Job’s Third Speech: A Response to Bildad

¹ Then¹ Job answered and said,

1. Hebrew “And”

² “Truly I know that it is so, but¹ how can a human being be just before God?

1. Hebrew “and”

³ If he wants to contend with him, he cannot answer him one time in a thousand.

⁴ He is wise in¹ heart and mighty in² strength; who has resisted him and succeeded?³

1. Hebrew “of”
2. Hebrew “of”
3. Literally “he succeeded”

⁵ “He is the one who moves mountains, and they do not know how, who overturns them in his anger.

⁶ He is the one who shakes the earth from its place, and its pillars tremble.

⁷ He is the one who commands the sun, and it does not rise, ⌞and he seals up the stars⌟.¹

1. Literally “and behind the stars he seals up”

⁸ He is the one who alone stretches out the heavens and who tramples on the waves of the sea.

⁹ He is the one who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.

¹⁰ He is the one who does great things ⌞beyond understanding⌟¹ and marvelous things ⌞beyond number⌟.²

1. Literally “until there is not understanding”
2. Literally “until there is not number”

¹¹ “⌞If⌟¹ he passes by me, ⌞I would not see him⌟;² and if he should move on, ⌞I would not recognize him⌟.³

1. Literally “Look”
2. Literally “and I would not see”
3. Literally “and I would not recognize him”

¹² ⌞If⌟¹ he would snatch away, who could turn him? Who could say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

1. Literally “Look”

¹³ God will not turn back his anger; beneath him the helpers of Rahab bow.

¹⁴ ⌞How much less⌟¹ can I myself² answer him? How can I choose my words with him,

1. Literally “Also for”
2. Emphatic personal pronoun

¹⁵ whom I cannot answer, even though I am righteous? From¹ my judge I must implore grace.

1. Hebrew “To”

¹⁶ If I summon him, and he should answer me, I do not believe that he will listen to my voice—

¹⁷ who crushes me with a tempest and multiplies¹ my wounds without cause.

1. Hebrew “he multiplies”

¹⁸ He will not allow me to ⌞catch⌟¹ my breath; rather, he will fill me with bitterness.

1. Literally “return,” or “regain”

¹⁹ If ⌞it is a matter of⌟¹ strength, look, he is mighty. But² if ⌞it is a matter of⌟³ justice, who can summon me?⁴

1. Literally “for”; see NASB, NIV, NET
2. Hebrew “And”
3. Literally “for”; NASB, NIV, NET, NRSV
4. Or “arraign me”

²⁰ Even though I am righteous, my mouth will condemn me; even though I am blameless, yet¹ it would pronounce me guilty.

1. Hebrew “and”

²¹ “I am blameless; I do not care about myself;¹ I loathe my life.

1. Perhaps the meaning is “but it makes no difference to me” (NLT)

²² It is all one; therefore I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’

²³ When the whip¹ kills suddenly, he mocks at the despair of the innocent.

1. Or “scourge”

²⁴ The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the face of its judge— if it is not he, then who is it?

²⁵ “And my days are swifter than a runner; they flee away; they do not see good.

²⁶ They go by like papyrus skiffs, like an eagle swoops down on its prey.

²⁷ Though¹ ⌞I say⌟,² ‘I will forget my complaint; I will change my expression, and I will rejoice,’

1. Or “If”
2. Literally “my saying”

²⁸ I become afraid of all my sufferings; I know that you do not consider me innocent.

²⁹ If I shall be declared guilty, why then should I labor in vain?

³⁰ If I wash myself with soap,¹ and I cleanse my hands with lye,

1. Or “with snow,” or “in snow”

³¹ then you plunge me into the slime pit, and my clothes abhor me.

³² “For¹ he is not a mortal like me that I can answer him, that ⌞we can come to trial together⌟.²

1. Or the emphatic “Indeed”
2. Literally “we come together in the justice,” or “we come together in the judgment”

³³ There is no arbiter between us that he might lay his hand on both of us.

³⁴ May he remove his rod from me, and let his dread not terrify me;

³⁵ then I would speak and not fear him,¹ for ⌞in myself I am not fearful⌟.²

1. Hebrew “and I will not fear him”
2. Literally “not so I with me”