Job 8; Job 9; Job 10

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Job 8

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
2 How long will you go on saying these things? Your words are a blast of wind.
3 Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
4 Since your children sinned against Him, He gave them over to their rebellion.
5 But if you earnestly seek God and ask the Almighty for mercy,
6 if you are pure and upright, then He will move even now on your behalf and restore the home where your righteousness dwells.
7 Then, even if your beginnings were modest, your final days will be full of prosperity.
8 For ask the previous generation, and pay attention to what their fathers discovered,
9 since we were [born only] yesterday and know nothing. Our days on earth are but a shadow.
10 Will they not teach you and tell you and speak from their understanding?
11 Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water?
12 While still uncut shoots, they would dry up quicker than any [other] plant.
13 Such is the destiny of all who forget God; the hope of the godless will perish.
14 His source of confidence is fragile; what he trusts in is a spider's web.
15 He leans on his web, but it doesn't stand firm. He grabs it, but it does not hold up.
16 He is an amply watered plant in the sunshine; his shoots spread out over his garden.
17 His roots are intertwined around a pile of rocks. He looks for a home among the stones.
18 If he is uprooted from his place, it will deny [knowing] him, saying, "I never saw you."
19 Surely this is the joy of his way of life; yet others will sprout from the dust.
20 Look, God does not reject a person of integrity, and He will not support evildoers.
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with a shout of joy.
22 Your enemies will be clothed with shame; the tent of the wicked will exist no longer.
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

Job 9

1 Then Job answered:
2 Yes, I know what you've said is true, but how can a person be justified before God?
3 If one wanted to take Him to court, he could not answer God once in a thousand [times].
4 God is wise and all-powerful. Who has opposed Him and come out unharmed?
5 He removes mountains without their knowledge, overturning them in His anger.
6 He shakes the earth from its place so that its pillars tremble.
7 He commands the sun not to shine and seals off the stars.
8 He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.
9 He makes [the stars]: the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky.
10 He performs great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.
11 If He passes by me, I wouldn't see Him; [if] He goes right by, I wouldn't recognize Him.
12 If He snatches [something], who can stop Him? Who can ask Him, "What are You doing?"
13 God does not hold back His anger; Rahab's assistants cringe in fear beneath Him!
14 How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him?
15 Even if I were in the right, I could not answer. I could only beg my judge for mercy.
16 If I summoned [Him] and He answered me, I do not believe He would pay attention to what I said.
17 He batters me with a whirlwind and multiplies my wounds without cause.
18 He doesn't let me catch my breath but soaks me with bitter experiences.
19 If it is a matter of strength, look, He is the Mighty One! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him?
20 Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, my mouth would declare me guilty.
21 Though I am blameless, I no longer care about myself; I renounce my life.
22 It is all the same. Therefore I say, "He destroys both the blameless and the wicked."
23 When disaster brings sudden death, He mocks the despair of the innocent.
24 The earth is handed over to the wicked; He blindfolds its judges. If it isn't He, then who is it?
25 My days fly by faster than a runner; they flee without seeing any good.
26 They sweep by like boats made of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on [its] prey.
27 If I said, "I will forget my complaint, change my expression, and smile,"
28 I would still live in terror of all my pains. I know You will not acquit me.
29 Since I will be found guilty, why should I labor in vain?
30 If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,
31 then You dip me in a pit [of mud], and my own clothes despise me!
32 For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court.
33 There is no one to judge between us, to lay his hand on both of us.
34 Let Him take His rod away from me so His terror will no longer frighten me.
35 Then I would speak and not fear Him. But that is not the case; I am on my own.
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

Job 10

1 I am disgusted with my life. I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God: Do not declare me guilty! Let me know why You prosecute me.
3 Is it good for You to oppress, to reject the work of Your hands, and favor the plans of the wicked?
4 Do You have eyes of flesh, or do You see as a human sees?
5 Are Your days like those of a human, or Your years like those of a man,
6 that You look for my wrongdoing and search for my sin,
7 even though You know that I am not wicked and that there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?
8 Your hands shaped me and formed me. Will You now turn around and destroy me?
9 Please remember that You formed me like clay. Will You now return me to dust?
10 Did You not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh, and wove me together with bones and tendons.
12 You gave me life and faithful love, and Your care has guarded my life.
13 Yet You concealed these [thoughts] in Your heart; I know that this was Your hidden plan:
14 if I sin, You would notice, and would not acquit me of my wrongdoing.
15 If I am wicked, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am filled with shame and aware of my affliction.
16 If I am proud, You hunt me like a lion and again display Your miraculous power against me.
17 You produce new witnesses against me and multiply Your anger toward me. Hardships assault me, wave after wave.
18 Why did You bring me out of the womb? I should have died and never been seen.
19 I wish I had never existed but had been carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are my days not few? Stop [it]! Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little
21 before I go to a land of darkness and gloom, never to return.
22 [It is] a land of blackness like the deepest darkness, gloomy and chaotic, where even the light is like the darkness.
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.