Job 21-24

New International Reader's Version

² “Listen carefully to what I’m saying.
    Let that be the comfort you people give me.
³ Put up with me while I speak.
    After I’ve spoken, you can make fun of me!

⁴ “I’m not arguing with mere human beings.
    So why shouldn’t I be angry and uneasy?
⁵ Look at me and be shocked.
    Put your hand over your mouth and stop talking!
⁶ When I think about these things, I’m terrified.
    My whole body trembles.
⁷ Why do sinful people keep on living?
    The older they grow, the richer they get.
⁸ They see their children grow up around them.
    They watch their family grow larger.
⁹ Their homes are safe.
    They don’t have to be afraid.
    God isn’t punishing them.
¹⁰ Every time their bulls mate, their cows become pregnant.
    And the calves don’t die before they are born.
¹¹ Sinful people send their children out like a flock of lambs.
    Their little ones dance around.
¹² They sing to the music of tambourines and lyres.
    They have a good time while flutes are being played.
¹³ Those who are evil spend their years living well.
    They go down to their graves in peace.
¹⁴ But they say to God, ‘Leave us alone!
    We don’t want to know how you want us to live.
¹⁵ Who is the Mighty One? Why should we serve him?
    What would we get if we prayed to him?’
¹⁶ But they aren’t in control of their own success.
    So I don’t pay any attention to their plans.

¹⁷ “How often are their lamps blown out?
    How often does trouble come on them?
    How often does God punish them when he’s angry?
¹⁸ How often are they like straw blowing in the wind?
    How often are they like tumbleweeds swept away by a storm?
¹⁹ People say, ‘God stores up the punishment of evil people for their children.’
    But let God punish the evil people themselves.
    Then they’ll learn a lesson from it.
²⁰ Let their own eyes see how they are destroyed.
    Let them drink the wine of the Mighty One’s anger.
²¹ What do they care about the families they leave behind?
    What do they care about them
    when their lives come to an end?

²² “Can anyone teach God anything?
    After all, he judges even the angels in heaven.
²³ Some people die while they are still very strong.
    They are completely secure. They have an easy life.
²⁴ They are well fed.
    Their bodies are healthy.
²⁵ Others die while their spirits are bitter.
    They’ve never enjoyed anything good.
²⁶ Side by side they lie in the dust of death.
    The worms in their graves cover all of them.

²⁷ “I know exactly what you people are thinking.
    I know you are planning to do bad things to me.
²⁸ You are saying to yourselves,
    ‘Where is the great man’s house now?
    Where are the tents where his evil family lived?’
²⁹ Haven’t you ever asked questions of those who travel?
    Haven’t you paid any attention to their stories?
³⁰ They’ll tell you that sinful people
    are spared from the day of trouble.
They’ll say that those people
    are saved from the day when God will judge.
³¹ Who speaks against them for the way they act?
    Who pays them back for what they’ve done?
³² Their bodies will be carried to their graves.
    Guards will watch over their tombs.
³³ The soil in the valley will be pleasant
    to those who have died.
Many people will walk along behind their bodies.
    Many others will walk in front of them.

³⁴ “So how can you comfort me with your speeches?
    They don’t make any sense at all.
    Your answers are nothing but lies!”

² “Can any person be of benefit to God?
    Can even a wise person be of any help to him?
³ Job, what pleasure would it give the Mighty One if you were right?
    What would he get if you were completely honest?

⁴ “You say you have respect for him.
    Is that why he corrects you?
    Is that why he brings charges against you?
⁵ Haven’t you done many evil things?
    Don’t you sin again and again?
⁶ You took clothes away from your relatives
    just because they owed you some money.
    You left them naked for no reason at all.
⁷ You didn’t give any water to people who were tired.
    You held food back from those who were hungry.
⁸ You did it even though you were honored and powerful.
    You owned land and lived on it.
⁹ But you sent widows away without anything.
    You mistreated children whose fathers had died.
¹⁰ That’s why traps have been set all around you.
    That’s why sudden danger terrifies you.
¹¹ That’s why it’s so dark you can’t even see.
    That’s why a flood covers you up.

¹² “Isn’t God in the highest parts of heaven?
    See how high the highest stars are!
¹³ But you still say, ‘What does God know?
    Can he see through the darkest clouds to judge us?
¹⁴ He goes around in the highest heavens.
    Thick clouds keep him from seeing us.’
¹⁵ Will you stay on the old path
    that sinful people have walked on?
¹⁶ They were carried off even before they died.
    Their foundations were washed away by a flood.
¹⁷ They said to God, ‘Leave us alone!
    What can you do to us, you Mighty One?’
¹⁸ But he was the one who filled their houses with good things.
    So I don’t pay any attention to the plans of evil people.

¹⁹ “Those who do what is right are joyful
    when they see sinners destroyed.
    Those who haven’t done anything wrong make fun of them.
²⁰ They say, ‘Our enemies are completely destroyed.
    Fire has burned up their wealth.’

²¹ “Job, obey God and be at peace with him.
    Then he will help you succeed.
²² Do what he teaches you to do.
    Keep his words in your heart.
²³ If you return to the Mighty One,
    you will have what you had before.
But first you must remove
    everything that is evil far from your tent.
²⁴ You must throw your gold nuggets away.
    You must toss your gold from Ophir into a valley.
²⁵ Then the Mighty One himself will be your gold.
    He’ll be like the finest silver to you.
²⁶ You will find delight in the Mighty One.
    You will honor God and trust in him.
²⁷ You will pray to him, and he will hear you.
    You will keep the promises you made to him.
²⁸ What you decide to do will be done.
    Light will shine on the path you take.
²⁹ When people are brought low you will say, ‘Lift them up!’
    Then God will help them.
³⁰ He’ll even save those who are guilty.
    He’ll save them because your hands are clean.”

² “Even today my problems are more than I can handle.
    In spite of my groans, God’s hand is heavy on me.
³ I wish I knew where I could find him!
    I wish I could go to the place where he lives!
⁴ I would state my case to him.
    I’d give him all my arguments.
⁵ I’d find out what his answers would be.
    I’d think about what he would say to me.
⁶ Would he strongly oppose me?
    No. He wouldn’t bring charges against me.
⁷ There honest people can prove to him they’re not guilty.
    There my Judge would tell me once and for all that I’m not guilty.

⁸ “But if I go to the east, God isn’t there.
    If I go to the west, I don’t find him.
⁹ When he’s working in the north, I don’t see him there.
    When he turns to the south, I don’t see him there either.
¹⁰ But he knows every step I take.
    When he has tested me,
    I’ll come out as pure as gold.
¹¹ My feet have closely followed his steps.
    I’ve stayed on his path without turning away.
¹² I haven’t disobeyed his commands.
    I’ve treasured his words more than my daily bread.

¹³ “But he’s the only God. Who can oppose him?
    He does anything he wants to do.
¹⁴ He carries out his plans against me.
    And he still has many other plans just like them.
¹⁵ That’s why I’m so terrified.
    When I think about all of this, I’m afraid of him.
¹⁶ God has made my heart weak.
    The Mighty One has filled me with terror.
¹⁷ But even the darkness of death won’t make me silent.
    When the darkness of the grave covers my face, I won’t be quiet.

24 “Why doesn’t the Mighty One set a time for judging sinful people?
    Why do those who know him have to keep waiting for that day?
² People move their neighbor’s boundary stones.
    They steal their neighbor’s flocks.
³ They take away the donkeys
    that belong to children whose fathers have died.
    They take a widow’s ox until she has paid what she owes.
⁴ They push those who are needy out of their way.
    They force all the poor people in the land to go into hiding.
⁵ The poor are like wild donkeys in the desert.
    They have to go around looking for food.
    The dry and empty land provides the only food for their children.
⁶ The poor go to the fields and get a little grain.
    They gather up what is left in the vineyards of sinners.
⁷ The poor don’t have any clothes. So they spend the night naked.
    They don’t have anything to cover themselves in the cold.
⁸ They are soaked by mountain rains.
    They hug the rocks because they don’t have anything to keep them warm.
⁹ Children whose fathers have died
    are torn away from their mothers.
    A poor person’s baby is taken away to pay back what is owed.
¹⁰ The poor don’t have any clothes. They go around naked.
    They carry bundles of grain, but they still go hungry.
¹¹ They work very hard as they crush olives.
    They stomp on grapes in winepresses,
    but they are still thirsty.
¹² The groans of those who are dying are heard from the city.
    Those who are wounded cry out for help.
    But God doesn’t charge anyone with doing what is wrong.

¹³ “Some people hate it when daylight comes.
    In the daytime they never walk outside.
¹⁴ When daylight is gone, murderers get up.
    They kill poor people and those who are in need.
    In the night they sneak around like robbers.
¹⁵ Those who commit adultery wait until the sun goes down.
    They think, ‘No one will see us.’
    They keep their faces hidden.
¹⁶ In the dark, thieves break into houses.
    But by day they shut themselves in.
    They don’t want anything to do with the light.
¹⁷ Midnight is like morning to them.
    The terrors of darkness are their friends.

¹⁸ “But sinners are like bubbles on the surface of water.
    Their share of the land is under God’s curse.
    So no one goes to their vineyards.
¹⁹ Melted snow disappears when the air is hot and dry.
    And sinners disappear when they go down into their graves.
²⁰ Even their mothers forget them.
    The worms in their graves eat them up.
No one remembers sinful people anymore.
    They are cut down like trees.
²¹ They mistreat women who aren’t able to have children.
    They aren’t kind to widows.
²² But God is powerful.
    He even drags away people who are strong.
When he rises up against them,
    they can never be sure they are safe.
²³ God might let them rest and feel secure.
    But his eyes see how they live.
²⁴ For a little while they are honored.
    Then they are gone.
They are brought low.
    And they die like everyone else.
    They are cut off like heads of grain.

²⁵ “Who can prove that what I’m saying is wrong?
    Who can prove that my words aren’t true?”