Job 6; Job 7; Job 8; Job 9

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Job 6

1 If my troubles and griefs

3 they would weigh more than the sands of the sea, so my wild words should not surprise you.

4 Almighty God has shot me with arrows, and their poison spreads through my body. God has lined up his terrors against me.

5 A donkey is content when eating grass, and a cow is quiet when eating hay.

6 But who can eat flat, unsalted food? What taste is there in the white of an egg?

7 I have no appetite for food like that, and everything I eat makes me sick.

8 Why won't God give me what I ask? Why won't he answer my prayer?

9 If only he would go ahead and kill me!

10 If I knew he would, I would leap for joy, no matter how great my pain. I know that God is holy; I have never opposed what he commands.

11 What strength do I have to keep on living? Why go on living when I have no hope?

12 Am I made of stone? Is my body bronze?

13 I have no strength left to save myself; there is nowhere I can turn for help.

14 In trouble like this I need loyal friends - whether I've forsaken God or not.

15 But you, my friends, you deceive me like streams that go dry when no rain comes.

16 The streams are choked with snow and ice,

17 but in the heat they disappear, and the stream beds lie bare and dry.

18 Caravans get lost looking for water; they wander and die in the desert.

19 Caravans from Sheba and Tema search,

20 but their hope dies beside dry streams.

21 You are like those streams to me, you see my fate and draw back in fear.

22 Have I asked you to give me a gift or to bribe someone on my behalf

23 or to save me from some enemy or tyrant?

24 All right, teach me; tell me my faults. I will be quiet and listen to you.

25 Honest words are convincing, but you are talking nonsense.

26 You think I am talking nothing but wind; then why do you answer my words of despair?

27 You would even roll dice for orphan slaves and make yourselves rich off your closest friends!

28 Look me in the face. I won't lie.

29 You have gone far enough. Stop being unjust. Don't condemn me. I'm in the right.

30 But you think I am lying - you think I can't tell right from wrong.

Job 7

1 Human life is like forced army service, like a life of hard manual labor,

2 like a slave longing for cool shade; like a worker waiting to be paid.

3 Month after month I have nothing to live for; night after night brings me grief.

4 When I lie down to sleep, the hours drag; I toss all night and long for dawn.

5 My body is full of worms; it is covered with scabs; pus runs out of my sores.

6 My days pass by without hope, pass faster than a weaver's shuttle.

7 Remember, O God, my life is only a breath; my happiness has already ended.

8 You see me now, but never again. If you look for me, I'll be gone.

9 Like a cloud that fades and is gone, we humans die and never return; we are forgotten by all who knew us.

11 No! I can't be quiet! I am angry and bitter. I have to speak.

12 Why do you keep me under guard? Do you think I am a sea monster?

13 I lie down and try to rest; I look for relief from my pain.

14 But you - you terrify me with dreams; you send me visions and nightmares

15 until I would rather be strangled than live in this miserable body.

16 I give up; I am tired of living. Leave me alone. My life makes no sense.

17 Why are people so important to you? Why pay attention to what they do?

18 You inspect them every morning and test them every minute.

19 Won't you look away long enough for me to swallow my spit?

20 Are you harmed by my sin, you jailer? Why use me for your target practice? Am I so great a burden to you?

21 Can't you ever forgive my sin? Can't you pardon the wrong I do? Soon I will be in my grave, and I'll be gone when you look for me.

Job 8

1 Are you finally through with your windy speech?

3 God never twists justice; he never fails to do what is right.

4 Your children must have sinned against God, and so he punished them as they deserved.

5 But turn now and plead with Almighty God;

6 if you are so honest and pure, then God will come and help you and restore your household as your reward.

7 All the wealth you lost will be nothing compared with what God will give you then.

8 Look for a moment at ancient wisdom; consider the truths our ancestors learned.

9 Our life is short, we know nothing at all; we pass like shadows across the earth.

10 But let the ancient wise people teach you; listen to what they had to say:

11 "Reeds can't grow where there is no water; they are never found outside a swamp.

12 If the water dries up, they are the first to wither, while still too small to be cut and used.

13 Godless people are like those reeds; their hope is gone, once God is forgotten.

14 They trust a thread - a spider's web.

15 If they lean on a web, will it hold them up? If they grab for a thread, will it help them stand?"

16 Evil people sprout like weeds in the sun, like weeds that spread all through the garden.

17 Their roots wrap around the stones and hold fast to every rock.

18 But then pull them up - no one will ever know they were there.

19 Yes, that's all the joy evil people have; others now come and take their places.

20 But God will never abandon the faithful or ever give help to evil people.

21 He will let you laugh and shout again,

22 but he will bring disgrace on those who hate you, and the homes of the wicked will vanish.

Job 9

1 Yes, I've heard all that before.

2 But how can a human being win a case against God?

3 How can anyone argue with him? He can ask a thousand questions that no one could ever answer.

4 God is so wise and powerful; no one can stand up against him.

5 Without warning he moves mountains and in anger he destroys them.

6 God sends earthquakes and shakes the ground; he rocks the pillars that support the earth.

7 He can keep the sun from rising, and the stars from shining at night.

8 No one helped God spread out the heavens or trample the sea monster's back.

9 God hung the stars in the sky - the Dipper, Orion, the Pleiades, and the stars of the south.

10 We cannot understand the great things he does, and to his miracles there is no end.

11 God passes by, but I cannot see him.

12 He takes what he wants, and no one can stop him; no one dares ask him, "What are you doing?"

13 God's anger is constant. He crushed his enemies who helped Rahab, the sea monster, oppose him.

14 So how can I find words to answer God?

15 Though I am innocent, all I can do is beg for mercy from God my judge.

16 Yet even then, if he lets me speak, I can't believe he would listen to me.

17 He sends storms to batter and bruise me without any reason at all.

18 He won't let me catch my breath; he has filled my life with bitterness.

19 Should I try force? Try force on God? Should I take him to court? Could anyone make him go?

20 I am innocent and faithful, but my words sound guilty, and everything I say seems to condemn me.

21 I am innocent, but I no longer care. I am sick of living.

22 Nothing matters; innocent or guilty, God will destroy us.

23 When an innocent person suddenly dies, God laughs.

24 God gave the world to the wicked. He made all the judges blind. And if God didn't do it, who did?

25 My days race by, not one of them good.

26 My life passes like the swiftest boat, as fast as an eagle swooping down on a rabbit.

27 If I smile and try to forget my pain, all my suffering comes back to haunt me;

28 I know that God does hold me guilty.

29 Since I am held guilty, why should I bother?

30 No soap can wash away my sins.

31 God throws me into a pit with filth, and even my clothes are ashamed of me.

32 If God were human, I could answer him; we could go to court to decide our quarrel.

33 But there is no one to step between us - no one to judge both God and me.

34 Stop punishing me, God! Keep your terrors away!

35 I am not afraid. I am going to talk because I know my own heart.