Job

I tore my robe and shaved my head, and I fell on the ground and worshipped. I came into the world with nothing, and I’ll leave with nothing. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Praise the name of the LORD.

Replying to @jobswife

You’re talking like a foolish woman. So we take the good from God, but not the bad?

Wipe out the day I was born. And the night someone said, “It’s a boy.” Why didn’t I die the moment I came out?

Replying to @job

In the grave the wicked stop raging, and the worn out finally get some rest.

Replying to @job

The thing I was most afraid of has happened. No peace. No quiet. No rest. Only trouble.

Replying to @eliphaz.of.teman

If you could weigh my grief, it would be heavier than the sand of the sea. No wonder my words have been wild.

A man in despair should be able to count on his friends. You’re like desert streams. Full in winter, bone dry in the heat, just when someone needs a drink. You saw something terrible and got scared.

Eliphaz the Temanite@eliphaz.of.temanThink about it. When has an innocent person ever been wiped out? From what I’ve seen, people who plough trouble reap trouble.

Replying to @job

Teach me, and I’ll shut up. Show me where I went wrong.

I lie down and think: when will it be morning? The night drags on and I toss and turn till dawn. My days go faster than a weaver’s shuttle, and they’re running out with no hope.

What are we, that you make so much of us? That you check on us every morning and test us every moment? Can’t you look away long enough for me to swallow?

Yes, I know all that. But how can anyone be in the right with God? You couldn’t answer him once in a thousand times.

Replying to @job

He isn’t a man like me, so we can’t just go to court together. There’s nobody to stand between us and put a hand on each of us.

Your hands shaped me. Now you’ll turn round and destroy me? Remember, you moulded me like clay. Are you going to turn me back into dust?

Oh, no doubt you’re the people who know, and wisdom will die with you. I’ve got a brain too. I’m not beneath you. Who doesn’t know all that?

Zophar the Naamathite@zopharLook. You say your beliefs are sound and you’re clean in God’s sight. I wish God would speak up and tell you a thing or two. Here’s the truth: God is making you pay less than you deserve.

Ask the animals, they’ll teach you. Ask the birds, the earth, the fish. Which of them doesn’t know the LORD’s hand did this? Every living thing’s life is in his hand.

You smear over everything with lies. Useless doctors, all of you. If you’d just kept quiet, that would have been wise.

Even if he kills me, I’ll still hope in him. And I’ll still argue my case to his face.

We’re born, we get a few short days, and they’re full of trouble. We bloom like a flower, then wither. Like a shadow, then gone.

There’s hope for a tree. Cut it down and it sprouts again. But a man dies, breathes his last, and where is he? If someone dies, will they live again?

I’ve heard all this before. Miserable comforters, the lot of you. I could talk like that too, if you were in my place. But I’d actually try to make you feel better.

Eliphaz the Temanite@eliphaz.of.temanRound two. Does a wise man answer with hot air? Were you the first man ever born? Do you sit in on God’s council?

Even now my witness is in heaven. My friends mock me, while my eyes pour out tears to God.

How long are you going to keep tormenting me? That’s ten times now you’ve insulted me.

Bildad the Shuhite@bildadHow long until you stop? Why do you look at us like we’re cattle? Like we’re stupid?

He’s driven my brothers away. My friends have forgotten me. My breath disgusts my wife. My own family can’t stand me.

Replying to @job

Skin and bones. I’ve escaped by the skin of my teeth.

Replying to @job

Have pity on me, friends. Please, have pity. God himself has struck me down.

I wish my words were written down. Carved in rock, for ever. I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end he will stand on the earth. Even after my skin has been destroyed, I will see God. With my own eyes. I long for it so much.

Then why do the wicked live on? Grow old, get more powerful, their homes safe, their kids all round them. They spend their days doing well and go down to the grave in peace.

Zophar the Naamathite@zopharOkay, that was an insult, and I can’t sit still. Seriously, don’t you know how it’s always been, ever since the first people lived on earth? The wicked man’s win is short. A godless man’s joy lasts a moment.

Replying to @job

So how can you comfort me with nonsense? Every answer you’ve given is false.

If only I knew where to find him. I’d go right up to where he sits and lay out my case.

Replying to @job

I go east, he isn’t there. West, and I can’t find him. But he knows the way I’ve taken. When he’s tested me, I’ll come out like gold.

Wow. You’ve really helped the powerless there. Great advice.

Bildad the Shuhite@bildadHow can anyone be right with God? Even the moon isn’t bright in his sight, or the stars pure. Much less a man. A maggot. A worm.

He hangs the earth on nothing. And that’s just the edges of what he does. All we hear of him is a faint whisper. Who could understand the thunder of his power?

I will never say you’re right. I’ll hold on to my integrity till I die. As long as I live, my conscience won’t accuse me.

People dig mine shafts for silver and gold, right down into the dark. But where do you find wisdom? Nobody knows what it’s worth. You won’t find it anywhere in the land of the living.

Replying to @job

God knows the way to it. And he told us: fearing the Lord is wisdom. Turning away from evil is understanding.

How I miss the old days. When God watched over me, when his lamp shone over my head, when the Almighty was still with me and my children were all around me.

Replying to @job

I’d walk into the square by the city gate and the young men would step back and the old men would stand up. Because I rescued the poor and the orphans who had no one. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.

Now they laugh at me. Men younger than me, whose fathers I wouldn’t have put with my sheepdogs. I’m a joke in their songs.

I cry out to you for help, and you don’t answer. I stand up, and you just look at me.

Have I ever turned away the poor? Eaten my bread on my own and not shared it with an orphan? No traveller ever had to sleep in the street. My door was always open.

Eliphaz the Temanite@eliphaz.of.temanLet’s be honest. Isn’t your wickedness huge? You took security off your own brothers for no reason. Stripped people of their clothes. No water for the worn out, no bread for the hungry.

And I never hid my wrongs the way Adam did, keeping my guilt to myself because I was scared of what people would say.

Adam@adamTold him I was scared because I was naked, so I hid. He asked if I’d eaten from the tree. And I blamed her. Said the woman he put here with me gave it to me. I said that. To God. About her.

That’s my signature on it. Now let the Almighty answer me.

I’m nothing. How could I answer you? I’m putting my hand over my mouth. I’ve spoken once, twice. I’ve nothing to add.

I know you can do anything. I talked about things I didn’t understand. Things too wonderful for me. I’d heard about you. Now I’ve seen you with my own eyes.

Job@jobI wish my words were written down. Carved in rock, for ever. I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end he will stand on the earth. Even after my skin has been destroyed, I will see God. With my own eyes. I long for it so much.

Replying to @job

So I despise myself, and I’m turning back to you, here in the dust and ashes.

Seven sons and three daughters. The girls are Jemimah, Keziah and Keren-happuch. There aren’t women as beautiful as them anywhere in the land. They’re getting an inheritance, same as their brothers.