Job 7

English Standard Version

Job Continues: My Life Has No Hope

7 “Has not man ^(A)a hard service on earth,
    and are not his ^(B)days like the days of a hired hand?
²Like a slave who longs for ^(C)the shadow,
    and like ^(D)a hired hand who looks for his ^(E)wages,
³so I am allotted months of ^(F)emptiness,
    ^(G)and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
⁴^(H)When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’
    But the night is long,
    and I toss and turn till the dawn.
⁵My flesh is clothed with ^(I)worms and ^(J)dirt;
    my skin hardens, then ^(K)breaks out afresh.
⁶My days are ^(L)swifter than ^(M)a weaver's shuttle
    and come to their end without hope.

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

¹¹“Therefore I will not ^(U)restrain my mouth;
    I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
    I will ^(V)complain in ^(W)the bitterness of my soul.
¹²Am I the sea, or ^(X)a sea monster,
    that you set a guard over me?
¹³^(Y)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 ^(Z)bones.
¹⁶I ^(AA)loathe my life; I would not live forever.
    ^(AB)Leave me alone, for my days are ^(AC)a breath.
¹⁷^(AD)What is man, that you make so much of him,
    and that you set your heart on him,
¹⁸^(AE)visit him every morning
    and ^(AF)test him every moment?
¹⁹How long will you not ^(AG)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 ^(AH)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 ^(AI)the earth;
    you will ^(AJ)seek me, ^(AK)but I shall not be.”

Psalm 44

English Standard Version

Come to Our Help

To the choirmaster. ^(A)A Maskil^[a] of the Sons of Korah.

44 O God, we have heard with our ears,
    ^(B)our fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
    ^(C)in the days of old:
²you with your own hand ^(D)drove out the nations,
    but ^(E)them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
    but ^(F)them you set free;
³for not ^(G)by their own sword did they win the land,
    nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm,
    and ^(H)the light of your face,
    ^(I)for you delighted in them.

⁴^(J)You are my King, O God;
    ^(K)ordain salvation for Jacob!
⁵Through you we ^(L)push down our foes;
    through your name we ^(M)tread down those who rise up against us.
⁶For not in ^(N)my bow do I trust,
    nor can my sword save me.
⁷But you have saved us from our foes
    and have ^(O)put to shame those who hate us.
⁸^(P)In God we have boasted continually,
    and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah

⁹But you have ^(Q)rejected us and disgraced us
    and ^(R)have not gone out with our armies.
¹⁰You have made us ^(S)turn back from the foe,
    and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
¹¹You have made us like ^(T)sheep for slaughter
    and have ^(U)scattered us among the nations.
¹²^(V)You have sold your people for a trifle,
    demanding no high price for them.
¹³You have made us ^(W)the taunt of our neighbors,
    the derision and ^(X)scorn of those around us.
¹⁴You have made us ^(Y)a byword among the nations,
    ^(Z)a laughingstock^[b] among the peoples.
¹⁵All day long my disgrace is before me,
    and ^(AA)shame has covered my face
¹⁶at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
    at the sight of ^(AB)the enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷^(AC)All this has come upon us,
    though we have not forgotten you,
    and we have not been false to your covenant.
¹⁸Our heart has not turned back,
    nor have our ^(AD)steps ^(AE)departed from your way;
¹⁹yet you have ^(AF)broken us in the place of ^(AG)jackals
    and covered us with ^(AH)the shadow of death.
²⁰If we had forgotten the name of our God
    or ^(AI)spread out our hands to ^(AJ)a foreign god,
²¹^(AK)would not God discover this?
    ^(AL)For he knows the secrets of the heart.
²²Yet ^(AM)for your sake we are killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

²³^(AN)Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
    Rouse yourself! ^(AO)Do not reject us forever!
²⁴Why ^(AP)do you hide your face?
    Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
²⁵For our ^(AQ)soul is bowed down to the dust;
    our belly clings to the ground.
²⁶Rise up; ^(AR)come to our help!
    ^(AS)Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

Footnotes

Psalm 44:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
Psalm 44:14 Hebrew a shaking of the head

2 Chronicles 14

English Standard Version

Asa Reigns in Judah

14 ^[a] ^(A)Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land had rest for ten years. ²^[b] And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. ³He took away the foreign altars ^(B)and the high places and broke down ^(C)the pillars and cut down the ^(D)Asherim ⁴and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. ⁵He also took out of all the cities of Judah ^(E)the high places and the ^(F)incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. ⁶He built ^(G)fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, ^(H)for the Lord gave him peace. ⁷And he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with ^(I)walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God. We have sought him, ^(J)and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered. ⁸And Asa had an army of ^(K)300,000 from Judah, armed with large shields and spears, and 280,000 men from Benjamin that carried shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor.

⁹Zerah ^(L)the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as ^(M)Mareshah. ¹⁰And Asa went out to meet him, and ^(N)they drew up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at ^(O)Mareshah. ¹¹And Asa ^(P)cried to the Lord his God, “O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, ^(Q)for we rely on you, ^(R)and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.” ¹²^(S)So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as ^(T)Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive, for they were broken before the Lord and his army. The men of Judah^[c] carried away very much spoil. ¹⁴And they attacked all the cities around ^(U)Gerar, ^(V)for the fear of the Lord was upon them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. ¹⁵And they struck down the tents of those who had livestock and carried away sheep in abundance and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.