Job's Reply to Bildad
What You Say Is True
1 Job said:
2 What you say is true.
No human is innocent
in the sight of God.
3 Not once in a thousand times
could we win our case
if we took him to court.
4 God is wise and powerful—
who could possibly
oppose him and win?
5 When God becomes angry,
he can move mountains
before they even know it.
6 God can shake the earth loose
from its foundations
7 or command the sun and stars
to hold back their light.
8 God alone stretched out the sky,
stepped on the sea,
9 and set the stars in place—
the Big Dipper and Orion,
the Pleiades and the stars
in the southern sky.
10 Of all the miracles God works,
we cannot understand a one.
11 God walks right past me,
without making a sound.
12 And if he grabs something,
who can stop him
or raise a question?
13 When God showed his anger,
the servants of the sea monster
fell at his feet.
14 How, then, could I possibly
argue my case with God?
Though I Am Innocent
15 Even though I am innocent,
I can only beg for mercy.
16 And if God came into court
when I called him,
he would not hear my case.
17 He would strike me with a storm
and increase my injuries
for no reason at all.
18 Before I could get my breath,
my miseries would multiply.
19 God is much stronger than I am,
and who would call me into court
to give me justice?
20 Even if I were innocent,
God would prove me wrong.
21 I am not guilty,
but I no longer care
what happens to me.
22 What difference does it make?
God destroys the innocent
along with the guilty.
23 When a good person dies
a sudden death,
God sits back and laughs.
24 And who else but God
blindfolds the judges,
then lets the wicked
take over the earth?
My Life Is Speeding By
25 My life is speeding by,
without a hope of happiness.
26 Each day passes swifter
than a sailing ship
or an eagle swooping down.
27 Sometimes I try to be cheerful
and to stop complaining,
28 but my sufferings frighten me,
because I know that God
still considers me guilty.
29 So what's the use of trying
to prove my innocence?
30 Even if I washed myself
with the strongest soap,
31 God would throw me into a pit
of stinking slime, leaving me
disgusting to my clothes.
32 God isn't a mere human like me.
I can't put him on trial.
33 Who could possibly judge
between the two of us?
34 Can someone snatch away
the stick God carries
to frighten me?
35 Then I could speak up
without fear of him,
but for now, I cannot speak.
1 Then Iob answered, and sayd, 2 I knowe verily that it is so: for howe should man compared vnto God, be iustified? 3 If I would dispute with him, hee could not answere him one thing of a thousand. 4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath bene fierce against him and hath prospered? 5 He remoueth the mountaines, and they feele not when he ouerthroweth them in his wrath. 6 Hee remooueth the earth out of her place, that the pillars thereof doe shake. 7 He commandeth the sunne, and it riseth not: hee closeth vp the starres, as vnder a signet. 8 Hee himselfe alone spreadeth out the heauens, and walketh vpon the height of the sea. 9 He maketh the starres Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the climates of the South. 10 He doeth great things, and vnsearcheable: yea, marueilous things without nomber. 11 Lo, when he goeth by me, I see him not: and when he passeth by, I perceiue him not. 12 Behold, when he taketh a pray, who can make him to restore it? who shall say vnto him, What doest thou? 13 God will not withdrawe his anger, and the most mightie helpes doe stoupe vnder him. 14 Howe much lesse shall I answere him? or howe should I finde out my words with him? 15 For though I were iust, yet could I not answere, but I would make supplication to my Iudge. 16 If I cry, and he answere me, yet woulde I not beleeue, that he heard my voyce. 17 For he destroyeth mee with a tempest, and woundeth me without cause. 18 He wil not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitternesse. 19 If we speake of strength, behold, he is strog: if we speake of iudgement, who shall bring me in to pleade? 20 If I woulde iustifie my selfe, mine owne mouth shall condemne mee: if I would be perfite, he shall iudge me wicked. 21 Though I were perfite, yet I knowe not my soule: therefore abhorre I my life. 22 This is one point: therefore I said, Hee destroyeth the perfite and the wicked. 23 If the scourge should suddenly slay, should God laugh at the punishment of the innocent? 24 The earth is giuen into the hand of ye wicked: he couereth the faces of the iudges therof: if not, where is he? or who is he? 25 My dayes haue bene more swift then a post: they haue fled, and haue seene no good thing. 26 They are passed as with the most swift ships, and as the eagle that flyeth to the pray. 27 If I say, I wil forget my complaynt, I will cease from my wrath, and comfort mee, 28 Then I am afrayd of all my sorowes, knowing that thou wilt not iudge me innocent. 29 If I be wicked, why labour I thus in vaine? 30 If I wash my selfe with snowe water, and purge mine hands most cleane, 31 Yet shalt thou plunge mee in the pit, and mine owne clothes shall make me filthie. 32 For he is not a man as I am, that I shoulde answere him, if we come together to iudgement. 33 Neyther is there any vmpire that might lay his hand vpon vs both. 34 Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his feare astonish me: 35 Then will I speake, and feare him not: but because I am not so, I holde me still.