Day 235 of 365

¹"Isn't a man forced to labor on earth? Aren't his days like the days of a hired hand?

²As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, as a hireling who looks for his wages,

³so am I made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me.

⁴When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I arise, and the night be gone?' I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.

⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.

⁶My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.

⁷Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye shall no more see good.

⁸The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more. Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be.

⁹As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol shall come up no more.

¹⁰He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

¹¹"Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me?

¹³When I say, 'My bed shall comfort me. My couch shall ease my complaint;'

¹⁴then you scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions:

¹⁵so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones.

¹⁶I loathe my life. I do not want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

¹⁷What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him,

¹⁸that you should visit him every morning, and test him every moment?

¹⁹How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?

²⁰If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself?

²¹Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I shall not be."

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

²"How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

³Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?

⁴If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience.

⁵If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty.

⁶If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.

⁷Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase.

⁸"Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers.

⁹(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)

¹⁰Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart?

¹¹"Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water?

¹²While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers before any other reed.

¹³So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man shall perish,

¹⁴Whose confidence shall break apart, Whose trust is a spider's web.

¹⁵He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand. He shall cling to it, but it shall not endure.

¹⁶He is green before the sun. His shoots go forth over his garden.

¹⁷His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones.

¹⁸If he is destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, 'I have not seen you.'

¹⁹Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth, others shall spring.

²⁰"Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evildoers.

²¹He will still fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting.

²²Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame. The tent of the wicked shall be no more."

¹Then Job answered,

²"Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with God?

³If he is pleased to contend with him, he can't answer him one time in a thousand.

⁴God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?

⁵He removes the mountains, and they do not know it, when he overturns them in his anger.

⁶He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble.

⁷He commands the sun, and it doesn't rise, and seals up the stars.

⁸He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.

⁹He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.

¹⁰He does great things past finding out; yes, marvelous things without number.

¹¹Behold, he goes by me, and I do not see him. He passes on also, but I do not perceive him.

¹²Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, 'What are you doing?'

¹³"God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.

¹⁴How much less shall I answer him, And choose my words to argue with him?

¹⁵Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn't answer him. I would make supplication to my judge.

¹⁶If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn't believe that he listened to my voice.

¹⁷For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without cause.

¹⁸He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

¹⁹If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, 'Who,' says he, 'will summon me?'

²⁰Though I am righteous, my own mouth shall condemn me. Though I am blameless, it shall prove me perverse.

²¹I am blameless. I do not regard myself. I despise my life.

²²"It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.

²³If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent.

²⁴The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it?

²⁵"Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away, they see no good,

²⁶They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey.

²⁷If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up;'

²⁸I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that you will not hold me innocent.

²⁹I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain?

³⁰If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,

³¹yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes shall abhor me.

³²For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment.

³³There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both.

³⁴Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid;

³⁵then I would speak, and not fear him, for I am not so in myself.

¹Lord, you have been favorable to your land. You have restored the fortunes of Jacob.

²You have forgiven the iniquity of your people. You have covered all their sin. Selah.

³You have taken away all your wrath. You have turned from the fierceness of your anger.

⁴Turn us, God of our salvation, and cause your indignation toward us to cease.

⁵Will you be angry with us forever? Will you draw out your anger to all generations?

⁶Won't you revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?

⁷Show us your loving kindness, Lord. Grant us your salvation.

⁸I will hear what God, the Lord, will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, his holy ones; but let them not turn again to folly.

⁹Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.

¹⁰Mercy and truth meet together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

¹¹Truth springs out of the earth. Righteousness has looked down from heaven.

¹²Yes, the Lord will give that which is good. Our land will yield its increase.

¹³Righteousness goes before him, And prepares the way for his steps.

¹An unfriendly man pursues selfishness, and defies all sound judgment.

²A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion.

³When wickedness comes, contempt also comes, and with shame comes disgrace.

⁴The words of a man's mouth are like deep waters. The fountain of wisdom is like a flowing brook.

⁵To be partial to the faces of the wicked is not good, nor to deprive the innocent of justice.

⁶A fool's lips come into strife, and his mouth invites beatings.

⁷A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are a snare to his soul.

⁸The words of a gossip are like dainty morsels: they go down into a person's innermost parts.

⁹One who is slack in his work is brother to him who is a master of destruction.

¹⁰The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.

¹¹The rich man's wealth is his strong city, like an unscalable wall in his own imagination.

¹²Before destruction the heart of man is proud, but before honor is humility.

¹³He who gives answer before he hears, that is folly and shame to him.

¹⁴A man's spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?

¹⁵The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

¹⁶A man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.

¹⁷He who pleads his cause first seems right; until another comes and questions him.

¹⁸The lot settles disputes, and keeps strong ones apart.

¹⁹A brother offended is more difficult than a fortified city; and disputes are like the bars of a castle.

²⁰A man's stomach is filled with the fruit of his mouth. With the harvest of his lips he is satisfied.

²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.

²²Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of the Lord.

²³The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly.

²⁴A man of many companions may be ruined, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.