Job 7-9
Holman Christian Standard Bible
7 Isn’t mankind consigned to forced labor(A) on earth?
Are not his days like those of a hired hand?
2 Like a slave he longs for shade;
like a hired man he waits for his pay.
3 So I have been made to inherit months of futility,
and troubled nights have been assigned to me.(B)
4 When I lie down I think:
When will I get up?
But the evening drags on endlessly,
and I toss and turn until dawn.
5 My flesh is clothed with maggots and encrusted with dirt.[a]
My skin forms scabs[b] and then oozes.(C)
6 My days pass more swiftly than a weaver’s shuttle;
they come to an end without hope.(D)
7 Remember that my life is but a breath.
My eye will never again see anything good.(E)
8 The eye of anyone who looks on me
will no longer see me.
Your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.(F)
9 As a cloud fades away and vanishes,
so the one who goes down to Sheol(G) will never rise again.
10 He will never return to his house;
his hometown will no longer remember[c] him.(H)
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.
12 Am I the sea[d](I) or a sea monster,(J)
that You keep me under guard?
13 When I say: My bed will comfort me,
and my couch will ease my complaint,
14 then You frighten me with dreams,
and terrify me with visions,(K)
15 so that I prefer strangling[e]—
death rather than life in this body.[f](L)
16 I give up! I will not live forever.
Leave me alone,(M) for my days are a breath.[g]
17 What is man, that You think so highly of him
and pay so much attention to him?(N)
18 You inspect him every morning,
and put him to the test every moment.(O)
19 Will You ever look away from me,
or leave me alone long enough to swallow?[h]
20 If I have sinned, what have I done to You,
Watcher of mankind?
Why have You made me Your target,(P)
so that I have become a burden to You?[i]
21 Why not forgive my sin
and pardon my transgression?(Q)
For soon I will lie down in the grave.(R)
You will eagerly seek me, but I will be gone.(S)
Bildad Speaks
8 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
2 How long will you go on saying these things?
Your words(T) are a blast of wind.(U)
3 Does God pervert justice?(V)
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?(W)
4 Since your children sinned against Him,
He gave them over to their rebellion.
5 But if you earnestly seek(X) God
and ask the Almighty for mercy,(Y)
6 if you are pure and upright,
then He will move even now on your behalf
and restore the home where your righteousness dwells.(Z)
7 Then, even if your beginnings were modest,
your final days will be full of prosperity.(AA)
8 For ask the previous generation,
and pay attention to what their fathers discovered,(AB)
9 since we were born only yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are but a shadow.(AC)
10 Will they not teach you and tell you
and speak from their understanding?
11 Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Do reeds flourish without water?
12 While still uncut shoots,
they would dry up quicker than any other plant.
13 Such is the destiny[j] of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless(AD) will perish.
14 His source of confidence is fragile;[k]
what he trusts in is a spider’s web.(AE)
15 He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm.
He grabs it, but it does not hold up.
16 He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine;
his shoots spread out over his garden.
17 His roots are intertwined around a pile of rocks.
He looks for a home among the stones.
18 If he is uprooted[l] from his place,
it will deny knowing him, saying, “I never saw you.”(AF)
19 Surely this is the joy of his way of life;
yet others will sprout from the dust.
20 Look, God does not reject a person of integrity,
and He will not support evildoers.(AG)
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with a shout of joy.(AH)
22 Your enemies will be clothed with shame;(AI)
the tent(AJ) of the wicked will exist no longer.
Job’s Reply to Bildad
9 Then Job answered:
2 Yes, I know what you’ve said is true,
but how can a person be justified before God?(AK)
3 If one wanted to take(AL) Him to court,
he could not answer God[m] once in a thousand times.(AM)
4 God is wise(AN) and all-powerful.
Who has opposed Him and come out unharmed?
5 He removes mountains without their knowledge,
overturning them in His anger.(AO)
6 He shakes the earth from its place
so that its pillars tremble.
7 He commands the sun not to shine
and seals off the stars.(AP)
8 He alone stretches out the heavens(AQ)
and treads on the waves of the sea.[n]
9 He makes the stars: the Bear,[o] Orion,
the Pleiades,(AR) and the constellations[p] of the southern sky.
10 He does great and unsearchable things,
wonders without number.(AS)
11 If He passes by me, I wouldn’t see Him;(AT)
if He goes right by, I wouldn’t recognize Him.
12 If He snatches something, who can stop[q] Him?
Who can ask Him, “What are You doing?”(AU)
13 God does not hold back His anger;
Rahab’s(AV) assistants cringe in fear beneath Him!
14 How then can I answer Him
or choose my arguments against Him?
15 Even if I were in the right, I could not answer.
I could only beg my Judge for mercy.(AW)
16 If I summoned Him and He answered me,
I do not believe He would pay attention to what I said.
17 He batters me with a whirlwind(AX)
and multiplies my wounds without cause.
18 He doesn’t let me catch my breath
but soaks me with bitter experiences.
19 If it is a matter of strength, look, He is the Mighty One!(AY)
If it is a matter of justice, who can summon(AZ) Him?[r]
20 Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;(BA)
if I were blameless, my mouth would declare me guilty.
21 Though I am blameless,
I no longer care about myself;
I renounce my life.(BB)
22 It is all the same. Therefore I say,
“He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.”(BC)
23 When disaster brings sudden death,
He mocks the despair of the innocent.
24 The earth[s] is handed over to the wicked;
He blindfolds[t] its judges.(BD)
If it isn’t He, then who is it?
25 My days fly by faster than a runner;[u](BE)
they flee without seeing any good.(BF)
26 They sweep by like boats made of papyrus,
like an eagle swooping down on its prey.(BG)
27 If I said, “I will forget my complaint,
change my expression, and smile,”
28 I would still live in terror of all my pains.(BH)
I know You will not acquit me.(BI)
29 Since I will be found guilty,(BJ)
why should I labor in vain?
30 If I wash myself with snow,
and cleanse my hands with lye,
31 then You dip me in a pit of mud,
and my own clothes despise me!
32 For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him,(BK)
that we can take each other to court.
33 There is no one to judge between us,
to lay his hand on both of us.
34 Let Him take His rod away from me
so His terror will no longer frighten me.(BL)
35 Then I would speak and not fear Him.
But that is not the case; I am on my own.
Footnotes
- Job 7:5 Or and dirty scabs
- Job 7:5 Lit skin hardens
- Job 7:10 Lit know
- Job 7:12 Or the sea god
- Job 7:15 Or suffocation
- Job 7:15 Lit than my bones
- Job 7:16 Or are futile
- Job 7:19 Lit swallow my saliva?
- Job 7:20 Ancient Jewish tradition, LXX; MT, Vg read myself
- Job 8:13 Lit Such are the ways
- Job 8:14 Or cut off; Hb obscure
- Job 8:18 Lit swallowed
- Job 9:3 Or court, God would not answer him
- Job 9:8 Or and walks on the back of the sea god
- Job 9:9 Or Aldebaran
- Job 9:9 Or chambers
- Job 9:12 Or dissuade
- Job 9:19 LXX; MT reads me
- Job 9:24 Or land
- Job 9:24 Lit covers the faces of
- Job 9:25 = a royal messenger
Psalm 38
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Psalm 38
Prayer of a Suffering Sinner
A Davidic psalm for remembrance.(A)
1 Lord, do not punish me in Your anger
or discipline me in Your wrath.(B)
2 For Your arrows have sunk into me,
and Your hand has pressed down on me.(C)
3 There is no health in my body
because of Your indignation;
there is no strength[a] in my bones
because of my sin.(D)
4 For my sins have flooded over my head;
they are a burden too heavy for me to bear.(E)
5 My wounds are foul and festering
because of my foolishness.(F)
6 I am bent over and brought low;
all day long I go around in mourning.(G)
7 For my loins are full of burning pain,
and there is no health in my body.(H)
8 I am faint and severely crushed;
I groan because of the anguish of my heart.(I)
9 Lord, my every desire is known to[b] You;
my sighing is not hidden from You.(J)
10 My heart races, my strength leaves me,
and even the light of my eyes has faded.[c](K)
11 My loved ones and friends stand back from my affliction,
and my relatives stand at a distance.(L)
12 Those who seek my life set traps,
and those who want to harm me threaten to destroy me;
they plot treachery all day long.(M)
13 I am like a deaf person; I do not hear.
I am like a speechless person
who does not open his mouth.(N)
14 I am like a man who does not hear
and has no arguments in his mouth.(O)
15 I put my hope in You, Lord;
You will answer, Lord my God.(P)
16 For I said, “Don’t let them rejoice over me—
those who are arrogant toward me when I stumble.”(Q)
17 For I am about to fall,
and my pain is constantly with me.(R)
18 So I confess my guilt;
I am anxious because of my sin.(S)
19 But my enemies are vigorous and powerful;[d]
many hate me for no reason.(T)
20 Those who repay evil for good
attack me for pursuing good.(U)
Footnotes
- Psalm 38:3 Hb shalom
- Psalm 38:9 Lit is in front of
- Psalm 38:10 Or and the light of my eyes—even that is not with me
- Psalm 38:19 Or numerous
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