25:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
25:2 “Dominion and awesome might belong to God;
he establishes peace in his heights.
25:3 Can his armies be numbered?
On whom does his light not rise?
25:4 How then can a human being be righteous before God?
How can one born of a woman be pure?
25:5 If even the moon is not bright,
and the stars are not pure as far as he is concerned,
25:6 how much less a mortal man, who is but a maggot –
a son of man, who is only a worm!”
26:1 Then Job replied:
26:2 “How you have helped the powerless!
How you have saved the person who has no strength!
26:3 How you have advised the one without wisdom,
and abundantly revealed your insight!
26:4 To whom did you utter these words?
And whose spirit has come forth from your mouth?
26:5 “The dead tremble –
those beneath the waters
and all that live in them.
26:6 The underworld is naked before God;
the place of destruction lies uncovered.
26:7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth on nothing.
26:8 He locks the waters in his clouds,
and the clouds do not burst with the weight of them.
26:9 He conceals the face of the full moon,
shrouding it with his clouds.
26:10 He marks out the horizon on the surface of the waters
as a boundary between light and darkness.
26:11 The pillars of the heavens tremble
and are amazed at his rebuke.
26:12 By his power he stills the sea;
by his wisdom he cut Rahab the great sea monster to pieces.
26:13 By his breath the skies became fair;
his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
26:14 Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways!
How faint is the whisper we hear of him!
But who can understand the thunder of his power?”
27:1 And Job took up his discourse again:
27:2 “As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice,
the Almighty, who has made my life bitter –
27:3 for while my spirit is still in me,
and the breath from God is in my nostrils,
27:4 my lips will not speak wickedness,
and my tongue will whisper no deceit.
27:5 I will never declare that you three are in the right;
until I die, I will not set aside my integrity!
27:6 I will maintain my righteousness
and never let it go;
my conscience will not reproach me
for as long as I live.
27:7 “May my enemy be like the wicked,
my adversary like the unrighteous.
27:8 For what hope does the godless have when he is cut off,
when God takes away his life?
27:9 Does God listen to his cry
when distress overtakes him?
27:10 Will he find delight in the Almighty?
Will he call out to God at all times?
27:11 I will teach you about the power of God;
What is on the Almighty’s mind I will not conceal.
27:12 If you yourselves have all seen this,
Why in the world do you continue this meaningless talk?
27:13 This is the portion of the wicked man
allotted by God,
the inheritance that evildoers receive
from the Almighty.
27:14 If his children increase – it is for the sword!
His offspring never have enough to eat.
27:15 Those who survive him are buried by the plague,
and their widows do not mourn for them.
27:16 If he piles up silver like dust
and stores up clothing like mounds of clay,
27:17 what he stores up a righteous man will wear,
and an innocent man will inherit his silver.
27:18 The house he builds is as fragile as a moth’s cocoon,
like a hut that a watchman has made.
27:19 He goes to bed wealthy, but will do so no more.
When he opens his eyes, it is all gone.
27:20 Terrors overwhelm him like a flood;
at night a whirlwind carries him off.
27:21 The east wind carries him away, and he is gone;
it sweeps him out of his place.
27:22 It hurls itself against him without pity
as he flees headlong from its power.
27:23 It claps its hands at him in derision
and hisses him away from his place.