Job, Act 1, Chapters 1-13

The wager in the throne room and four messengers arriving before each other has finished speaking. Everything taken in a single afternoon, and a man who tears his robe and worships anyway.

“He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be Yahweh’s name.””— Job 1:21 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 1:1-22 WEB

1. 1There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil.
2. 2There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
3. 3His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east.
4. 4His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
5. 5It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts.” Job did so continually.
6. 6Now on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan also came among them.
7. 7Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
8. 8Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil.”
9. 9Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing?
10. 10Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
11. 11But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.”
12. 12Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh.
13. 13It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
14. 14that there came a messenger to Job, and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them,
15. 15and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
16. 16While he was still speaking, there also came another, and said, “The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
17. 17While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
18. 18While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
19. 19and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.”
20. 20Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped.
21. 21He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be Yahweh’s name.”
22. 22In all this, Job did not sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing.

The second round: skin for skin. Sores from sole to crown, a potsherd, ashes, and three friends who sit with him seven days without saying a word — the best thing they do.

“So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.”— Job 2:13 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 2:1-13 WEB

1. 1Again, on the day when the God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan came also among them to present himself before Yahweh.
2. 2Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
3. 3Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause.”
4. 4Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.
5. 5But stretch out your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face.”
6. 6Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.”
7. 7So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head.
8. 8He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes.
9. 9Then his wife said to him, “Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die.”
10. 10But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips.
11. 11Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him.
12. 12When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn’t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky.
13. 13So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.

Job opens his mouth and curses the day he was born. Let that day be darkness; let God above not seek for it. The silence breaks and never re-forms.

“For the thing which I fear comes on me, That which I am afraid of comes to me.”— Job 3:25 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 3:1-26 WEB

1. 1After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.
2. 2Job answered:
3. 3“Let the day perish in which I was born, the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’
4. 4Let that day be darkness. Don’t let God from above seek for it, neither let the light shine on it.
5. 5Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own. Let a cloud dwell on it. Let all that makes black the day terrify it.
6. 6As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it. Let it not rejoice among the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of the months.
7. 7Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful voice come therein.
8. 8Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up leviathan.
9. 9Let the stars of its twilight be dark. Let it look for light, but have none, neither let it see the eyelids of the morning,
10. 10because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.
11. 11“Why didn’t I die from the womb? Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?
12. 12Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should nurse?
13. 13For now should I have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,
14. 14with kings and counselors of the earth, who built up waste places for themselves;
15. 15or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
16. 16or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw light.
17. 17There the wicked cease from troubling. There the weary are at rest.
18. 18There the prisoners are at ease together. They don’t hear the voice of the taskmaster.
19. 19The small and the great are there. The servant is free from his master.
20. 20“Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,
21. 21Who long for death, but it doesn’t come; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
22. 22who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
23. 23Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
24. 24For my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water.
25. 25For the thing which I fear comes on me, That which I am afraid of comes to me.
26. 26I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest; but trouble comes.”

Eliphaz and the spirit that passed before his face, making the hair of his flesh stand up. Consolation delivered as a ghost story.

“‘Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?”— Job 4:17 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 4:1-21 WEB

1. 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
2. 2“If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking?
3. 3Behold, you have instructed many, you have strengthened the weak hands.
4. 4Your words have supported him who was falling, You have made firm the feeble knees.
5. 5But now it has come to you, and you faint. It touches you, and you are troubled.
6. 6Isn’t your piety your confidence? Isn’t the integrity of your ways your hope?
7. 7“Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
8. 8According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble, reap the same.
9. 9By the breath of God they perish. By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
10. 10The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
11. 11The old lion perishes for lack of prey. The cubs of the lioness are scattered abroad.
12. 12“Now a thing was secretly brought to me. My ear received a whisper of it.
13. 13In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
14. 14fear came on me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.
15. 15Then a spirit passed before my face. The hair of my flesh stood up.
16. 16It stood still, but I couldn’t discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes. Silence, then I heard a voice, saying,
17. 17‘Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
18. 18Behold, he puts no trust in his servants. He charges his angels with error.
19. 19How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!
20. 20Between morning and evening they are destroyed. They perish forever without any regarding it.
21. 21Isn’t their tent cord plucked up within them? They die, and that without wisdom.’

Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. Eliphaz recommending that Job commit his cause to God — sound advice, offered to the wrong man at the wrong time.

“but man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.”— Job 5:7 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 5:1-27 WEB

1. 1“Call now; is there any who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2. 2For resentment kills the foolish man, and jealousy kills the simple.
3. 3I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
4. 4His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them,
5. 5whose harvest the hungry eats up, and take it even out of the thorns. The snare gapes for their substance.
6. 6For affliction doesn’t come out of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground;
7. 7but man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
8. 8“But as for me, I would seek God. I would commit my cause to God,
9. 9who does great things that can’t be fathomed, marvelous things without number;
10. 10who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields;
11. 11so that he sets up on high those who are low, those who mourn are exalted to safety.
12. 12He frustrates the plans of the crafty, So that their hands can’t perform their enterprise.
13. 13He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.
14. 14They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at noonday as in the night.
15. 15But he saves from the sword of their mouth, even the needy from the hand of the mighty.
16. 16So the poor has hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.
17. 17“Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.
18. 18For he wounds, and binds up. He injures, and his hands make whole.
19. 19He will deliver you in six troubles; yes, in seven no evil shall touch you.
20. 20In famine he will redeem you from death; in war, from the power of the sword.
21. 21You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.
22. 22At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be afraid of the animals of the earth.
23. 23For you shall be allied with the stones of the field. The animals of the field shall be at peace with you.
24. 24You shall know that your tent is in peace. You shall visit your fold, and shall miss nothing.
25. 25You shall know also that your offspring shall be great, Your offspring as the grass of the earth.
26. 26You shall come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of grain comes in its season.
27. 27Look this, we have searched it, so it is. Hear it, and know it for your good.”

The arrows of the Almighty are within me. Job asking for his grief to be weighed on a scale, and calling his friends a wadi that dries up exactly when the caravans arrive.

“My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;”— Job 6:15 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 6:1-30 WEB

1. 1Then Job answered,
2. 2“Oh that my anguish were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!
3. 3For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, therefore have my words been rash.
4. 4For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
5. 5Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder?
6. 6Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
7. 7My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me.
8. 8“Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant the thing that I long for,
9. 9even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
10. 10Be it still my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn’t spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
11. 11What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?
12. 12Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass?
13. 13Isn’t it that I have no help in me, That wisdom is driven quite from me?
14. 14“To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
15. 15My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;
16. 16Which are black by reason of the ice, in which the snow hides itself.
17. 17In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.
18. 18The caravans that travel beside them turn away. They go up into the waste, and perish.
19. 19The caravans of Tema looked. The companies of Sheba waited for them.
20. 20They were distressed because they were confident. They came there, and were confounded.
21. 21For now you are nothing. You see a terror, and are afraid.
22. 22Did I say, ‘Give to me?’ or, ‘Offer a present for me from your substance?’
23. 23or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand?’ or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?’
24. 24“Teach me, and I will hold my peace. Cause me to understand wherein I have erred.
25. 25How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what does it reprove?
26. 26Do you intend to reprove words, since the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind?
27. 27Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend.
28. 28Now therefore be pleased to look at me, for surely I shall not lie to your face.
29. 29Please return. Let there be no injustice. Yes, return again. My cause is righteous.
30. 30Is there injustice on my tongue? Can’t my taste discern mischievous things?

Is not man forced to labor on earth? Nights of tossing until dawn, flesh clothed with worms, and the first direct address to God in the book: let me alone.

“I loathe my life. I don’t want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.”— Job 7:16 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 7:1-21 WEB

1. 1“Isn’t a man forced to labor on earth? Aren’t his days like the days of a hired hand?
2. 2As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, as a hireling who looks for his wages,
3. 3so am I made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me.
4. 4When I lie down, I say, ‘When shall I arise, and the night be gone?’ I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.
5. 5My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.
6. 6My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
7. 7Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye shall no more see good.
8. 8The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more. Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be.
9. 9As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol shall come up no more.
10. 10He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
11. 11“Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12. 12Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me?
13. 13When I say, ‘My bed shall comfort me. My couch shall ease my complaint;’
14. 14then you scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions:
15. 15so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones.
16. 16I loathe my life. I don’t want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
17. 17What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him,
18. 18that you should visit him every morning, and test him every moment?
19. 19How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?
20. 20If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself?
21. 21Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I shall not be.”

Bildad on the papyrus that cannot grow without water. Your children sinned, therefore they died — orthodoxy at its most efficient and most cruel.

““Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evildoers.”— Job 8:20 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 8:1-22 WEB

1. 1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,
2. 2“How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?
3. 3Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?
4. 4If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience.
5. 5If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty.
6. 6If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.
7. 7Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase.
8. 8“Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers.
9. 9(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)
10. 10Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart?
11. 11“Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water?
12. 12While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers before any other reed.
13. 13So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man shall perish,
14. 14Whose confidence shall break apart, Whose trust is a spider’s web.
15. 15He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand. He shall cling to it, but it shall not endure.
16. 16He is green before the sun. His shoots go out along his garden.
17. 17His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones.
18. 18If he is destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’
19. 19Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth, others shall spring.
20. 20“Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evildoers.
21. 21He will still fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting.
22. 22Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame. The tent of the wicked shall be no more.”

How can a man be just with God? He removes mountains and they don’t know it. Job conceding every point about power while refusing the point about guilt.

“There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both.”— Job 9:33 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 9:1-35 WEB

1. 1Then Job answered,
2. 2“Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with God?
3. 3If he is pleased to contend with him, he can’t answer him one time in a thousand.
4. 4God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?
5. 5He removes the mountains, and they don’t know it, when he overturns them in his anger.
6. 6He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble.
7. 7He commands the sun, and it doesn’t rise, and seals up the stars.
8. 8He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.
9. 9He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the rooms of the south.
10. 10He does great things past finding out; yes, marvelous things without number.
11. 11Behold, he goes by me, and I don’t see him. He passes on also, but I don’t perceive him.
12. 12Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
13. 13“God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.
14. 14How much less shall I answer him, And choose my words to argue with him?
15. 15Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn’t answer him. I would make supplication to my judge.
16. 16If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn’t believe that he listened to my voice.
17. 17For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without cause.
18. 18He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
19. 19If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, ‘Who,’ says he, ‘will summon me?’
20. 20Though I am righteous, my own mouth shall condemn me. Though I am blameless, it shall prove me perverse.
21. 21I am blameless. I don’t respect myself. I despise my life.
22. 22“It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.
23. 23If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent.
24. 24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it?
25. 25“Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away, they see no good.
26. 26They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey.
27. 27If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up;’
28. 28I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that you will not hold me innocent.
29. 29I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain?
30. 30If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,
31. 31yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes shall abhor me.
32. 32For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment.
33. 33There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both.
34. 34Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid;
35. 35then I would speak, and not fear him, for I am not so in myself.

Your hands have framed me and fashioned me, and now you destroy me. The complaint turning intimate — poured out like milk, curdled like cheese, clothed with skin and flesh.

““‘Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me.”— Job 10:8 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 10:1-22 WEB

1. 1“My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2. 2I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.
3. 3Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?
4. 4Do you have eyes of flesh? Or do you see as man sees?
5. 5Are your days as the days of mortals, or your years as man’s years,
6. 6that you inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin?
7. 7Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.
8. 8“‘Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me.
9. 9Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?
10. 10Haven’t you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?
11. 11You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12. 12You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit.
13. 13Yet you hid these things in your heart. I know that this is with you:
14. 14if I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my iniquity.
15. 15If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction.
16. 16If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you show yourself powerful to me.
17. 17You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me.
18. 18“‘Why, then, have you brought me out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.
19. 19I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20. 20Aren’t my days few? Cease then. Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,
21. 21before I go where I shall not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
22. 22the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as midnight.’”

Zophar arrives with the shortest fuse of the three. Can you fathom the deep things of God? Know then that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.

““Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty?”— Job 11:7 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 11:1-20 WEB

1. 1Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered,
2. 2“Shouldn’t the multitude of words be answered? Should a man full of talk be justified?
3. 3Should your boastings make men hold their peace? When you mock, shall no man make you ashamed?
4. 4For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure. I am clean in your eyes.’
5. 5But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against you,
6. 6that he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom has two sides. Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.
7. 7“Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
8. 8They are high as heaven. What can you do? They are deeper than Sheol. What can you know?
9. 9Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.
10. 10If he passes by, or confines, or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?
11. 11For he knows false men. He sees iniquity also, even though he doesn’t consider it.
12. 12An empty-headed man becomes wise when a man is born as a wild donkey’s colt.
13. 13“If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands toward him.
14. 14If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away. Don’t let unrighteousness dwell in your tents.
15. 15Surely then you shall lift up your face without spot; Yes, you shall be steadfast, and shall not fear:
16. 16for you shall forget your misery. You shall remember it like waters that have passed away.
17. 17Life shall be clearer than the noonday. Though there is darkness, it shall be as the morning.
18. 18You shall be secure, because there is hope. Yes, you shall search, and shall take your rest in safety.
19. 19Also you shall lie down, and no one shall make you afraid. Yes, many shall court your favor.
20. 20But the eyes of the wicked shall fail. They shall have no way to flee. Their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit.”

No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you. Job’s sarcasm at full strength, followed by a hymn to the God who leads counselors away stripped.

““No doubt, but you are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.”— Job 12:2 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 12:1-25 WEB

1. 1Then Job answered,
2. 2“No doubt, but you are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.
3. 3But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Yes, who doesn’t know such things as these?
4. 4I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.
5. 5In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune. It is ready for them whose foot slips.
6. 6The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their God in their hands.
7. 7“But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you; the birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.
8. 8Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you. The fish of the sea shall declare to you.
9. 9Who doesn’t know that in all these, Yahweh’s hand has done this,
10. 10in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?
11. 11Doesn’t the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food?
12. 12With aged men is wisdom, in length of days understanding.
13. 13“With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.
14. 14Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
15. 15Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
16. 16With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his.
17. 17He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.
18. 18He loosens the bond of kings. He binds their waist with a belt.
19. 19He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.
20. 20He removes the speech of those who are trusted, and takes away the understanding of the elders.
21. 21He pours contempt on princes, and loosens the belt of the strong.
22. 22He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.
23. 23He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.
24. 24He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
25. 25They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.

Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Act one closes with a man dismissing his friends as forgers of lies and physicians of no value, and requesting a hearing directly.

“Behold, he will kill me. I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.”— Job 13:15 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 13:1-28 WEB

1. 1“Behold, my eye has seen all this. My ear has heard and understood it.
2. 2What you know, I know also. I am not inferior to you.
3. 3“Surely I would speak to the Almighty. I desire to reason with God.
4. 4But you are forgers of lies. You are all physicians of no value.
5. 5Oh that you would be completely silent! Then you would be wise.
6. 6Hear now my reasoning. Listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7. 7Will you speak unrighteously for God, and talk deceitfully for him?
8. 8Will you show partiality to him? Will you contend for God?
9. 9Is it good that he should search you out? Or as one deceives a man, will you deceive him?
10. 10He will surely reprove you, if you secretly show partiality.
11. 11Shall not his majesty make you afraid, And his dread fall on you?
12. 12Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, Your defenses are defenses of clay.
13. 13“Be silent, leave me alone, that I may speak. Let come on me what will.
14. 14Why should I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand?
15. 15Behold, he will kill me. I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.
16. 16This also shall be my salvation, that a godless man shall not come before him.
17. 17Hear diligently my speech. Let my declaration be in your ears.
18. 18See now, I have set my cause in order. I know that I am righteous.
19. 19Who is he who will contend with me? For then would I hold my peace and give up the spirit.
20. 20“Only don’t do two things to me; then I will not hide myself from your face:
21. 21withdraw your hand far from me; and don’t let your terror make me afraid.
22. 22Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and you answer me.
23. 23How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my disobedience and my sin.
24. 24Why hide you your face, and hold me for your enemy?
25. 25Will you harass a driven leaf? Will you pursue the dry stubble?
26. 26For you write bitter things against me, and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth:
27. 27You also put my feet in the stocks, and mark all my paths. You set a bound to the soles of my feet,
28. 28though I am decaying like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.