May 31 - Job 14-16
Job
1"Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.2He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.3Do you fix your eye on such a one? Will you bring him before you for judgment?4Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!5Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.6So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired man.7"At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.8Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil,9yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.10But man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.11As water disappears from the sea or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,12so man lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep.13"If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me!14If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.15You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made.16Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin.17My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin.18"But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place,19as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy man's hope.20You overpower him once for all, and he is gone; you change his countenance and send him away.21If his sons are honored, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he does not see it.22He feels but the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself."
1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:2"Would a wise man answer with empty notions or fill his belly with the hot east wind?3Would he argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value?4But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God.5Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty.6Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you.7"Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills?8Do you listen in on God's council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?9What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have?10The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father.11Are God's consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you?12Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash,13so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth?14"What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?15If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,16how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil like water!17"Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have seen,18what wise men have declared, hiding nothing received from their fathers19(to whom alone the land was given when no alien passed among them):20All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless through all the years stored up for him.21Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him.22He despairs of escaping the darkness; he is marked for the sword.23He wanders about-food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.24Distress and anguish fill him with terror; they overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,25because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty,26defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield.27"Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh,28he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble.29He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land.30He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God's mouth will carry him away.31Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return.32Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches will not flourish.33He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.34For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit."
1Then Job replied:2"I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all!3Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing?4I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you.5But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.6"Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away.7Surely, O God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household.8You have bound me-and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.9God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.10Men open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me.11God has turned me over to evil men and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.12All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target;13his archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground.14Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior.15"I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust.16My face is red with weeping, deep shadows ring my eyes;17yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure.18"O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest!19Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.20My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God;21on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend.22"Only a few years will pass before I go on the journey of no return.