor of the land are hidden together. | Poor people do not want evil people to know where they are, so they do not walk on the main roads. Poor people stay in hiding places in order to avoid evil people. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, {like} wild donkeys in the wilderness they go out in their work, searching for food; the Arabah {is} to him bread for their children. | In fact, poor people have to search in the desert plain for food to feed their children, as if they were wild donkeys. |
They hope the Arabah will provide them food for their children.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They gather his fodder in the field, and the vineyard of the wicked they glean. | The poor people pick up leftover grain in other people’s fields. They gather leftover grapes from vineyards that evil people own. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They lie naked all night without a garment, and there is no covering in the cold. | During the night they do not have thick garments to cover their bodies, so they are not able to stay warm. |
They have no covering in the cold.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and from {being} without shelter, they hug the rock. | {Poor people have no homes, so} when rain showers come from the mountains, they get very wet. They have to huddle under rock ledges to shelter themselves from the rain. |
They embrace a rock for lack of shelter.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They snatch the fatherless from the breast, and upon the poor they bind {a pledge}. | Some evil people even take babies away from their mothers while they are nursing! They take the babies as a guarantee that their mothers will repay money that they have lent them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They go about naked, without clothing, and, hungry, they carry a sheaf. | Poor people do not have adequate clothing. They also do not have adequate food, even though they carry around bundles of grain because they work to bring in other people’s harvests. |
Even though they go hungry, they carry others’ sheaves of grain.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Within their walls they press oil; they tread their winepresses, but they thirst. | Evil people hire poor people to make oil from olives that grow on olive trees on their property. The evil people also hire poor people to tread on grapes that grow on their vines to make juice for wine. But they do not allow the poor people to drink any of the wine when they are thirsty. |
They tread the wicked men’s winepresses, but they suffer thirst.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| From the city, men groan and the soul of the wounded cries out, but God does not ascribe impropriety. | In the cities, poor people groan because they are suffering. People whom evil people have wounded cry out to God for help. But God does not seem to care about what the evil people are doing to them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They are among the ones rebelling {against} the light; they do not regard its ways, and they do not stay in its paths. | These evil people are like others who do not obey God. They do not try to understand what God wants or to do it. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| At light the murderer arises; he kills the poor and the needy, and he is like a thief in the night. | Murderers go out in the dim light of morning so they can kill vulnerable people {without being caught}. They are like thieves who steal things in the dark of night {in order to avoid being caught}. |
In the night, the murderer is like a thief.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the eye of the adulterer watches {for} twilight, saying, ‘No eye will perceive me,’ and he puts a cover {over} {his} face. | Men who want to commit adultery watch for evening to come. They say, ‘I am going to make sure that no one recognizes me,’ and they disguise themselves. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| One digs {into} houses in the darkness; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light. | During the night, robbers find ways to get into other people’s houses and steal things. But during the day, they stay in their own homes. They do not like being out where it is light. |
The wicked do not care for the light.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For together, morning for them {is} deep darkness, for one regards the terrors of thick darkness. | These evil people all stay at home during the day because morning is as scary for them as the dark of night is for other people. They stay up at night because they like being awake at night when things happen that terrify others. |
They are comfortable with the terrors of the thick darkness.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He {is} swift on the face of the waters; their portion of the land is cursed; one does not turn {to} the way of their vineyards. | However, those wicked people will not live long lives. God will keep anything from growing on the land that they own. No one will go and work in their vineyards. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Drought and heat strip away the waters of snow; Sheol, {those who} have sinned. | Just as water from melting snow dries up when it is hot and there is no rain, those evil people will go to the place where dead people go. |
Sheol consumes those who have sinned.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The womb will forget him, the worm will dine on him, until he is not remembered and wickedness is broken like a tree, | When they die, maggots will eat their corpses, and no one will remember them. Even their mothers will forget about them! Those wicked people will be like trees that fall down and rot. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one devouring the barren, who has not borne, and he does not do good {to} the widow. | Those evil people mistreat women who do not have children to care for them. Those evil people never help widows. |
The wicked one devours the barren women who have not born children.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But he drags away the mighty by his power; he arises and he does not believe in life. | But God, by his power, gets rid of people who hurt others because they are stronger than those others. When it is clear that God is going to punish those evil people, they know that they are going to die. |
God drags away the mighty by his power.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He gives him security and he is supported, but his eyes are on their ways. | God allows them to think that they are secure, and so they do not worry, but God is carefully watching how they live. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They are exalted a little, then there is not to them; indeed, they are brought low; like all, they are gathered and, like the tops of ears of grain, they are cut off. | Those evil people may prosper for a little while, but suddenly they will be gone. God will show that they were not greater than others. God will make them die like all other people. Then they will be like stalks of grain that farmers have cut off. |
In only a little while, the mighty will be gone.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And if not, then who will falsify me and make my word nothing?” | What I have said is certainly true. Now that I have explained it, there is no one who can show that I am a liar and prove me wrong.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Bildad the Shuhite answered and said, | Then Bildad, Job’s friend who was a Shuhite, responded to Job. He said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Dominion and fear {are} with him, the one making peace in his heights. | “God is very powerful. Everyone should honor him greatly. God causes everything to be orderly high up in heaven. |
God makes order in his high places of heaven.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Is there a number to his troops? And upon whom does his light not arise? | No one can count all the stars in the sky. When the sun rises, it shines on everyone. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So how will a man be righteous with God? Or how will one born of a woman be pure? | Since God is so great, no person can be righteous compared with him. No human being is innocent by his standards. |
He asks if one who is born of a woman can be clean and acceptable to God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, even the moon does not shine and the stars are not pure in his eyes. | Consider this: God is so glorious that he does not even consider the full moon to be bright! Even the white light of the stars does not seem pure to him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Indeed that a man, a worm, or a son of man, a grub!” | So God would certainly not consider mortal humans to be pure!” |
He says that a son of man is a grub.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Job answered and said, | Then Job replied to Bildad and the others. He said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “How you have helped {the one} without power! You have saved the arm of no strength! | “I am struggling, but you have not really helped me. I am not able to overcome my difficulties, but you have not rescued me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| How you have advised {one} without wisdom! Insight in abundance, you have made known! | I need good advice, but you have not given me any. You have said many things, but they have not been helpful. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| With whom did you declare words? And the breath of whom came out from you? | I suppose you think that God helped you tell me important things. But God was not really speaking through you. |
Job says Bildad is not speaking God’s words, but his own.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The Raphaites tremble from below the waters and the ones inhabiting them. | {Let me tell you how great God really is.} The spirits of dead people tremble with fear at God. They are deep in the earth, below the waters where the sea creatures live. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Sheol {is} naked before him, and {there is} no covering to Abaddon, | God knows all about those who are in the place where dead people go. Nothing prevents God from seeing what is there. |
Sheol itself has no covering against God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one stretching out the north over nothingness, hanging the earth upon nothing; | God created the dome of the sky to make an orderly world. God created the dry land where previously there was nowhere for people to live. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one binding the waters in his clouds, but the cloud is not torn under them; | God uses clouds as containers for rainwater, and he prevents that water from bursting the clouds. |
He binds up the waters in his thick clouds.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one covering the face of the full moon, spreading his cloud upon it. | God can make clouds so thick that even the bright moon cannot shine through them. |
He encloses the face of the moon and spreads his cloud on it.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He has circled a limit on the face of the waters unto the boundary of light with darkness. | God has set the horizon in place as the outer edge of the oceans. The horizon is at the place where the sky meets the earth. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The pillars of the heavens tremble and marvel at his rebuke. | Sometimes even the mountains that hold up the sky shake, as if God were scolding them and they were afraid. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He calmed the sea with his power, and by his understanding he shattered Rahab. | God used his power to restrain the oceans; by his skill he destroyed Rahab, the huge sea monster. |
He calmed the sea with his power.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| By his breath the skies {become} clearness; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. | God can make the sky clear by blowing away the clouds. {God brings order everywhere in creation} by overcoming the forces of chaos. |
By his breath, he cleared the heavens of storms.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, these are the edges of his ways, and how small a word we hear of him! And the thunder of his power, who will understand?” | But I have described only a little bit of what God does. It is as if we can only hear someone whisper about him. When we hear mighty thunder, we realize that God is far too great for us to understand.” |
People can see only the edges of God’s ways.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Job continued to take up his discourse, and he said, | Job kept speaking to his three friends. He said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “{As} God lives, {who} has taken away my justice, the Almighty, {who} has made my life bitter, | “I will promise you something as surely as God exists, even though he has treated me unfairly. I will promise you something as surely as Shaddai exists, even though he has made my life so unpleasant. |
God has taken away his justice.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| that, any of my life still {being} in me, and breath from God {being} in my nose, | I will insist on it for as long as I am alive. Yes, for as long as I am still breathing, I will insist on it. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| if my lips speak wickedness, or my tongue, if it utters deceit! | I promise that I will not say the wrong thing! I promise that I will not say anything to deceive anyone! |
Job vows that surely his lips will not speak wickedness or deceit.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Sacrilege to me if I justify you! Until I expire, I will not turn my integrity away from me. | And so I will never say that what you three have said about me is true. Until the day that I die, I will insist that I have been living as God wants people to live. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I grasp my righteousness and I will not let it go; my heart will not reproach {me} from my days. | I will insist that I am innocent. I will never say anything different. That way, for as long as I live, I will not feel badly about saying something that was not true. |
His thoughts will not reproach him so long as he lives.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| May my enemy be like the wicked, and the one rising up against me like the unrighteous! | I want to be just the opposite of an evil person. I want to disagree with the way anyone who is a bad person is living. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For what {is} the hope of the godless when he cuts {him} off, when God takes away his life? | I want to be the opposite of an evil person because when God decides it is time for that person to die, he can only expect that God will then punish him for the wrong things that he has done. |
When God cuts off his life, God will punish him for the wrong things that he has done.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him? | When evil people are in trouble, God does not rescue them when they pray for help. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If he will delight himself in the Almighty? Will he call {to} God in every time? | Evil people are not happy about what Shaddai does. They do not speak with God in prayer in good times as well as in bad times. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I will teach you about the hand of God; what {is} with the Almighty I will not conceal. | I need to teach you three something about how God actually deals with the people of this world. |
Job said that he would not conceal the hand of the Almighty.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, you have seen {this} yourselves, all of you; why then do you vainly speak this vanity? | You three have certainly seen for yourselves how God treats people. So you should not have been telling me things that have made so little sense. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| This {is} the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, they receive {it} from the Almighty: | I will tell you how God punishes evil people. This is what Shaddai does to those who mistreat others: |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If his children multiply, {it is} for the sword, and his offspring will not have enough bread. | Even if they have many children, those children will die in wars, or they will die because they do not have enough food to eat. |
His offspring will never have enough food.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| His survivor will be buried in death, and his widows will not lament. | Any children who are still alive after their evil parents die will perish from diseases. Not even the wife of an evil man will mourn for him if he dies. |
His widow will make no lament for him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If he heaps up silver like the dust and he piles up clothing like clay mounds, | Sometimes evil people accumulate a large amount of money and they acquire many valuable articles of clothing. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| he piles up, but the righteous clothes himself and the innocent receives silver. | But even if evil people become rich, they will die, and then righteous people will get their clothes. Honest people will get their money and share it with one another. |
The innocent will divide up his silver among themselves.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He builds his house as a moth {does}, and like a hut {that} a guard makes. | The houses that they build are as weak as spider webs. Their houses are flimsy, like the huts that watchmen live in while they guard people’s fields. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He lies down rich, but he does not continue; he opens his eyes and there is not to him. | God makes evil people lose their money. It is as if they are rich when they go to bed one night, but the next morning they wake up to find that their money is all gone. |
He opens his eyes, and everything is gone.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Terrors overwhelm him like waters; a storm carries him away in the night. | When evil people realize that God is punishing them, they become very afraid, as if those fears were water in which they were drowning. God soon destroys the evil people, as if a whirlwind carried them away in the night. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The east wind takes him away, and he leaves; indeed, it blasts him from his place. | It is as if a windstorm from the desert picks them up and carries them away from their homes. No one ever sees them again. |
The east wind carries him away, and it sweeps him out of his place.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it hurls {itself} upon him and does not pity; fleeing, he flees from its hand. | It is as if a wind like that blows steadily against them while they are running away, trying to escape from its force. |
He tries to flee out of its power.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It claps its hands at him and hisses at him from his place. | It is as if such a wind were clapping its hands at them to mock them. It is as if such a wind blew them out of their houses and stayed there laughing at them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place {where} they refine gold. | There certainly are places where people dig to find silver. There certainly are places where people refine gold that they have dug from the ground. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Iron is taken from the dust, and one smelts copper {from} stone. | People get iron from ore that they dig out of the ground. They get copper by heating and melting ore that contains it. |
Copper is smelted out of stone.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Setting an end to darkness, he is searching out, to every extremity, a stone of gloom and deep darkness. | People use lamps so that they can see while they work far down under the ground. They search for ore in many places where it is very dark. |
Man searches out, to the farthest limit, the stones of gloom and thick darkness.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He opens a shaft away from habitation, the ones forgotten by the foot. Away from man, they dangle and swing. | People dig shafts deep into the ground in places that are far from where other people live, As they work underground, the people who walk above them are not aware of them. People have to climb down ropes in order to descend into the deep shafts they have dug. |
He breaks open a shaft away from where people live.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The earth, from it comes bread, but beneath it, it is overturned as with fire. | Food grows on the surface of the ground. But deep below the ground, miners make fires to break apart the rocks. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Its stones {are} the place of sapphire, and dusts of gold {are} to it. | The stones that people dig from under the ground contain sapphires. The dirt they dig up contains bits of gold. |
The earth’s dust contains gold.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| No bird of prey knows the path, and the eye of the falcon has not seen it. | Even birds that have very good eyesight can not see deep down into these mines. Even birds such as falcons have not looked into them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The sons of pride have not walked it, and the lion has not passed over it. | Strong beasts can go wherever they want, but they have never gone to those places. Not even lions have gone there. |
The proud animals have not walked such a path, nor has the fierce lion passed there.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He stretches out his hand against flinty rock; he overturns mountains from their roots. | Miners dig through even very hard rock. It is as though they are turning mountains upside down in order to get at the ore that is at the bases of them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He cuts out channels among the rocks, and his eye sees every valuable thing. | Miners cut tunnels through rocks in order to find many precious things. |
His eye sees every valuable thing there.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He binds the torrents from flowing, and he brings a hidden thing {to} light. | They dam up small streams to stop the water from flowing. That allows them to find things that were hidden beneath the water of the streams. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But where is wisdom found? And where is that, the place of understanding? | {It takes great effort to find valuable ore.} It is even more difficult to obtain wisdom. Yes, it is very difficult to obtain understanding. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Man does not know its disposition, and it is not found in the land of the living. | Humans do not know how to obtain wisdom. Wisdom is not available on earth, where people live. |
Both of these are not found in the land of the living.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The deep says, ‘It {is} not in me,’ and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’ | It is as though the ocean depths and the water of the seas said, ‘There is no wisdom here!’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Gold is not given for it, nor is silver weighed {for} its price. | People can not buy wisdom by paying for it with gold or silver. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It is not valued with the gold of Ophir, with precious onyx or sapphire. | Wisdom is worth much more than fine gold that comes from the land of Ophir. {Wisdom is worth much more} than very valuable stones. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Neither gold nor crystal compares with it, {nor is} its exchange a vessel of fine gold. | Wisdom is worth much more than gold or beautiful quartz. It is more expensive than an article made of pure gold. |
Gold and crystal cannot equal both of these in worth.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Coral and jasper are not mentioned; indeed, the price of wisdom {is} more than rubies. | Wisdom is worth more than coral or jasper. The price of wisdom is higher than the price of rubies. |
The price of wisdom is more than rubies.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The topaz of Cush does not equal it; it is not valued in pure gold. | Wisdom is worth more than topaz from the land of Cush. One can not express the value of wisdom even in terms of gold. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| From whence, then, does wisdom come? And where {is} that, the place of understanding? | So, then, wisdom is very difficult to obtain; understanding is indeed a very valuable thing to get. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It is hidden from the eyes of each living {thing}; even from the birds of the heavens it is concealed. | Living creatures are not able to see it. Not even the birds can see it while they are up in the sky. |
Wisdom is hidden from the eyes of all living things.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Abaddon and death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’ | Even after people die, they do not have a better experience of wisdom in the different place to which they go. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| God understands its way, and he knows its place. | God is the only one who knows how people can become wise. |
God understands the way to wisdom and he knows its place.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For he looks to the ends of the earth; he sees beneath all of the heavens. | God knows this because he can see everything on earth, even in its most remote places. God can see everything that is below the sky. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| When he made the weight for the wind and apportioned the waters by measure, | He decided how strongly the winds should blow and how much rain should be in the clouds. |
He parceled out the waters by measure.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the flash of the thunders, | God decided where rain should fall and what path lightning should take from the clouds down to the ground. |
He made a decree for the rain.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| then he saw it and recounted it; he established it and also explored it. | At that time, he identified wisdom and recognized that it was very valuable. He was delighted by its capabilities and made it a permanent part of his creation. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord—that {is} wisdom, and to turn from evil {is} understanding.’” | Then God told human beings, ‘Listen! You will become wise to the extent that you respect me. If you want to understand what you should do, you must first decide that you will not do anything wicked.’” |
To people, God said, “See, the fear of the Lord—that is wisdom.”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Job continued to take up his discourse, and he said, | Job kept speaking to his three friends. He said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Who will give me {to be} as {in} the months of the past, as {in} the days {when} God was keeping me, | “I wish that I could be as I was previously during the time when God was taking care of me. |
Job remembers that in the past months God had cared for him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| when his lamp shone over my head, {when} I walked {in} darkness by his light, | During that time, it was if God was shining a light on me so that I could see where I was going even in the darkness. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| as that I was in the days of my prime, when the friendship of God {was} upon my tent, | At that time I was young and strong. Because God was my friend, he protected where I lived. |
Job remembers the ripeness of his days, when the friendship of God was on his tent.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| when the Almighty {was} still with me, my children around me, | Shaddai was still present with me during that time when all my children were still alive and living near me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| when my steps were bathed in butter and the rock poured out streams of oil for me! | My herds provided me with plenty of milk. My olive trees provided me with plenty of oil. |
When the almighty was with Job, the rock poured out for him streams of oil.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| When I went out to the gate of the city, {when} I took my seat in the square, | I used to go to the place where the elders gathered at the city gate. The people had reserved a seat for me there, and I would sit in it. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| young men saw me and hid themselves, and old men rose, they stood. | When young men saw me, they stepped aside respectfully. When older men saw me, they stood up respectfully. |
They saw Job and kept their distance from him in respect.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The princes refrained from words, and they put a hand on their mouth. | The leaders of the people used to stop talking when I arrived. They made sure they did not say anything{, because they knew it would not be as good as what I was going to say}. |
They used to refrain from talking when he came.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The voice of the nobles—they were hushed, and their tongue stuck to their palate. | Even the most important leaders became quiet. It was as if they were not even able to speak. |
Their tongue clung to the roof of their mouths.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For the ear heard, and they blessed me, and the eye saw, and they attested me | When people heard what I had to say, they said good things about me. They recognized that I had given wise counsel, and they approved of me |
They would then give witness to Job and approve of him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| because I rescued the afflicted crying out and the fatherless when {there was} no help to him. | {They approved of me} because I had helped those who were poor and who were calling for help. {They also approved of me because} I aided orphans who had no fathers to help them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The blessing of the one perishing came upon me, and I gladdened the heart of the widow. | People who had been suffering and were about to die praised me {for rescuing them}. I made widows very happy by helping them. |
He caused her heart to be glad.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I clothed myself {with} righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice {was} like a robe and a turban. | It was in my character to make sure that I and others did what was right. Yes, it was in my character to make sure that people treated one another in a way that was just. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I was eyes to the blind, and I {was} feet to the lame. | I helped people who could not see, as if I were seeing for them. I helped people who could not walk, as if I were walking for them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I {was} a father to the needy, and the case {that} I did not know, I examined it. | I protected poor people the way a father protects his children. In the courts, I defended even people who were strangers to me. |
He would examine the case even of one whom he did not know.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and I made the prey drop from his teeth. | I made wicked people stop oppressing others. It was as if I were breaking the jaws of a wild animal to make it drop its victim from its teeth. |
He plucked the victim out from between the teeth of the unrighteous.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And I said, ‘I will expire in my nest, and I will multiply days like sand. | At that time I thought, ‘I am certainly going to live a long life, and then I will die at home with my family. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My root is spread out to the waters, and the dew lodges on my branch. | I am like a tree whose roots reach down into the water and whose branches become wet with dew each night. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My glory {is} fresh in me, and my bow sprouts in my hand.’ | People continually honor me, and I stay strong like a new bow.’ |
The bow of his strength is always new in his hand.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They listened to me and they waited, and they kept silent for my counsel. | When I spoke, people waited to hear what I would say. They remained silent until I advised them what they should do. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| After my word, they did not also {speak}, for my speech dripped on them. | After I finished speaking, they did not say anything, because what I had said was so satisfying. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they waited for me as {for} rain, and they opened their mouth {as} for the latter rain. | They were as eager to hear me speak as farmers are for it to rain. They listened to me with great appreciation, just as the ground seems to welcome the rain that falls in the spring. |
They opened their mouth wide to drink in his words as they would for the latter rain.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I smiled on them {when} they did not believe, and they did not cause the light of my face to fall. | I helped people who felt discouraged. I remained cheerful even as I helped them deal with difficult situations. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I chose their way and I sat as a chief, and I dwelt like a king in an army, as when one comforts mourners. | As their leader, I decided what things would be good for them to do. They respected me, just as soldiers respect the king who commands their army. I was kind and sympathetic, like someone who comforts people who are mourning. |
He say that he is like one who comforts mourners at a funeral.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But now the fewer in days than me laugh at me, whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock. | But now, men who are younger than I am make fun of me. They are men whose fathers I would not even have hired to help my dogs guard my sheep! |
Those who are younger than Job have nothing but mockery for him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Indeed, the strength of their hands, for what {is it} to me? In them old age has perished. | And I would not hire any of those young men to work for me either. They are already feeble. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {They are} gaunt from poverty and from hunger, ones gnawing the dry land yesterday {in} waste and desolation, | {No one hires them,} so they are poor and go hungry and have become thin. They have to eat roots that they find in places where no crops have grown for a long time. |
They were thin from poverty and hunger.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| ones plucking mallow among the brush, and the root of broom trees {is} their bread. | They look among bushes to find leaves that they can eat. They pull up broom trees and eat their roots. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They are driven out from the midst; they shout after them as {after} a thief, | {When they come near villages,} people shout at them, as they would at a thief, to make them leave their area. |
Their fathers were driven out from among people.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| to dwell on the slope of wadis, {in} holes of the dust and rocks. | They have to live in riverbeds, in holes in the ground, and in caves on the sides of cliffs. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Among the shrubs they bray; they are gathered together under thorn bushes. | {During the day} they huddle under thorn bushes. There they howl like animals because they are so hungry. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Sons of a fool, indeed, sons of {one} without a name! They are scourged from the land. | They are people without good sense, and they have never achieved anything significant. People force them to leave their towns. |
Job says that they were descendants of fools, indeed, of worthless men.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But now I have become their song, and I am a word for them. | But these despicable young men sing songs to make fun of me! If they think God is punishing someone for being a sinner, they call that person ‘another Job.’ |
Job had become their subject for a song of mockery.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They abhor me, they stay away from me, but from my face they do not withhold spit. | They hate me and they stay away from me, but if we happen to meet, they spit right in my face. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For he has loosed my cord and humbled me, so they cast away restraint from my face. | I am not able to defend myself against these young men, because God has taken away my strength. He has humiliated me. So they can do whatever they want to me. |
These people cast away self-restraint in front of him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| On {my} right the brood arise; they thrust aside my foot, and they pile up roads of destruction against me. | Gangs of these young men threaten me. They shove me aside when they pass by. They think of new ways to hurt me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They destroy my path, they advance my calamity; {there is} no help for them. | I am not able to escape from them, even as they keep doing worse things to me. No one else would do the things they do to me. |
They advance his calamity because there is no one to hold them back.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| As {through} a wide breach they come; amid the ruin they roll on. | It is as if I were a city and they were an army that had broken through its wall and sent in waves of troops to destroy the city. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Terrors are turned against me; {each} one pursues my dignity like the wind, and my deliverance passes away like a cloud. | I am afraid of many things. I have no dignity left, and I do not expect that I will ever get out of this situation. |
His dignity is driven away as if by the wind.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And now my life pours itself out within me; days of affliction seize me. | I feel as if I am about to die, but in the meantime, I am suffering greatly. |
Many days of suffering have laid hold on him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Night pierces my bones from upon me, and the ones gnawing me do not rest. | My body aches during the night. I feel pain continually. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| By great force my clothing is changed; it binds me like the collar of my tunic. | I have such a serious disease that my skin no longer looks the same. It seems as if I will always be sick. |
Skin disease has changed his skin, referred to as clothing.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He has thrown me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes. | God has made me suffer so much that I have been sitting here on the ground. I am even beginning to look like the dust and ashes in which I have been sitting. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I cry to you, but you do not answer me; I stand, but you gaze at me. | Even though I pray to you, God, you do not respond. I try to get your attention, but you do not do anything to help me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You have changed to {be} cruel to me; with the strength of your hand you attack me. | You used to be kind to me, but you are not kind to me anymore. You are using your mighty power to make me suffer. |
God has changed and become cruel to him; with the power of his hand God persecutes him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about {in} a storm. | It is as if you have sent a great wind to pick me up and carry me away. It is as if you are making a violent storm blow me around. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For I know you are bringing me {to} death and {to} the house of appointment to all the living. | Certainly I know that you are going to make me die. That is what happens to everyone who ever lives. |
He knows that God will bring him to death, to the house destined for all living things.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Nevertheless, does not one in a heap stretch out a hand? If in his trouble he does {not} therefore cry out? | However, when someone falls down, he certainly reaches out with his hand for help. When someone is in trouble, he certainly calls for help. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If I did not weep for the difficult of day? My soul grieved for the needy. | {So it is appropriate for me to ask for your help now, God.} After all, I wept for people myself when they were experiencing troubles. I felt sorry for poor people. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For I hoped {for} good, but bad came, and let me wait for light, but darkness comes. | I am asking for help because although I expected good things to happen to me, evil things happened instead. It was as if I was waiting for dawn but another night started instead of a new day. |
When he waited for light, darkness came instead.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My innards are boiled and they do not rest; days of affliction confront me. | I am very distressed all the time. I suffer during every day. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I go about being dark not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry out. | I look as if I have to work outside all day to make a living. I humble myself by pleading openly for people to help me. |
He stood up in the assembly and cried for help.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I have become a brother to jackals and a companion to the daughters of clamor. | {No one wants to come near me.} It is as if I am a jackal or ostrich living out in the wilderness. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My skin is black from upon me, and my bone burns from heat. | My skin has become dark, and it is peeling off. I have a fever that causes my body to feel as if it were burning up. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So my harp is to mourning and my flute to the sound of ones weeping. | Previously, if you came to my house, you would hear musical instruments playing happy songs. If you came now, you would only hear people crying and singing sad songs. |
Job says that his harp is tuned for songs of mourning.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I have cut a covenant with my eyes; how then would I gaze upon a virgin? | I have made a solemn promise to myself that I will not look at a woman in a lustful way. So I would not look at a woman who was not my wife and want to have sexual relations with her. |
Job has made a covenant with his eyes to not look with desire on a virgin.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For what {would be} the portion from God above, or the inheritance from the Almighty in the heights? | {If I did not do what I promised,} God who is in heaven would certainly punish me. Shaddai in heaven would make sure that I got what I deserved. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {Is} not calamity for the unrighteous and disaster for doers of wickedness? | {I would not have done wrong in that way, because I know that} unrighteous people experience calamities. People who do what is wrong experience disasters {when God punishes them}. |
Job used to think that calamity was for the unrighteous.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Does he not see my ways and count all my steps? | I know that God sees everything that I do. He is aware of each individual action that I take. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If I have walked with falsehood or my foot has hurried to deceit— | I solemnly declare that I have not lied to others and that I have not tried to deceive others. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| let him weigh me in balances of righteousness, and God will know my integrity— | I only ask God to judge me fairly. If he does that, he will find that I am innocent. |
He asks to be weighed in an even balance, so that God would know his integrity.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| if my step has turned aside from the way, or my heart has gone after my eyes, or a spot has stuck to my hands, | I solemnly declare that I have continually acted properly. I have not seen wrong things to do and then done them. I am not guilty of committing sin. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| let me sow and may another eat, or may my crops be uprooted! | If I have been lustful or deceptive, I hope that when I plant seeds, someone else will harvest the crops and eat them. Or may someone uproot the crops that are growing in my fields! |
He says to let the harvest be uprooted out of his field.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If my heart has been opened by a woman and I have lurked at the door of my neighbor, | I solemnly declare that I have not been attracted to another man’s wife. I have not made secret arrangements with a woman to have sexual relations with her while her husband was away. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| may my wife grind for another, and may others bow down upon her. | If I have done that, I hope that my own wife will be attracted to another man and that she will have sexual relations with him. |
Job says to let his wife grind grain for another man.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For that {would be} lewdness, and it would be iniquity of judges. | If I had sexual relations with another man’s wife, that would be a terrible sin. If I were caught and her husband brought me to court, the judges would certainly decide to punish me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For it {is} a fire, it consumes unto Abaddon, and it would uproot all of my harvest. | {I would have to pay a fine that would cost me everything I owned.} It would be as if a fire had burned everything I had right to the ground. It would be as if someone pulled out all the crops that were growing in my fields. |
Job says that it is like a fire that consumes everything.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If I disdained the justice of my male servant or my female servant in their case against me, | I solemnly declare that when my male or female servants complained to me about something, I took their complaint seriously and made sure that I treated them fairly. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| then what would I do if God arose? Or if he visited, how would I answer him? | I knew that if I did not treat my servants fairly, I could not expect God to be merciful to me when he judged me. If God came to help my servants, I could offer no excuse for the way I had treated them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Did not the one making me in the belly make him? And did {not} one fashion us in the womb? | {I am no different from my servants, so I have no right to mistreat them.} The same God created each one of us. |
God made and molded them all in the womb.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If I have withheld from the desire of the poor, or I have made the eyes of the widow fail, | I solemnly declare that from the time that I was young, I have taken care of orphans and I have protected widows. I have not failed to provide poor people with the things that they needed. I have not caused widows to lose hope. I have not eaten all of my food by myself and not shared it with orphans. (vv16-18) |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| or I have eaten my morsel alone and the fatherless did not eat from it— | I solemnly declare that from the time that I was young, I have taken care of orphans and I have protected widows. I have not failed to provide poor people with the things that they needed. I have not caused widows to lose hope. I have not eaten all of my food by myself and not shared it with orphans. (vv16-18) |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| for from my youth he has grown up with me as a father, and from the belly of my mother I have guided her. | I solemnly declare that from the time that I was young, I have taken care of orphans and I have protected widows. I have not failed to provide poor people with the things that they needed. I have not caused widows to lose hope. I have not eaten all of my food by myself and not shared it with orphans. (vv16-18) |
He says the orphan grew up with him as with a father.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If I have seen one perishing from lack of clothing or {that} there was not a covering for the needy, | I solemnly declare that I provided clothes for poor people when I saw that they were suffering from lack of clothing. I have provided warm outer garments for needy people. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| if his loins have not blessed me and he has {not} warmed himself from the wool of my sheep, | I gave them warm clothes that my servants had woven from the wool of my sheep. The poor people thanked me for helping them. |
They should have been warmed with the wool of his sheep.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| if I have shaken my hand against the fatherless because I saw my help at the gate, | I solemnly declare that I never threatened an orphan who brought a case against me in the public square. Even if I knew that the other elders would favor me, I made sure that the orphan received fair treatment. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| may my upper arm fall from the shoulder blade; yes, may my arm be broken from its socket! | If I have neglected poor people or oppressed orphans, may the arm {that I did not use to help them but used instead to threaten them} fall right out of its socket! |
Job says to let his upper arm fall from the shoulder blade.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For the destruction of God {was} a dread to me, and from his majesty, I was not able. | I have not done wrong things such as I have been describing, because I respect God and I know that he punishes sin. I would not sin against such a majestic God! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If I have made gold my hope and I have said to fine gold, ‘My confidence’; | I solemnly declare that I have not depended on wealth as a source of security and power. |
They could say to fine gold, “You are my confidence.”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| if I have rejoiced because my wealth {was} great and because my hand had acquired much! | I solemnly declare that I did not think that I was better than other people because I had many possessions and because I had become very rich. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If I have seen the light when it shone or the moon walking {in} splendor, | I solemnly declare that I never looked at the sun when it was shining or at the beautiful moon |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and my heart opened in secret and my hand kissed my mouth, | and made a gesture to worship them. I never wanted to do that. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| this also {would be} iniquity of judges, for I would have denied God above. | If I had worshiped the sun or the moon and people found out that I had, the judges would certainly decide to punish me for that too, because I would have been worshiping a false god instead of the true God. |
If he worshiped them, he would have denied the God who is above.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If I have rejoiced at the destruction of one hating me or lifted myself up because evil found him! | I solemnly declare that I have not been glad when my enemies have suffered misfortunes. I have not thought that I was better than they were when they experienced disasters. I have not sinned by praying that God would curse people who hated me and cause them to die. (vv29-30) |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For I have not caused my palate to sin by asking {for} his life with a curse. | I solemnly declare that I have not been glad when my enemies have suffered misfortunes. I have not thought that I was better than they were when they experienced disasters. I have not sinned by praying that God would curse people who hated me and cause them to die. (vv29-30) |
Job has not suffered his mouth to sin by asking for the life of those who hate him with a curse.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who will give one {who} has not been satisfied from his flesh?’! | I solemnly declare that I have invited travelers to stay in my house. Visitors have not had to sleep in the streets. My servants talk about how I give food to anyone who needs it. (vv31-32) |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The sojourner has not stayed overnight in the outdoors; I have opened my doors to the traveler. | I solemnly declare that I have invited travelers to stay in my house. Visitors have not had to sleep in the streets. My servants talk about how I give food to anyone who needs it. (vv31-32) |
He had always opened his doors to the traveler.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If, like man, I have concealed my sins by hiding my guilt in my chest, | I know that people generally try to hide their sins. But I solemnly declare that I have not done that. |
Job says mankind hides sins by hiding his guilt in his chest.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| because I feared the great multitude and the contempt of the clans terrified me, and I kept silent, I did not go out the door! | I did not let fear of what people would say about me or think of me keep me from admitting that I had done wrong and making amends. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who will give to me one hearing me? Behold, my mark! May the Almighty answer me! And the scroll that the man of my case has written? | I wish that I had someone who would judge my case against God! I hereby declare that all that I have just said is true. Now I wish that Shaddai would state his case. I would like to see his written statement of charges against me. |
Job desired to have the indictment that his opponent had written.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If I would not bear it on my shoulder? I would bind it to me {as} crowns! | If Shaddai wrote out his charges against me, I would not be ashamed, because I know that I am innocent. I would display the charges publicly{, because they would actually list what I had not done}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I would declare to him an account of my steps; I would approach him like a noble. | I would explain to God in detail how I was innocent of each charge. I would approach him as a ruler would: without being afraid. |
He would go up to him as a confident prince.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If my soil cries out against me and its furrows weep together, | I solemnly declare that I have not defrauded the people who farm my land. They have no reason to cry out for justice against me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| if I have eaten its yield without silver or caused the breath of its masters to expire, | I solemnly declare that I have taken only a fair share of the crops that people have grown on my land. I have made sure that the people who grew crops on my land kept enough of them to feed their families. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| may a thorn grow instead of wheat and a weed instead of barley!” The words of Job have ended. | If I have cheated the people who farm my land, then I wish that thorns would grow in my fields instead of wheat. I wish that bad weeds would grow there instead of barley!” After this, Job said nothing further to defend himself to his three friends. |
Job said to let thorns grow instead of wheat and weeds instead of barley.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the three of these men ceased from answering Job, because he {was} righteous in his eyes. | Then Job’s three friends stopped replying to him, because Job was confident that he was innocent. |
They stopped answering Job.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then the nose burned of Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, from the clan of Ram. His nose burned against Job upon him declaring himself righteous rather than God. | Then a man named Elihu{, who had been listening as Job spoke with his friends,} became very angry with Job. Elihu was the son of Barakel. He was a Buzite and he belonged to the clan of Ram. He became angry because Job continued to claim that he was innocent and that God had been wrong to punish him. |
Elihu’s anger was kindled against Job.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And against the three of his friends his nose burned upon that they had not found an answer but they had declared Job wrong. | Elihu also became angry with Job’s three friends. He became angry because they had insisted that Job must have done many things that were wrong, but they had not been able to prove any of their accusations. |
Elihu was angry with Job’s friends because they had not been able to answer Job but they had still declared that he was wrong.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now Elihu had awaited Job with words, because they {were} older in days than he {was}. | Now Elihu was much younger than Job’s three friends. That was why he had let them speak to Job first. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of the three of the men, and his nose burned. | But when Elihu realized that the three men had nothing more to say to Job, he became very angry. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite answered and said, “I {am} young in days and you {are} aged. Upon that, I was timid and I was afraid of telling you my knowledge. | This is what Elihu said. (He was the son of Barakel. He was a Buzite.) “I am young, and you all are much older than I am. So I was hesitant. I was afraid to tell you what I was thinking. |
Elihu was young and the others were all very old and should be able to teach wisdom.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I said, ‘Let days speak, and let a multitude of years teach wisdom.’ | I said to myself, ‘I should let the people who are older speak. Older people should be able to explain how to understand things wisely.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Nevertheless, a spirit, it {is} in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding. | However, even as I was saying that, I felt the Spirit of God stirring within me. Yes, I felt Shaddai inspiring me so that I could understand. |
The breath of the Almighty gives man understanding.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The great are not wise, and the aged do {not} understand justice. | Humble people can also be wise. Younger people can also recognize the right thing to do. |
It is not only the great who are wise, and it not the aged alone who understand justice.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me; I also will declare my knowledge.’ | So now I want to ask you, ‘Please listen to me. Let me too say what I have been thinking.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, I waited for your words; I listened to your reasonings while you searched {for} words. | Now I let the three of you speak first. I waited while you thought carefully about what you should say, and I listened to your arguments. |
Job’s friends were not able to prove Job wrong or respond to his words.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Indeed, I paid attention to you, but behold, there was no one proving Job wrong, {not one} of you answering his words, | I paid careful attention to what you were saying. But in the end, none of you was able to prove that what Job said was wrong. None of you could respond to his arguments. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom!’ Let God refute him, not man. | So do not tell yourselves, ‘We have discovered what is wise!’ It is God who must show Job that he is wrong. Someone relying on human thinking will not be able to do that. |
It is God who must refute Job.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now he has not arrayed words against me, and I will not answer him with your words. | You were angry with Job, and so you have not answered him well. But Job has said nothing to make me angry, so I will not answer him the way you have. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They are dismayed; they do not answer any longer; words have gone from them. | The three of you are just sitting there in a daze, not saying anything more, because you cannot think of what to say to Job. |
Elihu decided that because the friends had not a word more to say, he will not wait any longer.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Shall I wait because they are not speaking, because they stand, they answer no more? | And since you are not speaking, since you have stopped answering Job, I do not feel that I need to wait any longer before speaking to Job myself. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I also will answer {on} my part; I also will declare my knowledge. | So now I too will respond to Job. I will share my view of his situation. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For I am full of words; the spirit in my belly compels me. | I must speak, because I have plenty to say, and something inside me is forcing me to say it. |
The spirit compels Elihu to share his knowledge.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, my belly {is} like wine {that} has no vent; like new wineskins, it is bursting open. | I feel as if I am a container of wine that is stretching more and more and that will soon burst because of the fermentation. |
He says his breast feels like wine in new wineskins that are ready to burst.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I will speak and refresh myself; I will open my lips and answer. | I must speak, and then I will be able to rest from the effort of restraining myself from speaking. So I will now say something in reply to all of you. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now let me not lift the face of a man, and let me not give a title to a man. | I will not favor either Job or you his friends. I will not try to flatter anyone. |
Elihu says that his Maker would soon take him away.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For I do not know giving titles; my Maker would soon take me away. | Indeed, I have not gotten into the habit of flattering people, because I believe that if I did that, God would quickly destroy me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But now, Job, please hear my words; yes, listen to all of my words. | So now, Job, I ask you to listen carefully to everything that I am going to say. |
Elihu begs Job to listen because he will speak from the uprightness of his heart.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, I have now opened my mouth; my tongue has spoken on my palate. | I am ready to speak to you and tell you what I think. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| My words {are} {from} the uprightness of my heart, and my lips speak pure knowledge. | What I say will express my sincere feelings of concern for you. I will only tell you what is genuinely true. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The Spirit of God made me; yes, the breath of the Almighty enlivened me. | You can trust me as someone whom God’s Spirit created. You can trust me as someone whom Shaddai made alive. |
The Spirit of God made Elihu and the Almighty gave him life.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If you can, answer me; array to my face; station yourself. | {Once I have spoken,} respond to me if you can. Think carefully about how you will reply to me. |
He asks Job to set his words in order and stand up before Elihu.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, I am for God according to your mouth. I too have been formed from clay; | Now you wanted God to answer you, and I will do that for him. But I am human, just like you, |
Elihu tells Job that they are the same in God’s sight and were both formed out of the clay.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| behold, my fear will not terrify you, and my pressure will not be heavy on you. | so you do not need to be afraid of me. I will not speak to you harshly. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Indeed, you have spoken in my ears, and I have heard the sound of the words. | I listened carefully to you as you spoke, and this is what I heard you say: |
Elihu heard Job saying that he was clean, without transgression, innocent and there was no sin in him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| ‘I {am} pure, without transgression; I {am} innocent, and iniquity {is} not to me. | ‘I am righteous. I have not committed any sins. I am innocent. I have not done things that are wrong. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, he finds occasions against me; he considers me an enemy to him. | Nevertheless, God looks for excuses to punish me. He treats me as if I were his enemy. |
Job blames God for doing these things.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He puts my feet in shackles; he watches all of my paths.’ | He judges me by very strict standards. He closely observes everything that I do.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, {in} this you are not right. I will answer you, for God is greater than man. | However, what you have said is incorrect. I will explain why. {You do not realize what God is actually doing, since} it is beyond human understanding. |
Elihu says God is greater than man.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Why do you contend against him, that he does not answer any of one’s words? | You should not be protesting that God does not respond to what anyone says. |
God does not have to account for any of his doings.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For God speaks once—yes, twice; one does not perceive it. | God actually does speak to people in various ways. People just do not realize how he is doing that. |
God speaks in a dream and in a vision during the night while men are sleeping.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| In a dream, in a vision of the night, in the falling of deep sleep upon men, in slumbers upon a bed, | Sometimes God speaks to people at night in dreams and visions when they are sound asleep in bed. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| then he opens the ear of men and seals their correction | God reveals things to people at those times. He shows them that they need to change the way that they have been living. |
God does this in order to pull man back from sinful purposes and keep pride from him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| to bring a man back from {his} doing and to conceal pride from a man. | God speaks in that way to get people to stop doing evil deeds. God wants to prevent people from sinning because they have become proud. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He spares his soul from the pit and his life from crossing over by a weapon. | In this way, God prevents people from dying. Otherwise, someone might kill them violently. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He is also chastened with pain on his bed and the contention of his bones {is} continual. | God also corrects people by making them so ill that they have to lie in bed. They feel constant agony in their bodies. |
Elihu says that this is because man is being punished.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So his life abhors bread, and his soul food of desire. | They feel so sick that they do not want to eat anything, not even their favorite foods. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| His flesh wastes from sight, and his bones, not seen, are exposed, | They lose so much weight that there appears to be no flesh between their skin and their bones. |
A man’s flesh is consumed, his bones stick out and his soul draws close to the pit.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and his soul draws near to the pit, and his life to the ones causing death. | They become so sick that they are about to die. The angels who cause people to die start coming to get them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If there is an angel for him, an interpreter, one of a thousand, to declare to a man his uprightness, | However, sometimes a special kind of angel may come to a person and tell him on behalf of God how he can change the way that he has been living so that he will not die. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and he is gracious to him and says, ‘Redeem him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom,’ | {If the person changes the way that he has been living,} then God will forgive him. God will tell the angels who cause people to die, ‘Do not cause this person to die! I can see that I should allow him to live, because now he will do what is right.’ |
The angel could say to God, “I have found a ransom for him.”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| his flesh becomes fresher than {in} childhood; it returns to the days of his youth. | When that happens, the person will become healthy again and his skin will appear as fresh as the skin of a child. He will be as strong again as he was when he was young. |
His flesh will become fresher than a child’s.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He will pray to God, and he will accept him, and he will see his face with joy, and he will restore to the man his righteousness. | Then God will once again treat him as a righteous person. He will pray to God, and God will answer his prayer. He will come into God’s presence joyfully. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He will sing to men and say, ‘I sinned and I turned aside uprightness, but he did not requite to me. | He will sing a song of thanksgiving and tell the people who are listening, ‘I sinned; yes, I did things that were not right, but God did not punish me in the way that I deserved. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He has redeemed my soul from going over into the pit, and my life will see light.’ | He has saved me from going to the place where dead people are. And so I will continue to enjoy being alive!’ |
That person’s life will continue to see light.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, God does all these {things} twice, thrice, with a man | Indeed, God does this for many people. |
God does this so that a person may be enlightened with the light of life.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| to bring his soul back from the pit for being enlightened with the light of the living. | He keeps them from going to the place where dead people are. That way they can continue to enjoy being alive. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Heed, Job; listen to me. Be silent, and I will speak. | So Job, please listen to me. Do not say anything right now; just allow me to speak. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If there are words, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you. | {After I have spoken, then} if you have something more that you want to say to me, say it, because I would like to show that you are innocent. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If not, you listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.” | However, if you have nothing more that you want to say, then just listen to me. I will explain to you how you can understand your situation in a wise way.” |
Elihu wants to teach Job wisdom.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Elihu answered and said, | Then Elihu continued to speak, and he said, |
Elihu wants the wise men and those who have knowledge to listen to him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Hear my words, wise {ones}, and listen to me, ones knowing. | “I want everyone who is wise to hear what I am about to say. I want everyone who knows a lot to listen to me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For the ear tests words, and the palate tastes food. | I want you to listen carefully to me because when people hear others speak, they need to decide whether what the others are saying is right or wrong. They do this just as people taste food to decide whether it is good or bad. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Let us choose justice for ourselves; let us know among ourselves what is good. | I would like all of us to decide together who is right, Job or his friends. I would like us to find out together what is a good way to understand his situation. |
Elihu wants them to choose what is just and discover what is good.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For Job has said, ‘I am righteous, but God has taken away my justice. | We need to consider this carefully together because Job has said, ‘I am innocent, but God has not judged me fairly.’ |
Job says that God has taken away his justice.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Would I lie about my justice? My arrow is incurable, without transgression.’ | Job has said he would not lie about whether he has done what is right. He has spoken as if God had shot him with an arrow and wounded him so badly that he will die, even though he is innocent. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| What man {is} like Job? He drinks scorn like water, | I have not heard anyone else speak the way Job does. People drink water to satisfy their thirst, and mocking God seems to satisfy Job. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and he travels in company with doers of iniquity and walks with men of wickedness! | His friends are people who do what is wrong. He spends time with wicked people. |
He says Job goes around in the company of those who do evil.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For he has said, ‘It does not benefit a man when he delights {himself} with God.’ | We know that this is true about him because he has said, ‘It is useless for people to want to please God.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore, men of heart, listen to me: Sacrilege to God from wickedness, and the Almighty from iniquity! | So, all of you who understand things well, listen to me! God would never consider doing anything that was wicked! No, Shaddai would never consider doing anything that was wrong! |
God does not do wickedness, commit sin, or pervert justice.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For the deed of a man he repays to him, and according to the path of a man, he causes it to find him. | We can be confident that God treats people fairly because we can see that he rewards or punishes people properly for what they have done. God gives people what they deserve for the manner in which they have lived. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Indeed, God truly does not act wickedly, and the Almighty does not pervert justice. | No, God never does anything wicked. Shaddai always treats people fairly. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who appointed {him} over the earth? And who set the world, all of it? | God did not need anyone to give him the authority to rule the people who live on the earth. He did not need anyone to put him in control of all the people in the world. |
All flesh would perish and mankind would return to dust.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If he set his heart upon himself, {if} he gathered his Spirit and his breath to himself, | If God ever thought only about himself and not also about the world he created, if God ever stopped keeping people and animals alive, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| all flesh would expire together, and man would return to the dust. | then every living thing would die immediately, and the bodies of people would soon become soil again. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But if understanding, hear this; listen to the sound of my words. | So, Job, if you truly want to understand, then listen carefully to what I am about to say. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will one hating justice indeed govern? Or if you will condemn the Righteous {One}, the Mighty {One}, | God could certainly not hate what is right and still rule the world. So you really cannot say that God, who is righteous and powerful, has done something wrong. |
He implies Job is condemning God, who is righteous and mighty.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one saying ‘Worthless!’ to a king, ‘Wicked!’ {to} nobles, | God tells some kings that they are worthless, and he says to some officials that they are wicked. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who does not lift the faces of princes and does not acknowledge the rich to the face of the poor, for all of them {are} the work of his hands. | God does not treat rulers better than he treats other people. God does not treat rich people more respectfully than he treats poor people. After all, God created all people. |
All people, rich and poor, are the work of God’s hands.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {In} a moment they die, and {in} the middle of the night people are shaken and they pass, and they take away the mighty, not by a hand. | If people use their power to oppress others, God punishes them by killing them. Those people are not expecting to have troubles and die, and humans do not kill them, but God kills them very quickly. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For his eyes {are} upon the ways of a man, and he sees all of his steps. | God punishes oppressive people because he sees everything that people do. God is aware of each individual action that a person does. |
Elihu says that God sees a person’s ways and all his steps.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| There is no darkness and there is no deep darkness for the doers of iniquity to be hidden there. | Wicked people can not escape from God by hiding in places where it is very dark. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For he does not set upon a man further, to go to God for judgment. | Now God does not need to examine a person further before passing judgment on that person. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He shatters the mighty {with} no investigation, and he establishes others instead of them. | God does not need to investigate what people have done. He knows whether important people have done wrong, and he destroys them if they have. He then appoints others to take their places. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Because he regards their deeds, he overthrows {them} in the night, and they are crushed. | Because he already knows what they have done, he removes them quickly and gets rid of them. |
God overthrows them in the night and they are destroyed.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He strikes them for their wickednesses in the place of the ones seeing, | God kills them because of the wicked things that they have done. Many people see him do it. |
God will kill them in the open sight of others.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| that because they turned from after him and they did not consider any of his ways, | God kills them because they stopped doing what he wanted them to do and did not pay attention to his commands. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| to cause the cry of the poor to come to him, and he heard the cry of the lowly. | They mistreated poor people. Those poor people prayed to God for help, and God answered their prayers. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If he is silent, then who will condemn {him}? If he hides {his} face, then who will perceive him? Yet {he is} over a nation and over a man alike, | Yet even if God decides not to punish wicked people right away, no one can criticize him. If God does not reveal what he is doing, no one can understand it. God controls every nation and every person. |
God rules over the nation and the individual alike.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| from the reigning of a godless man, from snares of the people. | God makes sure that those who rule honor him. He makes sure that rulers do not oppress the people whom they rule. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If one says to God, ‘I have borne, I will not offend, | Suppose someone says to God, ‘I recognize that I am suffering because I have sinned. I do not want to sin any longer. |
Elihu suggests that Job should admit that he is guilty and has committed sin, but will do it no longer.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| besides {what} I see, you teach me; if I have done iniquity, I will not continue,’ | Please show me what sins I have committed. I will stop doing anything that is evil.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| from with you will he repay it? Since you despise, then you will choose and not I. So what you know, speak. | If a person said that to God, do you think that God would continue to punish him? Now you have been saying that God does not treat people fairly, so it is important for you to decide what you think God would do. I will not suggest the answer myself. We would like to hear you say what you think about this. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Men of heart will say to me, and a man of wisdom hearing me, | {But unfortunately, I believe that} when people who have good sense and people who are wise hear my question and your answer, they will say to me, |
They will say that Job speaks without knowledge and understanding.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| ‘Job does not speak with knowledge, and his words {are} not with understanding.’ | ‘Job is speaking ignorantly. What he says does not make sense.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If only Job were tested to the end upon {his} answers among men of iniquity. | It would be good if God put Job on trial and investigated every last detail of his case. God should do that because Job has been speaking just as wicked people speak. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For he adds transgression to his sin; he claps among us, and he multiplies his words against God.” | God should put Job on trial because in addition to sinning, he is saying that God does not treat people fairly. Knowing that we were watching, he clapped his hands to insult God. He has made long speeches to say that God has punished him unjustly.” |
He says that Job is adding transgression to his sin.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Elihu answered and said, | Then Elihu continued to speak, and he said, |
Elihu implies that Job thinks he is innocent, and that he is more righteous than God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Do you consider this to {be} justice? You say, ‘I am more righteous than God’! | “Job, it is not right for you to say that you have been doing what is right but God has been doing what is wrong. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For you have said, ‘What does it benefit you? What do I gain more than my sin?’ | You are basically saying that when you ask, ‘What good things have I received because I have not sinned? How am I better off than I would be if I had sinned?’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I will answer you {with} words, and your friends with you. | I will answer those questions for you, and I will also respond to what your three friends have said. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Observe the heavens and see, and look, the clouds soar above you. | Job, look up at the sky. See how high the clouds are above you! {God is far higher than that!} |
Elihu tells them to look up and see the sky.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If you sin, what do you accomplish against him? Or {if} your transgressions multiply, what do you do to him? | So if you sin, that does not harm God at all. Even if you do many wrong things, that does not hurt him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If you are righteous, what do you give to him, or what does he receive from your hand? | On the other hand, if you do what is right, that does not make God better off. No, you are not giving God something that he does not already have. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Your wickedness {is} to a man like you, and your righteousness {is} to a son of man. | The only ones who suffer if you are wicked are other people. The only ones you might help by being good are other humans. |
Job’s wickedness could hurt a man and his righteousness could benefit another human.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| From the multitude of oppressions they make a cry; they shout from the arm of the mighty. | People call for others to help them because of the many things that wicked people do that make them suffer. They call for help because of the things that powerful people do to oppress them. |
They cry out for help because of the many acts of oppression done to them by others who are more powerful than they are.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But one does not say, ‘Where is God my Maker, the one giving songs in the night, | But people do not ask God, their Creator, to help them. People do not expect God to enable them to sing joyful songs because he has rescued them. |
God teaches us and makes us wise.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one teaching us more than the beasts of the earth, making us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’ | People do not realize that God wants to teach them how to live wisely. God does that for people, not for wild animals or for the birds in the sky. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| There they cry out, but he does not answer from the face of the pride of evil {ones}. | Even when people do pray to God for help, God does not answer them, because they arrogantly continue to do what is wrong. |
Elihu says that God does not give an answer when people cry out but proudly continue in sin.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Surely God does not hear vanity, and the Almighty does not regard it. | God, the Almighty One, does not respond at all when people pray but do not really mean what they are saying. |
He will certainly not hear prayers that lack sincerity.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| How much less that you say you do not see him, the case {is} to his face, and you are waiting for him, | You are telling God that you have made your case against him but that you are still waiting for him to answer your accusations. You are saying that God has not been helping you. Since you say those things, you should certainly not expect God to respond to you! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and now that {in} his nose, he does not visit, and he does not take much notice of transgression! | You also say that God does not pay much attention when people commit sins, and so he does not become angry and punish them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So Job opens his mouth {in} vain; without knowledge, he multiplies words.” | My friends, you see that Job has said things that are completely useless. He says many things without knowing what he is talking about.” |
He says Job opens his mouth to speak foolishness and to pile up words without knowledge.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Elihu continued and said, | Then Elihu said some more things to Job: |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Be patient with me a little and I will show you, for {there are} yet words to God. | “Job, be patient with me a little longer as I explain things to you. Be patient, because I have more to say in order to show that God does not do anything wrong. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I will carry my knowledge to from afar, and I will attribute righteousness to my Maker. | I will tell you what I have learned from many sources. I will show that God, who made me, always does what is right. |
Elihu acknowledges that righteousness belongs to his Maker.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For truly my words {will} not {be} false; the complete in knowledge {is} with you. | You can indeed listen patiently because I will not say anything to you that is false. I am here with you as someone who understands things well. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, God {is} mighty, and he does not despise; mighty, strong in heart. | Truly, God is very powerful, but he values every person. He understands everything completely. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He does not keep the wicked alive, but he gives the lowly justice. | He does not allow wicked people to remain alive, but he helps people whom others have been oppressing. |
He does what is right for those who suffer.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but he sets them on a throne with kings forever, and they rise high. | He always protects people who are righteous. He makes them prosper as if they were kings, and he causes others to honor them continually. |
He sets them on thrones like kings forever, and they are lifted up.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But if {they are} bound in chains and they are caught in cords of affliction, | Sometimes people suffer great troubles because they have done wrong things. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| then he declares to them their deeds and their transgressions, for they magnified themselves, | When they do, God shows them what they have done wrong. He shows them that they committed these sins because they were proud. |
He reveals to them what they have done, their transgressions, and how they behaved arrogantly.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and he opens their ear to correction and says that they shall return from iniquity. | He enables them to understand what he is teaching them. He commands them to stop sinning. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If they hear and serve {him}, they will complete their days in good and their years in pleasantness. | If they obey him and once again live as he wishes, they will prosper and be happy for as long as they live. |
They will spend their days in prosperity and their years in contentment.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But if they do not hear, they will cross over by a weapon, and they will expire as without knowledge. | But if they do not obey him, they will die violently because they did not seek to understand how God wanted them to live. |
They will perish by the sword and die because they have no knowledge.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the godless of heart keep the nose; they do not cry out when he binds them. | People who do not respect God continue to be angry with God. They do not ask God to help them even when they are suffering because of their sins. |
They die in their youth and their lives end in disgrace.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Their soul dies in youth, and their life {is} among the cultic prostitutes. | They can only make a living in a dishonorable way, and they die while they are still young. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He delivers the afflicted by his affliction, and he opens their ear by oppression. | God actually uses suffering to keep people from perishing because of their sins. By making them suffer, he causes them to listen to what he is telling them. |
God uses suffering to keep people from perishing because of their sins.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And indeed, he has drawn you from the mouth of distress {to} a broad place {with} no constriction under it, and the setting of your table he has filled {with} fatness. | Job, I believe that God wants to bring you out of your troubles and allow you to live without distress. He wants you to be happy and prosperous. |
God would like to draw Job out of his distress and into a place of happiness and prosperity.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But you are full of the judgment of the wicked; judgment and justice take hold. | However, you are still saying bad things about God the way a wicked person would. That is why God is punishing you so severely. |
He is full of the judgment on the wicked.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For wrath, lest it entice you into clapping, and the greatness of a ransom will not deliver you. | You are angry with God, but do not let that lead you to say disrespectful things about God. If you did that, God would not accept even a very large bribe to pardon you. |
Anger with God could lead Job to deception, and a great bribe would not buy his pardon.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will he esteem your riches? Not gold or all of the strengths of wealth! | God would not want your money and so pardon you. He would not take gold or a great deal of money as a bribe. |
Job’s wealth and the force of his strength will not help him out of his distress.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Do not desire the night, {which is} to the departing of peoples {from} their place. | You should not wish that you could die so that your suffering would be over. Once people die, they are gone. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Watch yourself, do not turn to sin, for you have chosen upon that rather than affliction. | Be careful not to commit sin. It seems that you would rather defy God than learn what he wants to teach you through suffering. |
He says Job would rather defy God than learn what God wants to teach him through suffering.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, God causes to be high in his power. Who {is} a teacher like him? | Truly, God is so powerful that he can do great things. He is better than any other teacher. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who has appointed his way to him? Or who has said, ‘You have committed unrighteousness?’ | No one has ever told him what he should do. No one has ever had to tell him that what he was doing was wrong. |
No one can say that God has committed unrighteousness.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Remember that you magnify his work, which men have sung. | People have often sung songs to praise him. You too should remember what he has done and praise him for it. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Every man has looked upon it; man has regarded from afar. | Everyone has seen what God has done, but even so, people only understand it a little. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, God {is} great, but we do not know {him}; the number of his years, indeed, {there is} no searching. | How great God is! We are not able to understand how great he is, and we are not able to determine how old he is. |
We cannot calculate the number of his years.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For he draws up the drops of water; they distill {as} rain into his stream, | Indeed, God draws water up from the earth and puts it in clouds and causes it to become rain. |
He draws up the drops of water and puts it in clouds which pour rain down and drop it in abundance on mankind.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| which the clouds pour down; they drop upon man {in} abundance. | This rain pours down from the clouds and abundant showers fall on the earth, where people live. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Indeed, if one will understand the spread of the cloud, the thunder from his booth? | No one can really understand how the clouds spread across the sky or how it thunders in the sky where God lives. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, he spreads his lightning upon it, and he covers the roots of the sea. | See how God causes lightning to flash all around him! The lightning is so bright that it lights up even the deep ocean. |
He spreads lightning around himself and covers the sea with darkness in order to judge people and give food in abundance.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For by them he judges the peoples; he gives food in abundance. | Because his storms are so great, God uses them to punish wicked people. But he also uses the rain from these storms to provide abundant food for righteous people. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He covers over his hands {with} lightning and he enjoins upon it against the mark. | It is as if God picks up lightning in his hands and sends it to strike where he wants it to. |
The thunder tells people and cattle of the coming storm.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He declares his shout about it; the cattle also about the thing arising. | God makes thunder to announce that there will be a storm. We also know that a storm is coming when we hear cattle making extra noise. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Indeed, my heart trembles at this, and it leaps from its place. | My heart really pounds when I think about that! I feel as if it is jumping around inside me. |
The noise of God’s voice and the sound of his roar causes Elihu’s heart to tremble.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Hearing, hear the roar of his voice and the sound {that} comes from his mouth! | Listen, all of you, to the thunder! It is as if God is roaring! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He lets it loose under all of the heavens, and his lightning to the edges of the earth. | God makes such loud thunder that people can hear it throughout the land. God makes such bright lighting that people can see it from far away. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| A voice roars after it; he thunders with the voice of his majesty, and he does not restrain them when his voice is heard. | After lightning flashes, we hear thunder, which sounds like God speaking very loudly. Then, after the thunder, God makes more lightning. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| God thunders marvelously with his voice, doing great {things} and we do not know. | When we hear thunder, it is as if God is shouting in an amazing way. God does things that are too wonderful for us to understand. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For he says to the snow, ‘Be {on} the earth,’ and {to} the shower of rain, {to} the shower of rains, ‘Strength!’ | For example, God can cause snow to cover the ground, and when he tells a rain shower to rain even harder, it becomes a downpour. |
He tells the snow to fall to the earth, and the rain to become a great shower of rain.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He seals the hand of every man for the knowing of all of men of his making. | When God makes it rain so hard, everyone has to stop working outside. This shows all people, whom he has made, what great things he is able to do. |
God stops them so that all people may see his deeds.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the beast goes into {its} den and remains in its lairs. | When it rains, the animals go into their hiding places and they stay there until the rain stops. |
They hide and stay in their dens because of the storms that come.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The storm comes from the chamber, and the cold from the north winds. | Storms come from the place where they start, and cold winds come from the north. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| From the breath of God ice is made, and the breadth of the waters {is} in narrowness. | In the winter, cold winds turn water into ice. The water in lakes freezes solid. |
By the breath of God ice is given.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Indeed, he loads the cloud with moisture; he scatters the cloud of his lightning. | God truly fills the clouds with water droplets. He makes lightning flash from many clouds. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it is turning itself around by his counsels for them doing all of what he commands them above the face of the habitation of the earth. | He causes the clouds to move around over the places where people live so that they can accomplish everything that he wants them to do. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If to the rod, if to his earth, if to kindness, he causes it to find it. | God may send storms to punish people. God may send storms to water the land that he made. God may send storms to help people by providing rain to make their crops grow. God makes all of these things happen. |
He makes this happen sometimes for correction, sometimes to water his land, and sometimes to provide rain for crops to feed people.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Do hear this, Job; stand and consider the marvelous {things} of God. | Job, listen to what I am saying. Just think about the wonderful things that God does. |
He wants Job to stop and think about God’s marvelous deeds.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Do you know of the placing of God upon them, and his cloud causes lightning to flash? | Are you able to explain how God arranges the clouds in the sky and makes lightning flash down from them? |
God makes lightning bolts flash in the clouds.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Do you know about the balancing of the cloud, the wonders of the perfect in knowledges? | Are you able to explain how God is able to make clouds float in the sky? Can you understand all of the wonderful things that God does? God understands everything completely! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {You} whose garments {are} hot in the quieting of the earth from the south, | Are you able to explain how God can bring in stifling air from the desert and make it so hot that you cannot stay cool if you wear clothes? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| will you hammer out the sky with him, strong as a cast mirror? | Are you able to explain how God made the sky so that it would stay firmly in place above the earth? |
He says the sky is as strong as a mirror of cast metal.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Teach us what we shall say to him; we can not array, from the face of darkness. | I doubt that you could tell us what to say to God. People do not know enough to be able to defend themselves if they spoke with God. |
They cannot lay out their arguments before God because of the darkness of their minds.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Shall it be recounted to him that I would speak? If a man spoke, that he would be swallowed up? | I would not dare tell God that I needed to speak with him! If I did that, then he might destroy me! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And now, they do not look at the bright light that {is} in the skies when the wind has passed through and cleansed them. | You know that people can not look directly at the sun when it shines brightly in the sky after the wind has blown the clouds away. |
People cannot look at the sun when it is bright in the sky.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Out of the north comes gold; around God {is} awesome majesty. | When God appears, he has glittering light all around him. His glory is so bright that it makes us afraid. {So if we cannot even look at the sun, how could we look at God?} |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The Almighty, we do not find him! {He is} great {in} power, and he does not oppress justice and an abundance of righteousness. | Shaddai has very great power, and we do not know how to get near to him. He always acts righteously, and he never mistreats anyone. |
The Almighty does not mistreat people, acting unjustly.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore, fear him, men. He does not regard any of the wise of heart.” | That is why everyone should have great respect for him. Any people who think that they are wise do not impress him.” |
The Almighty does not pay attention to those who are wise in their own minds.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Yahweh answered Job from the storm and said, | Then Yahweh spoke to Job from inside the storm that had been approaching. He said to him, |
Yahweh spoke to Job out of a fierce storm.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Who {is} this, darkening counsel by words without knowledge? | “You have been speaking ignorantly, and as a result, you have been making it harder for people to understand my actions. |
By speaking without knowledge, Job made it harder for people to understand God’s actions.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will question you and you will inform me. | I am going to ask you some questions, so get ready to answer them directly. |
Job must gird up his loins like a man and answer Yahweh’s questions.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Where were you in my founding of the earth? Declare, if you know understanding. | Where were you when I began to create the earth? Since you claim to know so much, tell me how I did that. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who set its measurements? If you know! Or who stretched a line over it? | Who decided how large the earth would be? Who made sure that it was the right size? If you know as much as you claim, you ought to be able to tell me that. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| On what were its foundations sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, | What keeps the earth from collapsing? Who made sure that everything on the earth would be in the right position? The earth was so beautiful when I made it that it was as if the first stars all sang a song to celebrate it. All of the angels gave a great cheer when they saw the earth. (vv6-7) |
The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy when the cornerstone of the earth was laid.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| in the singing together of the stars of the morning, and all the sons of God shouted? | What keeps the earth from collapsing? Who made sure that everything on the earth would be in the right position? The earth was so beautiful when I made it that it was as if the first stars all sang a song to celebrate it. All of the angels gave a great cheer when they saw the earth. (vv6-7) |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And {who} enclosed the sea with doors in its issuing from the womb, {when} it came out, | When I made the land, the sea could have flowed over it. Who prevented the sea from flooding the earth? |
God compares the sea bursting out of doors to coming out of the womb.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| in my making the cloud its clothing and thick darkness its swaddling bands? | Now the clouds in the sky float over the sea as if they were its clothing. Night and day happen at sea just as they do on land. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And I broke upon it my boundary, and I set a bar and doors, | I decided how much of the area under the sky the sea would cover. I made barriers at the shore of the sea to keep it off the land. |
Yahweh put in place bars and doors to mark a boundary for the sea.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and I said, ‘Unto here you will come, but you will not continue, and here one has set for the pride of your waves.’ | I proclaimed that the sea could only come up so far on the shore and not come any farther. I said that its great waves could only flow up to a certain place on the land. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| From your days, have you commanded the morning? Have you caused the dawn to know its place, | Job, have you ever commanded a day to begin? Have you told the sun where it needed to rise on a certain day? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| for taking hold of the edges of the earth, and the wicked are shaken from it? | When day comes, wicked people all around the world stop doing the bad things they do at night when no one can see them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It is changed like clay {under} a seal, and they stand out like a garment. | In the light of day, people can see the hills and valleys on earth clearly. The earth seems to take shape the way clay takes shape when people press a seal onto it or the way folds form in clothing. |
The light of dawn changes the earth so that all things on it stand out clearly, like the folds of a piece of clothing seen in the light.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And from the wicked, their light is withheld, and their high arm is broken. | When daylight comes, wicked people do not have the darkness that they like. They are no longer able to hurt other people. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Have you gone to the springs of the sea? Or have you walked around in the recesses of the deep? | Job, have you traveled to the springs at the bottom of the sea? Have you gone and seen what is at the very bottom of the oceans? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? | Has someone shown you how to get to the place where dead people are? Do you know where the entrance to that dark place is? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Have you given attention to the breadths of the earth? Declare, if you know all of it. | Do you know how big the earth is? Tell me, if you know all these things! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Where {is} this, the way {to where} light dwells, and darkness, where {is} this, its place, | Do you know how to get to the place where light comes from? Do you know where darkness comes from? |
Yahweh mocks Job by saying that undoubtedly Job should know about this because he was born then and the number of his days is so large.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| that you would take it to its territory, and that you would perceive the paths of its house? | Would you know how to get to those places so that you could bring light and darkness to them? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days {is} many! | If you had been alive when I created the world, then you would know the answers to these questions. But you are not that old, so you certainly do not know the answers. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Have you entered into the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, | Have you gone into the place where I keep snow, or have you visited the place where I keep hail? |
Yahweh has kept these storehouses for times of trouble and for a day of battle and war.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| which I keep for a time of trouble, for a day of battle and war? | I keep snow and hail so that I can use them to defeat one of the armies when people are fighting wars. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Where {is} this, the way {to where} the light is distributed, the east wind scatters over the earth? | Would you know how to get to the place where the sun should rise each morning? Would you know where the east wind should begin to blow over the earth? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who cut a channel for the downpour, or a way for the lightning of the thunder, | Could you make rain fall in a certain place? Could you make a rainstorm go in a certain direction |
He causes it to rain in order to meet the needs of the barren and lonely regions and to make the tender grass sprout up.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| to cause rain upon a land {where} no man {is}, a wilderness {with} no man in it, | so that it would rain out in the desert, in a place where no one lives? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| to satisfy the waste and the desolation, and to cause the shoot of the grass to sprout? | Would you be able to send rain there to water those barren areas where nothing has grown, so that grass would begin to grow again? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Is there a father to the rain? Or who begets the drops of dew? | Do you even know where rain comes from? Do you know how dew forms on the ground overnight? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| From whose womb does ice come? And the frost of the skies, who bears it? | Do you know how water becomes ice in the winter? Do you know why dew turns into the frost that covers the ground in the winter? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| As {under} stone, the waters hide themselves, and the face of the deep freezes. | Do you know why the surface of lakes freezes in the winter? You cannot see the water below the surface; it is as if there is a layer of stone on top of it. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will you tie the bands of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion? | Can you make stars cluster together, as they do in the cluster you call the Pleiades? Can you make stars move apart so that they no longer make constellations such as the one you call Orion? |
He asks Job if he can tie the bands on the Pleiades or undo the cords of Orion.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will you bring out Mazzaroth in its time? Or will you guide the Bear with its sons? | Can you make the constellations of stars appear in the sky at the right time of the year? Can you make the Big Dipper with its handle appear in the right place in the sky? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Do you know the statutes of the skies? If you will establish its rule over the earth? | Do you know how the sun, moon, and stars should move through the sky? Do you know how they should provide heat and light on the earth? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will you raise your voice to the cloud and an abundance of waters will cover you? | Could you shout an order up to a cloud to make it pour rain down on you? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will you send out lightning bolts and they will go, and they will say to you, ‘Behold, us’? | Can you tell flashes of lightning to strike wherever you want? Would the lightning do what you commanded? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who has put wisdom in the clouds, or who has given understanding to the mist? | Can you determine where it should be cloudy and where it should be sunny? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who by wisdom will number the clouds? Or the water skins of the skies, who will tilt | Are you able to count how many clouds there are? Can you make it rain |
The dust runs into a hard mass and the clods of earth clump tightly together.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| in the hardening of the dust into a mass, and the clods stick together? | after it has not rained for such a long time that the ground is hard and dry? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will you hunt prey for a lioness or satisfy the life of {her} cubs | Suppose a lioness and her cubs were crouching in their den or hiding in some bushes, waiting for some animal to pass by that they could kill. Could you make an animal go by that the lioness could kill so that she and her cubs could eat the meat and not be hungry anymore? (vv39-40) |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| when they crouch in their dens, {when} they lie in wait in a shelter for an ambush? | Suppose a lioness and her cubs were crouching in their den or hiding in some bushes, waiting for some animal to pass by that they could kill. Could you make an animal go by that the lioness could kill so that she and her cubs could eat the meat and not be hungry anymore? (vv39-40) |
They crouch in their dens and shelter in hiding to lie in wait.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who provides to the raven its food when its children cry out to God, {when} they stagger without food? | Suppose some baby ravens in a nest were chirping loudly because they were hungry. Suppose they had not eaten in so long that they had become weak. Could you provide a dead animal whose meat the raven could bring home to its baby birds? |
They stagger about for lack of food.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Do you know the time of the bearing of the goats of the rock? Will you watch the fawning of the does? | Job, can you tell when female mountain goats are about to give birth? Have you watched the wild deer while their calves were being born? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will you number the months they will fulfill? Or will you know the time of their bearing? | Do you know for how long these female animals will be pregnant? Do you know when they will have their babies? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They crouch down, they deliver their offspring; they cast forth their labor pains. | They crouch down to give birth, and their babies come out. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Their sons become strong, they grow up in the field; they go out, and they do not return to them. | The young animals grow up in the open fields. Once they are strong enough to leave their mothers, they do not return to them again. |
They go out and do not come back again.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who set the wild donkey free? And who untied the ropes of the donkey, | Do you know why some donkeys wander around wild? Do you know why they are not still working for people? |
Yahweh has made the Arabah the house of the wild donkey.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| whose house I have made the Arabah, and his habitations the salt land? | I have given them a home in the desert plain. They are able to live in places where much grass does not grow. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It laughs at the commotion of the city; the shouts of the driver it does not hear. | These wild donkeys do not like the noise in the cities. In the desert, they do not have to listen to the shouts of those who used to force them to work. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It ranges the mountains {as} its pasture, and it seeks after every green thing. | They wander over the hills to find food. They look for any plant that they can eat. |
He roams over the mountains where he looks for every green plant to eat.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will the wild ox consent to serve you? If it will lodge by your manger? | There are also oxen that are wild. You could not get one of those to work for you! It would not stay penned up at night by the place where you put food for your animals! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will you bind a wild ox in a furrow {with} its rope? If it will harrow the valleys after you? | You could not make a wild ox pull a plow so that it would dig furrows in your fields. |
He asks Job if, with a rope, he can make the wild ox plow the furrows or harrow the valleys for him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will you trust in it because its strength is great? Will you leave your labor to it? | Even though a wild ox is very strong, you could not depend on it to do difficult farm work. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will you depend on it, that it will bring in your seed and gather {it} {to} your threshing floor? | A wild ox would not help you to grow more crops than you could grow by yourself. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The wing of ostriches flaps vigorously. If {it is} a kind feather and plumage? | Now think about ostriches. They run very fast, flapping their wings as they go. But they do not take good care of their offspring. |
The ostrich flaps its wings proudly as it runs fast.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For it leaves its eggs on the earth, and it warms them in the dust, | Female ostriches are bad mothers, because lay their eggs and leave them on the ground. The eggs do stay warm in the sand. |
She leaves her eggs on the earth, and lets them keep warm in the dust.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and it forgets that a foot might crush it and a beast of the field might trample it. | But this is still not a good thing to do. Some wild animal could step on the eggs and crush them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It treats its sons harshly, as if not to it; vain {is} its labor, without fear, | Ostriches do not care well for their chicks. They act as if the chicks do not belong to them. They do not seem to be concerned that their chicks might die and they would have laid their eggs for nothing. |
Yahweh has deprived her of wisdom and not given her any understanding.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| because God has caused it to forget wisdom, and he has not given understanding to it. | Ostriches act this way because I did not give them good instincts. I did not enable them to understand how they should care for their eggs and chicks. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| As for the time it lifts itself on high, it laughs at the horse and at its rider. | However, ostriches are still awesome birds. When they run, they can easily run faster than horses! |
She laughs in scorn at the horse and its rider.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Have you given strength to the horse? Have you clothed its neck {with} a mane? | But I made horses to be very strong. I put beautiful flowing manes on their necks. |
A flowing mane clothes its neck.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Have you made it jump like a locust? The majesty of its snorting is terrifying! | I enabled them to leap through the air as if they were locusts. They snort so loudly that they cause people to be afraid. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They paw in the valley, and it rejoices in strength; it goes out to meet the weaponry. | As horses prepare to rush into battle, they paw the ground, showing off their great strength. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It laughs at fear and it is not frightened, and it does not turn back from the face of the sword. | Horses seem to disregard danger as they go bravely into battle. They do not run away when enemy soldiers attack them. |
He does not turn back from the sword.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The quiver rattles upon him, the flashing of the spear and the javelin. | As horses run into battle, the quivers containing their riders’ arrows rattle against their sides. The spears and javelins that they are carrying flash in the sunlight. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| With shaking and rage it swallows the ground, and it does not stand still when {there is} the sound of the horn. | Horses rush into battle as soon as an officer blows a horn to signal that the army should advance. The horses run very quickly, and they speedily reach the enemy lines. |
It cannot stand in one place.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| In the abundance of the horn, it says, ‘Aha!’ And it smells the battle from far away, the thunder of the princes and the battle-cry. | When they hear someone blow the battle horn, horses neigh excitedly. They can smell a battle even from a distance. They hear commanders shouting orders to their soldiers {and they know the battle will begin soon}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| By your wisdom does the hawk soar, does it stretch its wings toward the south? | Now think about birds that hunt small animals and other birds. Do you know how hawks are able to stay in the air as if they were floating? Do you know how they sense when it is time to fly to a warmer place for the winter? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If at your mouth the eagle mounts up and that its nest is high? | I gave eagles the ability to fly high up into the cliffs and build their nests there. |
He makes his nest in high places, and his home on the peaks of the crags.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It dwells and lodges {on} a crag, on the peak of a crag and a stronghold. | Eagles live on cliffs. They are safe among the high, pointed rocks there because no animals can get to them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| From there it seeks food; its eyes look to from afar. | From that great height, eagles look for animals that they can kill and eat. They can see animals that are far away. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And its eaglets suck up blood, and at where the slain {are}, there it is.” | Eagles kill small animals and bring them back to their nests to feed their chicks. Eagles also go and eat dead bodies that they see lying on the ground.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Yahweh answered Job and said, | Yahweh continued to speak to Job. He said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “{Is} a reprover to contend with the Almighty? The one correcting God, let him answer it!” | “Do you still think I am wrong and want to keep arguing with me? If you want to keep criticizing me, then answer the questions I have asked you!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Job answered Yahweh and said, | But Job replied to Yahweh, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Behold, I am slight; how shall I answer you? I put my hand over my mouth. | “Now I realize how insignificant I am. I am not able to answer your questions. I will not say anything in response to them. |
Job put his hand over his mouth.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I spoke once, but I will not answer, and twice, but I will not continue.” | I have already said more than I should have said. So now I will say nothing more.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Yahweh answered Job from the storm and said, | Then Yahweh again spoke to Job from inside the storm. He said, |
Yahweh answered Job from out of a fierce storm.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Now gird up your loins like a man! I will question you, and you will inform me. | “I am going to ask you some more questions, so get ready to answer them directly. |
He told Job to gird up his loins like a man.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Would you actually annul my judgment? Would you condemn me so that you may be right? | Do you still want to govern the universe instead of me? Do you still want to insist that I am doing things wrong and that you would do them right? |
He said Job condemned Yahweh so that Job could claim he was right.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Or if like God an arm {is} to you? Or like him will you thunder with a voice? | Do you have the same amount of power as I do? Does your voice sound as loud as thunder, as mine does? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then adorn yourself {in} majesty and greatness, and clothe yourself {in} glory and splendor. | If you want to govern the universe, you must show that you are dignified and noble. You must show that your character is glorious and beautiful. |
He challenges Job to cloth himself with glory, splendor, greatness and majesty.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Scatter the outbursts of your nose, and look at every proud one and bring him down. | You must express holy wrath against the people who deserve it. You must recognize which people are being sinfully arrogant and take them out of important positions. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Look at every proud one and subdue him, and trample the wicked under them. | Yes, you must not allow arrogant people to remain in important positions. Destroy wicked people quickly! |
Yahweh tells Job to trample them down where they stand.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Hide them in the dust together; cover their faces in the hidden {place}. | Punish all of them by killing them. Then send them to the place where dead people go. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And then I will praise you, because your right hand can save you. | If you did that, I would congratulate you and admit that you could save yourself by your own ability. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now behold Behemoth, which I made with you; it eats grass like an ox. | {But to show you how insignificant you really are,} I want you to think about a great animal that I created, Behemoth. I made you, and I also made it. Even though this great beast has the size and strength to hunt and kill other animals, it eats plants as oxen do. |
He eats grass like an ox.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now behold, its strength {is} in his loins, and its power {is} in the muscles of his belly. | Think about how strong the legs of Behemoth are! And the muscles in its belly are very powerful. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It bends its tail like a cedar; the sinews of its thighs are intertwined. | Behemoth can make its tail as stiff as the branch of a cedar tree and hold it up in the air. It has very strong legs. |
His tail is like a cedar.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Its bones {are} tubes of bronze; its legs {are} like bars of iron. | Its thigh bones are so strong that they are like tubes made of bronze. Its legs are so strong that they are like bars made of iron. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It {is} the first of the ways of God. Its Maker has brought near its sword. | Behemoth is one of the strongest animals that I made. I gave it sharp tusks so that it could cut down plants and eat them. |
God says the Behemoth is the first of the ways of God, meaning first in strength.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For the hills provide food for it, and all of the beasts of the field play there. | It needs those tusks because it comes out of the river where it lives in order to eat the plants that grow nearby. But other animals do not have to be afraid of it, so those animals do not run away or hide. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It lies beneath lotus trees, in the covering of the reed and the marsh. | Behemoth lies under the trees that grow near the river where it lives. It sometimes shelters in the tall reeds that grow in the swamps of the river. |
He lies under the lotus plants in the shelter of the reeds.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The lotus trees cover it {with} their shade; the willows of the river surround it. | Behemoth stays in the shade of trees that grow near the river. It stays in the midst of the trees that grow near the water. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, a river will overflow, it does not tremble; it is confident, if the Jordan should surge to its mouth. | Even when the river in which it lives become strong and turbulent, this does not disturb Behemoth. It does not mind even if the level of the water in the river rises very high. |
He does not tremble and he is confident.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will one capture it with its eyes? Will one pierce {its} nose with cords? | No one could capture Behemoth even if he could get close enough to stand right in front of it. No one can make Behemoth a tame animal. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will you draw out Leviathan with a hook? Or will you tie its tongue with a rope? | {And now I want you to think about another great animal that I created, Leviathan.} You cannot catch Leviathan with a fishhook, and you cannot tie rope around its jaws to hold them closed! |
Yahweh asks Job if he can draw out Leviathan with a fishhook.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will you put a rope into its nose, or will you pierce its jaw with a hook? | You cannot hook its jaws to catch it and then put cords through its nose to control it. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will it multiply supplications to you? If it will speak tender {things} to you? | Leviathan would certainly not plead with you to act mercifully toward it! It would not use sweet talk to try to get you not to harm it! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will it cut a covenant with you? Will you take it for a servant forever? | Leviathan would certainly not make an agreement to work for you as your slave for as long as it lived! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will you play with it as {with} a bird? Or will you tie it for your girls? | You could not turn it into a pet, as people do with birds! You could not put a leash around its neck so that the young women in your household could take it for walks! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will partners bargain over it? Will they divide it among merchants? | People who work together to catch fish could never catch Leviathan and then decide what share of it belonged to each of them. They would never get the chance to cut Leviathan into pieces and then sell its meat! |
He asks Job if the fishermen would bargain for Leviathan or divide him up to trade among the merchants.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Can you fill its hide with harpoons or its head with spears of fish? | People cannot throw harpoons hard enough at Leviathan to pierce its hide! People cannot throw fishing spears into its head! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Put your hand on it; remember the battle; do not continue! | If you try to fight with Leviathan, it will give you a battle that you will never forget! You will never try to do that again! |
It someone puts his hand on the Leviathan just once, he will remember the battle and do it no more.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, his hope is deceived; is one {not} cast down even at its appearance? | It is useless even to hope to subdue Leviathan. Just the sight of it is enough to make a person become so afraid that he falls down. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {One is} not fierce, that he will awaken it. Then who {is} he {who} will stand to my face? | No one is so foolhardy that he would wake up Leviathan if it were sleeping. {It would angrily attack him.} Since that is true, it is even more foolhardy to challenge me{, as you have done}. |
No one dares to stir Leviathan up, so there is no one who can stand before Yahweh.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who has anticipated me and I shall repay? Beneath all of the skies, it {is} to me. | {Even if people are righteous,} they have not done anything for me that obligates me to make only good things happen to them. Everything in the created world belongs to me{, so no one can give me anything that I have to repay.} |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I will not keep silent {about} its limbs or the matter of its strengths or the beauty of its form. | And now I want to speak to you further. {You said that you wanted to wake up Leviathan! As I said, that would be very foolish.} It has agile legs and great strength and a graceful shape. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Who has removed the face of its clothing? Into the double of its bridle, who has entered? | It has a tough hide that no one can strip off. It has powerful jaws. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The doors of its face, who has opened? Around its teeth {is} terror! | Those jaws have terrible teeth in them! No one can pry them open when they are closed{, and no one can release them when they bite onto something.} |
He says it is the doors of his face, ringed with teeth, which are a terror.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Rows of shields {are its} pride, shut together {with} a tight seal. | It has rows of scales on its back with no gaps between them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| One with one, they are close, and air does not come between them. | Those scales are so close together that it seems as if not even air can get between them. |
One is so near to another that no air can come between them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| A man with his brother, they are joined together; they clasp themselves and they do not separate themselves. | Those scales join very closely to each other and they do not pull apart. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Light flashes from its snortings, and its eyes {are} like the eyelids of the dawn. | When Leviathan makes a loud sound, fire comes out of its mouth as well as noise. It has bright, scary eyes that seem to glow with fire. |
His eyes are like eyelids of the dawn, bright and glowing.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Flames come from its mouth; sparks of fire leap out! | When it breathes, it shoots out flames and fiery sparks. |
Out of Leviathan’s mouth go flames and fiery sparks.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| From its nostrils goes smoke like a blown pot and a reed. | Smoke pours out of its nostrils the way steam pours out of a pot of boiling water over a hot fire. |
It is like a boiling pot on a fire that has been fanned to be very hot.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Its breath kindles coals, and a flame goes out from its mouth. | Flames shoot out from its mouth, so when it breathes on wood, the wood catches fire. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Strength lodges in its neck, and fear leaps up to its face. | Its neck is very strong. Wherever it goes, it makes people very afraid. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The folds of its flesh join together; they are firm on it, they will not be moved. | Leviathan does not have a soft belly as other animals do. Scales wrap around its belly and hold it tightly to its body. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Its heart is hard like stone; yes, it is hard like a lower millstone. | It does not feel any compassion, any more than a stone would feel compassion or the lower millstone on which people grind grain would feel compassion. |
His heart is as hard as a lower millstone.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| At its rising, the mighty fear; from its thrashings, they withdraw. | When Leviathan rises up out of the ocean, the bravest people become terrified. When sailors see it churning up the water, they sail away as fast as they can. |
They become afraid and draw back.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The sword reaching it does not stand; the spear, the dart, the javelin. | People cannot injure it with swords. They cannot injure it with spears, arrows, or other weapons that have sharp points, either. |
They do nothing to him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It regards iron as straw, bronze as rotten wood. | An iron weapon could not hurt it any more than straw could. A bronze weapon could not hurt it any more than a weapon made of rotten wood. |
He thinks of iron as if it were straw and bronze as if it were rotten wood.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The son of the bow does not make it flee; with it, the stones of the sling are turned into chaff. | Shooting arrows at it does not cause it to flee. Hurling stones at it from a sling is like hurling bits of chaff at it. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Clubs are regarded as chaff, and it laughs at the rattling of a spear. | A club that someone might use against it would not hurt it any more than chaff would. It can ignore any spear that someone might throw at it. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Beneath it are points of a shard; it spreads {like} a threshing sledge upon the mud. | Scales as sharp as broken pieces of pottery cover its belly. When it drags itself through the mud, these scales tear up the ground. |
He leaves a spreading trail in the mud as if he were a threshing sledge.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It makes the deep boil like a pot; it makes the sea like an ointment pot. | As it swims through the deep water of the ocean, it churns it into foam, as if it were boiling water or ointment that someone was stirring. |
He makes the deep to foam up like a boiling pot of water.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It makes a path shine behind it; one considers the deep {to be} white-haired. | As it swims through the water, it creates a glistening wake. The churning water is like white hair on top of the deep sea. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Upon the dust there is not its equal, the one made without fear. | There is nothing in the world like Leviathan. I created it in such a way that it would not be afraid of anything. |
He s has been made to live without fear.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| It sees all of the high; it {is} king over all of the sons of pride.” | Nothing else scares it, no matter how powerful that thing may be. It is greater than the greatest of other creatures.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Job answered Yahweh and said, | Then Job replied to Yahweh. He said, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “I know that you are able {to do} everything, and no plan is withheld from you. | “Now I realize that you can do anything you want. No one can stop you from doing what you want to do. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| ‘Who is this, concealing counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have declared, but I did not understand, {things} too wonderful for me, and I did not know. | You told me that I had been speaking ignorantly, and that as a result, I was making it harder for people to understand your actions. I will admit that I was speaking about things that I did not understand. Those things were very amazing, and I did not really know what I was talking about. |
He had spoken things that he did not understand, things too difficult for him to understand, which he did not know about.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| ‘Listen, now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you will inform me.’ | You told me that I should listen and let you talk because you were going to ask me some questions. You wanted me to try to answer them. {But I will admit that I am not able to answer the questions you asked.} |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| With the hearing of my ear I had heard {about} you, but now my eye sees you. | I had previously heard many things about you. But now I have actually seen you! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore I despise, and I repent in dust and ashes.” | Therefore I am ashamed of myself for what I said. I am sitting in dust and ashes to show that I am sorry for what I said.” |
Job despised himself and repented in dust and ashes.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it happened, after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job, that Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My nose burns against you and against the two of your friends, for you have not spoken about me what is right as my servant Job {has}. | When Yahweh had finished speaking with Job, he spoke to Eliphaz, Job’s friend from the town of Teman. He said, “I am very angry with you and your two friends. I am angry because you did not say true things about me the way Job did. He serves me faithfully. |
They had not said right things about Yahweh, as Job had done.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So now take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. And Job my servant will pray for you; I will surely lift his face, lest I deal with you {according to your} folly. For you have not said what is right about me like my servant Job.” | So now you must bring seven young bulls and seven rams to Job, that man who serves me faithfully. While he is with you, kill these animals and burn them as a sacrifice for yourselves. Then Job will pray for you, and I will do what he asks me to do for you. I will not punish you for speaking foolishly about me. You deserve for me to punish you because you did not say the right things about me as Job did. He serves me faithfully.” |
He told Eliphaz to take seven bulls and seven rams to offer for themselves as a burnt offering.
Yahweh said he would accept Job’s prayer.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite {and} Zophar the Naamathite went and did as Yahweh had spoken to them, and Yahweh lifted the face of Job. | So Eliphaz, Job’s friend from the town of Teman; Bildad, Job’s friend from the Shuhite people group; and Zophar, Job’s friend from the town of Naamah, did what Yahweh had commanded them to do. Then Job prayed for his friends, and Yahweh forgave them as Job asked him to do. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Yahweh turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends, and Yahweh added {to} all that {was} to Job to double. | After Job had prayed for his three friends, Yahweh healed him and made him wealthy again. Yahweh gave him twice as much wealth as he had before. |
Yahweh restored his fortunes and gave him twice what he had possessed before.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And all of his brothers and all of his sisters and all of the ones knowing him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house. And they consoled him and comforted him for all of the troubles that Yahweh had brought upon him, and they each gave one kesitah to him and each {gave} one earring of gold. | Then Job’s family and friends came to his house and had a feast with him. All of his brothers and sisters came, and all of his former acquaintances also came. They cheered him up now that all of the troubles were over that Yahweh had allowed to happen to him. Each of them gave Job a valuable piece of silver and a gold earring. |
They each gave him a piece of silver and an earring of gold.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Yahweh blessed the finish of Job more than his start. And it was to him 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys. | Yahweh blessed Job more in the second part of his life than he had blessed him in the first part of his life. Job acquired 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 pairs of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. |
Yahweh blessed Job more than the first part of Job’s life.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it was to him seven sons and three daughters. | Job also had seven more sons and three more daughters. |
He had seven sons and three daughters.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he called the name of the first Jemimah and the name of the second Keziah and the name of the third Keren-Happuch. | He named the first daughter Jemimah. He named the second daughter Keziah. And he named the third daughter Keren Happuch. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And one was not found {among} women {as} beautiful as the daughters of Job in all of the land. And their father gave an inheritance to them in the midst of their brothers. | Job’s three daughters were the most beautiful women in the whole land of Uz. As their father, Job declared that his daughters would each receive an inheritance from him, just as their brothers would. |
There were no woman in the land as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and he gave them an inheritance with their brothers.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Job lived 140 years after this, and he saw his sons and the sons of his sons, {to} four generations. | After God restored Job’s prosperity, he lived for 140 more years. His new children had children of their own. Then his grandchildren had children of their own, so Job was even able to get to know his great-grandchildren. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Job died, old and full of days. | Job finally died after living a good long life. |