Job 6-9
Easy-to-Read Version
Job Answers Eliphaz
6 Then Job answered:
2 “I wish my suffering could be weighed
and all my trouble be put on the scales.
3 They would be heavier than all the sand of the sea!
That is why my words are so crazy.
4 God All-Powerful has shot me with his arrows.
My spirit feels their poison!
God’s terrible weapons are lined up against me.
5 Even a wild donkey does not complain when it has grass to eat.
And a cow is quiet when it has food.
6 Food without salt does not taste good,
and the white of an egg has no taste.
7 I refuse to touch that kind of food;
it makes me sick!
8 “I wish I could have what I ask for.
I wish God would give me what I want.
9 I wish he would crush me—
just go ahead and kill me!
10 Then I would be comforted by this one thing:
Even through all this pain,
I never refused to obey the commands of the Holy One.
11 “With my strength gone, I have no hope to go on living.
With nothing to look forward to, why should I be patient?
12 I am not strong like a rock.
My body is not made from bronze.
13 I don’t have the power to help myself,
because all hope of success has been taken away from me.
14 “Friends should be loyal to you in times of trouble,
even if you turn away from God All-Powerful.[a]
15 But I cannot depend on you, my brothers.
You are like a stream that has no water when the weather is dry
but is flooded when the rains come.
16 In the winter, it is choked with ice and melting snow.
17 But when the weather is hot and dry,
the water stops flowing,
and the stream disappears.
18 It twists and turns along the way
and then disappears into the desert.
19 Traders from Tema search for it.
Travelers from Sheba hope to find it.
20 They are sure they can find water,
but they will be disappointed.
21 Now, you are like those streams.
You see my troubles and are afraid.
22 But have I ever asked you to help me?
Did I ask you to offer a bribe for me from your wealth?
23 No, and I never said, ‘Save me from my enemies!’
or ‘Save me from those who are cruel!’
24 “So now, teach me, and I will be quiet.
Show me what I have done wrong.
25 Honest words are powerful,
but your arguments prove nothing.
26 Do you plan to criticize me?
Will you speak more tiring words?
27 Are you the kind of people
who would gamble for orphans
and sell out your own friends?
28 Now, look me in the face,
and see that I am telling the truth!
29 You need to start over and stop being so unfair!
Think again, because I am innocent.
30 I am not lying.
I know right from wrong.
7 “People have a hard struggle on earth.
Their life is like that of a hired worker.
2 They are like a slave looking for cool shade
or a hired worker waiting for payday.
3 Month after frustrating month has gone by.
I have suffered night after night.
4 When I lie down, I think,
‘How long before it’s time to get up?’
The night drags on.
I toss and turn until the sun comes up.
5 My skin is covered with worms and scabs.
It is cracked and covered with sores.
6 “My days pass by faster than a weaver’s shuttle,[b]
and my life will end without hope.
7 God, remember, my life is like a breath.
I will not get a second chance to enjoy it.
8 Those who see me now will never see me again.
You watch me for a while, but then I am gone.
9 Just as clouds that come and go,
people are put in the grave, never to rise again.
10 They don’t come back to their old homes.
The people there would not know them.
11 “So I will not be quiet!
I will let my suffering spirit speak!
I will let my bitter soul complain!
12 Am I one of your enemies?
Is that why you put a guard over me?[c]
13 My bed should bring me comfort.
My couch should give me rest and relief.
14 But when I lie down, you scare me with dreams;
you frighten me with visions.
15 So I would rather be choked to death
than to live like this.
16 I hate my life—I give up.
I don’t want to live forever.
Leave me alone!
My life means nothing.
17 God, why are people so important to you?
Why do you even notice them?
18 Why do you visit them every morning
and test them at every moment?
19 You never look away from me
or leave me alone for a second.
20 You are always watching us!
If I sinned, would that hurt you?
Why have you made me your target?
Have I become a problem for you?
21 Why don’t you just pardon me for doing wrong?
Why don’t you just forgive me for my sins?
Soon I will die and be in my grave.
You will search for me, but I will be gone.”
Bildad Speaks to Job
8 Then Bildad from Shuah answered:
2 “How long will you talk like that?
Your words are nothing but hot air!
3 God is always fair.
God All-Powerful does what is right.
4 If your children sinned against God, he punished them.
They paid for their sins.
5 But now, look to God
and pray to the All-Powerful.
6 If you are pure and good,
he will quickly come to help you.
He will give your family back to you.
7 Then you will have a lot more
than you had in the beginning!
8 “Ask those who are now old.
Find out what their ancestors learned.
9 It seems as though we were born yesterday.
We are too young to know anything.
Our days on earth are very short, like a shadow.
10 Maybe the old people can tell you something.
Maybe they will teach you what they learned.
11 “Can papyrus grow tall on a dry land?
Can reeds grow without water?
12 No, they will dry up before harvest.
They will be too small to cut and use.
13 People who forget God are like that.
Those who oppose him have no hope.
14 They have put their trust in something weak.
It is like a spider’s web.
15 When they lean against it,
it will break.
When they reach out for it,
it will not hold them up.
16 Such people are like a vine that gets plenty of water and sunshine,
and its branches spread throughout the garden.
17 Its roots spread among the rocks,
searching for good soil.
18 But if you move it, it will die,
and no one can tell it was ever there.
19 Everything might have been going well,
but another vine will take its place.
20 God does not support evil people,
and he does not abandon the innocent.
21 So perhaps you might laugh again.
Maybe shouts of joy will come from your lips.
22 Maybe your enemies will be humiliated
and the homes of the wicked destroyed.”
Job Answers Bildad
9 Then Job answered:
2 “Of course, I know that this is true.
But how can a human being win an argument with God?
3 Anyone who chose to argue with him
could not answer one question in a thousand!
4 God is so wise and powerful that
no one could oppose him and survive.
5 When God is angry, he moves mountains before they know what happened.
6 He can shake the earth,
and it will tremble down to its foundations.
7 With one command he can stop the sun from rising.
He can lock up the stars and keep them from shining.
8 He alone made the skies,
and he walks on the ocean waves.
9 “God made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades.[d]
He made the planets that cross the southern sky.[e]
10 He does things too marvelous for people to understand.
He does too many miracles to count!
11 When he passes by, I cannot see him.
He goes right past me, and I don’t notice.
12 If he takes something away, no one can stop him.
No one can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
13 God will not hold back his anger.
Even Rahab’s helpers are afraid of him.
14 So I cannot argue with God.
I would not know what to say to him.
15 I am innocent, but I cannot give him an answer.
All I can do is beg my Judge for mercy.
16 Even if I called and he answered,
I cannot believe he would listen to me.
17 He would just send storms to crush me.
He would give me more wounds for no reason.
18 He would not let me catch my breath again.
He would just give me more trouble.
19 I cannot defeat God.
He is too powerful!
I cannot take him to court for justice.
Who could force him to come?
20 I am innocent, but anything I say makes me seem guilty.
I am innocent, but if I speak, my mouth proves me wrong.
21 I am innocent, but I don’t know what to think.
I hate my own life.
22 So I say, ‘Does it make any difference?
God destroys the innocent as well as the guilty.’
23 Is it God who laughs when a disaster kills innocent people?
24 Is it God who keeps the leaders from seeing when an evil person takes control?
If it is not God, then who is it?
25 “My days are passing faster than a runner.
They are flying by without any joy.
26 They go by as quickly as papyrus boats,
as fast as an eagle swooping down on its prey.
27 “I could say, ‘I will not complain.
I will forget my pain and put a smile on my face.’
28 But the suffering still frightens me.
I know that God will not see me as innocent.
29 I will be found guilty,
so why should I even think about it?
30 Even if I scrubbed my hands with soap
and washed myself whiter than snow,
31 God would still push me into the slime pit,[f]
and even my clothes would hate to touch me.
32 God is not a human like me, so I cannot argue with him.
I cannot take him to court.
33 I wish there were someone who could listen to both sides,[g]
someone to judge both of us in a fair way.
34 I wish someone could take away the threat of God’s punishment.
Then he would not frighten me anymore.
35 Then I could say what I want without being afraid of him.
But I cannot do that now.
Footnotes
- Job 6:14 Or “People who fail to be loyal to their friends have also failed to respect God All-Powerful.”
- Job 7:6 weaver’s shuttle The tool a person who makes cloth uses to pass the thread between the other threads.
- Job 7:12 Literally, “Am I Yam or Tannin that you should appoint a guard to watch me?” In ancient Canaanite stories, Yam was the god of the sea, and Tannin was a sea monster.
- Job 9:9 Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades Names of well-known constellations (groups of stars) in the night sky.
- Job 9:9 planets … sky Literally, “Rooms of the South” or “Rooms of Teman.” This might be the planets or the twelve constellations of the Zodiac. North of the equator, these seem to move across the southern sky.
- Job 9:31 slime pit The grave, a place where bodies rot.
- Job 9:33 someone … sides Literally, “a mediator” or “an umpire.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International
