Job 7

There’s Nothing to My Life 1-6 “Human life is a struggle, isn’t it? It’s a life sentence to hard labor. Like field hands longing for quitting time and working stiffs with nothing to hope for but payday, I’m given a life that meanders and goes nowhere— months of aimlessness, nights of misery! I go to […]

Job 8

Does God Mess Up? 1-7 Bildad from Shuhah was next to speak: “How can you keep on talking like this? You’re talking nonsense, and noisy nonsense at that. Does God mess up? Does God Almighty ever get things backward? It’s plain that your children sinned against him— otherwise, why would God have punished them? Here’s […]

Job 9

How Can Mere Mortals Get Right with God? 1-13 Job continued by saying: “So what’s new? I know all this. The question is, ‘How can mere mortals get right with God?’ If we wanted to bring our case before him, what chance would we have? Not one in a thousand! God’s wisdom is so deep, […]

Job 10

To Find Some Skeleton in My Closet 1 “I can’t stand my life—I hate it! I’m putting it all out on the table, all the bitterness of my life—I’m holding back nothing.” 2-7 Job prayed: “Here’s what I want to say: Don’t, God, bring in a verdict of guilty without letting me know the charges […]

Job 11

How Wisdom Looks from the Inside 1-6 Now it was the turn of Zophar from Naamath: “What a flood of words! Shouldn’t we put a stop to it? Should this kind of loose talk be permitted? Job, do you think you can carry on like this and we’ll say nothing? That we’ll let you rail […]

Job 12

Put Your Ear to the Earth 1-3 Job answered: “I’m sure you speak for all the experts, and when you die there’ll be no one left to tell us how to live. But don’t forget that I also have a brain— I don’t intend to play second fiddle to you. It doesn’t take an expert […]

Job 13

I’m Taking My Case to God 1-5 “Yes, I’ve seen all this with my own eyes, heard and understood it with my very own ears. Everything you know, I know, so I’m not taking a backseat to any of you. I’m taking my case straight to God Almighty; I’ve had it with you—I’m going directly […]

Job 14

If We Die, Will We Live Again? 1-17 “We’re all adrift in the same boat: too few days, too many troubles. We spring up like wildflowers in the desert and then wilt, transient as the shadow of a cloud. Do you occupy your time with such fragile wisps? Why even bother hauling me into court? […]

Job 15

You Trivialize Religion 1-16 Eliphaz of Teman spoke a second time: “If you were truly wise, would you sound so much like a windbag, belching hot air? Would you talk nonsense in the middle of a serious argument, babbling baloney? Look at you! You trivialize religion, turn spiritual conversation into empty gossip. It’s your sin […]

Job 16

If You Were in My Shoes 1-5 Then Job defended himself: “I’ve had all I can take of your talk. What a bunch of miserable comforters! Is there no end to your windbag speeches? What’s your problem that you go on and on like this? If you were in my shoes, I could talk just […]