Job 18-20

New Life Version

Bildad Talks

18 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, ² “How long will you keep talking? Show understanding and then we can talk. ³ Why are we thought of as animals? Why do you see us as not being able to think? ⁴ You who tear yourself in your anger, will the earth be left alone because of you? Or will the rocks be moved from their place?

⁵ “Yes, the light of the sinful is put out. His fire does not give light. ⁶ The light in his tent is made dark, and his lamp goes out above him. ⁷ His strong steps are made short, and his own plans make him fall. ⁸ For he is thrown down into a net by his own feet and walks on it. ⁹ A trap catches him by the foot and holds him. ¹⁰ A tied rope is hidden in the ground for him. A trap is set for him on the path. ¹¹ He is filled with fear on every side. It follows him at every step. ¹² His strength leaves him because trouble is waiting for him at every side. ¹³ His skin is eaten by disease and the beginning of death eats his legs. ¹⁴ He is taken away from his tent where he was safe, and is brought to the king of fears. ¹⁵ Fire destroys everything in his tent and sulphur is spread where he lives. ¹⁶ His roots are dried below and his branch is cut off above. ¹⁷ No one on earth will remember him. His name will not be known in the land. ¹⁸ He is sent from light into darkness, and driven away from where people live. ¹⁹ He has no children among his people to carry on his name where he lived. ²⁰ Those in the west are surprised and afraid at what happened to him. And those in the east are filled with fear. ²¹ For sure, these are the houses of the sinful. This is the place of him who does not know God.”

Job Talks

19 Then Job answered, ² “How long will you make me suffer and crush me with words? ³ Ten times you have put me to shame and are not ashamed to wrong me. ⁴ Even if it is true that I have done wrong, it stays with me. ⁵ You put yourselves up high against me, and try to prove my shame to me. ⁶ You will know then that God has wronged me, and has set a trap around me.

⁷ “See, I cry, ‘Someone is hurting me!’ but I get no answer. I call for help, but no one stands for what is right and fair. ⁸ He has built a wall in my way so that I cannot pass. And He has put darkness on my paths. ⁹ He has taken my honor from me, and taken the crown from my head. ¹⁰ He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone. He has pulled up my hope like a tree. ¹¹ He has made His anger burn against me, and thinks of me as one who fights against Him. ¹² His armies come together and build a path against me. They camp around my tent.

¹³ “He has taken my brothers far away from me and my friends have all left me. ¹⁴ My brothers have left me, and my close friends have forgotten me. ¹⁵ Those who live in my house and my women servants think of me as a stranger. I am like one from another country in their eyes. ¹⁶ I call to my servant, but he does not answer. I have to beg him. ¹⁷ My breath smells bad to my wife, and I am hated by my own brothers. ¹⁸ Even young children hate me. When I get up they speak against me. ¹⁹ All my friends hate me. Those I love have turned against me. ²⁰ I am only skin and flesh. And I have gotten away only by the skin of my teeth. ²¹ Have pity on me. Have pity on me, O you my friends. For the hand of God has hit me. ²² Why do you make it hard for me as God does? Have I not suffered enough to please you?

²³ “If only my words were written! If only they were written down in a book! ²⁴ If only they were cut forever into the rock with an iron cutter and lead! ²⁵ But as for me, I know that the One Who bought me and made me free from sin lives, and that He will stand upon the earth in the end. ²⁶ Even after my skin is destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. ²⁷ I myself will see Him. With my own eyes I will see Him and not another. My heart becomes weak within me. ²⁸ If you say, ‘How will we make it hard for him?’ and, ‘The root of the problem is in him,’ ²⁹ you should be afraid of the sword for yourselves. For anger is punished by the sword, that you may know there is punishment for wrong-doing.”

Zophar Talks

20 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered, ² “My troubled thoughts make me answer, because I have no rest inside. ³ I heard the strong words that take away my honor. The spirit of my understanding makes me answer. ⁴ Do you not know from long ago, since man was put on earth, ⁵ that the honor of the sinful is short, and the joy of the sinful lasts only a short time? ⁶ Even if his pride is as high as the heavens and his head touches the clouds, ⁷ he will be gone forever, like his own waste. Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’ ⁸ He will fly away like a dream, and not be found. He will be driven away like a dream of the night. ⁹ The eye which saw him will see him no more. His place will no longer see him. ¹⁰ His sons will look for the favor of the poor. And his hands will give back his riches. ¹¹ His bones are full of the strength of the young, but it will lie down with him in the dust.

¹² “Sin is sweet in his mouth. He hides it under his tongue. ¹³ He hates to let it go, and holds it in his mouth. ¹⁴ Yet his food in his stomach is changed to the poison of snakes inside him. ¹⁵ He eats riches, but will spit them up. God will take them out of his stomach. ¹⁶ He will drink the poison of snakes. The snake’s tongue will kill him. ¹⁷ He will not look at the rivers, the rivers flowing with honey and milk. ¹⁸ He must return what he has worked for, and can not eat it. He will not have joy from the riches of his trading. ¹⁹ For he has taken from the poor and left them with nothing. He has taken houses which he has not built.

²⁰ “Because he thought he never had enough, he has nothing that gives him joy. ²¹ There was nothing more for him to get, so his having everything will not last. ²² Even when he has many riches, he will have trouble. Everyone who suffers will come against him. ²³ When he fills his stomach, God will send His great anger on him. He will send it on him while he is eating. ²⁴ He may get away from the iron sword, but the brass bow will shoot an arrow in him. ²⁵ It cuts through his body and comes out of his back. The shining arrow comes out of his liver. Much fear comes upon him. ²⁶ Complete darkness is stored up for his riches. A fire not kept going by man will burn him up. It will destroy all that is left in his tent. ²⁷ The heavens will make his sin known, and the earth will rise up against him. ²⁸ The things of his house will be carried away. They will be taken away in the day of God’s anger. ²⁹ This is what God has for sinful men. It is what God chooses to give to them.”