Job 7–9

7“People have a hard task on earth,

and their days are like those of a laborer.

²They are like a slave wishing for the evening shadows,

like a laborer waiting to be paid.

³But I am given months that are empty,

and nights of misery have been given to me.

⁴When I lie down, I think, ‘How long until I get up?’

The night is long, and I toss until dawn.

⁵My body is covered with worms and scabs,

and my skin is broken and full of sores.

⁶“My days go by faster than a weaver’s tool,

and they come to an end without hope.

⁷Remember, God, that my life is only a breath.

My eyes will never see happy times again.

⁸Those who see me now will see me no more;

you will look for me, but I will be gone.

⁹As a cloud disappears and is gone,

people go to the grave and never return.

¹⁰They will never come back to their houses again,

and their places will not know them anymore.

¹¹“So I will not stay quiet;

I will speak out in the suffering of my spirit.

I will complain because I am so unhappy.

¹²I am not the sea or the sea monster.

So why have you set a guard over me?

¹³Sometimes I think my bed will comfort me

or that my couch will stop my complaint.

¹⁴Then you frighten me with dreams

and terrify me with visions.

¹⁵My throat prefers to be choked;

my bones welcome death.

¹⁶I hate my life; I don’t want to live forever.

Leave me alone, because my days have no meaning.

¹⁷“Why do you make people so important

and give them so much attention?

¹⁸You examine them every morning

and test them every moment.

¹⁹Will you never look away from me

or leave me alone even long enough to swallow?

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

you watcher of humans?

Why have you made me your target?

Have I become a heavy load for you?

²¹Why don’t you pardon my wrongs

and forgive my sins?

I will soon lie down in the dust of death.

Then you will search for me, but I will be no more.”

Bildad Speaks to Job

8Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

²“How long will you say such things?

Your words are no more than wind.

³God does not twist justice;

the Almighty does not make wrong what is right.

⁴Your children sinned against God,

and he punished them for their sins.

⁵But you should ask God for help

and pray to the Almighty for mercy.

⁶If you are good and honest,

he will stand up for you

and bring you back where you belong.

⁷Where you began will seem unimportant,

because your future will be so successful.

⁸“Ask old people;

find out what their ancestors learned,

⁹because we were only born yesterday and know nothing.

Our days on earth are only a shadow.

¹⁰Those people will teach you and tell you

and speak about what they know.

¹¹Papyrus plants cannot grow where there is no swamp,

and reeds cannot grow tall without water.

¹²While they are still growing and not yet cut,

they will dry up quicker than grass.

¹³That is what will happen to those who forget God;

the hope of the wicked will be gone.

¹⁴What they hope in is easily broken;

what they trust is like a spider’s web.

¹⁵They lean on the spider’s web, but it breaks.

They grab it, but it does not hold up.

¹⁶They are like well-watered plants in the sunshine

that spread their roots all through the garden.

¹⁷They wrap their roots around a pile of rocks

and look for a place among the stones.

¹⁸But if a plant is torn from its place,

then that place rejects it and says, ‘I never saw you.’

¹⁹Now joy has gone away;

other plants grow up from the same dirt.

²⁰“Surely God does not reject the innocent

or give strength to those who do evil.

²¹God will yet fill your mouth with laughter

and your lips with shouts of joy.

²²Your enemies will be covered with shame,

and the tents of the wicked will be gone.”

Job Answers Bildad

9Then Job answered:

²“Yes, I know that this is true,

but how can anyone be right in the presence of God?

³Someone might want to argue with God,

but no one could answer God,

not one time out of a thousand.

⁴God’s wisdom is deep, and his power is great;

no one can fight him without getting hurt.

⁵God moves mountains without anyone knowing it

and turns them over when he is angry.

⁶He shakes the earth out of its place

and makes its foundations tremble.

⁷He commands the sun not to shine

and shuts off the light of the stars.

⁸He alone stretches out the skies

and walks on the waves of the sea.

⁹It is God who made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades ⁿ

and the groups of stars in the southern sky.

¹⁰He does wonders that cannot be understood;

he does so many miracles they cannot be counted.

¹¹When he passes me, I cannot see him;

when he goes by me, I do not recognize him.

¹²If he snatches something away, no one can stop him

or say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

¹³God will not hold back his anger.

Even the helpers of the monster Rahab lie at his feet in fear.

¹⁴So how can I argue with God,

or even find words to argue with him?

¹⁵Even if I were right, I could not answer him;

I could only beg God, my Judge, for mercy.

¹⁶If I called to him and he answered,

I still don’t believe he would listen to me.

¹⁷He would crush me with a storm

and multiply my wounds for no reason.

¹⁸He would not let me catch my breath

but would overwhelm me with misery.

¹⁹When it comes to strength, God is stronger than I;

when it comes to justice, no one can accuse him.

²⁰Even if I were right, my own mouth would say I was wrong;

if I were innocent, my mouth would say I was guilty.

²¹“I am innocent,

but I don’t care about myself.

I hate my own life.

²²It is all the same. That is why I say,

‘God destroys both the innocent and the guilty.’

²³If the whip brings sudden death,

God will laugh at the suffering of the innocent.

²⁴When the land falls into the hands of evil people,

he covers the judges’ faces so they can’t see it.

If it is not God who does this, then who is it?

²⁵“My days go by faster than a runner;

they fly away without my seeing any joy.

²⁶They glide past like paper boats.

They attack like eagles swooping down to feed.

²⁷Even though I say, ‘I will forget my complaint;

I will change the look on my face and smile,’

²⁸I still dread all my suffering.

I know you will hold me guilty.

²⁹I have already been found guilty,

so why should I struggle for no reason?

³⁰I might wash myself with soap

and scrub my hands with strong soap,

³¹but you would push me into a dirty pit,

and even my clothes would hate me.

³²“God is not human like me, so I cannot answer him.

We cannot meet each other in court.

³³I wish there were someone to make peace between us,

someone to decide our case.

³⁴Maybe he could remove God’s punishment

so his terror would no longer frighten me.

³⁵Then I could speak without being afraid,

but I am not able to do that.