(Oh, that I had someone to hear me!I sign now my defense -- let the Almighty answer me;Let my accuser put his indictment in writing.Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown.I would give him an account of my every step;I would present it to him as to a ruler.) Job 31:35-37 Job was at a point in his suffering when he desperately needed to hear from God!He felt innocent b...  Read More

If I have denied justice to any of my servants, whether male or female, when they had a grievance against me,What will I do when God confronts me?What will I answer when called to account?Did not he who made me in the womb make them?Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary;If I have kept my bread to myself...  Read More

I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman.For what is our lot from God above, our heritage from the Almighty on high?Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong?Does He not see my ways and count my every step?If I have walked with falsehood or my foot has hurried after deceit -- let God weigh me in honest scales and He will know that I am blameless…If...  Read More

Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind,  My safety vanishes like a cloud. And now my life ebbs away; days of suffering grip me…I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up but you merely look at me.You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me...I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living…Have I not we...  Read More

How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me,When His lamp shone on my head…O for the days when I was in my prime, when God's intimate friendship blessed my house...When my path was drenched with cream…Whoever heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me commended me because I rescued the poor who cried for help and the fatherless who had none to assist them.The one ...  Read More

There is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined.Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore.Mortals put an end to the darkness; they search out the farthest recesses for ore in the blackest darkness.Far from human dwellings they cut a shaft, in places untouched by human feet; far from other people they dangle and sway. The earth, from which food comes, is transformed ...  Read More

I will teach you about the power of God; the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal.You have all seen this yourselves. Why then this meaningless talk?Here is the fate God allots to the wicked, the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty:However many his children, their fate is the sword; his offspring will never have enough to eat.The plague will bury those who survive him, and their w...  Read More

"How you have helped the powerless!How you have saved the arm that is feeble!What advice you have offered to one without wisdom!And what great insight you have displayed!Who has helped you utter these words?And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?...As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made my life bitter, as long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my...  Read More

"Dominion and awe belong to God;He establishes order in the heights of heaven.Can His forces be numbered?On whom does His light not rise?How then can a mortal be righteous before God?How can one born of woman be pure?If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in His eyes, how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot -- a human being who is only a worm! (Job 25) God is utterly awesome...  Read More

Why doesn't the Almighty bring the wicked to judgment?Why must the godly wait for Him in vain?Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers.They steal livestock and put them in their own pastures.They take the orphan's donkey and demand the widow's ox as security for a loan.The poor are pushed off the path...Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, the poor must spend all their time looking fo...  Read More

Then Job replied:"Even today my complaint is bitter; His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.If only I knew where to find Him;If only I could go to His dwelling!I would state my case before HimAnd fill my mouth with arguments.I would find out what He would answer me,And consider what He would say to me…But if I go to the east, He is not there;If I go to the west, I do not find Him.When He is at ...  Read More

Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: ..."Submit to God and be at peace with Him;In this way prosperity will come to you.Accept instructions from His mouthAnd lay up His words in your heart.If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored:If you remove wickedness far from your tentAnd assign your nuggets to the dust,Your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,Then the Almighty will be your gold...  Read More