There was a man in the land of Utz, in the region of Aram or Edom, whose name was Job; that man was virtuous and upright, God-fearing, and he shunned evil. He excelled in all aspects of character and conduct.

Seven sons and three daughters were born to him.

His livestock was seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred pairs of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, as well as a great many servants. This man was greater in wealth and honor than all the people of the East. With his large family and vast properties, Job was almost like a king.

His sons would go and make a feast in the house of each son on his day. Every day of the week, or occasionally, a different son would invite the entire family for a feast in his house. They would send and invite their three sisters, who were presumably unmarried, to eat and drink with them. The family was close and lived a tranquil life, enjoying each other’s company during extended family meals.

It was when the cycle of the days of their feasting was completed that Job would send and sanctify them. Job was careful to purify his children from various types of impurity. Perhaps they might have contracted impurities during their feasts. Other commentaries explain that he invited them to join him. And he, Job, would rise early in the morning and proffer up burnt offerings corresponding to the number of all of them, all his children. For Job would say: Perhaps my sons have sinned and blasphemed [berekhu] God in their hearts. The word berekhu means “they blessed,” but here, as elsewhere, it is used euphemistically so as to avoid any explicit association of blasphemy in connection with God. Job was concerned that in their excessive levity or smugness, during the feasts, his children might have entertained negative thoughts about God, even if such notions were not expressed verbally. So would Job, this successful, wealthy, and God-fearing individual, do always.

It was one day, and the children of the great, the angels, came to stand before the Lord, in a kind of heavenly meeting. And the accuser too came among them, as he is also an angel with a task, which is not necessarily evil, to fulfill. He is assigned the role of prosecutor, whose duty is to ensure that all cases are conducted in accordance with the letter of the law and to raise allegations if there are grounds to do so.

The Lord said to the accuser: From where have you come? The accuser answered the Lord and said: From wandering the earth, and from walking around it. I have traveled throughout the world, observing, executing my duty. Satan does not remain in heaven, as his primary occupation involves this world. It is clear that God and Satan maintain friendly ties, so to speak.

The Lord said to the accuser: Have you noticed My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a virtuous and upright man, revering God and shunning evil. Look at him. Don’t you agree that he is an impressive figure?

Then the accuser answered the Lord and said: Is it for nothing that Job reveres God? He has good reason for revering You.

Haven’t You sheltered him, his household, and everything around that is his? You have spread over him a net of assistance, protection, and patronage. You blessed his handiwork, and his livestock has spread out in the land. You help him, bless him, and grant him success. His world is calm and serene, and his every desire is fulfilled. He has never had to struggle in any way. This is why he acts in a wholehearted and upright manner.

However, extend Your hand now, and touch, harm, something of all that he has. Won’t he blaspheme You to Your face? The verse employs the term yevarkheka, literally, bless You, as a euphemism for blaspheme You. Under those circumstances Job would undoubtedly change his ways.

The Lord said to the accuser: Behold, everything that he has is in your hand. You have permission to test Job to see whether, as you claim, he will abandon and even blaspheme Me in his suffering. Only do not extend your hand against him. Do not harm Job bodily. The accuser emerged from the presence of the Lord to act on the permission he had received to test Job.

It was one day, and his, Job’s, sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their usual manner in the house of their firstborn brother,

and a messenger came to Job and said: The oxen were plowing in the field, and the female donkeys were grazing alongside them, as they cannot be used for plowing like the oxen,

and Sheba fell upon them and took them away. People from the kingdom of Sheba attacked them and plundered all the animals; they smote all of the lads, the servants working there, who were not necessarily youths, by the sword and only I alone escaped to tell you. I alone survived to relate what happened.

This one, the first messenger, was still speaking and relating his story, and that one, another messenger, came and said: A fire of God, a fire with no apparent cause, or alternatively, a massive fire, fell from the heavens, and it burned among the sheep and the lads that were tending the sheep and consumed them. Everything was destroyed, and only I alone escaped to tell you.

This one, the second messenger, was still speaking, and that one, a third messenger, came with further bad news and said: The Chaldeans, Babylonians, set three columns, organized their army into three fronts, and made a raid against the camels and took them; they smote the lads that were with the camels by the sword and only I alone escaped to tell you. Each messenger related to Job an additional calamity that had befallen his possessions and men.

This one was still speaking, and that one, yet another messenger, came and said: Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their firstborn brother,

and behold, a great wind came from across, from the direction of, the wilderness, and it, the wind, struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the lads who were inside, and they died; and only I alone escaped to tell you. Job is informed that not only are his possessions lost, but his family has perished as well.

Job rose, and he rent his robe, sheared the hair off his head as a sign of mourning, and he fell to the ground and prostrated himself before God.

He said: Naked I emerged from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return there. Now that I have lost all that I acquired over the course of my life, I will return to my starting point in this world. Just as I was born without any possessions or children, so too will I die without them. The Lord gave me the gifts of family, possessions, and power, and the Lord has now taken them away; blessed be the name of the Lord for all His deeds.

With all this, despite all these tragedies, Job did not sin and did not ascribe misconduct to God. He did not utter any complaints about what had occurred to him. Although he was shattered by the many tragedies he endured, he nevertheless accepted his fate, and refused to question it or discuss it. Instead, he wished to bless God and continue to live.

It was one day, after Job had already lost his possessions and most of his family, and the children of the great, the angels, came to stand before the Lord. They regularly gathered to stand before Him, like in a military roll call. And the accuser too came to stand before the Lord.

The Lord said to the accuser: From where have you come? The accuser answered the Lord and said: From wandering the earth, and from walking around it.

The Lord said to the accuser: Did you notice My servant Job? Observe him, for there is no one like him on the earth, a virtuous and upright man, revering God and shunning evil. Despite all the calamities that have befallen him, he still maintains his virtuousness, and you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause, as it has become evident that he did not deserve any of this. What do you say about him now?

The accuser answered the Lord and said: Skin for skin. A person is always prepared to sacrifice the skin of another instead of his own. Alternatively, someone in danger will use the skin of his hands to protect the skin of his head or some other critical limb of the body. Everything that a man has he will give for his life. If someone feels threatened, he will focus on defending himself. In his struggle to survive, he will agree to give up everything else in exchange for his life. Up to this point, only Job’s children and his possessions had been harmed; his body remained intact, and Satan argued that that is why he blessed God.

However, extend Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh. If his very body is harmed, won’t he blaspheme You to Your face? Again this is a euphemism, as the word used in the text, yevarkheka, literally means that he will bless You.

The Lord said to the accuser: Behold, he is in your hand. You have permission to afflict him as much as you wish. Only spare his life. Ensure that he remains alive.

The accuser emerged from the presence of the Lord, and he struck Job with a terrible rash from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Not only is the afflicted individual greatly tormented by such a disease, but it also forces him to maintain a distance from others, as it is contagious. Therefore, not only did Job suffer from the physical symptom of the disease, the itching all over his body, but he was also rendered miserable, lonely, and contemptible because of it.

Therefore, he took for himself a potsherd to scratch with it and sat in the ashes. The itching caused by the boils and the resulting lesions were aggravated by the woolen garments customarily worn in the days of Job. Thin ash is a soft and gentle surface that is soothing for one whose skin is inflamed, and it would have eased the pain of the boils and the severe itching.

His wife said to him: Do you still maintain your wholeheartedness and remain God-fearing after all this suffering? Blaspheme God and die. God will punish you with death for blaspheming Him, and then you will be free of pain and thus find peace. Job’s wife argued that there is no way to evade suffering brought by God Himself other than by bringing about one’s own death.

He said to her: You are speaking like one of the disgraceful women speak, and yet you are a decent woman. Shall we accept the good from God, and not accept the evil? Do we stipulate that we will worship God only if He provides for us from His goodness? With all this, despite everything that had happened to him, Job did not sin with his lips. His life was not worth living, he was broken, tormented, and ill, but still he would not utter anything negative about God.

Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, and each came from his place, Elifaz the Temanite, from the city of Teman in Edom, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Tzofar the Naamatite. They met together to come to commiserate with him, to share in his sorrow, and to comfort him to the best of their ability.

They lifted their eyes from afar, in his direction, but they did not recognize him. They saw that his surroundings were all in ruins, he had been struck with boils, and was presumably naked or at least partially unclothed, due to the pain of the boils. They raised their voice and wept. Each rent his robe, and they threw dust on their heads heavenward, which are various gestures of mourning over this troubling scene.

They sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, as they saw that the pain was very great. They realized that in his great pain, anything they said would only cause additional suffering and distress. So they sat, waiting for him to make the first move, and participated in his sorrow as friends.

Thereafter, after having sat in silence, Job opened his mouth, and he cursed his day. He expressed his pain over having lost everything and questioned the value of his life in this lowly state. However, he does not accuse God regarding what has occurred.

Job exclaimed and said:

Job curses his life: Perish the day I was born, and also the night it was said: A man, I, a boy who later became a man, has been conceived.

Let that day on which I was born be one of darkness; let God above not seek it, but let it be forgotten, and may light not shine on it.

May darkness and the shadow of death sully it; may a cloud dwell upon and darken it; may it, that day, be terrorized as if by day-demons or other evil forces that appear every day.

May that night on which I was created be taken and swallowed by blackness; let it not be counted among the days of the year; may it not enter the tally of months. That night should be erased from the calendar so that it will not be included in the calculations of the days or months.

Behold, may that night be desolate, may it remain alone; may no joy come in it.

They who curse the day, who prepare for rousing the leviathan to swallow them up, or alternatively, those who know how to arouse even the awesome leviathan from its place, may they scorn it, that night that I was created.

Let the stars of its twilight, or, alternatively, the stars of that night, be dark; it hopes for light, but there is none, as light should never arrive to conclude that night; let it not see the eyes of dawn. The metaphorical eyes of that night should not merit to be opened by the morning.

I am bitter, for it did not shut my belly’s doors, my mother’s womb, hiding trouble from my eyes. Had those doors closed, preventing my birth, everything would have been better, as then I would have been spared all this suffering.

Why didn’t I die from the womb, and at least expire when I emerged from the belly? It would have been better for me to have died immediately following my birth.

And if I had to be born, why did the knees on which I was placed after my birth wait for me? And for what were there breasts for me to suck? For what purpose did I nurse at my mother’s breasts?

It would have been better had I not been born, or had I not received immediate care at birth, for now, I would lie in the grave and be silent. I would sleep, and then there would be rest for me. I would rest peacefully, having joined the dead resting in the grave,

and there in the grave, I would have resided with kings and counselors of the world, who build cities, which were formerly ruins, for themselves, where they could spread their reputation before departing from the world,

or with princes who have gold, who fill their houses with silver, but ultimately die.

Or why am I not like a buried stillborn, like infants who did not see light, who died before they could see the world? Job is asking: Why couldn’t mine have been a hidden, buried, untimely birth, like that of infants who never see the light of the world?

It would have been preferable for me not to have lived at all, as there, in the grave, distress has ceased even for the wicked, as they are spared suffering, worries, and strife. There even the wicked don’t scheme as they did in their lifetimes; and there, in the grave, rest those whose strength is sapped.

Together, all prisoners are tranquil; they are no longer beaten, not hearing the raised, oppressive voice of the taskmaster.

Small or great, he is there. Whatever the status of the person when alive, in the grave, everyone is equal, and the slave is free from his master. Death frees everyone from social status and troubles and provides each person with freedom and rest.

That being the case, why does He give the light of the world to the sufferer, and what is the reason that life is granted to embittered souls, the pitiful

who suffer their entire lives, and wait for death, but it is not? They dig for it as though hunting for death in holes and crevices, more than one would search for hidden treasures,

rejoicing with cries of exultation, glad when they find the grave.

It, all of this, is stated for myself, a man whose way is hidden, whose world has darkened, and against whom God has set a screen so that he will no longer see His face.

For my groaning in pain will come before my food, before I eat my food, and my screams pour out like water.

For that very matter which I feared has come upon me, and that which daunted me has come to me.

I was not serene, was not silent, and I did not rest, but turmoil came.

Elifaz the Temanite answered and said:

What has happened to you? If a matter tries [hanissa] you, will you be enervated? Will you be weary and broken immediately after a test [nisayon], calamity, or other upheaval? Who can restrain his words? It is impossible to remain silent after hearing your comments.

Behold, you have previously chastised many, advising them how to act, and you have strengthened feeble hands. When you enjoyed an elevated social standing, unfortunates turned to you, and you invariably lifted their spirits.

Your words have raised the weakened, and you have strengthened the unsteady knees of those too infirm to stand.

But now it, suffering, comes upon you and you are enervated? It touches you and you panic? How is this possible?

Shouldn’t your reverence of God be your source of security [kislatekha] and stability, your hope and the virtuousness of your way? You can rely on your past perfect behavior. Kislatekha is based on the word kesalim, the flanks, which are the strongest and most stable part of an animal.

Please remember, who is the innocent who perished? Was anyone who suffered ever entirely innocent? And where are the upright who were destroyed? You know that this is not the case.

According to what I have seen, they who plow, plan, iniquity and sow travail, sin, will reap them, will have to bear the results of their plots and deeds.

They will immediately perish merely by the angry breath of God, and from the blast of His wrath they will cease and be destroyed.

Even the initial manifestation of divine rage affects the strongest creatures, as immediately in response the roar of the lion and the voice of the great cat are heard, and the teeth of the lion cubs are broken.

The lion [layish], another name for a lion, perhaps referring to a lion at some particular stage of its life or to a specific species of lion, in addition to the three names in the previous verse, perishes for lack of prey, and the young children of the lion, which remain together while they are young for protection, are scattered in a panic and are lost. When God roars, even those who consider themselves as strong as lions are broken and destroyed.

Elifaz is indicating that he was imbued with a heavenly spirit. Here he describes a prophetic vision he received that referred to the secrets behind events that occur in the world. As is the case for other gentile prophets, his prophetic experience occurred in the middle of the night. A matter was smuggled to me, which I did not hear directly, and my ear received a trace, a slight hint of it.

The source of my knowledge of heavenly matters is in thoughts that come from the dreamlike visions of the night. I heard these hints at a time when slumber falls on men.

Fear summoned me, and trembling at the revelation; it made my many bones quake.

A heavenly spirit would pass before me; it would cause the hair of my flesh to bristle.

I could tell that it, whatever it was, would stop, but I would not recognize its appearance. It was a form before my eyes, but I did not know what it was. I would hear silence and a voice. There was silence, and yet a voice came from within the silence.

The voice declared: Will a human be more just than God in a debate between them? Will a man be purer than his Maker?

Behold, He does not trust even His servants, the angels and heavenly hosts, and to His angels He attributes misconduct, as He considers them blemished and does not rely on them.

All the more so is He aware of the weaknesses of dwellers in houses of clay, the physical body, whose founding is in dust, who are made despondent and destroyed before, by means of, a moth.

From morning to evening they, people, are broken. What starts in the morning as a mere crack in their world can turn into a complete rupture by night. Forever unnoticed, they perish. They are lost forever without anyone paying attention to them.

Hasn’t their remnant gone away from them? Alternatively, when God brings tragedy upon people, aren’t their remains scattered? They are ruined and eradicated, ultimately dying without wisdom. In his dispute with God, man, who is small and lowly in comparison, will never emerge triumphant.

If you wish to cry out, then call now; but is there anyone answering you? To which of the holy ones, the angels, will you turn? You can turn only to God in prayer.

For anger kills the fool, and envy will put the naïf to death. It is characteristic of the unwise to be swayed by strong emotions, and a dire fate awaits such individuals. The fool Elifaz is describing is one who fails to turn to God. It is possible that this includes even Job himself.

I have seen the fool taking root, growing and developing, and I cursed his house with suddenness. I cursed his home that a calamity should suddenly fall upon it and halt his development.

His, the foolish man’s, children are distanced from salvation and will not be rescued, and they are made despondent, or oppressed, at the gate, the location of the city court, without a deliverer.

His, the fool’s, harvest, the hungry eat and starving individuals put into baskets, or, alternatively, his harvest is taken from him even if it is surrounded by a fence of thorns, and the thirsty imbibe their wealth. They seek to swallow the portion belonging to the fool’s children.

Elifaz elaborates on the downfall of the foolish: For iniquity does not emerge from the dust, and travail does not grow from the ground. Nature does not sin,

for man is born to travail and sin, just as sparks fly upward. Just as sparks naturally fly upward, so too, it is natural for people to sin.

However, unlike the foolish or simple person, I would seek for God, and to God I will direct my words.

One can certainly rely upon God, as it is He who performs great things, and there is no fathoming them, wonders without number.

He is the One who gives rain over the face of the earth, and sends down water over the surface of fields,

setting the lowly on high, raising them to heaven, and He directs matters so that the dejected, the broken and downcast, are exalted with salvation.

At the same time, He thwarts the thoughts of the crafty, those who rely on their cunning, and their hands do not act with resourcefulness. They are unable to execute the plots they devise.

He, God, traps the wise with their craftiness, He traps them in their own guile, and the counsel of the wily is hasty, impulsive and foolish.

Their punishment will be that during the day they encounter darkness, and at noon they grope to find their way like at night.

But He saves the indigent from the sword of the wicked, He saves them from their devouring mouth, and He rescues them from the hand of the mighty.

There is hope for the impoverished, and iniquity will clench its mouth. People’s fortunes change; therefore, do not despair.

Do not reject suffering, as it is part of God’s communication with man. Behold, happy is the man whom God rebukes; do not despise the chastisement of, the suffering brought upon you by the Almighty.

For He causes pain and He bandages the injury that He brought upon you; He crushes and subsequently His hands heal. He strikes, and then He cures.

In six troubles He will deliver you, and in seven, no harm will touch you. God will save you from every distress. Six and seven are generic numbers that signify large quantities.

In famine, He redeems you from death, and in war He saves you from the sword.

From the scourge of the tongue you will be hidden. God will protect you when people utter hurtful or damaging comments about you, and you will not fear pillage when it comes.

At pillage and hunger you will laugh, as they will not threaten you, and from the beasts of the earth, do not fear, as God will protect you from them.

For your covenant will be with the rocks of the field [avnei hasadeh]. The rocks themselves will ensure that you do not stumble while you walk, as all of nature will join forces with you. Alternatively, avnei hasadeh should be interpreted as adnei hasadeh, a mysterious creature that is half-human, half-beast. And the beasts of the field will make peace with you and will do you no harm.

You will know that your tent is at peace, as tranquility will reign there; and visiting your abode, when you arrive home from a journey, you will not be lacking, for everything will have remained intact.

You shall know also that your descendants will be many, you will have many children, and your offspring will increase like the grass of the earth.

You will come to the grave at the right time [kelah·], after a good and long life, or alternatively, refreshed, with vigor, like a grain pile harvested at its time, after it dries in the field and is ready to move to the next stage in the production process.

Elifaz concludes his speech: Behold, we have investigated this; it is so, this is the way of the world. Ultimately, the pure and upright person will not be lost, unlike fools. Hear it, Job, and know for yourself. Consider my comments in a personal context as well. Elifaz is implicitly saying to Job: If you accept that God has intentionally inflicted this suffering upon you, and you submit to it, you will experience salvation in your lifetime. God will restore to you all that you have lost, and you will enjoy a good end.

Job answered and said:

If only my anger and pain were weighed, and my calamity borne, together on a scale,

for now it, the weight of my pain, would weigh heavier than all of the sand of the seas in the world, as my suffering is too great to be measured; therefore, my words waver, they are incoherent and improperly formulated.

For the arrows of the Almighty, which He shot at me, are still in me, whose poison my spirit drinks; the terrors of God are arrayed in battle against me.

Does the onager bray in dissatisfaction over grass? When it has ample food, this creature eats in silence. Does the ox low over his mash? My complaints do not emanate from a state of satisfaction and content. If all were well, I would not cry out in pain.

As for your response, Elifaz, it is insufficient to assuage my hunger and misery: Can the bland be eaten without salt? It is impossible to eat such food. Is there flavor in mallow sap, a plant whose liquid is tasteless?

Job continues: Your comments are comparable to those tasteless foods. My soul refuses to touch them; they are like the food of suffering for me.

If only my request would be accepted, fulfilled, and God would grant my hope,

and God would agree to crush me entirely; freeing His hand, and eliminating me. If He were to kill me, my suffering would end.

May it, this death, yet be my consolation, as I shake in terror, due to my request to God to kill me without compassion, that I did not ignore the sayings of the Holy One.

What is my strength that I should wait? I no longer have enough energy to wait and hope. What will be my end, that my soul should endure more suffering? For what can I hope? I am broken financially, socially, mentally, and physically.

Is my strength the strength of stones? Is my flesh made of bronze? I am merely human, and I am not as tough and durable as stones or brass.

Is there no help for me? Even those friends who supposedly arrived to comfort me do not support my statements. Has resourcefulness been denied me?

Have assistance and sound wisdom abandoned me, for the sake of one who deprives [lamas] his neighbor of kindness, one who withholds kindness from his friend and dissolves [memoses] it, so to speak, or one who forsakes reverence of the Almighty?

My brethren, upon whom I thought I could rely, have betrayed me like a ravine through which water flows irregularly, like the channel through which streams usually pass but is currently dry. The waters of such a seasonal stream disappoint those who rely upon them both in cold and hot conditions, as described in the following verses.

These are brooks which are frozen, because of ice, and upon which snow accumulates.

However, when scorched, during a heat wave, they disappear and are cut off; in its, the channel’s, heat, they dwindle, or disappear, from their place, leaving nothing behind.

Their courses’ ways are winding; they go up into emptiness and are lost.

They looked to the caravans of Tema; the convoys of Sheba, they hoped for them. Those who were thirsty and were disappointed by the drying of the streams, or the streams themselves, looked for the caravans coming and going from Tema, a city in Arabia, and waited for the convoys going back and forth from Sheba (see 1:15), hoping to obtain water from them.

But they were embarrassed and disappointed because they had previously trusted; they, the ones searching for water, came there, to each of the caravans in which they had placed their hopes, and were humiliated. Their disappointment at failing to receive the water they thirsted for shamed them and lowered their spirits. This metaphor reflects Job’s disappointment in his brothers, or in those who came to comfort him. He compares his anticipation for authentic comfort to one who thirsts for water. The person initially puts his hopes in seasonal streams, but they fail to provide water to quench his thirst. He subsequently seeks salvation from nomads living in the wilderness; however, they too do not provide him with the water he needs.

For now you are not devoted to me, but you have become it [lo]. You have become like that seasonal stream, which does not provide water when it is needed. Alternatively, you act as though you cannot comfort me because you belong to Him, God. Some commentaries read lo as lamed-alef, meaning no, instead of lamed-vav, meaning his or it. According to this version, Job is saying that he placed his hopes in them, and yet they were unable to deliver. The support he anticipated never materialized. You see calamity, or some sort of crisis, and you are afraid. You do not share my misery and you provide me with no assistance.

Did I say: Give me, or did I ask: Pay a bribe, or a ransom, for me from your wealth, your possessions?

Or did I expect you to rescue me from the hand of an enemy, or to redeem me, save me, from the hand of the mighty? I did not ask for anything from you. Why, then, have you renounced me?

If you wish to teach me, then indeed teach me, and I will be silent; explain to me what I have done wrong.

How forceful are sayings of uprightness? But what rebuke is there from you? What reproach do you have for me?

Do you consider mere words to be a rebuke? Do you think that by merely stating words you are successfully offering a rebuke? In uttering empty words, are you not treating the statements of the despairing, my despair, as just wind?

You would even fall upon an orphan, who is defenseless. Job compares the lack of regard for his despair in response to his situation to harming an orphan. And you would dig a pit for your friend, into which he would stumble.

It is likely that at this point Job’s friends turned their faces away from him. Therefore, Job calls out to them: Now therefore, if you have complaints against me, agree to look at me; to your faces I will not lie.

Job perhaps sees his friends preparing to leave. Therefore, he says to them: Come back, please; let there be no iniquity. Let me demonstrate that I have not sinned. Stay a while longer, as my justice is in it, my claim.

Is there iniquity on my tongue? Doesn’t my palate, my mouth, my speech, discern disasters, the calamities that have befallen me?

Truly, there is a limited term, years of life, for man on earth, and his days are like the days of a hireling. Just as a laborer is hired to work for a fixed period but no longer, one’s days in this world are limited. When one has completed his service, he does not remain a single moment longer in the world.

Man in this world is like a servant who yearns for shade. He is not free to do as he wishes during his period of servitude, but yearns to at least rest for a bit in the shade, and he is like a hireling who hopes for his wages.

Just as a servant’s time is limited and is entirely dependent upon his master, so have months of futility, empty of content, been bequeathed, allocated, to me, and nights of travail and suffering been appointed for me.

When I lie down at night, I say: When will I arise? Measuring the length of the night, as in my suffering I await the end of the night, I am filled with restlessness until dawn.

My flesh is covered with worms; my skin is a clod of earth; it is cracked and has become repulsive.

Unlike the nights of suffering, which feel as though they continue without end, my days, the days of good, were swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, as they left me quickly, and they ended with no hope.

God, remember that my life is passing by as wind. I am not an immortal creature, and I cannot bear this misery. My eye will not again see good, as it once saw in the past.

After I die, the eye of one who sees me, or who wishes to see me, will not behold me; Your eyes are on me, and I am not. You could cause my death by setting your eyes on me without causing me to suffer.

Just as a cloud dissipates and goes away, so one who descends to the grave will not come up. Death is irreversible.

He, the deceased, will not return to his house; his dignified place that he maintained in his lifetime will no longer recognize him. He will lose all connection to the place where he lived, and no memory of him will be preserved.

Job continues to speak to God: You do not ease my suffering, and therefore I too will not restrain my mouth from speaking to You. I will speak in, out of, the anguish of my spirit; I will converse in the bitterness of my soul.

Am I a sea that threatens to drown everything within it, or a sea monster, an ancient creature that You have retained under Your direct control, that You place a watch over me? I am not a monster that seeks to rule over the entire inhabited world and that must be stopped in its tracks.

For I said to myself that I hoped that my bed will console me, that my bedding will bear my discourse. I will find respite from my troubles and bitterness while sleeping, but I am unable to rest in tranquility,

and You frighten me with dreams and terrify me from visions of the night.

My soul prefers strangling, death, rather than living this life in my bones, my body.

I loathe it, my present life, and as I will not live forever, let me be, as my days are futility. Stop afflicting me and let me live a life blessed with meaning and hope.

What is man, and what is his significance, that You make him great, and that You set Your heart toward him?

You remember him to watch over him each morning and test him each moment. Why are You constantly examining man’s traits and deeds?

For how long will You not release me, not let me be, even to swallow my spittle? You do not leave me alone even for the short time necessary to swallow my saliva.

Even if I have sinned, what have I done to You, Guardian of man? My sins do not affect You at all, as You are exalted above everything. Why did You set me as Your target, a target for You to strike, or, alternatively, why do You treat me as one who can strike You, as it were, and why do You treat me as though I have become a burden to myself, that is, to You?

Why don’t You bear my transgression and overlook my iniquity? For now, in a short while, I will lie down buried in the dust; You will seek me, but I will not be. Please free me from this suffering. I want to live in whatever manner I wish. I will die when I die, but there is no need to add any further torment. Although here Job speaks of his sins, he does not consider them the primary source of his suffering. He admits that, being human, he might have erred, but he argues that the punishments he has received do not correspond to the sum total of all the transgressions he could have conceivably committed. He therefore cannot understand why all this has happened to him. Moreover, he complains about his misery. Whereas he previously merely described his difficulties and the extent of his suffering, he now requests simply to be left to die in peace.

Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

Until when will you pronounce these, and until when will the sayings of your mouth be a great wind, an attack, against God?

Would God pervert judgment? Does the Almighty pervert justice? Bildad castigates Job for ideas that he did not express. Job merely articulated the pain he was feeling and wondered why God was striking him ceaselessly, as though the rest of the world required protection from his baleful influence. Nevertheless, like Elifaz, Bildad infers from Job’s comments that he maintains a grievance against God’s system of judgment in the world. Bildad therefore responds to his understanding of Job’s beliefs.

If your children sinned against Him, He sent them to death into the hand of, due to, their transgression.

It would be good if you, in contrast to them, would seek God, and plead to the Almighty;

if you are truly pure and upright, right now He will rouse Himself to bring goodness for you, and He will restore the abode of your righteousness, or He will recompense you properly for your righteous habitation.

Your beginning may be small, as you started lowly and poor, but your end will soar very high. Alternatively, the good you possessed initially will be considered minor in comparison to what you will ultimately receive.

For ask now of the first generation, and attend, direct your attention, to the investigation of their fathers, the early generations,

for we are but of yesterday, we are very young, and therefore do not know everything, for our days on earth are as a passing shadow.

Won’t they, your fathers, teach you, say to you, and from their heart, words will emerge, to explain to you the proper order of nature?

Can a reed, a plant that sprouts near swamps and streams, grow tall without a marsh? Can rushes, a generic term for shrubbery that grows alongside water, or a type of willow, rise without water?

With no source of water, even though it is still in its bud, or fresh, and is not supposed to be plucked so quickly, and yet nevertheless it will wither before any other grass.

So are the paths of all forgetters of God. They will wither quickly, because they abandoned their source of sustenance, and the hypocrite’s hope will perish;

it is he whose support, upon which he relies, is gossamer, a thin web, or his confidence will be cut down and diminished, and whose trust is a spider’s web. He places his trust in flimsy webs.

He will lean on his house, but it will not stand; he will grasp it, but it will not endure. One cannot rely upon such a house.

It, this plant, the wicked individual, is moist before the rising of the sun, before retribution arrives, or it is moist and flourishing when it is in the sunshine; and its shoots go forth over, into, his garden. Some interpret this set of verses (16–19) as referring to a righteous individual who ultimately attains a good portion despite temporary suffering.

However, if on a heap of stones, its roots are entangled, then it looks for a place among the stones, and the plant has nothing to take hold of and has no source of sustenance.

If it is cleared away, uprooted, from its place, and then its place will deny it and say: I did not see you. I never knew you at all. Nothing will be left of you.

Behold, this is the gladness, the supposed success, of its way, or, alternatively, the dissolving or rotting of his path. This plant is about to rot, and hopefully from other earth they, its roots, will grow. The roots of the plant will spring again elsewhere on earth, in a different form.

Behold, God will not despise the blameless. If you are indeed an upright individual, God will come to your aid. And He will not support the evildoers,

since if you are righteous, He will assist you until He fills your mouth with laughter and your lips with celebration.

But Your enemies will be clothed in shame, and the tent of the wicked shall be no more.

Job answered and said:

Indeed, I know that it is so. As you say, God is great, and one cannot challenge Him. Therefore, how can man justify himself with God? I know that one who seeks to contend with Him will not emerge victorious.

If he desires to contend with Him, He would not answer him concerning even one claim out of a thousand.

As He, God, is wise of heart and mighty of power, who has castigated Him with his speech and prospered [vayishlam], or emerged whole [shalem] from this confrontation?

It is He who moves mountains and they do not know, who overturns them in His wrath;

who shakes the earth from its place, its pillars swaying;

who says to the sun to halt, and it obeys and does not shine, and seals, or conceals, the stars;

who spreads the heavens alone and treads on the high crests of the sea;

who made the constellations Ursa Major, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south, perhaps a reference to a specific southern constellation;

who performs great things beyond scrutiny that cannot be analyzed and wonders beyond number.

Behold, though He may pass by me, He could pass right in front of me, so to speak, and yet I would not see Him; He may go by, and I would not perceive Him. I am unable to understand His ways.

Behold, He may grab something away; who will cause Him to give back the item He holds in His hand? Who will say to Him: What are You doing? Why do You do this?

God will not restrain His wrath; beneath Him the helpers of Rahav, a creature or force that rises up against God’s rule in the world, are bowed and submit to Him.

Since that is so, how then can I, a mere mortal, answer Him and choose my words with Him? I am certainly unable to contend with God.

Even though I am justified, I could not answer. I could not press claims against Him. Instead, I would plead to my Judge, to God.

However, I am not optimistic about that strategy either, as even if I called, and even if He answered me, I would not believe that He would listen to my voice and heed my supplication.

It is He who crushes me with a storm and increases my wounds without cause.

He does not allow me to catch my breath, to allow my spirit to calm, for He sates me with more and more bitterness.

I am helpless when pitted against God. If it is a matter, a contest, of strength, the Mighty One is here, and if it is a matter for judgment that I must seek, who will set an appointment for me for a judgment against God?

Even if I am righteous, my own mouth will condemn me out of fear of denouncing God; I am blameless, but He will distort matters against me and I will ultimately carry the blame.

Although I cannot prove it in a trial, nevertheless I know that I am blameless. Do I not know myself? I despise my life.

I have a definitive conclusion from all of this: One thing, therefore, I say: The blameless and the wicked He destroys. I fail to perceive justice in the world, as the fate of the innocent is identical to that of the sinner.

If a lash strikes and causes death suddenly, if retribution descends to the earth, He mocks at the undoing of the innocent.

The earth is given over by God into the hand, the control, of the wicked one; he covers the faces of its, the earth’s, judges to prevent them from seeing the truth. In such a corrupt situation, I must ask: If not, then who is it? If my statement that the fates of both the righteous and the wicked are placed into the hands of the wicked is not correct, then who is responsible for the corruption and evil we experience?

My good days are dissipating swifter than a runner, a speedy messenger; they flee, as though not seeing good.

They go by with the speed of reed boats.Boats fashioned from reeds sail in the river quickly, like the eagle that swoops over prey. An eagle can reach very high speeds when swooping over its prey. Hence, the sailing of the reed ship and the swooping of the eagle are two metaphors describing how swiftly all of Job’s good times faded away and were forgotten.

If I say: I will forget my pain, I will abandon my claims, or rage, and be restrained,

fearing all my suffering and wishing to push it away, I know that You will not acquit me, but will continue to harm me.

Therefore, since I will be condemned, why should I toil in futility?

Even if I bathed in snow water, and even if I washed and purified my hands with soap,

then You would remove me from the cleansing water and instead immerse me in the pit, the grave, and even my own garments would abhor me and be revolted by my body. I will never be able to purify myself in Your eyes.

For He is not a man like me that I could dare to answer Him or to come together in judgment, in a trial between us.

There is no arbiter between us. In a judgment between us, there can be no one who could prove the justness of one side. There is no one to place his hand upon the two of us, to whose authority we would both submit.

However, let Him remove His scepter, His rule, from me, and let His dread not terrify me.

I would speak, and I would not fear Him; but it is not so, I am with myself. In practice, no one can help me; I remain alone.

My soul is sick of my life; I will allow myself complaint. I will give free rein to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

I will say to God: Do not condemn and punish me; let me know why You contend with me. I want to know of what crime I am accused.

Is it good for You that You should exploit me and treat me unjustly, that You should despise Your handiwork? You invested effort in me; why, then, do You loathe me and at the same time appear to aid in the counsel of the wicked, who continue to live in tranquility?

Do You have eyes of flesh; do You see as man sees? You know what is hidden in the hearts of men, and You are aware of the deeds they perform in secret, as well as the larger picture of world events. If so, why do You exchange the fates of the innocent with that of the wicked?

Man, with his limited vision, is sometimes swayed by foreign considerations and interests that stem from his concerns and worries as a mortal. The nature of man’s plans and his urge to actualize them swiftly are motivated by his knowledge that his life will soon end. This is not true of God: Are Your days like the days of a mortal? Are Your years like the days of a man,

that You seek my iniquity and search for my sin? In comparison to Your eternal existence, none of these have any value. Why, then, do You plot against me by amassing proofs against me? Aren’t You beyond all such considerations,

even though You know that I would not sin, that I cannot commit a crime against You, and that even if I did do so, there is no deliverer from Your hand? If I did sin, I will not be saved.

Furthermore, Your hands shaped me and fashioned me, enveloped me together on all sides, and yet with those same hands that surround me, You have ruined Your creation, as You destroy me from all sides.

Please, remember that You have fashioned me like one kneads and shapes clay, and ultimately to dust You will return me. The description of the creation of the first man from the earth can be metaphorically applied to all people.

Truly, You have liquefied me like milk, as the process of my formation in the womb involved the transformation of solids into liquids, and curdled me like cheese. Likewise, certain liquids solidified during my creation, similar to the cheese-making process.

You clothed me with skin and flesh when You created me, and You covered me with bones and sinews.

Throughout, You granted me life and grace, and Your command preserved my spirit.

Yet all these matters You concealed in Your heart. You are intimately familiar with every secret detail of my creation and my life. I know that all this is with You. A similar idea, in a different context and style, is found in Psalms 139.

If I sin, You detain me. You are aware of it and do not turn a blind eye to my transgression, and You do not cleanse me of my iniquity.

If I am wicked, woe is me, and yet even if I am righteous, I will not lift up my head; I am sated with shame and I see my disgrace, since in any case You will be dissatisfied with me.

It, my poverty and disgrace, will be lifted up, will increase,when You will hunt me like one hunts a lion and intensify Your blows upon me again.

You will renew gathering Your witnesses against me, and Your anger with me will increase; it transforms, but it is constantly with me. My afflictions are constantly changing form, but they each strike me at fixed times. Alternatively, a mass of afflictions strike me.

Why did You take me out from the womb? It would have been better for me not to have been born. I would have expired quietly in the womb as a stillborn, and no eye would have seen me.

I would have been as one who had not been; I would have been a stillborn, carried straight from the womb to the grave. This would have been preferable to all the suffering I experienced throughout my life.

Aren’t my days few? Cease and let me be, and I will compose myself, or rest, a little

before I go, not to return, to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, to the provinces of death and the netherworld,

a land of thick and amplified darkness, like blackness, the shadow of death and disarray, as Gehenna is characterized by a lack of structure or stability, looking like blackness. Even the light that shines in that place is dark.

Tzofar the Naamatite answered and said:

Should one who speaks so many words not be answered? Do you think that your verbosity is enough to end all discussion, so that the debate will of necessity end with your stated position? And should an eloquent man, a skilled rhetorician, be vindicated simply by virtue of his eloquence?

Your fabrications have silenced men; you have mocked, and there is no one to reproach you. No one rebukes you or stops you. Perhaps Tzofar is referring to others who are present at the scene apart from Elifaz and Bildad, who heard Job’s discourse and were left speechless by his declarations.

You said: My discourse is pure, and I am clean in your eyes. I am considered innocent by my audience.

However, if only God would speak and instead of letting you go astray with such thoughts, open His lips to speak against you.

He would tell you the secrets of wisdom, the esoteric knowledge that is hidden from you, as sagacity is double-sided and has many things to reveal to you. Know that God may overlook some of your iniquities for you. Alternatively, God can forget your sins, that is, forgive you for them. However, you must listen to Him and speak less.

Can you discover the understanding of God, His ultimate intentions? Can you discover the purpose of the Almighty? Do you think that you can examine and understand God?

In the heights of heavens, what can you do? What power do you have to change the heavenly spheres? God’s wisdom is deeper than the grave; what can you know of it?

Its measure is longer than the earth, and its expanse is broader than the sea. You are trying to understand matters that are beyond your comprehension.

If He causes those who have sinned against Him to pass on, to be cut off or killed, or if He confines, imprisons, or assembles them, who can restrain Him? Who can prevent Him from doing so?

For He knows vain men. He is familiar with sinners. He sees iniquity without looking for it. He does not need to pause to reflect on the details; He knows everything immediately.

But a hollow man can take heart. In contrast to God, man is an empty receptacle; therefore, his heart can be filled with understanding, as a colt of an onager can be born a man. When a person is born, he is like the colt of a wild ass, and he must then grow and develop into a man.

Therefore, if you, Job, prepare your heart, and spread your hands to Him in prayer,

if there is iniquity in your hand, banish it from you; do not let injustice dwell in your tents,

for then you can raise your face without blemish. You will not have to bow your head due to your blemish. You will be steadfast and will not fear.

For in this state, you will forget your travail and misery; you will remember it like water that has passed. You will have only vague memories of your pain, like the bare trace of passing waters.

The world will rise up and be built brighter than the light of noon; it will be illuminated; like the morning it will be. Then the world will shine for you and be renewed as the morning.

You will be secure because there is hope; you will be entrenched [veh·] and lie down in security. You will be as secure as if you were surrounded by excavated moats [ĥafira] that protect you from your enemies. Alternatively, you will have security in the World to Come when you arrive at your grave, which has already been dug [ĥafur].

You will lie down without threat, and many will court your favor. They will come to your door to seek your advice.

Unlike those who are innocent of sin, the eyes of the wicked will fail in their expectation of being saved from their misfortune, and escape will be lost for them; their hope will become nothing but despair.

Job answered sarcastically and said:

Indeed, you are a people. You are the majority, and this gives you confidence that you possess the truth and that together with you, wisdom will die.

However, I too have a heart, like you. The heart is considered the seat of understanding. I am no less than you. Who does not have this? Who does not comprehend these matters? You are not saying anything new.

I have become one mocked by his neighbor. Alternatively, they considered me one who mocks others. I was once one who had called to God and He answered him, but my lot now is to be a laughingstock of the completely righteous, all of you.

I have become a calamity that brings contempt to complacent composure, ready for those whose foot slips. A disaster that undermines the confidence of one who is at ease and self-assured is prepared for those who have slipped.

By contrast, the tents are tranquil for robbers. They dwell serenely in their homes, and there is security in life for the provokers of God. Yet I know that this too is only as the hand of God engenders. Such unexpected and incomprehensible outcomes are also controlled by God.

But ask now the animals, and even they will teach you, as they all know that everything is in God’s hands, and you may also ask the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you,

or converse with the earth, and it will teach you, and the fish of the sea will also relate this truth to you.

Who does not know, among all these, that the hand of the Lord has done all this?

He in whose hand is the life of every living thing and the spirit of all flesh of man.

Doesn’t God control even the ear, which can discern words, and the palate, which can taste food?

Wisdom is with the aged, and with length of days, sagacity. These too are gifts bestowed upon them by God.

Wisdom and might are with Him; counsel and sagacity are His.

Behold, He demolishes, and then it will not be rebuilt; He shuts a man in, and afterward, it will not be opened.

Behold, He halts the water and it dries; He releases it to flood, and they, the waters, overturn the earth.

With Him are strength and resourcefulness; the misled, the unintentional sinner, and the misleading, Satan, are also His.

He leads counselors, those who are supposedly wise and independent of thought, astray, and He renders judges fools, or mad.

On the one hand, He removes the restraints, the ruling power, of kings, as God removes their authority, and on the other hand, it is He who binds a belt on their waists. He is also the one who gives them the power to reign.

He leads priests astray and the mighty He corrupts and misleads.

He removes speech from the established, reliable men so that they forget how to speak or are struck dumb by events, and He takes away the sense, understanding, of elders.

He pours contempt on the noble, the wealthy and dignified, and weakens the dam of the watercourses. He releases the masses upon them like water currents breaking through dams.

He reveals depths from the darkness and brings the shadow of death to light.

He sometimes increases the power of nations, and at other times He eliminates them; He spreads traps for the nations, but He also guides them.

He removes the heart, understanding, of the leaders of the people of the land and misleads them through trackless emptiness.

They grope in the dark without light, and He causes them to veer like a drunk.

After Job has acknowledged that he is aware of God’s might, he returns to the point he made at the beginning of the speech: Behold, my eye has seen all that you have described of the greatness of God and His unlimited power. My ear has also heard and understood.

What you know about God’s greatness, I too know; I am no less than you.

But unlike you, whose awareness of God’s might leads you to submission and silence toward Him, I would prefer to speak to the Almighty, and to argue with God I desire, even to contend with Him.

But you are spreaders of falsehood, physicians of folly, all of you. Your statements provide no form of healing.

Would that you were silent, and it, your silence, would be wisdom for you.

Hear now my argument, and listen to the contentions of my lips.

Furthermore, will you speak injustice, falsely, on behalf of God, and for Him will you speak deceit? You know that you do not speak the truth. You merely talk in this manner because you think that this is what one is supposed to say, either because it is written in the holy books or because it is your tradition. Your justification of God in our dispute is nothing more than hypocritical bias toward Him.

Will you favor Him? Will you contend on behalf of God, to justify and defend Him?

Will it be good if He examines you? Do you think it would be to your benefit if He were to examine you? In doing so, He would expose your hypocrisy and insincere flattery. Will you fool Him as one fools a man?

No, He will rebuke and punish you if you secretly favor Him.

Won’t dread of Him terrify you, and His fear fall upon you?

Your slogans, the matters you keep mentioning and repeating, are comparable to ashes, as they will not last; your bodies are comparable to bodies of clay. You are not solid creatures; rather, you are fashioned from pliable material that turns into any shape that is imprinted on it. You speak with self-assurance, but your statements are no more stable or resilient than your bodies are.

Be silent to me, and I will speak, and let happen to me what may.

For what should I take my flesh in my teeth? Why should I bite my skin in order to refrain from talking, and why should I place my life, my breath, in my hand, in order to hold my peace? Alternatively, this phrase may be understood as saying: I will put my life in my hand. That is, I am even willing to risk my life to say what is on my mind.

Though He kills me, I will yearn for Him. Even then, my love for God and devotion to Him will not cease. But nevertheless, I will still argue my ways. There is no rebellion in my words. I will lay out my claims before Him in the hope that He will accept them.

Moreover, He is my salvation. I, not you, will merit salvation, as the hypocrite will not come before Him. Therefore, God will not accept your flattery.

Hear my word, and let my articulation be in your ears.

Behold now, I have arranged my case before God; I know that I will be vindicated.

Who is it who will contend with me? For then, if I could find someone who could argue against me, I would be silent and expire. However, in reality, there is no one who can prevent me from staking my claim for justice.

Now Job addresses God directly. But two things do not do to me, and then I will not hide from You. I will reveal all that is in my heart if you do not do the following two things:

First, distance Your heavy hand that strikes me with these blows from me, and second, may Your dread not terrify me. Do not scare me. As long as I am reduced by the suffering I am experiencing and by my dread of You, I am unable to express the musings of my heart. I require a certain measure of freedom in order to speak my piece.

If these two conditions are fulfilled, then call, and I will answer; or I will speak, and You answer me. We will be able to engage in a conversation.

I am requesting that You clarify for me: How many iniquities and sins do I have? Inform me of the nature of my transgression and my sin.

Why do You hide Your face and consider me as Your enemy? I do not know how many and what kinds of sins might justify such an antagonistic attitude toward me.

Will You break a driven leaf, which has already fallen from the tree, and will You pursue dry straw,

such that You write noxious matters, issue such bitter decrees, about me and bequeath me the iniquities of my youth, those sins for which I have already atoned and made amends, or those transgressions I committed before I matured?

You place my feet in the stocks, a type of wooden shackle used to hold the feet of prisoners, and You watch all my paths; You constrict the soles of my feet, so that I cannot move or do anything.

Why do You treat my body so harshly? As he, man in general, decays like carrion and wastes away like a garment eaten by a moth, full of holes, ruined, and rendered useless.

Man is born of a woman, few of days and sated with vexation. Man’s life span is limited, while his troubles and suffering are too great.

He emerges like a flower and withers; he flees like an insubstantial shadow, whose size and shape is constantly changing and does not endure. Man is ephemeral.

Is it not enough for You to reflect upon and watch over all the great creatures and plants in the world? Yet even on this, ephemeral man, You opened Your eyes, and You would bring me, a lowly mortal, to judgment with You?

In this judgment, who can generate the pure from the impure? Isn’t it the One? Only the One, God, can justify man, even if he is impure and wicked, when He comes to judge him. Yet why should He punish such a puny creature?

If his days are determined, circumscribed and limited, and the number of his months is fixed and established with You, and You have established his allotment of time and options, and it will not be surpassed,

let him be, and it will cease. Let him rest from his pain until, like a hired laborer, he finishes the work of his day. Let him conclude his life in peace.

For the tree has hope: If it is hewed, it may yet regenerate, it can sprout again, and its roots will not cease. They will not disappear but will grow again.

If its root grows old in the earth and its trunk apparently dies in the dirt,

it will blossom at the scent of water, even if the tree is given only the smallest amount of water, and produce branches like a sapling.

But in contrast, man dies and weakens; a human expires, and where is he?

Just as water has gone out of the sea, and as a river has dried and is parched, irreversible processes,

so too, a man lies down dead and will not rise until the heavens wear out and are no more; they, the dead, will not ever awaken and will not ever be roused from their sleep.

If only You would hide me in the grave and would conceal me there until Your wrath subsides; You would watch over me there and set for me a portion, a limit for my suffering, and then You would eventually remember me and bring me out of the grave.

If a man dies, will he live? All the days of my apportioned time of life, I wait until my passing, the time for my departure from the world, comes.

Call, and I will answer You; yearn for Your handiwork. Job requests from God: Call to me and I will answer; desire the response of the work of Your hands.

For now, please count my steps. Watch over me and ensure that I do not fall. Do not keep watch over my sin. Alternatively, do not remember my sin forever, or if I have sinned, punish me for it immediately, without delay.

Currently, my transgression is sealed up with You as in a bundle, and You have added to my iniquity. You pile more sins upon me.

However, just as the mightiest elements of nature do not last forever, as a falling mountain will crumble into dust, and bedrock will be moved from its place and does not remain firm,

and as stones are worn away by water, since its torrents wash away the dust or the aftergrowth of the earth, so too the hope of man You destroy.

You overpower him, man, forever, and he is gone from the world and dies; You alter his countenance as he ages and send him away from the world.

His sons attain a position of honor, but he does not know this; they suffer, but he does not empathize with them.

But his flesh on him is painful, and his soul mourns over him.

Elifaz the Temanite answered and said:

Should the wise answer with windy knowledge, vanity, and have the dry east wind fill his belly? How can it be that you, a man who is considered wise, actually have no true wisdom inside you? Only empty words arise from your belly.

You, the wise man, rebuke and judge with useless talk and pointless words with no effect in them.

Indeed, with your comments you nullify reverence of God and make belittling and flawed speech before God.

For your iniquity trains your mouth what to say. Your words do not emanate from the heart of the righteous man I knew; rather, they are an expression of the sinner within you. And this is so even though you do not openly utter prohibited or heretical statements; instead, you choose clever language, crafty sayings that only allude to such wicked matters.

Your mouth condemns you, and not I. What you yourself have said is enough to condemn you. I do not need to add anything; your own lips testify against you.

You speak with confidence, as though there was never a person like you. Are you the first man who was born in the world? Were you made before the hills? Has no experience and knowledge been accumulated in the world until now? There are people from whom you can inquire and learn. What is the source of your supposedly certain knowledge?

Do you listen in the council of God and extract wisdom for yourself?

What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not with us, in our consciousness?

Both the graybeard and the aged are among us, and some of us are greater in days than your father.

Is it not enough for you, the consolations of God, the good that God has wrought for you until now? Alternatively, are the consolations in our statements about God too meager for you? Are you not satisfied with the matter that God whispered to you, which He revealed to you through your friends?

To what, or to where, does your heart take you, and what do your eyes intimate?

Only when you turn your spirit toward God, then you can express words of truth from your mouth.

What is man that he should be exonerated, and that one born of a woman be justified? Man can never be considered entirely innocent and righteous.

Behold, even in His holy ones, the angels, He does not trust, as even their shortcomings are revealed to God; therefore, He does not fully trust them. And even the heavens are not pure in His eyes.

If He does not place His faith in angels and heavenly beings, all the more so He will not rely on one abominable and revolting, a man who drinks iniquity like water, who pursues crime and amasses more and more sins.

I will tell you; hear me, this I have seen, in a vision or in my thoughts, and will relate.

I will tell you that which the wise men tell and which is received from their fathers and that which they do not withhold,

the righteous, upright fathers to whom alone the land, the world, was given, and no stranger has passed among them. Even if there were others who inherited the world, they are considered of no importance at all.

This is what the wise men relate: All the days of the wicked, he trembles with fear; a number of years is set aside, allotted, for the powerful, and until his imminent demise, he lives a life of terror.

The sound of terrors is always in his ears; even in peaceful years of tranquility, the robber will come upon him.

He does not believe that he will return from darkness, and despite the gloom, he is visible to a sword, as the one holding the sword can perceive him.

He wanders for bread, asking: Where is it? He knows that the day of darkness is ready at hand for him. It awaits him.

Trouble, or enemies, and distress terrorize or startle him; they attack him like a king destined for a siege.

Because he, the wicked, extended his hand against God and would overcome the Almighty, since the wicked man is prepared to fight against God,

he runs at Him, or against Him defiantly, with the thickness of his exposed shields.

Until now, the wicked has enjoyed a life of pleasure. Because he has covered his face with his fat and he has made a flesh fold [pima], the folds of fat that appear like a mouth [peh], over his loins,

his sins are inevitably followed by punishment: He shall dwell in desolate cities and in houses in which one would not live, in structures which are destined to become demolished heaps.

He shall not become rich, and his wealth shall not endure, his wealth will not last; nothing of theirs will extend over the earth, or be left on earth to give to others.

He will not turn away from his place of darkness; the flame will dry his shoots, and they will pass away from the world by the breath of His mouth.

Let him, the wicked, not trust in lies and futility that momentarily misleads, for emptiness will be his compensation. Falsehood begets nothing but more falsehood.

It will be concluded before his time. He will die early, and his treetop will not be green.

He will shed his unripe grapes like a vine whose clusters have not yet formed, and he will cast off his blossoms like an olive tree. The children, life, or deeds of the wicked will end before they come to fruition, like the unripe grapes and flowers of an olive tree that are shed and scattered before they develop into edible fruits.

For the company of the hypocrite and cheater will ultimately be lonely and desolate, and fire will eventually consume the tents of people who erected them with money obtained through bribery.

They, these wicked people, think of sin so much, it is as though they conceive or become pregnant with travail; therefore, they give birth to iniquity, and their belly prepares deceit.

Job answered and said:

I have heard many statements like these. You have not told me anything new. All of you are useless comforters, toilers in vain, worthless and false.

Is there an end to windy, empty, words? Or what is it that drives you, motivates or applies pressure upon each one of you, that you respond?

I also could and would speak as you do, if your life were in place of my life, if you were in my place. I would amass words against you, in the manner of preachers and eulogizers. I am very familiar with the style of a sermon, and were it not for my suffering I could moralize just as well as you do. And I too would shake my head at you, as a mark of sorrow.

I would likewise encourage you with my mouth, just as until now you have offered me no practical assistance, and the movement of my lips would relieve your grief, or, alternatively, my grief.

But why should I dwell on fantasies, for if I speak, my pain will not be lessened, and if I refrain from talking and remain silent, what will go from me? What part of my pain will be removed?

But now it, or all this talk, or this pain, has wearied me; You have devastated all my congregation, or my family.

You have shriveled me through the want and suffering You have inflicted upon me; the mark it has made on me is a witness. My gauntness stands to testify against me; it testifies before me.

His wrath has mauled and He hates me; He has gnashed His teeth at me; my enemy sharpens his eyes toward me and plots how to increase my suffering.

They have opened wide their mouth against me, to shout at me; they strike my cheek in disgrace, scornfully, to humiliate me; together they convene against me.

God hands me over to the unjust, those who perform evil acts, and by means of the wicked, He misdirects me.

I was tranquil, and He agitated me, or, alternatively, He crushed me; He seized my nape and shattered me; He set me as His target in order to shoot me.

His marksmen surround me; He pierces my kidneys with their arrows, and He does not show compassion; He spills my bile onto the ground.

He strikes and breaks me, break after break, one blow after another; He runs at me to hurt me like a warrior attacking in battle.

I sewed sackcloth over my skin as a sign of mourning for myself, and I have set in dust my renown. I placed dust upon my head.

My face is enflamed from weeping, and the shadow of death is on my eyelids.

All this has befallen me for no villainy that is in my hands, for nothing; my prayer before You has been pure. If so, why am I experiencing such terrible suffering?

Earth, do not cover my blood. I prefer it to remain exposed, as a constant reminder of the injustice I have suffered. And let there be no resting place for my outcry, so that it may continue to be heard by all, or by God.

Now too, behold, my witness is located in the heavens, and my witness is on high.

My eloquent ones, or, alternatively, those who distort my claims, my friends: My eye streams as I weep to God.

Can a man argue with God as a person does with his friend? One can rightfully respond only to his friend, another mortal.

For but a few years pass me, and I will go on the path of life from which I will not return. One cannot return from this path.

My spirit is crushed, or bruised from all the troubles that have been visited upon me. My days are dwindling, my days fade and are lost. Graves are mine. They are all that is left to me of my children.

Truly, or I swear, mockers are with me, and my eye goes to sleep with the embitterment they cause me.

Job now turns to God with a request: Promise now, guarantee me with You. Be my guarantor, for if You will not assure my safety, who is it who will shake hands with me? No mortal will obligate himself as my guarantor. The shaking of hands is a symbolic act that expresses one’s obligation to the other.

For You have concealed their heart from understanding, my friends do not comprehend at all, and therefore, You will not exalt them.

The conniver will report friends, and the eyes of his children will languish, from peering in unrequited expectation.

He, this treacherous friend, the pain, Elifaz, or God, rendered me a byword of the people. Indeed, over the generations, Job has become known as the archetype of the suffering man. I will be the classic example of he who is already in hell even before his death.

My eye has dimmed, and my vision is blurred from my anger, and my limbs do not function and are all insubstantial, like a shadow.

The upright are outraged and rise up at this; the pure are aroused against the mocking hypocrite to reprove him.

The righteous stays his course, despite the retribution that descends upon the earth, and the clean-handed will add strength.

After these general comments, Job addresses his friends with a direct attack: Even if all of you return and speak, and come now, I will not find a wise man among you.

My days have passed, or are passing; my thoughts are severed due to all my pain and aggravation; they are the inheritance of my heart.

They, my friends, or my torments, transform night into day, as they deprive me of sleep, approaching light into darkness. The light that seems near is actually fading.

Truly, I hope that the grave will be my home; in the darkness, the grave, I will cushion my bedding.

I called to the pit of the netherworld: You are my father; and to the maggots I declared: You are my mother and my sister, as I live with them. My mother and my sister eat my flesh.

Where then is my hope, and my hope, who can see it?

It, my hope, descends the levels of the grave, comes to rest together with me on the dirt.

Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

When will you, Job, put an end to the words? When will you stop talking? Whenever you appear to be ready to conclude speaking, you begin a new topic. First you should contemplate, and afterward we will speak. It should be noted that Bildad speaks here to Job in the second person plural, a somewhat indirect form of address.

Why have we been considered like a beast, obtuse in your eyes? Why do you consider us bereft of understanding and insight?

You are one who mauls and harms himself in his wrath; will the earth be forsaken for you and the rock removed from its place? Do you expect the natural laws of the world to be overturned for your sake? Others interpret this as a reference to God, who is referred to in the Bible as a rock. If so, the final phrase in the verse reads: Do you expect God to alter His normal ways for you?

Rather, the light of the wicked will dim, and the spark of his fire will not glow.

The light will have darkened in his tent, and his lamp will dim over him.

The strides of his strength will be shortened. His steps shall become short, like those of a weak person, and his own counsel will cast him down, cause his downfall,

for he is caught in a net by his feet, and he walks on a snag, a tangle of branches placed over a trap.

A snare will seize a heel; its strings will tighten upon him. The knots of the snare will tighten around him.

His rope to ensnare him is hidden in the ground, and his trap is prepared on the path.

Terrors, or demons, will frighten him on all sides and scatter his feet. In his terror, his limbs will be scattered, so to speak, and rendered useless, and he will fall.

His progeny will be hungry, and calamity is set by his side.

It will consume the branches, pieces, of his skin; death’s firstborn, the angel of death, will consume his branches, will devour his children.

Its support will be severed from his tent. That which provides stability for the tent, possibly the peg that holds it in place, will be removed. This is possibly an allusion to his wife. And it will march him to the king of terrors, the king of demons.

She, his wife, who has become a widow, will dwell in his tent without him; sulfur, which destroys everything, will be scattered and will rain on his abode.

Below, his roots will dry, and above, his harvest will wither.

His memory will perish from the earth, and there will be no name for him in the street.

He will be driven from light to darkness, and he will be banished from the world.

He will have neither son nor grandson among his people, and there will be no remnant in his dwellings.

The recent, later generations, are astonished at his day, when they contemplate his fate, and the ancient, earlier generations, are seized with agitation [sa’ar], shaking in fear as though confronted with stormy [se’ara] winds.

Bildad concludes his appraisal of the lot of the wicked: But these are the events that shall befall the habitations of the wicked, and this is the place of residence of one who does not know God.

Job answered and said:

How long will you aggrieve my soul and oppress me with words?

These ten times, numerous occasions, you have humiliated and insulted me, either explicitly or by intimation; you are not ashamed to estrange yourselves from me.

If indeed I erred, with me my error rests. Any errors I may have committed have not harmed those around me or the world in general, and therefore I do not deserve such a severe punishment.

If indeed you will overload against me, and rebuke me with my disgrace, if you continue to argue that I have sinned greatly,

because you consider me exceedingly wicked and you judge me by my misfortunes, you should know then that I am not guilty, but rather God has sabotaged me, and He has surrounded me with His trap.

Behold, I call: Villainy, but I am not answered; I plead, but there is no justice.

He has fenced my path and I cannot pass, and He places darkness on my paths, so that I cannot continue.

He has stripped me of my honor, my former stature, and removed the crown from my head.

He, God, smashes me all around, and I go. I will soon die because I cannot bear any more pain. He has transplanted my hope like an uprooted tree.

He has enflamed His wrath against me, and He considers me as one of His adversaries.

His troops, the tragedies that have befallen me, come to attack me together. It is difficult for me to view the series of catastrophes that have befallen me with such frequency as anything other than a coordinated and deliberate attack. They beat a path against me, crushing me beneath them, and they encamp around my tent.

He has distanced my brethren from me, and my acquaintances have become estranged from me, or they act cruelly toward me. Not only am I destitute, but my skin disease keeps people at bay.

My relatives have departed, or disappeared, and my acquaintances have forgotten me.

The residents of my house and my maidservants consider me a stranger; I have become a foreigner in their eyes.

I called for my servant, but he would not answer me, as I no longer have any authority. He does not obey me and even ignores my calls, though I plead with him with my own mouth.

My spirit, my soul, is estranged even from my wife, and my pleas, from the children of my belly. My entreaties are foreign even to those I raised in my home as though they were my own children.

Even delinquents, a mob of youths, have despised me; I arise and they speak against me with derision.

All my former confidants abhor me and those I loved have turned against me and have become my enemies.

As for my body, my bones stick to my skin and to my flesh; I have become physically weak and shriveled. I have lost everything I had, and I escaped by the skin of my teeth. After all the tragedies that have befallen me I am left with nothing, and even my skin is badly afflicted; only the skin around my teeth remains intact.

Pity me, pity me, as you are my friends; for I have not done anything wrong, but the hand of God has touched, harmed, me.

Why do you pursue me like God oppresses me? You see that I am suffering, and yet you only add to my anguish and are not sated with my flesh. You continue to hound me in one way or another, and you are still not satisfied.

If only my words were indeed written; if only they were in a scroll and inscribed, engraved for all time,

with an iron pen or with lead, from which molds can be cast, that they be etched in the rock forever. If only my words would be recorded and remembered eternally.

But I, although I protest the injustice that God has done to me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and He will stand last on the dust. After all else has ceased to exist, God alone will remain.

After my skin has been destroyed, this bone was struck as well, and from my flesh, directly, without any intermediary, I will view God.

What I view for myself, seeing God through my pain, my eyes will see, not those of a stranger. You cannot stand in my shoes, cannot perceive what God is showing to me through my own suffering. Therefore your explanations of my experiences will inevitably fail. Only I can understand how my kidneys are lost within me, that I have suffered internal injuries.

If you say: For what is he persecuted, and isn’t the root of the matter found in me? Some read the verse as follows: If only you would say with compassion: Why is he persecuted, and what is the root cause of sin within him? But it did not occur to you to think this way.

Beware of the sword, which will eventually exact vengeance upon you. Since you are abandoning me due to theological assumptions rather than a genuine understanding of the situation, I know you will be punished. For divine fury by the sword will be for severe iniquity, so that you will know that there is judgment [shadun]. Shadun can also be interpreted with the connotation of robbery, and therefore these words would read: So that you will eventually be robbed [shod]. Alternatively, based on the Aramaic word shadi, the verse says: So that you will be cast off. Possibly, Job is saying: You will be made to understand robbery and affliction so that in the future you will have compassion for the downtrodden.

Tzofar the Naamatite answered and said:

Indeed, after hearing your statements, my thoughts respond to the questions you have raised for me, because I have remained silent and attentive. And because my feelings are in me,

I hear my humiliating chastisement that you issued, but the spirit of my understanding will answer for me, and I will respond accordingly.

My spirit says to me the following: Have you known this forever, have you not always been aware of what I am about to say, from when man was placed upon the earth?

You must know that the rejoicing and song of the wicked is recent, it has begun only recently, and the joy of the hypocrite is fleeting. It is very brief.

Though his crown, the height of the wicked, ascends to the heavens, and his head reaches to the clouds,

he will perish forever like his dung. His great height is nothing more than a tower of dung, which will eventually crumble and be annihilated. They who saw him will say: Where is he? How did he disappear so completely?

He will dissipate like a dream fades, and they will not find him; he will wander like a vision of the night. The greatness of the wicked fades away without leaving a trace, like a dream in the night.

The eye that glimpsed him will not again, and he will no longer be looked upon by the people of his place.

His children shall have to appease the poor whom he robbed, and his hands shall recompense his wickedness. He will have to reverse the outcome of his wicked deeds.

His bones were once full of the energy of his youthfulness, but with him it will lie in the dust. His youthful vigor will be buried with him. This may mean that he will die young.

Though evil, which is like spoiled or poisonous food, is sweet in his mouth, he conceals it under his tongue, since if the wicked conceive a plot that cannot be executed immediately, they secretly hold on to it for a more convenient time.

He will have compassion for it, his wicked plan, and will not forsake it; he will withhold it within his palate.

After he swallows his food, carries out his nefarious plans, it will turn in his gut; it will be like cobras’ venom within him, in his stomach.

He swallowed, amassed, wealth and will vomit it; God will dispossess him of his belly, even though he has already digested it, as it were.

He will suck the poison of cobras, those creatures will bite him; the viper’s tongue will kill him.

He will not merit to see the brooks, the abundance of the rivers, the streams of honey and butter. This bounty is not meant for him.

He, the wicked individual, will give back that for which he labored, perhaps to those whom he robbed, and not swallow it, derive benefit from it himself; like the wealth, so its return, his poverty will be as extreme as his prior wealth, and therefore he will not rejoice.

For he has broken, forsaken the impoverished; he robbed a house and would not build it.

For he does not know tranquility in his belly, as he is highly agitated; he will not escape by means of his delights. He will not escape punishment through his treasure and luxury items.

There is no remnant to his food, as in his greed he immediately consumes everything; therefore, he will not sustain his prosperity. He will not have the ability to preserve his bounty.

With the satisfaction of his needs, when he has everything he needs, it is then that trouble will befall him and he will be troubled; the hand of all travail will come upon him, or a wicked and dangerous individual will strike him and persecute him.

When he is filling his belly, He, God, will send against him His enflamed wrath, and rain upon him with His fire [bilh·]. This interpretation defines bilĥumo as being related to ĥam, implying the heat of anger. Alternatively, bilĥumo can be related to the word for war [milĥama]: He will rain upon him in His war [beloĥamo] against him.

He will flee from an iron weapon; the brass bow, with arrowheads of brass, will pass through him. The arrows of this powerful bow will pierce the body of the wicked.

He, his enemy, drew, his weapon, and it struck the wicked and emerged from his back; the blade through his gall bladder will strike terror in him.

All darkness is destined for his concealed acts, due to his secret transgressions; a fire not fanned, either a supernatural fire or a natural one that is not fanned to increase its flames, so that instead it will burn him more slowly and thereby increase his suffering, will consume him; it will harm the remnant in his tent. He who is left in his tent will be broken and collapse.

The heavens will reveal his iniquity before all, and the earth will rise up against him, as it will not want to receive him.

The produce of his house will be exiled, and God’s punishment will be poured out on the day of His wrath.

That is the fate of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance decreed upon him from God.

Job answered and said:

Hear my word and may this be your consolation. You will comfort me by listening to me.

Bear with me, be patient, and I will speak, and after my speaking, Tzofar, you may mock what you have heard.

Do I converse with a man? If so, why should I not be losing patience? Since my grievance is directed to God, why shouldn’t I be impatient at His silence? I cannot hold back my complaints.

Turn to me and be astonished, and place your hand over your mouth. Be silent.

You will not be the only ones who are shocked by my speech. When I myself remember my claims, I am startled, and shuddering seizes my flesh.

Why do the wicked live, and furthermore, they grow old, and even become powerful, growing ever stronger?

Their offspring are well placed and successful before them, with them, and their descendants are before their eyes. They see their descendants flourish.

Their houses are peaceful without fear, and the rod of God is not upon them. They feel no threat of divine punishment.

His bull breeds with their cow and does not fail, as its seed is not expelled from the womb; his cow calves and does not miscarry.

They, the wicked, send out their youngsters freely, without fear, like a flock, and their children prance like young goats and lambs.

They sing with gladness to the music of the drum and harp and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.

They spend their days in prosperity, and even when it is time for them to die, they descend to the grave in a moment, quickly and painlessly, without suffering or experiencing severe illnesses.

They say to God: Turn away from us; we are not interested in You, and we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.

What is the Almighty that we should serve Him? What good will it do if we encounter Him, pray to Him?

Behold, in actual fact, their prosperity is not in their hand, as it is God who has granted them their good life, and therefore, the fate of the wicked is obscure to me. I cannot fathom it.

How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished, does their calamity come upon them, does He deal out their portion in His wrath? It is a rare occurrence that the wicked receive their due punishment.

How often are they like straw blown before the wind, and like chaff the storm carried off?

If you claim that God reserves for his children his wickedness, as He will punish the children of the wicked for their father’s evil deeds, in that case God’s judgment is hidden from the wicked and his associates who are aware of his sins. Rather, let Him pay it to him, the evildoer himself, and he will know. It would be preferable for God to punish the wicked one himself.

Let his own eyes see his destruction, and let him drink from the fury of the Almighty. It would be better for the wicked one himself to experience God’s wrath.

For what does he care for his household after him? He does not know what will happen to his descendants after his death. If the punishment is meted out to his children after he is gone, he himself will have been untouched by retribution and will not have learned anything from it, as the number of his months, his life span, is defined, determined in advance, and he has not been harmed.

Job offers another argument: Will anyone teach knowledge to God? It is He who judges from the heights. Alternatively, can anyone teach the knowledge of God’s ways, seeing that He judges in accordance with principles beyond understanding? How can you assume to explain God’s lofty ways?

This one, one person, dies in his full vigor, without his body having been smitten, tranquil and serene,

his udders filled with milk, and the marrow of his bones moistened. Blessings rest both upon what emerges from his body and his insides.

And that one, another individual, dies with an embittered soul and has never tasted goodness. One might conclude that the first person was righteous, while the second was wicked.

However, there is no difference between their ultimate fates, as together they lie in the dust, and maggots cover them. They are both buried in the ground, and their flesh is consumed by worms.

Behold, I know your thoughts, and I am aware of the schemes that you devise against me,

when you say: Where is the house of the wealthy? And where is the tent of the dwelling of the wicked? You wonder how the beautiful house of the wealthy Job, whom you consider wicked, has become a ruin.

Haven’t you asked these questions of the passersby? You do not recognize their signs. You do not understand the signs they give in response. You ignore the answers of those who understand events in the world at large.

For evil is reserved for the day of calamity; they will be brought on for the day of ire. His punishments accumulate and will be administered on the day of his calamity; his recompense will be brought forth on the day of wrath.

But who will tell his way to his face; when he acts, who will repay him? Who is able to rebuke the wicked for his misdeeds and administer his punishment to him?

Even in his death, he, the wicked, will be brought to burial and he will be hastened to a mound [gadish]. He is buried quickly and ceremoniously in his dignified burial plot, which is raised high like a pile of grain [gadish].

The streamside earth, where he is buried, is sweet to him; following him to death are all men, and likewise before him, innumerable men passed away.

Since there is no evident causal relationship between a person’s conduct and his fate, how do you comfort me with futility? Of your answers, treachery remains.

Elifaz the Temanite answered and said:

Can a man be of use to God? Rather, let the sensible man be of use to himself. He who is wise is profitable only to himself. Elifaz is saying to Job: God derives no benefit from speaking with you.

Is it out of the Almighty’s desire that you are righteous and is there profit to Him if you make your ways whole, straighten your ways?

Does He rebuke you from His fear of you, entering into judgment with you? Is it from fear of you that He contends with you? God has no need to respond to your arguments.

After many insinuations, Elifaz finally levels a direct, blunt indictment: Isn’t your wickedness great, and there is no end to your iniquities?

For you take collateral from your brother for naught, undeservedly, by force, and you strip the last garments of the naked and leave them bare.

No water to the thirsty do you give to drink, and from the hungry you withhold bread.

A violent and mighty man, the earth is his; you gave him land. And a man of favor will live in it. An important man of rank, or one whose debts you forgave in judgment, dwells in the land. This indicates that Job served as a judge, and the fate of those who came before him for judgment was sealed by his word.

Widows, who do not have the power to sue their oppressors, you dispatched empty-handed, leaving them destitute, and the arms, the strength, of the orphans, who also have no one to defend them, you oppressed.

Therefore, there are snares all around you, and sudden fear terrifies you,

or darkness, you cannot see, and a torrent of water covers you. In your darkness, you cannot perceive the truth, as you are covered by an abundance of waters, your pain.

Therefore, you err in thinking: Isn’t God located at the apex of heaven? See the height of the stars, how lofty they are. The distance between God and myself is so great that He does not pay any attention to me at all.

You say: What does God know? Can He judge through the fog? Is God aware of what is happening beyond the fog? Under the cover of haze and distance, I can do as I please.

You suppose that clouds obscure for Him and therefore He does not see; in the circuit of the heavens He makes His way. Therefore, when He is on the side that is far from me, He cannot see me.

Will you keep and remember the eternal path upon which men of evil have trodden?

These are wicked men who were eliminated before their time, in their youth, a river poured for their foundation. Alternatively, these are wicked men whose foundation, even in their lifetime, was unstable and poured out like a stream, or melted away.

These are wicked men who say to God: Turn away from us and do not interfere with our lives. How will the Almighty act toward them? They mistakenly think that God does not affect their lives at all.

And yet He filled their houses with good. Elifaz adds: May the counsel of the wicked be distant from me. I want no part of it.

By contrast, may the righteous see it, the downfall of the wicked, and rejoice, and the pure mock them, those who imagine that they are not dependent upon God.

The righteous say as follows: Surely, they who would rise against us [kimanu] have been annihilated. Alternatively, surely our existence [kiyumenu], that is, our dwelling place, has not been destroyed. Another interpretation: If we, the innocent, have not been eliminated, it is because God has sustained us [kiyemanu]. And by contrast, those who are left of them, the wicked, fire has consumed.

Please, attune yourself to Him, accustom yourself to following God’s ways, and then you will be complete, whole; thereby, through such behavior, goodness will come upon you.

Please receive Torah from His mouth, and place His sayings in your heart.

If you return to the Almighty, then you will be built up; you will distance injustice from your tents

and then you will become so wealthy that you will set your treasure, precious commodities, perhaps a collection of highly valuable minerals, on the dust, and the valuable gold of Ofiramong the stones of ravines, in an unprotected spot.

The Almighty will be with, will protect, your treasures. Alternatively, the Almighty will fight your enemies. And a vast [to’afot] amount of silver will be yours. Alternatively, silver will fly [ya’uf] to you.

For then you will delight in the Almighty, and you will lift your face to God.

You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows when He fulfills your wishes.

You will decide something, and God will ensure that He will fulfill it for you, and light will shine upon your ways. You will be successful in all your endeavors.

With the downtrodden, when you see people who are downtrodden, you will promise them and say: There will be exaltation, as you know that He saves the humble person, the miserable.

It will then be in your merit that He will rescue the impure, and he, the sinner, will escape by, due to, the cleanness of your hands. Elifaz’s speech is rather scathing, but he ends by reminding Job that he can still amend his ways. His main point is that if someone acts in a sinful manner, thinking that he can hide from God, he will be severely punished. However, if he repents and turns to God, he will receive goodness and blessing. He therefore tells Job: Everything depends upon your actions, and you should not blame God for your fate.

Job answered and said:

Today too, after hearing your speech, my discourse is bitter; the hand against me is heavier than my groaning. My afflictions are heavier than my groaning. I cannot adequately express the extent of my suffering.

If only I could know God and find Him, I would come up to His seat, the place where He resides.

I would organize my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments pertaining to my current condition. I am not afraid to enter a trial with God, but currently I cannot present my arguments before Him.

I would know, comprehend, the words that He would answer me, and I would understand what He would say to me.

Would He quarrel with me in His great power, in a power struggle whose outcome is a foregone conclusion? No; rather, He would invigorate me. He would grant me the strength to stand before Him in judgment.

There, in the court of justice, I would argue with Him uprightly, or directly, and I would escape from my judgment forever.

Behold, I go forward, or eastward, but He is not there, I cannot find Him, and I go backward, or westward, but I do not perceive Him, or His location;

to the left, the north, when He acts, but I do not behold Him, I cannot perceive His works: He hides on the right, the south, and I do not see Him.