A Vision Of Faith

¹ Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

² "When will you end these speeches?
Be sensible, and then we can talk.

³ Why are we regarded as cattle
and considered stupid in your sight?

⁴ You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger,
is the earth to be abandoned for your sake?
Or must the rocks be moved from their place?

⁵ "The lamp of the wicked is snuffed out;
the flame of his fire stops burning.

⁶ The light in his tent becomes dark;
the lamp beside him goes out.

⁷ The vigor of his step is weakened;
his own schemes throw him down.

⁸ His feet thrust him into a net
and he wanders into its mesh.

⁹ A trap seizes him by the heel;
a snare holds him fast.

¹⁰ A noose is hidden for him on the ground;
a trap lies in his path.

¹¹ Terrors startle him on every side
and dog his every step.

¹² Calamity is hungry for him;
disaster is ready for him when he falls.

¹³ It eats away parts of his skin;
death's firstborn devours his limbs.

¹⁴ He is torn from the security of his tent
and marched off to the king of terrors.

¹⁵ Fire resides in his tent;
burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.

¹⁶ His roots dry up below
and his branches wither above.

¹⁷ The memory of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name in the land.

¹⁸ He is driven from light into darkness
and is banished from the world.

¹⁹ He has no offspring or descendants among his people,
no survivor where once he lived.

²⁰ Men of the west are appalled at his fate;
men of the east are seized with horror.

²¹ Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man;
such is the place of one who knows not God."

¹ Then Job replied:

² "How long will you torment me
and crush me with words?

³ Ten times now you have reproached me;
shamelessly you attack me.

⁴ If it is true that I have gone astray,
my error remains my concern alone.

⁵ If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me
and use my humiliation against me,

⁶ then know that God has wronged me
and drawn his net around me.

⁷ "Though I cry, 'I've been wronged!' I get no response;
though I call for help, there is no justice.

⁸ He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;
he has shrouded my paths in darkness.

⁹ He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.

¹⁰ He tears me down on every side till I am gone;
he uproots my hope like a tree.

¹¹ His anger burns against me;
he counts me among his enemies.

¹² His troops advance in force;
they build a siege ramp against me
and encamp around my tent.

¹³ "He has alienated my brothers from me;
my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

¹⁴ My kinsmen have gone away;
my friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵ My guests and my maidservants count me a stranger;
they look upon me as an alien.

¹⁶ I summon my servant, but he does not answer,
though I beg him with my own mouth.

¹⁷ My breath is offensive to my wife;
I am loathsome to my own brothers.

¹⁸ Even the little boys scorn me;
when I appear, they ridicule me.

¹⁹ All my intimate friends detest me;
those I love have turned against me.

²⁰ I am nothing but skin and bones;
I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth.

²¹ "Have pity on me, my friends, have pity,
for the hand of God has struck me.

²² Why do you pursue me as God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?

²³ "Oh, that my words were recorded,
that they were written on a scroll,

²⁴ that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead,
or engraved in rock forever!

²⁵ I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.

²⁶ And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;

²⁷ I myself will see him
with my own eyes—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!

²⁸ "If you say, 'How we will hound him,
since the root of the trouble lies in him, '

²⁹ you should fear the sword yourselves;
for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,
and then you will know that there is judgment. "

New International Version