Job 8:1--10:22

Bildad’s First Speech to Job

8:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite spoke up and said:

8:2 “How long will you speak these things,

seeing that the words of your mouth

are like a great wind?

8:3 Does God pervert justice?

Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?

8:4 If your children sinned against him,

he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.

8:5 But if you will look to God,

and make your supplication to the Almighty,

8:6 if you become pure and upright,

even now he will rouse himself for you,

and will restore your righteous abode.

8:7 Your beginning will seem so small,

since your future will flourish.

8:8 “For inquire now of the former generation,

and pay attention to the findings

of their ancestors;

8:9 For we were born yesterday and do not have knowledge,

since our days on earth are but a shadow.

8:10 Will they not instruct you and speak to you,

and bring forth words

from their understanding?

8:11 Can the papyrus plant grow tall where there is no marsh?

Can reeds flourish without water?

8:12 While they are still beginning to flower

and not ripe for cutting,

they can wither away

faster than any grass!

8:13 Such is the destiny of all who forget God;

the hope of the godless perishes,

8:14 whose trust is in something futile,

whose security is a spider’s web.

8:15 He leans against his house but it does not hold up,

he takes hold of it but it does not stand.

8:16 He is a well-watered plant in the sun,

its shoots spread over its garden.

8:17 It wraps its roots around a heap of stones

and it looks for a place among stones.

8:18 If he is uprooted from his place,

then that place will disown him, saying,

‘I have never seen you!’

8:19 Indeed, this is the joy of his way,

and out of the earth others spring up.

8:20 “Surely, God does not reject a blameless man,

nor does he grasp the hand

of the evildoers.

8:21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,

and your lips with gladness.

8:22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,

and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

Job’s Reply to Bildad

9:1 Then Job answered:

9:2 “Truly, I know that this is so.

But how can a human be just before God?

9:3 If someone wishes to contend with him,

he cannot answer him one time in a thousand.

9:4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength –

who has resisted him and remained safe?

9:5 He who removes mountains suddenly,

who overturns them in his anger;

9:6 he who shakes the earth out of its place

so that its pillars tremble;

9:7 he who commands the sun and it does not shine

and seals up the stars;

9:8 he alone spreads out the heavens,

and treads on the waves of the sea;

9:9 he makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,

and the constellations of the southern sky;

9:10 he does great and unsearchable things,

and wonderful things without number.

9:11 If he passes by me, I cannot see him,

if he goes by, I cannot perceive him.

9:12 If he snatches away, who can turn him back?

Who dares to say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

9:13 God does not restrain his anger;

under him the helpers of Rahab lie crushed.

The Impossibility of Facing God in Court

9:14 “How much less, then, can I answer him

and choose my words to argue with him!

9:15 Although I am innocent,

I could not answer him;

I could only plead with my judge for mercy.

9:16 If I summoned him, and he answered me,

I would not believe

that he would be listening to my voice –

9:17 he who crushes me with a tempest,

and multiplies my wounds for no reason.

9:18 He does not allow me to recover my breath,

for he fills me with bitterness.

9:19 If it is a matter of strength,

most certainly he is the strong one!

And if it is a matter of justice,

he will say, ‘Who will summon me?’

9:20 Although I am innocent,

my mouth would condemn me;

although I am blameless,

it would declare me perverse.

9:21 I am blameless. I do not know myself.

I despise my life.

Accusation of God’s Justice

9:22 “It is all one! That is why I say,

‘He destroys the blameless and the guilty.’

9:23 If a scourge brings sudden death,

he mocks at the despair of the innocent.

9:24 If a land has been given

into the hand of a wicked man,

he covers the faces of its judges;

if it is not he, then who is it?

Renewed Complaint

9:25 “My days are swifter than a runner,

they speed by without seeing happiness.

9:26 They glide by like reed boats,

like an eagle that swoops down on its prey.

9:27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,

I will change my expression and be cheerful,’

9:28 I dread all my sufferings,

for I know that you do not hold me blameless.

9:29 If I am guilty,

why then weary myself in vain?

9:30 If I wash myself with snow water,

and make my hands clean with lye,

9:31 then you plunge me into a slimy pit

and my own clothes abhor me.

9:32 For he is not a human being like I am,

that I might answer him,

that we might come together in judgment.

9:33 Nor is there an arbiter between us,

who might lay his hand on us both,

9:34 who would take his rod away from me

so that his terror would not make me afraid.

9:35 Then would I speak and not fear him,

but it is not so with me.

An Appeal for Revelation

10:1 “I am weary of my life;

I will complain without restraint;

I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

10:2 I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;

tell me why you are contending with me.’

10:3 Is it good for you to oppress,

to despise the work of your hands,

while you smile

on the schemes of the wicked?

Motivations of God

10:4 “Do you have eyes of flesh,

or do you see as a human being sees?

10:5 Are your days like the days of a mortal,

or your years like the years of a mortal,

10:6 that you must search out my iniquity,

and inquire about my sin,

10:7 although you know that I am not guilty,

and that there is no one who can deliver

out of your hand?

Contradictions in God’s Dealings

10:8 “Your hands have shaped me and made me,

but now you destroy me completely.

10:9 Remember that you have made me as with the clay;

will you return me to dust?

10:10 Did you not pour me out like milk,

and curdle me like cheese?

10:11 You clothed me with skin and flesh

and knit me together with bones and sinews.

10:12 You gave me life and favor,

and your intervention watched over my spirit.

10:13 “But these things you have concealed in your heart;

I know that this is with you:

10:14 If I sinned, then you would watch me

and you would not acquit me of my iniquity.

10:15 If I am guilty, woe to me,

and if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head;

I am full of shame,

and satiated with my affliction.

10:16 If I lift myself up,

you hunt me as a fierce lion,

and again you display your power against me.

10:17 You bring new witnesses against me,

and increase your anger against me;

relief troops come against me.

An Appeal for Relief

10:18 “Why then did you bring me out from the womb?

I should have died

and no eye would have seen me!

10:19 I should have been as though I had never existed;

I should have been carried

right from the womb to the grave!

10:20 Are not my days few?

Cease, then, and leave me alone,

that I may find a little comfort,

10:21 before I depart, never to return,

to the land of darkness

and the deepest shadow,

10:22 to the land of utter darkness,

like the deepest darkness,

and the deepest shadow and disorder,

where even the light is like darkness.”