Job: this is not a theodicy

“Can mortals be acquitted by God? Can man be cleared by his Maker?

If He cannot trust His own servants, And casts reproach on His angels,

How much less those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose origin is dust, Who are crushed like the moth,

Shattered between daybreak and evening, Perishing forever, unnoticed.

Their cord is pulled up and they die, and not with wisdom.”

Evil does not grow out of the soil, Nor does mischief spring from the ground;

See how happy is the man whom God reproves; Do not reject the discipline of the Almighty.

He injures, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands heal.

If my anguish were weighed, My full calamity laid on the scales,

It would be heavier than the sand of the sea; That is why I spoke recklessly.

For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; My spirit absorbs their poison; God’s terrors are arrayed against me.

Does a wild ass bray when he has grass? Does a bull bellow over his fodder?

What is man, that You make much of him, That You fix Your attention upon him?

Will You not look away from me for a while, Let me be, till I swallow my spittle?

If I have sinned, what have I done to You, Watcher of men? Why make of me Your target, And a burden to myself?

Why do You not pardon my transgression And forgive my iniquity? For soon I shall lie down in the dust; When You seek me, I shall be gone.

How long will you speak such things? Your utterances are a mighty wind!

Will God pervert the right? Will the Almighty pervert justice?

If your sons sinned against Him, He dispatched them for their transgression.

If you are blameless and upright, He will protect you, And grant well-being to your righteous home.

Surely God does not despise the blameless; He gives no support to evildoers.

Indeed I know that it is so: Man cannot win a suit against God.

If he insisted on a trial with Him, He would not answer one charge in a thousand.

Wise of heart and mighty in power— Who ever challenged Him and came out whole?

Him who moves mountains without their knowing it, Who overturns them in His anger;

He snatches away—who can stop Him? Who can say to Him, “What are You doing?”

How then can I answer Him, Or choose my arguments against Him?

Though I were in the right, I could not speak out, But I would plead for mercy with my judge.

If I summoned Him and He responded, I do not believe He would lend me His ear.

For He crushes me for a hair; He wounds me much for no cause.

If a trial of strength—He is the strong one; If a trial in court—who will summon Him for me?

Though I were innocent, My mouth would condemn me; Though I were blameless, He would prove me crooked.

It is all one; therefore I say, “He destroys the blameless and the guilty.”

The earth is handed over to the wicked one; He covers the eyes of its judges. If it is not He, then who?

Is a multitude of words unanswerable? Must a loquacious person be right?

But would that God might speak, And talk to you Himself.

He would tell you the secrets of wisdom, For there are many sides to sagacity; And know that God has overlooked for you some of your iniquity.

Would you discover the mystery of God? Would you discover the limit of the Almighty?

Higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

For He knows deceitful men; When He sees iniquity, does He not discern it?

If there is iniquity with you, remove it, And do not let injustice reside in your tent

Robbers live untroubled in their tents, And those who provoke God are secure, -Those whom God’s hands have produced.

But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; The birds of the sky, they will tell you,

Or speak to the earth, it will teach you; The fish of the sea, they will inform you.

Who among all these does not know That the hand of the LORD has done this?

But you invent lies; All of you are quacks.

Will you speak unjustly on God’s behalf? Will you speak deceitfully for Him?

Will you be partial toward Him? Will you plead God’s cause?

Will it go well when He examines you? Will you fool Him as one fools men?

He will surely reprove you If in your heart you are partial toward Him.

His threat will terrify you, And His fear will seize you.

Would that I knew how to reach Him, How to get to His dwelling-place.

I would set out my case before Him And fill my mouth with arguments.

I would learn what answers He had for me And know how He would reply to me.

Would He contend with me overbearingly? Surely He would not accuse me!

There the upright would be cleared by Him, And I would escape forever from my judge.

But if I go East—He is not there; West—I still do not perceive Him;

North—since He is concealed, I do not behold Him; South—He is hidden, and I cannot see Him.

But He knows the way I take; Would He assay me, I should emerge as gold.

[Job has said] “I am guiltless, free from transgression; I am innocent, without iniquity.

In this you are not right; I will answer you: God is greater than any man.

Why do you complain against Him That He does not reply to any of man’s charges?

For God speaks time and again— Though man does not perceive it—

In a dream, a night vision, When deep sleep falls on men, While they slumber on their beds.

Then He opens men’s ear, and by disciplining them leaves His signature

If he has a representative, One advocate against a thousand to declare the man’s uprightness,

Then He has mercy on him and decrees, “Redeem him from descending to the Pit, For I have obtained his ransom;

Then the LORD replied to Job out of the tempest and said:

Who is this who darkens counsel, Speaking without knowledge?

Gird your loins like a man; I will ask and you will inform Me.

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations? Speak if you have understanding. Do you know who fixed its dimensions Or who measured it with a line? Have you ever commanded the day to break, Assigned the dawn its place,

So that it seizes the corners of the earth And shakes the wicked out of it?

(17) Have the gates of death been disclosed to you? Have you seen the gates of deep darkness? (19) Which path leads to where light dwells, And where is the place of darkness, (20) That you may take it to its domain And know the way to its home?

After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am incensed at you and your two friends, for you have not spoken the truth about Me as did My servant Job.

Now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to My servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. And let Job, My servant, pray for you; for to him I will show favor and not treat you vilely, since you have not spoken the truth about Me as did My servant Job.”

Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD had told them, and the LORD showed favor to Job.