Job 7–9

Chapter 7

Job’s Life Seems Futile

¹“¹Is not man ^aforced to labor on earth,

And are not his days like the days of ^ba hired man?

²“As a slave who pants for the shade,

And as a hired man who eagerly waits for his wages,

³So am I allotted months of vanity,

And ^anights of trouble are appointed me.

⁴“When I ^alie down I say,

‘When shall I arise?’

But the night continues,

And I am ¹continually tossing until dawn.

⁵“My ^aflesh is clothed with worms and a crust of dirt,

My skin hardens and runs.

⁶“My days are ^aswifter than a weaver’s shuttle,

And come to an end ^bwithout hope.

⁷“Remember that my life ^ais but breath;

My eye will ^bnot again see good.

⁸“The ^aeye of him who sees me will behold me no longer;

Your eyes will be on me, but ^bI will not be.

⁹“When a ^acloud vanishes, it is gone,

So ^bhe who goes down to ^cSheol does not come up.

¹⁰“He will not return again to his house,

Nor will ^ahis place know him anymore.

¹¹“Therefore ^aI will not restrain my mouth;

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit,

I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²“Am I the sea, or ^athe sea monster,

That You set a guard over me?

¹³“If I say, ‘^aMy bed will comfort me,

My couch will ¹ease my complaint,’

¹⁴Then You frighten me with dreams

And terrify me by visions;

¹⁵So that my soul would choose suffocation,

Death rather than my ¹pains.

¹⁶“I ^1awaste away; I will not live forever.

Leave me alone, ^bfor my days are but a breath.

¹⁷“^aWhat is man that You magnify him,

And that You ¹are concerned about him,

¹⁸That ^aYou examine him every morning

And try him every moment?

¹⁹“^1aWill You never turn Your gaze away from me,

Nor let me alone until I swallow my spittle?

²⁰“^aHave I sinned? What have I done to You,

O ^bwatcher of men?

Why have You set me as Your target,

So that I am a burden to myself?

²¹“Why then ^ado You not pardon my transgression

And take away my iniquity?

For now I will ^blie down in the dust;

And You will seek me, ^cbut I will not be.”

Chapter 8

Bildad Says God Rewards the Good

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite ¹answered,

²“How long will you say these things,

And the ^awords of your mouth be a mighty wind?

³“Does ^aGod pervert justice?

Or does ¹the Almighty pervert what is right?

⁴“^aIf your sons sinned against Him,

Then He delivered them into the ¹power of their transgression.

⁵“If you would ^aseek God

And implore the compassion of ¹the Almighty,

⁶If you are pure and upright,

Surely now ^aHe would rouse Himself for you

And restore your righteous ^1bestate.

⁷“Though your beginning was insignificant,

Yet your ^aend will increase greatly.

⁸“Please ^ainquire of past generations,

And consider the things searched out by their fathers.

⁹“For we are only of yesterday and know nothing,

Because ^aour days on earth are as a shadow.

¹⁰“Will they not teach you and tell you,

And bring forth words from their minds?

¹¹“Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh?

Can the rushes grow without water?

¹²“While it is still green and not cut down,

Yet it withers before any other ¹plant.

¹³“So are the paths of ^aall who forget God;

And the ^bhope of the godless will perish,

¹⁴Whose confidence is fragile,

And whose trust a ^aspider’s ¹web.

¹⁵“He ¹trusts in his ^ahouse, but it does not stand;

He holds fast to it, but it does not endure.

¹⁶“He ^1athrives before the sun,

And his ^bshoots spread out over his garden.

¹⁷“His roots wrap around a rock pile,

He ¹grasps a house of stones.

¹⁸“If he is ¹removed from ^ahis place,

Then it will deny him, saying, ‘^bI never saw you.’

¹⁹“Behold, ^athis is the joy of His way;

And out of the dust others will spring.

²⁰“Lo, ^aGod will not reject a man of integrity,

Nor ^bwill He ¹support the evildoers.

²¹“He will yet fill ^ayour mouth with laughter

And your lips with shouting.

²²“Those who hate you will be ^aclothed with shame,

And the ^btent of the wicked will be no longer.”

Chapter 9

Job Says There Is No Arbitrator between God and Man

¹Then Job ¹answered,

²“In truth I know that this is so;

But how can a ^aman be in the right ¹before God?

³“If one wished to ^adispute with Him,

He could not answer Him once in a thousand times.

⁴“^aWise in heart and ^bmighty in strength,

Who has ^1cdefied Him ²without harm?

⁵“^aIt is God who removes the mountains, they know not how,

When He overturns them in His anger;

⁶Who ^ashakes the earth out of its place,

And its ^bpillars tremble;

⁷Who commands the ^asun ¹not to shine,

And sets a seal upon the stars;

⁸Who alone ^astretches out the heavens

And ^1btramples down the waves of the sea;

⁹Who makes the ^aBear, Orion and the Pleiades,

And the ^bchambers of the south;

¹⁰Who ^adoes great things, ¹unfathomable,

And wondrous works without number.

¹¹“Were He to pass by me, ^aI would not see Him;

Were He to move past me, I would not perceive Him.

¹²“Were He to snatch away, who could ^arestrain Him?

Who could say to Him, ‘^bWhat are You doing?’

¹³“God will not turn back His anger;

Beneath Him crouch the helpers of ^aRahab.

¹⁴“How then can ^aI ¹answer Him,

And choose my words ²before Him?

¹⁵“For ^athough I were right, I could not ¹answer;

I would have to ^bimplore the mercy of my judge.

¹⁶“If I called and He answered me,

I could not believe that He was listening to my voice.

¹⁷“For He ^abruises me with a tempest

And multiplies my wounds without cause.

¹⁸“He will ^anot allow me to get my breath,

But saturates me with ^bbitterness.

¹⁹“If it is a matter of power, ^abehold, He is the strong one!

And if it is a matter of justice, who can summon ¹Him?

²⁰“^aThough I am righteous, my mouth will ^bcondemn me;

Though I am guiltless, He will declare me guilty.

²¹“I am ^aguiltless;

I do not take notice of myself;

I ^bdespise my life.

²²“It is all one; therefore I say,

‘He ^adestroys the guiltless and the wicked.’

²³“If the scourge kills suddenly,

He ^amocks the despair of the innocent.

²⁴“The earth ^ais given into the hand of the wicked;

He ^bcovers the faces of its judges.

If it is not He, then who is it?

²⁵“Now ^amy days are swifter than a runner;

They flee away, ^bthey see no good.

²⁶“They slip by like ^areed boats,

Like an ^beagle that swoops on ¹its prey.

²⁷“Though I say, ‘I will forget ^amy complaint,

I will leave off my sad countenance and be cheerful,’

²⁸I am ^aafraid of all my pains,

I know that ^bYou will not acquit me.

²⁹“I am accounted ^awicked,

Why then should I toil in vain?

³⁰“If I should ^awash myself with snow

And cleanse ^bmy hands with lye,

³¹Yet You would plunge me into the pit,

And my own clothes would abhor me.

³²“For ^aHe is not a man as I am that ^bI may answer Him,

That we may go to ¹court together.

³³“There is no ^aumpire between us,

Who may lay his hand upon us both.

³⁴“Let Him ^aremove His rod from me,

And let not dread of Him terrify me.

³⁵“Then I ^awould speak and not fear Him;

But I am not like that in myself.