[18:1] Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

[18:2] "How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and afterwards we will speak. [18:3] Why are we counted as animals, which have become unclean in your sight? [18:4] You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed out of its place? [18:5] "Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, The spark of his fire shall not shine. [18:6] The light shall be dark in his tent. His lamp above him shall be put out. [18:7] The steps of his strength shall be shortened. His own counsel shall cast him down. [18:8] For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he wanders into its mesh. [18:9] A snare will take him by the heel. A trap will catch him. [18:10] A noose is hidden for him in the ground, a trap for him in the way. [18:11] Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall chase him at his heels. [18:12] His strength shall be famished. Calamity shall be ready at his side. [18:13] The members of his body shall be devoured. The firstborn of death shall devour his members. [18:14] He shall be rooted out of his tent where he trusts. He shall be brought to the king of terrors. [18:15] There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his. Sulfur shall be scattered on his habitation. [18:16] His roots shall be dried up beneath. Above shall his branch be cut off. [18:17] His memory shall perish from the earth. He shall have no name in the street. [18:18] He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. [18:19] He shall have neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any remaining where he sojourned. [18:20] Those who come after shall be astonished at his day, as those who went before were frightened. [18:21] Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous. This is the place of him who doesn't know God."

[19:1] Then Job answered,

[19:2] "How long will you torment me, and crush me with words? [19:3] You have reproached me ten times. You aren't ashamed that you attack me. [19:4] If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself. [19:5] If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach; [19:6] know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net. [19:7] "Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no justice. [19:8] He has walled up my way so that I can't pass, and has set darkness in my paths. [19:9] He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. [19:10] He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. My hope he has plucked up like a tree. [19:11] He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries. [19:12] His troops come on together, build a siege ramp against me, and encamp around my tent. [19:13] "He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me. [19:14] My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me. [19:15] Those who dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger. I am an alien in their sight. [19:16] I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth. [19:17] My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother. [19:18] Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me. [19:19] All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me. [19:20] My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. [19:21] "Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me. [19:22] Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh? [19:23] "Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! [19:24] That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! [19:25] But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth. [19:26] After my skin is destroyed, then in my flesh shall I see God, [19:27] Whom I, even I, shall see on my side. My eyes shall see, and not as a stranger. "My heart is consumed within me. [19:28] If you say, 'How we will persecute him!' because the root of the matter is found in me, [19:29] be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment."

[20:1] Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,

[20:2] "Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of my haste that is in me. [20:3] I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me. [20:4] Don't you know this from old time, since man was placed on earth, [20:5] that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment? [20:6] Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds, [20:7] yet he shall perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him shall say, 'Where is he?' [20:8] He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found. Yes, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night. [20:9] The eye which saw him shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more see him. [20:10] His children shall seek the favor of the poor. His hands shall give back his wealth. [20:11] His bones are full of his youth, but youth shall lie down with him in the dust. [20:12] "Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue, [20:13] though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth; [20:14] yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him. [20:15] He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly. [20:16] He shall suck cobra venom. The viper's tongue shall kill him. [20:17] He shall not look at the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter. [20:18] That for which he labored he shall restore, and shall not swallow it down. According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice. [20:19] For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up. [20:20] "Because he knew no quietness within him, he shall not save anything of that in which he delights. [20:21] There was nothing left that he didn't devour, therefore his prosperity shall not endure. [20:22] In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him. The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him. [20:23] When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating. [20:24] He shall flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow shall strike him through. [20:25] He draws it forth, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him. [20:26] All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire shall devour him. It shall consume that which is left in his tent. [20:27] The heavens shall reveal his iniquity. The earth shall rise up against him. [20:28] The increase of his house shall depart. They shall rush away in the day of his wrath. [20:29] This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God."

[21:1] Then Job answered,

[21:2] "Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation. [21:3] Allow me, and I also will speak; After I have spoken, mock on. [21:4] As for me, is my complaint to man? Why shouldn't I be impatient? [21:5] Look at me, and be astonished. Lay your hand on your mouth. [21:6] When I remember, I am troubled. Horror takes hold of my flesh. [21:7] "Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power? [21:8] Their child is established with them in their sight, their offspring before their eyes. [21:9] Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. [21:10] Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don't miscarry. [21:11] They send forth their little ones like a flock. Their children dance. [21:12] They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe. [21:13] They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol. [21:14] They tell God, 'Depart from us, for we don't want to know about your ways. [21:15] What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?' [21:16] Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked is far from me. [21:17] "How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out, that their calamity comes on them, that God distributes sorrows in his anger? [21:18] How often is it that they are as stubble before the wind, as chaff that the storm carries away? [21:19] You say, 'God lays up his iniquity for his children.' Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it. [21:20] Let his own eyes see his destruction. Let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. [21:21] For what does he care for his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off? [21:22] "Shall any teach God knowledge, seeing he judges those who are high? [21:23] One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. [21:24] His pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moistened. [21:25] Another dies in bitterness of soul, and never tastes of good. [21:26] They lie down alike in the dust. The worm covers them. [21:27] "Behold, I know your thoughts, the devices with which you would wrong me. [21:28] For you say, 'Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?' [21:29] Haven't you asked wayfaring men? Don't you know their evidences, [21:30] that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity, That they are led forth to the day of wrath? [21:31] Who shall declare his way to his face? Who shall repay him what he has done? [21:32] Yet he will be borne to the grave. Men shall keep watch over the tomb. [21:33] The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him. All men shall draw after him, as there were innumerable before him. [21:34] So how can you comfort me with nonsense, seeing that in your answers there remains only falsehood?"

[22:1] Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

[22:2] "Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. [22:3] Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous? Or does it benefit him, that you make your ways perfect? [22:4] Is it for your piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment? [22:5] Isn't your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities. [22:6] For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing. [22:7] You haven't given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. [22:8] But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it. [22:9] You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. [22:10] Therefore snares are around you. Sudden fear troubles you, [22:11] or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover you. [22:12] "Isn't God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are! [22:13] You say, 'What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness? [22:14] Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn't see. He walks on the vault of the sky.' [22:15] Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden, [22:16] who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream, [22:17] who said to God, 'Depart from us;' and, 'What can the Almighty do for us?' [22:18] Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. [22:19] The righteous see it, and are glad. The innocent ridicule them, [22:20] saying, 'Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed the remnant of them.' [22:21] "Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. Thereby good shall come to you. [22:22] Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. [22:23] If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents. [22:24] Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. [22:25] The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you. [22:26] For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and shall lift up your face to God. [22:27] You shall make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You shall pay your vows. [22:28] You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established to you. Light shall shine on your ways. [22:29] When they cast down, you shall say, 'be lifted up.' He will save the humble person. [22:30] He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."