Job, Act 2, Chapters 14-27

Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. There is hope for a tree — cut it down and it sprouts again — but the water fails from the sea and the man lies down and does not rise.

““For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, that the tender branch of it will not cease.”— Job 14:7 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 14:1-22 WEB

1. 1“Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.
2. 2He grows up like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn’t continue.
3. 3Do you open your eyes on such a one, and bring me into judgment with you?
4. 4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.
5. 5Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he can’t pass;
6. 6Look away from him, that he may rest, until he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day.
7. 7“For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, that the tender branch of it will not cease.
8. 8Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stock dies in the ground,
9. 9yet through the scent of water it will bud, and sprout boughs like a plant.
10. 10But man dies, and is laid low. Yes, man gives up the spirit, and where is he?
11. 11As the waters fail from the sea, and the river wastes and dries up,
12. 12so man lies down and doesn’t rise. Until the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.
13. 13“Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would keep me secret, until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14. 14If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare would I wait, until my release should come.
15. 15You would call, and I would answer you. You would have a desire to the work of your hands.
16. 16But now you count my steps. Don’t you watch over my sin?
17. 17My disobedience is sealed up in a bag. You fasten up my iniquity.
18. 18“But the mountain falling comes to nothing. The rock is removed out of its place;
19. 19The waters wear the stones. The torrents of it wash away the dust of the earth. So you destroy the hope of man.
20. 20You forever prevail against him, and he departs. You change his face, and send him away.
21. 21His sons come to honor, and he doesn’t know it. They are brought low, but he doesn’t perceive it of them.
22. 22But his flesh on him has pain, and his soul within him mourns.”

Eliphaz, second round, with the gloves off. Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge? The argument stops pretending to be consolation.

““Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge, and fill himself with the east wind?”— Job 15:2 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 15:1-35 WEB

1. 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
2. 2“Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge, and fill himself with the east wind?
3. 3Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches with which he can do no good?
4. 4Yes, you do away with fear, and hinder devotion before God.
5. 5For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.
6. 6Your own mouth condemns you, and not I. Yes, your own lips testify against you.
7. 7“Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought out before the hills?
8. 8Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9. 9What do you know, that we don’t know? What do you understand, which is not in us?
10. 10With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, much elder than your father.
11. 11Are the consolations of God too small for you, even the word that is gentle toward you?
12. 12Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash,
13. 13That you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth?
14. 14What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15. 15Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones. Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight;
16. 16how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water!
17. 17“I will show you, listen to me; that which I have seen I will declare
18. 18(which wise men have told by their fathers, and have not hidden it;
19. 19to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them):
20. 20the wicked man writhes in pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
21. 21A sound of terrors is in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer shall come on him.
22. 22He doesn’t believe that he shall return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword.
23. 23He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
24. 24Distress and anguish make him afraid. They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
25. 25Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty;
26. 26he runs at him with a stiff neck, with the thick shields of his bucklers;
27. 27because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat on his thighs.
28. 28He has lived in desolate cities, in houses which no one inhabited, which were ready to become heaps.
29. 29He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.
30. 30He shall not depart out of darkness. The flame shall dry up his branches. By the breath of God’s mouth shall he go away.
31. 31Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; for emptiness shall be his reward.
32. 32It shall be accomplished before his time. His branch shall not be green.
33. 33He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive tree.
34. 34For the company of the godless shall be barren, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
35. 35They conceive mischief, and produce iniquity. Their heart prepares deceit.”

Miserable comforters are you all. Job turning the accusation back on the room, and locating a witness somewhere above it.

““I have heard many such things. You are all miserable comforters!”— Job 16:2 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 16:1-22 WEB

1. 1Then Job answered,
2. 2“I have heard many such things. You are all miserable comforters!
3. 3Shall vain words have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer?
4. 4I also could speak as you do. If your soul were in my soul’s place, I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you,
5. 5but I would strengthen you with my mouth. The solace of my lips would relieve you.
6. 6“Though I speak, my grief is not subsided. Though I forbear, what am I eased?
7. 7But now, God, you have surely worn me out. You have made desolate all my company.
8. 8You have shriveled me up. This is a witness against me. My leanness rises up against me. It testifies to my face.
9. 9He has torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me. He has gnashed on me with his teeth. My adversary sharpens his eyes on me.
10. 10They have gaped on me with their mouth. They have struck me on the cheek reproachfully. They gather themselves together against me.
11. 11God delivers me to the ungodly, and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12. 12I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up for his target.
13. 13His archers surround me. He splits my kidneys apart, and does not spare. He pours out my gall on the ground.
14. 14He breaks me with breach on breach. He runs on me like a giant.
15. 15I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and have thrust my horn in the dust.
16. 16My face is red with weeping. Deep darkness is on my eyelids.
17. 17Although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
18. 18“Earth, don’t cover my blood. Let my cry have no place to rest.
19. 19Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven. He who vouches for me is on high.
20. 20My friends scoff at me. My eyes pour out tears to God,
21. 21that he would maintain the right of a man with God, of a son of man with his neighbor!
22. 22For when a few years have come, I shall go the way of no return.

My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me. The lowest point in the dialogue, scored at the lowest possible tempo.

““My spirit is consumed. My days are extinct, And the grave is ready for me.”— Job 17:1 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 17:1-16 WEB

1. 1“My spirit is consumed. My days are extinct, And the grave is ready for me.
2. 2Surely there are mockers with me. My eye dwells on their provocation.
3. 3“Now give a pledge, be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me?
4. 4For you have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore you shall not exalt them.
5. 5He who denounces his friends for plunder, Even the eyes of his children shall fail.
6. 6“But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face.
7. 7My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. All my members are as a shadow.
8. 8Upright men shall be astonished at this. The innocent shall stir up himself against the godless.
9. 9Yet shall the righteous hold on his way. He who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger.
10. 10But as for you all, come on now again; I shall not find a wise man among you.
11. 11My days are past, my plans are broken off, as are the thoughts of my heart.
12. 12They change the night into day, saying ‘The light is near’ in the presence of darkness.
13. 13If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness,
14. 14If I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father;’ to the worm, ‘My mother,’ and ‘my sister;’
15. 15where then is my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
16. 16Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, or descend together into the dust?”

Bildad on the snare, the trap, the noose in the ground. A whole chapter of hunting equipment, aimed at a friend.

““Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, The spark of his fire shall not shine.”— Job 18:5 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 18:1-21 WEB

1. 1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,
2. 2“How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and afterwards we will speak.
3. 3Why are we counted as animals, which have become unclean in your sight?
4. 4You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed out of its place?
5. 5“Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, The spark of his fire shall not shine.
6. 6The light shall be dark in his tent. His lamp above him shall be put out.
7. 7The steps of his strength shall be shortened. His own counsel shall cast him down.
8. 8For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he wanders into its mesh.
9. 9A snare will take him by the heel. A trap will catch him.
10. 10A noose is hidden for him in the ground, a trap for him on the path.
11. 11Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall chase him at his heels.
12. 12His strength shall be famished. Calamity shall be ready at his side.
13. 13The members of his body shall be devoured. The firstborn of death shall devour his members.
14. 14He shall be rooted out of the security of his tent. He shall be brought to the king of terrors.
15. 15There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his. Sulfur shall be scattered on his habitation.
16. 16His roots shall be dried up beneath. Above shall his branch be cut off.
17. 17His memory shall perish from the earth. He shall have no name in the street.
18. 18He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
19. 19He shall have neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any remaining where he lived.
20. 20Those who come after shall be astonished at his day, as those who went before were frightened.
21. 21Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous. This is the place of him who doesn’t know God.”

The pivot of the entire epic. Abandoned by kin, servants, and wife, Job asks for his words to be cut into rock with an iron pen — and says he knows his Redeemer lives.

“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.”— Job 19:25 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 19:1-29 WEB

1. 1Then Job answered,
2. 2“How long will you torment me, and crush me with words?
3. 3You have reproached me ten times. You aren’t ashamed that you attack me.
4. 4If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.
5. 5If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach;
6. 6know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.
7. 7“Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no justice.
8. 8He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass, and has set darkness in my paths.
9. 9He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
10. 10He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. My hope he has plucked up like a tree.
11. 11He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries.
12. 12His troops come on together, build a siege ramp against me, and encamp around my tent.
13. 13“He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
14. 14My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.
15. 15Those who dwell in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am an alien in their sight.
16. 16I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth.
17. 17My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.
18. 18Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me.
19. 19All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me.
20. 20My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21. 21“Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.
22. 22Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
23. 23“Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
24. 24That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!
25. 25But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.
26. 26After my skin is destroyed, then in my flesh shall I see God,
27. 27Whom I, even I, shall see on my side. My eyes shall see, and not as a stranger. “My heart is consumed within me.
28. 28If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’ because the root of the matter is found in me,
29. 29be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.”

Zophar on the short-lived triumph of the wicked. Honey and butter swallowed and vomited back up — the most physical speech in the book.

“that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?”— Job 20:5 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 20:1-29 WEB

1. 1Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,
2. 2“Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.
3. 3I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me.
4. 4Don’t you know this from old time, since man was placed on earth,
5. 5that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
6. 6Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,
7. 7yet he shall perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him shall say, ‘Where is he?’
8. 8He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found. Yes, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night.
9. 9The eye which saw him shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more see him.
10. 10His children shall seek the favor of the poor. His hands shall give back his wealth.
11. 11His bones are full of his youth, but youth shall lie down with him in the dust.
12. 12“Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue,
13. 13though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth;
14. 14yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.
15. 15He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly.
16. 16He shall suck cobra venom. The viper’s tongue shall kill him.
17. 17He shall not look at the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter.
18. 18That for which he labored he shall restore, and shall not swallow it down. According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice.
19. 19For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.
20. 20“Because he knew no quietness within him, he shall not save anything of that in which he delights.
21. 21There was nothing left that he didn’t devour, therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
22. 22In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him. The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him.
23. 23When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating.
24. 24He shall flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow shall strike him through.
25. 25He draws it out, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him.
26. 26All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire shall devour him. It shall consume that which is left in his tent.
27. 27The heavens shall reveal his iniquity. The earth shall rise up against him.
28. 28The increase of his house shall depart. They shall rush away in the day of his wrath.
29. 29This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God.”

The rebuttal that breaks the machine. Why do the wicked live, grow old, and grow mighty in power? Job simply reports what everyone can see out the window.

““Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?”— Job 21:7 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 21:1-34 WEB

1. 1Then Job answered,
2. 2“Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation.
3. 3Allow me, and I also will speak; After I have spoken, mock on.
4. 4As for me, is my complaint to man? Why shouldn’t I be impatient?
5. 5Look at me, and be astonished. Lay your hand on your mouth.
6. 6When I remember, I am troubled. Horror takes hold of my flesh.
7. 7“Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?
8. 8Their child is established with them in their sight, their offspring before their eyes.
9. 9Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
10. 10Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don’t miscarry.
11. 11They send out their little ones like a flock. Their children dance.
12. 12They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
13. 13They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol.
14. 14They tell God, ‘Depart from us, for we don’t want to know about your ways.
15. 15What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’
16. 16Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17. 17“How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out, that their calamity comes on them, that God distributes sorrows in his anger?
18. 18How often is it that they are as stubble before the wind, as chaff that the storm carries away?
19. 19You say, ‘God lays up his iniquity for his children.’ Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it.
20. 20Let his own eyes see his destruction. Let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21. 21For what does he care for his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?
22. 22“Shall any teach God knowledge, since he judges those who are high?
23. 23One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.
24. 24His pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moistened.
25. 25Another dies in bitterness of soul, and never tastes of good.
26. 26They lie down alike in the dust. The worm covers them.
27. 27“Behold, I know your thoughts, the plans with which you would wrong me.
28. 28For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’
29. 29Haven’t you asked wayfaring men? Don’t you know their evidences,
30. 30that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity, That they are led out to the day of wrath?
31. 31Who shall declare his way to his face? Who shall repay him what he has done?
32. 32Yet he will be borne to the grave. Men shall keep watch over the tomb.
33. 33The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him. All men shall draw after him, as there were innumerable before him.
34. 34So how can you comfort me with nonsense, because in your answers there remains only falsehood?”

Eliphaz inventing crimes to fit the punishment — you stripped the naked of their clothing — because the theology requires a cause and none is available.

““Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. Thereby good shall come to you.”— Job 22:21 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 22:1-30 WEB

1. 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
2. 2“Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
3. 3Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous? Or does it benefit him, that you make your ways perfect?
4. 4Is it for your piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment?
5. 5Isn’t your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities.
6. 6For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7. 7You haven’t given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8. 8But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it.
9. 9You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
10. 10Therefore snares are around you. Sudden fear troubles you,
11. 11or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover you.
12. 12“Isn’t God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are!
13. 13You say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?
14. 14Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see. He walks on the vault of the sky.’
15. 15Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden,
16. 16who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream,
17. 17who said to God, ‘Depart from us;’ and, ‘What can the Almighty do for us?’
18. 18Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19. 19The righteous see it, and are glad. The innocent ridicule them,
20. 20saying, ‘Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed their remnant.’
21. 21“Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. Thereby good shall come to you.
22. 22Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.
23. 23If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents.
24. 24Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.
25. 25The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you.
26. 26For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and shall lift up your face to God.
27. 27You shall make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You shall pay your vows.
28. 28You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established to you. Light shall shine on your ways.
29. 29When they cast down, you shall say, ‘be lifted up.’ He will save the humble person.
30. 30He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

Oh that I knew where I might find him. Job looking forward, backward, left and right and finding nobody, and still saying: when he has tried me, I will come out as gold.

“But he knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I shall come out like gold.”— Job 23:10 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 23:1-17 WEB

1. 1Then Job answered,
2. 2“Even today my complaint is rebellious. His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
3. 3Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat!
4. 4I would set my cause in order before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
5. 5I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would tell me.
6. 6Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No, but he would listen to me.
7. 7There the upright might reason with him, so I should be delivered forever from my judge.
8. 8“If I go east, he is not there; if west, I can’t find him;
9. 9He works to the north, but I can’t see him. He turns south, but I can’t catch a glimpse of him.
10. 10But he knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I shall come out like gold.
11. 11My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned away.
12. 12I haven’t gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
13. 13But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? What his soul desires, even that he does.
14. 14For he performs that which is appointed for me. Many such things are with him.
15. 15Therefore I am terrified at his presence. When I consider, I am afraid of him.
16. 16For God has made my heart faint. The Almighty has terrified me.
17. 17Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.

A catalogue of injustices done in the dark — landmarks removed, the fatherless donkey driven off, the murderer rising with the light. Nobody is charged.

““Why aren’t times laid up by the Almighty? Why don’t those who know him see his days?”— Job 24:1 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 24:1-25 WEB

1. 1“Why aren’t times laid up by the Almighty? Why don’t those who know him see his days?
2. 2There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them.
3. 3They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4. 4They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5. 5Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children.
6. 6They cut their food in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked.
7. 7They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.
8. 8They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.
9. 9There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,
10. 10So that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.
11. 11They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst.
12. 12From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn’t regard the folly.
13. 13“These are of those who rebel against the light. They don’t know its ways, nor stay in its paths.
14. 14The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief.
15. 15The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye shall see me.’ He disguises his face.
16. 16In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They don’t know the light.
17. 17For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness, for they know the terrors of the thick darkness.
18. 18“They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the earth. They don’t turn into the way of the vineyards.
19. 19Drought and heat consume the snow waters, so does Sheol those who have sinned.
20. 20The womb shall forget him. The worm shall feed sweetly on him. He shall be no more remembered. Unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.
21. 21He devours the barren who don’t bear. He shows no kindness to the widow.
22. 22Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life.
23. 23God gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on their ways.
24. 24They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone. Yes, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.
25. 25If it isn’t so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?”

Bildad’s last words, six verses long, the argument finally out of fuel. Dominion and fear are with him; how then can man be just with God?

““Dominion and fear are with him. He makes peace in his high places.”— Job 25:2 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 25:1-6 WEB

1. 1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,
2. 2“Dominion and fear are with him. He makes peace in his high places.
3. 3Can his armies be counted? On whom does his light not arise?
4. 4How then can man be just with God? Or how can he who is born of a woman be clean?
5. 5Behold, even the moon has no brightness, and the stars are not pure in his sight;
6. 6How much less man, who is a worm, the son of man, who is a worm!”

He stretches out the north over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing. Job out-preaching his comforters on the subject they raised.

“He stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing.”— Job 26:7 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 26:1-14 WEB

1. 1Then Job answered,
2. 2“How have you helped him who is without power! How have you saved the arm that has no strength!
3. 3How have you counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge!
4. 4To whom have you uttered words? Whose spirit came out of you?
5. 5“The departed spirits tremble, those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
6. 6Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.
7. 7He stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing.
8. 8He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not burst under them.
9. 9He encloses the face of his throne, and spreads his cloud on it.
10. 10He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters, and to the confines of light and darkness.
11. 11The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his rebuke.
12. 12He stirs up the sea with his power, and by his understanding he strikes through Rahab.
13. 13By his Spirit the heavens are garnished. His hand has pierced the swift serpent.
14. 14Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. How small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

Till I die I will not put away my integrity. The dialogue ends not in resolution but in a man refusing to sign a false confession.

“Far be it from me that I should justify you. Until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.”— Job 27:5 (WEB)

Full passage — Job 27:1-23 WEB

1. 1Job again took up his parable, and said,
2. 2“As God lives, who has taken away my right, the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter
3. 3(for the length of my life is still in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils);
4. 4surely my lips shall not speak unrighteousness, neither shall my tongue utter deceit.
5. 5Far be it from me that I should justify you. Until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
6. 6I hold fast to my righteousness, and will not let it go. My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
7. 7“Let my enemy be as the wicked. Let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.
8. 8For what is the hope of the godless, when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
9. 9Will God hear his cry when trouble comes on him?
10. 10Will he delight himself in the Almighty, and call on God at all times?
11. 11I will teach you about the hand of God. That which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.
12. 12Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?
13. 13“This is the portion of a wicked man with God, the heritage of oppressors, which they receive from the Almighty.
14. 14If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword. His offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
15. 15Those who remain of him shall be buried in death. His widows shall make no lamentation.
16. 16Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare clothing as the clay;
17. 17he may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver.
18. 18He builds his house as the moth, as a booth which the watchman makes.
19. 19He lies down rich, but he shall not do so again. He opens his eyes, and he is not.
20. 20Terrors overtake him like waters. A storm steals him away in the night.
21. 21The east wind carries him away, and he departs. It sweeps him out of his place.
22. 22For it hurls at him, and does not spare, as he flees away from his hand.
23. 23Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.