August 5 – Job 3 thru 5 from the Old Testament

Job 3 thru 5 – Job Regrets His Birth

3:1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born. 3:2 Job spoke up and said:

3:3 “Let the day on which I was born perish,

and the night that said,

‘A man has been conceived!’

3:4 That day – let it be darkness;

let not God on high regard it,

nor let light shine on it!

3:5 Let darkness and the deepest

shadow claim it;

let a cloud settle on it;

let whatever blackens the day terrify it!

3:6 That night – let darkness seize it;

let it not be included among the days of the year;

let it not enter among the number of the months!

3:7 Indeed, let that night be barren;

let no shout of joy penetrate it!

3:8 Let those who curse the day curse it –

those who are prepared to rouse Leviathan.

3:9 Let its morning stars be darkened;

let it wait for daylight but find none,

nor let it see the first rays of dawn,

3:10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb on me,

nor did it hide trouble from my eyes!

Job Wishes He Had Died at Birth

3:11 “Why did I not die at birth,

and why did I not expire

as I came out of the womb?

3:12 Why did the knees welcome me,

and why were there two breasts

that I might nurse at them?

3:13 For now I would be lying down

and would be quiet,

I would be asleep and then at peace

3:14 with kings and counselors of the earth

who built for themselves places now desolate,

3:15 or with princes who possessed gold,

who filled their palaces with silver.

3:16 Or why was I not buried

like a stillborn infant,

like infants who have never seen the light?

3:17 There the wicked cease from

turmoil,

and there the weary are at rest.

3:18 There the prisoners relax together;

they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.

3:19 Small and great are there,

and the slave is free from his master.

Longing for Death

3:20 “Why does God give light to one who is in misery,

and life to those whose soul is bitter,

3:21 to those who wait for death that does not come,

and search for it

more than for hidden treasures,

3:22 who rejoice even to jubilation,

and are exultant when they find the grave?

3:23 Why is light given to a man

whose way is hidden,

and whom God has hedged in?

3:24 For my sighing comes in place of my food,

and my groanings flow forth like water.

3:25 For the very thing I dreaded has happened to me,

and what I feared has come upon me.

3:26 I have no ease, I have no quietness;

I cannot rest; turmoil has come upon me.”

Eliphaz Begins to Speak

4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

4:2 “If someone should attempt a word with you,

will you be impatient?

But who can refrain from speaking?

4:3 Look, you have instructed many;

you have strengthened feeble hands.

4:4 Your words have supported those

who stumbled,

and you have strengthened the knees

that gave way.

4:5 But now the same thing comes to you,

and you are discouraged;

it strikes you,

and you are terrified.

4:6 Is not your piety your confidence,

and your blameless ways your hope?

4:7 Call to mind now:

Who, being innocent, ever perished?

And where were upright people ever destroyed?

4:8 Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity

and those who sow trouble reap the same.

4:9 By the breath of God they perish,

and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.

4:10 There is the roaring of the lion

and the growling of the young lion,

but the teeth of the young lions are broken.

4:11 The mighty lion perishes for lack of prey,

and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

Ungodly Complainers Provoke God’s Wrath

4:12 “Now a word was secretly brought to me,

and my ear caught a whisper of it.

4:13 In the troubling thoughts of the dreams in the night

when a deep sleep falls on men,

4:14 a trembling gripped me – and a terror! –

and made all my bones shake.

4:15 Then a breath of air passes by my face;

it makes the hair of my flesh stand up.

4:16 It stands still,

but I cannot recognize its appearance;

an image is before my eyes,

and I hear a murmuring voice:

4:17 “Is a mortal man righteous before God?

Or a man pure before his Creator?

4:18 If God puts no trust in his servants

and attributes folly to his angels,

4:19 how much more to those who live in houses of clay,

whose foundation is in the dust,

who are crushed like a moth?

4:20 They are destroyed between morning and evening;

they perish forever without anyone regarding it.

4:21 Is not their excess wealth taken away from them?

They die, yet without attaining wisdom.

5:1 “Call now! Is there anyone who will answer you?

To which of the holy ones will you turn?

5:2 For wrath kills the foolish person,

and anger slays the silly one.

5:3 I myself have seen the fool taking root,

but suddenly I cursed his place of residence.

5:4 His children are far from safety,

and they are crushed at the place where judgment is rendered,

nor is there anyone to deliver them.

5:5 The hungry eat up his harvest,

and take it even from behind the thorns,

and the thirsty swallow up their fortune.

5:6 For evil does not come up from the dust,

nor does trouble spring up from the ground,

5:7 but people are born to trouble,

as surely as the sparks fly upward.

Blessings for the One Who Seeks God

5:8 “But as for me, I would seek God,

and to God I would set forth my case.

5:9 He does great and unsearchable things,

marvelous things without number;

5:10 he gives rain on the earth,

and sends water on the fields;

5:11 he sets the lowly on high,

that those who mourn are raised to safety.

5:12 He frustrates the plans of the crafty

so that their hands cannot accomplish

what they had planned!

5:13 He catches the wise in their own craftiness,

and the counsel of the cunning is brought to a quick end.

5:14 They meet with darkness in the daytime,

and grope about in the noontime as if it were night.

5:15 So he saves from the sword that comes from their mouth,

even the poor from the hand of the powerful.

5:16 Thus the poor have hope,

and iniquity shuts its mouth.

 

5:17 “Therefore, blessed is the man whom God corrects,

so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

5:18 For he wounds, but he also bandages;

he strikes, but his hands also heal.

5:19 He will deliver you from six calamities;

yes, in seven no evil will touch you.

5:20 In time of famine he will redeem you from death,

and in time of war from the power of the sword.

5:21 You will be protected from malicious gossip,

and will not be afraid of the destruction when it comes.

5:22 You will laugh at destruction and famine

and need not be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

5:23 For you will have a pact with the stones of the field,

and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

5:24 And you will know that your home

will be secure,

and when you inspect your domains,

you will not be missing anything.

5:25 You will also know that your children will be numerous,

and your descendants like the grass of the earth.

5:26 You will come to your grave in a full age,

As stacks of grain are harvested in their season.

5:27 Look, we have investigated this, so it is true.

Hear it, and apply it for your own good.”