Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, December 22nd, 2024
the Fourth Week of Advent
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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

Job 6

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Job's Reply to Eliphaz

It's Impossible

1 Job said:

2 It's impossible to weigh
    my misery and grief!
3 They outweigh the sand
    along the beach,
and that's why I have spoken
    without thinking first.
4 The fearsome arrows
    of God All-Powerful
have filled my soul
    with their poison.
5 Do oxen and wild donkeys
cry out in distress
    unless they are hungry?
6 What is food without salt?
What is more tasteless
    than the white of an egg?[a]
7 That's how my food tastes,
    and my appetite is gone.

8 How I wish that God
would answer my prayer
9     and do away with me.
10 Then I would be comforted,
knowing that in all of my pain
    I have never disobeyed God.
11 Why should I patiently hope
    when my strength is gone?
12 I am not strong as stone
    or bronze,
13 and I have finally reached
    the end of my rope.

My Friends, I Am Desperate

14 My friends, I am desperate,
    and you should help me,
even if I no longer respect
    God All-Powerful.[b]
15 But you are treacherous
16 as streams that swell
    with melting snow,
17 then suddenly disappear
    in the summer heat.
18 I am like a caravan,
lost in the desert
    while searching for water.
19 Caravans from Tema and Sheba[c]
20     thought they would find water.
But they were disappointed,
21     just as I am with you.[d]
Only one look at my suffering,
    and you run away scared.

What Have I Done Wrong?

22 Have I ever asked any of you
    to give me a gift
23 or to purchase my freedom
    from brutal enemies?
24 What have I done wrong?
Show me,
    and I will keep quiet.
25 The truth is always painful,
but your arguments
    prove nothing.
26 Here I am desperate,
and you consider my words
    as worthless as wind.
27 Why, you would sell an orphan
    or your own neighbor!
28 Look me straight in the eye;
    I won't lie to you.
29 Stop accusing me falsely;
    my reputation is at stake.
30 I know right from wrong,
    and I am not telling lies.

 
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