19Then Job answered:
2‘How long will you torment me,
and break me in pieces with words?
3These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
are you not ashamed to wrong me?
4And even if it is true that I have erred,
my error remains with me.
5If indeed you magnify yourselves against me,
and make my humiliation an argument against me,
6know then that God has put me in the wrong,
and closed his net around me.
7Even when I cry out, “Violence!” I am not answered;
I call aloud, but there is no justice.
8He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,
and he has set darkness upon my paths.
9He has stripped my glory from me,
and taken the crown from my head.
10He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone,
he has uprooted my hope like a tree.
11He has kindled his wrath against me,
and counts me as his adversary.
12His troops come on together;
they have thrown up siege-works* against me,
and encamp around my tent.
13‘He has put my family far from me,
and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
14My relatives and my close friends have failed me;
15 the guests in my house have forgotten me;
my serving-girls count me as a stranger;
I have become an alien in their eyes.
16I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
I must myself plead with him.
17My breath is repulsive to my wife;
I am loathsome to my own family.
18Even young children despise me;
when I rise, they talk against me.
19All my intimate friends abhor me,
and those whom I loved have turned against me.
20My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has touched me!
22Why do you, like God, pursue me,
never satisfied with my flesh?
23‘O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!
24O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock for ever!
25For I know that my Redeemer* lives,
and that at the last he* will stand upon the earth;*
26and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in* my flesh I shall see God,*
27whom I shall see on my side,*
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!
28If you say, “How we will persecute him!”
and, “The root of the matter is found in him”;
29be afraid of the sword,
for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
so that you may know there is a judgement.’
Zophar Speaks: Wickedness Receives Just Retribution20Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
2‘Pay attention! My thoughts urge me to answer,
because of the agitation within me.
3I hear censure that insults me,
and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me.
4Do you not know this from of old,
ever since mortals were placed on earth,
5that the exulting of the wicked is short,
and the joy of the godless is but for a moment?
6Even though they mount up high as the heavens,
and their head reaches to the clouds,
7they will perish for ever like their own dung;
those who have seen them will say, “Where are they?”
8They will fly away like a dream, and not be found;
they will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9The eye that saw them will see them no more,
nor will their place behold them any longer.
10Their children will seek the favour of the poor,
and their hands will give back their wealth.
11Their bodies, once full of youth,
will lie down in the dust with them.
12‘Though wickedness is sweet in their mouth,
though they hide it under their tongues,
13though they are loath to let it go,
and hold it in their mouths,
14yet their food is turned in their stomachs;
it is the venom of asps within them.
15They swallow down riches and vomit them up again;
God casts them out of their bellies.
16They will suck the poison of asps;
the tongue of a viper will kill them.
17They will not look on the rivers,
the streams flowing with honey and curds.
18They will give back the fruit of their toil,
and will not swallow it down;
from the profit of their trading
they will get no enjoyment.
19For they have crushed and abandoned the poor,
they have seized a house that they did not build.
20‘They knew no quiet in their bellies;
in their greed they let nothing escape.
21There was nothing left after they had eaten;
therefore their prosperity will not endure.
22In full sufficiency they will be in distress;
all the force of misery will come upon them.
23To fill their belly to the full
God* will send his fierce anger into them,
and rain it upon them as their food.*
24They will flee from an iron weapon;
a bronze arrow will strike them through.
25It is drawn forth and comes out of their body,
and the glittering point comes out of their gall;
terrors come upon them.
26Utter darkness is laid up for their treasures;
a fire fanned by no one will devour them;
what is left in their tent will be consumed.
27The heavens will reveal their iniquity,
and the earth will rise up against them.
28The possessions of their house will be carried away,
dragged off on the day of God’s* wrath.
29This is the portion of the wicked from God,
the heritage decreed for them by God.’
Job Replies: The Wicked Often Go Unpunished21Then Job answered:
2‘Listen carefully to my words,
and let this be your consolation.
3Bear with me, and I will speak;
then after I have spoken, mock on.
4As for me, is my complaint addressed to mortals?
Why should I not be impatient?
5Look at me, and be appalled,
and lay your hand upon your mouth.
6When I think of it I am dismayed,
and shuddering seizes my flesh.
7Why do the wicked live on,
reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
8Their children are established in their presence,
and their offspring before their eyes.
9Their houses are safe from fear,
and no rod of God is upon them.
10Their bull breeds without fail;
their cow calves and never miscarries.
11They send out their little ones like a flock,
and their children dance around.
12They sing to the tambourine and the lyre,
and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
13They spend their days in prosperity,
and in peace they go down to Sheol.
14They say to God, “Leave us alone!
We do not desire to know your ways.
15What is the Almighty,* that we should serve him?
And what profit do we get if we pray to him?”
16Is not their prosperity indeed their own achievement?*
The plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.
17‘How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
How often does calamity come upon them?
How often does God* distribute pains in his anger?
18How often are they like straw before the wind,
and like chaff that the storm carries away?
19You say, “God stores up their iniquity for their children.”
Let it be paid back to them, so that they may know it.
20Let their own eyes see their destruction,
and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.*
21For what do they care for their household after them,
when the number of their months is cut off?
22Will any teach God knowledge,
seeing that he judges those that are on high?
23One dies in full prosperity,
being wholly at ease and secure,
24his loins full of milk
and the marrow of his bones moist.
25Another dies in bitterness of soul,
never having tasted of good.
26They lie down alike in the dust,
and the worms cover them.
27‘Oh, I know your thoughts,
and your schemes to wrong me.
28For you say, “Where is the house of the prince?
Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?”
29Have you not asked those who travel the roads,
and do you not accept their testimony,
30that the wicked are spared on the day of calamity,
and are rescued on the day of wrath?
31Who declares their way to their face,
and who repays them for what they have done?
32When they are carried to the grave,
a watch is kept over their tomb.
33The clods of the valley are sweet to them;
everyone will follow after,
and those who went before are innumerable.
34How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.’
Friday, May 22, 2009
May 24 Job 15-18
15Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2‘Should the wise answer with windy knowledge,
and fill themselves with the east wind?
3Should they argue in unprofitable talk,
or in words with which they can do no good?
4But you are doing away with the fear of God,
and hindering meditation before God.
5For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
your own lips testify against you.
7‘Are you the firstborn of the human race?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
8Have you listened in the council of God?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
10The grey-haired and the aged are on our side,
those older than your father.
11Are the consolations of God too small for you,
or the word that deals gently with you?
12Why does your heart carry you away,
and why do your eyes flash,*
13so that you turn your spirit against God,
and let such words go out of your mouth?
14What are mortals, that they can be clean?
Or those born of woman, that they can be righteous?
15God puts no trust even in his holy ones,
and the heavens are not clean in his sight;
16how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
one who drinks iniquity like water!
17‘I will show you; listen to me;
what I have seen I will declare—
18what sages have told,
and their ancestors have not hidden,
19to whom alone the land was given,
and no stranger passed among them.
20The wicked writhe in pain all their days,
through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
21Terrifying sounds are in their ears;
in prosperity the destroyer will come upon them.
22They despair of returning from darkness,
and they are destined for the sword.
23They wander abroad for bread, saying, “Where is it?”
They know that a day of darkness is ready at hand;
24distress and anguish terrify them;
they prevail against them, like a king prepared for battle.
25Because they stretched out their hands against God,
and bid defiance to the Almighty,*
26running stubbornly against him
with a thick-bossed shield;
27because they have covered their faces with their fat,
and gathered fat upon their loins,
28they will live in desolate cities,
in houses that no one should inhabit,
houses destined to become heaps of ruins;
29they will not be rich, and their wealth will not endure,
nor will they strike root in the earth;*
30they will not escape from darkness;
the flame will dry up their shoots,
and their blossom* will be swept away* by the wind.
31Let them not trust in emptiness, deceiving themselves;
for emptiness will be their recompense.
32It will be paid in full before their time,
and their branch will not be green.
33They will shake off their unripe grape, like the vine,
and cast off their blossoms, like the olive tree.
34For the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
35They conceive mischief and bring forth evil
and their heart prepares deceit.’
Job Reaffirms His Innocence16Then Job answered:
2‘I have heard many such things;
miserable comforters are you all.
3Have windy words no limit?
Or what provokes you that you keep on talking?
4I also could talk as you do,
if you were in my place;
I could join words together against you,
and shake my head at you.
5I could encourage you with my mouth,
and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.
6‘If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
7Surely now God has worn me out;
he has* made desolate all my company.
8And he has* shrivelled me up,
which is a witness against me;
my leanness has risen up against me,
and it testifies to my face.
9He has torn me in his wrath, and hated me;
he has gnashed his teeth at me;
my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10They have gaped at me with their mouths;
they have struck me insolently on the cheek;
they mass themselves together against me.
11God gives me up to the ungodly,
and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12I was at ease, and he broke me in two;
he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
he set me up as his target;
13 his archers surround me.
He slashes open my kidneys, and shows no mercy;
he pours out my gall on the ground.
14He bursts upon me again and again;
he rushes at me like a warrior.
15I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin,
and have laid my strength in the dust.
16My face is red with weeping,
and deep darkness is on my eyelids,
17though there is no violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.
18‘O earth, do not cover my blood;
let my outcry find no resting-place.
19Even now, in fact, my witness is in heaven,
and he that vouches for me is on high.
20My friends scorn me;
my eye pours out tears to God,
21that he would maintain the right of a mortal with God,
as* one does for a neighbour.
22For when a few years have come,
I shall go the way from which I shall not return.
Job Prays for Relief17My spirit is broken, my days are extinct,
the grave is ready for me.
2Surely there are mockers around me,
and my eye dwells on their provocation.
3‘Lay down a pledge for me with yourself;
who is there that will give surety for me?
4Since you have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore you will not let them triumph.
5Those who denounce friends for reward—
the eyes of their children will fail.
6‘He has made me a byword of the peoples,
and I am one before whom people spit.
7My eye has grown dim from grief,
and all my members are like a shadow.
8The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent stir themselves up against the godless.
9Yet the righteous hold to their way,
and they that have clean hands grow stronger and stronger.
10But you, come back now, all of you,
and I shall not find a sensible person among you.
11My days are past, my plans are broken off,
the desires of my heart.
12They make night into day;
“The light”, they say, “is near to the darkness.”*
13If I look for Sheol as my house,
if I spread my couch in darkness,
14if I say to the Pit, “You are my father”,
and to the worm, “My mother”, or “My sister”,
15where then is my hope?
Who will see my hope?
16Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?
Shall we descend together into the dust?’
Bildad Speaks: God Punishes the Wicked18Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2‘How long will you hunt for words?
Consider, and then we shall speak.
3Why are we counted as cattle?
Why are we stupid in your sight?
4You who tear yourself in your anger—
shall the earth be forsaken because of you,
or the rock be removed out of its place?
5‘Surely the light of the wicked is put out,
and the flame of their fire does not shine.
6The light is dark in their tent,
and the lamp above them is put out.
7Their strong steps are shortened,
and their own schemes throw them down.
8For they are thrust into a net by their own feet,
and they walk into a pitfall.
9A trap seizes them by the heel;
a snare lays hold of them.
10A rope is hid for them in the ground,
a trap for them in the path.
11Terrors frighten them on every side,
and chase them at their heels.
12Their strength is consumed by hunger,*
and calamity is ready for their stumbling.
13By disease their skin is consumed,*
the firstborn of Death consumes their limbs.
14They are torn from the tent in which they trusted,
and are brought to the king of terrors.
15In their tents nothing remains;
sulphur is scattered upon their habitations.
16Their roots dry up beneath,
and their branches wither above.
17Their memory perishes from the earth,
and they have no name in the street.
18They are thrust from light into darkness,
and driven out of the world.
19They have no offspring or descendant among their people,
and no survivor where they used to live.
20They of the west are appalled at their fate,
and horror seizes those of the east.
21Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly,
such is the place of those who do not know God.’
2‘Should the wise answer with windy knowledge,
and fill themselves with the east wind?
3Should they argue in unprofitable talk,
or in words with which they can do no good?
4But you are doing away with the fear of God,
and hindering meditation before God.
5For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
your own lips testify against you.
7‘Are you the firstborn of the human race?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
8Have you listened in the council of God?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
10The grey-haired and the aged are on our side,
those older than your father.
11Are the consolations of God too small for you,
or the word that deals gently with you?
12Why does your heart carry you away,
and why do your eyes flash,*
13so that you turn your spirit against God,
and let such words go out of your mouth?
14What are mortals, that they can be clean?
Or those born of woman, that they can be righteous?
15God puts no trust even in his holy ones,
and the heavens are not clean in his sight;
16how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
one who drinks iniquity like water!
17‘I will show you; listen to me;
what I have seen I will declare—
18what sages have told,
and their ancestors have not hidden,
19to whom alone the land was given,
and no stranger passed among them.
20The wicked writhe in pain all their days,
through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
21Terrifying sounds are in their ears;
in prosperity the destroyer will come upon them.
22They despair of returning from darkness,
and they are destined for the sword.
23They wander abroad for bread, saying, “Where is it?”
They know that a day of darkness is ready at hand;
24distress and anguish terrify them;
they prevail against them, like a king prepared for battle.
25Because they stretched out their hands against God,
and bid defiance to the Almighty,*
26running stubbornly against him
with a thick-bossed shield;
27because they have covered their faces with their fat,
and gathered fat upon their loins,
28they will live in desolate cities,
in houses that no one should inhabit,
houses destined to become heaps of ruins;
29they will not be rich, and their wealth will not endure,
nor will they strike root in the earth;*
30they will not escape from darkness;
the flame will dry up their shoots,
and their blossom* will be swept away* by the wind.
31Let them not trust in emptiness, deceiving themselves;
for emptiness will be their recompense.
32It will be paid in full before their time,
and their branch will not be green.
33They will shake off their unripe grape, like the vine,
and cast off their blossoms, like the olive tree.
34For the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
35They conceive mischief and bring forth evil
and their heart prepares deceit.’
Job Reaffirms His Innocence16Then Job answered:
2‘I have heard many such things;
miserable comforters are you all.
3Have windy words no limit?
Or what provokes you that you keep on talking?
4I also could talk as you do,
if you were in my place;
I could join words together against you,
and shake my head at you.
5I could encourage you with my mouth,
and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.
6‘If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
7Surely now God has worn me out;
he has* made desolate all my company.
8And he has* shrivelled me up,
which is a witness against me;
my leanness has risen up against me,
and it testifies to my face.
9He has torn me in his wrath, and hated me;
he has gnashed his teeth at me;
my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10They have gaped at me with their mouths;
they have struck me insolently on the cheek;
they mass themselves together against me.
11God gives me up to the ungodly,
and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12I was at ease, and he broke me in two;
he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
he set me up as his target;
13 his archers surround me.
He slashes open my kidneys, and shows no mercy;
he pours out my gall on the ground.
14He bursts upon me again and again;
he rushes at me like a warrior.
15I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin,
and have laid my strength in the dust.
16My face is red with weeping,
and deep darkness is on my eyelids,
17though there is no violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.
18‘O earth, do not cover my blood;
let my outcry find no resting-place.
19Even now, in fact, my witness is in heaven,
and he that vouches for me is on high.
20My friends scorn me;
my eye pours out tears to God,
21that he would maintain the right of a mortal with God,
as* one does for a neighbour.
22For when a few years have come,
I shall go the way from which I shall not return.
Job Prays for Relief17My spirit is broken, my days are extinct,
the grave is ready for me.
2Surely there are mockers around me,
and my eye dwells on their provocation.
3‘Lay down a pledge for me with yourself;
who is there that will give surety for me?
4Since you have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore you will not let them triumph.
5Those who denounce friends for reward—
the eyes of their children will fail.
6‘He has made me a byword of the peoples,
and I am one before whom people spit.
7My eye has grown dim from grief,
and all my members are like a shadow.
8The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent stir themselves up against the godless.
9Yet the righteous hold to their way,
and they that have clean hands grow stronger and stronger.
10But you, come back now, all of you,
and I shall not find a sensible person among you.
11My days are past, my plans are broken off,
the desires of my heart.
12They make night into day;
“The light”, they say, “is near to the darkness.”*
13If I look for Sheol as my house,
if I spread my couch in darkness,
14if I say to the Pit, “You are my father”,
and to the worm, “My mother”, or “My sister”,
15where then is my hope?
Who will see my hope?
16Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?
Shall we descend together into the dust?’
Bildad Speaks: God Punishes the Wicked18Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2‘How long will you hunt for words?
Consider, and then we shall speak.
3Why are we counted as cattle?
Why are we stupid in your sight?
4You who tear yourself in your anger—
shall the earth be forsaken because of you,
or the rock be removed out of its place?
5‘Surely the light of the wicked is put out,
and the flame of their fire does not shine.
6The light is dark in their tent,
and the lamp above them is put out.
7Their strong steps are shortened,
and their own schemes throw them down.
8For they are thrust into a net by their own feet,
and they walk into a pitfall.
9A trap seizes them by the heel;
a snare lays hold of them.
10A rope is hid for them in the ground,
a trap for them in the path.
11Terrors frighten them on every side,
and chase them at their heels.
12Their strength is consumed by hunger,*
and calamity is ready for their stumbling.
13By disease their skin is consumed,*
the firstborn of Death consumes their limbs.
14They are torn from the tent in which they trusted,
and are brought to the king of terrors.
15In their tents nothing remains;
sulphur is scattered upon their habitations.
16Their roots dry up beneath,
and their branches wither above.
17Their memory perishes from the earth,
and they have no name in the street.
18They are thrust from light into darkness,
and driven out of the world.
19They have no offspring or descendant among their people,
and no survivor where they used to live.
20They of the west are appalled at their fate,
and horror seizes those of the east.
21Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly,
such is the place of those who do not know God.’
May 23 Job 11-14
11Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
2‘Should a multitude of words go unanswered,
and should one full of talk be vindicated?
3Should your babble put others to silence,
and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
4For you say, “My conduct* is pure,
and I am clean in God’s* sight.”
5But O that God would speak,
and open his lips to you,
6and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!
For wisdom is many-sided.*
Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.
7‘Can you find out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?*
8It is higher than heaven*—what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
9Its measure is longer than the earth,
and broader than the sea.
10If he passes through, and imprisons,
and assembles for judgement, who can hinder him?
11For he knows those who are worthless;
when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?
12But a stupid person will get understanding,
when a wild ass is born human.*
13‘If you direct your heart rightly,
you will stretch out your hands towards him.
14If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
and do not let wickedness reside in your tents.
15Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish;
you will be secure, and will not fear.
16You will forget your misery;
you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
17And your life will be brighter than the noonday;
its darkness will be like the morning.
18And you will have confidence, because there is hope;
you will be protected* and take your rest in safety.
19You will lie down, and no one will make you afraid;
many will entreat your favour.
20But the eyes of the wicked will fail;
all way of escape will be lost to them,
and their hope is to breathe their last.’
Job Replies: I Am a Laughing-stock12Then Job answered:
2‘No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.
3But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these?
4I am a laughing-stock to my friends;
I, who called upon God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, I am a laughing-stock.
5Those at ease have contempt for misfortune,*
but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable.
6The tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hands.*
7‘But ask the animals, and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8ask the plants of the earth,* and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of every human being.
11Does not the ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
12Is wisdom with the aged,
and understanding in length of days?
13‘With God* are wisdom and strength;
he has counsel and understanding.
14If he tears down, no one can rebuild;
if he shuts someone in, no one can open up.
15If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
16With him are strength and wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.
17He leads counsellors away stripped,
and makes fools of judges.
18He looses the sash of kings,
and binds a waistcloth on their loins.
19He leads priests away stripped,
and overthrows the mighty.
20He deprives of speech those who are trusted,
and takes away the discernment of the elders.
21He pours contempt on princes,
and looses the belt of the strong.
22He uncovers the deeps out of darkness,
and brings deep darkness to light.
23He makes nations great, then destroys them;
he enlarges nations, then leads them away.
24He strips understanding from the leaders* of the earth,
and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
25They grope in the dark without light;
he makes them stagger like a drunkard.
13‘Look, my eye has seen all this,
my ear has heard and understood it.
2What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
3But I would speak to the Almighty,*
and I desire to argue my case with God.
4As for you, you whitewash with lies;
all of you are worthless physicians.
5If you would only keep silent,
that would be your wisdom!
6Hear now my reasoning,
and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7Will you speak falsely for God,
and speak deceitfully for him?
8Will you show partiality towards him,
will you plead the case for God?
9Will it be well with you when he searches you out?
Or can you deceive him, as one person deceives another?
10He will surely rebuke you
if in secret you show partiality.
11Will not his majesty terrify you,
and the dread of him fall upon you?
12Your maxims are proverbs of ashes,
your defences are defences of clay.
13‘Let me have silence, and I will speak,
and let come on me what may.
14I will take my flesh in my teeth,
and put my life in my hand.*
15See, he will kill me; I have no hope;*
but I will defend my ways to his face.
16This will be my salvation,
that the godless shall not come before him.
17Listen carefully to my words,
and let my declaration be in your ears.
18I have indeed prepared my case;
I know that I shall be vindicated.
19Who is there that will contend with me?
For then I would be silent and die.
Job’s Despondent Prayer
20Only grant two things to me,
then I will not hide myself from your face:
21withdraw your hand far from me,
and do not let dread of you terrify me.
22Then call, and I will answer;
or let me speak, and you reply to me.
23How many are my iniquities and my sins?
Make me know my transgression and my sin.
24Why do you hide your face,
and count me as your enemy?
25Will you frighten a windblown leaf
and pursue dry chaff?
26For you write bitter things against me,
and make me reap* the iniquities of my youth.
27You put my feet in the stocks,
and watch all my paths;
you set a bound to the soles of my feet.
28One wastes away like a rotten thing,
like a garment that is moth-eaten.
14‘A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,
2 comes up like a flower and withers,
flees like a shadow and does not last.
3Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
Do you bring me into judgement with you?
4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
No one can.
5Since their days are determined,
and the number of their months is known to you,
and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,
6look away from them, and desist,*
that they may enjoy, like labourers, their days.
7‘For there is hope for a tree,
if it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
8Though its root grows old in the earth,
and its stump dies in the ground,
9yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth branches like a young plant.
10But mortals die, and are laid low;
humans expire, and where are they?
11As waters fail from a lake,
and a river wastes away and dries up,
12so mortals lie down and do not rise again;
until the heavens are no more, they will not awake
or be roused out of their sleep.
13O that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14If mortals die, will they live again?
All the days of my service I would wait
until my release should come.
15You would call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the work of your hands.
16For then you would not* number my steps,
you would not keep watch over my sin;
17my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.
18‘But the mountain falls and crumbles away,
and the rock is removed from its place;
19the waters wear away the stones;
the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
so you destroy the hope of mortals.
20You prevail for ever against them, and they pass away;
you change their countenance, and send them away.
21Their children come to honour, and they do not know it;
they are brought low, and it goes unnoticed.
22They feel only the pain of their own bodies,
and mourn only for themselves.’
2‘Should a multitude of words go unanswered,
and should one full of talk be vindicated?
3Should your babble put others to silence,
and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
4For you say, “My conduct* is pure,
and I am clean in God’s* sight.”
5But O that God would speak,
and open his lips to you,
6and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!
For wisdom is many-sided.*
Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.
7‘Can you find out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?*
8It is higher than heaven*—what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
9Its measure is longer than the earth,
and broader than the sea.
10If he passes through, and imprisons,
and assembles for judgement, who can hinder him?
11For he knows those who are worthless;
when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?
12But a stupid person will get understanding,
when a wild ass is born human.*
13‘If you direct your heart rightly,
you will stretch out your hands towards him.
14If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
and do not let wickedness reside in your tents.
15Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish;
you will be secure, and will not fear.
16You will forget your misery;
you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
17And your life will be brighter than the noonday;
its darkness will be like the morning.
18And you will have confidence, because there is hope;
you will be protected* and take your rest in safety.
19You will lie down, and no one will make you afraid;
many will entreat your favour.
20But the eyes of the wicked will fail;
all way of escape will be lost to them,
and their hope is to breathe their last.’
Job Replies: I Am a Laughing-stock12Then Job answered:
2‘No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.
3But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these?
4I am a laughing-stock to my friends;
I, who called upon God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, I am a laughing-stock.
5Those at ease have contempt for misfortune,*
but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable.
6The tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hands.*
7‘But ask the animals, and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8ask the plants of the earth,* and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of every human being.
11Does not the ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
12Is wisdom with the aged,
and understanding in length of days?
13‘With God* are wisdom and strength;
he has counsel and understanding.
14If he tears down, no one can rebuild;
if he shuts someone in, no one can open up.
15If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
16With him are strength and wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.
17He leads counsellors away stripped,
and makes fools of judges.
18He looses the sash of kings,
and binds a waistcloth on their loins.
19He leads priests away stripped,
and overthrows the mighty.
20He deprives of speech those who are trusted,
and takes away the discernment of the elders.
21He pours contempt on princes,
and looses the belt of the strong.
22He uncovers the deeps out of darkness,
and brings deep darkness to light.
23He makes nations great, then destroys them;
he enlarges nations, then leads them away.
24He strips understanding from the leaders* of the earth,
and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
25They grope in the dark without light;
he makes them stagger like a drunkard.
13‘Look, my eye has seen all this,
my ear has heard and understood it.
2What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
3But I would speak to the Almighty,*
and I desire to argue my case with God.
4As for you, you whitewash with lies;
all of you are worthless physicians.
5If you would only keep silent,
that would be your wisdom!
6Hear now my reasoning,
and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7Will you speak falsely for God,
and speak deceitfully for him?
8Will you show partiality towards him,
will you plead the case for God?
9Will it be well with you when he searches you out?
Or can you deceive him, as one person deceives another?
10He will surely rebuke you
if in secret you show partiality.
11Will not his majesty terrify you,
and the dread of him fall upon you?
12Your maxims are proverbs of ashes,
your defences are defences of clay.
13‘Let me have silence, and I will speak,
and let come on me what may.
14I will take my flesh in my teeth,
and put my life in my hand.*
15See, he will kill me; I have no hope;*
but I will defend my ways to his face.
16This will be my salvation,
that the godless shall not come before him.
17Listen carefully to my words,
and let my declaration be in your ears.
18I have indeed prepared my case;
I know that I shall be vindicated.
19Who is there that will contend with me?
For then I would be silent and die.
Job’s Despondent Prayer
20Only grant two things to me,
then I will not hide myself from your face:
21withdraw your hand far from me,
and do not let dread of you terrify me.
22Then call, and I will answer;
or let me speak, and you reply to me.
23How many are my iniquities and my sins?
Make me know my transgression and my sin.
24Why do you hide your face,
and count me as your enemy?
25Will you frighten a windblown leaf
and pursue dry chaff?
26For you write bitter things against me,
and make me reap* the iniquities of my youth.
27You put my feet in the stocks,
and watch all my paths;
you set a bound to the soles of my feet.
28One wastes away like a rotten thing,
like a garment that is moth-eaten.
14‘A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,
2 comes up like a flower and withers,
flees like a shadow and does not last.
3Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
Do you bring me into judgement with you?
4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
No one can.
5Since their days are determined,
and the number of their months is known to you,
and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,
6look away from them, and desist,*
that they may enjoy, like labourers, their days.
7‘For there is hope for a tree,
if it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
8Though its root grows old in the earth,
and its stump dies in the ground,
9yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth branches like a young plant.
10But mortals die, and are laid low;
humans expire, and where are they?
11As waters fail from a lake,
and a river wastes away and dries up,
12so mortals lie down and do not rise again;
until the heavens are no more, they will not awake
or be roused out of their sleep.
13O that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14If mortals die, will they live again?
All the days of my service I would wait
until my release should come.
15You would call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the work of your hands.
16For then you would not* number my steps,
you would not keep watch over my sin;
17my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.
18‘But the mountain falls and crumbles away,
and the rock is removed from its place;
19the waters wear away the stones;
the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
so you destroy the hope of mortals.
20You prevail for ever against them, and they pass away;
you change their countenance, and send them away.
21Their children come to honour, and they do not know it;
they are brought low, and it goes unnoticed.
22They feel only the pain of their own bodies,
and mourn only for themselves.’
May 22 Job 6-10
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* 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 flavour in the juice of mallows?*
7My appetite refuses to touch them;
they are like food that is loathsome to me.*
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* 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* kindness from a friend
forsake the fear of the Almighty.*
15My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed,
like freshets 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 travellers of Sheba hope.
20They are disappointed because they were confident;
they come there and are confounded.
21Such you have now become to me;*
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 End7‘Do not human beings have a hard service on earth,
and are not their days like the days of a labourer?
2Like a slave who longs for the shadow,
and like labourers 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.*
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 strangling
and death rather than this body.
16I loathe my life; I would not live for ever.
Let me alone, for my days are a breath.
17What are human beings, that you make so much of them,
that you set your mind on them,
18visit them every morning,
test them every moment?
19Will you not look away from me for a while,
let me alone until I swallow my spittle?
20If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of humanity?
Why have you made me your target?
Why have I become a burden to you?
21Why do you not pardon my transgression
and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in the earth;
you will seek me, but I shall not be.’
Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent8Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2‘How long will you say these things,
and the words of your mouth be a great wind?
3Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty* pervert the right?
4If your children sinned against him,
he delivered them into the power of their transgression.
5If you will seek God
and make supplication to the Almighty,*
6if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will rouse himself for you
and restore to you your rightful place.
7Though your beginning was small,
your latter days will be very great.
8‘For inquire now of bygone generations,
and consider what their ancestors have found;
9for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing,
for our days on earth are but a shadow.
10Will they not teach you and tell you
and utter words out of their understanding?
11‘Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
12While yet in flower and not cut down,
they wither before any other plant.
13Such are the paths of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless shall perish.
14Their confidence is gossamer,
a spider’s house their trust.
15If one leans against its house, it will not stand;
if one lays hold of it, it will not endure.
16The wicked thrive* before the sun,
and their shoots spread over the garden.
17Their roots twine around the stoneheap;
they live among the rocks.*
18If they are destroyed from their place,
then it will deny them, saying, “I have never seen you.”
19See, these are their happy ways,*
and out of the earth still others will spring.
20‘See, God will not reject a blameless person,
nor take the hand of evildoers.
21He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
and your lips with shouts of joy.
22Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked will be no more.’
Job Replies: There Is No Mediator9Then Job answered:
2‘Indeed I know that this is so;
but how can a mortal be just before God?
3If one wished to contend with him,
one could not answer him once in a thousand.
4He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength
—who has resisted him, and succeeded?—
5he who removes mountains, and they do not know it,
when he overturns them in his anger;
6who shakes the earth out of its place,
and its pillars tremble;
7who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
who seals up the stars;
8who alone stretched out the heavens
and trampled the waves of the Sea;*
9who made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
10who does great things beyond understanding,
and marvellous things without number.
11Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him;
he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
12He snatches away; who can stop him?
Who will say to him, “What are you doing?”
13‘God will not turn back his anger;
the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.
14How then can I answer him,
choosing my words with him?
15Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him;
I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.*
16If I summoned him and he answered me,
I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.
17For he crushes me with a tempest,
and multiplies my wounds without cause;
18he will not let me get my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.
19If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one!
If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?*
20Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
21I am blameless; I do not know myself;
I loathe my life.
22It is all one; therefore I say,
he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.
23When disaster brings sudden death,
he mocks at the calamity* of the innocent.
24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
he covers the eyes of its judges—
if it is not he, who then is it?
25‘My days are swifter than a runner;
they flee away, they see no good.
26They go by like skiffs of reed,
like an eagle swooping on the prey.
27If I say, “I will forget my complaint;
I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer”,
28I become afraid of all my suffering,
for I know you will not hold me innocent.
29I shall be condemned;
why then do I labour in vain?
30If I wash myself with soap
and cleanse my hands with lye,
31yet you will plunge me into filth,
and my own clothes will abhor me.
32For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should come to trial together.
33There is no umpire* between us,
who might lay his hand on us both.
34If he would take his rod away from me,
and not let dread of him terrify me,
35then I would speak without fear of him,
for I know I am not what I am thought to be.*
Job: I Loathe My Life10‘I loathe my life;
I will give free utterance to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2I will say to God, Do not condemn me;
let me know why you contend against me.
3Does it seem good to you to oppress,
to despise the work of your hands
and favour the schemes of the wicked?
4Do you have eyes of flesh?
Do you see as humans see?
5Are your days like the days of mortals,
or your years like human years,
6that you seek out my iniquity
and search for my sin,
7although you know that I am not guilty,
and there is no one to deliver out of your hand?
8Your hands fashioned and made me;
and now you turn and destroy me.*
9Remember that you fashioned me like clay;
and will you turn me to dust again?
10Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
11You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12You have granted me life and steadfast love,
and your care has preserved my spirit.
13Yet these things you hid in your heart;
I know that this was your purpose.
14If I sin, you watch me,
and do not acquit me of my iniquity.
15If I am wicked, woe to me!
If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace
and look upon my affliction.
16Bold as a lion you hunt me;
you repeat your exploits against me.
17You renew your witnesses against me,
and increase your vexation towards me;
you bring fresh troops against me.*
18‘Why did you bring me forth from the womb?
Would that I had died before any eye had seen me,
19and were as though I had not been,
carried from the womb to the grave.
20Are not the days of my life few?*
Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort*
21before I go, never to return,
to the land of gloom and deep darkness,
22the land of gloom* and chaos,
where light is like darkness.’
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* 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 flavour in the juice of mallows?*
7My appetite refuses to touch them;
they are like food that is loathsome to me.*
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* 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* kindness from a friend
forsake the fear of the Almighty.*
15My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed,
like freshets 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 travellers of Sheba hope.
20They are disappointed because they were confident;
they come there and are confounded.
21Such you have now become to me;*
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 End7‘Do not human beings have a hard service on earth,
and are not their days like the days of a labourer?
2Like a slave who longs for the shadow,
and like labourers 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.*
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 strangling
and death rather than this body.
16I loathe my life; I would not live for ever.
Let me alone, for my days are a breath.
17What are human beings, that you make so much of them,
that you set your mind on them,
18visit them every morning,
test them every moment?
19Will you not look away from me for a while,
let me alone until I swallow my spittle?
20If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of humanity?
Why have you made me your target?
Why have I become a burden to you?
21Why do you not pardon my transgression
and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in the earth;
you will seek me, but I shall not be.’
Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent8Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2‘How long will you say these things,
and the words of your mouth be a great wind?
3Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty* pervert the right?
4If your children sinned against him,
he delivered them into the power of their transgression.
5If you will seek God
and make supplication to the Almighty,*
6if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will rouse himself for you
and restore to you your rightful place.
7Though your beginning was small,
your latter days will be very great.
8‘For inquire now of bygone generations,
and consider what their ancestors have found;
9for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing,
for our days on earth are but a shadow.
10Will they not teach you and tell you
and utter words out of their understanding?
11‘Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
12While yet in flower and not cut down,
they wither before any other plant.
13Such are the paths of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless shall perish.
14Their confidence is gossamer,
a spider’s house their trust.
15If one leans against its house, it will not stand;
if one lays hold of it, it will not endure.
16The wicked thrive* before the sun,
and their shoots spread over the garden.
17Their roots twine around the stoneheap;
they live among the rocks.*
18If they are destroyed from their place,
then it will deny them, saying, “I have never seen you.”
19See, these are their happy ways,*
and out of the earth still others will spring.
20‘See, God will not reject a blameless person,
nor take the hand of evildoers.
21He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
and your lips with shouts of joy.
22Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked will be no more.’
Job Replies: There Is No Mediator9Then Job answered:
2‘Indeed I know that this is so;
but how can a mortal be just before God?
3If one wished to contend with him,
one could not answer him once in a thousand.
4He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength
—who has resisted him, and succeeded?—
5he who removes mountains, and they do not know it,
when he overturns them in his anger;
6who shakes the earth out of its place,
and its pillars tremble;
7who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
who seals up the stars;
8who alone stretched out the heavens
and trampled the waves of the Sea;*
9who made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
10who does great things beyond understanding,
and marvellous things without number.
11Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him;
he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
12He snatches away; who can stop him?
Who will say to him, “What are you doing?”
13‘God will not turn back his anger;
the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.
14How then can I answer him,
choosing my words with him?
15Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him;
I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.*
16If I summoned him and he answered me,
I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.
17For he crushes me with a tempest,
and multiplies my wounds without cause;
18he will not let me get my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.
19If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one!
If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?*
20Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
21I am blameless; I do not know myself;
I loathe my life.
22It is all one; therefore I say,
he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.
23When disaster brings sudden death,
he mocks at the calamity* of the innocent.
24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
he covers the eyes of its judges—
if it is not he, who then is it?
25‘My days are swifter than a runner;
they flee away, they see no good.
26They go by like skiffs of reed,
like an eagle swooping on the prey.
27If I say, “I will forget my complaint;
I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer”,
28I become afraid of all my suffering,
for I know you will not hold me innocent.
29I shall be condemned;
why then do I labour in vain?
30If I wash myself with soap
and cleanse my hands with lye,
31yet you will plunge me into filth,
and my own clothes will abhor me.
32For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should come to trial together.
33There is no umpire* between us,
who might lay his hand on us both.
34If he would take his rod away from me,
and not let dread of him terrify me,
35then I would speak without fear of him,
for I know I am not what I am thought to be.*
Job: I Loathe My Life10‘I loathe my life;
I will give free utterance to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2I will say to God, Do not condemn me;
let me know why you contend against me.
3Does it seem good to you to oppress,
to despise the work of your hands
and favour the schemes of the wicked?
4Do you have eyes of flesh?
Do you see as humans see?
5Are your days like the days of mortals,
or your years like human years,
6that you seek out my iniquity
and search for my sin,
7although you know that I am not guilty,
and there is no one to deliver out of your hand?
8Your hands fashioned and made me;
and now you turn and destroy me.*
9Remember that you fashioned me like clay;
and will you turn me to dust again?
10Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
11You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12You have granted me life and steadfast love,
and your care has preserved my spirit.
13Yet these things you hid in your heart;
I know that this was your purpose.
14If I sin, you watch me,
and do not acquit me of my iniquity.
15If I am wicked, woe to me!
If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace
and look upon my affliction.
16Bold as a lion you hunt me;
you repeat your exploits against me.
17You renew your witnesses against me,
and increase your vexation towards me;
you bring fresh troops against me.*
18‘Why did you bring me forth from the womb?
Would that I had died before any eye had seen me,
19and were as though I had not been,
carried from the womb to the grave.
20Are not the days of my life few?*
Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort*
21before I go, never to return,
to the land of gloom and deep darkness,
22the land of gloom* and chaos,
where light is like darkness.’
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