Why do you make me your target?

I've become a burden even to myself.

21 Why don't you forgive my disobedience and take away my sin?

Soon I'll lie down in the dust.

Then you will search for me, but I'll be gone!"

Bildad Speaks: You Are Unjustly Accusing God of Doing Evil, Job 81 Then Bildad from Shuah replied to Job, 2 "How long will you say these things?

How long will your words be so windy?

3 Does El distort justice, or does Shadday distort righteousness?

4 If your children sinned against him, he allowed them to suffer the consequences of their sinfulness.

5 If you search for El and plead for mercy from Shadday , 6 if you are moral and ethical, then he will rise up on your behalf and prove your righteousness by rebuilding your home.a 7 Then what you had in the past will seem small compared with the great prosperity you'll have in the future.

Learn from Past Generations 8 "Ask the people of past generations.

Find out what their ancestors had learned.

9 We have only been around since yesterday, and we know nothing.

Our days on earth are only a fleeting shadow.

10 Won't their words teach you?

Won't they share their thoughts with you?

God Does Not Punish the Innocent Person 11 "Can papyrus grow up where there is no swamp?

Can rushes grow tall without water?

12 Even if they were fresh and not cut, they would wither quicker than grass.

13 The same thing happens to all who forget El.

The hope of the godless dies.

14 His confidence is easily shattered.

His trust is a spider's web.

15 If one leans on his house, it collapses.

If one holds on to it, it will not support his weight.

16 He is like a well-watered plant in the sunshine.

The shoots spread over his garden.

17 Its roots weave through a pile of stones.

They cling to a stone house.

18 But when it is uprooted from its place, the ground denies it and says, 'I never saw you!'

19 That is its joy in this life, and others sprout from the same ground to take its place.

20 "Certainly, El does not reject a person of integrity or give a helping hand to wicked people.

21 He will fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with happy shouting.

22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will cease to exist."

Job Speaks: The Futility of Arguing with God 91 Then Job replied to his friends, 2 "Yes, I know that this is true.

But how can a mortal be declared righteous to El?

3 If he wished to debate with El, he wouldn't be able to answer one question in a thousand.

4 "El is wise in heart and mighty in power.

Who could oppose him and win?

5 He moves mountains without their knowing it, and he topples them in his anger.

6 He shakes the earth from its place, and its pillars tremble.

7 He commands the sun not to rise.

He doesn't let the stars come out.

8 He stretches out the heavens by himself and walks on the waves of the sea.

9 He made the constellations, Ursa Major, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the clusters of stars in the south.

10 He does great things that are unsearchable and miracles that cannot be numbered.

11 He passes alongside of me, and I don't even see him.

He goes past me, and I don't even notice him.

12 He takes something away, but who can stop him?

Who is going to ask him, 'What are you doing?'

13 Eloah does not hold back his anger.

Even Rahab'sa helpers bow humbly in front of him.

14 "How can I possibly answer Eloah?

How can I find the right words to speak with him?

15 Even if I were right, I could not answer him.

I would have to plead for mercy from my judge.

16 If I cried out and he answered me, I do not believe that he would listen to me.

17 He would knock me down with a storm and bruise me without a reason.

18 He would not let me catch my breath.

He fills me with bitterness.

19 If it is a matter of strength, then he is the mighty one.

If it is about justice, who will charge me with a crime?

20 If I am righteous, my own mouth would condemn me.

It would declare that I am corrupt even if I am a man of integrity.

21 If I am a man of integrity, I have no way of knowing it.

I hate my life!

22 It is all the same.

That is why I say, 'He destroys both the man of integrity and the wicked.'

23 When a sudden disaster brings death, he makes fun of the despair of innocent people.

24 The earth is handed over to the wicked.

He covers the faces of its judges.

If he isn't the one doing this, who is?

25 "My days go by more quickly than a runner.

They sprint away.

They don't see anything good.

26 They pass by quickly like boats made from reeds, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

27 Even if I say, 'I will forget my complaining; I will change my expression and smile,'

28 I still dread everything I must suffer.

I know that you won't declare me innocent.

29 I've already been found guilty.

Why should I work so hard for nothing?

30 If I wash myself with lye soapa and cleanse my hands with bleach, 31 then you would plunge me into a muddy pit, and my own clothes would find me disgusting.

32 A human like me cannot answer Eloah, 'Let's take our case to court.'

33 There is no mediator between us to put his hand on both of us.

34 Eloah should take his rod away from me, and he should not terrify me.b 35 Then I would speak and not be afraid of him.

But I know that I am not like that.c Job Says to God: I Hate My Life 101 "I hate my life.

I will freely express my complaint.

I will speak as bitterly as I feel.

2 I will say to Eloah , 'Don't condemn me.

Let me know why you are quarreling with me.

3 What do you gain by mistreating me, by rejecting the work of your hands while you favor the plans of the wicked?

4 Do you actually have human eyes?

Do you see as a mortal sees?

5 Are your days like a mortal's days?

Are your years like a human's years?

6 Is that why you look for guilt in me and search for sin in me?

7 You know I'm not guilty, but there is no one to rescue me from your hands.

8 "'Your hands formed me and made every part of me, then you turned to destroy me.d 9 Please remember that you made me out of clay and that you will return me to the dust again.

10 Didn't you pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?

11 Didn't you dress me in skin and flesh and weave me together with bones and tendons?