Job 3 Cross References - NSB

¹ JOB OPENED HIS MOUTH and cursed the day of his birth. ² He said: ³ »May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said: ‘A boy is born!’« ⁴ »Let that day turn to darkness. May God above not care about it. Let no light shine upon it. ⁵ »Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it once more. May a cloud settle over it and may blackness overwhelm its light. ⁶ »About that night, may thick darkness seize it. May it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months. ⁷ »Let the night be barren and may no shout of joy be heard in it. ⁸ »May those who curse days curse that day, those who are ready to lift up Leviathan (Babylonian symbol of sadness and mourning). ⁹ »Let its morning stars become dark and cause it to wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn, ¹⁰ for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my eyes. ¹¹ »Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb? ¹² »Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed? ¹³ »For now I would be lying down in peace. I would be asleep and at rest. ¹⁴ »I would be with kings and counselors of the earth, who built for themselves places now lying in ruins. ¹⁵ »I would be with rulers who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. ¹⁶ »Why was I not hidden in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day? ¹⁷ »There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest. ¹⁸ »Captives also enjoy their ease; they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout. ¹⁹ »The small and the great are there. The slave is freed from his master. ²⁰ »Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter in heart? ²¹ »They long for death that does not come. They search for it more than for hidden treasure. ²² »They are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave. ²³ »Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged (fenced) in? ²⁴ »Sighing comes to me instead of food. My groans pour out like water. ²⁵ »What I feared has come upon me. What I dreaded has happened to me. ²⁶ »I have no peace. I have no quietness. I have no rest. I only have turmoil!«

¹¹ »Now suppose you take away everything he has. He will curse you to your face!«

²² In spite of everything that had happened, Job did not sin by blaming God.

⁵ »But stretch out your hand, and strike his flesh and bones and he will curse you to your face!«

⁹ His wife asked him: »Are you still holding on to your principles? Curse God and die!« ¹⁰ He said to her: »You are talking like a godless fool. We accept the good that God gives us. Should we not also accept the bad?« Through all this Job did not speak sinful words.

³ »May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said: ‘A boy is born!’«

¹⁶ »Job opens his mouth in empty talk. He multiplies words without knowledge.«

² I was silent and refrained from good. My sorrow grew worse. ³ My heart grew hot within me. A fire would kindle during my meditation. Then I spoke with my tongue:

³³ They made him bitter so that he spoke recklessly.

¹⁴ Cursed is the day when I was born. Let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me! ¹⁵ Cursed is the man who brought the news to my father, saying: »A baby boy has been born to you!« He made him very happy.

¹⁴ The five men who had gone to spy on the country around Laish said to their companions: »Did you know that here in one of these houses there is a wooden idol covered with silver? There are also other idols and an ephod. Consider what you should do.«

¹⁸ »‘Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before anyone saw me. ¹⁹ »‘If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!’«

¹⁰ Sadness is mine! Why did my mother bring me into the world? I have to quarrel and argue with everyone in the whole earth. I have not lent any money or borrowed any; yet everyone curses me.

¹⁴ Cursed is the day when I was born. Let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me! ¹⁵ Cursed is the man who brought the news to my father, saying: »A baby boy has been born to you!« He made him very happy. ¹⁶ But let that man be like the cities Jehovah overthrew without relenting. Let him hear an outcry in the morning and a shout of alarm at noon. ¹⁷ He did not kill me before birth, so that my mother would have been my grave, and her womb ever pregnant. ¹⁸ Why did I ever come forth from the womb to look on trouble and sorrow? My days have been spent in shame!

²² Moses raised his hand toward the sky. Total darkness fell throughout Egypt for three days. ²³ The Egyptians could not see each other. No one left his house during that time. The Israelites, however, had light where they were living.

¹² »Jehovah your God cares about this land. Jehovah watches over it day after day and year by year.

² »It is a day of darkness and gloom! It is a day of clouds and thick darkness! The dawn spreads upon the mountains. This great and mighty people have never seen anything like this. Nor will it be like this again even to the years of many generations.

¹⁸ »Woe to you who desire the day of Jehovah! What will the day of Jehovah mean to you? It is darkness, and not light.

⁴⁵ Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

²⁰ The sun and stars did not appear for many days. No small tempest pressed upon us. All hope of our being saved was taken away.

¹⁰ Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast; and his kingdom became full of darkness. And they gnawed their tongues because of the pain.

¹¹ »Tell your children how you went close and stood at the foot of the mountain covered with thick clouds of dark smoke and fire blazing up to the sky.

²¹ before I go to the place of no return, to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, ²² to the land of dark night, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.«

¹⁶ »My face is flushed from weeping. The shadow of death is on my eyelids.

¹⁷ »For deep darkness is morning to all of them. They are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

³ »Humans bring an end to darkness. He searches the black rock to the limit of the gloom.

¹⁷ »Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me. Your rod and your staff they comfort me.

¹⁹ You crushed us in a place for jackals and covered us with the shadow of death.

¹⁰ Those who lived in the dark, in death's shadow were prisoners in misery. They were held in iron chains

¹⁴ He brought them out of the dark, out of death's shadow. He broke apart their chains.

² The people who walk in darkness (ignorance) (lies) have seen a great light (truth). A light has dawned on those who live in the land of the shadow of death (the grave) (calamity).

⁶ »They did not ask: ‘Where is Jehovah who brought us from Egypt? He led us through the desert, through a wasteland and its pits, a land of drought and the shadow of death. No one lives there or travels there.’

²⁸ »The earth will mourn, and the sky will grow black. I have spoken, and I have determined it. I will not change my plans, and I will not turn back!«

¹⁶ Give glory to Jehovah your God before he brings darkness and before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. You hope for light. He makes it into deep darkness and turns it into gloom.

³ »‘The day is near. The Day of Jehovah is near. It will be a gloomy day, a time of trouble for the nations.

¹² »As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for my sheep and will deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day.

⁸ seek the creator of the cluster of stars named Pleiades and the star constellation Orion. He turns the shadow of death into morning, and makes the day dark with night. He calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth. Jehovah is his name!

¹⁰ »I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation (dirges). I will bring sackcloth on all loins and baldness on every head. I will make it as the mourning for an only son like the end of a bitter day.

¹⁶ »the people sitting in darkness saw a great light. Light rose upon those sitting in a region of deathly shadow.«

⁷⁹ »The light will shine on them who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. It will guide our feet into the way of peace.«

¹⁸ You have not come to a mountain that can be touched, to Mount Sinai with its blazing fire, the darkness and the gloom, the storm.

²⁰ »It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation! Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there. Nor will shepherds take their flocks there. ²¹ »But desert animals will lie down there. Their houses will be full of owls! Shaggy goats (demons) will play there and ostriches will dance there. ²² »Wild beasts will howl in her fortified towers and jackals in her luxurious temples. Her time also will soon come and her days will not be prolonged.«

⁸ The joyful sound of tambourines ceases. The noise of revelers and the delight of the harp cease.

³⁴ »I will cause the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem. The land will become a ruin.«

²² »The sound of harp players, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, will not be heard anymore in you. No craftsman will be found in you. The sound of a millstone will not be heard in you anymore. ²³ »There will no longer be the light of a candle in you. The voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will be heard no more at all in you. Your merchants were the great men of the earth; for by your spiritistic practice all nations were deceived.

²⁵ Then Jeremiah chanted a lament for Josiah. All the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their lamentations (dirges) to this day. They made them an ordinance in Israel. They are also written in the Lamentations.

¹ GOD CONTINUES TO QUESTION JOB:

¹⁰ »No one is as fierce that he would dare stir him up. Who then is able to stand against me?

²⁵ »When it raises itself up the gods are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves.

¹⁷ »Jehovah of Hosts says: ‘Consider the mourning women that they may come. Send for the wailing women that they may come! ¹⁸ Let them hurry and take up a wailing for us. Let our eyes shed tears and our eyelids flow with water.

¹⁶ Listen to Jehovah the God of Hosts, the Almighty: Wailing will be in all the broad ways. They will say in all the streets, »Alas! Alas!« They will call the farmer to mourning, and the professional mourner to lamentation and crying.

¹⁷ »They say: ‘We piped for you and you did not dance. We cried and you did not mourn.’

³⁸ The house of the ruler of the synagogue was filled with commotion. Many were weeping and wailing.

²⁶ »When I expected good evil came. When I waited for light darkness came.

¹⁸ »Its sneezes flash forth light, and its eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.

¹⁵ We waited for peace, but no good came. We waited for a time of healing, but all we got was terror!

¹⁸ Jehovah had made it impossible for any woman in Abimelech’s household to have children because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.

³¹ Jehovah saw that Leah was loved less, so he made it possible for her to have children. But Rachel had none.

⁵ He gave a double portion to Hannah. Hannah was very dear to him even though Jehovah had not given her children.

² »If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales! ³ »It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas, no wonder my words have been impetuous.

¹ »I loathe my very life. I will therefore give free rein to my complaint and speak out in my bitterness.

² »Even today my complaint is bitter rebellion. God’s hand is heavy despite my groaning.

³ A man can have a hundred children and live many years. If he does not enjoy prosperity and have a decent burial, a stillborn child is better off then he. ⁴ For he comes in with vanity and departs in darkness, and his name will be covered with darkness. ⁵ »Moreover he has not seen the sun nor known anything. The stillborn child has more rest than the other.

¹⁰ Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity.

¹⁷ He did not kill me before birth, so that my mother would have been my grave, and her womb ever pregnant.

⁹ You are the one who brought me out of the womb. You made me feel safe at my mother's breasts. ¹⁰ I was placed in your care from birth. From my mother's womb you have been my God.

⁸ Let them be like a snail that melts and passes away, like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.

⁶ I have relied on you all my life. You have protected me since the day I was born. I will always praise you.

¹³ For you formed my inward parts. You wove me in my mother's womb. ¹⁴ I will praise you, for in an awesome way I am wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful and I know this very well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret, and woven in the depths of the earth. ¹⁶ Your eyes saw my embryo and all were written in your book; the days ordained for me. Even this before one had taken place.

³ »Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel. I have upheld you since you were conceived. I have carried you since your birth.

¹⁴ Give them, O Jehovah what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

³ She said: »Here is my maid Bilhah. Sleep with her, so that she can have a child for me. This way I can become a mother through her.«

²³ Joseph lived long enough to see Ephraim’s children and grandchildren. He also lived to see the children of Manasseh’s son Machir. He welcomed them into his family.

¹² This is what Jehovah says: »I will offer you peace like a river and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream. You will nurse and be carried in Jerusalem's arms and cuddled on her knees.

⁴ »‘»On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. ⁵ »‘»No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Instead, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised.

⁸ »You see me now but not for long. Your eyes will be on me but I will be dead. ⁹ »Just as a cloud dissipates and vanishes; those who die will not come back. ¹⁰ »They are gone forever from their home. They will not be seen again.

²¹ »Why not just pardon my sin and take away my guilt? For soon I will lie down in the dust and die. When you look for me, I will be gone.«

²² to the land of dark night, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.«

¹⁰ »On the other hand man dies and is laid low. He breathes his last and is no more! ¹¹ »Just like water that disappears from the sea or a riverbed that becomes parched and dry, ¹² so men lie down and do not rise. Until the heavens are no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep.

¹³ »Should I look for the grave as my home and make my bed in the darkness?

²⁷ »I will see him with my own eyes, not with someone else's. My heart fails inside me!

¹³ »They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to the grave.

²³ »One dies in full prosperity, being wholly at ease and secure.

¹⁰ Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you are going.

¹⁰ David died and was buried in David's City.

⁴³ He died and was buried in David's City. His son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.

¹⁷ »He leads counselors away stripped and makes fools of judges.

²⁸ »He will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble.

²³ »Yes, I know that you will bring me to death, to the house appointed for all living.

⁶ They trust their riches and brag about their abundant wealth. ⁷ No one can ever redeem (buy back) his brother or pay God a ransom for his life. ⁸ The price to be paid for him is so costly it can never be paid ⁹ so they should live forever and never see the grave (pit) (destruction). ¹⁰ One can see that wise people die, that foolish and stupid people meet the same end. They leave their wealth to others.

¹⁴ Like sheep, they are laid in the grave. Death will shepherd them. The upright will rule them in the morning. Their forms will decay in the grave, far away from their comfortable homes.

⁴⁸ Can man go on living and never see death? Who can set himself free from the power of the grave?

⁸ No man has the power to restrain the wind, to retain the breath of life. Neither does he have power in the day of death. There is no discharge from that war. Neither will wickedness deliver those who are given to it.

⁸ Cursed are those who are joining house to house, and putting field to field, till there is no more living-space for any but themselves in all the land!

¹⁰ »‘All of them will greet you: ‘You also have become weak like us! You have become like one of us! ¹¹ »‘Your pride has been brought down to the grave along with the music of your harps. Maggots are spread out like a bed under you, and worms cover you.’ ¹² »O how you have fallen from heaven, you morning star (shining one), and son of the dawn! How you have been cut down to the ground, you who conquered nations! ¹³ »‘You thought: ‘I will go up to heaven (Mount Zion) and set up my throne above God's stars (messengers). I will sit on the mountain of meeting far away in the north where the gods assemble. ¹⁴ »‘I will go above the top of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.’ ¹⁵ »But you have been brought down to the grave, to the deepest part of the pit. ¹⁶ »‘Those who see you stare at you. They look at you closely and say: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook the kingdoms,

¹² Those among you will rebuild the ancient ruins. You will raise up the age-old foundations. You will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell.

²⁰ then I will bring you down with those who go down to the pit (grave), to the people of old, and I will make you dwell in the lower parts of the earth. It will be like the ancient waste places, with those who go down to the pit (grave), so that you will not be inhabited; but I will set glory in the land of the living.

¹⁸ »‘»Damascus was your customer because of the abundance of your goods, because of the abundance of all kinds of wealth, because of the wine of Helbon and white wool. ¹⁹ »‘»Vedan and Javan paid for your wares from Uzal. Wrought iron, cassia and sweet cane were among your merchandise. ²⁰ »‘»Dedan traded with you in saddlecloths for riding. ²¹ »‘»Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your customers for lambs, rams and goats. ²² »‘»The traders of Sheba and Raamah traded with you. They paid for your wares with the best of all kinds of spices, and with all kinds of precious stones and gold. ²³ »‘»Haran, Canneh, Eden, the traders of Sheba, Asshur and Chilmad traded with you. ²⁴ »‘»They traded with you in choice garments, in clothes of blue and embroidered work, and in carpets of many colors and tightly wound cords, which were among your merchandise. ²⁵ »‘»The ships of Tarshish were the carriers for your merchandise. And you were filled and were very glorious in the heart of the seas. ²⁶ »‘»Your rowers have brought you into great waters. The east wind has broken you in the heart of the seas. ²⁷ »‘»Your wealth, your wares, your merchandise, your sailors and your pilots, your repairers of seams, your dealers in merchandise and all your men of war who are in you, with all your company that is in your midst, will fall into the heart of the seas on the day of your overthrow. ²⁸ »‘»The pasturelands will shake at the sound of the cry of your pilots. ²⁹ »‘»All who handle the oars, the sailors and all the pilots of the sea will come down from their ships. They will stand on the land, ³⁰ »‘»And they will make their voice heard over you and will cry bitterly. They will cast dust on their heads and wallow in ashes. ³¹ »‘»They will make themselves bald for you and gird themselves with sackcloth. They will weep for you in bitterness and with painful mourning. ³² »‘»In their wailing they will take up a lamentation for you and lament over you: Who is like Tyre, Like her who is silent in the midst of the sea?

¹⁸ Balaam answered Balak’s servants: »Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not disobey the command of Jehovah my God no matter whether the request was important or not.

²⁷ The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem and cedars like the sycamore-trees of the lowlands in number.

²¹ »He pours out contempt upon nobles and disarms the mighty.

²⁵ and if the Almighty is your gold and your precious silver,

¹⁶ »Though he heaps up silver like dust and clothes like piles of clay, ¹⁷ what he lays up the righteous will wear, and the innocent will divide his silver.

⁷ Their land is full of silver and gold. There is no limit to their treasures. Their land is also full of horses. There is no limit to their chariots.

¹⁸ »Their silver and their gold will not be able to keep them safe in the Day of Jehovah’s anger (rage) (wrath). He will devour all the nations by the fire of his zeal! He will exterminate all the inhabitants of the earth!«

³ »Tyre built herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.

³ A man can have a hundred children and live many years. If he does not enjoy prosperity and have a decent burial, a stillborn child is better off then he.

⁸ And last of all I also saw him, as of one with an untimely birth.

¹³ »If only you would hide me in the grave (Sheol) and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set a time for me and then remember me!

¹⁶ »Will hope go down with me to the gates of the grave? Will my hope rest with me in the dust?«

⁵ Fear and trembling have overcome me. Horror has overwhelmed me. ⁶ I said: If only I had wings like a dove. I would fly away and find rest. ⁷ I would run far away. I would stay in the desert. ⁸ I would hurry to a place of refuge from the raging wind and storm.

¹ The righteous perishes and no man takes it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, while no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil. ² He will enter into peace. The honorable and honest will rest in his bed.

²⁸ »Do not fear those who kill the body. They are not able to take away your [everlasting] life. Instead, fear him who is able to destroy both life and body in the ever-burning fires. (Greek: Gehenna: continuously burning trash fires in the valley of Hinnom.)

⁴ »I tell you my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body. After that they can do no more.

⁶ It is a righteous thing for God to repay with affliction (great suffering and distress) those who afflict you. ⁷ You who are afflicted rest with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire.

⁹ There remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

¹¹ Let us do our utmost to enter into that rest. Let no one fall into the same pattern of disobedience by not obeying the word.

⁸ That righteous man that dwelled among them was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard.

¹³ Then I heard a voice from heaven say: »Write: Blessed are the dead who die in union with the Lord from this time forward: Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works follow them.«

⁶ Pharaoh gave these orders to the slave drivers and foremen: ⁷ »Do not give the people any more straw to make bricks as you have been doing. Let them gather their own straw. ⁸ »Insist that they make the same number of bricks they were making before. Making fewer bricks will not be acceptable. They are lazy! That is why they are crying: Let us go offer sacrifices to our God.

¹⁵ Finally, the men in charge of the slaves went to the king and asked: »Why are you treating us like this? ¹⁶ »No one brings us any straw. Yet we are still ordered to make the same number of bricks. We are beaten with whips, and your own people are to blame.« ¹⁷ The king replied: »You are lazy. You are just lazy! That is why you keep asking me to let you go and sacrifice to Jehovah. ¹⁸ »Get back to work! You will not be given straw, but you must still make the same number of bricks.« ¹⁹ The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told: »Do not make fewer bricks each day than you are supposed to.«

³ Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots, and he ruled the people of Israel with cruelty and violence for twenty years. The people of Israel cried out to Jehovah for help.

⁷ »He scorns the tumult of the city. He does not heed the shouts of the driver.

³ When that day comes, Jehovah will give you relief from your pain and suffering, from the hard slavery you were forced to do. ⁴ You will mock the king of Babylon with this saying: »How the tyrant has come to an end! How his attacks have come to an end!

² Listen you common people and important ones, rich people and poor ones.

¹⁴ Like sheep, they are laid in the grave. Death will shepherd them. The upright will rule them in the morning. Their forms will decay in the grave, far away from their comfortable homes. ¹⁵ But God will redeem me (buy me back) from the power of the grave because he will receive me. ¹⁶ Do not be afraid when someone becomes rich, when the greatness of his house increases. ¹⁷ He will not take anything with him when he dies. Even his greatness cannot follow him. ¹⁸ Even though he blesses himself while he is alive. (People will praise you when you do well for yourself.) ¹⁹ He must join the generation of his ancestors who will never see light again. ²⁰ Mortals, with what they treasure, still do not have understanding. They are like animals that die.

⁵ Also when they will be afraid of what is high, and fears will be in the way, and the almond tree will flourish, and the grasshopper will be a burden, and the caper berry breaks and desire fails, man goes to his long lasting home and the mourners go about the streets.

⁷ Then the dust will return to the earth as it was. The spirit (life) will return to God who gave it.

²² »The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man died and was buried. ²³ »He was in great torment in the grave (hades). He looked up and saw Abraham, far away, with Lazarus at his side.

²⁷ It is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment:

¹⁰ Hannah was filled with grief and wept bitterly. She prayed and pledged an oath to Jehovah:

²⁷ but when she came to Elisha, she bowed down before him and took hold of his feet. Gehazi was about to push her away. Elisha said: »Do not bother her. You can see she is deeply distressed. Jehovah has not told me a thing about it.«

¹⁶ »Why was I not hidden in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?

⁹ »Oh that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut me off!

¹⁵ »I would rather die of strangulation than go on and on like this. ¹⁶ »I hate my life. I do not want to go on living. Oh, leave me alone for these few remaining days.

²⁸ »He redeemed me from going down to the pit, and I will live to enjoy the light.

³⁰ »He turns him back from the pit that the light of life may shine on him.

⁶ Give strong drink to him who is ready to perish, and wine to those who are bitter.

¹⁸ Why did I ever come forth from the womb to look on trouble and sorrow? My days have been spent in shame!

¹⁵ »If you treat me like this have pity on me and kill me. That way I will not have to endure my shame any longer.«

⁴ Elijah walked a whole day into the wilderness. He stopped and sat down under a broom plant and wished he would die. »It is just too much, Jehovah,« he prayed. »Take away my life. I could just as well be dead.«

⁴ Search for wisdom as if it were silver. Hunt for it as if it were hidden treasure!

³ »Now, O Jehovah, please take my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live.«

⁸ When the sun rose God prepared a sultry (burning hot) east wind. So the sun beat upon the head of Jonah and he grew faint. He requested for himself that he might die. He said: »It is better for me to die than to live!«

⁶ Men will seek death in those days and will not find it. They will desire to die and death will elude them.

¹⁴ »What he tears down cannot be rebuilt. The man he imprisons cannot be released.

⁶ then I want you to know that God has wronged me and surrounded me with his net.

⁸ »God has blocked my path so that I cannot go on. He has made my path dark.

¹² »His troops assemble against me. They build a ramp to attack me. They camp around my tent.

⁸ You have not handed me over to the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place.

⁸ You have taken my friends far away from me. You made me disgusting to them. I am shut in, and I cannot get out.

²⁷ »‘Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel: ‘My way is hidden from Jehovah! My God disregards my cause?’

⁷ He built a wall around me so that I am unable to go out. He made a heavy chain for me.

⁹ He blocked my way with cut stones. He twisted my roadways.

⁶ »Behold, I (Jehovah) will fence her way with thorns. I will build a wall against her that she will not find her path.

⁷ »I refuse to touch it! This repugnant food makes me ill.

¹⁹ »How long will you keep looking at me and let me alone till I swallow my spittle?

²⁰ »His very being finds food repulsive and he loathes the choicest meal.

¹ ([Psalm of David]) My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far away from my deliverance, so far away from the words of my moaning? ² My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer. I cry by night, but I find no rest.

³ When I kept silent about my sins, my body wasted away and I groaned all day long.

⁸ I am numb and completely devastated. I roar because my heart is filling with anguish.

³ My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long: Where is your God? ⁴ I remember these things and I pour out my heart within me. I used to go along with the crowd and lead them in procession to the house of God, with the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.

⁵ You made them eat tears as food. You often made them drink their own tears.

⁹ For I have eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping.

¹¹ We all growl like bears. We coo like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none. We hope for salvation, but it is far from us.

⁸ Even when I send up a cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.

⁵ The morning after each feast, Job would get up early to offer sacrifices for each of his children in order to purify them. He always did this because he thought that one of them might have sinned by insulting God unintentionally.

¹⁵ »Terrorists turn on me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

²³ »I was in terror of destruction from God and I could not face his majesty.

¹⁴ you shatter me with dreams. You terrify me with visions.’

⁹ »Does God listen to his cry when distress comes upon him?

¹¹ For the sake of your name, O Jehovah, revive me. In your righteousness bring me out of trouble.