Job’s Friends Are No Help

1Then Job answered,

2“Oh that my grief were actually weighed

And laid in the balances together with my calamity!

3For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas;

Therefore my words have been rash.

4For the arrows of the Almighty are within me,

Their poison my spirit drinks;

The terrors of God are arrayed against me.

5Does the wild donkey bray over his grass,

Or does the ox low over his fodder?

6Can something tasteless be eaten without salt,

Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

7My soul refuses to touch them;

They are like loathsome food to me.

8“Oh that my request might come to pass,

And that God would grant my longing!

9Would that God were willing to crush me,

That He would loose His hand and cut me off!

10But it is still my consolation,

And I rejoice in unsparing pain,

That I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

11What is my strength, that I should wait?

And what is my end, that I should endure?

12Is my strength the strength of stones,

Or is my flesh bronze?

13Is it that my help is not within me,

And that deliverance is driven from me?

14“For the despairing man there should be kindness from his friend;

So that he does not forsake the fear of the Almighty.

15My brothers have acted deceitfully like a wadi,

Like the torrents of wadis which vanish,

16Which are turbid because of ice

And into which the snow melts.

17When they become waterless, they are silent,

When it is hot, they vanish from their place.

18The paths of their course wind along,

They go up into nothing and perish.

19The caravans of Tema looked,

The travelers of Sheba hoped for them.

20They were disappointed for they had trusted,

They came there and were confounded.

21Indeed, you have now become such,

You see a terror and are afraid.

22Have I said, ‘Give me something,’

Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth,’

23Or, ‘Deliver me from the hand of the adversary,’

Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the tyrants’?

24“Teach me, and I will be silent;

And show me how I have erred.

25How painful are honest words!

But what does your argument prove?

26Do you intend to reprove my words,

When the words of one in despair belong to the wind?

27You would even cast lots for the orphans

And barter over your friend.

28Now please look at me,

And see if I lie to your face.

29Desist now, let there be no injustice;

Even desist, my righteousness is yet in it.

30Is there injustice on my tongue?

Cannot my palate discern calamities?

Job’s Life Seems Futile

1“Is not man forced to labor on earth,

And are not his days like the days of a hired man?

2As a slave who pants for the shade,

And as a hired man who eagerly waits for his wages,

3So am I allotted months of vanity,

And nights of trouble are appointed me.

4When I lie down I say,

‘When shall I arise?’

But the night continues,

And I am continually tossing until dawn.

5My flesh is clothed with worms and a crust of dirt,

My skin hardens and runs.

6My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,

And come to an end without hope.

7“Remember that my life is but breath;

My eye will not again see good.

8The eye of him who sees me will behold me no longer;

Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be.

9When a cloud vanishes, it is gone,

So he who goes down to Sheol does not come up.

10He will not return again to his house,

Nor will his place know him anymore.

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.

12Am I the sea, or the sea monster,

That You set a guard over me?

13If I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,

My couch will ease my complaint,’

14Then You frighten me with dreams

And terrify me by visions;

15So that my soul would choose suffocation,

Death rather than my pains.

16I waste away; I will not live forever.

Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

17What is man that You magnify him,

And that You are concerned about him,

18That You examine him every morning

And try him every moment?

19Will You never turn Your gaze away from me,

Nor let me alone until I swallow my spittle?

20Have I sinned? What have I done to You,

O watcher of men?

Why have You set me as Your target,

So that I am a burden to myself?

21Why then do You not pardon my transgression

And take away my iniquity?

For now I will lie down in the dust;

And You will seek me, but I will not be.”

Bildad Says God Rewards the Good

1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

2“How long will you say these things,

And the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

3Does God pervert justice?

Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?

4If your sons sinned against Him,

Then He delivered them into the power of their transgression.

5If you would seek God

And implore the compassion of the Almighty,

6If you are pure and upright,

Surely now He would rouse Himself for you

And restore your righteous estate.

7Though your beginning was insignificant,

Yet your end will increase greatly.

8“Please inquire of past generations,

And consider the things searched out by their fathers.

9For we are only of yesterday and know nothing,

Because our days on earth are as a shadow.

10Will they not teach you and tell you,

And bring forth words from their minds?

11“Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh?

Can the rushes grow without water?

12While it is still green and not cut down,

Yet it withers before any other plant.

13So are the paths of all who forget God;

And the hope of the godless will perish,

14Whose confidence is fragile,

And whose trust a spider’s web.

15He trusts in his house, but it does not stand;

He holds fast to it, but it does not endure.

16He thrives before the sun,

And his shoots spread out over his garden.

17His roots wrap around a rock pile,

He grasps a house of stones.

18If he is removed from his place,

Then it will deny him, saying, ‘I never saw you.’

19Behold, this is the joy of His way;

And out of the dust others will spring.

20Lo, God will not reject a man of integrity,

Nor will He support the 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 longer.”