| [Radio announcer. Bildad has another
sermonette for us, if we can take it.] 25:1Then Bildad answered, saying: 2How fearful a sovereign is he Who keeps the peace in his high heaven! 3How can his armies be counted And upon whom has his light not risen? 4How can man be just before God? One born of woman be clean? See 5How the moon does not shine And even the stars are not clean in his sight. 6How much less is man, who is a maggot, The son of man, who is a worm! 24:13There are rebels against the light Who neither know nor keep its way. 14At dusk the murderer rises from his bed To kill the afflicted and the poor; He goes forth like a thief in the night. 15The adulterer watches for evening; "No one will see me," he says, As he covers his face. 16And the house breaker, too, digs in the dark. By day, though, they shut themselves in, For they are not acquainted with the light. 17Darkness is their morning; They know its terrors well. 18But they are swift on the face of the waters; Their portion on the earth is cursed |
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| And there is no vineyard in which
they might glean.
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Bildad, a landowner himself, reflects a moment. | |
| 30:2What
use to me the strength of their arms?
Their vigor is spent. 3Gaunt from want and hunger, They gnaw at the parched earth. By night in the desolate waste 4They gather saltwort among the scrub And roots of broom for warmth. 5They are driven out, banished And shouted after like a thief. 6In the gullies of the wadies they must dwell, In the caves of the cliffs or among the rocks. 7They bray among the bushes, Huddled together beneath the nettles. 8A base and nameless brood, They are scourged from the land! |
Aside.
Speaking to the crowd. |
|
| 24:19As summer
drought takes the spring torrent,
So Sheol takes the wicked man. 20Forgot by the womb, Sucked sweetly by the worm, He is remembered no more; Unrighteousness is felled like a tree. 21He misuses the barren woman who has no child And does ill to the widow. 22He influences the mighty with his power; He rises in the world, sure of his way. 23God gives him confidence that he leans on, But God watches him. 24He is exalted a moment, then gone, Brought low and gathered in like the rest, Cut off, like wheat before the blade. 25If it is not so, then who will prove me the liar And show there is nothing in what I say? |
Eliphaz steadies the overexcited Bildad. | |
| 26:1Then Job
answered, saying:
2How you have helped the infirm, Strengthened the arm that was weak! 3How you have counseled the unwise; What insight you have displayed! |
Speaking to Bildad. | |
| 4But with
whose help do you speak?
And whose is the spirit you express? |
Looking at Eliphaz. | |
| 29:1Then Job
took up his poem again, saying:
2I would it were as in months gone by, In the days when God watched over me, 3When his torch was lit above my head And I walked by his light through the darkness. 4That was the harvest of my life, When God hedged round my tent, 5When the Almighty was with me yet And my children were gathered about me. 6Then my steps were bathed in milk And the very rock poured out streams of oil for me. 7When I went forth from the city To my seat in the square outside the gate, 8The young men saw me coming and cleared the way, And the older men would rise. 9The princes interrupted their talk And put their hands on their mouths. 10Stilled were the tongues of the mighty -- Tight against the roofs of their mouths! 11The ear that heard me spoke well of me And the eye that saw me commended me. 12For I saved the afflicted one who cried out, The orphan and all who had no help. 13I was touched by the blessing of the dying And I made the widow's heart sing. 14I was righteous within and righteous without; I had justice for my robe and my turban. 15I was eyes for the blind And feet for the lame. 16I was father to the poor And I would look into the legal case of a stranger. 17I broke the jaws of the wicked And wrested the prey from his teeth. 18"I will die at a very old age," I said to myself, "I will multiply my days like the sand. 19My roots will reach to the waters And the dew will collect on my leaves. 20My glory will always be fresh, The bow ever new in my hand." |
Addressing the crowd. | |
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21Men listened and waited in silence; They looked to me for advice. 22When I had spoken, they had nothing to add; My words were like gentle raindrops upon them. 23They waited for me as for the rain, As for the spring rain, mouths open to the sky! 24If I smiled upon them, they couldn't believe it And their eyes clung to the light of my face. 25Like a chief, I pointed out the way; Like a king among his troops, I led them where I chose. 30:1But now they laugh at me, Men younger than I, Whose fathers I had disdained To put with my sheep dogs. 9Now they make a song of me, A byword I have become among them. 10They detest me and keep their distance, And they spit as they go by. 11He has loosed my tentcord and brought me down, So my presence no longer restrains them. |
Job pauses, in command of his audience.
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| 12On my right
the upstarts rise;
They let go the snare from round my feet Only to raise up a furious siege against me. 13They make my path rough; They hasten me to my destruction; And there is no remedy for them! 14The way is open for their attack -- Like waves upon the ruins -- I am already breached. 15Sudden terrors are turned against me; My honesty is pursued as so much wind; And my salvation becomes a dark cloud. 16Now my soul is poured out within me; Days of affliction take hold upon me, 17Nights of bone racking pain And gnawing worms that never rest. |
Indicating his friends. | |
| 18(My
garment is very cleverly disguised;
My hand closes my cloak around me.) |
Job sits and draws his cloak around him, ashen side out. | |
| 19Reduced
to clay,
I have become like dust and ashes. 20If I cry for help, you do not answer; But if I stand, you give me heed; 21You change towards me and become cruel, With your mighty hand and your hate. |
Speaking to God.
Bang goes the drum! |
|
| 22You
lift me to the wind,
Make me a rider on the storm; You toss me about in its roar. 23I well know you will turn me back to Death, To the place appointed for all who live. |
As a falcon might
be released.
Drum roll.
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| 24He would
not lift his hand against a pile of ruins,
Against one crying so for help in his calamity? 25Did I not weep for the unfortunate And grieve for the needy? 26I looked for good but evil came; I hoped for light but darkness came. 27My guts boiled within unceasing; Days of constant misery confronted me, 28Days of gloom when the sun did not shine. I stood in the assembly and begged for help; 29A brother I became to the howling jackal, A companion to the screeching ostrich. 30My skin turned black And my bones burned. |
Addressing the crowd. | |
| 31(Now my harp
has a mournful sound
And my pipe wails.) [Radio announcer. Then Zophar showed his true colors.] |
Musical interlude as indicated. | |
| 27:7Then Zophar
answered, saying:
May my enemy be an evil man And the one who rebels against me a wrongdoer! 8For what hope has the ungodly in his greed If God draws out his soul? 9Will God hear him crying out In his time of distress 10If he makes sport of the Almighty, |
Addressing the crowd. | |
| Always calling upon God?
11I will teach you about the Hand of God And what is with the Almighty I will not conceal. 12You have all seen it yourselves, |
The crowd murmurs. | |
| So why have you become such utter
fools?
13This is the portion of the wicked from God, The tyrant's heritage from the Almighty! 14If his sons become many, it is for the sword, And his grandchildren will starve. 15The plague will bury those who survive him And their widows will not weep. |
The crowd boos.
Shouting and pointing at Job. |
|
| 16He may
heap up silver like dust
And stack up fine clothes like bricks, 17But what he lays up, the righteous will wear, And the innocent will share out the silver. |
Picking up the necklace Eliphaz threw down and putting it on. The crowd hisses. | |
| [Radio announcer. That silver necklace Eliphaz
threw
down, guess who is snagging it for himself!] 18He has built himself a nest of straw, Made himself a watchman's shack. 19For the last time he will lie down a wealthy man; He has opened his eyes -- and there is nothing! 20Terrors will overtake him like a flood; A whirlwind in the night has snatched him away. 21The East wind will carry him off and he is gone; It will sweep him away. 22It will hurl itself against him without mercy |
Zophar goes onto the attack, mimicking a storm against Job. See the stage direction from the original below. | |
| And he must flee from its power.
23(He claps his hands at him And hisses at him from his station.) |
The crowd hoots Zophar down.
This looks like a stage direction for Zophar. |
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last changed January 21, 2002