[The primary references to the text for the Job story/play come from Eugene Peterson’s translation -- The Message of Job. I have copied the section of the story/play to which the postings that follow the text relate – i.e., the first statements Job utters from the ‘scrapheap’ (3:1-26) and the first responses from his close friend Eliphaz (4:1-21). Postings #19-#24 follow.]
3.1Then Job broke the silence. 2He spoke up and cursed his fate:
3“Obliterate the day I was born. Blank out the night I was conceived! 4Let it be a black hole in space. May God above forget it ever happened. Erase it from the books! 5May the day of my birth be buried in deep darkness, shrouded by the fog, swallowed by the night. 6And the night of my conception – the devil take it! Rip the date off the calendar, delete it from the almanac. 7Oh, turn that night into pure nothingness – no sounds of pleasure from that night, ever! 8May those who are good at cursing curse that day. Unleash the sea beast, Leviathan, on it. 9May its morning stars turn to black cinders, waiting for a daylight that never comes, never once seeing the first light of dawn. 10And why? Because it released me from my mother’s womb into a life with so much trouble. 11Why didn’t I die at birth, my first breath out of the womb my last? 12Why were there arms to rock me, and breasts for me to drink from? 13I could be resting in peace right now, asleep forever, feeling no pain, 14in the company of kings and statesmen in their royal ruins, 15or with princes resplendent in their gold and silver tombs. 16Why wasn’t I stillborn and buried with all the babies who never saw light, 17where the wicked no longer trouble anyone and bone-weary people get a long-deserved rest? 18Prisoners sleep undisturbed, never again to wake up to the bark of the guards. 19The small and the great are equals in that place, and slaves are free from their masters. 20Why does God bother giving light to the miserable, why bother keeping bitter people alive, 21those who want in the worst way to die, and can’t, who can’t imagine anything better than death, 22who count the day of their death and burial the happiest day of their life? 23What’s the point of life when it doesn’t make sense, when God blocks all the roads to meaning? 24Instead of bread I get groans for my supper, then leave the table and vomit my anguish. 25The worst of my fears has come true, what I’ve dreaded most has happened. 26My repose is shattered, my peace destroyed. No rest for me, ever – death has invaded life.”
4.1Then Eliphaz from Teman spoke up:
2Would you mind if I said something to you? Under the circumstances it’s hard to keep quiet. 3You yourself have done this plenty of times, spoken words that clarify, encouraged those who were about to quit. 4Your words have put stumbling people on their feet, put fresh hope in people about to collapse. 5But now you’re the one in trouble – you’re hurting! You’ve been hit hard and you’re reeling from the blow. 6But shouldn’t your devout life give you confidence now? Shouldn’t your exemplary life give you hope?
7Think! Has a truly innocent person ever ended up on the scrapheap? Do genuinely upright people ever lose out in the end? 8It’s my observation that those who plow evil and sow trouble reap evil and trouble. 9One breathe from God and they fall apart, one blast of his anger and there’s nothing left of them. 10The mighty lion, king of the beasts, roars mightily, 11but when he’s toothless he’s useless – no teeth, no prey – and the cubs wander off to fend for themselves.
12A word came to me in secret – a mere whisper of a word, but I heard it clearly. 13It came in a scary dream one night, after I had fallen into a deep, deep sleep. 14Dread stared me in the face, and terror. I was scared to death – I shook from head to foot. 15A spirit glided right in front of me – the hair on my head stood on end. 16I couldn’t tell what it was that appeared there – a blur . . . and then I heard a muffled voice:
17“How can mere mortals be more righteous than God? How can humans be purer than their creator? 18Why, God doesn’t even trust his own servants, doesn’t even cheer his angels. 19So how much less these bodies composed of mud, fragile as moths? 20These bodies of ours are here today and gone tomorrow, and no one even notices – gone without a trace. 21When the tent stakes are ripped up, the tent collapses – we die and are never the wiser for having lived.”
