Job 7

• 1. "Is this not the struggle of all humanity? A person's life is long and hard, like that of a hired hand,
• 2. like a worker who longs for the day to end, like a servant waiting to be paid.
• 3. I, too, have been assigned months of futility, long and weary nights of misery.
• 4. When I go to bed, I think, `When will it be morning?' But the night drags on, and I toss till dawn.
• 5. My skin is filled with worms and scabs. My flesh breaks open, full of pus.
• 6. "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle flying back and forth. They end without hope.
• 7. O God, remember that my life is but a breath, and I will never again experience pleasure.
• 8. You see me now, but not for long. Your eyes will be on me, but I will be dead.
• 9. Just as a cloud dissipates and vanishes, those who die will not come back.
• 10. They are gone forever from their home--never to be seen again.
• 11. "I cannot keep from speaking. I must express my anguish. I must complain in my bitterness.
• 12. Am I a sea monster that you place a guard on me?
• 13. If I think, `My bed will comfort me, and I will try to forget my misery with sleep,'
• 14. you shatter me with dreams. You terrify me with visions.
• 15. I would rather die of strangulation than go on and on like this.
• 16. I hate my life. I do not want to go on living. Oh, leave me alone for these few remaining days.
• 17. "What are mere mortals, that you should make so much of us?
• 18. For you examine us every morning and test us every moment.
• 19. Why won't you leave me alone--even for a moment?
• 20. Have I sinned? What have I done to you, O watcher of all humanity? Why have you made me your target? Am I a burden to you?
• 21. Why not just pardon my sin and take away my guilt? For soon I will lie down in the dust and die. When you look for me, I will be gone."

Job 8

• 1. Then Bildad the Shuhite replied to Job:
• 2. "How long will you go on like this? Your words are a blustering wind.
• 3. Does God twist justice? Does the Almighty twist what is right?
• 4. Your children obviously sinned against him, so their punishment was well deserved.
• 5. But if you pray to God and seek the favor of the Almighty,
• 6. if you are pure and live with complete integrity, he will rise up and restore your happy home.
• 7. And though you started with little, you will end with much.
• 8. "Just ask the former generation. Pay attention to the experience of our ancestors.
• 9. For we were born but yesterday and know so little. Our days on earth are as transient as a shadow.
• 10. But those who came before us will teach you. They will teach you from the wisdom of former generations.
• 11. "Can papyrus reeds grow where there is no marsh? Can bulrushes flourish where there is no water?
• 12. While they are still flowering, not ready to be cut, they begin to wither.
• 13. Such is the fate of all who forget God. The hope of the godless comes to nothing.
• 14. Everything they count on will collapse. They are leaning on a spiderweb.
• 15. They cling to their home for security, but it won't last. They try to hold it fast, but it will not endure.
• 16. The godless seem so strong, like a lush plant growing in the sunshine, its branches spreading across the garden.
• 17. Its roots grow down through a pile of rocks to hold it firm.
• 18. But when it is uprooted, it isn't even missed!
• 19. That is the end of its life, and others spring up from the earth to replace it.
• 20. "But look! God will not reject a person of integrity, nor will he make evildoers prosper.
• 21. He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.
• 22. Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be destroyed."

Job 9

• 1. Then Job spoke again:
• 2. "Yes, I know this is all true in principle. But how can a person be declared innocent in the eyes of God?
• 3. If someone wanted to take God to court, would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times?
• 4. For God is so wise and so mighty. Who has ever challenged him successfully?
• 5. "Without warning, he moves the mountains, overturning them in his anger.
• 6. He shakes the earth from its place, and its foundations tremble.
• 7. If he commands it, the sun won't rise and the stars won't shine.
• 8. He alone has spread out the heavens and marches on the waves of the sea.
• 9. He made all the stars--the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky.
• 10. His great works are too marvelous to understand. He performs miracles without number.
• 11. "Yet when he comes near, I cannot see him. When he moves on, I do not see him go.
• 12. If he sends death to snatch someone away, who can stop him? Who dares to ask him, `What are you doing?'
• 13. And God does not restrain his anger. The mightiest forces against him are crushed beneath his feet.
• 14. "And who am I, that I should try to answer God or even reason with him?
• 15. Even if I were innocent, I would have no defense. I could only plead for mercy.
• 16. And even if I summoned him and he responded, he would never listen to me.
• 17. For he attacks me without reason, and he multiplies my wounds without cause.
• 18. He will not let me catch my breath, but fills me instead with bitter sorrows.
• 19. As for strength, he has it. As for justice, who can challenge him?
• 20. Though I am innocent, my own mouth would pronounce me guilty. Though I am blameless, it would prove me wicked.
• 21. "I am innocent, but it makes no difference to me--I despise my life.
• 22. Innocent or wicked, it is all the same to him. That is why I say, `He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.'
• 23. He laughs when a plague suddenly kills the innocent.
• 24. The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked, and God blinds the eyes of the judges and lets them be unfair. If not he, then who?
• 25. "My life passes more swiftly than a runner. It flees away, filled with tragedy.
• 26. It disappears like a swift boat, like an eagle that swoops down on its prey.
• 27. If I decided to forget my complaints, if I decided to end my sadness and be cheerful,
• 28. I would dread all the pain he would send. For I know you will not hold me innocent, O God.
• 29. Whatever happens, I will be found guilty. So what's the use of trying?
• 30. Even if I were to wash myself with soap and cleanse my hands with lye to make them absolutely clean,
• 31. you would plunge me into a muddy ditch, and I would be so filthy my own clothing would hate me.
• 32. "God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial.
• 33. If only there were a mediator who could bring us together, but there is none.
• 34. The mediator could make God stop beating me, and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment.
• 35. Then I could speak to him without fear, but I cannot do that in my own strength.

New Living Translation: 155 of 324 days.