1 | Then Job answered: |
2 | "O that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! |
3 | For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash. |
4 | For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me. |
5 | Does the wild ass bray when he has grass, or the ox low over his fodder? |
6 | Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any taste in the slime of the purslane? |
7 | My appetite refuses to touch them; they are as food that is loathsome to me. |
8 | "O that I might have my request, and that God would grant my desire; |
9 | that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off! |
10 | This would be my consolation; I would even exult in pain unsparing; for I have not denied the words of the Holy One. |
11 | What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient? |
12 | Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze? |
13 | In truth I have no help in me, and any resource is driven from me. |
14 | "He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty. |
15 | My brethren are treacherous as a torrent-bed, as freshets that pass away, |
16 | which are dark with ice, and where the snow hides itself. |
17 | In time of heat they disappear; when it is hot, they vanish from their place. |
18 | The caravans turn aside from their course; they go up into the waste, and perish. |
19 | The caravans of Tema look, the travelers of Sheba hope. |
20 | They are disappointed because they were confident; they come thither and are confounded. |
21 | Such you have now become to me; you see my calamity, and are afraid. |
22 | Have I said, `Make me a gift'? Or, `From your wealth offer a bribe for me'? |
23 | Or, `Deliver me from the adversary's hand'? Or, `Ransom me from the hand of oppressors'? |
24 | "Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have erred. |
25 | How forceful are honest words! But what does reproof from you reprove? |
26 | Do you think that you can reprove words, when the speech of a despairing man is wind? |
27 | You would even cast lots over the fatherless, and bargain over your friend. |
28 | "But now, be pleased to look at me; for I will not lie to your face. |
29 | Turn, I pray, let no wrong be done. Turn now, my vindication is at stake. |
30 | Is there any wrong on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern calamity? |
1 | "Has not man a hard service upon earth, and are not his days like the days of a hireling? |
2 | Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hireling who looks for his wages, |
3 | so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. |
4 | When I lie down I say, `When shall I arise?' But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn. |
5 | My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh. |
6 | My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and come to their end without hope. |
7 | "Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good. |
8 | The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while thy eyes are upon me, I shall be gone. |
9 | As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up; |
10 | he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him any more. |
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. |
12 | Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that thou settest a guard over me? |
13 | When I say, `My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,' |
14 | then thou dost scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, |
15 | so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones. |
16 | I loathe my life; I would not live for ever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath. |
17 | What is man, that thou dost make so much of him, and that thou dost set thy mind upon him, |
18 | dost visit him every morning, and test him every moment? |
19 | How long wilt thou not look away from me, nor let me alone till I swallow my spittle? |
20 | If I sin, what do I do to thee, thou watcher of men? Why hast thou made me thy mark? Why have I become a burden to thee? |
21 | Why dost thou not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; thou wilt seek me, but I shall not be." |
1 | Then Bildad the Shuhite answered: |
2 | "How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind? |
3 | Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right? |
4 | If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the power of their transgression. |
5 | If you will seek God and make supplication to the Almighty, |
6 | if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and reward you with a rightful habitation. |
7 | And though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great. |
8 | "For inquire, I pray you, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have found; |
9 | for we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, for our days on earth are a shadow. |
10 | Will 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? |
12 | While yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant. |
13 | Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless man shall perish. |
14 | His confidence breaks in sunder, and his trust is a spider's web. |
15 | He leans against his house, but it does not stand; he lays hold of it, but it does not endure. |
16 | He thrives before the sun, and his shoots spread over his garden. |
17 | His roots twine about the stoneheap; he lives among the rocks. |
18 | If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, `I have never seen you.' |
19 | Behold, this is the joy of his way; and out of the earth others will spring. |
20 | "Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers. |
21 | He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouting. |
22 | Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more." |