How May a Christian Respond to Severe Suffering? – Job 2:11-3:26
2 (11) When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz theTemanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the calamity that had come upon him, they each came from their own home and, meeting together, they agreed to go to console and comfort him. (12) When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. They began to wail and to weep; each one tore his robe, and they tossed dust into the air and upon their heads. (13) So they sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights. No one spoke a word to him, because they saw that his grief was very great.
3 After this time, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. (2) Job said, (3) May the day on which I was born perish; and the night which announced, A boy is born! (4) May that day be darkness! May God above not take care of it; neither let a ray of light shine on it! (5) May darkness and the shadow of death claim it for themselves; may a mass of clouds settle over it; may all that blackens the day terrify it! (6) As for that night, may thick darkness seize it; may it not be included among the days of the year; may it not be entered in any of the months! (7) May that night be sterile! May no shout of joy be heard in it! (8) May those who curse the day curse it, those who are ready to stir up Leviathan. (9) May its morning stars be darkened; may it wait in vain for the daylight, neither let it see the first rays of dawn; (10) because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, nor did it hide trouble from my sight.
(11) Why did I not die at birth, and expire as I came out of the womb? (12) Why did the knees receive me, and the breasts that I might be nursed? (13) If I had died, I would now be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest (14) with kings and counselors of the earth who built ruins for themselves; (15) or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver—(16) or why could I not have been like a miscarriage that is discarded? Then I would not exist, like an infant who never saw the light—(17) there the wicked cease from causing trouble; and there the weary are at rest. (18) There even the prisoners are at ease; they do not hear the shout of the taskmaster. (19) The insignificant and the great alike are there; and the slave is freed from his master.
(20) Why is light given to those who are in misery, and life to those whose souls experience bitterness? (21) Why is life given to those who long for death—but it does not come—and who dig for it more than for hidden treasures; (22) to those who rejoice exceedingly and are elated when they find the grave? (23) Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, one who has been hedged in by God? (24) My shrieks come as my daily food; my groanings are poured out like water. (25) What I most feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.(26) I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, only turmoil.
Now proceed to the next section of this study, entitled, Exploring the Passage.
