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Job Keeps On Talking

“Is not man made to work on earth? Are not his days like the days of a man paid to work? Like a servant who desires to be out of the sun, and like a working man who waits for his pay, I am given months of pain and nights of suffering for no reason. When I lie down I say, ‘When will I get up?’ But the night is long, and I am always turning from side to side until morning. My flesh is covered with worms and dirt. My skin becomes hard and breaks open. My days are faster than a cloth-maker’s tool, and come to their end without hope.

“Remember that my life is only a breath. My eye will not again see good. The eye of him who sees me will see me no more. Your eyes will be on me, but I will be gone. When a cloud goes away, it is gone. And he who goes down to the place of the dead does not come back. 10 He will not return to his house, and his place will not know him any more.

11 “So I will not keep my mouth shut. I will speak in the suffering of my spirit. I will complain because my soul is bitter. 12 Am I the sea, or a large sea animal, that You put someone to watch me? 13 When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, and there I will find rest from my complaining,’ 14 then You send dreams to me which fill me with fear. 15 So a quick death by having my breath stopped would be better to me than my pains. 16 I hate my life. I will not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are only a breath. 17 What is man, that You make so much of him? Why do You care about him, 18 that You look at him every morning, and test him all the time? 19 How long will it be until You look away from me? Will You not let me alone until I swallow my spit? 20 Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have you made me something to shoot at, so that I am a problem to myself? 21 Why then do You not forgive my wrong-doing and take away my sin? For now I will lie down in the dust. You will look for me, but I will not be.”

Bildad Talks

Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, “How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a strong wind? Does God make wrong what is fair? Does the All-powerful make wrong what is right? If your children have sinned against Him, He has given them over to the power of their sin. If you will look for God and pray to the All-powerful, if you are pure and right and good, for sure He will help you. Because you are right and good He will put you back where you should be. And even if your beginning was small, your end will be very great.

“Ask about those who have lived before. Think about what their fathers learned. For we are only of yesterday and know nothing. Our days on earth are as a shadow. 10 Will they not teach you and tell you, and speak words of wisdom?

11 “Can the tall river grass grow up from dry ground? Can the grass that grows in wet places grow without water? 12 While it is still green and not cut, it becomes dry and dead before any other plant. 13 So are the ways of all who forget God. The hope of the man without God is destroyed. 14 What he trusts in is easy to break, like the home of a spider. 15 The spider trusts in his house, but it falls apart. He holds on to it, but it does not hold. 16 He is full of strength in the sunshine, and his branches spread out over his garden. 17 His roots grow around rocks and they work their way among the stones. 18 If he is taken from his place, then it will turn away from him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’ 19 See, this is the joy of His way. And out of the dust others will come. 20 See, God will not turn away from a man who is honest and faithful. And He will not help those who do wrong. 21 He will yet make you laugh and call out with joy. 22 Those who hate you will be dressed with shame. And the tent of the sinful will be no more.”