Job 6:14-8:22

English Standard Version

¹⁴“He who ^(A)withholds^[a] kindness from a ^(B)friend
    forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
¹⁵My ^(C)brothers are ^(D)treacherous as a torrent-bed,
    as torrential ^(E)streams that pass away,
¹⁶which are dark with ice,
    and where the snow hides itself.
¹⁷When they melt, they disappear;
    when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
¹⁸The caravans turn aside from their course;
    they go up into ^(F)the waste and perish.
¹⁹The caravans of ^(G)Tema look,
    the travelers of ^(H)Sheba hope.
²⁰They are ^(I)ashamed because they were confident;
    they come there and are ^(J)disappointed.
²¹For you have now become nothing;
    you see my calamity and are afraid.
²²Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’?
    Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’?
²³Or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary's hand’?
    Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of ^(K)the ruthless’?

²⁴“Teach me, and I will be silent;
    make me understand how I have gone astray.
²⁵How forceful are upright words!
    But what does reproof from you reprove?
²⁶Do you think that you can reprove words,
    when the speech of a despairing man is ^(L)wind?
²⁷You would even ^(M)cast lots over the fatherless,
    and bargain over your friend.

²⁸“But now, be pleased to look at me,
    for I will not lie to your face.
²⁹^(N)Please turn; let no injustice be done.
    Turn now; my vindication is at stake.
³⁰Is there any injustice on my tongue?
    Cannot my palate discern the cause of calamity?

Job Continues: My Life Has No Hope

7 “Has not man ^(O)a hard service on earth,
    and are not his ^(P)days like the days of a hired hand?
²Like a slave who longs for ^(Q)the shadow,
    and like ^(R)a hired hand who looks for his ^(S)wages,
³so I am allotted months of ^(T)emptiness,
    ^(U)and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
⁴^(V)When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’
    But the night is long,
    and I am full of tossing till the dawn.
⁵My flesh is clothed with ^(W)worms and ^(X)dirt;
    my skin hardens, then ^(Y)breaks out afresh.
⁶My days are ^(Z)swifter than ^(AA)a weaver's shuttle
    and come to their end without hope.

⁷“Remember that my life is a ^(AB)breath;
    my eye will never again see good.
⁸^(AC)The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;
    while your eyes are on me, ^(AD)I shall be gone.
⁹As ^(AE)the cloud fades and vanishes,
    so he who ^(AF)goes down to Sheol does not come up;
¹⁰he ^(AG)returns no more to his house,
    nor does his ^(AH)place know him anymore.

¹¹“Therefore I will not ^(AI)restrain my mouth;
    I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
    I will ^(AJ)complain in ^(AK)the bitterness of my soul.
¹²Am I the sea, or ^(AL)a sea monster,
    that you set a guard over me?
¹³^(AM)When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
    my couch will ease my complaint,’
¹⁴then you scare me with dreams
    and terrify me with visions,
¹⁵so that I would choose strangling
    and death rather than my ^(AN)bones.
¹⁶I ^(AO)loathe my life; I would not live forever.
    ^(AP)Leave me alone, for my days are ^(AQ)a breath.
¹⁷^(AR)What is man, that you make so much of him,
    and that you set your heart on him,
¹⁸^(AS)visit him every morning
    and ^(AT)test him every moment?
¹⁹How long will you not ^(AU)look away from me,
    nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
²⁰If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?
    Why have you made me ^(AV)your mark?
    Why have I become a burden to you?
²¹Why do you not pardon my transgression
    and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in ^(AW)the earth;
    you will ^(AX)seek me, ^(AY)but I shall not be.”

Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent

8 Then ^(AZ)Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

²“How long will you say these things,
    and the words of your mouth be a ^(BA)great wind?
³^(BB)Does God pervert justice?
    Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
⁴If your ^(BC)children have sinned against him,
    he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
⁵If you will seek God
    and ^(BD)plead with the Almighty for mercy,
⁶if you are pure and upright,
    surely then he will ^(BE)rouse himself for you
    and ^(BF)restore your rightful habitation.
⁷And though your beginning was small,
    ^(BG)your latter days will be very great.

⁸“For ^(BH)inquire, please, of bygone ages,
    and consider what ^(BI)the fathers have searched out.
⁹For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,
    for our days on earth are ^(BJ)a shadow.
¹⁰Will 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?
¹²While yet in flower and not cut down,
    they ^(BK)wither before any other plant.
¹³Such are the paths of all who ^(BL)forget God;
    ^(BM)the hope of ^(BN)the godless shall perish.
¹⁴His confidence is severed,
    and his trust is ^(BO)a spider's web.^[b]
¹⁵He leans against his ^(BP)house, but it does not stand;
    he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.
¹⁶He is a lush plant before the sun,
    and his ^(BQ)shoots spread over his garden.
¹⁷His roots entwine the stone heap;
    he looks upon a house of stones.
¹⁸If he is destroyed from his ^(BR)place,
    then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never ^(BS)seen you.’
¹⁹Behold, this is the joy of his way,
    and out of ^(BT)the soil others will spring.

²⁰“Behold, God will not reject a blameless man,
    nor take the hand of evildoers.
²¹He will yet ^(BU)fill your mouth with laughter,
    and your lips with shouting.
²²Those who hate you will be ^(BV)clothed with shame,
    and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”