Job 7-9

Living Bible

7 “How mankind must struggle. A man’s life is long and hard, like that of a slave. ² How he longs for the day to end. How he grinds on to the end of the week and his wages. ³ And so to me also have been allotted months of frustration, these long and weary nights. ⁴ When I go to bed I think, ‘Oh, that it were morning,’ and then I toss till dawn.

⁵ “My skin is filled with worms and blackness. My flesh breaks open, full of pus. ⁶ My life drags by—day after hopeless day. ⁷ My life is but a breath, and nothing good is left. ⁸ You see me now, but not for long. Soon you’ll look upon me dead. ⁹ As a cloud disperses and vanishes, so those who die shall go away forever— ¹⁰ gone forever from their family and their home—never to be seen again. ¹¹ Ah, let me express my anguish. Let me be free to speak out of the bitterness of my soul.

¹² “O God, am I some monster that you never leave me alone? ^13-14 Even when I try to forget my misery in sleep, you terrify with nightmares. ¹⁵ I would rather die of strangulation than go on and on like this. ¹⁶ I hate my life. Oh, leave me alone for these few remaining days. ¹⁷ What is mere man that you should spend your time persecuting him? ¹⁸ Must you be his inquisitor every morning and test him every moment of the day? ¹⁹ Why won’t you leave me alone—even long enough to spit?

²⁰ “Has my sin harmed you, O God, watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your target, and made my life so heavy a burden to me? ²¹ Why not just pardon my sin and take it all away? For all too soon I’ll lie down in the dust and die, and when you look for me, I shall be gone.”

8 Bildad the Shuhite replies to Job:

² “How long will you go on like this, Job, blowing words around like wind? ³ Does God twist justice? ⁴ If your children sinned against him, and he punished them, ⁵ and you begged Almighty God for them— ⁶ if you were pure and good, he would hear your prayer and answer you and bless you with a happy home. ⁷ And though you started with little, you would end with much.

⁸ “Read the history books and see— ⁹ for we were born but yesterday and know so little; our days here on earth are as transient as shadows. ¹⁰ But the wisdom of the past will teach you. The experience of others will speak to you, reminding you that ^11-13 those who forget God have no hope. They are like rushes without any mire to grow in; or grass without water to keep it alive. Suddenly it begins to wither, even before it is cut. ¹⁴ A man without God is trusting in a spider’s web. Everything he counts on will collapse. ¹⁵ If he counts on his home for security, it won’t last. ¹⁶ At dawn he seems so strong and virile, like a green plant; his branches spread across the garden. ¹⁷ His roots are in the stream, down among the stones. ¹⁸ But when he disappears, he isn’t even missed! ¹⁹ That is all he can look forward to! And others spring up from the earth to replace him!

²⁰ “But look! God will not cast away a good man, nor prosper evildoers. ²¹ He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. ²² Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame, and the wicked destroyed.”

9 Job’s reply:

² “Yes, I know all that. You’re not telling me anything new. But how can a man be truly good in the eyes of God? ³ If God decides to argue with him, can a man answer even one question of a thousand he asks? ⁴ For God is so wise and so mighty. Who has ever opposed him successfully?

⁵ “Suddenly he moves the mountains, overturning them in his anger. ⁶ He shakes the earth to its foundations. ⁷ The sun won’t rise, the stars won’t shine, if he commands it so! ⁸ Only he has stretched the heavens out and stalked along the seas. ⁹ He made the Bear, Orion and the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern Zodiac.

¹⁰ “He does incredible miracles, too many to count. ¹¹ He passes by, invisible; he moves along, but I don’t see him go. ¹² When he sends death to snatch a man away,^[a] who can stop him? Who dares to ask him, ‘What are you doing?’

¹³ “And God does not abate his anger. The pride of man^[b] collapses before him. ¹⁴ And who am I that I should try to argue with Almighty God, or even reason with him? ¹⁵ Even if I were sinless, I wouldn’t say a word. I would only plead for mercy. ¹⁶ And even if my prayers were answered, I could scarce believe that he had heard my cry. ¹⁷ For he is the one who destroys, and multiplies my wounds without a cause. ¹⁸ He will not let me breathe, but fills me with bitter sorrows. ¹⁹ He alone is strong and just.

²⁰ “But I? Am I righteous? My own mouth says no. Even if I were perfect, God would prove me wicked. ²¹ And even if I am utterly innocent, I dare not think of it. I despise what I am. ²² Innocent or evil, it is all the same to him, for he destroys both kinds. ²³ He will laugh when calamity crushes the innocent. ²⁴ The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked. God blinds the eyes of the judges and lets them be unfair. If not he, then who?

²⁵ “My life passes swiftly away, filled with tragedy. ²⁶ My years disappear like swift ships, like the eagle that swoops upon its prey.

²⁷ “If I decided to forget my complaints against God, to end my sadness and be cheerful, ²⁸ then he would pour even greater sorrows upon me. For I know that you will not hold me innocent, O God, ²⁹ but will condemn me. So what’s the use of trying? ³⁰ Even if I were to wash myself with purest water and cleanse my hands with lye to make them utterly clean, ³¹ even so you would plunge me into the ditch and mud; and even my clothing would be less filthy than you consider me to be!

^32-33 “And I cannot defend myself, for you are no mere man as I am. If you were, then we could discuss it fairly, but there is no umpire between us, no middle man, no mediator to bring us together. ³⁴ Oh, let him stop beating me, so that I need no longer live in terror of his punishment. ³⁵ Then I could speak without fear to him and tell him boldly that I am not guilty.