Day 237 of 365

¹"Behold, my eye has seen all this. My ear has heard and understood it.

²What you know, I know also. I am not inferior to you.

³"Surely I would speak to the Almighty. I desire to reason with God.

⁴But you are forgers of lies. You are all physicians of no value.

⁵Oh that you would be completely silent! Then you would be wise.

⁶Hear now my reasoning. Listen to the pleadings of my lips.

⁷Will you speak unrighteously for God, and talk deceitfully for him?

⁸Will you show partiality to him? Will you contend for God?

⁹Is it good that he should search you out? Or as one deceives a man, will you deceive him?

¹⁰He will surely reprove you if you secretly show partiality.

¹¹Shall not his majesty make you afraid, And his dread fall on you?

¹²Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, Your defenses are defenses of clay.

¹³"Be silent, leave me alone, that I may speak. Let come on me what will.

¹⁴Why should I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand?

¹⁵Behold, he will kill me. I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.

¹⁶This also shall be my salvation, that a godless man shall not come before him.

¹⁷Hear diligently my speech. Let my declaration be in your ears.

¹⁸See now, I have set my cause in order. I know that I am righteous.

¹⁹Who is he who will contend with me? For then would I hold my peace and give up the spirit.

²⁰"Only do not do two things to me; then I will not hide myself from your face:

²¹withdraw your hand far from me; and do not let your terror make me afraid.

²²Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and you answer me.

²³How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my disobedience and my sin.

²⁴Why hide you your face, and hold me for your enemy?

²⁵Will you harass a driven leaf? Will you pursue the dry stubble?

²⁶For you write bitter things against me, and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth:

²⁷You also put my feet in the stocks, and mark all my paths. You set a bound to the soles of my feet,

²⁸though I am decaying like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.

¹"Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.

²He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn't continue.

³Do you open your eyes on such a one, and bring me into judgment with you?

⁴Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.

⁵Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he can't pass;

⁶Look away from him, that he may rest, until he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day.

⁷"For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, that the tender branch of it will not cease.

⁸Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stock dies in the ground,

⁹yet through the scent of water it will bud, and put forth boughs like a plant.

¹⁰But man dies, and is laid low. Yes, man gives up the spirit, and where is he?

¹¹As the waters fail from the sea, and the river wastes and dries up,

¹²so man lies down and doesn't rise. Until the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.

¹³"Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would keep me secret, until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

¹⁴If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare would I wait, until my release should come.

¹⁵You would call, and I would answer you. You would have a desire to the work of your hands.

¹⁶But now you number my steps. Do you not watch over my sin?

¹⁷My disobedience is sealed up in a bag. You fasten up my iniquity.

¹⁸"But the mountain falling comes to nothing. The rock is removed out of its place;

¹⁹The waters wear the stones. The torrents of it wash away the dust of the earth. So you destroy the hope of man.

²⁰You forever prevail against him, and he departs. You change his face, and send him away.

²¹His sons come to honor, and he doesn't know it. They are brought low, but he doesn't perceive it of them.

²²But his flesh on him has pain, and his soul within him mourns."

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

²"Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge, and fill himself with the east wind?

³Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches with which he can do no good?

⁴Yes, you do away with fear, and hinder devotion before God.

⁵For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.

⁶Your own mouth condemns you, and not I. Yes, your own lips testify against you.

⁷"Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought forth before the hills?

⁸Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

⁹What do you know, that we do not know? What do you understand, which is not in us?

¹⁰With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, much elder than your father.

¹¹Are the consolations of God too small for you, even the word that is gentle toward you?

¹²Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash,

¹³That you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth?

¹⁴What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

¹⁵Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones. Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight;

¹⁶how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water!

¹⁷"I will show you, listen to me; that which I have seen I will declare:

¹⁸(Which wise men have told by their fathers, and have not hidden it;

¹⁹to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them):

²⁰the wicked man writhes in pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.

²¹A sound of terrors is in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer shall come on him.

²²He doesn't believe that he shall return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword.

²³He wanders abroad for bread, saying, 'Where is it?' He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

²⁴Distress and anguish make him afraid. They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

²⁵Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty;

²⁶he runs at him with a stiff neck, with the thick shields of his bucklers;

²⁷because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat on his thighs.

²⁸He has lived in desolate cities, in houses which no one inhabited, which were ready to become heaps.

²⁹He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.

³⁰He shall not depart out of darkness. The flame shall dry up his branches. By the breath of God's mouth shall he go away.

³¹Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; for emptiness shall be his reward.

³²It shall be accomplished before his time. His branch shall not be green.

³³He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive tree.

³⁴For the company of the godless shall be barren, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery.

³⁵They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. Their heart prepares deceit."

¹His foundation is in the holy mountains.

²The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

³Glorious things are spoken about you, city of God. Selah.

⁴I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me. Behold, Philistia, Tyre, and also Ethiopia: "This one was born there."

⁵Yes, of Zion it will be said, "This one and that one was born in her;" the Most High himself will establish her.

⁶The Lord will count, when he writes up the peoples, "This one was born there." Selah.

⁷Those who sing as well as those who dance say, "All my springs are in you."

¹Wine is a mocker, and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

²The terror of a king is like the roaring of a lion. He who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life.

³It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife; but every fool will be quarreling.

⁴The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.

⁵Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.

⁶Many men claim to be men of unfailing love, but who can find a faithful man?

⁷A righteous man walks in integrity. Blessed are his children after him.

⁸A king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes.

⁹Who can say, "I have made my heart pure. I am clean and without sin?"

¹⁰Differing weights and differing measures, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.

¹¹Even a child makes himself known by his doings, whether his work is pure, and whether it is right.

¹²The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, The Lord has made even both of them.

¹³Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty. Open your eyes, and you shall be satisfied with bread.

¹⁴"It's no good, it's no good," says the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasts.

¹⁵There is gold and abundance of rubies; but the lips of knowledge are a rare jewel.

¹⁶Take the garment of one who puts up collateral for a stranger; and hold him in pledge for a wayward woman.

¹⁷Fraudulent food is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth is filled with gravel.

¹⁸Plans are established by advice; by wise guidance you wage war!

¹⁹He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets; therefore do not keep company with him who opens wide his lips.

²⁰Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.

²¹An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning, won't be blessed in the end.

²²Do not say, "I will pay back evil." Wait for the Lord, and he will save you.

²³The Lord detests differing weights, and dishonest scales are not pleasing.

²⁴A man's steps are from the Lord; how then can man understand his way?

²⁵It is a snare to a man to make a rash dedication, then later to consider his vows.

²⁶A wise king winnows out the wicked, and drives the threshing wheel over them.

²⁷The spirit of man is the Lord's lamp, searching all his innermost parts.

²⁸Love and faithfulness keep the king safe. His throne is sustained by love.

²⁹The glory of young men is their strength. The splendor of old men is their gray hair.

³⁰Wounding blows cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the innermost parts.