Bildad Speaks, Job Responds: Job 25

Job 25

Bildad's Third Response to Job

1Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
2"God is powerful and dreadful. He enforces peace in the heavens. 3Who is able to count his heavenly army? Does his light not shine on all the earth? 4How can a mere mortal stand before God and claim to be righteous? Who in all the earth is pure? 5God is so glorious that even the moon and stars scarcely shine compared to him. 6How much less are mere people, who are but worms in his sight?"


Job 26

Job's Ninth Speech: A Response to Bildad

1Then Job spoke again:
2"How you have helped the powerless! How you have saved a person who has no strength! 3How you have enlightened my stupidity! What wise things you have said! 4Where have you gotten all these wise sayings? Whose spirit speaks through you?

5"The dead tremble in their place beneath the waters. 6The underworld[a] is naked in God's presence. There is no cover for the place of destruction. 7God stretches the northern sky over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing. 8He wraps the rain in his thick clouds, and the clouds do not burst with the weight. 9He shrouds his throne with his clouds. 10He created the horizon when he separated the waters; he set the boundaries for day and night. 11The foundations of heaven tremble at his rebuke. 12By his power the sea grew calm. By his skill he crushed the great sea monster.[b] 13His Spirit made the heavens beautiful, and his power pierced the gliding serpent.

14"These are some of the minor things he does, merely a whisper of his power. Who can understand the thunder of his power?"



Footnotes:
Job 26:6 Hebrew Sheol.
Job 26:12 Hebrew Rahab, the name of a mythical sea monster that represents chaos in ancient literature.

Job's Final Speech: Job 27

Job 27

Job's Final Speech


1Job continued speaking:
2"I make this vow by the living God, who has taken away my rights, by the Almighty who has embittered my soul. 3As long as I live, while I have breath from God, 4my lips will speak no evil, and my tongue will speak no lies. 5I will never concede that you are right; until I die, I will defend my innocence. 6I will maintain my innocence without wavering. My conscience is clear for as long as I live.

7"May my enemy be punished like the wicked, my adversary like evil men. 8For what hope do the godless have when God cuts them off and takes away their life? 9Will God listen to their cry when trouble comes upon them? 10Can they take delight in the Almighty? Can they call to God at any time?

11"I will teach you about God's power. I will not conceal anything that concerns the Almighty. 12But I don't need to, for you yourselves have seen all this; yet you are saying all these useless things to me.

13"This is what the wicked will receive from God; this is their inheritance from the Almighty. 14If they have a multitude of children, their children will die in war or starve to death. 15Those who survive will be brought down to the grave by a plague, with no one to mourn them, not even their wives.

16"Evil people may have all the money in the world, and they may store away mounds of clothing. 17But the righteous will wear that clothing, and the innocent will divide all that money. 18The houses built by the wicked are as fragile as a spiderweb, as flimsy as a shelter made of branches.

19"The wicked go to bed rich but wake up to find that all their wealth is gone. 20Terror overwhelms them, and they are blown away in the storms of the night. 21The east wind carries them away, and they are gone. It sweeps them away. 22It whirls down on them without mercy. They struggle to flee from its power. 23But everyone jeers at them and mocks them.