Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV)

1 Then Job, answering, said:

2 Are you, therefore, alone among men, and will wisdom die with you?

3 And I have a heart just as you also do, and I am not inferior to you. For who is ignorant of these things, which you know?

4 He who is mocked by his friends as I am, will call upon God, and he will listen to him because it is the sincerity of the just that is being mocked.

5 The lamp that is despised in the thoughts of the rich is ready for the appointed time.

6 The tabernacles of robbers are numerous, and they provoke God boldly; whereas, it is he who has given all things into their hands.

7 In truth, ask the mules, and they will teach you, and the birds of the sky, and they will reveal to you.

8 Speak with the earth, and it will respond to you, and the fish of the sea will explain.

9 Who is ignorant that the hand of the Lord has made all these things?

10 In his hand is the soul of all the living and the spirit of all the flesh of mankind.

11 Does not the ear perceive words, and the palate, when eating, perceive flavor?

12 In old age is wisdom, and in length of days is prudence.

13 With him is wisdom and strength, he has counsel and understanding.

14 If he tears down, there is no one who can build up; if he encloses a man, there is no one who can open.

15 If he restrains the waters, everything will dry up; and if he sends them forth, they will subdue the land.

16 With him is strength and wisdom; he knows both the deceiver and he who is deceived.

17 He leads advisors to a foolish end and judges to stupidity.

18 He removes the belt of kings and encircles their waist with a rope.

19 He leads away priests in dishonor and displaces nobles,

20 altering the lips of those who speak the truth and sweeping away the teaching of the aged.

21 He pours distain upon the leaders, relieving those who had been oppressed.

22 He reveals the depths of the darkness, and he brings the shadow of death into the light.

23 He multiplies peoples, and destroys them, and, having been overthrown, he restores them anew.

24 He transforms the heart of the leaders of the people on earth, and misleads those who in vain advance upon the inviolable.

25 They will grope as in the darkness, not the light, and he will make them stagger like drunkards.

1 Behold, my eye has seen all these things, and my ear has heard, and I have understood each one.

2 In conformity with your knowledge, I also know. I am not inferior to you.

3 Yet I speak this way to the Almighty, and I desire to argue with God,

4 having first shown that you fabricate lies and cultivate perverse teachings.

5 And I wish that you would remain silent, so that you would be counted among the wise.

6 Therefore, listen to my correction, and pay attention to the judgment of my lips.

7 Does God require your lie, so that you would speak deceitfully for him?

8 Have you taken his place, and do you struggle to give judgment in favor of God?

9 Or, will it please him, from whom nothing can be concealed? Or, will he be deceived, like a man, by your deceitfulness?

10 He will accuse you because in secret you have preempted his presence.

11 As soon as he moves himself, he will disturb you, and his dread will fall over you.

12 Your remembrance will be compared to ashes, and your necks will be reduced to clay.

13 Be silent for a little while, so that I may speak whatever my mind suggests to me.

14 Why do I wound my flesh with my teeth, and carry my soul in my hands?

15 And now, if he would kill me, I will hope in him; in this, truly, I will correct my ways in his sight.

16 And he will be my savior, for no hypocrite at all will approach in his sight.

17 Listen to my words, and perceive an enigma with your ears.

18 If I will be judged, I know that I will be found to be just.

19 Who is it that will go to judgment with me? Let him approach. Why should I be consumed in silence?

20 Do not do such things to me twice, and then I will not hide from your face.

21 Take your hand far away from me, and do not let your dread terrify me.

22 Call me, and I will answer you, or else I will speak, and you can answer me.

23 How many iniquities and sins do I have? Reveal my crimes and offenses to me.

24 Why do you conceal your face and consider me to be your enemy?

25 Against a leaf, which is carried away by the wind, you reveal your power, and you pursue dry straw.

26 For you write bitter things against me, and you want to consume me for the sins of my youth.

27 You have put my feet on a tether, and you have observed all my paths, and you have considered the steps of my feet.

28 I will be left to decay like something rotten and like a garment that is being eaten by moths.

1 Man, born of woman, living for a short time, is filled with many miseries.

2 He comes forth like a flower, and is crushed, and he flees, as if a shadow, and never remains in the same state.

3 And do you consider it fitting to look down with your eyes on someone in this way and to lead him into judgment with you?

4 Who can make him clean who is conceived of unclean seed? Are you not the only one who can?

5 The days of man are short, and the number of his months is with you; you have determined his limits, which cannot be surpassed.

6 Withdraw a little from him, so that he may rest, until his awaited day arrives, like that of the hired hand.

7 A tree has hope: if it has been cut, it turns green again, and its branches spring forth.

8 If its roots grow old in the earth, and its trunk passes into dust,

9 at the scent of water, it will sprout and bring forth leaves, as when it had first been planted.

10 Truly, when a man dies, and has been left unprotected, and has decayed, I ask you where is he?

11 It is as if the waters had receded from the sea and an emptied river had dried up;

12 just so, when a man is fallen asleep, he will not rise again, until the heavens are worn away; he will not awaken, nor rise from his sleep.

13 Who will grant this to me, that you will protect me in the underworld, and hide me until your fury passes by, and establish a time for me, in which you will remember me?

14 Do you suppose that a dead man will live again? On each of the days in which I now battle, I wait until my transformation occurs.

15 You will call me and I will answer you; to the work of your hands, you will extend your right hand.

16 Indeed, you have numbered my steps, but you have been lenient with my sins.

17 You have sealed up my offenses, as if in a purse, but you have cured my iniquity.

18 A falling mountain flows away, and a stone is transferred from its place.

19 Waters wear away stones, and with a flood the land is reduced little by little; and similarly, you will destroy man.

20 You have strengthened him for a little while, so that he may cross over into eternity. You will change his face and send him forth.

21 Whether his sons have been noble or ignoble, he will not understand.

22 And in this way his body, while he yet lives, will have grief, and his soul will mourn over himself.

1 But Eliphaz the Themanite, answering, said:

2 Will a wise man answer as if he were speaking wind, and will he fill his stomach with fire?

3 You rebuke with words he who is not equal to you, and you speak what is not expedient for you,

4 to such an extent that, within yourself, you have expelled reverence and have taken away prayers from the presence of God.

5 For your iniquity has mislead your mouth, and you imitate the tongue of blasphemers.

6 Your own mouth will condemn you, not I; and your own lips will answer you.

7 Are you the first man who was born, or were you formed before the hills?

8 Have you heard the intentions of God, and will his wisdom be inferior to you?

9 What do you know, about which we are ignorant? What do you understand that we do not know?

10 There are with us both aged and ancient men, even more senior than your fathers.

11 Is it so important that God should console you? But your own depraved words prevent this.

12 Why does your heart exalt you, and why do you gaze with your eyes, as if thinking great things?

13 Why does your spirit stir against God, so as to utter such speeches from your mouth?

14 What is man that he should be immaculate, and that he should appear just, having been born of woman?

15 Behold, among his holy ones not one is immutable, and even the heavens are not pure in his sight.

16 How much more abominable and useless is the man who drinks as if from the water of iniquity?

17 I will reveal to you, so listen to me; and I will explain to you what I have seen.

18 The wise acknowledge, and they do not leave behind, their fathers,

19 to whom alone the earth has been given, and no stranger passed among them.

20 The impious is arrogant for all his days, and the number of the years of his tyranny is uncertain.

21 The sound of terror is always in his ears; and when there is peace, he always suspects treason.

22 He does not believe that it is possible for him to be turned from darkness into the light, for he sees around him the sword on every side.

23 When he moves himself to seek bread, he knows that the day of darkness has been prepared for his hand.

24 Tribulation will terrify him, and anguish will prevail over him, like a king who is being prepared to go to battle.

25 For he has extended his hand against God, and he has strengthened himself against the Almighty.

26 He has rushed against him with his throat exposed, and he has been armed with a fat neck.

27 Thickness has covered his face, and lard hangs down from his sides.

28 He has lived in desolate cities and deserted houses, which have been turned into tombs.

29 He will not be enriched, nor will his basic necessities endure, nor will he establish his root in the earth.

30 He will not withdraw from the darkness; the flame will burn up his branches, and he will be defeated by the breath of his own mouth.

31 He will not believe, being vainly deceived by error, that he could be redeemed at any price.

32 Before his time is completed, he will pass into ruin and his hands will wither away.

33 He will be wounded like a grapevine, when its cluster is in first flower, and like an olive tree that casts off its flower.

34 For the congregation of the hypocrites is fruitless, and fire will devour the tabernacles of those who love to accept money.

35 He has conceived sorrow, and he has brought forth iniquity, and his womb prepares deceit.

1 Then Job, answering, said:

2 I have often heard such things; you are all aggravating comforters.

3 Will there be no end to windy words? Or is it at all a burden to you, if you speak?

4 I, too, can speak like you; and I also wish that your soul favored my soul.

5 I would also comfort you with speeches and would wag my head over you.

6 I would strengthen you with my mouth, and would move my lips, as if being lenient to you.

7 But what can I do? When I am speaking, my grief will not be quiet; and if I am quiet, it will not withdraw from me.

8 But now my grief has crushed me, and all my limbs have been reduced to nothing.

9 My wrinkles bear witness against me, and a liar rises up against my face, contradicting me.

10 He has gathered together his fury towards me, and, threatening me, he has roared against me with his teeth; my enemy has beheld me with terrible eyes.

11 They have opened their mouths against me, and, reproaching me, they have struck me on the cheek; they are nourished by my sufferings.

12 God has confined me with the immoral, and he has delivered me into the hands of the impious.

13 I, who once was wealthy, am now crushed. He has grabbed me by my neck; he has broken me and has place me before him as a sign.

14 He has surrounded me with his lances. He has severely wounded my lower back, he has not been lenient, and he has poured out my organs upon the earth.

15 He has cut me with wound after wound. He has rushed upon me like a giant.

16 I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, and I have covered my body with ashes.

17 My face is swollen from weeping, and my eyelids have dimmed my vision.

18 These things I have endured without iniquity in my hand, while I held pure prayers before God.

19 O earth, do not conceal my blood, nor let my outcry find a hiding place in you.

20 For behold, my witness is in heaven, and my confidante is on high.

21 My friends are full of words; my eye rains tears upon God.

22 And I wish that a man might be so judged before God, just as the son of man is judged with his assistant!

23 For behold, a few years pass by, and I am walking a path by which I will not return.

1 My spirit will be wasted, my days will be shortened, and only the grave will left for me.

2 I have not sinned, yet my eye remains in bitterness.

3 Free me, O Lord, and set me beside you, and let the hand of anyone you wish fight against me.

4 You have set their heart far from discipline; therefore, they will not be praised.

5 He promises prey to his companions, but the eyes of his sons will grow faint.

6 He has posted me like a proverb to the people, and I am an example in their presence.

7 My eyesight has been clouded by indignation, and my limbs have been reduced, as if to nothing.

8 The just will be astounded over this, and the innocent will be stirred up against the hypocrite.

9 And the just will cling to his way, and clean hands will increase strength.

10 Therefore, be converted, all of you, and approach, for I do not find in you any wisdom.

11 My days have passed away; my thoughts have been scattered, tormenting my heart.

12 They have turned night into day, and I hope for light again after the darkness.

13 If I should wait, the underworld is my house, and in darkness I have spread out my bed.

14 I have said to decay and to worms: “You are my father, my mother, and my sister.”

15 Therefore, where is my expectation now, and who is it that considers my patience?

16 Everything of mine will descend into the deepest underworld; do you think that, in that place at least, there will be rest for me?

1 But Baldad the Suhite responded by saying:

2 How long will you throw around words? Understand first, and then let us speak.

3 Why have we been treated like mules, as if we were unworthy before you?

4 You, who ruins your own soul in your fury, will the earth be forsaken because of you, and will the cliffs be moved from their place?

5 Will not the light of the impious be put out, and the flame of his fire refuse to shine?

6 Light will become darkness in his tabernacle, and the lamp that is over him will be extinguished.

7 His strong steps will be constrained, and his own counsel will cast him down uncontrollably.

8 For he has caused his own feet to go into a net, and he has walked into its web.

9 His heel will be held in a snare, and thirst will rage against him.

10 A trap has been hidden for him in the earth, and a decoy, along his path.

11 Horrifying things will terrify him everywhere and will entangle his feet.

12 Let his strength be diminished by famine, and let starvation invade his ribs.

13 Let it devour the beauty of his skin; let the ancient death consume his arms.

14 Let his confidence be torn away from his tabernacle, and let ruin trample over him like a king.

15 Let the companions of he who is not, dwell in his tabernacle; let brimstone rain down upon his tabernacle.

16 Let his roots be dried up from beneath him, and his harvest be crushed from above.

17 Let the memory of him perish from the earth, and let not his name be celebrated in the streets.

18 He will expel him from light into darkness, and he will remove him from the world.

19 Neither his offspring, nor his descendents, will exist among his people, nor will there be any remnants in his country.

20 The last will be astonished at his day, and the first will be overcome with horror.

21 And so, these are the tabernacles of the sinful, and this the place of he who does not know God.

1 But Job answered by saying:

2 How long will you afflict my soul and wear me down with words?

3 So, ten times you confound me and are not ashamed to oppress me.

4 Now, of course, if I have been ignorant, my ignorance will be with me.

5 But you have risen up against me, and you accuse me to my disgrace.

6 At least now you should understand that God has not afflicted me with a balanced judgment, though he has encompassed me with his scourges.

7 Behold, I will cry out, enduring violence, and no one will hear. I will announce loudly, but there is no one who may judge.

8 He has hemmed in my path, and I cannot pass; he has added darkness to my difficult path.

9 He has plundered me of my glory, and he has stolen the crown from my head.

10 He has destroyed me on every side, and I am lost, and, like an uprooted tree, he has taken away my hope.

11 His fury has raged against me, and in this way he has treated me like his enemy.

12 His troops have gathered together, and they have made their way to me, and they have besieged my tabernacle all around.

13 He has put my brothers far from me, and my friends have withdrawn from me like strangers.

14 My kinsmen have forsaken me, and those who knew me, have forgotten me.

15 The inhabitants of my house and my maidservants treat me just as if I were a stranger, and I have been like an sojourner in their eyes.

16 I called my servant, and he did not respond; I pleaded with him with my own mouth.

17 My wife has shuddered at my breath, and I have begged the sons of my loins.

18 Even the foolish have looked down on me, and, when I withdrew from them, they spoke ill of me.

19 Those who were sometime my counselors, treat me like an abomination; and he whom I valued the most has turned against me.

20 Since my flesh has been consumed, my bone adheres to my skin, and only my lips have been left around my teeth.

21 Have mercy on me, have compassion on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord has touched me.

22 Why do you pursue me just as God does, and satiate yourselves with my flesh?

23 Who will grant to me that my words may be written down? Who will grant to me that they may be inscribed in a book,

24 with an iron pen and a plate of lead, or else be carved in stone?

25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and on the last day I will rise out of the earth.

26 And I will be enveloped again with my skin, and in my flesh I will see my God.

27 It is he whom I myself will see, and he whom my eyes will behold, and no other. This, my hope, has taken rest in my bosom.

28 Why then do you now say: “Let us pursue him, and let us find a basis to speak against him?”

29 So then, flee from the face of the sword, for the sword is the avenger of iniquities; but know this: there is to be a judgment.

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered by saying:

2 In response, various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind moves quickly through different ideas.

3 The teaching you use to admonish me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding will respond for me.

4 This, I know, is from the beginning, from the time that man was set over the earth:

5 that the praise of the impious shall be short, and the joy of the hypocrite lasts only a moment.

6 If his pride ascends even towards the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,

7 in the end, he will be destroyed like a trash heap, and those who had seen him will say: “Where is he?”

8 Like a dream that flies away, he will not be found; he will pass away like a nightmare.

9 The eyes that had seen him, will not see him; no longer will his own place admire him.

10 His sons will be worn away by poverty, and his own hands will deliver his grief to him.

11 His bones will be filled with the vices of his youth, and they will sleep with him in the dust.

12 For, when evil will be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue.

13 He will permit it, and not abandon it, and he will conceal it in his throat.

14 His bread in his belly will be turned into the venom of snakes within him.

15 The riches that he devours, he will vomit up, and from his stomach God will draw them out.

16 He will suck the head of snakes, and the tongue of the viper will kill him.

17 (May he never see the streams of the river, the torrents of honey and butter.)

18 He will be repaid for all he has done, yet he will not be consumed; according to the multitude of his schemes, so also will he suffer.

19 For, having broken in, he stripped the poor. He has quickly stolen away a house he did not build.

20 And yet his stomach will not be satisfied, and when he has the things he desires, he will not be able to possess them.

21 Nothing remained of his portion, and, because of this, nothing will continue of his kind.

22 When he will be satisfied, he will be constrained; he will seethe, and all anguish will fall upon him.

23 May his stomach be filled, so that God may send forth the fury of his wrath to him and may rain down his battle upon him.

24 He will flee from weapons of iron, and he will fall in an arc of brass,

25 which had been drawn and had issued forth from its sheath, glittering in its bitterness: the horrible ones will go forth and approach over him.

26 All darkness has been hidden in his secrecy. A fire that has not been set will devour him; he will be thrown down and forsaken in his tabernacle.

27 The heavens will reveal his sinfulness, and the earth will rise up against him.

28 The offspring of his house will be exposed; he will be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath.

29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his words from the Lord.

1 Then Job responded by saying:

2 I beseech you to hear my words and to do penance.

3 Permit me, and I will speak, and afterwards, if you see fit, you can laugh at my words.

4 Is my dispute against man, so that I would have no reason to be discouraged?

5 Listen to me and be astonished, and place a finger over your mouth.

6 As for me, when I think it over, I am afraid, and trembling convulses my body.

7 Why then do the impious live, having been lifted up and strengthened with riches?

8 They see their offspring continue before them: a commotion of close relatives and of children’s children in their sight.

9 Their houses have been secure and peaceable, and there is no staff of God over them.

10 Their cattle have conceived and have not miscarried; their cow has given birth and is not deprived of her newborn.

11 Their little ones go out like a flock, and their children jump around playfully.

12 They take up the timbrel and the lyre, and they rejoice at the sound of the organ.

13 Their days are prolonged in wealth, yet, in an instant, they descend into hell.

14 Who has said to God, “Depart from us, for we do not want the knowledge of your ways.

15 Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? And how is it helpful to us if we pray to him?”

16 It is true that their good things are not in their power. May the counsel of the impious be far from me!

17 How often will the lamp of the wicked be extinguished, and a deluge overtake them, and how often will he distribute the afflictions of his wrath?

18 They will be like chaff before the face of the wind, and like ashes that the whirlwind scatters.

19 God will preserve the grief of the father for his sons, and, when he repays, then he will understand.

20 His eyes will see his own destruction, and he will drink from the wrath of the Almighty.

21 For what does he care what happens to his house after him, or if the number of its months are reduced by half?

22 Can anyone teach holy knowledge to God, who judges the exalted?

23 This one dies strong and healthy, rich and happy.

24 His gut is full of fat and his bones are moistened with marrow.

25 In truth, another dies in bitterness of soul, without any resources.

26 And yet they will sleep together in the dust, and worms will cover them.

27 Surely, I know your thoughts and your sinful judgments against me.

28 For you say, “Where is the house of the ruler, and where are the tabernacles of the impious?”

29 Ask any passerby whom you wish, and you will realize that he understands these same things:

30 that the evil-doer is reserved for the day of destruction, and he will be led to the day of wrath.

31 Who will reprove his way to his face, and who will repay him for what he has done?

32 He will be led to the tomb, and he will remain awake in the chaos of the dead.

33 He has been found acceptable to the banks of the River of Lamentation, and he will draw any man towards him, and there are countless before him.

34 Therefore, how long will you console me in vain, when your answer is shown to be repugnant to truth?