Study Desk

God hands me over to unjust men;^[d] He throws me into the hands of the wicked.

I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the scruff of the neck and smashed me to pieces. He set me up as His target;^(f)

His archers^[e] surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and pours my bile on the ground.

He breaks through my defenses again and again;^[f] He charges at me like a warrior.^(g)

I have sewn sackcloth over my skin; I have buried my strength^[g] in the dust.^(h)

My face has grown red with weeping, and darkness⁽ⁱ⁾ covers my eyes,

although my hands are free from violence^(j) and my prayer is pure.

Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help find no resting place.^(k)

Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is in the heights!^(l)

My friends scoff at me as I weep before God.

I wish that someone might arbitrate between a man and God^(m) just as a man pleads for his friend.

For only a few years will pass before I go the way of no return.

My spirit is broken. My days are extinguished. A graveyard^(a) awaits me.

Surely mockers surround^[a] me and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.^(b)

Make arrangements! Put up security for me.^[b](c) Who else will be my sponsor?^[c]

You have closed their minds to understanding, therefore You will not honor them.

If a man informs on his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.

He has made me an object of scorn to the people; I have become a man people spit at.^[d](d)

My eyes have grown dim from grief, and my whole body has become but a shadow.

The upright are appalled^(e) at this, and the innocent are roused against the godless.

Yet the righteous person will hold to his way, and the one whose hands are clean^(f) will grow stronger.

But come back and try again, all of you.^[e] I will not find a wise man among you.

My days have slipped by; my plans have been ruined, even the things dear to my heart.

They turned night into day and made light seem near in the face of darkness.^(g)

If I await Sheol as my home, spread out my bed in darkness,

and say to corruption: You are my father, and to the maggot: My mother or my sister,^(h)

where then is my hope?⁽ⁱ⁾ Who can see any hope for me?

Will it go down to the gates of Sheol,^(j) or will we descend together to the dust?

Then Bildad the Shuhite^(a) replied:

How long until you stop talking? Show some sense, and then we can talk.

Why are we regarded as cattle, as stupid in your sight?

You who tear yourself in anger^[a]— should the earth be abandoned on your account, or a rock be removed from its place?

Yes, the light^(b) of the wicked^(c) is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.

The light in his tent grows dark,^(d) and the lamp beside him is put out.

His powerful stride is shortened, and his own schemes trip him up.^(e)

For his own feet lead him into a net, and he strays into its mesh.

A trap catches him by the heel; a noose seizes him.

A rope lies hidden for him on the ground, and a snare waits for him along the path.

Terrors frighten him on every side^(f) and harass him at every step.

His strength is depleted; disaster lies ready for him to stumble.^[b]

Parts of his skin are eaten away; death's firstborn consumes his limbs.

He is ripped from the security of his tent and marched away to the king of terrors.

Nothing he owned remains in his tent. Burning sulfur^(g) is scattered over his home.

His roots below dry up, and his branches above wither away.^(h)

All memory⁽ⁱ⁾ of him perishes from the earth; he has no name anywhere.^[c]

He is driven from light to darkness and chased from the inhabited world.

He has no children or descendants among his people, no survivor where he used to live.^(j)

Those in the west are appalled^(k) at his fate, while those in the east tremble in horror.

Indeed, such is the dwelling of the unjust man, and this is the place of the one who does not know God.^(l)

Then Job answered:

How long will you torment me and crush me with words?

You have humiliated me ten times now, and you mistreat^[a] me without shame.^(a)

Even if it is true that I have sinned, my mistake concerns only^[b] me.

If you really want to appear superior^(b) to me and would use my disgrace as evidence against me,

then understand that it is God who has wronged me and caught me in His net.^(c)

I cry out: "Violence!" but get no response;^(d) I call for help, but there is no justice.

He has blocked^(e) my way so that I cannot pass through; He has veiled my paths with darkness.^(f)

He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.

He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined.^[c] He uproots my hope like a tree.^(g)

His anger^(h) burns against me, and He regards me as one of His enemies.⁽ⁱ⁾

His troops advance together; they construct a ramp^[d] against me and camp^(j) around my tent.

He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me.^(k)

My relatives stop coming by, and my close friends have forgotten me.

My house guests^[e] and female servants regard me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight.^(l)

I call for my servant, but he does not answer, even if I beg him with my own mouth.

My breath is offensive to my wife, and my own family^[f] finds me repulsive.

Even young boys scorn me. When I stand up, they mock me.^(m)

All of my best friends^[g] despise me,⁽ⁿ⁾ and those I love have turned against me.^(o)

My skin and my flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

Have mercy on me, my friends,^(p) have mercy, for God's hand^(q) has struck me.^(r)

Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?

I wish that my words were written down, that they were recorded on a scroll

or were inscribed in stone forever by an iron stylus and lead!

But I know my living Redeemer,^[h](s) and He will stand on the dust^[i] at last.^[j](t)

Even after my skin has been destroyed,^[k] yet I will see God in^[l] my flesh.^(u)

I will see Him myself; my eyes will look at Him, and not as a stranger.^[m] My heart longs^[n] within me.^(v)

If you say, "How will we pursue him, since the root of the problem lies with him?"^[o]

then be afraid of the sword, because wrath brings punishment by the sword,^(w) so that you may know there is a judgment.

Then Zophar the Naamathite^(a) replied:

This is why my unsettling thoughts compel me to answer, because I am upset!^[a]

I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding^[b] makes me reply.^(b)

Don't you know that ever since antiquity, from the time man was placed on earth,

the joy of the wicked has been brief and the happiness of the godless has lasted only a moment?^(c)

Though his arrogance reaches heaven, and his head touches the clouds,^(d)

he will vanish forever like his own dung. Those who know^[c] him will ask, "Where is he?"^(e)

He will fly away like a dream and never be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.^(f)

The eye that saw him will see him no more,^(g) and his household will no longer see him.^(h)

His children will beg from^[d] the poor, for his own hands must give back his wealth.

His bones may be full of youthful vigor, but will lie down with him in the grave.⁽ⁱ⁾