Job 3–41

Chapter 3

Job’s First Speech

At last Job spoke, and he cursed the day of his birth. ²He said:

³“Let the day of my birth be erased,

and the night I was conceived.

⁴Let that day be turned to darkness.

Let it be lost even to God on high,

and let no light shine on it.

⁵Let the darkness and utter gloom claim that day for its own.

Let a black cloud overshadow it,

and let the darkness terrify it.

⁶Let that night be blotted off the calendar,

never again to be counted among the days of the year,

never again to appear among the months.

⁷Let that night be childless.

Let it have no joy.

⁸Let those who are experts at cursing—

whose cursing could rouse Leviathan—

curse that day.

⁹Let its morning stars remain dark.

Let it hope for light, but in vain;

may it never see the morning light.

¹⁰Curse that day for failing to shut my mother’s womb,

for letting me be born to see all this trouble.

¹¹“Why wasn’t I born dead?

Why didn’t I die as I came from the womb?

¹²Why was I laid on my mother’s lap?

Why did she nurse me at her breasts?

¹³Had I died at birth, I would now be at peace.

I would be asleep and at rest.

¹⁴I would rest with the world’s kings and prime ministers,

whose great buildings now lie in ruins.

¹⁵I would rest with princes, rich in gold,

whose palaces were filled with silver.

¹⁶Why wasn’t I buried like a stillborn child,

like a baby who never lives to see the light?

¹⁷For in death the wicked cause no trouble,

and the weary are at rest.

¹⁸Even captives are at ease in death,

with no guards to curse them.

¹⁹Rich and poor are both there,

and the slave is free from his master.

²⁰“Oh, why give light to those in misery,

and life to those who are bitter?

²¹They long for death, and it won’t come.

They search for death more eagerly than for hidden treasure.

²²They’re filled with joy when they finally die,

and rejoice when they find the grave.

²³Why is life given to those with no future,

those God has surrounded with difficulties?

²⁴I cannot eat for sighing;

my groans pour out like water.

²⁵What I always feared has happened to me.

What I dreaded has come true.

²⁶I have no peace, no quietness.

I have no rest; only trouble comes.”

Chapter 4

Eliphaz’s First Response to Job

Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied to Job:

²“Will you be patient and let me say a word?

For who could keep from speaking out?

³“In the past you have encouraged many people;

you have strengthened those who were weak.

⁴Your words have supported those who were falling;

you encouraged those with shaky knees.

⁵But now when trouble strikes, you lose heart.

You are terrified when it touches you.

⁶Doesn’t your reverence for God give you confidence?

Doesn’t your life of integrity give you hope?

⁷“Stop and think! Do the innocent die?

When have the upright been destroyed?

⁸My experience shows that those who plant trouble

and cultivate evil will harvest the same.

⁹A breath from God destroys them.

They vanish in a blast of his anger.

¹⁰The lion roars and the wildcat snarls,

but the teeth of strong lions will be broken.

¹¹The fierce lion will starve for lack of prey,

and the cubs of the lioness will be scattered.

¹²“This truth was given to me in secret,

as though whispered in my ear.

¹³It came to me in a disturbing vision at night,

when people are in a deep sleep.

¹⁴Fear gripped me,

and my bones trembled.

¹⁵A spirit swept past my face,

and my hair stood on end.

¹⁶The spirit stopped, but I couldn’t see its shape.

There was a form before my eyes.

In the silence I heard a voice say,

¹⁷‘Can a mortal be innocent before God?

Can anyone be pure before the Creator?’

¹⁸“If God does not trust his own angels

and has charged his messengers with foolishness,

¹⁹how much less will he trust people made of clay!

They are made of dust, crushed as easily as a moth.

²⁰They are alive in the morning but dead by evening,

gone forever without a trace.

²¹Their tent-cords are pulled and the tent collapses,

and they die in ignorance.

Chapter 5

Eliphaz’s Response Continues

¹“Cry for help, but will anyone answer you?

Which of the angels will help you?

²Surely resentment destroys the fool,

and jealousy kills the simple.

³I have seen that fools may be successful for the moment,

but then comes sudden disaster.

⁴Their children are abandoned far from help;

they are crushed in court with no one to defend them.

⁵The hungry devour their harvest,

even when it is guarded by brambles.

The thirsty pant after their wealth.

⁶But evil does not spring from the soil,

and trouble does not sprout from the earth.

⁷People are born for trouble

as readily as sparks fly up from a fire.

⁸“If I were you, I would go to God

and present my case to him.

⁹He does great things too marvelous to understand.

He performs countless miracles.

¹⁰He gives rain for the earth

and water for the fields.

¹¹He gives prosperity to the poor

and protects those who suffer.

¹²He frustrates the plans of schemers

so the work of their hands will not succeed.

¹³He traps the wise in their own cleverness

so their cunning schemes are thwarted.

¹⁴They find it is dark in the daytime,

and they grope at noon as if it were night.

¹⁵He rescues the poor from the cutting words of the strong,

and rescues them from the clutches of the powerful.

¹⁶And so at last the poor have hope,

and the snapping jaws of the wicked are shut.

¹⁷“But consider the joy of those corrected by God!

Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty when you sin.

¹⁸For though he wounds, he also bandages.

He strikes, but his hands also heal.

¹⁹From six disasters he will rescue you;

even in the seventh, he will keep you from evil.

²⁰He will save you from death in time of famine,

from the power of the sword in time of war.

²¹You will be safe from slander

and have no fear when destruction comes.

²²You will laugh at destruction and famine;

wild animals will not terrify you.

²³You will be at peace with the stones of the field,

and its wild animals will be at peace with you.

²⁴You will know that your home is safe.

When you survey your possessions, nothing will be missing.

²⁵You will have many children;

your descendants will be as plentiful as grass!

²⁶You will go to the grave at a ripe old age,

like a sheaf of grain harvested at the proper time!

²⁷“We have studied life and found all this to be true.

Listen to my counsel, and apply it to yourself.”

Chapter 6

Job’s Second Speech: A Response to Eliphaz

Then Job spoke again:

²“If my misery could be weighed

and my troubles be put on the scales,

³they would outweigh all the sands of the sea.

That is why I spoke impulsively.

⁴For the Almighty has struck me down with his arrows.

Their poison infects my spirit.

God’s terrors are lined up against me.

⁵Don’t I have a right to complain?

Don’t wild donkeys bray when they find no grass,

and oxen bellow when they have no food?

⁶Don’t people complain about unsalted food?

Does anyone want the tasteless white of an egg?

⁷My appetite disappears when I look at it;

I gag at the thought of eating it!

⁸“Oh, that I might have my request,

that God would grant my desire.

⁹I wish he would crush me.

I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me.

¹⁰At least I can take comfort in this:

Despite the pain,

I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹But I don’t have the strength to endure.

I have nothing to live for.

¹²Do I have the strength of a stone?

Is my body made of bronze?

¹³No, I am utterly helpless,

without any chance of success.

¹⁴“One should be kind to a fainting friend,

but you accuse me without any fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brothers, you have proved as unreliable as a seasonal brook

that overflows its banks in the spring

¹⁶when it is swollen with ice and melting snow.

¹⁷But when the hot weather arrives, the water disappears.

The brook vanishes in the heat.

¹⁸The caravans turn aside to be refreshed,

but there is nothing to drink, so they die.

¹⁹The caravans from Tema search for this water;

the travelers from Sheba hope to find it.

²⁰They count on it but are disappointed.

When they arrive, their hopes are dashed.

²¹You, too, have given no help.

You have seen my calamity, and you are afraid.

²²But why? Have I ever asked you for a gift?

Have I begged for anything of yours for myself?

²³Have I asked you to rescue me from my enemies,

or to save me from ruthless people?

²⁴Teach me, and I will keep quiet.

Show me what I have done wrong.

²⁵Honest words can be painful,

but what do your criticisms amount to?

²⁶Do you think your words are convincing

when you disregard my cry of desperation?

²⁷You would even send an orphan into slavery

or sell a friend.

²⁸Look at me!

Would I lie to your face?

²⁹Stop assuming my guilt,

for I have done no wrong.

³⁰Do you think I am lying?

Don’t I know the difference between right and wrong?

Chapter 7

¹“Is not all human life a struggle?

Our lives are like that of a hired hand,

²like a worker who longs for the shade,

like a servant waiting to be paid.

³I, too, have been assigned months of futility,

long and weary nights of misery.

⁴Lying in bed, I think, ‘When will it be morning?’

But the night drags on, and I toss till dawn.

⁵My body is covered with maggots and scabs.

My skin breaks open, oozing with pus.

Job Cries Out to God

⁶“My days fly faster than a weaver’s shuttle.

They end without hope.

⁷O God, remember that my life is but a breath,

and I will never again feel happiness.

⁸You see me now, but not for long.

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

⁹Just as a cloud dissipates and vanishes,

those who die will not come back.

¹⁰They are gone forever from their home—

never to be seen again.

¹¹“I cannot keep from speaking.

I must express my anguish.

My bitter soul must complain.

¹²Am I a sea monster or a dragon

that you must place me under guard?

¹³I think, ‘My bed will comfort me,

and sleep will ease my misery,’

¹⁴but then you shatter me with dreams

and terrify me with visions.

¹⁵I would rather be strangled—

rather die than suffer like this.

¹⁶I hate my life and don’t want to go on living.

Oh, leave…