Job Demands Answers from God
Study note
Job is weary of life and speaks to God from the bitterness of his soul. He asks God to tell him what charges he has against him. He wonders if God sees things the way humans do, or if God has a limited lifespan like people. He asks why God searches so hard for his sin when God already knows he is not wicked.
1 'I am completely disgusted with my own life. I am going to say whatever I want and hold nothing back. I am going to speak straight from the bitterness inside me.' My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 'I would say to God: Stop treating me like I am guilty! Tell me what exactly you are holding against me.' I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
3 'Do you enjoy crushing me? Does it make you happy to throw away something your own hands worked so hard to make, while at the same time smiling on whatever evil people are planning?' Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
4 'Are you looking at things the way a regular person does? Do you see things through human eyes?' Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?
5 'Is your life as short as ours? Are your years as few as a person's years,' Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days,
6 'that you have to go digging around for my sins and hunting down every trace of guilt?' That thou inquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?
7 'You already know I am not guilty, and yet nobody can pull me out of your grip.' Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.
God Formed Me, Now Destroys Me
Study note
In some of the most poetic verses in the book, Job reminds God that he is the one who shaped him. God formed him like clay, poured him out like milk, clothed him with skin and flesh, and wove him together with bones and muscles. God gave him life and watched over his spirit. But Job says God had a hidden plan all along -- to watch for any sin and punish him, whether he is guilty or innocent.
8 'Your own hands carefully shaped me and put me together. And now you turn right around and tear me apart.' Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
9 'Please remember that you molded me like clay. Are you truly going to turn me back into dirt?' Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
10 'Did you not pour me out the way you pour milk, and then let me thicken the way cheese forms?' Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?
11 'You covered me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and muscles.' Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews.
12 'You blessed me with life and showered me with kindness. You watched over me and managed my spirit.' Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.
13 'But all along, you had something else in mind. I know now that this was your hidden plan from the start.' And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee.
14 'If I do anything wrong, you are there watching. You will not let a single thing go unpunished.' If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.
15 'If I am guilty, things are terrible for me! But even if I am innocent, I still cannot hold my head up. I am drowning in shame and soaked in suffering.' If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;
16 'The moment I try to stand tall, you hunt me down like a lion. You show off your frightening power against me.' For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.
17 'You keep bringing new evidence against me. Your anger toward me keeps growing. Wave after wave of attacks keep coming at me.' Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.
Why Was I Born?
Study note
Job returns to the theme of chapter 3, wishing he had never been born. He asks God to stop afflicting him and give him just a little comfort before he dies and goes to the land of deep darkness, a place of total shadow where even light itself is dark.
18 'So why did you even let me be born? I wish I had stopped breathing before anyone ever laid eyes on me.' Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!
19 'I wish I had never existed at all -- carried straight from the womb to a grave.' I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20 'I barely have any days left. Would you please back off and leave me alone for a little while so I can feel a tiny bit of comfort,' Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
21 'before I go to the place I can never come back from -- a land of complete darkness and deep shadows,' Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
22 'a land so dark that even the light there looks like pitch black.' A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.