Job 10

• 1. "I am disgusted with my life. Let me complain freely. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
• 2. I will say to God, `Don't simply condemn me--tell me the charge you are bringing against me.
• 3. What do you gain by oppressing me? Why do you reject me, the work of your own hands, while sending joy and prosperity to the wicked?
• 4. Are your eyes only those of a human? Do you see things as people see them?
• 5. Is your lifetime merely human? Is your life so short
• 6. that you are in a hurry to probe for my guilt, to search for my sin?
• 7. Although you know I am not guilty, no one can rescue me from your power.
• 8. " `You formed me with your hands; you made me, and yet you completely destroy me.
• 9. Remember that I am made of dust--will you turn me back to dust so soon?
• 10. You guided my conception and formed me in the womb.
• 11. You clothed me with skin and flesh, and you knit my bones and sinews together.
• 12. You gave me life and showed me your unfailing love. My life was preserved by your care.
• 13. " `Yet your real motive--I know this was your intent--
• 14. was to watch me, and if I sinned, you would not forgive my iniquity.
• 15. If I am guilty, too bad for me. And even if I'm innocent, I am filled with shame and misery so that I can't hold my head high.
• 16. And if I hold my head high, you hunt me like a lion and display your awesome power against me.
• 17. Again and again you witness against me. You pour out an ever-increasing volume of anger upon me and bring fresh armies against me.
• 18. " `Why, then, did you bring me out of my mother's womb? Why didn't you let me die at birth?
• 19. Then I would have been spared this miserable existence. I would have gone directly from the womb to the grave.
• 20. I have only a little time left, so leave me alone--that I may have a little moment of comfort
• 21. before I leave for the land of darkness and utter gloom, never to return.
• 22. It is a land as dark as midnight, a land of utter gloom where confusion reigns and the light is as dark as midnight.'"

Job 11

• 1. Then Zophar the Naamathite replied to Job:
• 2. "Shouldn't someone answer this torrent of words? Is a person proved innocent just by talking a lot?
• 3. Should I remain silent while you babble on? When you mock God, shouldn't someone make you ashamed?
• 4. You claim, `My teaching is pure,' and `I am clean in the sight of God.'
• 5. If only God would speak; if only he would tell you what he thinks!
• 6. If only he would tell you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom is not a simple matter. Listen! God is doubtless punishing you far less than you deserve!
• 7. "Can you solve the mysteries of God? Can you discover everything there is to know about the Almighty?
• 8. Such knowledge is higher than the heavens--but who are you? It is deeper than the underworld--what can you know in comparison to him?
• 9. It is broader than the earth and wider than the sea.
• 10. If God comes along and puts a person in prison, or if he calls the court to order, who is going to stop him?
• 11. For he knows those who are false, and he takes note of all their sins.
• 12. An empty-headed person won't become wise any more than a wild donkey can bear human offspring!
• 13. "If only you would prepare your heart and lift up your hands to him in prayer!
• 14. Get rid of your sins and leave all iniquity behind you.
• 15. Then your face will brighten in innocence. You will be strong and free of fear.
• 16. You will forget your misery. It will all be gone like water under the bridge.
• 17. Your life will be brighter than the noonday. Any darkness will be as bright as morning.
• 18. You will have courage because you will have hope. You will be protected and will rest in safety.
• 19. You will lie down unafraid, and many will look to you for help.
• 20. But the wicked will lose hope. They have no escape. Their hope becomes despair."

Job 12

• 1. Then Job spoke again:
• 2. "You really know everything, don't you? And when you die, wisdom will die with you!
• 3. Well, I know a few things myself--and you're no better than I am. Who doesn't know these things you've been saying?
• 4. Yet my friends laugh at me. I am a man who calls on God and receives an answer. I am a just and blameless man, yet they laugh at me.
• 5. People who are at ease mock those in trouble. They give a push to people who are stumbling.
• 6. But even robbers are left in peace, and those who provoke God--and God has them in his power--live in safety!
• 7. "Ask the animals, and they will teach you. Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.
• 8. Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you. Let the fish of the sea speak to you.
• 9. They all know that the LORD has done this.
• 10. For the life of every living thing is in his hand, and the breath of all humanity.
• 11. Just as the mouth tastes good food, so the ear tests the words it hears.
• 12. Wisdom belongs to the aged, and understanding to those who have lived many years.
• 13. "But true wisdom and power are with God; counsel and understanding are his.
• 14. What he destroys cannot be rebuilt. When he closes in on someone, there is no escape.
• 15. If he holds back the rain, the earth becomes a desert. If he releases the waters, they flood the earth.
• 16. "Yes, strength and wisdom are with him; deceivers and deceived are both in his power.
• 17. He leads counselors away stripped of good judgment; he drives judges to madness.
• 18. He removes the royal robe of kings. With ropes around their waist, they are led away.
• 19. He leads priests away stripped of status; he overthrows the mighty.
• 20. He silences the trusted adviser, and he removes the insight of the elders.
• 21. He pours disgrace upon princes and confiscates weapons from the strong.
• 22. "He floods the darkness with light; he brings light to the deepest gloom.
• 23. He raises up nations, and he destroys them. He makes nations expand, and he abandons them.
• 24. He takes away the understanding of kings, and he leaves them wandering in a wasteland without a path.
• 25. They grope in the darkness without a light. He makes them stagger like drunkards.

New Living Translation: 156 of 324 days.