Job Continues: My Life Has No Hope

7 “Has not man ra hard service on earth,

and are not his sdays like the days of a hired hand?

2  Like a slave who longs for tthe shadow,

and like ua hired hand who looks for his vwages,

3  so I am allotted months of wemptiness,

xand nights of misery are apportioned to me.

4  yWhen I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’

But the night is long,

and I am full of tossing till the dawn.

5  My flesh is clothed with zworms and adirt;

my skin hardens, then bbreaks out afresh.

6  My days are cswifter than da weaver’s shuttle

and come to their end without hope.

7  “Remember that my life is a ebreath;

my eye will never again see good.

8  fThe eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;

while your eyes are on me, gI shall be gone.

9  As hthe cloud fades and vanishes,

so he who igoes down to Sheol does not come up;

10  he jreturns no more to his house,

nor does his kplace know him anymore.

11  “Therefore I will not lrestrain my mouth;

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;

I will mcomplain in nthe bitterness of my soul.

12  Am I the sea, or oa sea monster,

that you set a guard over me?

13  pWhen I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,

my couch will ease my complaint,’

14  then you scare me with dreams

and terrify me with visions,

15  so that I would choose strangling

and death rather than my qbones.

16  I rloathe my life; I would not live forever.

sLeave me alone, for my days are ta breath.

17  uWhat is man, that you make so much of him,

and that you set your heart on him,

18  vvisit him every morning

and wtest him every moment?

19  How long will you not xlook away from me,

nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?

20  If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?

Why have you made me yyour mark?

Why have I become a burden to you?

21  Why do you not pardon my transgression

and take away my iniquity?

For now I shall lie in zthe earth;

you will aseek me, bbut I shall not be.”

Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent

8 Then cBildad the Shuhite answered and said:

2  “How long will you say these things,

and the words of your mouth be a dgreat wind?

3  eDoes God pervert justice?

Or does the Almighty pervert the right?

4  If your fchildren have sinned against him,

he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.

5  If you will seek God

and gplead with the Almighty for mercy,

6  if you are pure and upright,

surely then he will hrouse himself for you

and irestore your rightful habitation.

7  And though your beginning was small,

jyour latter days will be very great.

8  “For kinquire, please, of bygone ages,

and consider what lthe fathers have searched out.

9  For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,

for our days on earth are ma shadow.

10  Will they not teach you and tell you

and utter words out of their understanding?

11  “Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?

Can reeds flourish where there is no water?

12  While yet in flower and not cut down,

they nwither before any other plant.

13  Such are the paths of all who oforget God;

pthe hope of qthe godless shall perish.

14  His confidence is severed,

and his trust is ra spider’s web.1

15  He leans against his shouse, but it does not stand;

he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.

16  He is a lush plant before the sun,

and his tshoots spread over his garden.

17  His roots entwine the stone heap;

he looks upon a house of stones.

18  If he is destroyed from his uplace,

then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never vseen you.’

19  Behold, this is the joy of his way,

and out of wthe soil others will spring.

20  “Behold, God will not reject a blameless man,

nor take the hand of evildoers.

21  He will yet xfill your mouth with laughter,

and your lips with shouting.

22  Those who hate you will be yclothed with shame,

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