Day 240 of 365

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

²"Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous? Or does it benefit him, that you make your ways perfect?

⁴Is it for your piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment?

⁵Isn't your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities.

⁶For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

⁷You haven't given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

⁸But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it.

⁹You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

¹⁰Therefore snares are around you. Sudden fear troubles you,

¹¹or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover you.

¹²"Isn't God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are!

¹³You say, 'What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?

¹⁴Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn't see. He walks on the vault of the sky.'

¹⁵Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden,

¹⁶who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream,

¹⁷who said to God, 'Depart from us;' and, 'What can the Almighty do for us?'

¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁹The righteous see it, and are glad. The innocent ridicule them,

²⁰saying, 'Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed the remnant of them.'

²¹"Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. Thereby good shall come to you.

²²Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents.

²⁴Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.

²⁵The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you.

²⁶For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and shall lift up your face to God.

²⁷You shall make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You shall pay your vows.

²⁸You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established to you. Light shall shine on your ways.

²⁹When they cast down, you shall say, 'be lifted up.' He will save the humble person.

³⁰He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."

¹Then Job answered,

²"Even today my complaint is rebellious. His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.

³Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat!

⁴I would set my cause in order before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would tell me.

⁶Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No, but he would listen to me.

⁷There the upright might reason with him, so I should be delivered forever from my judge.

⁸"If I go east, he is not there; if west, I can't find him;

⁹He works to the north, but I can't see him. He turns south, but I can't catch a glimpse of him.

¹⁰But he knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I shall come forth like gold.

¹¹My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned aside.

¹²I haven't gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

¹³But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? What his soul desires, even that he does.

¹⁴For he performs that which is appointed for me. Many such things are with him.

¹⁵Therefore I am terrified at his presence. When I consider, I am afraid of him.

¹⁶For God has made my heart faint. The Almighty has terrified me.

¹⁷Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.

¹"Why aren't times laid up by the Almighty? Why do not those who know him see his days?

²There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them.

³They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

⁴They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves.

⁵Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go forth to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children.

⁶They cut their provender in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked.

⁷They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.

⁸They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.

⁹There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,

¹⁰So that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.

¹¹They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst.

¹²From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn't regard the folly.

¹³"These are of those who rebel against the light. They do not know its ways, nor abide in its paths.

¹⁴The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief.

¹⁵The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, 'No eye shall see me.' He disguises his face.

¹⁶In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They do not know the light.

¹⁷For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness, for they know the terrors of the thick darkness.

¹⁸"They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the earth. They do not turn into the way of the vineyards.

¹⁹Drought and heat consume the snow waters, so does Sheol those who have sinned.

²⁰The womb shall forget him. The worm shall feed sweetly on him. He shall be no more remembered. Unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.

²¹He devours the barren who do not bear. He shows no kindness to the widow.

²²Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life.

²³God gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on their ways.

²⁴They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone. Yes, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.

²⁵If it isn't so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?"

¹Lord, you have been our dwelling place for all generations.

²Before the mountains were brought forth, before you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

³You turn man to destruction, saying, "Return, you children of men."

⁴For a thousand years in your sight are just like yesterday when it is past, like a watch in the night.

⁵You sweep them away as they sleep. In the morning they sprout like new grass.

⁶In the morning it sprouts and springs up. By evening, it is withered and dry.

⁷For we are consumed in your anger. We are troubled in your wrath.

⁸You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

⁹For all our days have passed away in your wrath. We bring our years to an end as a sigh.

¹⁰The days of our years are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty years; yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for it passes quickly, and we fly away.

¹¹Who knows the power of your anger, your wrath according to the fear that is due to you?

¹²So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

¹³Relent, Lord! How long? Have compassion on your servants!

¹⁴Satisfy us in the morning with your loving kindness, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

¹⁵Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen evil.

¹⁶Let your work appear to your servants; your glory to their children.

¹⁷Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us; establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands.

¹When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you;

²put a knife to your throat, if you are a man given to appetite.

³Do not be desirous of his dainties, seeing they are deceitful food.

⁴Do not weary yourself to be rich. In your wisdom, show restraint.

⁵Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.

⁶Do not eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and do not crave his delicacies:

⁷for as he thinks about the cost, so he is. "Eat and drink!" he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

⁸The morsel which you have eaten you shall vomit up, and lose your good words.

⁹Do not speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

¹⁰Do not move the ancient boundary stone. Do not encroach on the fields of the fatherless:

¹¹for their Defender is strong. He will plead their case against you.

¹²Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge.

¹³Do not withhold correction from a child. If you punish him with the rod, he will not die.

¹⁴Punish him with the rod, and save his soul from Sheol.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad, even mine:

¹⁶yes, my heart will rejoice, when your lips speak what is right.

¹⁷Do not let your heart envy sinners; but rather fear the Lord all the day long.

¹⁸Indeed surely there is a future hope, and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path!

²⁰Do not be among ones drinking too much wine, or those who gorge themselves on meat:

²¹for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

²²Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

²³Buy the truth, and do not sell it. Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding.

²⁴The father of the righteous has great joy. Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him.

²⁵Let your father and your mother be glad! Let her who bore you rejoice!

²⁶My son, give me your heart; and let your eyes keep in my ways.

²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit; and a wayward wife is a narrow well.

²⁸Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the unfaithful among men.

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?

³⁰Those who stay long at the wine; those who go to seek out mixed wine.

³¹Do not look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.

³²In the end, it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper.

³³Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things.

³⁴Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the midst of the sea, or as he who lies on top of the rigging:

³⁵"They hit me, and I was not hurt! They beat me, and I do not feel it! When will I wake up? I can do it again. I can find another."