Job 6-9 (Contemporary English Version)

Job 6

Job's Reply to Eliphaz

It's Impossible

 ¹Job said:

    ²It's impossible to weigh

   my misery and grief!

    ³They outweigh the sand

   along the beach,

   and that's why I have spoken

   without thinking first.

    ⁴The fearsome arrows

   of God All-Powerful

   have filled my soul

   with their poison.

    ⁵Do oxen and wild donkeys

   cry out in distress

   unless they are hungry?

    ⁶What is food without salt?

   What is more tasteless

   than the white of an egg? ^{[a] 7}That's how my food tastes,

   and my appetite is gone.

    ⁸How I wish that God

   would answer my prayer

    ⁹and do away with me.

    ¹⁰Then I would be comforted,

   knowing that in all of my pain

   I have never disobeyed God.

    ¹¹Why should I patiently hope

   when my strength is gone?

    ¹²I am not strong as stone

   or bronze,

    ¹³and I have finally reached

   the end of my rope.

   

My Friends, I Am Desperate

 ¹⁴My friends, I am desperate,

   and you should help me,

   even if I no longer respect

   God All-Powerful. ^{[b] 15}But you are treacherous

    ¹⁶as streams that swell

   with melting snow,

    ¹⁷then suddenly disappear

   in the summer heat.

    ¹⁸I am like a caravan,

   lost in the desert

   while searching for water.

    ¹⁹Caravans from Tema and Sheba ^{[c] 20}thought they would find water.

   But they were disappointed,

    ²¹just as I am with you. ^[d] Only one look at my suffering,

   and you run away scared.

   

What Have I Done Wrong?

 ²²Have I ever asked any of you

   to give me a gift

    ²³or to purchase my freedom

   from brutal enemies?

    ²⁴What have I done wrong?

   Show me,

   and I will keep quiet.

    ²⁵The truth is always painful,

   but your arguments

   prove nothing.

    ²⁶Here I am desperate,

   and you consider my words

   as worthless as wind.

    ²⁷Why, you would sell an orphan

   or your own neighbor!

    ²⁸Look me straight in the eye;

   I won't lie to you.

    ²⁹Stop accusing me falsely;

   my reputation is at stake.

    ³⁰I know right from wrong,

   and I am not telling lies.

   

Job 7

Job Continues

Why Is Life So Hard?

 ¹Why is life so hard?

   Why do we suffer?

    ²We are slaves in search of shade;

   we are laborers longing

   for our wages.

    ³God has made my days drag on

   and my nights miserable.

    ⁴I pray for night to end,

   but it stretches out

   while I toss and turn.

    ⁵My parched skin is covered

   with worms, dirt, and sores,

    ⁶and my days are running out

   quicker than the thread

   of a fast-moving needle.

   

Don't Forget!

 ⁷I beg you, God, don't forget!

   My life is just a breath,

   and trouble lies ahead.

    ⁸I will vanish from sight,

   and no one, including you,

   will ever see me again.

    ⁹I will disappear in the grave

   or vanish from sight

   like a passing cloud.

    ¹⁰Never will I return home;

   soon I will be forgotten.

    ¹¹And so, I cry out to you

   in agony and distress.

    ¹²Am I the sea or a sea monster?

   Is that why you imprison me? ^{[e] 13}I go to bed, hoping for rest,

    ¹⁴but you torture me

   with terrible dreams.

    ¹⁵I'd rather choke to death

   than live in this body.

    ¹⁶Leave me alone and let me die;

   my life has no meaning.

    ¹⁷What makes you so concerned

   about us humans?

    ¹⁸Why do you test us

   from sunrise to sunset?

    ¹⁹Won't you look away

   just long enough

   for me to swallow?

    ²⁰Why do you watch us so closely?

   What's it to you, if I sin?

   Why am I your target

   and such a heavy burden?

    ²¹Why do you refuse to forgive?

   Soon you won't find me,

   because I'll be dead.

   

Job 8

Bildad's First Speech

How Long Will You Talk?

 ¹Bildad from Shuah ^[f] said: ²How long will you talk

   and keep saying nothing?

    ³Does God All-Powerful

   stand in the way of justice?

    ⁴He made your children pay

   for their sins.

    ⁵So why don't you turn to him

    ⁶and start living right?

   Then he will decide

   to rescue and restore you

   to your place of honor.

    ⁷Your future will be brighter

   by far than your past.

   

Our Ancestors Were Wise

 ⁸Our ancestors were wise,

   so learn from them.

    ⁹Our own time has been short,

   like a fading shadow,

   and we know very little.

    ¹⁰But they will instruct you

   with great understanding.

    ¹¹Papyrus reeds grow healthy

   only in a swamp,

    ¹²and if the water dries up,

   they die sooner than grass.

    ¹³Such is the hopeless future

   of all who turn from God

    ¹⁴and trust in something as frail

   as a spider's web--

    ¹⁵they take hold and fall

   because it's so flimsy.

    ¹⁶Sinful people are like plants

   with spreading roots

   and plenty

   of sun and water.

    ¹⁷They wrap their roots tightly

   around rocks. ^{[g] 18}But once they are pulled up,

   they have no more place;

    ¹⁹their life slips away, ^[h] and other plants grow there.

    ²⁰We know God doesn't reject

   an innocent person

   or help a sinner.

    ²¹And so, he will make you happy

   and give you something

   to smile about.

    ²²But your evil enemies

   will be put to shame

   and disappear forever.

   

Job 9

Job's Reply to Bildad

What You Say Is True

 ¹Job said:

    ²What you say is true.

   No human is innocent

   in the sight of God.

    ³Not once in a thousand times

   could we win our case

   if we took him to court.

    ⁴God is wise and powerful--

   who could possibly

   oppose him and win?

    ⁵When God becomes angry,

   he can move mountains

   before they even know it.

    ⁶God can shake the earth loose

   from its foundations

    ⁷or command the sun and stars

   to hold back their light.

    ⁸God alone stretched out the sky,

   stepped on the sea, ^{[i] 9}and set the stars in place--

   the Big Dipper and Orion,

   the Pleiades and the stars

   in the southern sky.

    ¹⁰Of all the miracles God works,

   we cannot understand a one.

    ¹¹God walks right past me,

   without making a sound.

    ¹²And if he grabs something,

   who can stop him

   or raise a question?

    ¹³When God showed his anger,

   the servants of the sea monster ^[j] fell at his feet.

    ¹⁴How, then, could I possibly

   argue my case with God?

   

Though I Am Innocent

 ¹⁵Even though I am innocent,

   I can only beg for mercy.

    ¹⁶And if God came into court

   when I called him,

   he would not hear my case.

    ¹⁷He would strike me with a storm ^[k] and increase my injuries

   for no reason at all.

    ¹⁸Before I could get my breath,

   my miseries would multiply.

    ¹⁹God is much stronger than I am,

   and who would call me into court

   to give me justice?

    ²⁰Even if I were innocent,

   God would prove me wrong. ^{[l] 21}I am not guilty,

   but I no longer care

   what happens to me.

    ²²What difference does it make?

   God destroys the innocent

   along with the guilty.

    ²³When a good person dies

   a sudden death,

   God sits back and laughs.

    ²⁴And who else but God

   blindfolds the judges,

   then lets the wicked

   take over the earth?

   

My Life Is Speeding By

 ²⁵My life is speeding by,

   without a hope of happiness.

    ²⁶Each day passes swifter

   than a sailing ship

   or an eagle swooping down.

    ²⁷Sometimes I try to be cheerful

   and to stop complaining,

    ²⁸but my sufferings frighten me,

   because I know that God

   still considers me guilty.

    ²⁹So what's the use of trying

   to prove my innocence?

    ³⁰Even if I washed myself

   with the strongest soap,

    ³¹God would throw me into a pit

   of stinking slime,

   leaving me

   disgusting to my clothes.

    ³²God isn't a mere human like me.

   I can't put him on trial.

    ³³Who could possibly judge

   between the two of us?

    ³⁴Can someone snatch away

   the stick God carries

   to frighten me?

    ³⁵Then I could speak up

   without fear of him,

   but for now, I cannot speak. ^[m]