Job 6-8

Christian Standard Bible

⁸ If only my request would be granted
and God would provide what I hope for:
⁹ that he would decide to crush me,
to unleash his power and cut me off!
¹⁰ It would still bring me comfort,
and I would leap for joy in unrelenting pain
that I have not denied^[c] the words of the Holy One.^(E)

¹¹ What strength do I have, that I should continue to hope?
What is my future, that I should be patient?
¹² Is my strength that of stone,
or my flesh made of bronze?
¹³ Since I cannot help myself,
the hope for success has been banished from me.

¹⁴ A despairing man should receive loyalty from his friends,^[d](F)
even if he abandons the fear of the Almighty.
¹⁵ My brothers are as treacherous as a wadi,
as seasonal streams that overflow
¹⁶ and become darkened^[e] because of ice,
and the snow melts into them.
¹⁷ The wadis evaporate in warm weather;
they disappear from their channels in hot weather.
¹⁸ Caravans turn away from their routes,
go up into the desert, and perish.
¹⁹ The caravans of Tema look for these streams.
The traveling merchants of Sheba hope for them.
²⁰ They are ashamed because they had been confident of finding water.
When they arrive there, they are disappointed.^(G)
21 So this is what you have now become to me.^[f]
When you see something dreadful, you are afraid.
²² Have I ever said, “Give me something”
or “Pay a bribe for me from your wealth”
²³ or “Deliver me from the enemy’s hand”
or “Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless”?

²⁴ Teach me, and I will be silent.
Help me understand what I did wrong.
²⁵ How painful honest words can be!
But what does your rebuke prove?
²⁶ Do you think that you can disprove my words
or that a despairing man’s words are mere wind?^(H)
27 No doubt you would cast lots for a fatherless child
and negotiate a price to sell your friend.^(I)

²⁸ But now, please look at me;
I will not lie to your face.^(J)
29 Reconsider; don’t be unjust.
Reconsider; my righteousness^(K) is still the issue.
³⁰ Is there injustice on my tongue
or can my palate not taste disaster?^(L)

7 Isn’t each person consigned to forced labor^(M) on earth?
Are not his days like those of a hired worker?
² Like a slave he longs for shade;
like a hired worker he waits for his pay.
³ So I have been made to inherit months of futility,
and troubled nights have been assigned to me.^(N)
4 When I lie down I think,
“When will I get up?”
But the evening drags on endlessly,
and I toss and turn until dawn.
⁵ My flesh is clothed with maggots and encrusted with dirt.^[g]
My skin forms scabs^[h] and then oozes.^(O)

⁶ My days pass more swiftly than a weaver’s shuttle;
they come to an end without hope.^(P)
7 Remember that my life is but a breath.
My eye will never again see anything good.^(Q)
8 The eye of anyone who looks on me
will no longer see me.
Your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.^(R)
9 As a cloud fades away and vanishes,
so the one who goes down to Sheol^(S) will never rise again.
¹⁰ He will never return to his house;
his hometown will no longer remember^[i] him.^(T)

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.
¹² Am I the sea^[j](U) or a sea monster,^(V)
that you keep me under guard?
¹³ When I say, “My bed will comfort me,
and my couch will ease my complaint,”
¹⁴ then you frighten me with dreams,
and terrify me with visions,^(W)
15 so that I prefer strangling^[k]—
death rather than life in this body.^[l](X)
16 I give up! I will not live forever.
Leave me alone,^(Y) for my days are a breath.^[m]

¹⁷ What is a mere human, that you think so highly of him
and pay so much attention to him?^(Z)
18 You inspect him every morning,
and put him to the test every moment.^(AA)
19 Will you ever look away from me,
or leave me alone long enough to swallow?^[n]
20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you,
Watcher of humanity?
Why have you made me your target,^(AB)
so that I have become a burden to you?^[o]
21 Why not forgive my sin
and pardon my iniquity?^(AC)
For soon I will lie down in the grave.^(AD)
You will eagerly seek me, but I will be gone.^(AE)

⁸ For ask the previous generation,
and pay attention to what their ancestors discovered,^(AN)
9 since we were born only yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are but a shadow.^(AO)
10 Will they not teach you and tell you
and speak from their understanding?
¹¹ Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Do reeds flourish without water?
¹² While still uncut shoots,
they would dry up quicker than any other plant.
¹³ Such is the destiny^[p] of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless^(AP) will perish.

¹⁴ His source of confidence is fragile;^[q]
what he trusts in is a spider’s web.^(AQ)
15 He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm.
He grabs it, but it does not hold up.
¹⁶ He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine;
his shoots spread out over his garden.
¹⁷ His roots are intertwined around a pile of rocks.
He looks for a home among the stones.
¹⁸ If he is uprooted^[r] from his place,
it will deny knowing him, saying, “I never saw you.”^(AR)
19 Surely this is the joy of his way of life;
yet others will sprout from the dust.
²⁰ Look, God does not reject a person of integrity,
and he will not support^[s] evildoers.^(AS)

²¹ He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with a shout of joy.^(AT)
22 Your enemies will be clothed with shame;^(AU)
the tent^(AV) of the wicked will no longer exist.