Job 7

Job Continues: My Life Has No Hope

1 “Has not man ^aa hard service on earth,
and are not his ^bdays like the days of a hired hand?
2Like a slave who longs for ^cthe shadow,
and like ^da hired hand who looks for his ^ewages,
3so I am allotted months of ^femptiness,
^gand nights of misery are apportioned to me.
4 ^hWhen I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’
But the night is long,
and I am full of tossing till the dawn.
5My flesh is clothed with ⁱworms and ^jdirt;
my skin hardens, then ^kbreaks out afresh.
6My days are ^lswifter than ^ma weaver’s shuttle
and come to their end without hope.
7 “Remember that my life is a ⁿbreath;
my eye will never again see good.
8 ^oThe eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;
while your eyes are on me, ^pI shall be gone.
9As ^qthe cloud fades and vanishes,
so he who ^rgoes down to Sheol does not come up;
10he ^sreturns no more to his house,
nor does his ^tplace know him anymore.
11 “Therefore I will not ^urestrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will ^vcomplain in ^wthe bitterness of my soul.
12Am I the sea, or ^xa sea monster,
that you set a guard over me?
13 ^yWhen I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
my couch will ease my complaint,’
14then you scare me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
15so that I would choose strangling
and death rather than my ^zbones.
16I ^aaloathe my life; I would not live forever.
^abLeave me alone, for my days are ^aca breath.
17 ^adWhat is man, that you make so much of him,
and that you set your heart on him,
18 ^aevisit him every morning
and ^aftest him every moment?
19How long will you not ^aglook away from me,
nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
20If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?
Why have you made me ^ahyour mark?
Why have I become a burden to you?
21Why do you not pardon my transgression
and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in ^aithe earth;
you will ^ajseek me, ^akbut I shall not be.”

Job 12

Job Replies: The Lord Has Done This

1Then Job answered and said:

2 “No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.
3But I have ^alunderstanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know ^amsuch things as these?
4I am ^ana laughingstock to my friends;
I, who ^aocalled to God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
5In the thought of one who is ^apat ease there is contempt for misfortune;
it is ready for those whose feet slip.
6 ^aqThe tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hand. ▼

▼The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

7 “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
8or the bushes of the earth, ▼

▼Or speak to the earth

and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9Who among all these does not know
that ^atthe hand of the Lord has done this?
10In ^auhis hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind.
11Does not ^avthe ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
12Wisdom is with ^awthe aged,
and understanding in length of days.
13 ^ax“With God ▼

▼Hebrew him

are wisdom and might;
he has counsel and understanding.
14If he tears down, none can rebuild;
if he ^azshuts a man in, none can open.
15If he ^bawithholds the waters, they dry up;
if he ^bbsends them out, they overwhelm the land.
16With him are strength and ^bcsound wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.
17He leads ^bdcounselors away stripped,
and ^bejudges he makes fools.
18He ^bflooses the bonds of kings
and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
19He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows the mighty.
20He deprives of speech those who are trusted
^bgand takes away the discernment of the elders.
21He ^bhpours contempt on princes
and loosens the belt of the strong.
22He ^biuncovers the deeps out of darkness
and brings ^bjdeep darkness to light.
23He ^bkmakes nations great, and he destroys them;
he enlarges nations, and ^blleads them away.
24He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth
and ^bmmakes them wander in a trackless waste.
25They ^bngrope in the dark without light,
and he makes them ^bostagger like a drunken man.