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Job responds differently

Afterward, Job spoke up and cursed the day he was born.

Job said:
Perish the day I was born,
    the night someone said,
    “A boy has been conceived.”
That day—let it be darkness;
    may God above ignore it,
    and light not shine on it.
May deepest darkness claim it
    and a cloud linger over it;
    may all that darkens the day terrify it.
May gloom seize that night;
    may it not be counted in the days of a year;
    may it not appear in the months.
May that night be childless;
    may no happy singing come in it.
May those who curse the day curse it,
    those with enough skill to awaken Leviathan.
May its evening stars stay dark;
    may it wait in vain for light;
    may it not see dawn’s gleam,
10     because it didn’t close the doors of my mother’s womb,[a]
    didn’t hide trouble from my eyes.

Job laments his misfortune

11 Why didn’t I die at birth,
    come forth from the womb and die?
12 Why did knees receive me
    and breasts let me nurse?
13 For now I would be lying down quietly;
    I’d sleep; rest would be mine
14         with kings and earth’s advisors,
        who rebuild ruins for themselves,
15         or with princes who have gold,
        who fill their houses with silver.
16 Or why wasn’t I like a buried miscarried infant,
    like babies who never see light?
17 There the wicked rage no more;
    there the weak rest.
18 Prisoners are entirely at ease;
    they don’t hear a boss’s voice.
19 Both small and great are there;
    a servant is free from his masters.
20 Why is light given to the hard worker,
    life to those bitter of soul,
21     those waiting in vain for death,
        who search for it more than for treasure,
22     who rejoice excitedly,
        who are thrilled when they find a grave?
23 Why is light given[b] to the person whose way is hidden,
    whom God has fenced in?
24 My groans become my bread;
    my roars pour out like water.
25 Because I was afraid of something awful,
    and it arrived;
    what I dreaded came to me.
26 I had no ease, quiet, or rest,
    and trembling came.

Footnotes

  1. Job 3:10 Heb lacks mother’s.
  2. Job 3:23 Heb lacks is light given.

Hymnic praise

Job responded:

I know for certain that this is so;
    and how can anyone be innocent before God?
If one wants to contend with him,
    he won’t answer one in a thousand.
He is wise[a] and powerful;
    who can resist him and prosper?
Who removes mountains, and they are unaware;
    who overthrows them in anger?
Who shakes the earth from its place,
    and its pillars shudder?
Who commands the sun, and it does not rise,
    even seals up the stars;
    stretched out the heavens alone
    and trod on the waves of the Sea;[b]
    made the Bear and Orion, Pleiades
    and the southern constellations;
10     does great and unsearchable things,
    wonders beyond number?

A mismatch

11 If God goes by me, I can’t see him;
    he glides past, and I can’t perceive him.
12 If he seizes, who can bring back?
    Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
13 God won’t retract his anger;
    the helpers of Rahab bow beneath him.
14 Yet I myself will answer him;
    I’ll choose my words in a contest[c] with him.
15 Even if I’m innocent, I can’t answer;
    I must plead for justice.
16 If I were to call and he answered me,
    I couldn’t believe that he heard my voice.
17 Who bruises me with a tempest
    and multiplies my wounds for no reason?
18 He doesn’t let me catch my breath,
    for he fills me with bitterness.
19 If the issue is strength—behold power!
    If justice—who calls God to meet me?

There is no justice

20 If I’m innocent, my mouth condemns me;
    I have integrity; but God declares me perverse.
21 I’m blameless, yet don’t know myself;
    I reject my life.
22 It’s all the same;
    therefore, I say God destroys the blameless and the sinners.
23 If calamity suddenly kills,
    he mocks at the slaying[d] of innocents.
24 The earth is handed over to the wicked;
    he covers the faces of its judges.
    If not God, then who does?

Job wants an arbitrator

25 My days are swifter than a runner;
    they flee and don’t experience good.
26 They sweep by like ships made of reeds,
    as an eagle swoops on prey.
27 If I say, “I’ll forget my lament,
    put on a different face so I can smile,”
28     I’m still afraid of all my suffering;
        I know that you won’t declare me innocent.
29 I myself am thought guilty;
    why have I tried so hard in vain?
30 If I wash myself with snow,
        purify my hands with soap,
31     then you’ll hurl me into a slimy pit
        so that my clothes detest me.
32 God is not a man like me—someone I could answer—
    so that we could come together in court.
33 Oh, that[e] there were a mediator between us;
    he would lay his hand on both of us,
34     remove his rod from me,
        so his fury wouldn’t frighten me.
35 Then I would speak—unafraid—
    for I’m not that way.

Footnotes

  1. Job 9:4 Or wise in heart; cf 37:24
  2. Job 9:8 Heb Yam, a sea god
  3. Job 9:14 Heb lacks in a contest.
  4. Job 9:23 Heb uncertain
  5. Job 9:33 Or There is no

Failed friendship

19 Then Job responded:

How long will you harass me
    and crush me with words?
These ten times you’ve humiliated me;
    shamelessly you insult me.
Have I really gone astray?
    If so, my error remains hidden inside me.
If you look down on me
        and use my disgrace to criticize me,
    know then that God has wronged me
        and enclosed his net over me.

God’s treatment of Job

If I cry “Violence!” I’m not answered;
    I shout—but there is no justice.
He walled up my path so I can’t pass
        and put darkness on my trail,
    stripped my honor from me,
        removed the crown from my head,
10     tore me down completely so that I’ll die, and uprooted my hope like a tree.
11 His anger burns against me;
    he considers me his enemy.
12 His troops come as one
    and construct their siege ramp[a] against me;
    they camp around my tent.

Social ostracism

13 He has distanced my family from me;
    my acquaintances are also alienated from me.
14 My visitors have ceased;
    those who know me have forgotten me.
15 My guests and female servants think me a stranger;
    I’m a foreigner in their sight.
16 I call my servant, and he doesn’t answer;
    I myself must beg him.
17 My breath stinks to my wife;
    I am odious to my children.
18 Even the young despise me;
    I get up, and they rail against me.
19 All my closest friends despise me;
    the ones I have loved turn against me.

Misery

20 My bones cling to my skin and flesh;
    I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Pity me. Pity me. You’re my friends.
    God’s hand has truly struck me.
22 Why do you pursue me like God does,
    always hungry for my flesh?

Brief hope

23 Oh, that my words were written down,
        inscribed on a scroll
24     with an iron instrument and lead,
        forever engraved on stone.
25 But I know that my redeemer[b] is alive
        and afterward he’ll rise upon the dust.
26 After my skin has been torn apart this way—
    then from my flesh[c] I’ll see God,
27         whom I’ll see myself—
        my eyes see,[d] and not a stranger’s.
    I am utterly dejected.

Warning

28 You say, “How will we pursue him
    so that the root of the matter can be found in him?”[e]
29 You ought to fear the sword yourselves,
    for wrath brings punishment by the sword.
    You should know that there is judgment.

Footnotes

  1. Job 19:12 Or their road
  2. Job 19:25 Or avenger
  3. Job 19:26 Or without my flesh or in my flesh
  4. Job 19:27 Or have seen
  5. Job 19:28 Heb manuscripts; MT in me

Lust

31 I’ve made a covenant with my eyes;
    how could I look at a virgin?
What is God’s portion for me[a] from above,
    the Almighty’s inheritance from on high?
Isn’t it disaster for the wicked,
    destruction for workers of iniquity?
Doesn’t he see my ways,
    count all my steps?

Deceit

If I have walked with frauds
        or my feet have hurried to deceit,
    let him weigh me on accurate scales;
        let God know my integrity.
If my step has turned from the way,
        if my heart has followed my eyes
        or a blemish has clung to my hands,
    then let me sow and another reap;
        let my offspring be uprooted.

Adultery

If my heart has been drawn to a woman
        and I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,
10     then may my wife grind for another
        and others kneel over her;
11     for that’s a crime;
        it’s a punishable offense;
12     indeed, it’s a fire that consumes to the underworld,[b]
        uprooting all my harvest.

Slaves

13 If I’ve rejected the just cause of my male or female servant
        when they contended with me,
14     what could I do when God rises;
        when he requires an account, what could I answer?
15 Didn’t the one who made me in the belly make them;
    didn’t the same one fashion us in the womb?

The defenseless

16 If I have denied what the poor wanted,
        made a widow’s eyes tired,
17     eaten my morsel alone,
        and not shared any with an orphan
(18     for from my youth I raised the orphan as a father,
        and from my mother’s womb I led the widow);[c]
19     if I ever saw someone dying without clothes, the needy naked;
20     if they haven’t blessed me fervently,[d]
        or if they weren’t warmed by the wool from my sheep;
21     if I have lifted my hand against the orphans,
        when I saw that I had help in the city gate—
22     may my arm fall from my shoulder,
        my forearm be broken at the elbow—
23     for God’s calamity is terror to me;
        I couldn’t endure his splendor.

False worship

24 If I’ve made gold my trust,
        said to fine gold: “My security!”
25     if I’ve rejoiced because my wealth was great,
        when my hand found plenty;
26     if I’ve looked at the sun when it shone,
        the moon, splendid as it moved;
27     and my mind has been secretly enticed,
        and threw a kiss with my hand,
28     that also is a punishable offense,
        because I would then be disloyal to God above.

Others' misfortune

29 If I have rejoiced over my foes’ ruin
        or was excited when evil found them,
30     I didn’t let my mouth sin
        by asking for their life with a curse.
31 Surely those in my tent never said:
    “Who has been filled by Job’s food?”
32 A stranger didn’t spend the night in the street;
    I opened my doors to the road.

Concealing sin

33 If I have hidden my transgressions like Adam,[e]
        concealing my offenses inside me
34     because I feared the large crowd;
        the clan’s contempt frightened me;
    I was quiet and didn’t venture outside.

Sealing the solemn pledge

35 Oh, that I had someone to hear me!
    Here’s my signature;[f]
    let the Almighty respond,
    and let my accuser write an indictment.
36 Surely I would bear it on my shoulder,
    tie it around me like a wreath.
37 I would give him an account of my steps,
    approach him like a prince.

Abuse of the land

38 If my land has cried out against me,
    its rows wept together;
39 if I have eaten its yield without payment
        and caused its owners grief,
40     may briars grow instead of wheat,
        poisonous weeds instead of barley.

Job’s words are complete.

Footnotes

  1. Job 31:2 Heb lacks for me.
  2. Job 31:12 Heb Abaddon
  3. Job 31:18 Heb lacks orphan . . . widow.
  4. Job 31:20 Or his loins
  5. Job 31:33 Or like a human
  6. Job 31:35 Heb tau, the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet

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