In Part 1 the author introduced his rendition of Job in modern verse: “Most of today’s bibles have the accurate translation of the Hebrew as a higher priority than the preservation of the poetic form. This makes sense, they are translations. In my rendition of Job’s poetry, I maintain a meter with eight or nine syllables, of which, three are stressed. Hebrew did not use a rhyme scheme. I have added one using the form ABCB.
I have not rendered the speeches of God nor Job’s friends. My goal was simply to manifest Job’s suffering in the form of modern poetry. I have tried to stay true to the meaning of the text line by line, but it was often better to reorder the words or verses to make the meter or rhyme scheme that I used work.”[ See the full introduction here.]
The following is a selection of a few verses from a forth-coming book, Job: The Poetry of Suffering.
An Appeal to His Maker
Job reminds God. (10:1–12)
10:1- I have come to abhor my own life.
I will speak as a soul filled with grief.
10:2 To God I say, “Let me know why
You oppose me and grant no relief.
“Is this why you challenge me so:
10:3- Is it pleasing to you to oppress,
Despising the work of your hands;
While the plans of the wicked you bless?
10:4- “Do you spy with an eye made of flesh?
10:5- You whose years neither whither nor wilt.
10:6- You seek out each my sins,
You show to me all of my guilt.
10:7- “Although you know I am not wicked,
And no one but you can set free.
10:8- Will the hands that put me together,
Now crush and obliterate me?
10:9- “Remember, you made me from dust;
You fashioned me out of the clay,
10:10- And raised me, a child drinking milk;
And fed me on honey and whey.
10:11- “You clothed me with skin and in flesh;
And covered me: sinew and bone.
10:12- You granted me life and devotion;
You kept me as your very own.
Alienation
Job asks God why he has become alienated (13:20-28).
13:20- God grant me only these things,
Then I will not hide from your face:
13:21- Desist with your terror and your dread.
Withdraw your hand from my case.
13:22- Or summon me. I will respond.
Let me speak and then you can reply.
13:23- Are my wrongs and my sins very great?
You judge me, at least tell me why.
13:24- Why do you keep your face hidden,
And deem me your foe and your bane?
13:25- Will you frighten a wind– driven leaf?
Or choose the dry chaff not the grain?
13:26- Against me you pen bitter words,
And you make me inherit defeat.
Still punishing sins of my youth,
13:27- In stocks you have locked up my feet.
You watch all the paths that I tread,
Setting bounds on my heels and my toes.
13:28- I decay, like a thing that is rotten,
Fall apart, like some moth–eaten clothes.
Job Meditates On Mortality
The cycle of life, death and rebirth (14:1-22).
14:1- All mortals are born of a woman,
To days that are few and distressed.
14:2- Like flowers that spring up and wither –
Fleeting shadows that never find rest.
14:3- Toward mortals you open your eyes
to bring us to judgment with you.
14:4- Who cleans something made out of dung?
No one – except possibly you?
14:5- My number of days is determined;
My limit of months you decree.
14:6- Give me days to enjoy like a hireling.
Ignore me and just let me be.
14:7- At least there is hope for a tree.
You fell it and yet it might sprout.
14:8- Its roots might decay in the dirt.
The stump in the ground may die out.
14:9- But then, come the scent of the dew…
It revives and from buds comes a tree.
14:10- But a man is laid low and he dies;
Exhaling, and then, where is he?
14:11- As a lake disappears without water,
Or a riverbed thirsts and grows dry,
14:12- Man reclines never rising from sleep;
While the stars remain fixed in the sky.
My Redeemer Lives
In these few verses, Job expresses an extraordinary prophetic vision (19:23-27).
19:23- If only my words might be written;
O that, they were scribed on a scroll!
19:24- Or engraved with a pen made of iron
In lead, into rock, preserved whole.
19:25- My redeemer, he lives and I know;
He will stand on the earth at the end,
19:26- And after my skin is destroyed,
In my flesh I will see God again.
19:27- Whom I will behold for myself,
I will see with my very own eye
Him only and not someone else.
Within, my heart faints and I sigh.
© 2026 Michael Shaughnessy
Top image credit: Artwork depicting Job and his three companions, from GoodSalt.com, 2026. Used with permission.
Mike Shaughnessy is a lifelong member of the Servants of the Word, an international ecumenical brotherhood of men living single for the Lord. He is a prolific writer. He has written extensively about youth work and currently leads Grandly, a ministry helping grandparents pass on their faith to their grandchildren. He lives in Lansing, Michigan USA.