HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 827
JOB 9
page 457
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For you examine us every morning
and test us every moment.
Why won’t you leave me alone,
at least long enough for me to swallow!
If I have sinned, what have I done to you,
O watcher of all humanity?
Why make me your target?
Am I a burden to you?*
Why not just forgive my sin
and take away my guilt?
For soon I will lie down in the dust and die.
When you look for me, I will be gone.”
Bildad’s First Response to Job
Then Bildad the Shuhite replied to Job:
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“How long will you go on like this?
You sound like a blustering wind.
Does God twist justice?
Does the Almighty twist what is right?
Your children must have sinned against him,
so their punishment was well deserved.
But if you pray to God
and seek the favor of the Almighty,
and if you are pure and live with integrity,
he will surely rise up and restore your
happy home.
And though you started with little,
you will end with much.
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“Just ask the previous generation.
Pay attention to the experience of our
ancestors.
For we were born but yesterday and know
nothing.
Our days on earth are as fleeting as a
shadow.
But those who came before us will teach
you.
They will teach you the wisdom of old.
“Can papyrus reeds grow tall without a
marsh?
Can marsh grass flourish without water?
While they are still flowering, not ready to
be cut,
they begin to wither more quickly than
grass.
The same happens to all who forget God.
The hopes of the godless evaporate.
Their confidence hangs by a thread.
They are leaning on a spider’s web.
They cling to their home for security, but
it won’t last.
They try to hold it tight, but it will not
endure.
The godless seem like a lush plant growing
in the sunshine,
its branches spreading across the garden.
7:20 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads target, so that I am
a burden to myself? 9:3 Or If God wanted to take someone
to court. 9:13 Hebrew the helpers of Rahab, the name of
a mythical sea monster that represents chaos in ancient
literature.
Its roots grow down through a pile of stones;
it takes hold on a bed of rocks.
But when it is uprooted,
it’s as though it never existed!
That’s the end of its life,
and others spring up from the earth to
replace it.
“But look, God will not reject a person of
integrity,
nor will he lend a hand to the wicked.
He will once again fill your mouth with
laughter
and your lips with shouts of joy.
Those who hate you will be clothed with
shame,
and the home of the wicked will be
destroyed.”
Job’s Third Speech: A Response to Bildad
Then Job spoke again:
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“Yes, I know all this is true in principle.
But how can a person be declared
innocent in God’s sight?
If someone wanted to take God to court,*
would it be possible to answer him even
once in a thousand times?
For God is so wise and so mighty.
Who has ever challenged him successfully?
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“Without warning, he moves the mountains,
overturning them in his anger.
He shakes the earth from its place,
and its foundations tremble.
If he commands it, the sun won’t rise
and the stars won’t shine.
He alone has spread out the heavens
and marches on the waves of the sea.
He made all the stars—the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the
southern sky.
He does great things too marvelous to
understand.
He performs countless miracles.
“Yet when he comes near, I cannot see him.
When he moves by, I do not see him go.
If he snatches someone in death, who can
stop him?
Who dares to ask, ‘What are you doing?’
And God does not restrain his anger.
Even the monsters of the sea* are crushed
beneath his feet.
“So who am I, that I should try to answer God
or even reason with him?
Even if I were right, I would have no
defense.
I could only plead for mercy.
And even if I summoned him and
he responded,
I’m not sure he would listen to me.