text:
1[1 -5] There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, who was without fault and good, and one who respected God, and turned away from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters. He had 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 pair of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large household; so that he was the greatest of all the people of the east. His sons went and held a party in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to come and join them. When the days of their celebrating were over, Job sent and dedicated them, getting up early in the morning, and offering burnt offerings for each of them. Job thought, "It may be that my children have sinned, and rejected God in their hearts." Job did this every year.
[6 -12] Now on the day when the angels of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan (the accuser) also came with them. Yahweh said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Then Satan answered Yahweh, saying, "From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you thought about my worker, Job? For there is no one like him on earth, without fault and good, who respects God, and turns away from evil." Then Satan answered Yahweh, saying, "Does Job serve You for nothing? Haven't You put a protective barrier around him, and his house, and around everything he has, on every side? You've blessed the work of his hands, and all he owns has grown great in the land. But put Your hand out now, and touch what he has and he'll reject You to Your face." So Yahweh said to Satan, "See I give you power over whatever he has. But don't touch him." So Satan left the presence of Yahweh.
[13-19] On a day when his sons and daughters were celebrating at their oldest brother's house, a messenger came to Job, saying, "The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabeans (southwest Arabia) attacked, and stole them. Yes, they've killed all the workers with their weapons, and I alone have escaped to tell you." While he was still speaking, another came, saying, "Lightening struck, and has burned up the sheep and the workers, and destroyed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you." While he was still speaking, another came also, saying, "The Chaldeans (Iraq), who were divided into three groups, have taken all the camels, and killed all the workers with their weapons; and I alone have escaped to tell you." While he was still speaking, another came also, saying, "Your sons and daughters were celebrating at their oldest brother's house, and a tornado came from the countryside, and collapsed the house, and it fell on the children, and they're dead. I alone have escaped to tell you."
[20-22] Then Job got up, ripped his robe, and shaved his head, then fell down on the ground, and worshiped, saying, "I came out of my mother's womb naked, and I'll go back to God naked. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be the Name of Yahweh." In all this, Job didn't sin, nor reject God.
Satan Accuses Job
2[1-6] Again, on the day when the angels of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan (the accuser) came also with them to stand before Yahweh. Yahweh said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered Yahweh, saying, "From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you thought any more on my worker Job? There is no one like him in all the earth, without fault and good, one who respects God, and turns away from evil, who still does what's right, although you turned Me against him, to ruin him without cause." Satan answered Yahweh, saying, "Skin for skin. Yes, anyone would give everything they have for their life! But put Your hand out now, and touch his flesh and bone, and he'll reject You to Your face." Yahweh said to Satan, "I put him in your power. Only spare his life."
[7-10] So Satan left the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to the top of his head. He took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself with, and sat among the ashes. Then his wife asked him, "Are you still going to try to do what's right? Reject God, and die." But he said to her, "You talk like an ungodly women. What? Will we take what's good from God, and not take the bad, as well?" In all this, Job didn't say anything wrong.
[11-13] Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from their homes; Eliphaz, the Temanite, Bildad, the Shuhite, and Zophar, the Naamathite, and set aside a time to come together to sympathize and comfort Job. When they looked up from a distance, and didn't even recognize him, they hollered out, and cried; then they each tore their robe, and threw dust on their heads toward the sky. So they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and nights, and no one said a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.
Job Speaks
3[1 -5] After this, Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth, saying, "Let the day I was born cease to exist, and the night when I was conceived. Let that day be darkness. Let God above forget it, and don't let God's light shine on it. Let eternal darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own. Let a dark storm cloud cover it. Let whatever makes a day turn black terrify it.
[6 -10] As for that night, let the blackest darkness overcome it. Don't let it be counted among the days of the year. Don't let it come into the number of the months. Let no one be born on that night ever again. Let no happy voice be heard in it. Let those who curse, curse that day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan (the sea monster) to swallow it. Let the stars of its twilight not shine. Let it look for light, but have none, nor let it see the morning, because it didn't close my mother's womb, nor hide this trouble from me.
[11 -16] "Why didn't I die at birth? Why didn't I give up the spirit when my mother had me? Why did I fall on her knees? Or why did I suck her breasts? I should have went limp and been quiet. I should have died, then I'd have been at rest, with rulers and counselors of the earth, who built the old ruins for themselves; or with leaders who had gold, who filled their houses with silver; or buried as an unseen early birth, as a baby who never saw the light of day.
[17-19] There the sinful don't trouble anyone anymore and those who are tired are at rest. There the prisoners are in peace and don't hear the harsh voice of their guards. The rich and poor are there, and the workers are free from their bosses.
[20-23] "Why is light given to those who are in misery, life to those who suffer, who long for death, but it doesn't come; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, who are very happy, and are glad when they go to the grave? Why is light given to anyone who can't find their way, whom God has put in their place?
[24-26] I sigh before I eat. My tears pour out like water. For the thing which I fear has come on me, and what I'm afraid of has come to me. I'm not at peace, nor am I quiet, nor do I have rest; but trouble has come."
Eliphaz Speaks
4[1 -5] Then Eliphaz, the Temanite, answered, "If someone tries to talk with you will you be upset? But who can keep from speaking? See, you've taught many, you've made strong those with weak hands. Your words have supported those who were falling, and you've made strong those with weak knees. But now it's come to you, and you give up. It touches you, and you're troubled.
[6-11] Isn't your trust in God your confidence? Isn't your right ways your hope? Remember, now, who was innocent and died? Or when were the good punished? According to what I've seen, those who plow sin, and plant trouble, reap the same. By the breath of God they die. By the blast of God's anger they're destroyed. The roaring of the lion, and the sound of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions, are all broken. The old lion dies for lack of food. The cubs of the lioness are scattered far away.
[12 -17] "Now something secret has come to me. My ear has heard its whisper. In thoughts from the visions of the night when deep sleep falls on people, I was afraid and shaking so that all my bones shook. Then a spirit passed before my face and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. It stood still, but I couldn't see what it was. But a form stood before me. There was silence, then I heard a voice, saying, 'Can mortal human beings be more fair than God? Can anyone be more perfect than their Maker?'
[18 -21] See, God puts no trust in humanity. God has even judged the angels with error. How much more then, will God judge those who live in human bodies, whose were made of clay and dust, who are crushed easier than a moth! Between morning and evening they're destroyed. They die forever without anyone even thinking about it. Isn't their soul destroyed within them? They die, and that without wisdom.'
5[1 -5] "Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the gods will you turn? For resentment kills the ungodly person, and jealousy kills the stupid. I've seen the ungodly person doing well, but their house was suddenly punished. Their children are far from safety. They're abused and there's no one to defend them. The hungry will eat up their harvest, leaving nothing behind. The thief takes everything they have.
[6-14] For trouble doesn't come from the dust, nor does trouble creep out of the ground; but humanity is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward. "But as for me, I'd look for God. I'd bring my cause to God, who does great things that can't be grasped, wonderful things without number; who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields; putting those who are low in high places, and bringing those who cry out to safety; Who frustrates the plans of the sneaky, so that their hands can't do what they think up. God takes those who are shrewd in their own sneakiness; their plans are turned upside down. They're blindsided in the day time, and grope as if in the dark.
[15-21] But he saves those in need from the hand of the strong and from the words of their mouth. So the poor have hope, and justice is served. See, happy is the person whom God corrects. So don't hate when God Almighty corrects you. who wounds, and bandages it; Who hurts, and makes whole again. When you're in trouble, God will save you six times; yes, even the seventh will cause you no harm. In hunger, God will save you from death; in war, from the power of weapons. You'll be safe from the harmful words of the mouth, nor will you be scared of troubles when they come.
[22-27] You'll laugh at troubles and hunger, nor will you be scared of the wild animals of the earth. For you'll be in peace with the stones of the field. The animals of the field will be at peace with you as well. You'll know that your home is in peace. You'll visit your animal pens, and nothing will be missing. You'll know also that you'll have many children; Your descendants will be as the grass of the earth. You'll come to your grave in a good old age, like a shock of grain is harvested when ripe, you won't die until then. Look, we've seen this is true. Listen, and know it for your own good."
Job Answers Eliphaz
6[1-7] Then Job answered, "Oh that my suffering were weighed, and all my trouble laid in the balances! Now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, so my words have been spoken too quickly. The Almighty has me targeted and my spirit is dying within me. I'm scared to death of what God will do to me. Does the wild donkey bray when it has grass? Or does the cow low over its feed? Will someone complain about the flavor of their food unless they have no salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? I refuse to touch them. They're the worst food to me.
[8 -13] "Oh that I might have what I ask, that God would give me what I want, even that God would finish me and let me die! It would still be my consolation, yes, my praise even in unending pain, that I haven't denied the truth of the words of the Sacred God. How strong am I, that I should wait? What will happen in the end, that I should be patient? Do I have the strength of a rock? Or is my body like brass? Isn't it true that I can't help myself, and that my wisdom has quite left me?
[14-20] "Kindness should be shown from the friend of those who are troubled; but you haven't shown respect to the Almighty. My own friends have treated me as falsely as a river, which dries up; which are darkened and full because of the thawing ice and melting snow. In the dry season, they disappear. When it's hot, they're completely gone from where they were. The people that travel beside them turn to go to them, but when they do, they find no water and die of thirst. The caravans of Tema looked for them. The people of Sheba hoped for them. They were upset because they were confident the river was there. But when they came there, they were confused.
[21-26] Now you're just like them and are no help. You see my terrible troubles, and are scared. Did I ask you to give me anything or say that you should offer me a present from your stuff? Or did I ask you to save me from my enemy? Or save me from the power of the abusers? Tell me, and I'll be quiet. Cause me to understand where I've gone wrong. How painful to hear what you truly believe! But of what does your argument accuse me? Do you intend to correct me for words spoken by someone who is desperate, and are as empty as wind?
[27-30] Yes, you'd even gamble over those without a parent, and sell your best friend. Now look at me, I wouldn't lie to your face. Please, change your mind. Let there be no injustice here. Yes, think again. I'm right and haven't said anything wrong. Don't I know what's evil and what's good?
7[1-6] "Isn't everyone forced to work hard on earth? Aren't a person's life like the days of a hired hand? As a worker who desperately wants the end of the day to come, and as a hired hand who waits to be paid, so I'm made to take months of misery, and long nights are given to me. When I lie down, I say, 'When will I get up, and the night be gone?' I toss and turn until dawn. My skin is full of worms and dust clods. My skin heals, and breaks out again. My days pass quickly by, and are spent without hope.
[7-11] Oh remember that my life is as a breath and I won't see anymore good. Those who see me now will see me no more. Your eyes will see my body, but I won't be there. As the cloud scatters and disappears, so those who go down to Hell will come up no more. They won't come back to their house, nor will anyone see them again. So I won't be quiet. I'll tell of the suffering of my spirit. I'll complain in the sorrow of my heart.
[12-16] Am I such a monster, that you watch over me like a guard? When I say, 'My bed will comfort me. My couch will ease my troubles; 'then you scare me to death with dreams and visions, so that I'd choose strangling, or death rather than keeping my body. I hate my life. I don't want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
[17-21] What's a human being, that you should watch them so carefully, and that you should think about them, and that you should visit them every morning, and test them every moment? How long will it be before You look away from me, and leave me alone and let me swallow down my spit? If I've sinned, what could I do to harm You, You watcher of humanity? Why have You set a mark on me, so that I'm unable to help myself? Why won't you forgive my disobedience, and take away my sin? I'll soon be laid in the dust. You'll search for me carefully, but I won't be here."
Bildad Speaks
8[1-7] Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, "How long will you say these things? Your words are like a blast of wind. Does God distort justice? Or does the Almighty distort goodness? If your children have sinned against God, God has punished them for their disobedience. If you want to look for God carefully, make your prayer to the Almighty. If you were pure and good, truly now God would awaken for you, and make you and your house do well. Though you had little at first, still in the end it would greatly increase.
[8 -18] "Please ask of past generations. Find out what our ancestors believed. But we're only born yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a like a passing shadow. Won't they teach you, and tell you, and speak words from their heart? "Can the papyrus grow up without mud? Can the rushes grow without water? While it's still in its greenness, not cut down, it withers before any other reed. So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless human beings will die, whose confidence will fail, whose trust is like a fragile spider's web. They may lean on it, but it won't stand. They'll hang on to it, but it will break. They are green in the sunshine, whose shoots grow all over their garden. Their roots are wrapped around the rock pile, looking for a place through the stones. If it's uprooted from its place, then it's never even missed.' See, this is how God works; when that plant is gone, another will take its place.
[20 -22] "See, God won't punish anyone without fault, nor uphold someone who does evil. God will still fill your mouth with laughter, and you'll shout for joy. Those who hate you will be covered in shame. The house of the sinful will be no more."
Job Answers Bildad
9[1 -10] Then Job answered, "Truly I know that it's so, but how can human beings be right with God? If someone wanted to argue with God, they couldn't answer one time in a thousand. God, who is wise in heart, and strong in strength; who has ever argued with God and done well? God shakes the mountains, and they don't know it, when they are overturned in God's anger. God makes the earth quake from its foundations. God speaks to the sun, and it doesn't come up, and tells the stars not to shine. God stretches out the heavens, and walks on the waves of the sea.
God makes the stars of the Bear, Orion, and Pleiades, and the constellations of the south. God does such wonderful things that we can't even understand; yes, so many wonderful things that we can't even count them all.
[11-18] See, God passes by me, who I don't even see. God passes on also, and I never know it. See, if God snatches a life away, who can stop it? Who will ask God, 'What are You doing?' "God won't withdraw anger and even those who helped Rahab, the Sea Monster, bowed to God. So how much less could I answer and choose my words to argue with God? Though I were truly good, still I wouldn't answer God. I'd pray and put myself in the mercy of my judge. If I had called, and God had answered me, still I wouldn't believe that God had heard me, who destroys me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without cause; who won't even let me catch my breath, but fills me with resentment.
[19-24] If it's a matter of strength, God is strong! If of justice, God says, 'Who will summon me?' Though I'm good, my own mouth will condemn me. Though I'm without fault, it will prove me guilty. I'm without fault. I don't think of myself. I hate my life. It's all the same. So I say God destroys those without fault and the sinful as well. If a disease or wound suddenly kills, God will mock at the trial of the innocent. The earth is in the hands of the sinful. God blindfolds the eyes of the judges. If not God, then who is it?
[25-35] Now my days pass faster than a runner. They run away and see no good; they've passed by like the fast ships, like the eagle that swoops down on its prey. If I say, 'I'll forget my complaint, I'll put off my sad face, and be happy;' I'm afraid of all my sorrows, I know that You won't hold me innocent. I'll be condemned. So why then do I do these good works for nothing? If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye, still You'll throw me in the ditch. I'd be dirtier than my own clothes. God isn't just a human being, as I'm, that I could answer and that we could come together in agreement. There is no one to come between us, who could lay a hand on us both. Oh God, stop this beating of me. Don't keep me in a state of fear; then I'd speak, and not be afraid, but now I'm scared.
10[1-7] I'm tired of my life. I'll speak freely of my complaint. I'll speak in my resentment. I'll tell God, 'Don't condemn me. Show me why You are hurting me. Is it good to You that You abuse me, that You should hate the creation of Your own hands, and smile on the plans of the sinful? Do You see and think like a human being? Are Your days as the days of mortals, or Your years as human being's years, that You ask after my sin, and search for my sin, even though you know that I'm not sinful, and there is no one who can save me out of Your hand?
[8-14] Your own hands have made me and designed me, and still You destroy me. Remember, I beg You, that You've made me from clay. Will You bring me to dust again? Haven't You poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese? You've clothed me with skin and muscles, and put me together with bones and tendons. You've given me life and loving kindness, watching over my spirit to keep me safe. Still, You hid these things in your heart. I know that this is what You think; if I sin, then You mark me. You won't forgive me of my sin.
[15 -22] If I'm sinful, sorrow comes to me. If I'm good, I still won't be able to lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my trouble. If my head is held high, You hunt me like a lion. Again You show me that You are very powerful. You bring new witnesses against me, and abuse me even more. You change Your tactics and start new wars with me. So why, then, have You brought me out of the womb? I wish I had died, and no one had ever seen me. I should have been as though I hadn't ever been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
Don't I only have a few days to live? So stop then and leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort, before I go where I won't come back from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death; where it's dark as midnight, and as the shadow of death comes without any order, where even the light is as dark as midnight."
Zophar Speaks
11[1-6] Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered, "Shouldn't these many words be answered? Should anyone full of talk be thought right? Should your bragging make us be quiet? When you mock, will no one make you ashamed? You say, 'My beliefs are right. I'm innocent in Your eyes.' But oh that God would speak out against you, and show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom has two sides. So know that God takes of you less than your sin deserves.
[7 -14] Can you grasp the mystery of God? Or can you explore the limits of the Almighty? They're as high as heaven. What can you do? They're deeper than Hell. What can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth, and wider than the sea. If God passes by, or imprisons, or holds a court, then who can fight God? God knows those who are false and sees sin also, even though God never thinks of it. Even an empty-headed person can become wise even though they're born as wild as a donkey's colt. If you get your heart right, stretch out your hands toward God. If sin is in your hand, put it far away. Don't let ungodliness stay in your house.
[15 -20] Truly then you'll lift up your face without fault; Yes, you'll be faithful, and won't fear, forgetting your trouble. You'll remember all this like water that flows away. Life will be brighter than the noonday. Even though it's dark, it will be like morning. You'll be safe, because there is hope. Yes, you'll search, and will take your rest in safety. Also you'll lie down, and no one will make you afraid. Yes, many will aske for your favor. But the sinful won't know where they're going. They'll have no where to run. Their hope will be death.
Job Answers Zophar
12[1-5] Then Job answered, "No doubt, but you're the wise ones, and wisdom will die with you. But I have understanding as well as you; I'm not any less wise than you. Yes, who doesn't know such things as these? I'm nothing but a joke to my neighbors; Yes, I, who called on God, and God answered. Though I'm right, the one without fault is a joke. Those who are at ease look down on those having hardships. It's just waiting for those whose feet slip.
[6-10] The homes of theives even do well. Those who provoke God are safe, who carry their false gods in their hands. But ask the animals, now, and they'll teach you; ask the birds of the sky, and they'll tell you. Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you. The fish of the sea will tell to you. Who doesn't know that in all these, the hand of Yahweh God has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all humanity?
[11-15] Doesn't the ear test words, even as the tongue tastes its food? With age comes wisdom, with long life comes understanding. With God is wisdom and strength, who has counsel and understanding. See, when God breaks down, it can't be built again. When God imprisons someone, there can be no release. See, when God withholds the rains, everything dries up. Again, when God sends the rain, it floods the earth.
[16 -20] With God is strength and wisdom. Both those who are lied to and those who lie are in God's power. God leads counselors away stripped of their wisdom. God makes judges seem stupid. God frees those whom rulers imprison, making the rulers ordinary workers. God leads great preachers away stripped of their wisdom, and overthrows the strong. God silences the speech of trusted people, and takes away the understanding of the elderly.
[21-25] God condemns leaders, and disarms the strong. God uncovers secret things out of darkness, and brings life back from the shadow of death. God make the nations great, and destroys them. God builds the nations up, and scatters them. God takes understanding from the leaders of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander lost in the countryside. They grope in the dark without light. God makes them stagger like a drunk.
13[1 -6] See, my eye has seen all this. My ear has heard and understood it. What you know, I know also. I'm not less wise than you. Truly I'd like to speak to the Almighty. I want to reason with God. But you're telling lies. You're all useless doctors. Oh I wish that you'd be completely silent! Then you'd be wise. Listen to what I think. Listen to what I ask.
[7 -13] Will you say ungodly thjings for God, and put lies in God's mouth? Will you take God's side? Will you fight for God? What if God finds you out? Or will you lie to God? God will truly correct you if you secretly show partiality. Won't God's awesomeness make you afraid, whose dread will fall on you? Your memorable sayings are nothing more than a pile of ashes, your defenses are as breakable as clay. Be quiet and leave me alone, that I may speak. Let happen to me whatever happens.
[14 -19] Why should I risk my own skin, and put my life in my hand? See, even if God kills me, I will still hope in God. But, I'll keep my ways even to God's face. This also will be my saving grace, because a godless person won't come into God's presence. Listen carefully to what I say. Let my words ring in your ears. See now, I've put my case in order. I know that I'm good. Who will argue with me about that? Then I'd just be quiet and die.
[20-24] Only don't do two things to me; then I won't hide myself from Your face; don't remove Your hand far from me; and don't let Your terrible power make me afraid. Then call me, and I'll answer; or let me speak, and You answer me. How many are my faults and sins? Make me to know my disobedience and my sin. Why do You hide Your face, and believe me to be Your enemy?
[25-28] Will you trouble a leaf blowing in the wind? Will you chase the dry straw? You write terrible things against me, and make me pay for the faults of my youth; You also punishe me, and watch everywhere I go. You mark the path of the soles of my feet, though I'm rotting like a dead thing, like a clothes that are moth-eaten.
14[1 -6] Everyone who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble. They come forth like a flower, and are cut down. They run like a shadow, and pass away. Do You open your eyes on such a one, and bring me into judgment with You? Who can make an unfit thing fit? Not one. Seeing our days are decided, the number of our months is known to You, and You've set our time that we can't pass; Look away from us, that we may rest, until we're finished with our work for the day.
[7-14] For there is hope for a tree, if It's cut down, that it will sprout again, that the tender sprout won't die. Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stock dies in the ground, still through the scent of water it will bud, and put out a new sprout like a plant. But human beings die, and are laid low. Yes, human beings give up the spirit, and where are they? As the waters evaporate from the sea, and the river drains and dries up, so human beings die and don't get up. Until the heavens are gone, they won't awake, nor be roused out of their sleep. Oh that You'd hide me in the grave, that You'd keep me secret, until your anger is gone, that you'd set me a time, and remember me! If someone dies, will they live again? I'd wait all the days of my troubled life, until I'm changed.
[15-22] You'd call, and I'd answer you. You'd want to see the work of Your hands. But now You number my steps. Don't You watch over my sin? My disobedience is sealed up in a bag. You fasten up my sin. But the mountain falling comes to nothing. The rock rolls out of its place; The waters wear the stones away. The storms wash away the dust of the earth. So You destroy the hope of humanity. You have power over them forever, and they die. You change their face, and send them away. Their children come to show their respects, but they don't know it. They're very sad, but they don't see it of them. But the body has pain, and the soul within mourns.
Eliphaz Answers Job
15[1-6] Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, "Should a wise person answer with worthless knowledge, and fill themself with the east wind? Should they reason with useless talk, or with words that can do no good? Yes, you have no fear, and don't respect God. Your sin teaches your mouth what to say, and you choose sneaky language. Your own mouth condemns you, and not I. Yes, your own lips speak against you.
[7-11] "Are you the first person to be born? Or were you brought forth before the hills? Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? What do you know, that we don't know? What do you understand that we don't? Both the gray-headed and the very aged are with us, much older than your father. Are the comforts of God not enough for you, even the word that is gentle toward you?
[12-16] Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash, so that you turn your spirit against God, and let such words come out of your mouth? How could a human ever be clean? How could someone, who is born of a woman, be good? God puts no trust even in the angels. Yes, the heavens aren't even clean in the sight of God; how much less one who is evil and corrupt, who drinks sin like water!
[17-24] "I'll show you, so listen to me; I'll tell you what I've seen; (Which the wise have told by their ancestors, and haven't hidden it; to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed with them); sinners suffer in pain all their days, even the number of years that are laid up for the abuser. They hear the sound of fear. When they do welll, the destroyer will come on them. They don't believe that they'll return out of darkness. They're just waiting to die. They wander around looking for food, saying, 'Where is it?' They know that the day of darkness is soon coming. Trouble and suffering make them afraid. It comes against them, as a ruler ready for the battle.
[25 Because they've shook their fist at God, and behave proudly against the Almighty; they stubbornly fight against God; building a wall between them. They've covered their face with fatness, and gathered fat on their thighs, living in empty cities, in houses which no one lives, which are ready to cave in. They won't be rich, nor will they last long, nor will their things be left on the earth. They won't leave out of darkness. The flame will dry up their bones. They'll be destroyed by the breath of God's mouth.
[31-35] Don't let them trust in their lies, lying to themself; for lies will be their punishment. It will happen while they are still young. They'll wither and die. They'll have no fruit. For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will burn the homes of those who take bribes. They conceive a lier, and bring a sinner into the world. Their heart is full of lies."
Job Answers Eliphaz
16[1-5] Then Job answered, "I've heard many such things. You're all miserable comforters! Will your worthless words ever end? Or what provokes you that you answer this way? I also could speak as you do. If you were in my place, I could say all this against you, and shake my head at you, but I'd strengthen you with my words. I'd do all I could to comfort you.
[6-9] Though I speak, my grief isn't gone. But if I don't speak how am I any better? But now, God, you've truly worn me out. You've made all my company of no use to me. You've shriveled me up as a witness against me. My weakness speaks against me to my face. Your anger has torn me, and troubled me. You've chewed me up and spit me out. You watch my every move.
[10-17] They've opened their mouth wide against me. They've critical words slap me in the face. They gather themselves together against me. God, You give me to the ungodly, and throw me into the hands of the sinful. I was at ease, and You broke me apart. Yes, You've taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. You've also set me up for a target. Your archers surround me. You split my body apart, and don't spare me. You pour out my blood on the ground.You destroy me with wound after wound, coming after me like a giant. I've sewed mourning clothes on my skin, and have thrown my strength in the dust. My face is red with crying. Deep darkness is on my eyelids, even though I've done nothing wrong, and my prayer is honest.
[18-22] Earth, don't cover my blood. Let my cry have no place to rest. Even now, see, my witness is in heaven. The One who vouches for me is on high. My friends make fun of me. My eyes pour out tears to God, to uphold a person's right to bring their complaint to God, and of a human being to speak with their neighbor! When a few years have passed, I'll go where I won't return.
17[1-6] My spirit's all gone. My days are over, and the grave is ready for me. Truly, they make fun of me. I see nothing but their bitterness. Now promise me, that You'll stand up for me Yourself. Who else is there who will figt with me? You've hidden their heart from understanding, so won't You let them see. Those who accuse a friend for a reward, even the eyes of their children will fail to see. But You've made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face.
[7-12] My eye grows dim because of my sorrow. My whole body is passing like a shadow. Good people will be shocked at this. The innocent will stir themselves up against the godless. Still the good will hold on to their way. Those who have clean hands will grow stronger and stronger. But as for you all, come on now again; I won't find a wise one among you. My days are over, my plans are ruined, as are the thoughts of my heart. They change the night into day, saying 'The light is near' when it's still dark.
[13-16] If I look for the grave as my house, if I've made my bed in the darkness, if I've given myself up to rottenness, and to the worm, where then is my hope? As for my hope, who will see it? Will it go down with me to the gates of Hell, when we rest together in the dust?"
Bildad Answers Job
18[1-4] Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, "How long before you stop talking? Think about it, and then we'll talk. Why are we counted as animals, which are unfit in your sight? You, who destroy yourself in your anger, will the natural order of the world be changed for you? Or will the rock be shaken out its place?
[5-10] Yes, the light of the sinful will be put out, the spark of their fire won't shine. The light will go out in that house. Their lamp above them will be put out. Their life will be shortened. Their own wisdom will make them fall. They're thrown into a net by their own feet, and wander into its mesh. A trap will take them by the heel. A trap will catch them. A noose is hidden for them in the ground, a trap for them in the way.
[11-15] Fears will make them afraid on every side and will chase at their heels. Their strength will give out. Trouble will follow them wherever they go. Their bodies will be destroyed. The firstborn of death (the destroyer, Satan) will destroy them. They'll leave their bodies in which they trust and be brought to the Ruler of Fears. There they'll live in a place that was not meant for them. Sulfur will be scattered where they are.
[16-21] Their roots will be dried up beneath them. Their branches above will be broken. Their memory will die from the earth. They'll have no name in the street. They'll be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. They'll have no children nor grandchildren among their people, nor are any left where they were. Those who come after will be shocked at what happened to them, as those who went before were scared of them. Truly, this is how the ungodly will be. This is the place of those who don't know God.
Job Answers Bildad
19[1-7] Then Job answered, "How long will you torment me, and crush me with your words? You've criticised me ten times. You aren't ashamed to attack me. If it's true that I've done wrong, my errors stay with myself. Truly, if you believe you're better than me, and bring your criticisms against me; know now that God has broken me, and caught me in a net. See, I cry out because I've been wronged, but I'm not heard. I cry for help, but there's no justice.
[8-12] God has walled up my way so that I can't pass, and has set darkness in my paths. God has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. God has broken me down on every side, and I'm done. God has plucked up my hope like a tree. God is angry with me and counts me as an enemy, sending troops to build a siege ramp against me, and encamp around my home.
[13-19] God has put my friends far from me. My acquaintances won't come anywhere near me. My relatives have all gone away. Even my best friends have forgotten me. Those who live in my house, and my workers, count me as a stranger. I'm like a foreigner in their sight. I call to my workers, and they don't answer. I beg them. My breath is offensive to my wife. I'm hated by my own family members. Even young children hate me. If I get up, they speak against me. All my best friends hate me. Those whom I loved have turned against me.
[20-24] My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I've escaped by the skin of my teeth. Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me. Why do you trouble me as God, and aren't satisfied with my flesh? Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were printed in a book! That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in a rock forever!
[25-29] But as for me, I know that my Savior lives, and will stand upon the earth in the last days. After my body is destroyed by worms, yet in my body I'll see God, whom I'll see for myself, and not another. My eyes will see, and not as a stranger. My heart is broken within me. If you say, 'How we'll trouble him!' because the root of the matter is found in me, be scared, for anger brings punishment, that you may know there is a judgment."
Zophar Answers Job
20[1-5] Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered, "So my thoughts make me answer, even if I do so too quickly. I've heard the arguments which put me to shame. The spirit of my understanding makes me answer. Don't you know this from the old days, since human beings were put on earth, that the success of the sinful is short, the happiness of the godless lasts only a moment?
[6-11] Though they grow and mount up to the heavens, and their head reaches to the clouds, still they'll die forever like their own waste. Those who have seen them will say, 'Where are they?'They'll fly away like a dream, and won't be found. Yes, they'll go away like a vision of the night. Those who saw them will see them no more, nor will their place see them anymore. Their children will look to the poor for favors. Their hands will give back their wealth. Their bones are full of youth, but youth will lie down with them in the dust.
[12-16] Though evil is sweet in their mouth, though they hide it under their tongue, though they spare it, and won't let it go, but keep it still in their mouth; still their food in their bowels is turned to poison like a cobra's venom within them. They've swallowed down riches, and they'll vomit them up again. God will throw them out of their bellies.They'll suck cobra venom. And the snake's tongue will kill them.
[17-21] They won't look at the rivers of oil, the flowing streams of honey and butter. Whatever they worked for they'll give back, and won't swallow it down. They won't be happy, no matter how much they get. They've abused and left the poor wanting. They've violently taken away a house, and won't build it up. Because they knew no peace, they won't be saved by anything of what they now enjoy. There wasn't anything left that they didn't use up, so their success won't last.
[22-25] Even when they have much wealth, trouble will overtake them. The hand of everyone who is in misery will snatch at them. When they're about to eat, God's great anger will fall on them. It will rain on them while they eat. Though they run from the iron weapon, the bronze arrow will stab them through. They pull it out, and it comes out of the body. Yes, the shining point comes out of their liver and fear overtakes them.
[26-29] All darkness is laid up for their treasures. An unfanned fire will destroy them. It will burn up what's left in their hous. The heavens will reveal their sin. The earth will come against them. The riches of their house will come to an end. They'll rush away in the day of God's anger. This is what God does to the sinner, the legacy given to them by God."
Job Answers Zophar
21[1 -6] Then Job answered, "Listen carefully to my speech. Let this be your consolation. Let me, and I also will speak; After I've said what I want to say, keep on mocking me. As for me, is my complaint to human beings? Why shouldn't I be impatient? Look at me, and be shocked. Lay your hand on your mouth. When I remember, I'm troubled. Horror takes hold of my physical body.
[7 -15] Why do the sinful live, become old, yes, and grow strong in power? Their children are established with them in their sight, their children before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the judgment of God upon them. Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don't miscarry. They send forth their little ones like a flock. Their children dance. They sing to the tambourine and harp, and are happy at the sound of the flute. They spend their days richly, yet, in an instant, they go down to Hell. They tell God, 'Leave us alone, we don't want to know about your ways. Why should we serve God? What will it profit us, if we pray to God?'
[16-20] See, their wealth isn't in their own power. The ways of the sinful is far from me. How often is it that the lamp of the sinful is put out, that their trouble comes on them, that God's anger brings sorrows on them? How often is it that they're as stubble before the wind, as straw that the storm blows away? You say, 'God lays up their sin for their children.' Let God send judgment on themselves, that they may know it. Let their own eyes see their destruction. Let them see the anger of the Almighty.
[21-26] For what do they care for their family after their gone, when their days come to an end? Will anyone teach God knowledge, seeing God judges those who do well for themselves? Some die in their full strength, being comepletly healthy and at peace. Their breasts are full of milk. Their bones are full of marrow. Another dies with a sorrowful soul, and never tastes of good. They both are buried alike in the earth. The worms cover them.
[27-34] See, I know your thoughts, the things which you imagine against me. You say, 'Where is the house of the leader? Where is the home where the sinful lived?' Haven't you asked travelers? Don't you know their evidences, that the evil ones are kept for the day of trouble, that they're led to the day of God's anger? Who will tell them to their face what they've done? Who will repay them for what they've done? Still they'll be carried to the grave and others will keep watch over their tomb. The dirt of the valley will be sweet to them. Everyone will follow after them, as there were countless numbers before them. So how can you comfort me with this nonsense, seeing that in your answers there is only falsehood?"
Eliphaz Answers Job
22[1 -5] Then Eliphaz, the Temanite, answered, "Can anyone be useful to God? Truly, even though those who are wise are only of use to themselves. Does it please the Almighty if you're good? Or does it benefit God, if you act well? Are you punished for worshiping God? Does God bring you to judgment for that? Isn't your evil great? Nor is there any end to your faults.
[6 -11] You've taken from others what they didn't owe, and stripped the naked of their clothing. You haven't given water to those who were tired and thirsty, and you've withheld food from the hungry. But as for the strong, they had the land. The honorable ones lived in it. You've sent death survivors away empty handed, and the arms of those without a parent have no strength. So traps are all around you. Sudden fear troubles you, or darkness, so that you can't see, and floods of waters cover you.
[12-17] Isn't God in the hights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they're! You say, 'What does God know? Can God judge what isn't seen? Thick clouds are a covering to God, who doesn't see. God walks above the circle of the sky.' Will you keep the old ways, which sinners have walked, who were snatched away before their time, whose lives were poured out as a stream, who said to God, 'Leave us alone; ' and, 'What can the Almighty do for us?'
[18-23] Still God filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the sinful is far from me. The good see it, and are glad. The innocent ridicule them, saying, 'Truly those who came up against us are stopped. The fire has burned up what's left of them.' Get to know God now, and be at peace, and good will come to you. Please learn from God's Word, and treasure them in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you'll be restored, if you put away ungodliness far from your homes.
[24-30] Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the rivers. The Almighty will be your treasure, and like precious silver to you. Then you'll enjoy yourself in the Almighty, and will lift up your face to God. You'll make your prayer to God, who will hear you. You'll keep your promises. You'll also say a thing, and it will happen to you. Light will shine on all your ways. When they throw down, you'll say, 'be lifted up.' God will save the humble person. God will even free those who aren't innocent. Yes, they'll be freed through the cleanness of your hands.
Job Answers Eliphaz
23[1-5] Then Job answered, "Even today my complaint is rebellious. God's hand is heavy in spite of my crying. Oh that I knew where I could find God! That I could come even to God's throne! I'd set my case in order there, and fill my mouth with arguments. I'd know and understand the words which God would answer me. Would God fight with me with great power? No, but God would listen to me. There the good can reason with God, so I should be freed forever from my judge.
[8-12] If I go east, God isn't there; if west, I can't find God; God works to the north, but I can't see God. God turns south, but I can't catch a glimpse of God. But God knows the way that I take, and when God has tested me, I'll come out shining like gold. I have followed God's footsteps. I've kept God's way, and not turned away. I've done everything I've said I'd do. I've treasured up God's words more than my necessary food.
[13-17] But God stands alone, and who can fight God? Whatever God wants, even that is done. God does what's planned for me. Many such things are with God. So I'm scared to death at God's presence. When I think about it, I'm afraid of God, who has made my heart faint. The Almighty has scared to death me. Because I wasn't stopped before the darkness, neither did God keep the thick darkness from my face.
24[1-8] Why aren't times laid up by the Almighty? Why don't those who know God see their days? There are people who take the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them. They drive away the donkey of those without a parent, and they take the death survivor's cow for a pledge. They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves. See, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go to their work, look carefully for their food. The countryside gives them food for their children. They cut their feed in the field. They gather in the vineyard of the sinful. They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. They're wet with the rain of the mountains, and hug the rock for lack of a shelter.
[9-12] There are those who take a child from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor, so that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves of wheat. They make oil within the walls of these evil people. They stomp the grapes in the winepresses, and suffer thirst. From out of the populous city, they groan. The soul of the abused cries out, still God doesn't pay attention to their disgrace.
[13 -18] These are of those who rebel against the light. They don't know its ways, nor walk in its paths. The murderer gets up with the light and kills the poor and needy, like a thief in the night. The adulterers wait for dusk, saying, 'No one will see me' and disguises their face. In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They don't know the light. The morning is to all of them like thick darkness, for they know the fears of the thick darkness. They disappear like foam on the surface of the waters. They're punished in the earth. They don't turn into the way of the vineyards.
[19-21] Drought and heat melt the snow waters, so does Hell those who have sinned. The womb will forget them. The worm will feed sweetly on them. They' won't be remembered anymore. Ungodliness will be broken like a tree. They destroy the woman who doesn't have children and shows no kindness to the death survivor.
[22 -25] Still God saves the strong with power and lifts up those who have no hope of life. God gives them safety, and they rest in it. God watches all their ways. They're uplifted; still a little while, and they're gone. Yes, they're brought low, they're taken out of the way as all others, and come to an end like the tops of the ears of grain. If it'sn't so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech useless?"
Bildad Answers Job
25[1 -6] Then Bildad, the Shuhite, answered, "Power and fear are with him. God makes peace in the high places. Can God's armies be counted? On whom does God's light not come up? How then can human beings be just with God? Or how can those who are born of a woman be fit? See, even the moon has no brightness, and the stars aren't pure in God's sight; How much less a human being, who is a worm, the child of human, who is a worm!"
Job Answers Bildad
26[1-6] Then Job answered, "How have you helped the one who has no power! How have you saved the one who has no strength! How have you counseled the one who has no wisdom, and plentifully told sound knowledge! To whom have you spoken these words? Whose spirit came from you? Those who are dead shake in fear, all those beneath the waters and who live in them. Hell is naked before God, and Abaddon, the place of destruction, has no covering.
[7-11] God stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing. God takes up the waters in thick clouds, and the cloud doesn't burst under them. The face of the throne of God is hidden by the clouds spread over it. God has set a boundary on the surface of the waters, and to the limits of light and darkness. The pillars of heaven tremble and are shocked at God's word.
[12-14] God stirs up the sea with great power, and fights Rahab (the sea monster) with understanding. By God's Spirit the stars decorate the sky. God's hand has formed the twisting snake. See, these are only the beginnings of God's ways. How small a whisper do we hear of God! But the thunder of God's power who can understand?"
Job Speaks
27[1-6] Job spoke again, saying, "As God lives, Who has taken away my right, the Almighty, has made me bitter. For the length of my life is still in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils; truly I won't speak ungodliness, nor will I tell lies. Far be it from me that I should justify you. Until I die I won't lose my integrity. I hold on to my goodness, and won't let it go. My heart won't condemn me so long as I live.
[7 -12] Let my enemy be as the sinful. Let those who come against me be as the ungodly. For what's the hope of the godless when they're finished, when God takes away their life? Will God hear their cry when trouble comes on them? Will they enjoy themselves in the Almighty, and call on God at all times? I'll teach you about the hand of God. What's with the Almighty I won't hide. See, all of you've seen it for yourselves; why then have you become altogether worthless?
[13-18] This is what happens to a sinner with God, the heritage of abusers, which they receive from the Almighty. If their children are many, they'll die. Their children won't be satisfied with food. Those who are left of them will be buried in death. Their death survivors won't mourn. Though they pile up silver as the dust, and have clothing as the clay; they may prepare it, but the just will put it on, and the innocent will divide the silver. They build their houses as the moth, as a booth which the watchman makes.
[19-23] They lie down rich, but they won't do so again. They open their eyes, and they're dead. Fears overtake them like waters. A storm steals them away in the night. The east wind carries them away, and they leave. It scares them out of their place. It hurls at them, and doesn't spare, as they run away from God's hand. Others will clap their hands at them, and will hiss them out of their place.
28[1-4] Truly there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold which they refine. Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted out of the ore. Human beings put an end to the darkness, and search out, to the furthest place, the stones of the hidden places of the darkness. They break open a shaft away from where people live. They're forgotten by those who walk above them. They hang far from them, and swing back and forth.
[5-11] The earth gives us our food; Underneath it's turned up as it were by fire. Sapphires come from its rocks. It has dust of gold. That path no bird of prey knows, neither has the falcon's eye seen it. The proud animals haven't stepped it, nor has the fierce lion passed by there. They put their hand on the flinty rock, and overturn the mountains by the roots. They cut out caves among the rocks. Their eye see every precious thing. They keep the streams from flowing. The things that are hidden they bring to light.
[12-20] But where will wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding? Human beings don't know its value; Nor is it found in the land of the living. The deep says, 'It isn't in me.' The sea says, 'It isn't with me. 'It can't be had for gold, nor will silver buy it. It can't be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. Gold and glass can't equal it, nor will it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold. No mention will be made of coral or of crystal. Yes, the price of wisdom is even above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia won't equal it, nor will it be valued with pure gold. Where then comes wisdom? Where is the place of understanding?
[21-28] Seeing it's hidden from the eyes of all living, and kept unseen by the birds of the sky. Destruction and Death say, 'We've heard a rumor about it with our ears.' God understands its way, and knows its place. God looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole sky. God makes the force of the wind. Yes, God weighs out the waters by measure. When God called for the rain, and made a way for the lightning of the thunder; then God saw it, and spoke it. God established it, yes, and searched it out. God said to human beings, 'See, the awe of Yahweh God, that is wisdom. To stop from doing evil is understanding.'"
29[1-7] Job spoke again, saying, "Oh that I were as I was in the old days, as in the days when God watched over me; when God's lamp shone on my head, and by whose light I walked through darkness, as I was in the days of my youth when the friendship of God was in my home, when the Almighty was still with me, and my children were around me, when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out streams of oil for me, when I came to the city gate, when I prepared my seat in the street.
[8 -14] The young saw me and hid themselves. The aged got up and stood. The leaders stopped talking, and put their hand over their mouth. The voice of the rich was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. When they heard me, then I was blessed; and when they saw me, I was praised; because I freed the poor who cried out for help, and those without a parent, and those who didn't have anyone to help them, I got a blessing from those who were about to die, and I caused the death survivor's heart to sing for joy. I put on goodness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a crown.
[15-20] I was eyes to the blind, and feet to those who couldn't walk. I was like a father to the needy. The case of those who I didn't know, I searched out. I broke the jaws of the ungodly, and plucked the prey out of their teeth. Then I said, 'I'll die in my own house, I'll be as old as the sand. My root is spread out to the waters. The dew lies all night on my branch. My honor is anew in me. My bow is always ready in my hand.
[21 -25] Others listened to me, waited, and kept silence for my counsel. After my words they didn't speak again. My words fell on them. They waited for me as for the rain. Their mouths drank as from a creek. I smiled on them when they had no confidence. They didn't reject the light of my face. I guided their way, and sat as leader. I lived as a leader in the army, as one who comforts the mourners.
30[1 -8] But now those who are younger than I make fun of me, whose ancestors I'd have hated to put with my sheep dogs. Of what use is the strength of their hands to me, those in whom youth has died? They're thin from lack and famine. They eat the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and emptiness. They pick salt herbs by the bushes. The roots of the broom are their food. They're driven out from the midst of humanity. They cry after them as after a thief; so that they live in dark valleys, and in caves of the earth and of the rocks. Among the bushes they bray like asses; and gather together under the thorn bushes. They're children of ungodly persons, yes, children of evil people. They were run out of the land.
[9-14] Now I've become their song. Yes, I'm a byword to them. They hate me; they stand away from me, and don't hesitate to spit in my face. They've taken off their belts, and beaten me; and they've thrown off all self-control before me. On my right hand the youth come up. They kick at my feet, They come against me with their destructive ways. They block my path, and move forward my trouble without anyone's help. They come as through a wide opening, in the midst of the ruin they run in.
[15-19] Fears have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud. Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of trouble have taken hold on me. In the night my bones ache, and the pains that gnaw at me don't ever stop. By this horrible disease is my body is disfigured. It surrounds me as the collar of my coat. God has throw me into the mud. I've become like dust and ashes.
[20-25] I cry to You, and You don't answer me. I stand up, and You stare at me. You've turned to be cruel to me. With the strength of Your hand You trouble me. You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You soak me in the storm. I know that You'll bring me to death, to the place set aside for all living. But doesn't one stretch out a hand who falls? Or in their trouble cry for help? Didn't I cry for those who were in trouble? Wasn't I myself upset for the needy?
[26 -31] When I looked for good, then evil came; When I waited for light, there came darkness. My heart is troubled, and doesn't rest. Days of trouble have come on me. I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help. I live with jackals, and am a friend to ostriches. My skin rots and peels from me. My bones are burning with heat. So my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who cry.
31[1-8] I made an agreement with my eyes, how then should I look lustfully at a young woman? For what's the reward from God above, and the heritage from the Almighty on high? Isn't it trouble to the ungodly, and disaster to those who live in sin? Doesn't God see my ways, and number all my steps? If I've walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to lies (let me be weighed in a fair balance, that God may know my integrity); if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart has walked after what I see, if any evil thing has stuck to my hands, then let me plant, and let another eat. Yes, let the produce of my field be uprooted.
[9-15] If my heart has been trickd by a woman, and I've put up a trap at my neighbor's door, then let my wife grind for another, and let others sleep with her. For that would be a terrible sin. Yes, it would be n sin to be punished by the judges; It's a fire that burns everything up, and would destroy everything I have. If I've hated the case of my workers when they argued with me; what then will I do when God comes? When God visits, what will I answer? Didn't the One who made me in the womb make them as well? Didn't God design us both in the womb?
[16 -22] If I've withheld any need from the poor, or have caused the hope of the death survivor to fail, or have eaten my food alone, and haven't fed those without a parent (no, from my youth they grew up with me as with a father, her have I guided from my mother's womb); if I've seen any die for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering; if thier heart hasn't blessed me, if they haven't been warmed with my sheep's wool; if I've lifted up my hand against those without a parent, because I saw my help in the gate, then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from the bone.
[23-28] For trouble from God scares me to death. I can't do anything for God's awesomeness. If I've made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, 'You'll save me; ' If I was happy because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much; if I've seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in beauty, and my heart has been secretly tricked, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth, this also would be a sin to be punished by the judges; for I would have denied the God who is above.
[29-35] If I was happy at the destruction of those who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found them; (yes, I haven't let my mouth sin by asking for their life with a punishment); if the people of my house haven't said, 'Who can find one who hasn't been filled with his meat?' (the foreigner hasn't stayed in the street, but I've opened my doors to the traveler;) if like Adam I've covered my sins, by hiding my sin in my heart, because I feared the people, and the their disapproval scared me to death, so that I kept silence, and didn't go out of the door– oh that I had one to hear me! (see, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me); let the accuser write my crime!
[36-38] Truly I'd carry it on my shoulder; and I'd wear it like a crown. I'd tell God the number of my steps. I would go near to God like a prince. If my land cries out against me, and its furrows cry together; if I've eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life, let briars grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley. The words of Job are finished.
Elihu Answers Job
32[1-5] So these three men stopped arguing with Job, because he was good in his own eyes. Then the anger of Elihu, the child of Barachel, the Buzite, of the family of Ram was kindled against Job. He was angry because Job believed he was more right than God. Also Job was angry at his three friends, because they had found no answer, and still had condemned him. Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he. When Elihu saw that these three men had no answer, he was angry.
[6-12] Elihu, the child of Barachel the Buzite, answered, "I'm young, and you're very old; So I held back, and didn't dare tell you what I thought. I thought, 'Days should speak, and number of years should teach wisdom.' But there's a spirit in human beings, and the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding. It's not only the great who are wise, nor the aged who understand justice. So I thought, 'Listen to me; I also will tell you what I think.' See, I waited for what you'd say, and I listened for your reasoning while you thought of what to say. Yes, I gave you my full attention, but there was no one who convinced Job, or who answered his words, among you.
[13-17] Becareful not to say, 'We've found wisdom, God may refute him, not human beings; ' for he hasn't directed his words against me; nor will I answer him with your words. They're amazed and say no more. They don't have a word to say. Should I wait, because they don't speak, because they stand still, and answer nothing more? I also will answer, and tell you what I think.
[18-22] I'm full of words and the spirit within me pushs me to say them. See, my breast is like wine which has no vent; like new wineskins that are ready to burst. I'll speak, that I may be refreshed. I'll open my lips and answer. Please don't let me give any respect to a human beings's person, nor will I flatter any human being with titles. I don't even know how to give flattering titles; or else my Maker would soon take me away.
33[1-6] But, Job, Please hear what I say, and listen to all my words. See now, I've opened my mouth. My tongue has spoken. My words will speak the goodness of my heart. What my lips know they'll speak sincerely. The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. If you can, tell me. Put your words in order for me, and stand up. See, I'm the same as you are before God. I'm also formed out of the same clay.
[7-13] See, fear of me won't make you afraid, neither will my pressure be heavy on you. Truly you've said in my hearing, I've heard the sound of your words, saying, 'I'm fit without disobedience. I'm innocent, nor is there sin in me. See, God finds occasions against me and counts me an enemy. God puts my feet in the stocks and watches me everywhere I go.' See, I'll answer you. In this you're not just, for God is greater than a human being. Why do you fight against God; God doesn't give account for anything?
[14-22] God speaks once, yes twice, though we pay no attention. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on us, while slumbering in the bed; then God opens our ears, and tells us what to do, to withdraw us from our plans, and keep us from being proud. God keeps their souls from the pit, and their life from ending. They're corrected also with pain on their bed with continual pain in their bones; so that they can't even eat their food, and even their favorite foods. Their skin rots away, so that it can't be seen. Their bones that weren't seen stick out. Yes, their soul draws near to the grave, and their life to the destroyers.
[23-28] If there stands beside them an angel, a mediater, one among a thousand, to show to human beings what's right for them; then God is gracious to them, and says, 'Save them from Hell, I've paid the price.'Their body will be newer than a child's. They return to the days of their youth. They pray to God, and God is favorable to them, so that they see God's face with joy. God restores to human beings their goodness. They sing before others, and say, 'I've sinned, and made wrong what was right, and it didn't do me any good. God has saved my soul from going to Hell. My life will see the light.'
[29-33] See, God works all these things, twice, yes three times with everyone, to bring back their soul from Hell, that they may be enlightened with the light of the living. Pay attention, Job, and listen to me. Hold your peace, and I'll speak. If you have anything to say, answer me. Speak, for I want to justify you. If not, listen to me. Hold your peace, and I'll teach you wisdom.
34[1-6] Then Elihu said, "Hear my words, you the wise. Listen to me, you who have knowledge. For the ear tests words, as the palate tastes food. Let us choose for us what's right. Let us know among ourselves what's good. Job has said, 'I'm good, God has taken away my right; even though I'm right I'm thought of as a liar. My wound is incurable, though I'm without disobedience.' What human being is like Job who mocks God so freely, who goes along with those living in sin, and walks with evildoers? For he has said, 'It does no good if someone walks in joy with God.'
[10-15] So listen to me, you people of understanding; far be it from God to do such an evil thing, from the Almighty to sin. God will repay everyone for what they do, and cause everyone to be repaid for their ways. Yes Truly, God won't do evil, nor will the Almighty bend justice. Who gave God a charge over the earth? or who has set God over the whole world? If God was selfish, and took the spirit and breath back, all humanity would die together, and human beings would turn to dust again.
[16 -20] If now you understand, hear this. Listen to the sound of my voice. Will even one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn one who is good and strong? Who says to a ruler, ' You are evil!' or to the rich, 'You are sinful!'? Who doesn't respect the persons of leaders, nor think of the rich more than the poor; for they're all the work of God's hands. In a moment they die, even at midnight. The people are shaken and pass away. The strong are taken away without a hand.
[21-28] God's eyes are on the ways of everyone and sees all they do. There is no darkness, nor thick gloom where the sinful may hide themselves. God doesn't need to think anyone further, that they should go before God in judgment. God breaks in pieces the strong in ways past finding out, and sets others in their place. So God knows their works and overturns them in the night, so that they're destroyed. God fights them as sinners in the open sight of others; because they turned away from following God, and wouldn't pay attention to any of God's ways, so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to God, who heard the cry of the troubled.
[29-32] When God gives peace, who then can condemn? When the face of God is hidden, who then can see God? It's the same whether to a nation, or to a person, so that the godless may not rule, so that there be no one to entrap the people. For has anyone said to God, 'I'm guilty, but I won't offend any more. Teach me what I don't see. If I've sinned, I won't do it anymore'?
[33 -37] Should God repay as you want. God will repay whether you like it or not! You must choose, and not I. So say what you know. People of understanding will tell me, yes, every wise person who hears me says, ' Job speaks without knowledge, words that are without wisdom. I wish that Job were tested to the end, because he speaks like sinners. For he adds rebellion to his sin. He claps his hands among us, and says many words against God."
Elihu Speaks Further
35[1-4] Then Elihu said, "Do you think this to be your right, or do you say, 'My goodness is more than God's,' that you ask, 'What advantage will it be to you? What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?' I'll answer you, and your friends with you.
[5-11] Look to the heavens, and see. See the skies, which are higher than you. If you've sinned, what effect do you have against God? If your sins are many, what do you do to God? If you're good, what do you give God? Or what does God get from your hand? Your evil may hurt a human like you, and your goodness may help a human being. Because of the many abuses they cry out. They cry for help because of the arm of the strong. But no one says, 'Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?'
[12-16] There they cry, but no one answers, because of the pride of evil people. Truly, God won't hear an empty cry, nor will the Almighty pay attention to it. How much less when you say you don't see God. The case is before God, for whom you wait! But now, because God hasn't visited in anger, nor pays attention to pride, so you open your mouth with empty talk, and say many words without knowledge."
36[1-6] Elihu also continued, saying, "Put up with me a little, and I'll show you; for I still have something to say on God's behalf. I'll get my knowledge from afar, and will credit goodness to my Maker. Truly, my words aren't false. One who is perfect in knowledge is with you. See, God is strong, and doesn't hate anyone. God has great wisdom. God doesn't save the life of the sinful, but gives to the troubled their right.
[7-12] God doesn't stop watching over the good, but God sets rulers on the throne up forever, and they're uplifted. If they're chained in fetters, and are taken in the cords of troubles, then God shows them their work, and their sins, that they've behaved themselves proudly. He also opens their ears to teaching, and tells them that they must return from sin. If they listen and serve God, they'll spend their days in doing well, and their years in happiness. But if they don't listen, they'll die in war; they'll die without knowledge.
[13-17] But those who are godless in heart lay up God's anger. They don't cry for help when God punishes them. They die in their youth. Their life is among the unfit. God frees the abused out of their troubles, and speaks to them in their abuse. Yes, God would have moved you out of trouble, into a wide open space where there is no limit. What's set on your table would be full of goodness. But you're being judged as the sinful. Judgment and justice have caught up with you.
[18-24] Don't let riches trick you into making a wrong judgment, nor let the great size of a bribe turn you aside. Would your wealth save you in trouble, or all the force of your strength? Don't want the night when people die in their place. Be careful, don't think of sin; for you've chosen this rather than trouble. See, God has great power. Who can teach us like God? Who could tell God which way to go? Or who can say, 'You've done ungodliness?' Remember that you praise God's works in which people have sung.
[25 -29] All men have looked on it. Human beings see it very far away. See, God is great, whom we can't know. No one knows how old God is. God evaporates the drops of water which come down in rain from its vapor, which the skies pour down and which drop on human beings very much. Yes, can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, and the thunderings of God's house?
[30-33] See, God's light shines out. God covers the bottom of the sea. By these God judges the people. God gives us much food. God's hands hold the lightning bolts and tells it to strike the mark. Its noise tells us that God is near, and the livestock also about the storm that comes up.
37[1-5] Yes, at this my heart trembles, and is moved out its place. Hear, oh, hear the noise of God's voice, the sound that goes out of God's mouth. God sends it forth under the whole sky, and the lightning to the ends of the earth. After it, a voice roars. God thunders with an awesome voice. Nothing is held back when God's voice is heard. God's voice thunders wonderfully. God does great things, which we can't understand.
[6 -14] God says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth; ' likewise to the shower of rain, and to the strong rain. God marks the hand of everyone, that all whom God has made may know it. Then the animals take cover, and are left in their dens. The storm comes out of its place, and cold out of the north. By the breath of God, ice is given, and the breadth of the waters is frozen. Yes, God loads the thick cloud with moisture, and spreads out the cloud with its lightning. God guides where they go, that they may do whatever God tells them on the face of the earth, whether it's for correction, or for the land, or for loving kindness, that it comes. Listen to this, Job. Stand still, and think about the wondrous works of God.
[15 -20] Do you know how God controls them, and causes the lightning to shine out of the cloud? Do you know the workings of the clouds, the wondrous works of the One who is perfect in knowledge? You whose clothing is warm when the earth is still because of the south wind? Can you with God, spread out the sky, which is as strong as a cast metal mirror? Teach us what we'll say to God, for we can't make our case because of darkness. Will it be told God that I want to speak? Or should anyone wish that they were swallowed up?
[21-24] Now no one sees the light which is bright in the skies, but the wind passes, and clears them. Out of the north comes golden splendor. With God is wonderful awesomeness. We can't reach the Almighty, who has great power. In justice and great goodness, God won't abuse. So human beings respect God. God doesn't consider any who are wise of heart."
Yahweh Answers Job
38[1 -7] Then Yahweh answered out of the whirlwind, "Who is this who confuses My wisdom by words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man, for I'll question you, then you answer Me! "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you understand. Who decided how big it would be, if you know? Or who measured it? On what were the foundations built? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all God's angels shouted for joy?
[8-15] Or who made the boundaries of the sea when it burst from the womb of the deep, when I dressed it with clouds, and wrapped it in deep darkness, when I set its boundaries, and drew the lines of its shore, saying, 'Here you may come, but no further. Your proud waves will stop here.' Have you told the morning to shine its light, and caused the sun to come up in the east; that it could shine its light to the ends of the earth, and expose what the sinful do? The days dawns as red clay under a seal, and clothes the morning. But the sinful see only darkeness and the arm raised for trouble is broken.
[16-21] Have you gone into the fountains of the sea? Or have you walked in the deepest caves of the sea? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? Do you even know how wide the earth is? Tell Me, if you know it all. Where is the way the light goes? As for darkness, where does it stay, that you should take it to its place, and that you should find the paths to where it goes? Truly you know, for you were born then, and you're very old!
[22-30] Have you seen the stores of snow and hail, which I've kept for the times of trouble, when I bring judgment on the earth in war? By what way does the lightning come, or does the east wind blow on the earth? Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm; to cause it to rain on land where no one lives; on the empty countryside; to satisfy the deserted lands, to cause the tender grass to grow? Where does the rain come from or the drops of dew? Where does the ice come from and the gray frost of the sky? The waters become hard like stone when the surface of the sea is frozen.
[31-35] Can you cluster together the stars of the Pleiades, or spread out those of Orion? Can you move the constellations in their seasons? Or can you guide the stars of the Bear with her cubs? Do you know the natural laws of the heavens? Can you understand its power over the earth? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that wealth of waters may fall on you? Can you make the lightnings go away? Do they report to you, saying, 'Here we are?'
[36-41] Who has put wisdom and understanding into the mind of a human being? Who is wise enough to count the clouds? Or who can pour out the stores of water from the sky, when the dust hardens, and the clods of earth stick together? Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or feed the young lions till they're full, when they crouch in their dens, and set an ambush in the thicket? Who gives the raven its food when its young cries to God, and wanders off for lack of food?
39[1-4] Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe have her fawns? Can you count the months that they complete? Or do you know the time when they give birth? They bow themselves and bring out their young, and end their labor pains. Their young become strong. They grow up in the open field. They go out, and don't come back again.
[5-12] Who has set the wild donkey free? Or who has untied it, whose home I've made the countryside, and the salt flats its home? It hates the noise of the city, nor does it like to hear the shouting of the driver. The mountain range is its pasture, where it searches after every green thing. Will the wild cow be happy to work for you? Or will it stay by your feeding trough? Can you hold the wild cow in the furrow with a harness? Or will it till the valleys following after you? Will you trust it for its great strength? Or will you leave it to do your work? Will you trust in it to bring home your seed, and gather the grain of your barn floor?
[13 -18] The wings of the ostrich wave proudly; but are they the feathers and plumage of love? For she leaves her eggs in the earth, warms them in the dust, and forgets that the foot may crush them, or that a wild animal may stomp on them. She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they weren't even hers. Though her labor is for nothing, she has no fear, because God hasn't given her the wisdom to know better, nor given her any understanding. When she jumps up to run, she outruns the horse with its rider with ease.
[19-25] Have you given the horse its strength? Have you dressed its neck with a mane to blow in the wind? Have you made it to leap as a locust jumps? The sound of its snorting is terrible. It paws in the valley, and is happy in its strength. It goes out to meet the soldiers. It mocks at fear, and isn't troubled, nor does it turn back from the weapons of war. The quiver rattles against it, along with the flashing spear and the lance. It tears up the ground with its rage and fierceness, nor does it stand still at the sound of the horn. As often as the horn sounds it snorts, 'Aha!' It smells the battle very far away, the shout of the captains, and the war cry.
[26 -29] Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and stretches its wings toward the south? Is it at your word that the eagle mounts up, and makes its nest on high? It lives on the cliffs, and makes its home on the top of the cliff, and its stronghold. From there it spies out its prey, seeing it very far away. Its young ones also suck up blood. Where the dead are, there it is."
Behemoth, the Dinosaur
40[1 -5] Besides Yahweh answered Job, "Will the one who argues correct the Almighty? Whoever argues with God, let them answer." Then Job answered Yahweh, "See, I'm nothing. What could I answer You? I lay my hand on my mouth. I've spoken once, but I won't speak again; Yes, twice, but I'll go no further."
[6 -14] Then Yahweh spoke out of the tornado, "Now brace yourself like a man. I'll question you, and you'll answer me. Will you even discount My judgment? Will you condemn Me, that you could be right? Or do you have the power of God? Can you thunder with a voice like Mine? Now clothe yourself with perfection and brilliance. Array yourself with honor and grandeur. Show all the fury of your anger. Look at everyone who is proud, and bring them down and humble them. Destroy the sinful in their place. Bury them in the dust together and bury their faces in the grave. Then I'll also admit to you that your own right hand can save you.
[15-22] "See now, behemoth (likely a brachiosaurus-type dinosaur), which I made as well as you. It eats grass like a cow. Look now, its strength is in its thighs, whose force is in the muscles of the belly. Its tail is as strait and strong as a cedar. The tendons of its thighs are joined together. Its bones are like strong tubes of brass. Its limbs are like bars of iron. It's the largest of God's creatures. The One who made it can destroy it as well. Truly the mountains make food for it, where all the animals of the field play. It lies under the lotus trees, hidden by the reeds, and the marshy waters. The trees cover it with their shade, the willows of the river all around it. See, if a river overflows, it isn't scared. It's confident, though the Jordan swells even to its mouth. Can anyone take it while it watches, when its nose breaks the traps?
Leviathan, the Sea Monster
41[1-7] "Can you catch Leviathan (likely a plesiosaur-type dinosaur) with a fishhook, or drop a line down its throat? Can you put a ring into its nose, or pierce its jaw through with a hook? Will it beg you for mercy, or speak soft words to you? Will it make an agreement with you, that you should take it as a working animal forever? Will you play with it like a pet bird? Or will you tie it up for your girls? Will sales people buy it? Will they divide it among the people for a feast? Can you fill its hide with iron spears, or its head with fish spears?
[8-11] Lay your hand on it, remember the battle, and never do it again. See, the hope of catching it is useless. Won't you be thrown down even at the sight of it? No one is so fierce that they dare stir it up. Who then can face me? Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.
[12 -17] I won't be quiet about its great limbs, nor its strong strength, nor its beautiful shape. Who can strip off its outer hide? Who will come near its jaws? Who can open the jaws of its mouth filled with huge teeth? Its strong scales are its strength, so close together nothing could break its seal. One is so near to another, that no air can come between them. They're joined to each other and stick together, so that they can't be pulled apart.
[18-24] When it sneezes, it flashes out light. Its eyes are bright and shiney. Burning fire comes out of its mouth, with sparks of fire blowing out. Smoke comes out of its nostrils, like a boiling pot over a burning fire. Its breath starts the coals and a flame goes out of its mouth. It has a very strong neck, which scares anyone that sees it. The scales of its hide are joined together, so strongly, that they can't be broken. Its heart is as hard as a rock, yes, harder than a very heavy stone.
[25 -29] When it raises itself up even the strongest are afraid. They retreat from its thrashing. If someone attacks it with a sword, it can't kill it; nor a spear, a dart, or any pointed weapon. It breaks iron like straw; and brass like rotten wood. The arrow can't make it run. Sling stones are like chaff to it. Clubs are like stubble. It laughs at the speeding spear.
[30-34] Its underside is covered in sharp scales, leaving behind a trail of them in the mud. It makes the deep sea boil like a pot and makes it like a foaming pot of ointment. It leaves a shing path in its wake. You'd think the sea was covered in frost. There is nothing as great as it on earth; its fearless. It sees everything and rules over all who think themselves great."
Job Answers Yahweh
42[1-6] Then Job answered Yahweh, "I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be stopped. You asked, 'Who is this who hides my counsel without knowledge?' so I've said things I didn't fully understand, things too wonderful for me, which I didn't even know. You said, 'Listen, now, and I'll speak; I'll question you, and you'll answer me.' I had heard of You by the spoken word, but now my eye sees You. So I hate myself, and will change my ways, covered in dust and ashes."
[7-9] So after Yahweh had said these words to Job, Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I'm angry at you, and against your two friends because you haven't said of Me what is right, as My worker has. So now, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my worker Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my worker will pray for you, and I'll accept him, that I not deal with you according to your disgrace. For you haven't said of me what is right, as my worker has." So Eliphaz, the Temanite, Bildad, the Shuhite, and Zophar, the Naamathite went, and did what Yahweh told them, and Yahweh accepted Job's prayer. Yahweh turned the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends. Yahweh gave Job twice as much as he had before.
[11-12] Then came all his family, and all those who had known him before, came and ate with him in his house. They comforted him, and consoled him about all the hard things that Yahweh had brought on him. Everyone gave him some money, and a ring of gold, also. So Yahweh blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. He had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 pair of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.
[13 -17 He had also seven sons and three daughters. He called the name of the first, Jemimah; and the name of the second Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren Happuch. There were no women found In all the land so beautiful as the daughters of Job. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. After this lived 140 years, and saw his children, and his grandchildren, up to four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days.


text:
When Vince Staples looks at the landscape of Rap, he says it's hard to find music he likes beyond a couple of artists.
"We've been on the new 2 Chainz a little bit and Young Thug hard," Vince Staples says in an interview with Tino Cochino of Phoenix, Arizona's Power 98.3. "It ain't nothin' out, man. I just don't be looking'. You gotta look hard, bruh."
Staples says it's even more difficult because rappers tend to copy styles.
"You got the Migos song and then everybody do the Migos songs," he says. "Then you got Young Thug so everybody's 'bout do Young Thug songs, which is gonna be very hard to do."
When asked if others are imitating his style, Staples says he doesn't get copied just yet.
"I ain't poppin'," he says. "I'm regular, bro. I'm telling you. We grind-mode."
Part of that grind mode includes Shyne Coldchain II, a project that earned a 4 out of 5 in its HipHopDX review this year.
"Vince Staples is a pleasant anomaly to a Rap game often watered down by acts seeking attention for everything except quality music," HipHopDX says of the release. "Full of slappers from relevant producer turned Def Jam higher up No I.D., Shyne Coldchain 2 serves as an appetizer prepping for an anticipated retail album from Staples on the powerhouse label."
Earlier this year, Staples also spoke with HipHopDX about biters. "We got 80 Migos songs out," he said. "Everybody want to be the Migos and all the sucker shit."
RELATED: Vince Staples – Shyne Coldchain II

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Some years ago I built a 1/48 F-18 for a pilot, and at the beginning of May he contacted me again to request a build of the Revell 1/32 Eurofighter. Although it's neither a scale nor subject that I'd normally work in he offered me a fair price and I agreed. Along with the kit the client sent Aires resin sets for the cockpit, engines and wheel bays (with the stipulation that I was to use them only if it didn't create huge amounts of extra work). The aftermarket cockpit is so much nicer than the kit's that I felt obliged to use it, and it did fit without too much surgery.
Yet to be added are the joystick and HUD. The canopy/windscreen have a prominent seam line running their full length which was removed with sanding and polishing, followed by a dip in Pledge.


text:
One of my favorite things about buying produce in Japan is seasonality. As many food writers have pointed out, most people have completely lost touch with the seasons and phases of food. We no longer set our schedules by planting and harvest times, and a grocery store without year-round apples seems strange. I'm not going to romanticize rural Japan to you – grocery stores import produce from the southern hemisphere to add to their variety, and there are plenty of city kids who wouldn't be able to tell you when to plant your seeds any more than they'd know how. Yet, Japan always seems to have one gloved hand on tradition while the other grasps at the present, and I do find it easier to eat with the seasons here. My favorite fruit is the fig, which is just rounding out its peak season and can still be bought inexpensively.
There's a philosophical benefit to buying with the seasons: the appreciation of rarity. I enjoy figs more when I know I can't have them every day. I buy the plumpest, juiciest summer grapes and I eat them slowly. There's always something to look forward to – just the other day on a morning run, I saw the first persimmons hanging from my neighbors tree, little orange bulbs blushing green with newness in some places. Ripe, earth-grown produce contains more nutrients, and buying locally obviates the need for expensive and environmentally unfriendly shipping across the globe. Oh, wait, you've heard this before? I know, me too. (You all have permission to kill me if I ever start wearing my hair in long braids and tweeting under some name like la_vida_locavore.)
More practicallyl, peak-season fruit tends to be cheaper. I get the sneaking suspicion that people who complain about expensive produce in Japan are people who walk into a grocery store, grab the first familiar fruit (a bubble-wrapped peach, for instance), and then balk at the price upon checkout. You're on an island chain in Asia.
But, you know, sometimes you want a damn tangerine, and I would never belittle anybody for that. We are privileged people living in amazingly advanced times, and one sign of that is being able to enjoy a piece of citrus from 5,000 miles away. You can't wear the hair-shirt all the time. But if you want to get the best deal on fruit, I suggest the following:
- Shop around. Scout multiple groceries. At the risk of sounding totally mental, I go to different grocers for different kinds of fruit and vegetables. A bunch of bananas here for ¥100 less, apples on sale for ¥77 there, and this one place used to sell boxes packed with kumquats for ¥200 yen, whereas everywhere else was selling them for ¥800.
- Buy from the "not-so-fresh" rack, which contains produce that is, yes, not-so-fresh by Japanese standards, but usually totally fine by anyone else's; it's usually just past its ridiculously short sell-by date. "Old produce" in Japan is still pretty much "farm fresh!" in America.
- Find out what's being harvested right now in your area. Apples are always going to be expensive in Kyushu because the bulk of them come from northeastern Japan or from overseas. But your neighbors probably can't even give all their backyard persimmons away.
And with that, I'd like to present you with a table of fruit by season, at least here in Kyushu. In addition, I'm providing a highly subjective list of reasonable prices one might pay. ("It's a banana, Michael, how much can it cost? $10?") No price means I don't buy them often enough to be able to give a good estimate.
- Persimmons (6 for ¥300)
- Apples (1 for ¥80-100)
- Grapes (1 package/punnet for ¥250-300, local)
- Figs (6 for ¥300)
- Kiwi (1 for ¥80)
- Nashi (Japanese pear) (1 for ¥100-130)
- Young mikan (Mandarin orange)
- Mikan (Mandarin orange) (8 for ¥300)
- Kinkan (kumquat) (20 for ¥300)
- Yuzu (lemon-like citrus)
- Random local citrus (some good, some not so good)
Spring (the worst time for fruit)
- Strawberries (1 punnet for ¥250-300)
- Cherries in late spring (1 punnet for ¥400)
- Biwa (loquat) (8 for ¥300)
- Cherries (1 punnet for ¥400)
- Grapes (1 package or punnet for ¥250-300, local)
- Peaches (1 for ¥150)
- Watermelon (1 quarter for ¥200-250)
- Pineapple (1 medium for ¥200)
- Kabosu Limes
- Other expensive-ass melons I've never tried, regrettably
It's worth noting that bananas are not grown in Japan and are usually imported from Vietnam or the Philippines; it's also worth noting that they tend to be far cheaper per unit than Japan-grown fruits. (Many people will chalk this up to quality, which certainly can't be denied, but it probably has more to do with protectionist policies and farm subsidies. Read: Pro-TPP article and Anti-TPP article for further research, if you're interested.)
Growing up in Colorado, we used to look forward to Palisade peaches each summer – huge spheres of juicy flesh the size of a baby's head. It's impossible not to get sticky when eating a Palisade peach, but in Japan, fruit is always peeled and cut up before being eaten to avoid any chance of messiness. I often find myself hoping this is just a showy display of refinement put on in public, and that many people secretly enjoy the primal gnash and slush of biting into a fruit that is much too big for their mouths. But that may just be wishful thinking.