Job 7–9

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 me alone for my few remaining days.

¹⁷“What are people, that you should make so much of us,

that you should think of us so often?

¹⁸For you examine us every morning

and test us every moment.

¹⁹Why won’t you leave me alone,

at least long enough for me to swallow!

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

O watcher of all humanity?

Why make me your target?

Am I a burden to you?

²¹Why not just forgive my sin

and take away my guilt?

For soon I will lie down in the dust and die.

When you look for me, I will be gone.”

Chapter 8

Bildad’s First Response to Job

Then Bildad the Shuhite replied to Job:

²“How long will you go on like this?

You sound like a blustering wind.

³Does God twist justice?

Does the Almighty twist what is right?

⁴Your children must have sinned against him,

so their punishment was well deserved.

⁵But if you pray to God

and seek the favor of the Almighty,

⁶and if you are pure and live with integrity,

he will surely rise up and restore your happy home.

⁷And though you started with little,

you will end with much.

⁸“Just ask the previous generation.

Pay attention to the experience of our ancestors.

⁹For we were born but yesterday and know nothing.

Our days on earth are as fleeting as a shadow.

¹⁰But those who came before us will teach you.

They will teach you the wisdom of old.

¹¹“Can papyrus reeds grow tall without a marsh?

Can marsh grass flourish without water?

¹²While they are still flowering, not ready to be cut,

they begin to wither more quickly than grass.

¹³The same happens to all who forget God.

The hopes of the godless evaporate.

¹⁴Their confidence hangs by a thread.

They are leaning on a spider’s web.

¹⁵They cling to their home for security, but it won’t last.

They try to hold it tight, but it will not endure.

¹⁶The godless seem like a lush plant growing in the sunshine,

its branches spreading across the garden.

¹⁷Its roots grow down through a pile of stones;

it takes hold on a bed of rocks.

¹⁸But when it is uprooted,

it’s as though it never existed!

¹⁹That’s the end of its life,

and others spring up from the earth to replace it.

²⁰“But look, God will not reject a person of integrity,

nor will he lend a hand to the wicked.

²¹He will once again fill your mouth with laughter

and your lips with shouts of joy.

²²Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,

and the home of the wicked will be destroyed.”

Chapter 9

Job’s Third Speech: A Response to Bildad

Then Job spoke again:

²“Yes, I know all this is true in principle.

But how can a person be declared innocent in God’s sight?

³If someone wanted to take God to court,

would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times?

⁴For God is so wise and so mighty.

Who has ever challenged him successfully?

⁵“Without warning, he moves the mountains,

overturning them in his anger.

⁶He shakes the earth from its place,

and its foundations tremble.

⁷If he commands it, the sun won’t rise

and the stars won’t shine.

⁸He alone has spread out the heavens

and marches on the waves of the sea.

⁹He made all the stars—the Bear and Orion,

the Pleiades and the constellations of the southern sky.

¹⁰He does great things too marvelous to understand.

He performs countless miracles.

¹¹“Yet when he comes near, I cannot see him.

When he moves by, I do not see him go.

¹²If he snatches someone in death, who can stop him?

Who dares to ask, ‘What are you doing?’

¹³And God does not restrain his anger.

Even the monsters of the sea are crushed beneath his feet.

¹⁴“So who am I, that I should try to answer God

or even reason with him?

¹⁵Even if I were right, I would have no defense.

I could only plead for mercy.

¹⁶And even if I summoned him and he responded,

I’m not sure he would listen to me.

¹⁷For he attacks me with a storm

and repeatedly wounds me without cause.

¹⁸He will not let me catch my breath,

but fills me instead with bitter sorrows.

¹⁹If it’s a question of strength, he’s the strong one.

If it’s a matter of justice, who dares to summon him to court?

²⁰Though I am innocent, my own mouth would pronounce me guilty.

Though I am blameless, it would prove me wicked.

²¹“I am innocent,

but it makes no difference to me—

I despise my life.

²²Innocent or wicked, it is all the same to God.

That’s why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’

²³When a plague sweeps through,

he laughs at the death of the innocent.

²⁴The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked,

and God blinds the eyes of the judges.

If he’s not the one who does it, who is?

²⁵“My life passes more swiftly than a runner.

It flees away without a glimpse of happiness.

²⁶It disappears like a swift papyrus boat,

like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

²⁷If I decided to forget my complaints,

to put away my sad face and be cheerful,

²⁸I would still dread all the pain,

for I know you will not find me innocent, O God.

²⁹Whatever happens, I will be found guilty.

So what’s the use of trying?

³⁰Even if I were to wash myself with soap

and clean my hands with lye,

³¹you would plunge me into a muddy ditch,

and my own filthy clothing would hate me.

³²“God is not a mortal like me,

so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial.

³³If only there were a mediator between us,

someone who could bring us together.

³⁴The mediator could make God stop beating me,

and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment.

³⁵Then I could speak to him without fear,

but I cannot do that in my own strength.