The Inaccessibility and Power of God

8 “If I go to the east, he is not there,

and to the west, yet I do not perceive him.

9  In the north when he is at work,

I do not see him;

when he turns to the south,

I see no trace of him.

10  But he knows the pathway that I take;

if he tested me, I would come forth like gold.

11  My feet have followed his steps closely;

I have kept to his way and have not turned aside.

12  I have not departed from the commands of his lips;

I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my allotted portion.

13  But he is unchangeable, and who can change him?

Whatever he has desired, he does.

14  For he fulfills his decree against me,

and many such things are his plans.

15  That is why I am terrified in his presence;

when I consider, I am afraid because of him.

16  Indeed, God has made my heart faint;

the Almighty has terrified me.

17  Yet I have not been silent because of the darkness,

because of the thick darkness

that covered my face.

24 “Why are times not appointed by the Almighty?

Why do those who know him not see his days?

2  Men move boundary stones;

they seize the flock and pasture them.

3  They drive away the orphan’s donkey;

they take the widow’s ox as a pledge.

4  They turn the needy from the pathway,

and the poor of the land hide themselves together.

5  Like wild donkeys in the desert

they go out to their labor,

seeking diligently for food;

the wasteland provides food for them

and for their children.

6  They reap fodder in the field,

and glean in the vineyard of the wicked.

7  They spend the night naked because they lack clothing;

they have no covering against the cold.

8  They are soaked by mountain rains

and huddle in the rocks because they lack shelter.

9  The fatherless child is snatched from the breast,

the infant of the poor is taken as a pledge.

10  They go about naked, without clothing,

and go hungry while they carry the sheaves.

11  They press out the olive oil between the rows of olive trees;

they tread the winepresses while they are thirsty.

12  From the city the dying groan,

and the wounded cry out for help,

but God charges no one with wrongdoing.

13  There are those who rebel against the light;

they do not know its ways

and they do not stay on its paths.

14  Before daybreak the murderer rises up;

he kills the poor and the needy;

in the night he is like a thief.

15  And the eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight,

thinking, ‘No eye can see me,’

and covers his face with a mask.

16  In the dark the robber breaks into houses,

but by day they shut themselves in;

they do not know the light.

17  For all of them, the morning is to them

like deep darkness;

they are friends with the terrors of darkness. 18 

“You say, ‘He is foam on the face of the waters;

their portion of the land is cursed

so that no one goes to their vineyard.

19  The drought as well as the heat carry away

the melted snow;

so the grave takes away those who have sinned.

20  The womb forgets him,

the worm feasts on him,

no longer will he be remembered.

Like a tree, wickedness will be broken down.

21  He preys on the barren and childless woman,

and does not treat the widow well.

22  But God drags off the mighty by his power;

when God rises up against him, he has no faith in his life.

23  God may let them rest in a feeling of security,

but he is constantly watching all their ways.

24  They are exalted for a little while,

and then they are gone,

they are brought low like all others,

and gathered in,

and like a head of grain they are cut off.’

25 “If this is not so, who can prove me a liar

and reduce my words to nothing?”

25  Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

2 “Dominion and awesome might belong to God;

he establishes peace in his heights.

3  Can his armies be numbered?

On whom does his light not rise?

4  How then can a human being be righteous before God?

How can one born of a woman be pure?

5  If even the moon is not bright,

and the stars are not pure as far as he is concerned,

6  how much less a mortal man, who is but a maggot –

a son of man, who is only a worm!”

26  Then Job replied:

2 “How you have helped the powerless!

How you have saved the person who has no strength!

3  How you have advised the one without wisdom,

and abundantly revealed your insight!

4  To whom did you utter these words?

And whose spirit has come forth from your mouth?