Job 6-14
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Job Replies: My Complaint Is Just
6 Then Job answered:
2 “O that my vexation were weighed
and all my calamity laid in the balances!(A)
3 For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea;
therefore my words have been rash.(B)
4 For the arrows of the Almighty[a] are in me;
my spirit drinks their poison;
the terrors of God are arrayed against me.(C)
5 Does the wild ass bray over its grass
or the ox low over its fodder?
6 Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt,
or is there any flavor in the juice of mallows?[b]
7 My appetite refuses to touch them;
they are like food that is loathsome to me.[c]
8 “O that I might have my request
and that God would grant my desire,(D)
9 that it would please God to crush me,
that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!(E)
10 This would be my consolation;
I would even exult[d] in unrelenting pain,
for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.(F)
11 What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should be patient?(G)
12 Is my strength the strength of stones,
or is my flesh bronze?
13 In truth I have no help in me,
and any resource is driven from me.(H)
14 “Those who withhold[e] kindness from a friend
forsake the fear of the Almighty.[f]
15 My companions are treacherous like a torrent bed,
like swollen streams that pass away,(I)
16 that run dark with ice,
turbid with melting snow.
17 In time of heat they disappear;
when it is hot, they vanish from their place.(J)
18 The caravans turn aside from their course;
they go up into the waste and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema look;
the travelers of Sheba hope.(K)
20 They are disappointed because they were confident;
they come there and are confounded.(L)
21 Such you have now become to me;[g]
you see my calamity and are afraid.
22 Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’?
Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’?
23 Or, ‘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.
25 How forceful are honest words!
But your reproof, what does it reprove?(M)
26 Do you think that you can reprove words,
as if the speech of the desperate were wind?(N)
27 You would even cast lots over the orphan
and bargain over your friend.(O)
28 “But now, be pleased to look at me,
for I will not lie to your face.(P)
29 Turn, I pray; let no wrong be done.
Turn now; my vindication is at stake.
30 Is there any wrong on my tongue?
Cannot my taste discern calamity?(Q)
Job: My Suffering Is without End
7 “Do not human beings have a hard service on earth,
and are not their days like the days of a laborer?(R)
2 Like a slave who longs for the shadow,
and like laborers who look for their wages,(S)
3 so I am allotted months of emptiness,
and nights of misery are apportioned to me.(T)
4 When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I rise?’
But the night is long,
and I am full of tossing until dawn.(U)
5 My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt;
my skin hardens, then breaks out again.
6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle
and come to their end without hope.[h](V)
7 “Remember that my life is a breath;
my eye will never again see good.(W)
8 The eye that beholds me will see me no more;
while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone.(X)
9 As the cloud fades and vanishes,
so those who go down to Sheol do not come up;(Y)
10 they return no more to their houses,
nor do their places know them any more.(Z)
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.(AA)
12 Am I the Sea or the Dragon
that you set a guard over me?(AB)
13 When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
my couch will ease my complaint,’
14 then you scare me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,(AC)
15 so that I would choose strangling
and death rather than this body.
16 I loathe my life; I would not live forever.
Let me alone, for my days are a breath.(AD)
17 What are humans, that you make so much of them,
that you set your mind on them,(AE)
18 visit them every morning,
test them every moment?
19 Will you not look away from me for a while,
let me alone until I swallow my spittle?
20 If 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?(AF)
21 Why 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.”(AG)
Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent
8 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “How long will you say these things
and the words of your mouth be a great wind?
3 Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty[i] pervert the right?(AH)
4 If your children sinned against him,
he delivered them into the power of their transgression.(AI)
5 If you will seek God
and make supplication to the Almighty,[j](AJ)
6 if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will rouse himself for you
and restore to you your rightful place.(AK)
7 Though your beginning was small,
your latter days will be very great.(AL)
8 “For inquire now of bygone generations
and consider what their ancestors have found,(AM)
9 for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing,
for our days on earth are but a shadow.(AN)
10 Will 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?
12 While yet in flower and not cut down,
they wither before any other plant.(AO)
13 Such are the paths of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless shall perish.(AP)
14 Their confidence is gossamer,
a spider’s house their trust.
15 If one leans against its house, it will not stand;
if one lays hold of it, it will not endure.(AQ)
16 The wicked thrive[k] before the sun,
and their shoots spread over the garden.(AR)
17 Their roots twine around the stoneheap;
they live among the rocks.[l]
18 If they are destroyed from their place,
then it will deny them, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’(AS)
19 See, these are their happy ways,[m]
and out of the earth still others will spring.
20 “See, God will not reject the blameless,
nor take the hand of evildoers.(AT)
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with shouts of joy.(AU)
22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”(AV)
Job Replies: There Is No Mediator
9 Then Job answered:
2 “Indeed, I know that this is so,
but how can a mortal be just before God?(AW)
3 If one wished to contend with him,
one could not answer him once in a thousand.(AX)
4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength;
who has resisted him and succeeded?(AY)
5 He removes mountains, and they do not know it
when he overturns them in his anger;
6 he shakes the earth out of its place,
and its pillars tremble;(AZ)
7 he commands the sun, and it does not rise;
he seals up the stars;
8 he alone stretched out the heavens
and trampled the waves of the Sea;[n](BA)
9 he made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;(BB)
10 he does great things beyond understanding
and marvelous things without number.(BC)
11 Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him;
he moves on, but I do not perceive him.(BD)
12 He snatches away; who can stop him?
Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’(BE)
13 “God will not turn back his anger;
the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.(BF)
14 How then can I answer him,
choosing my words with him?
15 Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him;
I must appeal to my accuser for my right.(BG)
16 If I summoned him and he answered me,
I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.
17 For he crushes me with a tempest
and multiplies my wounds without cause;(BH)
18 he will not let me get my breath
but fills me with bitterness.(BI)
19 If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one!
If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?[o]
20 Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
21 I am blameless; I do not know myself;
I loathe my life.(BJ)
22 It is all one; therefore I say,
‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’(BK)
23 When disaster brings sudden death,
he mocks at the calamity[p] of the innocent.(BL)
24 The 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?(BM)
25 “My days are swifter than a runner;
they flee away; they see no good.
26 They go by like skiffs of reed,
like an eagle swooping on the prey.(BN)
27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint;
I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer,’
28 I become afraid of all my suffering,
for I know you will not hold me innocent.
29 I shall be condemned;
why then do I labor in vain?(BO)
30 If I wash myself with soap
and cleanse my hands with lye,(BP)
31 yet you will plunge me into filth,
and my own clothes will abhor me.
32 For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should come to trial together.(BQ)
33 There is no mediator[q] between us,
who might lay his hand on us both.(BR)
34 If he would take his rod away from me
and not let dread of him terrify me,(BS)
35 then I would speak without fear of him,
for I know I am not what I am thought to be.[r]
Job: I Loathe My Life
10 “I loathe my life;
I will give free utterance to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.(BT)
2 I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;
let me know why you contend against me.(BU)
3 Does it seem good to you to oppress,
to despise the work of your hands
and favor the schemes of the wicked?(BV)
4 Do you have eyes of flesh?
Do you see as humans see?(BW)
5 Are your days like the days of mortals
or your years like human years,(BX)
6 that you seek out my iniquity
and search for my sin,
7 although you know that I am not guilty,
and there is no one to deliver out of your hand?(BY)
8 Your hands fashioned and made me,
and now you turn and destroy me.[s](BZ)
9 Remember that you fashioned me like clay,
and will you turn me to dust again?(CA)
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?(CB)
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh
and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You have granted me life and steadfast love,
and your care has preserved my spirit.(CC)
13 Yet these things you hid in your heart;
I know that this was your purpose.
14 If I sin, you watch me
and do not acquit me of my iniquity.(CD)
15 If 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.(CE)
16 Bold as a lion you hunt me;
you repeat your exploits against me.(CF)
17 You renew your witnesses against me
and increase your vexation toward me;
you bring fresh troops against me.[t](CG)
18 “ ‘Why did you bring me forth from the womb?
Would that I had died before any eye had seen me(CH)
19 and were as though I had not been,
carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not the days of my life few?[u]
Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort[v](CI)
21 before I go, never to return,
to the land of gloom and deep darkness,
22 the land of gloom[w] and chaos,
where light is like darkness.’ ”
Zophar Speaks: Job’s Guilt Deserves Punishment
11 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
2 “Should a multitude of words go unanswered,
and should one full of talk be vindicated?(CJ)
3 Should your babble put others to silence,
and when you mock, shall no one shame you?(CK)
4 For you say, ‘My conduct[x] is pure,
and I am clean in God’s[y] sight.’(CL)
5 But O that God would speak
and open his lips to you
6 and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!
For wisdom is many-sided.[z]
Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.(CM)
7 “Can you find out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?[aa](CN)
8 It is higher than heaven[ab]—what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?(CO)
9 Its measure is longer than the earth
and broader than the sea.
10 If he passes through and imprisons
and assembles for judgment, who can hinder him?(CP)
11 For he knows those who are worthless;
when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?(CQ)
12 But the stupid will get understanding
when a wild ass is born human.[ac]
13 “If you direct your heart rightly,
you will stretch out your hands toward him.(CR)
14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
and do not let wickedness reside in your tents.(CS)
15 Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish;
you will be secure and will not fear.(CT)
16 You will forget your misery;
you will remember it as waters that have passed away.(CU)
17 And your life will be brighter than the noonday;
its darkness will be like the morning.(CV)
18 And you will have confidence because there is hope;
you will be protected[ad] and take your rest in safety.(CW)
19 You will lie down, and no one will make you afraid;
many will entreat your favor.
20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail;
all way of escape will be lost to them,
and their hope is to breathe their last.”(CX)
Job Replies: I Am a Laughingstock
12 Then Job answered:
2 “No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.
3 But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these?
4 I am a laughingstock to my friends;
I, who called upon God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, I am a laughingstock.(CY)
5 Those at ease have contempt for misfortune,[ae]
but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable.(CZ)
6 The tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hands.[af](DA)
7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 ask the plants of the earth,[ag] and they will teach you,
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9 Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?(DB)
10 In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of every human being.(DC)
11 Does not the ear test words
as the palate tastes food?(DD)
12 Is wisdom with the aged
and understanding in length of days?(DE)
13 “With God[ah] are wisdom and strength;
he has counsel and understanding.(DF)
14 If he tears down, no one can rebuild;
if he shuts someone in, no one can open up.(DG)
15 If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.(DH)
16 With him are strength and wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.(DI)
17 He leads counselors away stripped
and makes fools of judges.(DJ)
18 He looses the sash of kings
and binds a waistcloth on their loins.(DK)
19 He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows the mighty.
20 He deprives of speech those who are trusted
and takes away the discernment of the elders.(DL)
21 He pours contempt on princes
and looses the belt of the strong.(DM)
22 He uncovers deep things from the darkness
and brings deep darkness to light.(DN)
23 He makes nations great, then destroys them;
he enlarges nations, then leads them away.(DO)
24 He strips understanding from the leaders[ai] of the earth
and makes them wander in a pathless waste.(DP)
25 They grope in the dark without light;
he makes them stagger like a drunkard.(DQ)
13 “Look, my eye has seen all this;
my ear has heard and understood it.
2 What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
3 But I would speak to the Almighty,[aj]
and I desire to argue my case with God.(DR)
4 As for you, you whitewash with lies;
all of you are worthless physicians.(DS)
5 If you would only keep silent,
that would be your wisdom!(DT)
6 Hear now my reasoning,
and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7 Will you speak falsely for God
and speak deceitfully for him?
8 Will you show partiality toward him;
will you plead the case for God?
9 Will it be well with you when he searches you out?
Or can you deceive him as one person deceives another?(DU)
10 He will surely rebuke you
if in secret you show partiality.
11 Will not his majesty terrify you
and the dread of him fall upon you?
12 Your maxims are proverbs of ashes;
your defenses are defenses of clay.(DV)
13 “Let me have silence, and I will speak,
and let come on me what may.
14 I will take my flesh in my teeth
and put my life in my hand.[ak](DW)
15 See, he will kill me; I have no hope;[al]
but I will defend my ways to his face.(DX)
16 This will be my salvation,
that the godless shall not come before him.(DY)
17 Listen carefully to my words,
and let my declaration be in your ears.(DZ)
18 I have indeed prepared my case;
I know that I shall be vindicated.
19 Who is there who will contend with me?
For then I would be silent and die.(EA)
Job’s Despondent Prayer
20 “Only grant two things to me;
then I will not hide myself from your face:
21 withdraw your hand far from me,
and do not let dread of you terrify me.(EB)
22 Then call, and I will answer;
or let me speak, and you reply to me.(EC)
23 How many are my iniquities and my sins?
Make me know my transgression and my sin.(ED)
24 Why do you hide your face
and count me as your enemy?(EE)
25 Will you frighten a windblown leaf
and pursue dry chaff?(EF)
26 For you write bitter things against me
and make me reap[am] the iniquities of my youth.(EG)
27 You put my feet in the stocks
and watch all my paths;
you set a bound to the soles of my feet.
28 One wastes away like a rotten thing,
like a garment that is moth-eaten.(EH)
14 “A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,(EI)
2 comes up like a flower and withers,
flees like a shadow and does not last.(EJ)
3 Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
Do you bring me into judgment with you?(EK)
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
No one can.(EL)
5 Since their days are determined,
and the number of their months is known to you,
and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,(EM)
6 look away from them and desist,[an]
that they may enjoy, like laborers, their days.(EN)
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.
8 Though its root grows old in the earth
and its stump dies in the ground,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth branches like a young plant.(EO)
10 But mortals die and are laid low;
humans expire, and where are they?(EP)
11 As waters fail from a lake
and a river wastes away and dries up,(EQ)
12 so 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.(ER)
13 O 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!(ES)
14 If mortals die, will they live again?
All the days of my service I would wait
until my release should come.(ET)
15 You would call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the work of your hands.
16 For then you would not[ao] number my steps;
you would not keep watch over my sin;(EU)
17 my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.(EV)
18 “But the mountain falls and crumbles away,
and the rock is removed from its place;(EW)
19 the waters wear away the stones;
the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
so you destroy the hope of mortals.
20 You prevail forever against them, and they pass away;
you change their countenance and send them away.(EX)
21 Their children come to honor, and they do not know it;
they are brought low, and it goes unnoticed.(EY)
22 They feel only the pain of their own bodies
and mourn only for themselves.”
Footnotes
- 6.4 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
- 6.6 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 6.7 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 6.10 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 6.14 Syr Vg Compare Tg: Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 6.14 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
- 6.21 Cn Compare Gk Syr: Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 7.6 Or as the thread runs out
- 8.3 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
- 8.5 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
- 8.16 Heb He thrives
- 8.17 Gk Vg: Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 8.19 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 9.8 Or trampled the back of the sea dragon
- 9.19 Compare Gk: Heb me
- 9.23 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 9.33 Another reading is Would that there were a mediator
- 9.35 Cn: Heb for I am not so in myself
- 10.8 Cn Compare Gk Syr: Heb made me together all around, and you destroy me
- 10.17 Cn Compare Gk: Heb toward me; changes and a troop are with me
- 10.20 Cn Compare Gk Syr: Heb Are not my days few? Let him cease!
- 10.20 Heb that I may brighten up a little
- 10.22 Heb gloom as darkness, deep darkness
- 11.4 Gk: Heb teaching
- 11.4 Heb your
- 11.6 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 11.7 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
- 11.8 Heb The heights of heaven
- 11.12 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 11.18 Or you will look around
- 12.5 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 12.6 Or whom God brought forth by his hand; meaning of Heb uncertain
- 12.8 Or speak to the earth
- 12.13 Heb him
- 12.24 Heb adds of the people
- 13.3 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
- 13.14 Gk: Heb Why should I take . . . in my hand?
- 13.15 Or Though he kill me, yet I will trust in him
- 13.26 Heb inherit
- 14.6 Cn: Heb that they may desist
- 14.16 Syr: Heb lacks not
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.