Job 3–41

Job Curses the Day He Was Born

³After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ²Job said:

³“Let the day perish in which I was born,

and the night that said,

‘A male is conceived.’^*

⁴Let that day be darkness!

May God above not seek it

or light shine on it.

⁵Let gloom and deep darkness claim it.

Let clouds settle upon it;

let the blackness of the day terrify it.^*

⁶That night—let thick darkness seize it!

let it not rejoice among the days of the year;

let it not come into the number of the months.^*

⁷Yes, let that night be barren;

let no joyful cry be heard^s in it.

⁸Let those curse it who curse the Sea,^t

those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan.^*

⁹Let the stars of its dawn be dark;

let it hope for light but have none;

may it not see the eyelids of the morning—^*

¹⁰because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb

and hide trouble from my eyes.

¹¹“Why did I not die at birth,

come forth from the womb and expire?^*

¹²Why were there knees to receive me

or breasts for me to suck?^*

¹³Now I would be lying down and quiet;

I would be asleep; then I would be at rest

¹⁴with kings and counselors of the earth

who rebuild ruins for themselves,^*

¹⁵or with princes who have gold,

who fill their houses with silver.

¹⁶Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child,

like an infant that never sees the light?^*

¹⁷There the wicked cease from troubling,

and there the weary are at rest.^*

¹⁸There the prisoners are at ease together;

they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.

¹⁹The small and the great are there,

and the slaves are free from their masters.

²⁰“Why is light given to one in misery

and life to the bitter in soul,^*

²¹who long for death, but it does not come,

and dig for it more than for hidden treasures;^*

²²who rejoice exceedingly

and are glad when they find the grave?

²³Why is light given to one who cannot see the way,

whom God has fenced in?^*

²⁴For my sighing comes like^u my bread,

and my groanings are poured out like water.^*

²⁵Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me,

and what I dread befalls me.

²⁶I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;

I have no rest, but trouble comes.”

Eliphaz Speaks: Job Has Sinned

⁴Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

²“If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended?

But who can keep from speaking?^*

³See, you have instructed many;

you have strengthened the weak hands.^*

⁴Your words have supported those who were stumbling,

and you have made firm the feeble knees.^*

⁵But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;

it touches you, and you are dismayed.^*

⁶Is not your fear of God your confidence

and the integrity of your ways your hope?^*

⁷“Think now, who that was innocent ever perished?

Or where were the upright cut off?^*

⁸As I have seen, those who plow iniquity

and sow trouble reap the same.^*

⁹By the breath of God they perish,

and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.^*

¹⁰The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,

and the teeth of the young lions are broken.^*

¹¹The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,

and the whelps of the lioness are scattered.^*

¹²“Now a word came stealing to me;

my ear received the whisper of it.^*

¹³Amid thoughts from visions of the night,

when deep sleep falls on mortals,

¹⁴dread came upon me and trembling,

which made all my bones shake.^*

¹⁵A spirit glided past my face;

the hair of my flesh bristled.

¹⁶It stood still,

but I could not discern its appearance.

A form was before my eyes;

there was silence; then I heard a voice:

¹⁷‘Can mortals be righteous before^v God?

Can humans be pure before^w their Maker?^*

¹⁸Even in his servants he puts no trust,

and his angels he charges with error;^*

¹⁹how much more those who live in houses of clay,

whose foundation is in the dust,

who are crushed like a moth.^*

²⁰Between morning and evening they are destroyed;

they perish forever without any regarding it.^*

²¹Their tent cord is plucked up within them,

and they die devoid of wisdom.’^*

Job Is Corrected by God

⁵“Call now; is there anyone who will answer you?

To which of the holy ones will you turn?^*

²Surely vexation kills the fool,

and jealousy slays the simple.^*

³I have seen fools taking root,

but suddenly I cursed their dwelling.^*

⁴Their children are far from safety,

they are crushed in the gate,

and there is no one to deliver them.^*

⁵The hungry eat their harvest,

and they take it even out of the thorns,^x

and the thirsty^y pant after their wealth.^*

⁶For misery does not come from the earth,

nor does trouble sprout from the ground,

⁷but humans are born to trouble

just as sparks^z fly upward.^*

⁸“As for me, I would seek God,

and to God I would commit my cause.^*

⁹He does great things and unsearchable,

marvelous things without number.^*

¹⁰He gives rain on the earth

and sends waters on the fields;^*

¹¹he sets on high those who are lowly,

and those who mourn are lifted to safety.^*

¹²He frustrates the devices of the crafty,

so that their hands achieve no success.^*

¹³He takes the wise in their own craftiness,

and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.

¹⁴They meet with darkness in the daytime

and grope at noonday as in the night.^*

¹⁵But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth,

from the hand of the mighty.^*

¹⁶So the poor have hope,

and injustice shuts its mouth.^*

¹⁷“How happy is the one whom God reproves;

therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.^a*

¹⁸For he wounds, but he binds up;

he strikes, but his hands heal.^*

¹⁹He will deliver you from six troubles;

in seven no harm shall touch you.^*

²⁰In famine he will redeem you from death

and in war from the power of the sword.^*

²¹You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue

and shall not fear destruction when it comes.^*

²²At destruction and famine you shall laugh

and shall not fear the wild animals of the earth.^*

²³For you shall be in league with the stones of the field,

and the wild animals shall be at peace with you.^*

²⁴You shall know that your tent is safe;

you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.^*

²⁵You shall know that your descendants will be many

and your offspring like the grass of the earth.^*

²⁶You shall come to your grave in ripe old age,

as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing floor in its season.^*

²⁷See, we have searched this out; it is true.

Hear, and know it for yourself.”

Job Replies: My Complaint Is Just

⁶Then Job answered:

²“O that my vexation were weighed

and all my calamity laid in the balances!^*

³For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea;

therefore my words have been rash.^*

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty^b are in me;

my spirit drinks their poison;

the terrors of God are arrayed against me.^*

⁵Does the wild ass bray over its grass

or the ox low over its fodder?

⁶Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt,

or is there any flavor in the juice of mallows?^c

⁷My appetite refuses to touch them;

they are like food that is loathsome to me.^d

⁸“O that I might have my request

and that God would grant my desire,^*

⁹that it would please God to crush me,

that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!^*

¹⁰This would be my consolation;

I would even exult^e in unrelenting pain,

for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.^*

¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait?

And what is my end, that I should be patient?^*

¹²Is my strength the strength of stones,

or is my flesh bronze?

¹³In truth I have no help in me,

and any resource is driven from me.^*

¹⁴“Those who withhold^f kindness from a friend

forsake the fear of the Almighty.^g

¹⁵My companions are treacherous like a torrent bed,

like swollen streams that pass away,^*

¹⁶that run dark with ice,

turbid with melting snow.

¹⁷In time of heat they disappear;

when it is hot, they vanish from their place.^*

¹⁸The caravans turn aside from their course;

they go up into the waste and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema look;

the travelers of Sheba hope.^*

²⁰They are disappointed because they were confident;

they come there and are confounded.^*

²¹Such you have now become to me;^h

you see my calamity and are afraid.

²²Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’?

Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’?

²³Or, ‘Save me from an opponent’s hand’?

Or, ‘Ransom me from the hand of oppressors’?

²⁴“Teach me, and I will be silent;

make me understand how I have gone wrong.

²⁵How forceful are honest words!

But your reproof, what does it reprove?^*

²⁶Do you think that you can reprove words,

as if the speech of the desperate were wind?^*

²⁷You would even cast lots over the orphan

and bargain over your friend.^*

²⁸“But now, be pleased to look at me,

for I will not lie to your face.^*

²⁹Turn, I pray; let no wrong be done.

Turn now; my vindication is at stake.

³⁰Is there any wrong on my tongue?

Cannot my taste discern calamity?^*

Job: My Suffering Is without End

⁷“Do not human beings have a hard service on earth,

and are not their days like the days of a laborer?^*

²Like a slave who longs for the shadow,

and like laborers who look for their wages,^*

³so I am allotted months of emptiness,

and nights of misery are apportioned to me.^*

⁴When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I rise?’

But the night is long,

and I am full of tossing until dawn.^*

⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt;

my skin hardens, then breaks out again.

⁶My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle

and come to their end without hope.^i*

⁷“Remember that my life is a breath;

my eye will never again see good.^*

⁸The eye that beholds me will see me no more;

while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone.^*

⁹As the cloud fades and vanishes,

so those who go down to Sheol do not come up;^*

¹⁰they return no more to their houses,

nor do their places know them any more.^*

¹¹“Therefore 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 or the Dragon

that you set a guard over me?^*

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

my couch will ease my complaint,’

¹⁴then you scare me with dreams

and terrify me with visions,^*

¹⁵so that I would choose…