The Book of Job Quotes

“But self-abasement is just inverted egoism. Anyone who acts with genuine humility will be as far from humiliation as from arrogance.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Book of Job

“He doesn't hear but sees the Voice.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Book of Job

“The change of language is a change in reality.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Book of Job

“Remember: life is a breath;
soon I will vanish from your sight.
The eye that looks will not see me;
you may search, but I will be gone.
Like a cloud fading in the sky,
man dissolves into death.
He leaves the whole world behind him
and never comes home again.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Book of Job

“I am speechless: what can I answer?
I put hand on my mouth.
I have said too much already;
now I will speak no more.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Book of Job

“May the day of my birth perish. May it turn to darkness. May God above not care about it. May no light shine on it. May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more. May a cloud settle over it. May blackness overwhelm it. May thick darkness seize it. May it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months. May that night be barren. May no shout of joy be heard in it. May those who curse days curse that day. May its morning stars become dark. May it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn, for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my eyes.
Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb? Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed? For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest.
Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul,
to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure, who are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave?
For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water.What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.”
― Anonymous, The Book of Job

“How I long for the months gone by,
for the days when God watched over me,
when his lamp shone on my head
and by his light I walked through darkness!
Oh, for the days when I was in my prime,
when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house,
when the Almighty was still with me
and my children were around me,
when my path was drenched with cream
and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.”
― Anonymous, The Book of Job

“He does not care; so I say he murders both the pure and the wicked.”
― Anonymous, The Book of Job

“they that provoke God are secure; Into whose hand God bringeth abundantly. 12:7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; And the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee: 12:8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. 12:9 Who knoweth”
― Anonymous, The Book of Job

“And the breath of all mankind?”
― Anonymous, The Book of Job

“for now shall I sleep in the dust;
and thou shalt seek me in the morning,
but I shall not be.”
― Louis de Bernières, The Book of Job