June 8
Job 5:1 — 8:22
5 “Call, please! Is there anyone answering you?
And to which one of the holy ones will you turn?
2 For the foolish one vexation will kill,
And the one easily enticed envying will put to death.
3 I myself have seen the foolish one taking root,
But suddenly I began to execrate his abiding place.
4 His sons remain far from salvation,
And they are crushed in the gate without a deliverer.
5 What he harvests the hungry one eats;
And even from butcher hooks one takes it,
And a snare actually snaps at their means of maintenance.
6 For not from mere dust does what is hurtful go forth,
And from mere ground trouble does not spring up.
7 For man himself is born for trouble,
As the very sparks fly upward.
8 However, I myself would apply to God,
And to God I would submit my cause,
9 [To the] One doing great things unsearchable,
Wonderful things without number;
10 [To] the One giving rain upon the surface of the earth
And sending waters upon the open fields;
11 [To] the One putting those who are low on a high place,
So that those who are sad are high up in salvation;
12 [To the] One frustrating the schemes of the shrewd,
So that their hands do not work with effect;
13 [To the] One catching the wise in their own cunning,
So that the counsel of astute ones is carried headlong;
14 They encounter darkness even by day,
And they grope about at midday as if at night;
15 And [to the] One saving from the sword out of their mouth,
And from the hand of the strong one, a poor one,
16 So that for the lowly one there comes to be hope,
But unrighteousness actually shuts its mouth.
17 Look! Happy is the man whom God reproves;
And the discipline of the Almighty do not you reject!
18 For he himself causes pain, but binds up [the wound];
He breaks to pieces, but his own hands do the healing.
19 In six distresses he will deliver you,
And in seven nothing injurious will touch you.
20 During famine he will certainly redeem you from death,
And during war from the power of a sword.
21 From the whip of a tongue you will be hidden,
And you will not be afraid of despoiling when it comes.
22 At despoiling and hunger you will laugh,
And of the wild beast of the earth you need not be afraid.
23 For with the stones of the field your covenant will be,
And the wild beast of the field himself will be made to live at peace with you.
24 And you will certainly know that peace itself is your tent,
And you will be bound to go and see your pasture ground, and you will miss nothing.
25 And you will certainly know that your offspring are many
And your descendants like the vegetation of the earth.
26 You will come in vigor to the burial place,
As when sheaves pile up in their time.
27 Look! This is what we have investigated. So is it.
Hear it, and you—know it for yourself.”
6 And Job proceeded to answer and say:
2 “O that my vexation were altogether weighed,
And that at the same time my adversity they would put on scales themselves!
3 For now it is heavier even than the sands of the seas.
That is why my own words have been wild talk.
4 For the arrows of the Almighty are with me,
The venom of which my spirit is drinking;
The terrors from God range themselves up against me.
5 Will a zebra cry out over grass,
Or a bull low over its fodder?
6 Will tasteless things be eaten without salt,
Or is there any taste in the slimy juice of marshmallow?
7 My soul has refused to touch [anything].
They are like disease in my food.
8 O that my request would come
And that God would grant even my hope!
9 And that God would go ahead and crush me,
That he would release his hand and cut me off!
10 Even it would still be my comfort;
And I should leap [for joy] at [my] labor pains,
[Though] he would have no compassion, for I have not hidden the sayings of the Holy One.
11 What is my power, that I should keep waiting?
And what is my end, that I should keep prolonging my soul?
12 Is my power the power of stones?
Or is my flesh of copper?
13 Is it that self-assistance is not in me,
And effectual working itself has been chased away from me?
14 As regards anyone who withholds loving-kindness from his own fellow,
He will also leave off even the fear of the Almighty.
15 My own brothers have dealt treacherously, like a winter torrent,
Like the channel of winter torrents that keep passing away.
16 They are dark from ice,
Upon them snow hides itself.
17 In due season they become waterless, they have been silenced;
When it grows hot they are dried up from their place.
18 The paths of their way are turned aside;
They go up into the empty place and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema have looked,
The traveling company of Sabeans have waited for them.
20 They certainly are ashamed because they had trusted;
They have come clear to the place and they get disappointed.
21 For now YOU men have amounted to nothing;
YOU see terror, and YOU become afraid.
22 Is it because I have said, ‘GIVE me [something],
Or from some of the power of YOU men make a present in my behalf;
23 And rescue me out of the hand of an adversary,
And out of the hand of tyrants YOU men should redeem me’?
24 Instruct me, and I, for my part, shall be silent;
And what mistake I have committed make me understand.
25 The sayings of uprightness have been—O not painful!
But what does reproving on the part of YOU men reprove?
26 Is it to reprove words that YOU men scheme,
When the sayings of one in despair are for mere wind?
27 How much more will YOU cast lots even over someone fatherless,
And barter over YOUR companion!
28 And now GO ahead, pay attention to me,
[And see] whether I shall lie to YOUR very faces.
29 Return, please—let no unrighteousness arise—
Yes, return—my righteousness is yet in it.
30 Is there unrighteousness on my tongue,
Or does my own palate not discern adversity?
7 “Is there not a compulsory labor for mortal man on earth,
And are not his days like the days of a hired laborer?
2 Like a slave he pants for the shadow,
And like a hired laborer he waits for his wages.
3 Thus I have been made to possess worthless lunar months,
And nights of trouble they have counted out to me.
4 When I have lain down I have also said, ‘When shall I get up?’
And [when] evening actually goes its measure, I have also been glutted with restlessness until morning twilight.
5 My flesh has become clothed with maggots and lumps of dust;
My skin itself has formed crusts and dissolves.
6 My days themselves have become swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
And they come to an end in hopelessness.
7 Remember that my life is wind;
That my eye will not see good again.
8 The eye of him that sees me will not behold me;
Your eyes will be upon me, but I shall not be.
9 The cloud certainly comes to its end and goes away;
So he that is going down to Sheol will not come up.
10 He will not return anymore to his house,
And his place will not acknowledge him anymore.
11 I, also, I shall not hold back my mouth.
I will speak in the distress of my spirit;
I will be concerned with the bitterness of my soul!
12 Am I a sea or a sea monster,
That you should set a guard over me?
13 When I said, ‘My divan will comfort me,
My bed will help carry my concern,’
14 You even have terrified me with dreams,
And by visions you make me start up in fright,
15 So that my soul chooses suffocation,
Death rather than my bones.
16 I have rejected [it]; to time indefinite I would not live.
Cease from me, for my days are an exhalation.
17 What is mortal man that you should rear him,
And that you should set your heart upon him,
18 And that you should pay attention to him every morning,
That every moment you should test him?
19 Why will you not turn your gaze from me,
Nor let me alone until I swallow my saliva?
20 If I have sinned, what can I accomplish against you, the Observer of mankind?
Why is it that you have set me as your target, so that I should become a burden to you?
21 And why do you not pardon my transgression
And overlook my error?
For now in dust I shall lie down;
And you will certainly look for me, and I shall not be.”
8 And Bildad the Shuhite proceeded to answer and say:
2 “How long will you keep uttering these things,
When the sayings of your mouth are but a powerful wind?
3 Will God himself pervert judgment,
Or will the Almighty himself pervert righteousness?
4 If your own sons have sinned against him,
So that he lets them go into the hand of their revolt,
5 If you yourself will look for God,
And [if] of the Almighty you will implore favor,
6 If you are pure and upright,
By now he would awake for you
And he would certainly restore your righteous abiding place.
7 Also, your beginning may have proved to be a small thing,
But your own end afterward would grow very great.
8 Indeed, ask, please, of the former generation,
And direct [your attention] to the things searched out by their fathers.
9 For we were only yesterday, and we know nothing,
Because our days on earth are a shadow.
10 Will not they themselves instruct you, tell you,
And from their heart will they not bring forth words?
11 Will a papyrus plant grow tall without a swampy place?
Will a reed grow big without water?
12 While it is yet in its bud, not plucked off,
Even ahead of all other grass it will dry up.
13 Thus are the pathways of all those forgetting God,
And the very hope of an apostate will perish,
14 Whose confidence is cut off,
And whose trust is a spider’s house.
15 He will lean upon his house, but it will not keep standing;
He will take hold of it, but it will not last.
16 He is full of sap before the sun,
And in his garden his own twig goes forth.
17 In a stone heap his roots become interwoven,
A house of stones he beholds.
18 If one swallows him up from his place,
It will also certainly deny him, [saying,] ‘I have not seen you.’
19 Look! That is the dissolving of his way;
And from the dust others spring up.
20 Look! God himself will not reject anyone blameless,
Neither will he take hold of the hand of evildoers,
21 Until he fills your mouth with laughter,
And your lips with joyful shouting.
22 The very ones hating you will be clothed with shame,
And the tent of wicked ones will not be.”