Job 6-9

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

² “O that my vexation were weighed
    and all my calamity laid in the balances!^(A)
3 For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea;
    therefore my words have been rash.^(B)
4 For the arrows of the Almighty^[a] are in me;
    my spirit drinks their poison;
    the terrors of God are arrayed against me.^(C)
5 Does the wild ass bray over its grass
    or the ox low over its fodder?
⁶ Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt,
    or is there any flavor in the juice of mallows?^[b]
7 My appetite refuses to touch them;
    they are like food that is loathsome to me.^[c]

⁸ “O that I might have my request
    and that God would grant my desire,^(D)
9 that it would please God to crush me,
    that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!^(E)
10 This would be my consolation;
    I would even exult^[d] in unrelenting pain,
    for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.^(F)
11 What is my strength, that I should wait?
    And what is my end, that I should be patient?^(G)
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.^(H)

¹⁴ “Those who withhold^[e] kindness from a friend
    forsake the fear of the Almighty.^[f]
15 My companions are treacherous like a torrent bed,
    like swollen streams that pass away,^(I)
16 that run dark with ice,
    turbid with melting snow.
¹⁷ In time of heat they disappear;
    when it is hot, they vanish from their place.^(J)
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.^(K)
20 They are disappointed because they were confident;
    they come there and are confounded.^(L)
21 Such you have now become to me;^[g]
    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, ‘Save me from an opponent’s hand’?
    Or, ‘Ransom me from the hand of oppressors’?

²⁴ “Teach me, and I will be silent;
    make me understand how I have gone wrong.
²⁵ How forceful are honest words!
    But your reproof, what does it reprove?^(M)
26 Do you think that you can reprove words,
    as if the speech of the desperate were wind?^(N)
27 You would even cast lots over the orphan
    and bargain over your friend.^(O)

²⁸ “But now, be pleased to look at me,
    for I will not lie to your face.^(P)
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?^(Q)

⁷ “Remember that my life is a breath;
    my eye will never again see good.^(W)
8 The eye that beholds me will see me no more;
    while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone.^(X)
9 As the cloud fades and vanishes,
    so those who go down to Sheol do not come up;^(Y)
10 they return no more to their houses,
    nor do their places know them any more.^(Z)

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.^(AA)
12 Am I the Sea or the Dragon
    that you set a guard over me?^(AB)
13 When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
    my couch will ease my complaint,’
¹⁴ then you scare me with dreams
    and terrify me with visions,^(AC)
15 so that I would choose strangling
    and death rather than this body.
¹⁶ I loathe my life; I would not live forever.
    Let me alone, for my days are a breath.^(AD)
17 What are humans, that you make so much of them,
    that you set your mind on them,^(AE)
18 visit them every morning,
    test them every moment?
¹⁹ Will you not look away from me for a while,
    let me alone until I swallow my spittle?
²⁰ If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of humanity?
    Why have you made me your target?
    Why have I become a burden to you?^(AF)
21 Why do you not pardon my transgression
    and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in the earth;
    you will seek me, but I shall not be.”^(AG)

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^[i] pervert the right?^(AH)
4 If your children sinned against him,
    he delivered them into the power of their transgression.^(AI)
5 If you will seek God
    and make supplication to the Almighty,^[j](AJ)
6 if you are pure and upright,
    surely then he will rouse himself for you
    and restore to you your rightful place.^(AK)
7 Though your beginning was small,
    your latter days will be very great.^(AL)

⁸ “For inquire now of bygone generations
    and consider what their ancestors have found,^(AM)
9 for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing,
    for our days on earth are but a shadow.^(AN)
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.^(AO)
13 Such are the paths of all who forget God;
    the hope of the godless shall perish.^(AP)
14 Their confidence is gossamer,
    a spider’s house their trust.
¹⁵ If one leans against its house, it will not stand;
    if one lays hold of it, it will not endure.^(AQ)
16 The wicked thrive^[k] before the sun,
    and their shoots spread over the garden.^(AR)
17 Their roots twine around the stoneheap;
    they live among the rocks.^[l]
18 If they are destroyed from their place,
    then it will deny them, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’^(AS)
19 See, these are their happy ways,^[m]
    and out of the earth still others will spring.

²⁰ “See, God will not reject the blameless,
    nor take the hand of evildoers.^(AT)
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
    and your lips with shouts of joy.^(AU)
22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
    and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”^(AV)

² “Indeed, I know that this is so,
    but how can a mortal be just before God?^(AW)
3 If one wished to contend with him,
    one could not answer him once in a thousand.^(AX)
4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength;
    who has resisted him and succeeded?^(AY)
5 He removes mountains, and they do not know it
    when he overturns them in his anger;
⁶ he shakes the earth out of its place,
    and its pillars tremble;^(AZ)
7 he commands the sun, and it does not rise;
    he seals up the stars;
⁸ he alone stretched out the heavens
    and trampled the waves of the Sea;^[n](BA)
9 he made the Bear and Orion,
    the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;^(BB)
10 he does great things beyond understanding
    and marvelous things without number.^(BC)
11 Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him;
    he moves on, but I do not perceive him.^(BD)
12 He snatches away; who can stop him?
    Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’^(BE)

¹³ “God will not turn back his anger;
    the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.^(BF)
14 How then can I answer him,
    choosing my words with him?
¹⁵ Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him;
    I must appeal to my accuser for my right.^(BG)
16 If I summoned him and he answered me,
    I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.
¹⁷ For he crushes me with a tempest
    and multiplies my wounds without cause;^(BH)
18 he will not let me get my breath
    but fills me with bitterness.^(BI)
19 If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one!
    If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?^[o]
20 Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me;
    though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
²¹ I am blameless; I do not know myself;
    I loathe my life.^(BJ)
22 It is all one; therefore I say,
    ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’^(BK)
23 When disaster brings sudden death,
    he mocks at the calamity^[p] of the innocent.^(BL)
24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
    he covers the eyes of its judges—
    if it is not he, who then is it?^(BM)

²⁵ “My days are swifter than a runner;
    they flee away; they see no good.
²⁶ They go by like skiffs of reed,
    like an eagle swooping on the prey.^(BN)
27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint;
    I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer,’
²⁸ I become afraid of all my suffering,
    for I know you will not hold me innocent.
²⁹ I shall be condemned;
    why then do I labor in vain?^(BO)
30 If I wash myself with soap
    and cleanse my hands with lye,^(BP)
31 yet you will plunge me into filth,
    and my own clothes will abhor me.
³² For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him,
    that we should come to trial together.^(BQ)
33 There is no mediator^[q] between us,
    who might lay his hand on us both.^(BR)
34 If he would take his rod away from me
    and not let dread of him terrify me,^(BS)
35 then I would speak without fear of him,
    for I know I am not what I am thought to be.^[r]