Job 7–9

7Isn’t each person consigned to forced labor^h on earth?

Are not his days like those of a hired worker?

²Like a slave he longs for shade;

like a hired worker he waits for his pay.

³So I have been made to inherit months of futility,

and troubled nights have been assigned to me.ⁱ

⁴When I lie down I think,

“When will I get up?”

But the evening drags on endlessly,

and I toss and turn until dawn.

⁵My flesh is clothed with maggots and encrusted with dirt.^C

My skin forms scabs^D and then oozes.^j

⁶My days pass more swiftly than a weaver’s shuttle;

they come to an end without hope.^k

⁷Remember that my life is but a breath.

My eye will never again see anything good.^l

⁸The eye of anyone who looks on me

will no longer see me.

Your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.^m

⁹As a cloud fades away and vanishes,

so the one who goes down to Sheolⁿ will never rise again.

¹⁰He will never return to his house;

his hometown will no longer remember^A him.^o

¹¹Therefore I will not restrain my mouth.

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;

I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²Am I the sea^Ba or a sea monster,^b

that you keep me under guard?

¹³When I say, “My bed will comfort me,

and my couch will ease my complaint,”

¹⁴then you frighten me with dreams,

and terrify me with visions,^c

¹⁵so that I prefer strangling^C—

death rather than life in this body.^Dd

¹⁶I give up! I will not live forever.

Leave me alone,^e for my days are a breath.^E

¹⁷What is a mere human, that you think so highly of him

and pay so much attention to him?^f

¹⁸You inspect him every morning,

and put him to the test every moment.^g

¹⁹Will you ever look away from me,

or leave me alone long enough to swallow?^F

²⁰If I have sinned, what have I done to you,

Watcher of humanity?

Why have you made me your target,^h

so that I have become a burden to you?^G

²¹Why not forgive my sin

and pardon my iniquity?ⁱ

For soon I will lie down in the grave.^j

You will eagerly seek me, but I will be gone.^k

BILDAD SPEAKS

8Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

²How long will you go on saying these things?

Your words^l are a blast of wind.^m

³Does God pervert justice?ⁿ

Does the Almighty pervert what is right?^o

⁴Since your children sinned against him,

he gave them over to their rebellion.

⁵But if you earnestly seek^p God

and ask the Almighty for mercy,^q

⁶if you are pure and upright,

then he will move even now on your behalf

and restore the home where your righteousness dwells.^r

⁷Then, even if your beginnings were modest,

your final days will be full of prosperity.^s

⁸For ask the previous generation,

and pay attention to what their ancestors discovered,^t

⁹since we were born only yesterday and know nothing.

Our days on earth are but a shadow.^u

¹⁰Will they not teach you and tell you

and speak from their understanding?

¹¹Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh?

Do reeds flourish without water?

¹²While still uncut shoots,

they would dry up quicker than any other plant.

¹³Such is the destiny^A of all who forget God;

the hope of the godless^v will perish.

¹⁴His source of confidence is fragile;^B

what he trusts in is a spider’s web.^w

¹⁵He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm.

He grabs it, but it does not hold up.

¹⁶He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine;

his shoots spread out over his garden.

¹⁷His roots are intertwined around a pile of rocks.

He looks for a home among the stones.

¹⁸If he is uprooted^C from his place,

it will deny knowing him, saying, “I never saw you.”^x

¹⁹Surely this is the joy of his way of life;

yet others will sprout from the dust.

²⁰Look, God does not reject a person of integrity,

and he will not support^D evildoers.^y

²¹He will yet fill your mouth with laughter

and your lips with a shout of joy.^z

²²Your enemies will be clothed with shame;^aa

the tent^ab of the wicked will no longer exist.

JOB’S REPLY TO BILDAD

9Then Job answered:

²Yes, I know what you’ve said is true,

but how can a person be justified before God?^ac

³If one wanted to take^ad him to court,

he could not answer God^E once in a thousand times.^a

⁴God is wise^b and all-powerful.

Who has opposed him and come out unharmed?

⁵He removes mountains without their knowledge,

overturning them in his anger.^c

⁶He shakes the earth from its place

so that its pillars tremble.

⁷He commands the sun not to shine

and seals off the stars.^d

⁸He alone stretches out the heavens^e

and treads on the waves of the sea.^A

⁹He makes the stars: the Bear,^B Orion,

the Pleiades,^f and the constellations^C of the southern sky.

¹⁰He does great and unsearchable things,

wonders without number.^g

¹¹If he passed by me, I wouldn’t see him;^h

if he went by, I wouldn’t recognize him.

¹²If he snatches something, who can stop^D him?

Who can ask him, “What are you doing?”ⁱ

¹³God does not hold back his anger;

Rahab’s^j assistants cringe in fear beneath him!

¹⁴How then can I answer him

or choose my arguments against him?

¹⁵Even if I were in the right, I could not answer.

I could only beg my Judge for mercy.^k

¹⁶If I summoned him and he answered me,

I do not believe he would pay attention to what I said.

¹⁷He batters me with a whirlwind^l

and multiplies my wounds without cause.

¹⁸He doesn’t let me catch my breath

but fills me with bitter experiences.

¹⁹If it is a matter of strength, look, he is the powerful one!^m

If it is a matter of justice, who can summonⁿ him?^E

²⁰Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;^o

if I were blameless, my mouth would declare me guilty.

²¹Though I am blameless,

I no longer care about myself;

I renounce my life.^p

²²It is all the same. Therefore I say,

“He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.”^q

²³When catastrophe^F brings sudden death,

he mocks the despair of the innocent.

²⁴The earth^G is handed over to the wicked;

he blindfolds^I its judges.^r

If it isn’t he, then who is it?

²⁵My days fly by faster than a runner;^Is

they flee without seeing any good.^t

²⁶They sweep by like boats made of papyrus,

like an eagle swooping down on its prey.^u

²⁷If I said, “I will forget my complaint,

change my expression, and smile,”

²⁸I would still live in terror of all my pains.^v

I know you will not acquit me.^w

²⁹Since I will be found guilty,^x

why should I struggle in vain?

³⁰If I wash myself with snow,

and cleanse my hands with lye,

³¹then you dip me in a pit of mud,

and my own clothes despise me!

³²For he is not a man like me, that I can answer him,^y

that we can take each other to court.

³³There is no mediator between us,

to lay his hand on both of us.

³⁴Let him take his rod away from me

so his terror will no longer frighten me.^z

³⁵Then I would speak and not fear him.

But that is not the case; I am on my own.