Job 6-9 (Amplified Bible)

Job 6

 ¹THEN JOB answered,

    ²Oh, that my impatience and vexation might be [thoroughly] weighed and all my calamity be laid up over against them in the balances, one against the other [to see if my grief is unmanly]!

    ³For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash and wild,

    ⁴[But it is] because the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison which my spirit drinks up; the terrors of God set themselves in array against me.

    ⁵Does the wild ass bray when it has grass? Or does the ox low over its fodder?

    ⁶Can that which has no taste to it be eaten without salt? Or is there any flavor in the white of an egg?

    ⁷[These afflictions] my soul refuses to touch! Such things are like diseased food to me [sickening and repugnant]!

    ⁸Oh, that I might have my request, and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!

    ⁹I even wish that it would please God to crush me, that He would let loose His hand and cut me off!

    ¹⁰Then would I still have consolation--yes, I would leap [for joy] amid unsparing pain [though I shrink from it]--that I have not concealed or denied the words of the Holy One!

    ¹¹What strength have I left, that I should wait and hope? And what is ahead of me, that I should be patient?

    ¹²Is my strength and endurance that of stones? Or is my flesh made of bronze?

    ¹³Is it not that I have no help in myself, and that wisdom is quite driven from me?

    ¹⁴To him who is about to faint and despair, kindness is due from his friend, lest he forsake the fear of the Almighty.

    ¹⁵[You] my brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away,

    ¹⁶Which are black and turbid by reason of the ice, and in which the snows hides itself;

    ¹⁷When they get warm, they shrink and disappear; when it is hot, they vanish out of their place.

    ¹⁸The caravans which travel by way of them turn aside; they go into the waste places and perish. [Such is my disappointment in you, the friends I fully trusted.]

    ¹⁹The caravans of Tema looked [for water], the companies of Sheba waited for them [in vain].

    ²⁰They were confounded because they had hoped [to find water]; they came there and were bitterly disappointed.

    ²¹Now to me you are [like a dried-up brook]; you see my dismay and terror, and [believing me to be a victim of God's anger] you are afraid [to sympathize with me].

    ²²Did I ever say, Bring me a gift, or Pay a bribe on my account from your wealth

    ²³To deliver me from the adversary's hand, or Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?

    ²⁴Teach me, and I will hold my peace; and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

    ²⁵How forcible are words of straightforward speech! But what does your arguing argue and prove or your reproof reprove?

    ²⁶Do you imagine your words to be an argument, but the speeches of one who is desperate to be as wind?

    ²⁷Yes, you would cast lots over the fatherless and bargain away your friend.

    ²⁸Now be pleased to look upon me, that it may be evident to you if I lie [for surely I would not lie to your face].

    ²⁹Return [from your suspicion], I pray you, let there be no injustice; yes, return again [to confidence in me], my vindication is in it.

    ³⁰Is there wrong on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern what is destructive?

   

Job 7

 ¹IS THERE not an [appointed] warfare and hard labor to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling?

    ²As a servant earnestly longs for the shade and the evening shadows, and as a hireling who looks for the reward of his work,

    ³So am I allotted months of futile [suffering], and [long] nights of misery are appointed to me.

    ⁴When I lie down I say, When shall I arise and the night be gone? And I am full of tossing to and fro till the dawning of the day.

    ⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken and has become loathsome, and it closes up and breaks out afresh.

    ⁶My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.

    ⁷Oh, remember that my life is but wind (a puff, a breath, a sob); my eye shall see good no more.

    ⁸The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more; while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone.

    ⁹As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol (the place of the dead) shall come up no more.

    ¹⁰He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

    ¹¹Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul [O Lord]!

    ¹²Am I the sea, or the sea monster, that You set a watch over me?

    ¹³When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint,

    ¹⁴Then You scare me with dreams and terrify me through visions,

    ¹⁵So that I would choose strangling and death rather than these my bones.

    ¹⁶I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath (futility).

    ¹⁷What is man that You should magnify him and think him important? And that You should set Your mind upon him?^(A)

    ¹⁸And that You should visit him every morning and try him every moment?

    ¹⁹How long will Your [plaguing] glance not look away from me, nor You let me alone till I swallow my spittle?

    ²⁰If I have sinned, what [harm] have I done You, O You Watcher and Keeper of men? Why have You set me as a mark for You, so that I am a burden to myself [and You]?

    ²¹And why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust; and [even if] You will seek me diligently, [it will be too late, for] I shall not be.

   

Job 8

 ¹THEN ANSWERED Bildad the Shuhite,

    ²How long will you say these things [Job]? And how long shall the words of your mouth be as a mighty wind?

    ³Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?

    ⁴If your children have sinned against Him, then He has delivered them into the power of their transgression.

    ⁵If you will seek God diligently and make your supplication to the Almighty,

    ⁶Then, if you are pure and upright, surely He will bestir Himself for you and make your righteous dwelling prosperous again.

    ⁷And though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase.

    ⁸For inquire, I pray you, of the former age and apply yourself to that which their fathers have searched out,

    ⁹For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow.

    ¹⁰Shall not [the forefathers] teach you and tell you and utter words out of their hearts (the deepest part of their nature)?

    ¹¹Can the rush or papyrus grow up without marsh? Can the flag or reed grass grow without water?

    ¹²While it is yet green, in flower, and not cut down, it withers before any other herb [when without water].

    ¹³So are the ways of all who forget God; and the hope of the godless shall perish.

    ¹⁴For his confidence breaks, and [the object of] his trust is a spider's web.

    ¹⁵He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall hold fast to it, but it shall not last.

    ¹⁶He is green before the sun, and his shoots go forth over his garden.

    ¹⁷[Godless] his roots are wrapped about the [stone] heap, and see their way [promisingly] among the rocks.

    ¹⁸But if [God] snatches him from his property, [then having passed into the hands of others] it [his property] will forget and deny him, [saying,] I have never seen you [before, as if ashamed of him--like his former friends].

    ¹⁹See, this is the joy of going the way [of the ungodly]! And from the dust others will spring up [to take his place].

    ²⁰Behold, as surely as God will never uphold wrongdoers, He will never cast away a blameless man.

    ²¹He will yet fill your mouth with laughter [Job] and your lips with joyful shouting.

    ²²Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tents of the wicked shall be no more.

   

Job 9

 ¹THEN JOB answered and said,

    ²Yes, I know it is true. But how can mortal man be right before God?

    ³If one should want to contend with Him, he cannot answer one [of His questions] in a thousand.

    ⁴[God] is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has [ever] hardened himself against Him and prospered or even been safe?

    ⁵[God] Who removes the mountains, and they know it not when He overturns them in His anger;

    ⁶Who shakes the earth out of its place, and the pillars of it tremble;

    ⁷Who commands the sun, and it rises not; Who seals up the stars [from view];

    ⁸Who alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the waves and high places of the sea;

    ⁹Who made [the constellations] the Bear, Orion, and the [loose cluster] Pleiades, and the [vast starry] spaces of the south;

    ¹⁰Who does great things past finding out, yes, marvelous things without number.

    ¹¹Behold, He goes by me, and I see Him not; He passes on also, but I perceive Him not.

    ¹²Behold, He snatches away; who can hinder or turn Him back? Who will say to Him, What are You doing?

    ¹³God will not withdraw His anger; the [proud] helpers of Rahab [arrogant monster of the sea] bow under Him.

    ¹⁴How much less shall I answer Him, choosing out my words to reason with Him

    ¹⁵Whom, though I were righteous (upright and innocent) yet I could not answer? I must appeal for mercy to my Opponent and Judge [for my right].

    ¹⁶If I called and He answered me, yet would I not believe that He listened to my voice.

    ¹⁷For He overwhelms and breaks me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause.

    ¹⁸He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

    ¹⁹If I speak of strength, behold, He is mighty! And if of justice, Who, says He, will summon Me?

    ²⁰Though I am innocent and in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, He would prove me perverse.

    ²¹Though I am blameless, I regard not myself; I despise my life.

    ²²It is all one; therefore I say, God [does not discriminate, but] destroys the blameless and the wicked.

    ²³When [His] scourge slays suddenly, He mocks at the calamity and trial of the innocent.

    ²⁴The earth is given into the hands of the wicked; He covers the faces of its judges [so that they are blinded to justice]. If it is not [God], who then is it [responsible for all this inequality]?

    ²⁵Now my days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good.

    ²⁶They are passed away like the swift rowboats made of reeds, or like the eagle that swoops down on the prey.

    ²⁷If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer and brighten up,

    ²⁸I become afraid of all my pains and sorrows [yet to come], for I know You will not pronounce me innocent [by removing them].

    ²⁹I shall be held guilty and be condemned; why then should I labor in vain [to appear innocent]?

    ³⁰If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,

    ³¹Yet You will plunge me into the ditch, and my own clothes will abhor me [and refuse to cover so foul a body].

    ³²For [God] is not a [mere] man, as I am, that I should answer Him, that we should come together in court.

    ³³There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand upon us both, [would that there were!]^(B)

    ³⁴That He might take His rod away from [threatening] me, and that the fear of Him might not terrify me.

    ³⁵[Then] would I speak and not fear Him, but I am not so in myself [to make me afraid, were only a fair trial given me].