1
1: There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil.
4: His sons used to hold a feast in the house of each on his day.
5: And when the days of the feast had ended, Job would bless them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings; for Job said, "It may be my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did continually.
6: Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.
Here we get the phrase "sons of God" (it appears elsewhere and also is implied in Genesis when God says, "Let US make man in OUR own image"). It's clear the early Hebrew religion was not a strict monotheism (=belief in one god). But what "sons of God" means is not certain.
7: The LORD said to Satan, "Whence have you come?" Satan answered the LORD, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it."
8: And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?"
9: Then Satan answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nothing?
10: You have put a hedge about him and his house and all he has. You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
11: But touch all he has, and he will curse you."
A common argument is that people are good because not tempted. But note, Satan's power over Job is limited by God: Satan is not allowed to kill Job.
12: And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all he has is in your power; only upon himself do not put forth your hand." So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
13: Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house;
14: and there came a messenger to Job, and said, "The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them;
15: and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them, and slew the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you."
16: While he was yet speaking, there came another, and said, "The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you."
17: While he was yet speaking, there came another, and said, "The Chalde'ans formed three companies, and made a raid upon the camels and took them, and slew the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you."
18: While he was yet speaking, there came another, and said, "Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house;
19: and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you."
As we say in an American proverb: "When it rains, it pours." But Job's response is to "worship": Verse 21 is famous:
20: Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell upon the ground, and worshiped.
21: And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."
22: In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
2
3: And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? He still keeps his integrity, although you moved me to destroy him without cause."
4: Then Satan answered the LORD, "Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life.
5: But put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you."
6: And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your power; but spare his life."
7: So Satan afflicted Job with sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
8: And Job took a potsherd [a piece of broken pottery] with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.
9: Then his wife said to him, "Do you still keep your integrity? Curse God, and die."
10: But he said to her, "You speak like a foolish woman. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
11: Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eli'phaz the Te'manite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Na'amathite. They made an appointment together to comfort him.
Only the names are important, not the places: Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar (later, Elihu). These are "Job's comforters."
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1: After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
2: And Job said:
3: "Let the day perish when I was born.
11: "Why did I not die at birth?
13: For then I should have been at rest. . . .
20: "Why is light given to him that in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,
21: who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
22: who are glad when they find the grave?
25: For the thing I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.
26: I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes."
The reader can see that "the patience of Job" (as in the Letter of James) is no patience at all. Job is impatient. He voices Greek ideas: Better to die young, but best is never to never be born.
4
1: Then Eli'phaz the Te'manite answered:
2: "If I speak a word with you, will you be offended?
3: Look, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.
5: But now it has come to you, and you are impatient.
6: Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?
Eliphaz's argument is common in the book of Proverbs: God rewards the just and punishes the wicked. But we know, from God's own mouth, that Job is just.
7: "Think now, who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?
8: Those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.
17: `Can mortal man be righteous before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?'
5
17: "Happy is the man whom God reproves; therefore despise not the chastening of the Almighty.
26: You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing floor in its season.
27: Hear, and know it for your good."
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Then Job said:
16: I loathe my life; I would not live for ever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath.
This is a parody of Psalm 8, but turning it around: for Job, to be God's "chosen" is not good but bad:
17: What is man, that thou dost make so much of him, and that thou dost set thy mind upon him,
18: dost visit him every morning, and test him every moment?
19: How long wilt thou not look away from me, nor let me alone till I swallow my spittle?
20: If I sin, what do I do to thee, thou watcher of men? Why hast thou made me thy mark? Why have I become a burden to thee?
21: Why dost thou not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; thou wilt seek me, but I shall not be."
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1: Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2: "How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind?
3: Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
6: If you are pure and upright, surely he will rouse himself for you and reward you with a rightful habitation.
7: And though your beginning was small, your latter days will be great.
8: "For consider what the fathers have found;
9: for we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, for our days on earth are a shadow.
13: Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless man shall perish.
Hebrew poetry does not use rhyme, the main element of poetry in Western literature. Instead the main element of Hebrew poetry is parallelism. In parallelism, the poetic line is divided into two parts; the second part either repeats the first idea, contrasts the first idea, or adds to it. These 3 kinds of parallelism are called,
(a) synonymic, (b) antithetic, (c) progressive. I'll give 3 examples from everyday life:
Synonymic: "Buy me a Coca-Cola; bring me home a soft drink."
(The second half of the line says the same thing as the first half, using different words.)
Antithetic: "Buy me a Coca-Cola and not a Pepsi Cola."
(The second half opposes the first half.)
Progressive: "Buy me a Coca-Cola; and then I will quench my thirst."
(The second half advances the idea of the first half.)
These examples are not elegant but show how simple it is to use Hebrew parallelism in everyday speech. Note in v. 14 synonymic parallelism: the second half of the line repeats the first half in different words. Same with v. 15. Verse 20 is an example of antithetic parallelism, since the second half contrasts against the first. Verse 21 is an example of progressive parallelism. The main point is to recognize that most verses in Hebrew poetry are BALANCED. All the following verses are balanced: "Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more." It's an example of progressive parallelism: the evildoer feels shame, then is destroyed.
14: His confidence breaks in pieces, and his trust is a spider's web.
15: He leans against his house, but it does not stand; he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.
20: "Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers.
21: He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouting.
22: Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more."
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1: Then Job answered:
King Lear cries out, "I am a man more sinned against than sinning!" The point of the book of Job is even greater, for God says that Job is blameless. What follows is an attack on the goodness of God:
21: I am blameless; I regard not myself; I loathe my life.
22: It is all one; therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.
23: When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.
24: The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges -- if it is not he, who then is it?
32: But he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.
34: Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me.
Job has gone all the way here: who else causes evil but the all-powerful God. Therefore God is not good ("If God is God he is not good / If God is good, He is not God"). Yet because of God's power, Job is helpless ("he is not a man, as I am"). So God appears here like a tyrant.
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1: "I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2: I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you fight against me.
3: Does it seem good to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked?
4: Hast thou eyes of flesh? Dost thou see as man sees?
7: Yet thou knowest I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of thy hand?
8: Thy hands fashioned and made me; and now thou dost turn about and destroy me.
Mary Shelley will later base her Frankenstein novel on these ideas of the creator destroying his creation. Here Job claims to be superior to God in moral values.
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1: Then Zophar the Na'amathite answered:
13: "If you set your heart aright, you will stretch out your hands toward him.
14: If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in your tents.
16: You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
17: And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning.
18: And you will have confidence, because there is hope; you will be protected and take your rest in safety.
19: You will lie down, and none will make you afraid; many will entreat your favor.
20: But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last."
More proverbial wisdom, which (we know) does not fit Job's case. Job rejects the wisdom of the book of Proverbs. But this is also the wisdom of the Deuteronomist (defending God's role in history). So this is an advance in Hebrew thought, based on Deuteronomist ideas that God is always right.
12
1: Then Job answered:
2: "No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.
3: But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
Job is ironic: he called upon God and God answered him! That's like going to the police for justice and being arrested!
4: I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called upon God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
10: In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.
Compare the Afro-American spiritual, "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands."
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2: "What you know, I know; I am not inferior to you.
3: But I would speak to the Almighty; I desire to argue my case with God.
4: As for you, you whitewash with lies; worthless physicians are you all.
7: Will you speak falsely for God, and speak deceitfully for him?
8: Will you show partiality toward him, will you plead the case for God?
9: Will it be well with you when he searches you out? Or can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?
Job is prophetic here; at the end God takes Job's side and accuses his "comforters." Now Job mocks the proverbs:
12: Your maxims are proverbs of ashes, your defenses are defenses of clay.
16: This will be my salvation, that a godless man shall not come before him.
18: Behold, I have prepared my case; I know I shall be vindicated.
28: Man wastes away like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.
14
1: "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
2: He comes forth like a flower, and withers; he flees like a shadow, and continues not.
5: Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with thee, and thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass,
6: look away from him, that he may enjoy, like a hireling, his day.
7: "For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.
8: Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the ground,
9: yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant.
10: But man dies, and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he?
15
1: Then Eli'phaz the Te'manite answered:
7: "Are you the first man born?
8: And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
This suggests another reference to Psalm 8, though not spoken by Job:
14: What is man, that he can be clean? Or he that is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?"
16
1: Then Job answered:
2: "Miserable comforters are you all.
3: Shall windy words have an end?
4: I also could speak as you do, if you were in my place; I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you.
16: My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness;
17: although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
18: "O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place.
19: Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he that vouches for me is on high.
Job appeals to the "earth" not to hide God's murder of him! He also appeals to some "witness," but it's not clear to whom. Perhaps one of the "sons of God"? Is this witness equal to God?
17
1: My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.
13: If I look for Sheol as my house, if I spread my couch in darkness,
14: if I say to the pit, `You are my father,' and to the worm, `My mother,' or `My sister,'
15: where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?
16: Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?"
"Sheol" is what we call Hell; the Hebrew Sheol was more like a shadowy place for the dead, with no punishment or reward. In Hebrew thought there is no afterlife, though this idea emerges in the "intertestamental period": that is, the period between the writing of the Old and New Testament. Job knows if he doesn't succeed on earth, there is no hope.
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1: Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
3: "Why are we counted as cattle? Why are we stupid in your sight?
4: You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock removed out of its place?
5: "Yea, the light of the wicked is put out, and the flame of his fire does not shine.
7: His strong steps are shortened and his own schemes throw him down.
8: For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks on a pitfall.
11: Terrors frighten him on every side, and chase him at his heels."
More proverbial wisdom from Bildad: the evil are punished, etc. But Bildad asks if Job wants to change the world; why not just accept things as they are; and thus accept his own guilt.
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1: Then Job answered:
9: "He has stripped from me my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
13: He has put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
14: My kinsfolk and my close friends have failed me;
15: the guests in my house have forgotten me; my maidservants count me as a stranger; I have become an alien in their eyes.
16: I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer; I must beseech him with my mouth.
17: I am repulsive to my wife, loathsome to the sons of my own mother.
18: Even young children despise me; when I rise they talk against me.
19: All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me.
20: My bones cleave to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
"The skin of my teeth" is an English idiom; meaning, a close call.
21: Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!
23: "Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
25: For I know my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth;
26: and after my skin has been destroyed, then from my flesh I shall see God,
27: whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall see, and not another. My heart faints within me!"
Scholars insist the Hebrew is unclear in the verses above. One reading is "avenger" instead of "Redeemer." No matter. These verses have become a key text for Christians, who insist it refers to Christ as Redeemer. Handel wrote a beautiful aria on these verses for his oratorio, Messiah.
20
1: Then Zophar the Na'amathite answered:
4: "Do you not know this from of old, since man was placed upon earth,
5: that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
The following verses suggest the Tower of Babel:
6: Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,
7: he will perish for ever like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, `Where is he?'
28: The possessions of his house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God's wrath.
29: This is the wicked man's portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God."
21
1: Then Job answered:
7: "Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
Job's reasoning is he doesn't want the wicked to suffer later, but NOW.
19: You say, `God stores up their sins for their sons.' Let him recompense it to themselves, that they may know it.
29: Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony
30: that the wicked man is spared in the day of calamity, that he is rescued in the day of wrath?
31: Who declares his way to his face, and who requites him for what he has done?
34: How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood."
22
1: Then Eli'phaz the Te'manite answered:
Note 3 parallel forms. The first is progressive parallelism; the second is antithetic; the third is synonymic:
21: "Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you.
29: For God abases the proud, but he saves the lowly.
30: He delivers the innocent man; you will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."
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1: And Job continued:
2: "Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;
7: When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square,
8: the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood.
15: I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame.
16: I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
17: I broke the fangs of the unrighteous, and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
21: "Men listened to me, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel.
22: After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them.
23: They waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
30
1: "But now they make fun of me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
31
13: "If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me;
14: what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
15: Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?
16: "If I have withheld anything the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
17: or have eaten my food alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it
18: (for from his youth I reared him as a father, and from his mother's womb I guided him);
19: if I have seen any one perish for lack of clothing, or a poor man without covering;
20: if his loins have not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
21: if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw help in the gate;
22: then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket.
23: For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.
24: "If I have made gold my trust, or called fine gold my confidence;
25: if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, or because my hand had gotten much;
26: if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor,
27: and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand;
28: this also would be a sin to be punished by the judges, for I should have been false to God above.
29: "If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him that hated me, or rejoiced when evil overtook him
30: (I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse);
31: if the men of my tent have not said, `Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?'
32: (the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the wayfarer);
35: Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!
36: Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown;
37: I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him." The words of Job are ended.
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4: Now Eli'hu had waited to speak to Job.
Scholars agree that Elihu's words are a later addition. Elihu is never mentioned by the others or by God. But why the addition? It's possible the writer or redactor (editor) felt the others did not answer Job strongly enough. Otherwise Elihu does not add anything new:
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1: "But now, hear my speech, O Job, and listen to my words.
9: You say, `I am clean, without sin.'
12: "In this you are not right. I will answer you. God is greater than man.
13: Why do you fight against him, saying, `He will answer none of my words'?
14: For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it.
15: In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while they slumber on their beds,
16: then he opens the ears of men, and terrifies them with warnings,
17: that he may turn man aside from his deed, and cut off pride from man.
19: "Man is also chastened with pain upon his bed, and with pain in his bones;
20: so he loathes bread, and his appetite dainty food.
22: His soul draws near the Pit, and his life to those who bring death.
23: If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him;
24: and he is gracious to him, and says, `Deliver him from going down into the Pit, I have found a ransom;
25: let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor';
26: then man prays to God, and he accepts him, he comes into his presence with joy. He recounts to men his salvation,
27: and he sings before men, and says: `I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not requited to me.
28: He has redeemed my soul from going down into the Pit, and my life shall see the light.'
29: "Behold, God does all these things
30: to bring back his soul from the Pit, so he may see the light of life."
Elihu's argument is that, by suffering, the sinner finds God and so is saved; thus suffering has a purpose.
34
1: Then Eli'hu said:
4: "Let us choose what is right; let us determine what is good.
5: For Job has said, `I am innocent, and God has taken away my right;
6: in spite of my right I am counted a liar; my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.'
7: What man is like Job, who drinks up scoffing like water,
8: who goes in company with evildoers and walks with wicked men?
9: For he has said, `It profits a man nothing that he should take delight in God.'
12: Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice.
17: Shall one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,
18: who says to a king, `Worthless one,' and to nobles, `Wicked man';
19: who shows no partiality to princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor, for they are all the work of his hands?
20: In a moment they die; at midnight the people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.
38
1: Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:
2: "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3: Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
"Gird up your loins" is a common phrase in the Bible. It means prepare yourself for work the modern version would be "roll up your sleeves." The following speeches by God are sublime, evoking images of immense degree, power, height, and depth and making Job (and us) feel terribly small. "When the morning stars sang together" (v. 7) is a great phrase. In traditional criticism, the "sublime" is contrasted against the "beautiful." Beauty can be measured (like a Japanese garden; a serenade; an early classical symphony by Haydn or early Mozart; a Shakespeare comedy). The sublime goes beyond human standards and understanding; the person feels small before the sublime: Shakespeare's or Greek tragedies; Beethoven's Ninth Symphony; a landscape from the Romantic period in Germany or America. This distinction is not limited to art. A person has a sense of beauty in a Japanese garden, but has a sense of the sublime while standing on a cliff overlooking the Pacific ocean. The book of Job is certainly sublime, while the book of Proverbs or the Song of Songs is beautiful. The book of Proverbs has beauty because we see ourselves in its wisdom; we can measure its wisdom against ordinary life and say, "How true! Perfectly expressed." But the sublime is extra-ordinary; a sudden terror takes over us: "I never realized how small and weak we are; how immense the universe against my little life. Where's the meaning then?" Of course, the meaning is just that: the feeling of being stripped, or "naked" (as Job says early in the book); and so in a paradoxical way, we find ourselves only by losing ourselves, as Jesus says. That's why we feel good after seeing King Lear or any tragedy; or rugged mountain climbing. Note how sublime the following verses are:
4: "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
5: Who determined its measurements -- surely you know!
6: Or who laid its cornerstone,
7: when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8: "Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth from the womb,
11: and said, `Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed'?
Verse 11 (above) is referred to on the keystone that Silas finds in The DaVinci Code.
12: "Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
13: that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?
21: You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
28: "Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29: From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?
30: The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
34: "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you?
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19: "Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with strength?
20: Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrible.
21: He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons.
22: He laughs at fear, and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.
25: When the trumpet sounds, he says `Aha!' He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26: "Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and spreads his wings toward the south?
27: Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?"
40
Some scholars identify "Behemoth" with the hippo and Leviathan with the crocodile; others insist these are mythological creatures:15: "Behold, Be'hemoth, which I made as I made you; he eats grass like an ox.
16: Behold, his strength in his loins, and his power in the muscles of his belly.
18: His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like bars of iron.
41
1: "Can you draw out Levi'athan with a fishhook, or press down his tongue with a cord?
15: His back is made of rows of shields, shut up closely as with a seal.
16: One is so near to another that no air can come between them.
17: They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
20: Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
21: His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth.
27: He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.
28: The arrow cannot make him flee; for him slingstones are turned to stubble.
32: Behind him he leaves a shining wake; one would think the deep to be hoary.
33: Upon earth there is not his like, a creature without fear.
34: He beholds everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of pride."
42
One can argue that Job is the first Existentialist, since he does not accept "eternal" values (written, spoken, taught, received), but must find out for himself. This allows us to reconcile the wisdom of the Comforters with Job's own wisdom. In other words, they are all right; but the "Comforters" don't realize that Job must find out the truth for himself and not accept it, unlived, from books. There are two kinds of knowing: knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom is what Job finds at the end, not mere knowing. Knowledge is what we get in books; wisdom is what we get in life ("now my eyes see").1: Then Job answered the LORD:
5: "I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee;
6: therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
7: After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eli'phaz the Te'manite: "My wrath is against you and your two friends; for you have not spoken what is right, as my servant Job has.
8: Now take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has."
12: And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning.
16: After this Job lived a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, four generations.
17: And Job died, an old man, and full of days.
In the end, God sides with Job, NOT Job's Comforters! Job lives 140 years, twice the "normal" lifespan of Psalm 90 ("threescore years and ten"=70) and twenty more years than Moses, who died at 120.
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