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Chapter 7

Collection:	The Book of Job and 42 Paintings
Author:	Fr. Antonio Oteiza
Type:	Painting
Location:	Cataloguing Room
Characteristics:	Acrylic paint on cardboard
Artwork:	Click to enlarge
Description:	Man is on earth to fulfil his service; his days are those of a hired labourer: like a slave, he longs for the shade; like a hired labourer, he waits for his wages. My inheritance is months of emptiness; nights of weariness have fallen to my lot. When I lie down, I wonder: When will I rise? The night drags on, and I grow weary of tossing and turning until dawn. I am covered with worms and clods of earth; my skin breaks open and festers. My days race faster than a weaver's shuttle and come to an end without hope. Remember that my life is but a breath and that my eyes will never see happiness again. The eye that looks upon me will see me no more; when you look for me, I will no longer be there. As a cloud passes away and vanishes, so whoever goes down to the grave does not return. He does not come back to his house, nor does his dwelling ever see him again. Therefore I will not restrain my tongue; my anguished spirit will speak, and my sorrowful soul will complain. Am I the Ocean or the Dragon that you should set a guard over me? When I think that my bed will bring me relief and my couch will share my groaning, then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with nightmares. I would rather be strangled; I would choose death rather than these limbs I despise. I shall not live for ever: leave me alone, for my days are but a breath. What is man that you should consider him important, that you should concern yourself with him, inspect him every morning and examine him at every moment? How long before you turn your gaze away from me and leave me alone long enough even to swallow my saliva? If I have sinned, what have I done to you, Watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your target, so that I have become a burden to myself? Why do you not forgive my offence and take away my guilt? For very soon I shall lie down in the dust; you will seek me at dawn, but I will no longer exist.

Works from the collection

Chapter 1

Once there was a man in the land of Uz named Job. He was just and upright, God-fearing and kept away from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a large number of servants. He was the richest man among the people of the East.
Chapter 2

The Lord said to him: –Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on earth: he is a just and upright man, God-fearing and far from evil. And you have incited me against him, to destroy him without cause; yet he still holds fast to his integrity.

Satan replied: –Skin for skin! A man will give everything he has for his life.
Chapter 3

Then Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth, saying: “May the day I was born perish, and the night that said, ‘A boy has been conceived!’”
Chapter 4

Eliphaz of Teman replied: “If someone were to speak to you, I do not know whether you could bear it; but can anyone hold back their words?”
Chapter 5

Call out and see if anyone answers you; which angel will you turn to?
Chapter 6

Job replied: If only my sorrow could be weighed and all my misfortunes placed together on the scales, they would be heavier than the sand; that is why my words are so wild.
Chapter 8

Bildad of Shuh then spoke and said: “How long will you speak like this, and how long will your words be like a raging wind?”
Chapter 9

Job replied: I know very well that this is so: man cannot be in the right before God.
Chapter 10

I am weary of life: I will give myself over to complaint and pour out the bitterness of my soul.
Chapter 11

Zophar of Naamah then spoke and said: “Will all this talk go unanswered? Is the chatterer to be proved right?”
Chapter 12

Job replied: “What important people you are! Wisdom will die with you!…”
Chapter 13

My eyes have seen all this, my ears have heard it, and I understand it. What you know, I also know, and I am no less than you.
Chapter 14

Man, born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble. Like a flower he blossoms and withers; he flees like a shadow and does not remain.
Chapter 15

Eliphaz of Teman then spoke and said: “Does a wise man answer with false teaching or fill himself with the east wind, arguing with empty reasoning or meaningless words?”
Chapter 16

Job replied: “I have heard a thousand speeches like these already; you are all troublesome comforters.”
Chapter 17

My mind is troubled, my days are fading, and the grave awaits me. Only mockery keeps me company, and I am weary of provocation.
Chapter 18

Bildad of Shuh then spoke and said: “How long will you go on hunting for words? Think first, and then we shall speak.”
Chapter 19

Job replied: “How long will you continue to afflict me and crush me with your words?”
Chapter 20

Zophar of Naamah then spoke and said: “My agitation urges me to answer, for I feel deeply troubled.”
Chapter 21

Job replied: “Listen carefully to my words; let this be the comfort you give me.”
Chapter 22

Eliphaz of Teman then spoke and said: “Can a man be of use to God? Can a wise man be of use to him?”
Chapter 23

Job replied: “Today too I complain bitterly, for his hand makes my groaning heavier.”
Chapter 24

Why does the Almighty not appoint times when his friends may witness his interventions?
Chapter 25

Bildad of Shuh then spoke and said: “God possesses an awe-inspiring power and establishes peace in his heights.”
Chapter 26

Job replied: “How well you have helped the weak and aided the arm that has no strength!”
Chapter 27

Job continued reciting his verses and said: “As God lives, who denies me justice, and the Almighty, who fills me with bitterness…”
Chapter 28

Silver has its veins, and gold a place where it is refined. Iron is extracted from the earth, and bronze is obtained by smelting rock.
Chapter 29

Job continued reciting his verses and said: “If only I could return to the days gone by, when God watched over me…”
Chapter 30

But now men younger than I am mock me, men whose fathers I would have refused to put even with the dogs of my flock…
Chapter 31

I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman.
Chapter 32

The three men no longer answered Job, convinced that he considered himself innocent. But Elihu, son of Barachel, of the clan of Ram, a native of Buz, became angry with Job because he sought to justify himself before God.
Chapter 33

Listen to my words, Job; pay attention to my speech. See, I am opening my mouth, and my tongue is forming words against my palate.
Chapter 34

Elihu continued, saying: “You who are wise, listen to my words; you who are learned, pay attention to me…”
Chapter 35

Elihu continued: “Do you think it is reasonable to say, ‘I am in the right against God’?”
Chapter 36

Elihu continued: “Wait a little longer and I will teach you, for there is still something to be said in God’s defence.”
Chapter 37

At the sight of this, my heart trembles and leaps from its place.
Chapter 38

Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm: “Who is this who obscures my designs with meaningless words?”
Chapter 39

Do you know when the mountain goats give birth, or have you watched the deer give birth?
Chapter 40

The Lord continued speaking to Job: “Does the critic wish to contend with the Almighty? Let the one who criticizes God answer.”
Chapter 41

I will not fail to describe its limbs and its incomparable strength.
Chapter 42

Job answered the Lord: “I acknowledge that you can do all things and that no plan is impossible for you.”