Job Laments His Birth
1 After this Job hopened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said:
3 i“Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said,
‘A man is conceived.’
4 Let that day be darkness!
May God above not seek it,
nor light shine upon it.
5 Let gloom and jdeep darkness claim it.
Let clouds dwell upon it;
let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 That night—let thick darkness seize it!
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Behold, let that night be barren;
let no joyful cry enter it.
8 Let those curse it who curse the day,
who are ready to rouse up kLeviathan.
9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it hope for light, but have none,
nor see lthe eyelids of the morning,
10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,
nor hide trouble from my eyes.
11 “Why mdid I not die at birth,
come out from the womb and expire?
12 Why did nthe knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,
14 with kings and counselors of the earth
who orebuilt ruins for themselves,
15 or with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver.
16 Or why was I not as a hidden pstillborn child,
as infants who never see the light?
17 There the wicked cease from troubling,
and there the weary are at qrest.
18 There the prisoners are at ease together;
they hear not the voice of rthe taskmaster.
19 The small and the great are there,
and the slave is free from his master.
20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery,
and life to sthe bitter in soul,
21 who tlong for death, but it comes not,
and dig for it more than for uhidden treasures,
22 who rejoice exceedingly
and are glad when they find the grave?
23 Why is light given to a man whose vway is hidden,
whom God has whedged in?
24 For my sighing comes xinstead of1 my bread,
and my ygroanings are poured out like water.
25 zFor the thing that I fear comes upon me,
and what I dread befalls me.
26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, but trouble comes.”
Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prosper
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
Yet who can keep from speaking?
3 Behold, you have instructed many,
and you have astrengthened the weak hands.
4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,
and you have amade firm the feeble knees.
5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
it touches you, and you are dismayed.
6 bIs not your fear of God2 your cconfidence,
and the integrity of your ways your hope?
7 “Remember: dwho that was innocent ever perished?
Or where were the upright cut off?
8 As I have seen, those who eplow iniquity
and sow trouble reap the same.
9 By fthe breath of God they perish,
and by gthe blast of his anger they are consumed.
10 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,
hthe teeth of the young lions are broken.
11 The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12 “Now a word was brought to me stealthily;
my ear received ithe whisper of it.
13 Amid jthoughts from kvisions of the night,
when kdeep sleep falls on men,
14 dread came upon me, and trembling,
which made all my bones shake.
15 A spirit glided past my face;
the hair of my flesh stood up.
16 It stood still,
but I could not discern its appearance.
lA form was before my eyes;
there was silence, then I heard ma voice:
17 n‘Can mortal man be in the right before3 God?
Can a man be pure before his Maker?
18 Even in his servants ohe puts no trust,
and his angels he charges with error;
19 how much more those who dwell in houses of pclay,
whose foundation is in qthe dust,
who are crushed like4 rthe moth.
20 Between smorning and evening they are beaten to pieces;
they perish forever twithout anyone regarding it.
21 Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them,
udo they not die, and that without wisdom?’
1 “Call now; is there anyone who will answer you?
To which of vthe holy ones will you turn?
2 Surely vexation kills the fool,
and jealousy slays the simple.
3 wI have seen the fool taking root,
but suddenly I cursed his dwelling.
4 His children are xfar from safety;
they are crushed in ythe gate,
and there is no one to deliver them.
5 The hungry eat his harvest,
and he takes it even out of thorns,5
and the thirsty pant6 after his7 wealth.
6 For affliction does not come from the dust,
nor does trouble sprout from the ground,
7 but man is zborn to trouble
as the sparks fly upward.
8 “As for me, I would seek God,
and to God would I commit my cause,
9 who adoes great things and bunsearchable,
cmarvelous things without number:
10 he gives drain on the earth
and sends waters on the fields;
11 he esets on high those who are lowly,
and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12 He ffrustrates the devices of the crafty,
so that their hands achieve no success.
13 He gcatches the wise in their own craftiness,
and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.
14 They meet with darkness in the daytime
and hgrope at noonday as in the night.
15 But he isaves the needy from the sword of their mouth
and from the hand of the mighty.
16 So the poor have hope,
and jinjustice shuts her mouth.
17 “Behold, kblessed is the one whom God reproves;
therefore ldespise not the discipline of the mAlmighty.
18 For he wounds, but he nbinds up;
he oshatters, but his hands heal.
19 He will pdeliver you from six troubles;
in seven no qevil8 shall touch you.
20 rIn famine he will redeem you from death,
and in war from the power of the sword.
21 You shall be shidden from the lash of the tongue,
and shall not fear destruction when it comes.
22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh,
and shall not fear tthe beasts of the earth.
23 For you shall be in league with the stones of the field,
and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.
24 You shall know that your utent is at peace,
and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.
25 You shall know also that your voffspring shall be many,
and your descendants as wthe grass of the earth.
26 You shall come to your grave in xripe old age,
like a sheaf gathered up in its season.
27 Behold, this we have ysearched out; it is true.
Hear, and know it for your good.”9
Dead to Sin, Alive to God
1 What shall we say then? mAre we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can nwe who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us owho have been baptized pinto Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were qburied therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as rChrist was raised from the dead by sthe glory of the Father, we too might walk in tnewness of life.
5 For uif we have been united with him in va death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that wour old self1 xwas crucified with him in order that ythe body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For zone who has died ahas been set free2 from sin. 8 Now bif we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that cChrist, being raised from the dead, will never die again; ddeath no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, eonce for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves fdead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Let not gsin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 hDo not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but ipresent yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For jsin kwill have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Slaves to Righteousness
15 What then? lAre we to sin mbecause we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves nto anyone as obedient slaves,3 you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But othanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the pstandard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, qhaving been set free from sin, rhave become slaves of righteousness. 19 sI am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For tjust as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members uas slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
20 vFor when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 wBut what fruit were you getting at that time from the things xof which you are now ashamed? yFor the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you zhave been set free from sin and ahave become slaves of God, bthe fruit you get leads to sanctification and cits end, eternal life. 23 dFor the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
