Job 7–9

7Is there not a warfare to man upon earth?

And are not his days like the days of a hireling?

²As a servant that earnestly desireth the shadow,

And as a hireling that looketh for his wages:

³So am I made to possess months of misery,

And wearisome nights are appointed to me.

⁴When I lie down, I say,

When shall I arise, and the night be gone?

And I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.

⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust;

My skin closeth up, and breaketh out afresh.

⁶My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,

And are spent without hope.

⁷Oh remember that my life is a breath:

Mine eye shall no more see good.

⁸The eye of him that seeth me shall behold me no more;

Thine eyes shall be upon me, but I shall not be.

⁹As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away,

So he that goeth down to Sheol shall come up no more.

¹⁰He shall return no more to his house,

Neither shall his place know him any more.

¹¹Therefore I will not refrain my mouth;

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;

I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²Am I a sea, or a sea-monster,

That thou settest a watch over me?

¹³When I say, My bed shall comfort me,

My couch shall ease my complaint;

¹⁴Then thou scarest me with dreams,

And terrifiest me through visions:

¹⁵So that my soul chooseth strangling,

And death rather than these my bones.

¹⁶I loathe my life; I would not live alway:

Let me alone; for my days are vanity.

¹⁷What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him,

And that thou shouldest set thy mind upon him,

¹⁸And that thou shouldest visit him every morning,

And try him every moment?

¹⁹How long wilt thou not look away from me,

Nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?

²⁰If I have sinned, what do I unto thee, O thou watcher of men?

Why hast thou set me as a mark for thee,

So that I am a burden to myself?

²¹And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity?

For now shall I lie down in the dust;

And thou wilt seek me diligently, but I shall not be.

8Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

²How long wilt thou speak these things?

And how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a mighty wind?

³Doth God pervert justice?

Or doth the Almighty pervert righteousness?

⁴If thy children have sinned against him,

And he hath delivered them into the hand of their transgression;

⁵If thou wouldest seek diligently unto God,

And make thy supplication to the Almighty;

⁶If thou wert pure and upright:

Surely now he would awake for thee,

And make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.

⁷And though thy beginning was small,

Yet thy latter end would greatly increase.

⁸For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age,

And apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out

⁹(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing,

Because our days upon earth are a shadow);

¹⁰Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee,

And utter words out of their heart?

¹¹Can the rush grow up without mire?

Can the flag grow without water?

¹²Whilst it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down,

It withereth before any other herb.

¹³So are the paths of all that forget God;

And the hope of the godless man shall perish:

¹⁴Whose confidence shall break in sunder,

And whose trust is a spider’s web.

¹⁵He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand:

He shall hold fast thereby, but it shall not endure.

¹⁶He is green before the sun,

And his shoots go forth over his garden.

¹⁷His roots are wrapped about the stone-heap,

He beholdeth the place of stones.

¹⁸If he be destroyed from his place,

Then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee.

¹⁹Behold, this is the joy of his way;

And out of the earth shall others spring.

²⁰Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man,

Neither will he uphold the evil-doers.

²¹He will yet fill thy mouth with laughter,

And thy lips with shouting.

²²They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame;

And the tent of the wicked shall be no more.

9Then Job answered and said,

²Of a truth I know that it is so:

But how can man be just with God?

³If he be pleased to contend with him,

He cannot answer him one of a thousand.

⁴He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength:

Who hath hardened himself against him, and prospered?—

⁵Him that removeth the mountains, and they know it not,

When he overturneth them in his anger;

⁶That shaketh the earth out of its place,

And the pillars thereof tremble;

⁷That commandeth the sun, and it riseth not,

And sealeth up the stars;

⁸That alone stretcheth out the heavens,

And treadeth upon the waves of the sea;

⁹That maketh the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,

And the chambers of the south;

¹⁰That doeth great things past finding out,

Yea, marvellous things without number.

¹¹Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not:

He passeth on also, but I perceive him not.

¹²Behold, he seizeth the prey, who can hinder him?

Who will say unto him, What doest thou?

¹³God will not withdraw his anger;

The helpers of Rahab do stoop under him.

¹⁴How much less shall I answer him,

And choose out my words to reason with him?

¹⁵Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer;

I would make supplication to my judge.

¹⁶If I had called, and he had answered me,

Yet would I not believe that he hearkened unto my voice.

¹⁷For he breaketh me with a tempest,

And multiplieth my wounds without cause.

¹⁸He will not suffer me to take my breath,

But filleth me with bitterness.

¹⁹If we speak of strength, lo, he is mighty!

And if of justice, Who, saith he, will summon me?

²⁰Though I be righteous, mine own mouth shall condemn me:

Though I be perfect, it shall prove me perverse.

²¹I am perfect; I regard not myself;

I despise my life.

²²It is all one; therefore I say,

He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.

²³If the scourge slay suddenly,

He will mock at the trial of the innocent.

²⁴The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;

He covereth the faces of the judges thereof:

If it be not he, who then is it?

²⁵Now my days are swifter than a post:

They flee away, they see no good,

²⁶They are passed away as the swift ships;

As the eagle that swoopeth on the prey.

²⁷If I say, I will forget my complaint,

I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer;

²⁸I am afraid of all my sorrows,

I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.

²⁹I shall be condemned;

Why then do I labor in vain?

³⁰If I wash myself with snow water,

And make my hands never so clean;

³¹Yet wilt thou plunge me in the ditch,

And mine own clothes shall abhor me.

³²For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him,

That we should come together in judgment.

³³There is no umpire betwixt us,

That might lay his hand upon us both.

³⁴Let him take his rod away from me,

And let not his terror make me afraid:

³⁵Then would I speak, and not fear him;

For I am not so in myself.