Job’s Fourth Speech

¹  Then¹ Job answered and said,

1. Hebrew “And”

² “Truly indeed you¹ are the people, and wisdom will die with you.²

1. Plural
2. Plural

³ ⌞I also have insight⌟¹ like you;² I am not more inferior than you.³ And ⌞who does not know things like these⌟?⁴

1. Literally “Also for me heart”
2. Plural
3. Plural
4. Literally “and who there is not like these”

⁴ I am a laughingstock to my friends:¹ ‘He calls on God, and he answers him.’ A righteous, blameless man is a laughingstock.

1. Hebrew “to his friends”

⁵ ⌞Those at ease have contempt⌟¹ for the thought of ⌞disaster⌟,² but it is ready for those unstable of foot.

1. Literally “Contempt is according to the thought of the complacent”
2. Literally “a torch”

⁶ The tents of the destroyers are at peace, and there is security for those who provoke God, for those whom God brings into his hand.¹

1. Or “power”

⁷ “But¹ ask² the animals, and they will teach you, and the birds of the heaven, and they will tell you;

1. Hebrew “And”
2. Or “ask now,” or “please ask”

⁸ or ask the earth, and it will teach you, and the fishes of the sea will declare to you.

⁹ Who among all of these does not know that Yahweh’s hand has done this?

¹⁰ In whose hand is the life of all living things and ⌞the breath of every human being⌟?¹

1. Literally “the breath of all the flesh of man”

¹¹ Does not the ear test words and the palate taste food for itself?

¹² Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding is in length of days.

¹³ “With him are wisdom and powerful deeds, and to him belong counsel and understanding.

¹⁴ If he tears down, then¹ it will not be rebuilt; if he shuts a man in, then² he cannot be freed.

1. Hebrew “and”
2. Hebrew “and”

¹⁵ Look, if he withholds the water,¹ then² they dry up; and if he sends them out, then³ they overwhelm the land.

1. Or “waters”
2. Hebrew “and”
3. Hebrew “and”

¹⁶ “Strength and sound wisdom are with him; the deceived and the deceiver are his.¹

1. Or “for him”

¹⁷ He leads counselors away stripped, and he makes fools of judges.

¹⁸ He loosens the fetters of kings, and he binds a loincloth on their loins.

¹⁹ He leads priests away stripped, and he overthrows ⌞the members of ancient families⌟.¹

1. Literally “the constant”

²⁰ He deprives the trustworthy of speech, and he takes away the discretion of elders.

²¹ He pours contempt on noblemen, and he loosens the girdle of the mighty.

²² “He uncovers mysteries out of darkness, and he brings deep shadow to the light.

²³ He makes the nations great, then¹ he destroys them; he expands the nations, then² he guides them.

1. Hebrew “and”
2. Hebrew “and”

²⁴ He strips away the insight of the heads of the earth’s people, and he makes them wander in ⌞a pathless wasteland⌟.¹

1. Literally “in a wasteland not a way”

²⁵ They grope in the dark ⌞without⌟¹ light, and he makes them stagger like a² drunkard.

1. Literally “and not”
2. Hebrew “the”