Job 8

Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
²"How long will you say these things,
and the words of your mouth be a great wind?
³Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
⁴If your children have sinned against him,
he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
⁵If you will seek God
and plead with the Almighty for mercy,
⁶if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will rouse himself for you
and restore your rightful habitation.
⁷And though your beginning was small,
your latter days will be very great.

⁸"For inquire, please, of bygone ages,
and consider what the fathers have searched out.
⁹For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,
for our days on earth are 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 wither before any other plant.
¹³Such are the paths of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless shall perish.
¹⁴His confidence is severed,
and his trust is a spider’s web.
¹⁵He leans against his 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 shoots spread over his garden.
¹⁷His roots entwine the stone heap;
he looks upon a house of stones.
¹⁸If he is destroyed from his place,
then it will deny him, saying, 'I have never seen you.'
¹⁹Behold, this is the joy of his way,
and out of the soil others will spring.

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

Job 9

Job Replies: There Is No Arbiter

¹Then Job answered and said:
²"Truly I know that it is so:
But how can a man be in the right before God?
³If one wished to contend with him,
one could not answer him once in a thousand times.
⁴He is wise in heart and mighty in strength
—who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?—
⁵he who removes mountains, and they know it not,
when he overturns them in his anger,
⁶who shakes the earth out of its place,
and its pillars tremble;
⁷who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
who seals up the stars;
⁸who alone stretched out the heavens
and trampled the waves of the sea;
⁹who made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
¹⁰who does great things beyond searching out,
and marvelous things beyond number.
¹¹Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not;
he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
¹²Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back?
Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?'

¹³"God will not turn back his anger;
beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab.
¹⁴ How then can I answer him,
choosing my words with him?
¹⁵ Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him;
I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.
¹⁶If I summoned him and he answered me,
I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
¹⁷For he crushes me with a tempest
and multiplies my wounds without cause;
¹⁸he will not let me get my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.
¹⁹If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty!
If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
²⁰Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
²¹I am blameless; I regard not myself;
I loathe my life.
²²It is all one; therefore I say,
He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.
²³When disaster brings sudden death,
he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.
²⁴ The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
he covers the faces of its judges—
if it is not he, who then is it?

²⁵"My days are swifter than a runner;
they flee away; they see no good.
²⁶They go by like skiffs of reed,
like an eagle swooping on the prey.
²⁷If I say, 'I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer,'
²⁸I become afraid of all my suffering,
for I know you will not hold me innocent.
²⁹I shall be condemned;
why then do I labor in vain?
³⁰If I wash myself with snow
and cleanse my hands with lye,
³¹yet you will plunge me into a pit,
and my own clothes will abhor me.
³²For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should come to trial together.
³³ There is no arbiter between us,
who might lay his hand on us both.
³⁴ Let him take his rod away from me,
and let not dread of him terrify me.
³⁵Then I would speak without fear of him,
for I am not so in myself.

Job 10

Job Continues: A Plea to God

¹"I loathe my life;I will give free utterance to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
²I will say to God, Do not condemn me;
let me know why you contend against me.
³ Does it seem good to you to oppress,
to despise the work of your hands
and favor the designs of the wicked?
⁴Have you eyes of flesh?
Do you see as man sees?
⁵Are your days as the days of man,
or your years as a man’s years,
⁶that you seek out my iniquity
and search for my sin,
⁷although you know that I am not guilty,
and there is none to deliver out of your hand?
⁸ Your hands fashioned and made me,
and now you have destroyed me altogether.
⁹Remember that you have made me like clay;
and will you return me to the dust?
¹⁰Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
¹¹You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and knit me together with bones and sinews.
¹²You have granted me life and steadfast love,
and your care has preserved my spirit.
¹³Yet these things you hid in your heart;
I know that this was your purpose.
¹⁴If I sin, you watch me
and do not acquit me of my iniquity.
¹⁵ If I am guilty, woe to me!
If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace
and look on my affliction.
¹⁶And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion
and again work wonders against me.
¹⁷You renew your witnesses against me
and increase your vexation toward me;
you bring fresh troops against me.

¹⁸ "Why did you bring me out from the womb?
Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
¹⁹ and were as though I had not been,
carried from the womb to the grave.
²⁰Are not my days few?
Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer
²¹before I go—and I shall not return—
to the land of darkness and deep shadow,
²²the land of gloom like thick darkness,
like deep shadow without any order,
where light is as thick darkness."

Job 11

Zophar Speaks: You Deserve Worse

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
²"Should a multitude of words go unanswered,
and a man full of talk be judged right?
³Should your babble silence men,
and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
⁴For you say, 'My doctrine is pure,
and I am clean in God’s eyes.'
⁵But oh, that God would speak
and open his lips to you,
⁶and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!
For he is manifold in understanding.
Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

⁷ "Can you find out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
⁸It is higher than heaven—what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
⁹Its measure is longer than the earth
and broader than the sea.
¹⁰If he passes through and imprisons
and summons the court, who can turn him back?
¹¹For he knows worthless men;
when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?
¹²But a stupid man will get understanding
when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man!

¹³"If you prepare your heart,
you will stretch out your hands toward him.
¹⁴If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
and let not injustice dwell in your tents.
¹⁵Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish;
you will be secure and will not fear.
¹⁶You will forget your misery;
you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
¹⁷And your life will be brighter than the noonday;
its darkness will be like the morning.
¹⁸And you will feel secure, because there is hope;
you will look around and take your rest in security.
¹⁹You will lie down, and none will make you afraid;
many will court your favor.
²⁰But the eyes of the wicked will fail;
all way of escape will be lost to them,
and their hope is to breathe their last."