Job 7-12
Christian Standard Bible
7 Isn’t each person consigned to forced labor(A) on earth?
Are not his days like those of a hired worker?
2 Like a slave he longs for shade;
like a hired worker he waits for his pay.
3 So I have been made to inherit months of futility,
and troubled nights have been assigned to me.(B)
4 When I lie down I think,
“When will I get up?”
But the evening drags on endlessly,
and I toss and turn until dawn.
5 My flesh is clothed with maggots and encrusted with dirt.[a]
My skin forms scabs[b] and then oozes.(C)
6 My days pass more swiftly than a weaver’s shuttle;
they come to an end without hope.(D)
7 Remember that my life is but a breath.
My eye will never again see anything good.(E)
8 The eye of anyone who looks on me
will no longer see me.
Your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.(F)
9 As a cloud fades away and vanishes,
so the one who goes down to Sheol(G) will never rise again.
10 He will never return to his house;
his hometown will no longer remember[c] him.(H)
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[d](I) or a sea monster,(J)
that you keep me under guard?
13 When I say, “My bed will comfort me,
and my couch will ease my complaint,”
14 then you frighten me with dreams,
and terrify me with visions,(K)
15 so that I prefer strangling[e]—
death rather than life in this body.[f](L)
16 I give up! I will not live forever.
Leave me alone,(M) for my days are a breath.[g]
17 What is a mere human, that you think so highly of him
and pay so much attention to him?(N)
18 You inspect him every morning,
and put him to the test every moment.(O)
19 Will you ever look away from me,
or leave me alone long enough to swallow?[h]
20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you,
Watcher of humanity?
Why have you made me your target,(P)
so that I have become a burden to you?[i]
21 Why not forgive my sin
and pardon my iniquity?(Q)
For soon I will lie down in the grave.(R)
You will eagerly seek me, but I will be gone.(S)
Bildad Speaks
8 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
2 How long will you go on saying these things?
Your words(T) are a blast of wind.(U)
3 Does God pervert justice?(V)
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?(W)
4 Since your children sinned against him,
he gave them over to their rebellion.
5 But if you earnestly seek(X) God
and ask the Almighty for mercy,(Y)
6 if you are pure and upright,
then he will move even now on your behalf
and restore the home where your righteousness dwells.(Z)
7 Then, even if your beginnings were modest,
your final days will be full of prosperity.(AA)
8 For ask the previous generation,
and pay attention to what their ancestors discovered,(AB)
9 since we were born only yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are but a shadow.(AC)
10 Will they not teach you and tell you
and speak from their understanding?
11 Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Do reeds flourish without water?
12 While still uncut shoots,
they would dry up quicker than any other plant.
13 Such is the destiny[j] of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless(AD) will perish.
14 His source of confidence is fragile;[k]
what he trusts in is a spider’s web.(AE)
15 He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm.
He grabs it, but it does not hold up.
16 He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine;
his shoots spread out over his garden.
17 His roots are intertwined around a pile of rocks.
He looks for a home among the stones.
18 If he is uprooted[l] from his place,
it will deny knowing him, saying, “I never saw you.”(AF)
19 Surely this is the joy of his way of life;
yet others will sprout from the dust.
20 Look, God does not reject a person of integrity,
and he will not support[m] evildoers.(AG)
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with a shout of joy.(AH)
22 Your enemies will be clothed with shame;(AI)
the tent(AJ) of the wicked will no longer exist.
Job’s Reply to Bildad
9 Then Job answered:
2 Yes, I know what you’ve said is true,
but how can a person be justified before God?(AK)
3 If one wanted to take(AL) him to court,
he could not answer God[n] once in a thousand times.(AM)
4 God is wise(AN) and all-powerful.
Who has opposed him and come out unharmed?
5 He removes mountains without their knowledge,
overturning them in his anger.(AO)
6 He shakes the earth from its place
so that its pillars tremble.
7 He commands the sun not to shine
and seals off the stars.(AP)
8 He alone stretches out the heavens(AQ)
and treads on the waves of the sea.[o]
9 He makes the stars: the Bear,[p] Orion,
the Pleiades,(AR) and the constellations[q] of the southern sky.
10 He does great and unsearchable things,
wonders without number.(AS)
11 If he passed by me, I wouldn’t see him;(AT)
if he went by, I wouldn’t recognize him.
12 If he snatches something, who can stop[r] him?
Who can ask him, “What are you doing?” (AU)
13 God does not hold back his anger;
Rahab’s(AV) assistants cringe in fear beneath him!
14 How then can I answer him
or choose my arguments against him?
15 Even if I were in the right, I could not answer.
I could only beg my Judge for mercy.(AW)
16 If I summoned him and he answered me,
I do not believe he would pay attention to what I said.
17 He batters me with a whirlwind(AX)
and multiplies my wounds without cause.
18 He doesn’t let me catch my breath
but fills me with bitter experiences.
19 If it is a matter of strength, look, he is the powerful one!(AY)
If it is a matter of justice, who can summon(AZ) him?[s]
20 Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;(BA)
if I were blameless, my mouth would declare me guilty.
21 Though I am blameless,
I no longer care about myself;
I renounce my life.(BB)
22 It is all the same. Therefore I say,
“He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.”(BC)
23 When catastrophe[t] brings sudden death,
he mocks the despair of the innocent.
24 The earth[u] is handed over to the wicked;
he blindfolds[v] its judges.(BD)
If it isn’t he, then who is it?
25 My days fly by faster than a runner;[w](BE)
they flee without seeing any good.(BF)
26 They sweep by like boats made of papyrus,
like an eagle swooping down on its prey.(BG)
27 If I said, “I will forget my complaint,
change my expression, and smile,”
28 I would still live in terror of all my pains.(BH)
I know you will not acquit me.(BI)
29 Since I will be found guilty,(BJ)
why should I struggle in vain?
30 If I wash myself with snow,
and cleanse my hands with lye,
31 then you dip me in a pit of mud,
and my own clothes despise me!
32 For he is not a man like me, that I can answer him,(BK)
that we can take each other to court.
33 There is no mediator between us,
to lay his hand on both of us.
34 Let him take his rod away from me
so his terror will no longer frighten me.(BL)
35 Then I would speak and not fear him.
But that is not the case; I am on my own.
10 I am disgusted with my life.(BM)
I will give vent to my complaint
and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God,
“Do not declare me guilty!
Let me know why you prosecute me.
3 Is it good for you to oppress,
to reject the work of your hands,(BN)
and favor[x] the plans of the wicked?(BO)
4 Do you have eyes of flesh,
or do you see as a human sees?
5 Are your days like those of a human,
or your years like those of a man,(BP)
6 that you look for my iniquity(BQ)
and search for my sin,
7 even though you know that I am not wicked
and that there is no one who can rescue from your power?(BR)
8 “Your hands shaped me and formed me.(BS)
Will you now turn and destroy me?
9 Please remember that you formed me like clay.
Will you now return me to dust?(BT)
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and wove me together with bones and tendons.(BU)
12 You gave me life and faithful love,
and your care has guarded my life.
13 “Yet you concealed these thoughts in your heart;
I know that this was your hidden plan:[y]
14 if I sin, you would notice,[z]
and would not acquit me of my iniquity.(BV)
15 If I am wicked, woe to me!
And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head.
I am filled with shame(BW)
and have drunk deeply of[aa] my affliction.(BX)
16 If I am proud,[ab] you hunt me like a lion
and again display your miraculous power against me.(BY)
17 You produce new witnesses[ac] against me
and multiply your anger toward me.
Hardships assault me, wave after wave.[ad]
18 “Why did you bring me out of the womb?(BZ)
I should have died and never been seen.
19 I wish[ae] I had never existed
but had been carried from the womb to the grave.(CA)
20 Are my days not few? Stop it![af]
Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little
21 before I go to a land of darkness and gloom,(CB)
never to return.
22 It is a land of blackness like the deepest darkness,
gloomy and chaotic,
where even the light is like[ag] the darkness.”
Zophar Speaks
11 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
2 Should this abundance of words(CC) go unanswered
and such a talker[ah] be acquitted?
3 Should your babbling put others to silence,
so that you can keep on ridiculing
with no one to humiliate you?
4 You have said, “My teaching(CD) is sound,
and I am pure in your sight.”
5 But if only God would speak
and open his lips against you!
6 He would show you the secrets of wisdom,(CE)
for true wisdom has two sides.
Know then that God has chosen to overlook some of your iniquity.(CF)
7 Can you fathom the depths of God
or discover the limits of the Almighty?(CG)
8 They are higher than the heavens—what can you do?
They are deeper than Sheol—what can you know?(CH)
9 Their measure is longer than the earth
and wider than the sea.
10 If he passes by and throws someone in prison
or convenes a court, who can stop him?(CI)
11 Surely he knows which people are worthless.
If he sees iniquity, will he not take note of it?(CJ)
12 But a stupid person will gain understanding
as soon as a wild donkey is born a human!
13 As for you, if you redirect your heart
and spread out your hands to him in prayer—
14 if there is iniquity in your hand, remove it,
and don’t allow injustice to dwell in your tents—
15 then you will hold your head high, free from fault.
You will be firmly established and unafraid.(CK)
16 For you will forget your suffering,
recalling it only as water that has flowed by.
17 Your life will be brighter than noonday;
its darkness[ai] will be like the morning.(CL)
18 You will be confident, because there is hope.(CM)
You will look carefully about and lie down in safety.(CN)
19 You will lie down with no one to frighten you,
and many will seek your favor.(CO)
20 But the sight of the wicked(CP) will fail.
Their way of escape will be cut off,
and their only hope is their last breath.(CQ)
Job’s Reply to Zophar
12 Then Job answered:
2 No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you!
3 But I also have a mind like you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who doesn’t know the things you are talking about?[aj](CR)
4 I am a laughingstock to my[ak] friends,
by calling on God, who answers me.[al]
The righteous and blameless man is a laughingstock.(CS)
5 The one who is at ease(CT) holds calamity in contempt
and thinks it is prepared for those whose feet are slipping.
6 The tents of robbers are safe,(CU)
and those who trouble God are secure;
God holds them in his hands.[am](CV)
7 But ask the animals, and they will instruct you;
ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.(CW)
8 Or speak to the earth, and it will instruct you;
let the fish of the sea inform you.
9 Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?(CX)
10 The life of every living thing is in his hand,
as well as the breath of all humanity.(CY)
11 Doesn’t the ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
12 Wisdom is found with the elderly,
and understanding comes with long life.(CZ)
13 Wisdom and strength belong to God;
counsel and understanding are his.(DA)
14 Whatever he tears down cannot be rebuilt;
whoever he imprisons cannot be released.(DB)
15 When he withholds water, everything dries up,
and when he releases it, it destroys the land.(DC)
16 True wisdom and power belong to him.
The deceived and the deceiver are his.
17 He leads counselors away barefoot
and makes judges go mad.(DD)
18 He releases the bonds[an] put on by kings(DE)
and fastens a belt around their waists.
19 He leads priests away barefoot
and overthrows established leaders.(DF)
20 He deprives trusted advisers of speech
and takes away the elders’ good judgment.
21 He pours out contempt on nobles
and disarms[ao] the strong.
22 He reveals mysteries from the darkness
and brings the deepest darkness into the light.(DG)
23 He makes nations great, then destroys them;
he enlarges nations,(DH) then leads them away.
24 He deprives the world’s leaders of reason,
and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.(DI)
25 They grope around in darkness without light;
he makes them stagger like a drunkard.(DJ)
Footnotes
- 7:5 Or and dirty scabs
- 7:5 Lit skin hardens
- 7:10 Lit know
- 7:12 Or the sea god
- 7:15 Or suffocation
- 7:15 Lit than my bones
- 7:16 Or are futile
- 7:19 Lit swallow my saliva?
- 7:20 Alt Hb tradition, LXX; MT, Vg read myself
- 8:13 Lit Such are the ways
- 8:14 Or cut off; Hb obscure
- 8:18 Or destroyed
- 8:20 Lit grasp the hand of
- 9:3 Or court, God would not answer him
- 9:8 Or and walks on the back of the sea god
- 9:9 Or Aldebaran
- 9:9 Or chambers
- 9:12 Or dissuade
- 9:19 LXX; MT reads me
- 9:23 Or whip; Hb obscure
- 9:24 Or land
- 9:24 Lit covers the faces of
- 9:25 = a royal messenger
- 10:3 Lit shine on
- 10:13 Lit was with you
- 10:14 Lit notice me
- 10:15 Or and look at
- 10:16 Lit If he lifts up
- 10:17 Or You bring fresh troops
- 10:17 Lit Changes and a host are with me
- 10:19 Lit As if
- 10:20 Alt Hb tradition reads Will he not leave my few days alone?
- 10:22 Lit chaotic, and shines as
- 11:2 Lit a man of lips
- 11:17 Text emended; MT reads noonday; you are dark, you
- 12:3 Lit With whom are not such things as these?
- 12:4 Lit his
- 12:4 Lit him
- 12:6 Or secure; to those who bring their god in their hands
- 12:18 Text emended; MT reads discipline
- 12:21 Lit and loosens the belt of
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