ESV - Job Chapter 24 to 27

24 24:1 “Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days? ²Some move landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them. ³They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge. ⁴They thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves. ⁵Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert the poor[1] go out to their toil, seeking game; the wasteland yields food for their children. ⁶They gather their [2] fodder in the field, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man. ⁷They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. ⁸They are wet with the rain of the mountains and cling to the rock for lack of shelter. ⁹(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.) ¹⁰They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they carry the sheaves; ¹¹among the olive rows of the wicked[3] they make oil; they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst. ¹²From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with wrong.

¹³“There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths. ¹⁴The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief. ¹⁵The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’; and he veils his face. ¹⁶In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light. ¹⁷For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

¹⁸“You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards. ¹⁹Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned. ²⁰The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like a tree.’

²¹“They wrong the barren childless woman, and do no good to the widow. ²²Yet God^[4]prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life. ²³He gives them security, and they are supported, and his eyes are upon their ways. ²⁴They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like the heads of grain. ²⁵If it is not so, who will prove me a liar and show that there is nothing in what I say?”

[1] Hebrew they [2] Hebrew his [3] Hebrew their olive rows [4] Hebrew he

25 Bildad Speaks: Man Cannot Be Righteous

25:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

²“Dominion and fear are with God;[5] he makes peace in his high heaven. ³Is there any number to his armies? Upon whom does his light not arise? ⁴How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure? ⁵Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in his eyes; ⁶how much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!”

[5] Hebrew him

26 Job Replies: God’s Majesty Is Unsearchable

26:1 Then Job answered and said:

²“How you have helped him who has no power! How you have saved the arm that has no strength! ³How you have counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge! ⁴With whose help have you uttered words, and whose breath has come out from you? ⁵The dead tremble under the waters and their inhabitants. ⁶Sheol is naked before God,[6] and Abaddon has no covering. ⁷He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing. ⁸He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them. ⁹He covers the face of the full moon[7] and spreads over it his cloud. ¹⁰He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness. ¹¹The pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at his rebuke. ¹²By his power he stilled the sea; by his understanding he shattered Rahab. ¹³By his wind the heavens were made fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. ¹⁴Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

[6] Hebrew him [7] Or his throne

27 Job Continues: I Will Maintain My Integrity

27:1 And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

²“As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter, ³as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, ⁴my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit. ⁵Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. ⁶I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

⁷“Let my enemy be as the wicked, and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous. ⁸For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life? ⁹Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him? ¹⁰Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times? ¹¹I will teach you concerning the hand of God; what is with the Almighty I will not conceal. ¹²Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?

¹³“This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty: ¹⁴If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword, and his descendants have not enough bread. ¹⁵Those who survive him the pestilence buries, and his widows do not weep. ¹⁶Though he heap up silver like dust, and pile up clothing like clay, ¹⁷he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver. ¹⁸He builds his house like a moth’s, like a booth that a watchman makes. ¹⁹He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more; he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone. ²⁰Terrors overtake him like a flood; in the night a whirlwind carries him off. ²¹The east wind lifts him up and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place. ²²It[8] hurls at him without pity; he flees from its[9] power in headlong flight. ²³It claps its hands at him and hisses at him from its place.

[8] Or He (that is, God); also verse 23 [9] Or his; also verse 23