1Mit livsmod er brudt, mine dage er talte, og graven venter mig.2Jeg er omgivet af folk, som blot gør nar ad mig.3Det er kun dig, der kan hjælpe mig, Gud. Ingen anden kan løse mit problem,4for du har ikke givet dem indsigt til at forstå det. Derfor bør de ikke hovere over mig.5Når nogen lader sin ven i stikken, rammer straffen hans egne børn.6Du har gjort mig berygtet, én man håner og spytter i ansigtet.7Mit blik er sløret af tårer, jeg er ikke andet end skind og ben.8Retskafne folk er bestyrtede over min ulykke og oprørte over de gudløses fremgang.9Men de retsindige lader sig ikke lokke til synd, de, som har rene motiver, får ny styrke.
Job er frustreret over sine venner
10Men hvad jer angår, mine venner, finder jeg ingen visdom i jeres ord.11Mit livsløb er snart forbi, og mine ønsker blev ikke opfyldt.12I siger, at lyset er ved at bryde frem, men jeg ser ikke andet end mørke.13Jeg ser frem til at blive lagt i graven, hvor jeg kan hvile mig i dødens mørke.14Forrådnelsen bliver som en far for mig, ormene som en mor eller søster.15Hvad mener I om sådan et håb? Hvem kan få øje på min lykke?16Er der håb tilbage, når man ligger i graven? Har man stadig et håb, når man bliver til støv?”
1“My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me. (Job 18,5; Salm 88,3)2Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation. (1.Sam 1,6; Job 12,6)3“Lay down a pledge for me with you; who is there who will put up security for me? (Salm 119,122; Es 38,14; Heb 7,22)4Since you have closed their hearts to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph.5He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property— the eyes of his children will fail. (Job 11,20; Job 31,16)6“He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit. (5.Mos 28,37; Job 30,9; Salm 44,14; Salm 69,11)7My eye has grown dim from vexation, and all my members are like a shadow. (Job 14,2; Salm 6,7; Salm 31,9)8The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless. (Es 52,14)9Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger. (Job 22,30)10But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you. (Job 6,29)11My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart. (Job 7,6; Job 9,25)12They make night into day: ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’[1] (Job 11,17)13If I hope for Sheol as my house, if I make my bed in darkness, (Job 21,13; Præd 12,5)14if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’15where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?16Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?”[2] (Job 3,17; Job 17,13; Job 21,26; Job 40,13)