7 Job said, “Man has a hard struggle on earth. His life is like the life of a hired worker. ²Man is like a slave who wants the cool shade after hard work on a hot day. Man is like a hired worker waiting for payday. ³Month after frustrating month has gone by. I have had night after night of suffering. ⁴When I lie down, I think, ‘How long before it’s time to get up?’ The night drags on. I toss and turn until the sun comes up. ⁵My body is clothed with worms and dirt. My skin is broken and covered with running sores. ⁶“My days go by faster than a weaver’s shuttle.* And my life ends without hope. ⁷God, remember, my life is only a breath. I will never see anything good again. ⁸And you won’t see me again. You will look for me, but I will be gone. ⁹A cloud disappears and is gone. In the same way, a person dies and is buried in the grave and he won’t come back. ¹⁰He will never come back to his old house again. His home won’t know him any more. ¹¹“So I won’t be quiet! I will speak out! My spirit is suffering! I will complain because my soul is bitter. ¹²God, why do you guard me? Am I the sea or a sea monster? ¹³My bed should bring me comfort. My couch should give me rest and relief. ¹⁴But God, {when I lie down} you scare me with dreams, you frighten with visions.* ¹⁵So I prefer to be choked to death than to live. ¹⁶I hate my life—I give up. I don’t want to live forever. Leave me alone! My life means nothing! ¹⁷God, why is man so important to you? Why should you honor him? Why do you even notice him? ¹⁸Why do you visit man every morning and test him every moment? ¹⁹God, you never look away from me. You won’t leave me alone for a second. ²⁰God, you watch over people. If I have sinned, fine, what can I do? Why did you use me for target practice? Did I become a problem for you? ²¹Why don’t you just pardon me for doing wrong? Why don’t you just forgive me for my sins? Soon I will die and be in my grave. Then you will search for me, but I will be gone.”

weaver’s shuttle The tool a person that makes cloth uses to pass the thread between the other threads. vision(s) Something like a dream that God used to speak to people.

Bildad Speaks to Job

8 Then Bildad from Shuah answered, ²“How long will you talk like that? Your words blow like a strong wind. ³God is always fair. God All-Powerful never changes the things that are right. ⁴If your children sinned against God, then he has punished them. They paid for their sins. ⁵But now Job, look to God and pray to the All-Powerful. ⁶If you are pure and good, then he will quickly come to help you. He will give your family back to you. ⁷Then you will have a lot more than you had in the beginning! ⁸“Ask the old people. Find out what their ancestors* learned. ⁹It seems like we were born yesterday. We are too young to know for sure. Our days on earth are very short, like a shadow. ¹⁰Maybe the old people can teach you. Maybe they can teach you what they have learned.” ¹¹Bildad said, “Can papyrus* grow tall on a dry land? Can reeds grow without water? ¹²No. If the water dries up, then they will also be dry. They will be too small to cut and use. ¹³People who forget God are like those reeds. The person who forgets God, has no hope. ¹⁴That person has nothing to lean on. His security is like a spider’s web. ¹⁵If a person leans against a spider’s web, the web will break. He holds on to the spider’s web, but it won’t support him. ¹⁶That man is like a plant that has plenty of water and sunshine. Its branches spread all through the garden. ¹⁷It wraps its roots around a pile of rocks, looking for a place to grow in the rocks. ¹⁸But if the plant is moved from its place, {it will die} and no one would know that it had ever been there. ¹⁹But the plant was happy, and another will grow in its place. ²⁰God doesn’t abandon innocent people. He doesn’t help evil people. ²¹God will still fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with happy shouts. ²²But shame will be the clothes your enemies wear. And the homes of wicked people will be destroyed.”

ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents, grandparents, and all the people they are descended from. papyrus A plant used to make a kind of paper to write on. Its bark is also used to make coverings for boats and ships.