Job 23-24

New King James Version

² “Even today my ^(A)complaint is bitter;
^[a]My hand is listless because of my groaning.
^3 (B)Oh, that I knew where I might find Him,
That I might come to His seat!
⁴ I would present my case before Him,
And fill my mouth with arguments.
⁵ I would know the words which He would answer me,
And understand what He would say to me.
^6 (C)Would He contend with me in His great power?
No! But He would take note of me.
⁷ There the upright could reason with Him,
And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.

⁸ “Look,^(D) I go forward, but He is not there,
And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
⁹ When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him;
When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.
¹⁰ But ^(E)He knows the way that I take;
When ^(F)He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
^11 (G)My foot has held fast to His steps;
I have kept His way and not turned aside.
¹² I have not departed from the ^(H)commandment of His lips;
^(I)I have treasured the words of His mouth
More than my ^[b]necessary food.

¹³ “But He is unique, and who can make Him change?
And whatever ^(J)His soul desires, that He does.
¹⁴ For He performs what is ^(K)appointed for me,
And many such things are with Him.
¹⁵ Therefore I am terrified at His presence;
When I consider this, I am afraid of Him.
¹⁶ For God ^(L)made my heart weak,
And the Almighty terrifies me;
¹⁷ Because I was not ^(M)cut off ^[c]from the presence of darkness,
And He did not hide deep darkness from my face.

² “Some remove ^(P)landmarks;
They seize flocks violently and feed on them;
³ They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;
They ^(Q)take the widow’s ox as a pledge.
⁴ They push the needy off the road;
All the ^(R)poor of the land are forced to hide.
⁵ Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert,
They go out to their work, searching for food.
The wilderness yields food for them and for their children.
⁶ They gather their fodder in the field
And glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
⁷ They ^(S)spend the night naked, without clothing,
And have no covering in the cold.
⁸ They are wet with the showers of the mountains,
And ^(T)huddle around the rock for want of shelter.

⁹ “Some snatch the fatherless from the breast,
And take a pledge from the poor.
¹⁰ They cause the poor to go naked, without ^(U)clothing;
And they take away the sheaves from the hungry.
¹¹ They press out oil within their walls,
And tread winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
¹² The dying groan in the city,
And the souls of the wounded cry out;
Yet God does not charge them with wrong.

¹³ “There are those who rebel against the light;
They do not know its ways
Nor abide in its paths.
^14 (V)The murderer rises with the light;
He kills the poor and needy;
And in the night he is like a thief.
^15 (W)The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
^(X)Saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
And he ^[d]disguises his face.
¹⁶ In the dark they break into houses
Which they marked for themselves in the daytime;
^(Y)They do not know the light.
¹⁷ For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death;
If someone recognizes them,
They are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

¹⁸ “They should be swift on the face of the waters,
Their portion should be cursed in the earth,
So that no one would turn into the way of their vineyards.
¹⁹ As drought and heat ^[e]consume the snow waters,
So ^[f]the grave consumes those who have sinned.
²⁰ The womb should forget him,
The worm should feed sweetly on him;
^(Z)He should be remembered no more,
And wickedness should be broken like a tree.
²¹ For he ^[g]preys on the barren who do not bear,
And does no good for the widow.

²² “But God draws the mighty away with His power;
He rises up, but no man is sure of life.
²³ He gives them security, and they rely on it;
Yet ^(AA)His eyes are on their ways.
²⁴ They are exalted for a little while,
Then they are gone.
They are brought low;
They are ^[h]taken out of the way like all others;
They dry out like the heads of grain.

²⁵ “Now if it is not so, who will prove me a liar,
And make my speech worth nothing?”