USB ~ Job 25

Bildad’s Third Speech.

1 † Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

2 Dominion and dread are his who brings about harmony in his heavens.

3 Is there any numbering of his troops?† Yet on which of them does his light not rise?

4 How can anyone be in the right against God, a or how can any born of woman be innocent?

5 Even the moon is not bright and the stars are not clean in his eyes.

6 How much less a human being, who is but a worm, a mortal, who is only a maggot? b

Footnotes

†. 25:1 At this point any structure in the dialogues disappears. Bildad’s speech is very short, and there follow two speeches attributed to Job, with significantly different introductions in 27:1 and 29:1, and with no intervening third speech of Zophar.

†. 25:3 His troops: the heavenly host, or army, the stars (cf. Jgs 5:20), later understood as angels.

25:4 Jb 4:17; 9:2; 35:2.
25:6 Jb 4:19; 15:16.