Job Admits Feeling Persecuted

“My soul is weary of my life
I don’t mind saying that:
I speak in bitterness.

“I have this to say to God:
Do not condemn me!
Show me why you have done this.
How is it good that you oppress?
How is it good that you despise your own creation?
How is it good that goodness goes unrewarded?

“Do you have eyes of flesh?
Do you see as we humans see?
Are your days the days of a human life?
Are your years like human years?
Is that why you bring me to trial?
Is that why you search for my sin?

“You know that I am not wicked.
You know there is no escape from you.
Your hands have made me,
Shaped me into what I am,
Yet you destroy me.
Remember, please, that you
Made me from clay,
And you will bring me to dust again.

“Haven’t you poured me out like milk
And curdled me like cheese?
You clothed me with skin and flesh,
And fenced me in with bones and muscle.
You granted me life and grace,
And your presence preserved my spirit.
You know these things in your heart;
I know you remember these things.

“If I do wrong, you see it,
And you do not approve.
If I am wicked, woe unto me.
But if I be good . . .
Woe unto me in that case too!

“I am confused!


“This is what torments me.
It just gets worse.
First, you hunt me like a fierce lion,
Then, you are marvelous to me.
Then, you accuse me of something else,
And the war starts all over again.

“Why is it I was born?
If only I had died
Before any eye ever looked upon me!
If only I had never been,
Or had been carried straight
From womb to grave.

“Isn’t my life short enough already?
Stop, then! Just leave me alone
So I can find some little comfort
Before I go to that place
From whence there is no return,
To that land of darkness
And the shadow of death,
That place soaked in chaos
Where the light is like darkness.”

Job Points Out that God Holds All the Cards

Then Job said,

“All you say is true,
But how can we humans
Be just with God?

“In an argument, our chances
Aren’t one in a thousand.
God is wise in heart,
And mighty in strength.
Who has resisted God
And found prosperity?

“God removes mountains
At a whim;
God overturns them
In a fit of anger.
God shakes the earth out of place.
The very pillars tremble.
God commands the sun,
And it doesn’t even rise
God seals the light of stars.
God alone spreads the heavens
And walks on the waves of the sea.
God made the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades,
And the chambers of the south.
God does incomprehensible things,
Wonders without number.

“Consider: God goes by me,
And I don’t see a thing.
God keeps going,
But I am none the wiser.
Who can stop God?
Who will say,
‘What do you think you’re doing?’

“When God is angry
Chaos itself bows down.

“So, consider: How might I answer God?
What words might I choose to make an argument?
Even if I am innocent,
With a judge like that,
All I can do is beg.
Even were I to call,
And even if I got an answer,
How might I know that?

“God breaks me in a storm,
Then keeps stabbing for no reason.
God won’t even allow me a breath
But fills me to choking with bitterness.

“If I talk about strength,
God is what I’m talking about;
If I talk about judgment,
Who makes the court date?
Were I to try justifying myself,
My own mouth would answer,
Condemning me. If I say
That I am perfect, my mouth
Answers that I am perverse.

“Even if I were perfect,
How might I know my soul?
Look—God destroys both
The perfect and the wicked.
Yes, the wicked pay for crimes,
But trials for the innocent end no better.
The earth is in the hands of the wicked,
Yet God turns a blind eye—
If that’s not true, tell me how I’m wrong!

“My days are faster than a sprinter,
And they see no good.
My days pass like a swift ship,
Like an eagle swooping on its prey.
Were I to decide to forget my complaining;
Were I to decide to leave depression,
Seeking only comfort, still—would I be forgiven?
If I am wicked, why bother trying?
If I wash myself with snow water,
And make my hands never so clean—
Still yet God will throw me in a ditch
And my own clothes
Will find me disgusting.

“God is not human
As I am human.
God will not answer me.
We will not reason together.
There is no intermediary
That might listen to us both.

“If God would take the whip away;
If God would stop terrifying me,
Then I might be able to speak
Without abject fear, but
That is not how it is in my case.”

Bildad’s Discourse on The Wisdom of Times Past

Bildad the Shuhite answered,


“How long will you speak these things?
How long will your words be like a hurricane?
Does God make mistakes in judgment?
Does the Almighty ever get it wrong?

“If your children sinned against him,
Then, if you have sought God,
If you have made your petition to the Almighty,
If you were pure and upright,
Surely, then, he would wake you from this dream
And make you rich and blessed again.

“Surely, though you are down now,
You will be rich again soon.
I ask you to think of the days of old.
All we know is yesterday,
Since our present days are only darkness.
Don’t the old ones teach you
And strengthen your heart?
After all, reeds won’t grow without water;
Papyrus only grows in mud.
While these are growing,
Do not cut them down.
Such is the path of those without God.
The godless perish without hope.
They put their trust in spider webs.

“Sure, the godless grow in the sun,
But their roots are in trash;
They are planted among stones.
They think they are thriving,
But God does not see them.

“It is the way of God to nurture.
God never abandons a perfect person;
Neither does God help an evildoer.
God will fill your mouth with laughter
And your lips with rejoicing.
Your enemies will be clothed in shame,
And the garden of the godless
Will come to nothing.”

Job Considers Patience and Hope

“Aren’t our days on the earth numbered?
Aren’t our hours counted as if we worked for wages?
We are servants praying for evening;
We are employees waiting for our checks.
It is our job to live in vanity;
It is our job to live through the nights.

“I lie down and say, ‘Will I wake up
And the night be gone?’
All I do is toss to and fro.
My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust.
My skin is broken and loathsome.
My days move faster than a weaver's shuttle,
And they are spent without hope.

“Remember—my life is so much wind.
My eye will see no more good.
Every eye that has looked upon me
Will see me no more.
Your eyes are upon me, and I am not.

“Just as a cloud is consumed and vanishes,
So is he who goes into the grave.
He will go no more to his house;
His daily routines won’t know him.

“That is why I keep talking:
I am speaking the anguish of my heart;
I am voicing the bitterness of my soul.

“Am I a sea, or a whale,
That you set a watch over me?
When I say that my bed will comfort me,
Or that my couch will ease my complaining,
You try scaring me with your dreams;
You try terrifying me with your visions.

“So, my soul chooses strangling and death rather than life.
I loathe life; I do not wish to live any longer.
Leave me alone; my days are vanity.

“What is man, that you should honor him?
That you should follow him?
That you should visit him every morning
And try him every moment?

“How long until you leave me?
How long before I can swallow my own spit in private?

“So, I have sinned.
What could I do to you,
Preserver of humanity?
Why have you declared war on me,
So that I am a burden to myself?
Why have you not pardoned my wrongs?
Why have you not taken away my iniquity?

“For now, allow me to sleep in the dust.
You will seek me in the morning,
But I will not be.”

Job Responds to Eliphaz

But Job said,


“If only my grief could be weighed!
If only my calamity could be put on a scale!
It is heavier than the sands of the sea,
And so my words are swallowed up.

“The arrows of the Almighty are in me;
The poison of those arrows drinks my spirit.
The terrors of God line up for their turn.
Does the wild ass bray when he has grass?
Does the ox low over his fodder?
Can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt?
Is there any taste in the white of an egg?
What once I would not have touched, now I eat.

“If only I could have my one wish;
If only it would please God to destroy me.
Then I would find comfort.

“May God not spare me!
I am hiding nothing from the Holy One.
What is my strength that I should hope?

“What is my destiny that I should prolong my life?
Is my strength the strength of stones?
Is my flesh made of brass?
I find no strength left.
My wisdom has been driven away.

“Friends should pity those afflicted, but
My friends appear to know nothing of God.

“My brothers, you have dealt deceitfully with me,
Like a brook, like the streams of brooks that pass by:
They are dark because of ice; snow is hidden inside.
When those streams grow warm, they vanish;
When it is hot, they are consumed and gone.

“You see my catastrophe and it frightens you.
Did I ask for help?
Tell me ‘yes,’ and I will stop accusing you.
Help me understand how I have been wrong.
Strong words sound convincing,
But who learns from your argument?
Do you think you can find fault in my words?
The words of a desperate man are merely wind.

“Try calming down and looking at me.
You can see if I am lying.
I speak nothing but justice.
I still know right from wrong.”

Eliphaz Discourses on Just Retribution

“Call out, and see who will answer;
Can you turn to the Sons of God?
Wrath kills the foolish man;
Envy slays the silly one.
I have watched as the foolish take root
Though I curse their houses.

“The hungry eat the harvest of the foolish;
The robber swallows their things;
Affliction does not grow from the dust,
Neither does trouble spring out of the ground.
Human beings create their own trouble
As surely as sparks fly upward.

“I believe in seeking God
And committing my causes to God.
God does great and mysterious things,
Marvelous, numberless things.
God gives rain to the earth,
Sends waters to the fields.
God sets high those who are low;
Those who mourn may be lifted to safety.
God disappoints the devices of the crafty;
God snares the wise in their own craftiness,
And the counsel of the deceitful is revealed.
They meet with darkness in the daytime;
They grope in the noonday as if it were night.

“God saves the poor from the swords
And from the hands of the mighty.
Thus the poor have hope.

“Look, that person is happy who God corrects.
Do not despise chastening by the Almighty:
God makes sore, and God binds up;
God wounds, and God heals.

“God will deliver you from six troubles;
Even in seven troubles no evil will touch you.
In famine God will redeem you from death;
In war God will save you from the sword.
You will be hid from the scourge of the tongue,
And you will not fear destruction when it comes.
You will laugh at catastrophe and famine;
You will not be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

“Can’t you see? You will be an ally to the stones;
The wild beasts will be at peace with you.
Can’t you see? Your tent will be peaceful;
You can relax in your home.
And you can be assured that
Your offspring will be great,
As numerous as the grass of the earth.
You will go to your grave in old age
Just as corn is harvested in season.

“This is all true, as we have seen.
It is as we say;
Know it for your own peace of mind.”

Eliphaz Relates His Vision in the Night

Eliphaz the Temanite said, “Will it grieve you to talk with us? I feel moved to speak. Look, you have been a leader. You have strengthened the weak. Now trouble has come to you. Yet, think: Who ever died for being innocent? Whenever is the righteous left out in the cold? Those who plow iniquity—and those who sow wickedness—reap the same. God blasts them. The roaring of the lion and the teeth of the young lions are broken. The old lion dies for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered.

“I know this little secret;
It came to me as a vision in the night
And fear and trembling shook my bones.

“A sprit passed and my hair stood on end.
It stopped but had no shape.
Yet it was an image in the silence and it asked me,
‘Will mortals be more just than God?
Will mortals be more pure than their maker?
God cannot trust his servants
Even his angels are fools.’

“So, as for we who dwell in houses of clay,
For us whose foundation is in the dust,
We die like moths.
We are destroyed from morning to evening
We perish continuously, no one ever noticing.

“And as for the good in us—
Where does that go?

“We die without wisdom. . .