Part 3

Zophar says to Job:

My anxious thoughts make me answer, because of the turmoil within me. From the proceeds of business he will get no enjoyment, for he has oppressed and forsaken the poor, because he knows no quietness in his heart, he will not save anything he desires. In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress; every hand of misery will come against him. It shall go ill with him who is left in his tent.

Eliphaz continues against Job:

Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless? Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you, and enters into judgment with You? Receive, please, instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; yes, the Almighty will by your gold and your precious silver; for then you will have your delight in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you.

Job says:

Would He contend with me in His great power? No! But He would take note of me. There the upright could reason with Him, and I would be delivered forever from my Judge. Look, I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; but He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. My food has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. But God draws the mighty away with His power; He rises up, but no man is sure of life. He gives them security, and they rely on it' yet His eyes are on their ways. They are exalted for a little while, then they are gone. They are brought low; they are taken out of the way like all others. His eye sees every precious thing. And to man He said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.'" Oh, that I were as in months past, as in the days when God watched over me; when His lamp shone upon my head, and when by His light I walked through darkness; when the friendly counsel of God was over my tent; when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were around me. When the eye saw, then it approved me; because I delivered the poor who cried out, the fatherless and the one who had no helper. And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. Men listened to me and waited, and keep silence for my counsel. After my words they did not speak again, and my speech settled on them as dew. Now my soul is poured out because of my plight; the days of affliction take hold of me. My bones are pierced in me at night, and my gnawing pains take no rest. I cry out to You, but You do not answer me. Have I not wept for him who was in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor? But when I looked for good, evil came to me; and when I waited for light, then came darkness. My heart is in turmoil and cannot rest; days of affliction confront me. I go about mourning, but not in the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.

Selected verses from Job chapters 20 - 31