his harvest,
a-Carrying it off in baskets;
May the thirsty swallow their wealth.-a
6Evil does not grow out of the soil,
Nor does mischief spring from the ground;
7For man is born to [do] mischief,
Just as sparks fly upward.
8But I would resort to God;
I would lay my case before God,
9Who performs great deeds which cannot be fathomed,
Wondrous things without number;
10Who gives rain to the earth,
And sends water over the fields;
11Who raises the lowly up high,
So that the dejected are secure in victory;
12Who thwarts the designs of the crafty,
So that their hands cannot gain success;
13Who traps the clever in their own wiles;
The plans of the crafty go awry.
14By day they encounter darkness,
At noon they grope as in the night.
15But He saves the needy from the sword of their mouth,
From the clutches of the strong.
16So there is hope for the wretched;
The mouth of wrongdoing is stopped.
17See how happy is the man whom God reproves;
Do not reject the discipline of the Almighty.
18He injures, but He binds up;
He wounds, but His hands heal.
19He will deliver you from six troubles;
In seven no harm will reach you:
20In famine He will redeem you from death,
In war, from the sword.
21You will be sheltered from the scourging tongue;
You will have no fear when violence comes.
22You will laugh at violence and starvation,
And have no fear of wild beasts.
23For you will have a pact with the rocks in the field,
And the beasts of the field will be your allies.
24You will know that all is well in your tent;
When you visit your wifeb you will never fail.
25You will see that your offspring are many,
Your descendants like the grass of the earth.
26You will come to the grave a-in ripe old age,-a
As shocks of grain are taken away in their season.
27See, we have inquired into this and it is so;
Hear it and accept it.
6 Then Job said in reply:
2If my anguish were weighed,
My full calamity laid on the scales,
3It would be heavier than the sand of the sea;
That is why I spoke recklessly.a
4For the arrows of the Almighty are in me;
My spirit absorbs their poison;
God’s terrors are arrayed against me.
5Does a wild ass bray when he has grass?
Does a bull bellow over his fodder?
6Can what is tasteless be eaten without salt?
Does a-mallow juice-a have any flavor?
7I refuse to touch them;
They are like food when I am sick.
8Would that my request were granted,
That God gave me what I wished for;
9Would that God consented to crush me,
Loosed His hand and cut me off.
10Then this would be my consolation,
a-As I writhed in unsparing-a pains:
That I did not b-suppress my words against the Holy One.-b
11What strength have I, that I should endure?
How long have I to live, that I should be patient?
12Is my strength the strength of rock?
Is my flesh bronze?
13Truly, I cannot help myself;
I have been deprived of resourcefulness.
14a-A friend owes loyalty to one who fails,
Though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty;-a
15My comrades are fickle, like a wadi,
Like a bed on which streams once ran.
16a-They are dark with ice;
Snow obscures them;-a
17But when they thaw, they vanish;
In the heat, they disappear where they are.
18Their course twists and turns;
They run into the desert and perish.
19Caravans from Tema look to them;
Processions from Sheba count on them.
20They are disappointed in their hopes;
When they reach the place, they stand aghast.
21So you are as nothing:c
At the sight of misfortune, you take fright.
22Did I say to you, “I need your gift;
Pay a bribe for me out of your wealth;
23Deliver me from the clutches of my enemy;
Redeem me from violent men”?
24Teach me; I shall be silent;
Tell me where I am wrong.
25a-How trenchant honest words are;-a
But what sort of reproof comes from you?
26Do you devise words of reproof,
But count a hopeless man’s words as wind?
27You would even cast lots over an orphan,
Or barter away your friend.
28Now be so good as to face me;
I will not lie to your face.
29Relent! Let there not be injustice;
Relent! I am still in the right.
30Is injustice on my tongue?
Can my palate not discern evil?
7
Truly man has a term of service on earth;
His days are like those of a hireling—
2Like a slave who longs for [evening’s] shadows,
Like a hireling who waits for his wage.
3So have I been allotted months of futility;
Nights of misery have been apportioned to me.
4When I lie down, I think,
“When shall I rise?”
Night a-drags on,-a
And I am sated with tossings till morning twilight.
5My flesh is covered with maggots and clods of earth;
My skin is broken and festering.
6My days fly faster than a weaver’s shuttle,
And come to their end b-without hope.-b
7Consider that my life is but wind;
I shall never see happiness again.
8The eye that gazes on me will not see me;
Your eye will seek me, but I shall be gone.
9As a cloud fades away,
So whoever goes down to Sheol does not come up;
10He returns no more to his home;
His place does not know him.
11On my part, I will not speak with restraint;
I will give voice to the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12Am I the sea or the Dragon,c
That You have set a watch over me?
13When I think, “My bed will comfort me,
My couch will share my sorrow,”
14You frighten me with dreams,
And terrify me with visions,
15Till I prefer strangulation,
Death, to my wasted frame.
16I am sick of it.
I shall not live forever;
Let me be, for my days are a breath.
17What is man, that You make much of him,
That You fix Your attention upon him?
18You inspect him every morning,
Examine him every minute.
19Will You not look away from me for a while,
Let me be, till I swallow my spittle?
20If I have sinned, what have I done to You,
Watcher of men?
Why make of me Your target,
And a burden to myself?
21Why do You not pardon my transgression
And forgive my iniquity?
For soon I shall lie down in the dust;
When You seek me, I shall be gone.
8 Bildad the Shuhite said in reply:
2How long will you speak such things?
Your utterances are a mighty wind!
3Will God pervert the right?
Will the Almighty pervert justice?
4If your sons sinned against Him,
He dispatched them for their transgression.
5But if you seek God
And supplicate the Almighty,
6If you are blameless and upright,
He will protect you,
And grant well-being to your righteous home.
7Though your beginning be small,
In the end you will grow very great.
8Ask the generation past,
Study what their fathers have searched out
9—For we are of yesterday and know nothing;
Our days on earth are a shadow—
10Surely they will teach you and tell you,
Speaking out of their understanding.
11Can papyrus thrive without marsh?
Can rushes grow without water?
12While still tender, not yet plucked,
They would wither before any other grass.
13Such is the fate of all who forget God;
The hope of the impious man comes to naught—
14Whose confidence is a a-thread of gossamer,-a
Whose trust is a spider’s web.
15He leans on his house—it will not stand;
He seizes hold of it, but it will not hold.
16He stays fresh even in the sun;
His shoots spring up in his garden;
17a-His roots are twined around a heap,
They take hold of a house of stones.-a
18When he is uprooted from his place,
It denies him, [saying,]
“I never saw you.”
19Such is his happy lot;
And from the earth others will grow.
20Surely God does not despise the blameless;
He gives no support to evildoers.
21He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
And your lips with shouts of joy.
22Your enemies will be clothed in disgrace;
The tent of the wicked will vanish.
9 Job said in reply:
2Indeed I know that it is so:
Man cannot win a suit against God.
3If he insisted on a trial with Him,
He would not answer one charge in a thousand.
4Wise of heart and mighty in power—
Who ever challenged Him and came out whole?—
5Him who moves mountains without their knowing it,
Who overturns them in His anger;
6Who shakes the earth from its place,
Till its pillars quake;
7Who commands the sun not to shine;
Who seals up the stars;
8Who by Himself spread out the heavens,
And trod on the back of the sea;
9Who made the Beara and Orion,
Pleiades, and the chambers of the south wind;
10Who performs great deeds which cannot be fathomed,
And wondrous things without number.
11He passes me by—I do not see Him;
He goes by me, but I do not perceive Him.
12He snatches away—who can stop Him?
Who can say to Him, “What are You doing?”
13God does not restrain His anger;
Under Him Rahab’sb helpers sink down.
14How then can I answer Him,
Or choose my arguments against Him?
15Though I were in the right, I could not speak out,
But I would plead for mercy with my judge.
16If I summoned Him and He responded,
I do not believe He would lend me His ear.
17For He crushes me c-for a hair;-c
He wounds me much for no cause.
18He does not let me catch my breath,
But sates me with bitterness.
19If a trial of strength—He is the strong one;
If a trial in court—who will summon Him for me?
20Though I were innocent,
My mouth would condemn me;
Though I were blameless, He would prove me crooked.
21I am blameless—I am distraught;
I am sick of life.
22It is all one; therefore I say,
“He destroys the blameless and the guilty.”
23When suddenly a scourge brings death,
He mocks as the innocent fail.
24The earth is handed over to the wicked one;
He covers the eyes of its judges.
If it is not He, then who?
25My days fly swifter than a runner;
They flee without seeing happiness;
26They pass like reed-boats,
Like an eagle swooping onto its prey.
27If I say, “I will forget my complaint;
Abandon my sorrowd and be diverted,”
28I remain in dread of all my suffering;
I know that You will not acquit me.
29It will be I who am in the wrong;
Why then should I waste effort?
30If I washed with soap,
Cleansed my hands with lye,
31You would dip me in muck
Till my clothes would abhor me.
32He is not a man, like me, that I can answer Him,
That we can go to law together.
33No arbiter is between us
To lay his hand on us both.
34If He would