Job’s Response to God
1Job said in reply to the Lord:
2I know that You can do everything,
That nothing you propose is impossible for You.
3Who is this who obscures counsel without knowledge?
Indeed, I spoke without understanding
Of things beyond me, which I did not know.
4Hear now, and I will speak;
I will ask, and You will inform me.
5I had heard You with my ears,
But now I see You with my eyes;
6Therefore, I recant and relent,
Being but dust and ashes.
Credits
Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.
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Related Guide
Theodicy, or Why Good People Suffer: The Biblical Book of Job
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The book of Job asks why bad things happen to good people, as an entry point into questions about the relationship between God and humans.
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Job 20–21 (selections)
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Do you not know this, that from time immemorial,
Since man was set on earth,
The joy of the wicked has been brief,
The happiness of the…
Job’s Final Speeches
Job 29, 31 (selections)
Job again took up his theme and said:
O that I were as in months gone by,
In the days when God watched over me,
When His lamp shone over my head,
When I walked in the dark by its light…
Elihu Speaks
Job 32–34 (selections)
These three men ceased replying to Job, for he considered himself right. Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was angry—angry at Job because he thought himself…
God Speaks
Job 38 (selections)
Then the Lord replied to Job out of the tempest and said:
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Job said in reply to the Lord:
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