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This Term's Bible Study is on the Book of Job:
איוב  =  I yov  = JOB

From the noun אב ('ab), father (abba)
From the noun אוב ('ob), one who returns or reflects
From the verb איב ('ayab), to be an enemy

The Book of Job (c.a.600BC)

Chapter 22 Eliphaz the Temanite spoke up [for a 3^rd time]:

^3-4 Does El Shaddai gain anything if you are righteous, does He profit anything if your conduct is blameless?
Is it because of your [false] piety that He punishes you, that He enters judgment against you?
^6-11 You must have seized pledges from your brothers without cause, and stripped people naked.
You must have given the weary no water to drink, and withheld bread from the hungry.
The land belongs to the powerful man, and the privileged occupy it.
You must have sent widows away empty-handed and crushed the strength of orphans.
Therefore, traps surround you and sudden terrors frighten you: as in darkness, so you cannot see.
A flood of water covers you!

^15-18 Will you keep to the ancient path in which the wicked walked,
who were snatched away before their time, whose foundations were washed away by a flood?
They said to God, ‘Go away from us!’ ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’ and yet He still filled their houses with good things…

^23-24,30 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored.
If you remove injustice far from you and put your gold in the dust…
then you will pray to Him and He will hear you and
you will get to keep your vows… He saves the contrite person!
He will rescue you, although you are guilty, because you have washed and cleaned your hands.

Chapter 23 Job responded:

^2-10 Even now, to complain is to rebel; his hand is heavy despite my groaning.
Oh, that I knew how to find Him, that I might come to His home!
I would present my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.
I would learn which words He would reply to, and understand what He told me.
Would He contend with me by His great power? No, surely, He would hear me out.
The upright would argue with Him; and I would escape forever from my judge.

But when I go East – He is not there; West – I cannot perceive Him.
North – He is concealed, I cannot see Him; South – He is hidden,
I cannot find Him. He knows every way that I take.
^10-14 He has put me to the test, but I will come out as gold. My foot holds to His path…
Whatever His soul desires, He does. He carries out what is destined for me
and many such destinies are with Him…

Chapter 24 Why are times not stored up by the Almighty?
Why do those who know Him not see His days?
People remove landmarks; seize and devour flocks; drive away the donkeys of orphans;
seize the widow’s ox as a pledge; push the needy aside from the road;
cause the poor of the land to have to hide themselves together, to go scavenging for food, to find bread for their children,
to glean the vineyard of the wicked, to spend the night naked against the cold,
to be wet from the mountain rains, to hug the rock for lack of a shelter.
People snatch an orphan from a breast as a pledge against the poor.
The poor move about naked without clothing, they carry sheaves while going hungry they tread oil and wine in the press, but go thirsty…
The city people groan, the souls of the wounded cry for help:
yet God does not seem to pay attention to such offenses.

The murderer arises at dawn to kill the poor and the needy.
At night he is like a thief.
The adulterer watches for twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’, as he disguises his face.
In darkness they burrow into houses; they shut themselves up by day
– they shun the light – just as Sheol snatches those who have sinned…
^24-25 They are exalted only a little while, but then they are gone.
Now if it is not so, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worthless?
 

Chapter 25 Bildad the Shuhite spoke up [for a 3^rd time]:

How can anyone of mankind be righteous before God?
Or how can anyone who is born of woman be pure?
If even the moon has no brightness and the stars are not pure in His sight,
how much less a man, a maggot, and a son of man, a worm?

Chapter 26 Job responded to his three friends:

^2-4 What help are you to the weak? You have saved an arm without strength!
What advice have you given to one without wisdom?
What helpful insight have you abundantly provided?
To whom have you uttered your words?
And whose spirit has been expressed through you?
Chapter 27 As God lives, 'Who has taken away my right?'
El Shaddai, 'Who has embittered my soul?'
For as long as life is in me, and the breath of God is in my nostrils:
certainly, my lips will not speak unjustly, nor will my tongue mutter deceit.
Far be it from me that I should declare you [friends] right:
until I die, I will not give up my integrity.
I keep hold of my righteousness and will not let it go.
My heart does not rebuke any of my days.

Chapter 28^:20-23 Where does wisdom come from? Where is the place of understanding?
It is hidden from the eyes of every living creature and concealed from the birds of the sky.
Abaddon and Death say, ‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.’
God understands its way, and He knows its place…
to mankind He said, ‘Behold, fear of the Lord is wisdom and to shun evil is understanding.”

Chapter 29^:1-6 Oh, that I were back in the months gone by; in the days when God watched over me.
When His lamp shone over my head and by His light I walked through the darkness.
As it was in the days of my youth, when God’s protection was over my tent:
when the Almighty was still with me, and my children were around me,
when my steps were bathed in cream, and the rock poured streams of oil…

 I saved the poor who cried for help and the orphan who had no helper.
The one who was perishing blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.
Righteousness I wore, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.
I was the eyes of those who were blind and the feet to those who could not walk.
I was a father to the poor, as I fully investigated any of their cases I did not know.
I broke the jaws of the wicked and rescued the prey from their teeth…
²⁵ I chose a way for them and lived as their chief, as a king with his troops.

Chapter 30 But now those who are younger than me, mock me:
whose fathers I refused to put with the dogs of my flock…
Worthless fellows, even those without a name, who were cast out from the land,
I now have become their taunt, as a byword.
They loathe me and stand aloof – they do not refrain from spitting in my face…
They chase away my dignity like the wind, as my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.
Now, my soul is poured out within me; days of misery have seized me…

^20-21 O GOD. I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me.
I stand up before You, but you turn Your attention away from me.
You have become cruel to me!

Chapter 31^:4 Does God not see my ways and count my steps?
If I have turned my step from the way, or my heart followed my eyes…
If my heart has been enticed by a woman or I have lurked at a neighbour’s door;
if I have rejected the claim of complaint from my male or female slaves…
If I have kept the poor from their needs or have caused the eyes of a widow to fail, or
If I have eaten my morsel alone and not shared it with an orphan…
If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without cover.
If their belly has not thanked me, if they have not been warmed with my fleece.
If I have lifted up my hand against an orphan…
If I have put my confidence in gold…
If I have gloated because my wealth was so great…
If I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon in its splendor, and my heart was secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth…
If I have rejoiced at the misfortune of my enemy, or become excited when evil has found them…
No, I have not!
The words of Job are ended.

Chapter 32 The three men stopped talking to Job, because Job was so self-righteous in his own eyes.

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