Job and his family

1 In the land named Uz, there was a man named Job. He was a very godly/righteous [DOU] man, who greatly respected/revered God and always avoided doing evil things. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters. 3 He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 1,000 oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was the richest man in all the area east of the Jordan River.

4 Each year, Job’s sons made feasts in their houses to celebrate their birthdays. Whenever each one made a feast, he would invite all his brothers and his three sisters to come and eat together. 5 When each celebration ended, Job would summon them. He would get up early in the morning and kill animals and burn them on the altar as sacrifices, one for each of his children. He said to himself, “Perhaps one of my sons has sinned and said something evil about God in his heart.”

Satan wanted to test Job

6 One day, the angels came and gathered together in front of Yahweh, and Satan came too. 7 Yahweh asked Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan replied, “I have come from the earth, where I been traveling back and forth, seeing what is happening.”

8 Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you ◄noticed/thought about► my faithful servant Job? He is very godly/righteous [DOU], he greatly respects/reveres me, and he always avoids doing evil things. There is no one else on the earth like him.” 9 Satan replied to Yahweh, “What you say is true, but Job greatly respects you only because of what you have done for him [RHQ]. 10 You have always [RHQ] protected [MET] him and his family and everything that he owns. You have made him very prosperous/rich. He has livestock all over this land. 11 But if you take away [MTY] everything that he has, he will curse you openly. [IDM]”

12 Yahweh replied to Satan, “◄All right/Okay►, I will permit you to take away everything that he has. But do not harm him.”

Then Satan left, and he prepared to cause many disastrous things to happen to Job.

13 One day after that, Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the home of their oldest brother. 14 While they were doing that, a messenger arrived at Job’s home and said to him, “While your oxen were plowing the fields and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 a group of men from the Sheba area came and attacked us. They killed all your servants who were working in the fields and took away all the oxen and donkeys! I am the only one who escaped to come and tell you what happened.”

16 While he was still talking to Job, another messenger arrived. He said to Job, “Lightning from the sky [MTY] struck and killed all the sheep and all the men who were taking care of the sheep! I am the only one who escaped to come and tell you what happened.”

17 While he was still talking to Job, another messenger arrived. He said to Job, “Three groups of robbers/bandits from Chaldea land came and attacked us. They stole all the camels and killed all the men who were taking care of them. I am the only one who escaped to come and tell you what happened.”

18 While he was still talking to Job, another messenger arrived and reported this to Job: “Your sons and daughters were feasting in the home of their oldest brother. 19 Suddenly a ◄very strong wind/tornado► came from the desert and struck the house. The house collapsed on your sons and daughters and killed them all! I am the only one who escaped to come and tell you what happened.”

20 Job stood up, and tore his robe and shaved his head because he was very sad/grieved. Then he prostrated himself on the ground to worship God. 21 He said,

“When I was born, I had no clothes on.

When I die, I will not take any clothes with me.

Yahweh gave me everything that I possessed,

and now he has taken it all away.

But ◄we should/I will► always praise Yahweh anyway! [MTY]”

22 In spite of all these things that happened to Job, he did not sin by saying that what God had done was wrong.

Satan wanted to test Job again

2 On another day, the angels came again and gathered together in front of Yahweh, and Satan came too. 2 Yahweh asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan replied, “I have come from the earth, where I have been traveling back and forth, seeing what is happening.”

3 Yahweh asked Satan, “Have you ◄noticed/thought about► my faithful servant Job?

He is very godly/righteous [DOU], he greatly respects/reveres me, and he always avoids doing evil things. And he still acts in a very godly/righteous manner, even though you persuaded me to let you cause disastrous things to happen to him for no reason.”

4 Satan replied to Yahweh, “He praises you only because you bless him [IDM]. People will give up everything they have to save their own lives. 5 But if you harm his body [MTY], he will surely curse you openly [IDM]!”

6 Yahweh replied to Satan, “◄All right/Okay►, you may do to him whatever you want to do, but do not cause him to die.”

7 So Satan left, and he caused Job to be afflicted with very painful boils, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. 8 Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped the boils on his skin, and he sat in ashes as people did when they were mourning for those who had died.

9 His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to ◄be loyal to/faithfully trust in► God? You should curse God, and then you will die.”

10 But Job replied, “You talk like people who do not know God talk. ◄Should we accept only the good things that God does for us?/We should not accept only the good things that God does for us.► [RHQ] We should also accept bad things.” So in spite of all these things that happened to Job, he did not say anything against God.

Job’s three friends came to comfort him

11 Among Job’s friends were Eliphaz from Teman town, Bildad from Shuah land and Zophar from Naamah land. When they heard about all the terrible things that had happened to Job, they left their home areas and went together to Job to console/comfort him [DOU]. 12 When they saw Job from a distance, they almost did not recognize him. They wailed loudly, they tore their robes, and they threw dust over their heads to show how sorry they were because of what had happened to Job. 13 Then they sat on the ground with Job for seven days. None of them said anything to Job, because they saw that he was suffering greatly, and they did not think that anything that they said would lessen his pain.

Job spoke

3 Finally, Job spoke, and he cursed the day that he was born. 2 He said,

3 “I wish that the day when I was born could be eradicated,

and also the night when I was conceived.

4 I wish that the day when I was born would have been covered in darkness.

I wish that God who is in heaven [MTY] would have forgotten about that day,

and that the sun would not have shone on it.

5 I wish that thick/intense darkness would have filled that day,

and that a black cloud would have come over it

and blotted out all light

and caused people to be terrified.

6 I wish that the night when I was conceived would be erased from the calendar,

with the result that it would never again appear as one night in any month,

and that it would not be included in any calendar.

7 I wish that no child would again be conceived on that night of the month [MET],

and that no one would again be happy on that night.

8 I want those people who ◄curse/put evil spells on► days—those who know how to arouse/awaken the great sea monster—to curse that day.

9 I wish that the stars that shone early in the morning on that day after I was conceived will not shine again.

I want those stars to have wished in vain for light to shine;

and that they would not have shone on that day.

10 That was an evil day because my mother was able to conceive;

instead, I was born, and I have now experienced all these terrible things.

11 “I wish that I had died [RHQ] when I was born—

at the time I emerged from my mother’s womb.

12 I wish that my mother had not [RHQ] allowed me to live.

I wish that she had not nursed me.

13 If I had died at the time when I was born,

I would be asleep, resting peacefully iin the place where the dead people are.

14 I would be resting with kings whose beautiful palaces that they built are now in ruins (OR, who rebuilt palaces that had previously been destroyed),

and I would be resting with their officials who have also died.

15 I would be resting with princes who were wealthy,

whose palaces were filled with gold and silver.

16 I wish that I had been buried like a child who died in its mother’s womb

and never lived to see the light.

17 After wicked people die, they do not cause any more troubles;

those who are very tired now will rest.

18 Those who were in prison rest peacefully after they die;

they no longer have slave-drivers who curse them.

19 Rich people and poor people are alike after they die,

and those who were slaves are no longer controlled by their masters.

20 ◄“Why does God allow those who are suffering greatly like me to continue to remain alive?/I do not understand why God allows those who are suffering greatly like me to continue to remain alive.► [RHQ]

Why does he allow those who are very miserable/distressed to keep living [RHQ]?

21 They long/want to die, but they do not die.

They desire to die more than people desire to find a hidden treasure.

22 When they finally die and are buried, they are very happy.

23 Those who do not know where they are eventually going when they die [RHQ],

people whom God has forced [MET] to continue to live in misery,

◄it is not right that they continue to live./why do they continue to live?► [RHQ]

24 I continually cry very much; as a result, I cannot eat;

and I can never stop groaning.

25 Things that I always worried might happen to me, have happened to me;

things that I always dreaded have happened to me.

26 Now I have no peace in my inner being,

I have no peace;

I cannot rest;

instead, I have only troubles.”

Eliphaz replied to Job

4 Then Eliphaz, from Teman, replied to Job. He said,

2 “Will you please let me say something to you?

I am not [RHQ] able to remain silent any longer.

3 In the past, you have instructed/taught many people,

and you have encouraged those who were weak.

4 By what you said, you have helped those who ◄needed spiritual help/almost quit trusting in God► [MET],

and you have enabled them to become spiritually strong again [MET].

5 But now, when you experience disasters, you become discouraged.

The disasters hit you, and you are stunned.

6 You revere God; ◄does that not cause you to trust in him?/that should cause you to trust in him.► [RHQ]

If you were guiltless, you would [RHQ] be confident that God would not have allowed these disasters to happen to you!

7 Think about this: Do innocent people die while they are still young [RHQ]?

Does God get rid of godly people [RHQ]? No!

8 What I have experienced is this: Just as [MET] farmers who plant bad seeds do not harvest good crops,

just as those who start trouble for others, later bring trouble on themselves.

9 They die when God angrily blows his breath on them,

when he is very angry with them.

10 Even though wicked people may be very powerful like young lions,

God will get rid of them [MET].

11 They will die like fierce lions that starve to death when there are no animals that they can kill and eat,

and their children will be separated from each other like young lions separate from each other to find food.”

Eliphaz says that he learned a secret

12 “I heard a message that someone came

and whispered to me.

13 He spoke to me at night when I was having a bad dream that disturbed/frightened me

while I was fast asleep.

14 It caused me to be afraid and tremble;

it caused all my bones to shake.

15 A ghost glided past my face

and caused the hair on on the back of my neck to stand straight up.

16 It stopped, but I could not see what form it had.

But I could sense that there was some being in front of me,

and it said in a quiet voice,

17 ‘◄Does God consider anyone to be righteous?/No human beings can be righteous in God’s sight!► [RHQ]

◄Their creator cannot consider them to be pure./Can their creator consider them to be pure?► [RHQ]

18 God cannot be sure that his own angels will always do what is right;

he declares that some of them have done what is wrong.

19 So he certainly cannot trust human beings who were made from dust and clay,

who are crushed as easily as moths are crushed!

20 People are sometimes well in the morning, but in the evening they are dead.

They are gone forever and do not even know it (OR, and no one pays any attention to it).

21 They are like [MET] tents that collapse suddenly:

They die suddenly before they become wise.’”

Eliphaz continued replying to Job

5 “Job, it is okay that you continue to cry out for someone to help you,

but I am certain that [RHQ] no angel will come to help you!

2 Foolish people die because of being ◄resentful/very angry at someone►;

people who are easily deceived are destroyed by their being jealous of others.

3 I have seen foolish people who seemed to be successful/prosperous,

but suddenly they experienced disaster/trouble because someone cursed their home.

4 Their sons are never safe;

they ◄lose their case/are condemned► when someone ◄takes them to court/sues them►,

because there is no one to defend them.

5 Hungry people steal the crops that foolish people harvest, and eat those crops;

they even steal the crops that grow among thorns,

and greedy people take away the wealth of foolish people.

6 But evil circumstances/sufferings are not produced by the soil;

troubles do not grow up from the ground.

7 People have troubles from the time that they are born

just as surely as sparks shoot up from a fire.

8 “If I were suffering like you are, I would ask God for help

and tell him ◄what I am complaining about/about my suffering►.

9 He does great things, things that we cannot understand;

we cannot even count the marvelous things that he does.

10 He sends rain on the ground;

he sends water on our fields.

11 He exalts those who are humble,

and causes those who mourn to be joyful (OR, safe, prosperous).

12 He causes crafty/cunning people to not be able to do what they plan to do,

with the result that they achieve nothing.

13 He causes people who think that they [IRO] are wise to be trapped by the cunning things they try to do,

with the result that they do not succeed.

14 It is as though even in the daytime they are covered by darkness,

and grope around trying to find the road at noontime like people do at night.

15 But God saves helpless people from being harmed by what wicked people say [MTY],

he saves needy people from being injured by [MTY] powerful people.

16 So, poor people confidently expect that good things will happen to them

but God causes wicked people to stop talking.

17 “But those whom God corrects/rebukes are happy;

so do not despise/dislike it when God who is all-powerful disciplines you.

18 He wounds people, but then he puts bandages on those wounds;

he hurts people, but he [SYN] also heals them.

19 He will rescue you many times from your troubles,

with the result that nothing evil will happen to you.

20 When there is a famine, he will not allow you to die,

and when there is a war, you will not be killed [MTY].

21 God will protect you when people slander [MTY] you;

you will not be afraid when many things around you are destroyed.

22 You will be able to laugh/scoff when things are destroyed and when there is famine,

and you will not be afraid of wild animals.

23 You will not worry about having big rocks in your fields that will make plowing difficult,

and you will not worry about being attacked by wild animals there.

24 In your tent, you will know that things will go well for you,

and when you look at your livestock, you will see that ◄they are all there/none of them is missing►.

25 You will be sure that you will have many descendants,

who will be as numerous as blades of grass.

26 You will become very old before you die,

like sheaves of grain continue to grow until it is time to harvest them.

27 “My friends and I have thought carefully about these things, and we know that they are true,

so pay attention to what I have said!”

Job refuted Eliphaz’ claim

6 Then Job spoke again, saying to Eliphaz,

2 “If all my troubles and misery could be put on a scale and weighed,

3 they would be heavier than all the sands on the shores of the oceans.

That is why I spoke ◄very rashly/without thinking clearly► about the day that I was born.

4 It is as though Almighty God has shot me with arrows.

It is as though those arrows had poison on their tips, and that poison has gone into my spirit.

The things that God has done to me have terrified me.

5 Just like a wild donkey does not complain by braying when it has plenty of grass to eat,

and an ox does not complain by bellowing when it has food to eat [MET],

I would not complain if you were really helping/comforting me.

6 People complain [RHQ] when they must eat food which has no salt

or other tasteless food [MET],

and that is what your words are like, Eliphaz.

7 Just like I do not want to eat food like that,

and I loathe/detests that kind of food [MET],

I do not appreciate what you have said to me.

8 “I wish that God would do for me what I have requested from him [DOU].

9 I wish that he would crush me and let me die.

I wish that he would reach out his hand and take away my life.

10 If he would do that, I would be comforted by knowing that in spite of the great pain that I have suffered,

I have always obeyed what God, the Holy One, has commanded.

11 But now I do not have [RHQ] enough strength to endure all these things.

And since I have nothing to hope for in ◄the future/this life►,

it is difficult for me to be patient now [RHQ].

12 I am not [RHQ] strong like rocks are,

and my body is not made of bronze.

13 So I am not able to help myself,

and it seems that there is no one to rescue me.”

Job’s friends were not helping him

14 “When a man has many troubles, his friends should be kind to him,

even if he stops revering Almighty God.

15 But you, my friends, are not dependable.

You are like streams: They spill over their banks in the spring

16 when the melting ice and snow make those streams overflow,

17 but when the dry season comes, there is no water flowing in those streams,

and the channels dry up.

18 The caravans of merchants turn off the path to search for some water,

but there is no water,

so they die in the desert.

19 The men in those caravans search for some water

because they are sure that they will find some.

20 But they do not find any,

so they are very disappointed.

21 Similarly, you friends have not helped me at all!

You have seen that terrible things have happened to me,

and you are afraid that God might do similar things to you.

22 After I lost all my wealth, did I ask any of you for money? [RHQ]

Did I plead with any of you to spend some of your money to help me [RHQ]?

23 Have I asked any of you to rescue me from my enemies [RHQ]?

Have I asked you to save me from those who ◄oppressed me/treated me badly► [RHQ]? No!”

Job insisted he had done no wrong

24 “Answer me now, and then I will be quiet;

tell me what wrong things I have done!

25 When people speak what is true, that will not hurt the person who hears it,

but what you say, criticizing me, is not true, so your saying it proves nothing [RHQ]!

26 I am a man who has nothing to hope for,

but you try to correct me, and you think what I say is nothing but wind [RHQ]!

27 You do not sympathize with me at all for all that I am suffering.

You are heartless! You would even gamble to see who gets an orphan as a prize!

28 Please look at me! I will not [RHQ] lie to you.

29 Stop saying that I have sinned, and stop criticizing me unjustly!

You should realize that I have not done things that are wrong.

30 Do you think that I am lying?

No, I am not lying, because I know what is right and what is wrong [RHQ].”

Job complains to God

7 “People need to work hard on this earth, like soldiers do;

all during the time that we are alive, we work hard [RHQ], like laborers/servants do.

2 We are like [SIM] slaves who keep wanting to be in the cool shade,

and we are like [SIM] workers who are waiting to be paid.

3 God has given me many months in which I think that it is useless to remain alive;

he has allotted/given to me many nights during which I feel miserable.

4 When I lie down at night I say, ‘How long will it be until morning?’

But nights are long, and I ◄toss/turn over and over► on my bed until dawn.

5 My body is covered with maggots and scabs;

pus oozes out of my open sores.

6 My days pass as quickly as a weaver’s ◄shuttle/stick that takes the thread back and forth►,

and they end without my confidently expecting that things will be better the next day.

7 God, do not forget that my life is as short as a breath [MET];

I think that I [SYN] will never again be happy.

8 God, you [SYN] see me now,

but some day you will not see me any more.

You will search for me, but I will be gone because I will be dead.

9 Like [SIM] clouds ◄disperse/break up► and then disappear,

people die and descend to the place where dead people are, and they do not return;

10 they never return to their houses,

and people among whom they lived do not remember them any more.

11 So, I will not be silent;

while I am suffering I will speak;

I will complain to God about what has happened to me

because I [SYN] am very angry.

12 God, why do you watch closely what I am doing?

Do you think that I am a dangerous sea monster?

13 When I lie down at night, I think, ‘I will be comforted here on my bed;

my pain will be less while I am sleeping.’

14 But then you give me dreams that cause me to be afraid;

you give me visions that terrify me,

15 with the result that I would prefer to be strangled to death

than to continue to be alive being only a bunch of bones.

16 I detest continuing to be alive; I do not want to live for many years [HYP].

Allow me to be alone, because I will be alive for only a very short remaining time [HYP].

17 “We human beings are not very important;

so, why do you pay a lot of attention to us [DOU]?

18 You look at us every morning to see what we are doing,

and examine us every moment to see if we are doing what is right.

19 ◄When will you stop looking at me and leave me alone for a little time, long enough to swallow my spit?/Please stop looking at me and leave me alone for a little time, long enough to swallow my spit.► [RHQ]

20 Why do you watch me constantly?

If I sin, that certainly does not harm you!

Why have you set me up like a target to shoot at?

Do you consider me to be a heavy load that you are forced to carry?

21 If I have sinned, are you not able to forgive me for my sins—

the things that I have done that are wrong?

Soon I will lie in my grave;

you will search for me, but you will not find me because I will be dead and gone.”

Bildad’s first speech to Job

8 Then Bildad, from the Shuah area, spoke to Job. He said,

2 “Job, how much longer will you talk like this?

What you say is only hot air.

3 Almighty God certainly never does [RHQ] what is unfair/unjust.

He always does [LIT] what is right/fair.

4 So, it is evident that your children have sinned against him,

therefore he has caused them to be punished for evil things that they have done.

5 But, if you will now earnestly request [DOU] Almighty God to help you,

6 and if you are pure and honest/righteous,

he will surely do something good for you

and reward you by giving your family back to you and enabling you to prosper.

7 And even though you think that you were not very prosperous/wealthy before,

during the last part of your life you will become very wealthy.

8 “I request you to think about what happened long ago

and consider what our ancestors found out.

9 It seems as though we were born only yesterday

and we know very little [HYP];

our time here on the earth disappears quickly, like a shadow [MET].

10 So, why do you not allow your ancestors to teach you and tell you something?

Allow them to tell you from what they learned!

11 Papyrus can certainly not [RHQ] grow in places where there is no marsh/swamp;

reeds certainly cannot [RHQ] flourish/grow where there is no water.

12 If they do not have enough water, while they are still blossoming,

they wither more quickly than other plants wither.

13 Those who do not pay attention to what God says are like those reeds;

godless people stop confidently expecting that good things will happen to them.

14 The things they confidently expect to happen do not happen;

things they trust will help them are as fragile as [MET] a spider’s web.

15 If they lean against a house (OR, trust in their wealth; OR, lean on a spider web), it does not ◄endure/protect them► [LIT];

they cling to things to be protected, but those things do not remain firm.

16 Godless people are like plants [MET] that are watered before the sun rises;

their shoots spread all over the gardens.

17 The roots of those plants twist around piles of stones

and cling tightly to rocks.

18 But if those plants are pulled out,

it is as though the place where they were planted says ‘They were never here!’

And that is what happens to wicked people who do not heed what God says.

19 Truly, evil people [MET] are not joyful [IRO] for a long time;

other people come and take their places.

20 :So, I tell you, Job, God will not reject you if you are truly godly/righteous,

but he does not help [IDM] evil people.

21 He will enable you [MTY] to continually laugh

and to always shout joyfully.

22 But those who hate you will be very ashamed,

and the homes of wicked people will disappear.”

Job replied to Bildad

9 Then Job replied,

2 “Yes, I certainly know that much of what you said is true.

But ◄how can anyone say to God, ‘I and prove it?’/no one can say to God ‘I and prove it.’► [RHQ]

3 If someone wanted to argue with God about that,

God could ask him 1,000 questions,

and that person would not be able to answer any of them!

4 God is very wise [IDM] and very powerful;

no one who has tried to challenge God has been able to win.

5 He even moves mountains, without them (OR, anyone) knowing about it.

When he is angry, he turns them upside down.

6 He sends earthquakes that shake the ground;

he causes the pillars that support the earth to tremble.

7 Some days he speaks to the sun, and it does not rise,

and some nights he prevents the stars from shining.

8 He alone ◄stretched out/put in place► the sky;

he alone puts his feet on the waves (OR, on the huge sea monster).

9 He put in their places the clusters/groups of stars that are called The Dipper/Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the stars in the southern sky.

10 Only he does great things that we cannot understand;

he does more marvelous things than we are able to count.

11 He passes by where I am, but I do not see him;

he moves further on, but I do not see him go.

12 If he wants to snatch something away, no one [RHQ] can hinder him;

no one dares to ask him, ‘Why are you doing that?’ [RHQ]

13 God will not very easily stop being angry;

he defeated [MTY] those who tried to help Rahab, the great sea monster.

14 “So, if God took me to court,

what could I say [MTY] to answer him?

15 Even though I ◄would be innocent/would not have done what is wrong►, I would not be able to answer him.

All I could do would be to request God, my judge/accuser, to act mercifully toward me.

16 If I summoned him to come to the courtroom and he said that he would come,

I would not believe that he would pay attention to what I would say.

17 He sends storms to batter me,

and he bruises me many times ◄without any reason to do that/even though I am innocent►.

18 It is as though he will not let me get/catch my breath,

because he causes me to suffer all the time.

19 If I would try to ◄wrestle with/fight against► him, there is no way that I could defeat him,

because he is stronger than I am.

If I would request him to appear in court,

there is no one who could [RHQ] force him to go there.

20 Even though I was innocent, what I would say would cause him to say that I must be punished [MTY];

even though I had not done anything wrong, he would prove that I am guilty.

21 “I have not done what is wrong, but that is not important.

I despise continuing to remain alive.

22 But it doesn’t matter,

because God will get rid of all of us, both those who are innocent and those who are wicked.

23 When people experience disaster and it causes them to suddenly die,

God laughs at it, even if they are innocent.

24 God has allowed wicked people to control what happens in the world.

It is as though he has caused judges to be blindfolded, with the result that they cannot judge fairly.

If it is not God who has put wicked people in control,

who has done it?

25 “My days go by very quickly, like a fast runner;

it is as though they run away, and nothing good happens to me on those days.

26 My life goes by very rapidly, like a boat made from reeds sailing swiftly,

or like an eagle that swoops down to seize a small animal.

27 If I smile and say to God, ‘I will forget what I am complaining about;

I will stop looking sad and try to be cheerful/happy,’

28 then I become afraid because of all that I am suffering,

because I know that God does not consider that I am innocent.

29 He will ◄condemn me/declare that I should be punished►,

so why should I keep trying in vain to defend myself?

30 If I washed myself with snow

or cleansed my hands with lye/soap

to get rid of my guilt,

31 he would still throw me into a filthy pit;

as a result it would be as though even my clothes would detest me.

32 “God is not a human, as I am,

so there is no way that I could answer him to prove that I am innocent

if we went together to have a trial in a courtroom.

33 There is no one to ◄mediate/hear us and decide who is right►,

no one who has authority over both of us [IDM].

34 I wish/desire that he would stop punishing [MTY] me,

and that he would not continue to terrify me.

35 If he did that, I would declare that I am innocent without being afraid of him,

because I know that I really have not done what is wrong like God thinks that I have.”

Job again complained to God

10 “I am tired of living.

And I will not be silent and stop saying what I am complaining about.

Instead, being very unhappy, I will speak [IDM].

2 I will say to God, ‘Do not say that I must be punished;

instead, tell me what wrong you are saying that I have done.

3 Does it seem to be good for you to oppress me,

to abandon me, whom you created,

and instead, to help wicked people to do the things that they plan to do?

4 Do you understand things the way that we humans do?

5 ◄Do you live for only a few years, like we do?/You certainly do not live for only a few years, like we do.► [RHQ]

6 So, why do you [RHQ] continue to search for my faults?

Why do you hunt for my sins?

7 You know that I am not guilty,

and that no one can rescue me from your power [MTY].

8 “'With your hands you created me and shaped/formed my body;

but now you are deciding that you should not have done that, and you are destroying me.

9 Do not forget that you made me from a piece of clay;

are you going to cause me to become dirt again [RHQ]?

10 You certainly [RHQ] directed/controlled it when I was conceived,

and you formed me inside my mother’s womb [MET].

11 You fastened my bones together with sinews,

and then you covered them with flesh inside my skin.

12 You have caused me to be alive, and you have faithfully loved me,

and you have carefully ◄preserved me/kept me alive►.

13 “'But you ◄kept secret/did not reveal► what you were planning to do to me;

I am certain that you were planning to do these things to me.

14 You were watching to see if I would sin,

in order that if I sinned, you would refuse to forgive me.

15 If I am a wicked man, I hope/wish that terrible things will happen to me.

But even if I am righteous, I still must bow my head and feel ashamed,

because I am very disgraced and feel miserable.

16 And if I am proud, you hunt me like [SIM] a lion hunts for some animal to kill,

and you act powerfully to injure me.

17 You constantly find more witnesses to testify that I have done what is wrong,

and you continually become more angry/perturbed with me.

It is as though you are always bringing new troops to attack me.

18 “'God, why did you allow me to be born?

I wish/desire that I had died before anyone [SYN] saw me.

19 I consider that it would have been better if I had been carried directly from my mother’s womb to the grave

than for me to live.

20 I think that [RHQ] there are only a few days for me to remain alive;

so ◄allow me to be alone/stop attacking me►, in order that I may be a little cheerful

21 before I go to the place from which I will never return,

where it is always gloomy and very dark [DOU],

22 a place of darkness and dark shadows, where everything is confused/disordered,

where even a small amount of light there is like darkness (OR, there is no light, only darkness).’”

Zophar’s first speech to Job

11 Then Zophar, from the Naamah area, said this to Job:

2 “◄Should no one answer all that you have said?/Someone should certainly answer all that you have said.► [RHQ]

Just because you talk a lot, ◄should that cause us to declare that you ?/that should not cause us to declare that you .► [RHQ]

3 Job, ◄should your babbling cause us to be silent?/your babbling should certainly not cause us to be silent.► [RHQ]

When you make fun of us, shall no one rebuke you and cause you to be ashamed?

4 You say, ‘What I say is true;

God knows that I am ◄innocent/without guilt►.’

5 But I wish/desire that God would talk

and say something [MTY] to answer you!

6 God knows everything about everything,

so I wish/desire that he would tell you the secrets that he knows because he is wise.

But you need to know that God is punishing you less than you deserve!

7 “Tell me, will you ever be able to find out the things about God that are very difficult to understand?

Will you be able to find out everything that there is to know about Almighty God?

8 What there is to know about God is greater than the distance from earth to heaven;

so there is no way [RHQ] that you can understand it all.

It is greater than the distance from here to the place of the dead;

so it is impossible for you [RHQ] to know it all.

9 What there is to know about God is wider than the earth

and wider than the ocean.

10 “If God comes to you and puts you in prison and then brings you to a court,

◄who can stop him?/no one can stop him.► [RHQ]

11 He knows which people are worthless;

and when he sees people doing wicked things, ◄will he ignore it?/he will certainly not ignore it!► [RHQ]

12 Stupid people like you will start to become wise [SAR]

when wild donkeys stop giving birth to wild donkeys and start giving birth to tame donkeys.

13 “Job, repent [IDM];

reach out your hands to seek God’s help.

14 If you have done evil things, stop doing them;

and do not allow any people in your house to do wicked things.

15 If you do what I have said, surely you will lift up your head because you will not be ashamed;

you will be strong, and not afraid of anything.

16 You will forget all your troubles;

they will be like the water of a flood that has all disappeared.

17 Your troubles will be ended, like the darkness ends at the dawn;

it will be as though [MET] the sun is shining brightly on you, like it shines at noon.

18 You will feel safe/secure, because you will confidently expect that good things will happen to you;

God will protect you and enable you to rest safely each night.

19 You will lie down, and no one will cause you to be afraid.

And many people will come and request you to do things for them.

20 But wicked people [SYN] will not be able to understand why bad things are happening to them;

they will not have any way to escape from their troubles.

The only thing that they will want to do is to die. [EUP]”

Job replied to his three friends

12 Then Job said to his three friends,

2 “You ◄talk as though/You think► [SAR] that you are the people whom everyone should listen to,

and that when you die, there will be no more wise people.

3 But I have as much good sense as you do;

I am ◄not less wise than/certainly as wise as [LIT]► you.

Certainly everyone knows [RHQ] all that you have said.

4 My friends all laugh at me now.

Previously I habitually requested God to help me, and he answered/helped me.

I am righteous, a very godly man [DOU], but everyone laughs at me.

5 Those like you who have no troubles make fun of me;

they cause those like me who are already suffering to have more troubles.

6 Bandits live peacefully,

and no one threatens those who cause God to become angry;

their own strength is the god that they worship.

7 “But ask the wild animals what they know about God,

and if they could speak they would teach you.

If you could ask the birds,

they would tell you.

8 If you could ask the creatures that crawl on the ground, or the fish in the sea,

they would tell you about God.

9 All of them certainly know [RHQ] that it is Yahweh who has made them with his hands.

10 He directs the lives of all living creatures;

he gives breath to all us humans to enable us to remain alive.

11 And when we [SYN] hear what other people like you say,

we [RHQ] think carefully about what they say to determine what is good and what is bad,

like we [SYN] taste food to determine what is good and what is bad.

12 Old people are often very wise,

and because of having lived many years, they understand much,

13 but God is wise and very powerful;

he has good sense and understands everything.

14 If he tears something down, no one can rebuild it;

if he puts someone in prison, no one can open the prison doors to allow that person to escape.

15 When he prevents rain from falling, everything dries up.

When he causes a lot of rain to fall, the result is that there are floods.

16 He is the one who is truly strong and wise;

he rules over those who deceive others and those whom they deceive.

17 He sometimes causes the king’s officials to no longer be wise,

and he causes judges to become foolish.

18 He takes from kings the robes that they wear

and puts loincloths around their waists, causing them to become slaves.

19 He takes from priests the sacred clothes that they wear, with the result that they no longer can do their work,

and takes power from those who rule others.

20 He sometimes causes those whom others trust to be unable to speak,

and he causes old men to no longer have good sense.

21 He causes those who have authority to be despised,

and he causes those who are powerful to no longer have any power/strength.

22 He causes things that are hidden in the darkness to be revealed.

23 He causes some nations to become very great,

and later he destroys them;

he causes the territory of some nations to become much larger,

and later he causes them to be defeated and their people to be scattered.

24 He causes some rulers to become foolish/stupid,

and then he causes them to wander around, lost, in an barren desert.

25 They grope around in the darkness, without any light,

and he causes them to stagger like [SIM] people who are drunk.”

Job continued his reply

13 “Hey, I [SYN] have seen everything that you have seen,

and I have heard and understood all that you have said.

2 What you know, I also know;

I do ◄not know less than/know as much as► you.

3 But I would like to speak to Almighty God, not to you;

I would like to argue with him and prove that I ◄am innocent/have not done things that are wrong►.

4 As for you, you do not allow people to know the truth about me,

like someone covers up a bad surface of a wall with whitewash [MET].

You are all like doctors [MET] that give people useless medicines.

5 I wish/desire that you would be silent;

that would be the wisest thing that you could do.

6 Listen to what I will say to you now;

listen while I am saying what is true about myself.

7 Are you telling lies about me to prove God is just in causing me to suffer?

Are you saying what is deceitful in order to benefit him?

8 Are you trying to defend him?

Are you trying to prove as you would in a court that he is innocent?

9 If he looks closely, will he find that everything that you have done is good?

Or can you deceive him, like you deceive other people?

10 If you secretly say/do things to cause God to act favorably toward you,

he will surely rebuke you.

11 He will certainly [RHQ] cause you to be terrified by his power/greatness;

you will become extremely afraid.

12 The things that you say that you think are wise are as useless as [MET] as ashes;

what you say to defend your opinions is no better than [MET] clay that quickly crumbles.

13 “So, be quiet and allow me to speak,

and then it will not matter what happens to me.

14 I am ready to endure anything;

I am even willing to risk being executed [IDM, DOU] for what I will say.

15 If God kills me, then I will not have anyone else whom I can confidently expect to help me,

but I am going to defend my behavior in his presence anyway.

16 No wicked/godless person would dare to stand in the presence of God,

but because I say that I have not done things that are wrong,

perhaps, if I can prove that to God, he will save me.”

Job asks God to tell him what his charges are

17 “God, listen very carefully to what I say [DOU].

18 I am ready to prove that I am innocent,

and I know that you also will declare that I am not guilty.

19 I certainly do not think [RHQ] that you or anyone else will say that what I say is not true;

if anyone did that, I would ◄be silent/stop talking► and die.

20 “I am requesting you to do two things for me;

if you do them, I will ◄not hide from you/come and stand in front of you► [LIT].

21 The first thing that I request is that you stop punishing [IDM] me;

and the second thing that I request is that you stop causing me to be very terrified.

22 You speak first, and then I will reply;

or allow me to speak first, and then you reply.

23 What have I done that is wrong? What sins have I committed?

Show me how I have disobeyed you.

24 Why ◄do you refuse to be friendly with/have you abandoned► me [IDM]?

Why do you ◄act toward me as though I am/consider me to be► your enemy?

25 I am as insignificant as [MET] a leaf that is blown by the wind;

why are you trying to cause me to be afraid [RHQ]?

Why are you pursuing me?

Am I useless, nothing more than a bit of dry chaff [RHQ]?

26 It seems that you are writing things to accuse me of doing things that are wrong,

even recalling bad things that I did when I was young.

27 It is as though you have fastened my feet with chains to prevent me from walking,

and you watch me wherever I walk;

It is as though you even look closely at my footprints to see where I have gone.

28 As a result, my body is decaying like [SIM] rotten wood,

like a piece of cloth that is eaten by larvae of moths.”

Job prayed to God

14 “We humans are very frail.

We live only a short time, and we experience a lot of trouble.

2 We disappear quickly, like flowers that grow from the ground quickly and then wither and die [SIM].

We are like shadows that disappear when the sun stops shining.

3 Yahweh, why do you keep watching me to see if I am doing something that is wrong [RHQ]?

Are you wanting to take me to court to judge me?

4 People are sinners from the time when they are born;

who can cause them to be sinless? No one [RHQ]!

5 You have decided how long our lives will be.

You have decided how many months we will live,

and we cannot live more months than the ◄limit/number of months► that you have decided.

6 So please stop examining us, and allow us to be alone,

until/while we finish our time here on earth, like a man finishes his work at the end of the day.

Job said that we all die

7 If someone cuts a tree down,

we hope that it will sprout again and grow new branches.

8 Its roots in the ground may be very old,

and its stump may decay,

9 but if some water falls on it,

it may bud/sprout and send up shoots like a young plant.

10 But when we people lose all our strength and die,

we stop breathing and then we are gone forever.

11 Just like water evaporates from the ocean,

or like a riverbed dries up,

12 people lie down and die and do not get up again.

Until the heavens disappear,

people who die [EUP] do not wake up,

and no one can wake them up.

13 “Yahweh, I wish that you would put me safely in the place of the dead and forget about me

until you are no longer angry with me.

I wish that you would decide how much time I would spend there,

and then remember that I am there.

14 When we humans die, we will certainly not live again [RHQ].

If I knew that we would live again, I would wait patiently,

and I would wait for you to release me from my sufferings.

15 You would call me, and I would answer.

You would be eager to see me, one of the creatures that you had made.

16 You would take care of [MET] me,

instead of watching me to see if I would sin.

17 It is as though the record of my sins would be sealed in a small bag,

and you would cover them up.

18 “But, just like mountains crumble and rocks fall down from a cliff,

19 and just like water slowly wears away the stones, and just like floods wash away soil,

you eventually destroy us; you do not allow us to continue to ◄hope/confidently expect► that we will keep on living.

20 You always defeat us, and then we die [EUP].

You cause our faces to look ugly after we die,

and you send us away.

21 When we die we do not know if our sons will grow up and do things that will cause them to be honored.

And if they become disgraced, we do not see that, either.

22 We will feel our own pains; we will not feel anything else;

we will be sorry for ourselves, not for anyone else.”

Eliphaz rebuked Job again

15 Then Eliphaz replied to Job:

2 “If you were truly wise [RHQ], you would not have replied to us by claiming that you know a lot;

what you are saying is just a lot of hot air [MET].

3 You should not [RHQ] be saying things that do not benefit anyone,

using words that do no one any good.

4 By what you say, you show that you do not revere God,

and you are hindering people from meditating/thinking about God.

5 It is as though your sins are telling you what to say;

you talk like people who will not admit that they are wicked.

6 Everything that you say [MTY] shows that you should be punished;

so, it is not necessary for me to show that.

7 “Tell me do you know more than everyone else because you think that you are the first person who was ever born? [SAR, RHQ]

Were you born before the hills were created?

8 Were you listening when God made all his plans? [SAR, RHQ]

Or do you think that you are the only person who is wise?

9 ◄What do you know that we do not know?/You do not know anything that we do not know.► [RHQ]

You do not understand [RHQ] anything that is not also clear to us.

10 My friends and I are also wise;

we acquired wisdom from old gray-haired people,

from people who were born before your father was born.

11 God wants to comfort you,

and to speak gently/kindly to you;

◄is that not enough for you/do you need more than that►?

12 Why do you allow yourself to be ◄carried away/excited► by your emotions?

Why are you very angry, with the result that your eyes flash?

13 You are angry [IDM] with God,

and so you [MTY] are criticizing/denouncing him.

14 “◄How can any person, including you, be sinless?/No person, including you, can be sinless.► [RHQ]

◄How can anyone on the earth be completely righteous?/No one on the earth can be completely righteous.► [RHQ]

15 Hey, God does not even trust his angels;

he does not consider even them to be completely pure.

16 So, he certainly does not trust abominable/disgusting and depraved/corrupt people

who do evil things as easily as they drink water [MET].

17 Job, listen to what I will tell you.

I will declare to you what I know,

18 things that wise men have told me,

truths that their ancestors did not keep hidden.

19 God gave this land to those ancestors, who were truly wise;

no one from another country caused them to think wrongly [IDM].

20 It is wicked people who suffer with great pain all the time that they are alive;

that is what happens to those who ◄oppress/act violently toward► others.

21 They constantly hear sounds that terrify them;

while they are prospering, bandits attack them.

22 Wicked people surely know that they will not escape from darkness/death,

because they are sure that someone is waiting to kill them with a sword.

23 They wander around, searching for food, saying ‘Where can I find some?’

And they know that they will soon experience disasters.

24 Because they are afraid of those things happening to them, they are afraid and worry

that these things will come to them like the army of a king comes to attack their enemies and cause them to suffer [SIM].

25 Those things happen to them because they ◄shook their fists/dared to fight► against Almighty God,

and thought that they were strong enough to defeat him.

26 They stubbornly [IDM] rush to attack God

as though they were carrying a strong shield to protect themselves.

27 They are so fat that they are unable to fight.

28 They will live in cities that have been abandoned,

cities which have become a heap of ruins.

29 But they will not remain rich very long;

Everything that they own will be taken from them;

their possessions will all disappear.

30 They will not escape from the darkness of death;

they will be like trees whose branches are burned by fire

and whose blossoms are blown away by the wind.

31 Since they are very foolish, with the result that they trust in things that are really worthless,

then things that are worthless will be all that they get.

32 Before they are old, they will wither;

they will be like [MET] branches that wither and never become green again.

33 They will be like [SIM] vines whose grapes fall off before they are ripe,

like olive trees whose blossoms fall off before they produce any fruit.

34 Wicked/godless people will not have any descendants,

and fires will completely burn up the homes of those who built those homes using money they received from bribes.

35 They plan to cause trouble and to do evil things,

and they are always preparing to deceive people.”

Job replied to the three friends again

16 Job replied to Eliphaz and the others:

2 “I have heard things like that before;

all of you, instead of helping me, are only causing me to feel more miserable.

3 Will your speeches, which are only hot air, never end [RHQ]?

Eliphaz, what bothers/irritates you so much that you continue replying to me?

4 If it were you three and not I who were suffering,

I could say the things that you are saying;

I could make great speeches to criticize/condemn you,

and I could shake my head at you to ridicule you.

5 But, unlike all of you, with what I said [MTY] I would encourage you

and try to cause your pain to be less.

6 “But now, if I talk, my pain does not decrease,

and if I am silent, my pain still certainly does not [RHQ] go away.

7 God has now taken away all my strength,

and he has destroyed my family.

8 He has shriveled me up,

and people think that shows that I am a sinner.

And people see that I am only skin and bones,

and they think that proves that I am guilty.

9 Because God is very angry with me and hates me,

it is as though he is a wild animal that [MET] has gnashed his teeth at me

because he is my enemy.

10 People gape/stare at me with their mouths open to sneer at me;

they have struck me on the face/cheek to ridicule me,

and they crowd around me to threaten me.

11 It is as though God has handed me over to ungodly people

and turned me over to the wicked [DOU].

12 Previously, I was living peacefully,

but he crushed me;

it is as though he grabbed my neck and smashed me to pieces.

It is as though [MET] he set me up like a target;

13 people are surrounding me and shooting arrows at me.

His arrows pierce my kidneys

and cause the bile from my liver to spill onto the ground,

and God does not pity me at all.

14 It is as though [MET] I am a wall that he is breaking through;

he rushes at me like [SIM] a soldier attacking his enemies.

15 “Because I am mourning, I wear pieces of rough cloth that I have sewed together,

and I sit here in the dirt, very depressed/discouraged.

16 My face is red because I have cried very much,

and there are dark circles around my eyes.

17 All this has happened to me even though I have not acted violently toward anyone,

and I always pray sincerely/honestly to God.

18 When I die, I want the ground [APO] to act as though I had been murdered and cry out against those who killed me,

and I do not want anyone to stop me while I am demanding that God act justly toward me.

19 But even now, I know that there is someone in heaven who will testify for me,

and he will say that what I have done is right.

20 My three friends scorn/ridicule me,

but my eyes are full of tears while I cry out to God.

21 I pray that the one who knows what I have done would come to plead with God for me

like people plead for their friends.

22 I say this because within a few years I will die;

I will walk along the roadto the grave from which I will never return.”

Job continued his reply

17 “My ◄life/time to live► is almost ended; I have no strength left;

my grave is waiting for me.

2 Those who are around me are making fun of me;

I [SYN] watch them while they ◄taunt/make fun of► me.”

Job pleads with God

3 “God, it is as though I am in prison;

please pay the money in order that I may be released,

because there is certainly no one else who will help me.

4 You have prevented my friends from understanding what is true about me;

do not allow them to triumph over me, saying that I have done things that are wrong.

5 Our ancestors often said, ‘It often happens that when someone betrays his friends in order to get some of their property,

it is that person’s children who will be punished for it;’

so I desire/hope that will be true of these friends of mine who are lying about me.

6 “But now people use that saying of our ancestors when they talk about me;

they spit in my face to insult me.

7 ◄My sight has become dim/I cannot see well► because I am extremely sad,

and my arms and legs are very thin, with the result that they almost do not cast [MET] a shadow.

8 Those who say that they are good/righteous are shocked when they see what has happened to me,

and people who say that they ◄are innocent/have not done anything that is wrong► say that I am wicked/godless and should be punished.

9 Those who claim that they are righteous will continue to do what they think is right,

and those who say they have not sinned will continue to become stronger.

10 “But even if all of those people came and stood in front of me,

I would not find anyone among them who is wise.

11 My ◄life/time to live► is almost ended; I have not been able to do the things that I confidently expected to do;

I have not been able to accomplish anything that I [SYN] desired.

12 My friends do not know when it is night and when it is day;

when it is night, they claim that it is daylight;

when it is becoming dark, they claim it is becoming light.

13 If my home will be the place where dead people are,

where will I sleep in the darkness?

14 I may say to the grave, ‘You will be like a father to me,’

and say to the maggots that will eat my body, ‘You will be like a mother or younger sisters to me because you will be where I will always be.’

15 But if I say those things, ◄will there be anything good that I can confidently expect to happen to me?/there will be nothing good that I can confidently expect to happen to me.► [RHQ]

◄Is there anyone who knows anything good that I can expect when I am in the grave?/No one knows anything good that I can expect when I am in the grave.► [RHQ]

16 After I descend to the place where the dead are, ◄will I be able to confidently expect anything good there?/I certainly will not be able to confidently expect anything good there.► [RHQ]

It will be as though [RHQ] I and the things I hope for will descend with me into the dust where the dead are.”

Bildad’s second reply

18 Then Bildad replied again:

2 “When are you going to stop talking [RHQ]?

If you would stop talking and listen, we could tell you something.

3 Why do you think that we are as stupid as cattle? [DOU, RHQ]

4 By being very angry and hurting yourself,

do you think that doing that will shake the earth,

or cause the rocks in the mountains to move? [RHQ]?

5 “What will happen is that the lives of wicked people like you end

as quickly as we can put out a light or extinguish the flame of a fire.

6 And when the lamps above them in their tents are extinguished,

there will be no light in those tents.

7 For many years they walked confidently,

but later in life it was as though they stumbled and fell,

because they themselves did not heed the advice that they gave to others.

8 It was as though they walked into their own net

or fell into a pit that they themselves have dug.

9 It was as though a trap grabbed their heels and held them fast [DOU],

10 as though the noose of a rope that was hidden on the ground, whose other end was fastened to the limb of a tree,

seized them when they walked into it.

11 Everywhere they went, there were things that caused them to be terrified;

it was as though those things were pursuing them and biting at their heels.

12 They became hungry, with the result that they had no strength.

They experienced disasters [PRS] constantly.

13 Diseases spread all over their skin/bodies;

diseases that ◄caused their bodies to decay/destroyed their arms and legs►.

14 When they died, they were snatched away from their tents

and brought to the one who rules over the dead.

15 Now their tents will burn down,

when burning sulfur rains down on those tents!

16 Because those who died had no descendants,

they were like trees whose roots have dried up and whose branches have all withered [MET].

17 No one on the earth will remember them any more;

no one on any street will even remember their names [MTY].

18 They will be expelled from the earth where there is light,

and they will be sent into the place where it is dark.

19 They will have no children or grandchildren,

no descendants where they previously lived.

20 People from the east to the west who hear about what happened to them,

will be shocked and horrified.

21 And that is what happens to ungodly/sinful people like you,

to people who ◄have no interest in/have rejected► God.”

Job replied again

19 Then Job replied,:

2 “How long will you three torment me

and crush my spirit by saying to me that I am wicked?

3 You have already insulted me many [HYP] times;

◄are you not ashamed for saying these things to me?/you should be ashamed for saying these things to me.► [RHQ]

4 Even if it were true that I have done things that are wrong,

I have not injured you!

5 If you truly think that you are better than I am,

and you think that my being miserable now proves that I ◄am guilty/have committed many sins►,

6 you need to realize that it is God who has caused me to suffer.

It is as though he has trapped me with his net.

7 “I cry out, ‘Help me!’,

but no one answers me.

I call out loudly, but there is no one, not even God, who acts fairly toward me.

8 It is as though [MET] God has blocked my way,

with the result that I cannot go where I want to;

it is as though he has forced me to try to find my way in the darkness.

9 He has ◄taken away my good reputation/caused people not to honor me any more►;

it is as though he removed [MET] a crown from my head.

10 He batters me from every side, and I will soon die.

He has caused me to no longer confidently expect him to do good things for me.

11 He attacks me because he is extremely angry with me [MET],

and he considers that I am his enemy.

12 It is as though he sends his army to attack me;

they surround my tent,

preparing to attack me.

13 “God has caused my brothers to abandon me,

and all those who know me act like strangers to me.

14 All my relatives and good friends have left me.

15 The people who were guests in my house have forgotten me,

and my female servants consider that I am a stranger or that I am a foreigner.

16 When I summon my servants, they do not answer;

I plead with them to come to help me, but they do not come.

17 My wife does not want to come close to me because my breath smells very bad,

and even my brothers detest me.

18 Even young children despise me;

when I stand up to talk to them, they laugh at me.

19 My dearest friends detest me,

and those whom I love very much have turned against me.

20 My body is only skin and bones;

I am barely alive [IDM].

21 “I plead with you, my three friends, pity me,

because God has ◄struck [EUP] me with his hand/caused me to suffer greatly►.

22 Why do you cause me to suffer like God does?

Why do you continue to slander [MET] me?

23 “I wish/desire that someone would take these words of mine

and write them permanently in a book in order that people can read them.

24 Or else, I wish that he would carve them on a rock with ◄a chisel/an iron tool►

in order that they would last forever.

25 But I know that the one who vindicates/defends me in court is alive,

and that some day he will stand here on the earth and make the final decision about whether I deserve to be punished.

26 And even after diseases have eaten away my skin,

while I still have my body, I will see God.

27 I will see him myself;

I will see him with my own eyes!

I am overwhelmed as I think about that!

28 “If you three men say, ‘What more can we do to cause Job to suffer?’

and if you say, ‘He has caused his own troubles,’

29 you should be afraid that God will punish [MTY] you;

he punishes those like you with whom he is angry;

and when that happens, you will know that there is someone who judges people.”

Zophar replied again

20 Then Zophar replied,

2 “I am very perturbed about what you have said,

so I want to reply very quickly.

3 By saying these things you have insulted me,

but I know how (OR, because I understand very much) I can reply to you.

4 “Do you not know that from long ago,

ever since people were first put on the earth,

5 wicked people like you do not continue to rejoice for a long time,

ungodly people are happy only for a ◄moment/very short time► [HYP]?

6 Even though their reputation/pride reaches up to the sky

and their fame goes up as high as the clouds,

7 they will disappear forever, like their own dung,

and those who knew them will ask, ‘◄Where did they go/What happened to them►?’

8 They will be forgotten like [SIM] a dream is,

and they will exist no more.

They will vanish, like visions that people see during the night.

9 Those who saw those people previously will never see them again;

even their families [MTY] will not see them any more.

10 Their children will be forced to return the valuable things that those children stole from poor people [DOU].

11 Previously their bodies were young and strong,

but they will die and their bodies will be buried in the ground.

12 “Doing wicked things was like having sweet food in their mouths,

and they wanted to continue to taste it.

13 And they did not want to stop doing those things,

14 but some day the evil things that they enjoyed doing will become like food that they swallow

and which becomes as bitter as snake venom.

15 Wicked people will not continue to keep the money they have accumulated,

like people do not keep the food that they vomit.

God takes their wealth from them.

16 What wicked people do is like [MET] swallowing snake venom;

it will kill them like [MET] the bite of a poisonous snake kills people.

17 They will not remain alive to see abundant blessings [IDM] from God, milk and olive oil and honey,

that are so abundant they are like [MET] a stream that flows by.

18 They will be forced to give back the things that they stole from the poor;

they will not be able to continue to enjoy those things.

They will not remain happy because of what they got from their businesses,

19 because they oppressed poor people and refused to help them,

and they took other people’s houses by cheating them.

20 “They were always greedy and never satisfied.

They just keep dreaming about owning more and more things.

21 When they finished eating their food, there was never anything left over because they had greedily eaten it all;

but now their prosperity will end.

22 When they are extremely prosperous/wealthy,

they will suddenly experience a lot of trouble.

◄Misery will strike them and crush them [PRS]/They will suffer very greatly►.

23 When the wicked people are filling their stomachs,

God will show that he is very angry with them and punish them;

the punishment that he gives them will be like [MET] rain falling on them.

24 They will try to escape from being killed by iron weapons,

but arrows with bronze points will pierce them.

25 The arrows will go completely through their bodies and stick out of their backs;

the shiny points of the arrows will have blood dripping from them,

and those wicked people will be terrified.

26 Their valuable possessions will all be destroyed;

a fire that is not lit by humans, but by God, will burn them up

and also destroy the things that are left in their tents.

27 The angels in heaven [MTY] will reveal the sins that those wicked people have committed,

and people on earth will stand up and testify against them.

28 When God punishes [MTY] people,

all the possessions in the wicked people’s houses will be carried away by a flood.

29 That is what will happen to wicked people like you;

that is what God has decided will happen to them.”

Job replied again

21 Then Job replied,

2 “Listen to what I say, all three of you;

that is the only thing that you can do that will comfort me.

3 Be patient with me, and allow me to speak.

Then, after I am finished speaking, you can continue to make fun of me.

4 “It is certainly not [RHQ] people against whom I am complaining, but God

And it is certainly [RHQ] right for me to be impatient!

5 Look at me! Does what you see not cause you to be appalled

and to put your hands over your mouths and say no more?

6 When I think about what has happened to me,

I am frightened and my entire body shakes.

7 “But let me ask this: ‘Why do wicked people continue to live,

and become prosperous, and not die until they are very old?’

8 They have their children around them,

and they watch them while they grow up and start to live in their own houses,

and they enjoy their grandchildren.

9 Wicked people live in their own houses without being afraid,

and God does not punish [MTY] them.

10 Their bulls always mate with the cows successfully,

and the cows give birth to calves and never miscarry.

11 Wicked people send their young children outside to play,

and the children play happily like [SIM] lambs in a pasture.

12 Some children dance and sing, while others shake tambourines and play lyres,

and they are happy when they hear people playing flutes.

13 Wicked people enjoy having good things all the time that they are alive,

and they die quietly/peacefully and go down to the place of the dead.

14 While they are alive, they say to God, ‘Do not bother us;

we do not want to know how you want us to conduct our lives!

15 Why do you, Almighty God, think that we should serve you?

◄What advantage do we get if we pray to you?/It is useless for us to pray to you.► [RHQ]’

16 Think about it: Wicked people think that it is because of what they have done that they have become prosperous,

but I do not understand why they think like that.

17 ◄“How often does it happen that wicked people die [MET] before they are old?/Very seldom do wicked people die [MET] before they are old.► [RHQ]

◄Do they ever experience disasters?/They seldom experience disasters.► [RHQ]

◄Does God ever punish them because of being very angry with them?/God never punishes them because of being very angry with them.► [RHQ]

18 He does not blow them away like wind blows away straw;

they are never carried off by a whirlwind.

19 You say, ‘When people have committed sins,

God waits and punishes their children because of those sins;’

but I say that God should punish those who sin, not their children,

in order that the sinners will know that it is because of their own sins that they are being punished.

20 I hope/wish that wicked people will experience themselves being destroyed,

that they will experience being punished by an angry Almighty God.

21 After wicked people are dead,

they are not at all concerned [RHQ] about what happens to their families [MTY].

22 “Since God judges everyone, even those that are in heaven,

◄who can teach God anything?/certainly no one can teach God anything.► [RHQ]

23 Some people die while they are very healthy,

while they are peaceful, when they are not afraid of anything.

24 Their bodies are fat;

their bones are strong.

25 Other people die being very miserable;

they have never experienced good things happening to them.

26 But both rich and poor people die and are buried,

and maggots eat their bodies.

Everyone dies, so it is clear that dying is not always the punishment for being wicked.

27 “Listen, I know what you three are thinking.

I know the evil things that you plan to do to me.

28 You say, ‘What happened to the tents in which wicked people were living?

The houses of evil rulers have been destroyed!’

29 But have you never inquired of people who travel much?

Do you not believe their reports about what they have seen,

30 that wicked people usually do not suffer at the time when there are great disasters;

that wicked people are the ones who are rescued when God is angry and punishes people [MTY]?

31 There is no one [RHQ] who accuses wicked people,

and there is no one who ◄pays them back/gives them the punishment that they deserve► for all the evil things that they have done.

32 The corpses of wicked people are carried to their graves,

and people are put there to guard those graves.

33 A huge number [HYP] of people go to the grave site.

Some go in front of the procession and some come behind.

And the clods of dirt thrown on the graves of those wicked people who have died are like a nice blanket.

34 “So how can you console me by talking nonsense?

Every reply that you make is full of lies!”

Eliphaz replied again

22 Then Eliphaz replied,

2 “◄Can anyone be useful to God?/Certainly no one can be useful to God.► [RHQ]

Even people who are wise cannot be helpful to God.

3 If you were righteous, ◄would that benefit Almighty God?/that certainly would not benefit Almighty God.► [RHQ]

If you had ◄lived a perfect life/never done anything that is wrong►, would that help him?

4 “Is it because you have an awesome respect for God that he punishes you?

Is that the reason that he puts you on trial?

5 No, it certainly must be [RHQ] because you are extremely wicked.

It must be that the evil things that you have done are so many that no one can count them!

6 You must have lent money to others and wrongly forced them to give you things to guarantee that they would pay that money back to you;

you must have taken all their clothes and left them with nothing to wear.

7 You must not have given water to those who were thirsty,

and you must have refused to give food to those who were hungry.

8 Because you were very powerful, you must have taken over all the people’s land,

and then, being very respected, you have begun to live on that land.

9 When widows came to you for help, you must have sent them away without giving them anything,

and you must have oppressed orphans.

10 Because of all that, now there are pits around you for you to fall into,

and suddenly there are things that terrify you and cause you to tremble.

11 It is as though it has become very dark, with the result that you cannot see anything,

and it is as though [MET] a flood covers you.

12 “But consider this, Job: God lives [RHQ] high up in the heavens.

From there he [RHQ] looks down on the highest stars.

13 So why do you say, ‘What does God know about what we are doing?

He is hidden from us by dark clouds, so ◄how can he judge us?/he certainly cannot judge us.► [RHQ]’

14 Do you think that while he walks on the dome that covers the sky,

there are thick clouds around him, with the result that he cannot see what we do?

15 Will you continue to conduct your life the old way

that evil people have done for many years?

16 They suddenly died while they were still young;

they disappeared like everything disappears when there is a flood [MET].

17 They kept saying to God, ‘Do not bother us,’

and they also said defiantly, ‘Almighty God can do nothing [RHQ] to harm us!’

18 But it was God who filled their houses with good things,

so I cannot at all understand why wicked people think like they do.

19 “But when God punishes wicked people, and righteous people see that, they are glad,

and they laugh, ridiculing the wicked people.

20 They say, ‘Now our enemies have been destroyed,

and all their possessions that were left have been burned in a fire.’

21 “So, Job, be reconciled to God and make peace with him;

if you do that, good things will happen to you.

22 Allow him to teach you,

and keep thinking about what he has told you.

23 If you humble yourself and return to God,

if you stop doing all the evil things that you have been doing in your house,

24 if you throw away your gold,

even the fine gold from the dry stream beds in Ophir land,

25 and if you allow Almighty God to be as precious to you as your gold and your silver have been,

26 you will be happy because of your close relationship with God,

and you will be able to approach him [IDM] confidently.

27 You will pray to him, and he will do what you request him to do;

you will do the things that you promised him that you would do.

28 Everything that you decide to do will be successful;

it will be as though a light is shining on the road in front of you.

29 God humbles those who are proud,

but he saves those who are downcast/discouraged.

30 God rescues those who ◄are innocent/have not done things that are wrong►,

so he will rescue you if you ◄start doing things that are right/are not guilty [IDM] of doing things that are wrong►.”

Job replied again

23 Then Job replied again,

2 “Today I am again complaining bitterly/strongly to God;

I continue groaning, but he [SYN] continues to ◄punish me/cause me to suffer►.

3 I ◄wish that I knew/want to know► where I could meet/talk with him,

so that I could go to the place where he lives.

4 If I could do that, I would tell him why I know that I am innocent;

I would tell [MTY] to him all my ◄arguments/evidence to show that I have not done what is evil►.

5 Then I would find out what he would reply to me [DOU].

6 Would he use his great power to argue with me?

No, he would listen to me carefully.

7 I am ◄an honest/a righteous► man; so I would be able to discuss things with him fairly,

and then he would declare that I am innocent, and that decision would endure forever.

8 “But, I have gone to the east, and he is not there;

I have gone to the west, but I have not found him there.

9 I have gone north and I have gone south,

but I have not seen him anywhere.

10 But he knows how I have conducted my life;

and when he has finished testing me, he will see that I am as pure as [SIM] gold whose impurities have all been burned out.

11 I [SYN] have faithfully walked on the path that he showed me;

I have not stopped obeying him.

12 I have always obeyed what he [SYN] commanded;

I have treasured the words that he has spoken.

13 “He never changes. There is no one who can [RHQ] stop him from doing what he desires.

Whatever he wants to do, he does.

14 And he will finish doing for me the things that he has planned for me;

and I am sure that he has thought about doing many things for me.

15 So I am terrified in his presence;

when I think about what he can do, I am very afraid [DOU].

16 Almighty God has caused me [SYN] to feel terrified [DOU].

17 It is as though there is only thick darkness in front of me,

but it is God that I am afraid of, not the darkness.”

Job continued his reply

24 “◄Why does Almighty God not set a time when he will judge evil people?/I do not understand why Almighty God does not set a time when he will judge evil people.► [RHQ]

Those who know him never [RHQ] see him do that!

2 Some evil people remove the markers of boundaries of other people’s land, in order to steal their land;

they seize/steal other people’s sheep and put them in their own pastures.

3 Some ◄take away/steal► the donkeys that belong to orphans,

and they take widow’s oxen to guarantee that the widows will pay back the money that they loaned to those widows.

4 Some shove poor people off the road (OR, prevent poor people from ◄obtaining their rights/being treated justly►),

and they force poor people to find places to hide from them.

5 The result is that poor people have to search for food in the desert

like wild donkeys do.

6 The poor people harvest left-over grain in other people’s fields,

and gather grapes from vineyards that belong to wicked men.

7 During the night they have nothing to cover their bodies,

nothing to keep them warm.

8 When it rains on the mountains, the poor people become very wet,

so they huddle under the rock ledges to be protected from the rain.

9 Some evil men snatch infants away from their widowed mothers [SYN],

and they say ‘I will return your babies to you when you repay the money that I lent to you.’

10 But the poor people walk around with no clothes on;

they are hungry while they are working to carry other people’s bundles of grain to the places where their grain will be threshed.

11 Poor people press olives to make olive oil;

they tread on grapes to make juice for wine,

but they are not allowed to drink any of it when they become thirsty.

12 In the cities, people who are wounded and dying cry out to God for help,

but God does not heed their prayers.

13 Some wicked people avoid the light because they do evil things in the dark;

they do not walk on roads that are lighted.

14 Murderers steal things during the night,

and then they arise before dawn in order that they may go out again and kill needy [DOU] people.

15 Those who want to commit adultery wait for twilight/evening;

they say ‘I do not want anyone to see me,’ so they keep their faces covered.

16 It is during the night that robbers break into houses to steal things,

but during the day they hide because they want to avoid being seen in the light.

17 All of those people want to do their evil things at night, not in the morning when it is light,

because they are not afraid of the things that happen during the night that terrify others.”

(Final speech by Zophar)

18 “But it is wicked people who are swept/carried away by floods,

and God curses the land that they own,

and no one goes to work in their vineyards.

19 Just like the snow melts away when it is hot and there is no rain,

those who have sinned disappear into the place where dead people are.

20 Not even their mothers remember them now;

wicked people are destroyed like trees that are cut down,

and maggots eat their corpses.

21 They mistreat women who have been unable to give birth to children and women who no longer have children to take care of them,

and they never do good things for widows.

22 But God, by his power, gets rid of mighty/influential people.

God acts and causes the wicked people to die.

23 God allows them to think that they are secure and safe,

but he is watching [MTY] them all the time.

24 They prosper for a little while,

and then suddenly they are gone;

they disappear like weeds wither and die;

they are like [SIM] stalks of grain that have been cut off.

25 If this is not true, is there [RHQ] anyone who will show that I am a liar

and prove that what I have said is not true?”

Bildad’s final reply

25 Then Bildad also replied,

2 “God is very powerful; everyone should have an awesome respect for him;

he causes everything to be peaceful high up in heaven.

3 ◄Can anyone count the angels who are in his army in heaven?/No one can count the angels who are in his army in heaven.► [RHQ]

◄Is there any place where his light does not shine?/There is no place where his light does not shine.► [RHQ]

4 So, ◄how can God consider anyone to be righteous?/God certainly cannot consider anyone to be righteous.► [RHQ]

◄How can any human being be truly pure?/No human being can be truly pure.► [RHQ]

5 Consider this: God does not even consider the full moon to be bright,

and he does not consider the stars to be spotless.

6 So, ◄what about humans?/he does not consider humans to be important.► [RHQ]

They are as insignificant as [MET] maggots.

God does not think more highly of people than he thinks of worms.”

Job replied to Bildad again

26 Job replied to Bildad, saying this sarcastically:

2 “I am a very weak and helpless man;

and ◄you certainly have not helped me [SAR] very much!/do you think that you have helped me [SAR] very much?► [RHQ]

3 ◄You certainly have counseled me well—I, who am not wise at all./Do you think that you have counseled me well—I, who am not wise at all?► [RHQ]

◄I’m sure you think that you have given a lot of very good advice to me. [RHQ]

4 Who helped you to say all those great/wise things?

Who inspired you to speak like you did?”

Bildad replied

5 “Because the spirits of dead people are afraid,

they tremble in the waters that are deep under the earth.

6 God knows all about those who are in the place of the dead;

there is nothing down there that prevents God from seeing what is there.

7 God stretched out the earth over the huge empty space

and caused the earth to have nothing to support it.

8 He fills the thick/dense clouds with water

and prevents that water from bursting the clouds.

9 He causes clouds to ◄obscure/prevent us from seeing► the moon.

10 He separated the light from the darkness

and put the horizon to mark the place where the night ends and the daytime begins.

11 When he is angry, it is as though he rebukes the pillars that hold up the sky.

They are ◄shocked/very fearful►, and they tremble.

12 With his power he calmed the sea;

with his skill/wisdom he destroyed Rahab, the huge sea monster.

13 With his breath he caused the sky to be bright/clear;

with his hand he killed the great dragon in the sea.

14 But those events show only a small amount of his power;

it is as though we are hearing only whispers of his powerful voice.

When we hear thunder, we say, ‘◄Who can really understand how great his power is/No one can really understand how great his power is!► [RHQ]’”

Job replied one more time

27 Job replied again to his three friends,

2 “Almighty God has refused to treat me justly/fairly.

He has caused me to feel bitter/resentful.

But just as surely as he lives,

3 as long as God’s Spirit enables me to breathe,

4 I will not lie;

I [SYN] will not say anything to deceive anyone.

5 I will never admit that what you three have said is true;

until the day that I die, I will insist that I have not done things that are wrong.

6 I will say that I am innocent, and never ◄say anything different/change what I say►;

my conscience will never reproach me as long as I live.

7 “I want my enemies to be punished like all wicked people are punished;

I want God to punish those who oppose me like he punishes all unrighteous people.

8 When it is time for God to get rid of godless/wicked people and to cause them to die,

there is absolutely nothing good [RHQ] that they can confidently expect to happen to them.

9 When they experience troubles, ◄will God hear them call out to him for help?/God certainly will not hear them call out to him for help.► [RHQ]

10 ◄Will they be happy about what Almighty God does?/They certainly will not be happy about what Almighty God does.► [RHQ]

◄Will they begin to pray to him frequently?/They certainly will not begin to pray to him frequently.► [RHQ]

Certainly not!

11 “I will teach you three something about the power [MTY] of Almighty God [MTY];

I will reveal what he is thinking.

12 But you three have seen for yourselves what God has done;

so ◄why are you saying such nonsense?/you should not be saying such nonsense.► [RHQ]

13 “I will tell you what Almighty God does to wicked people,

the things that he does to people who oppress others.

14 Even if they have many children, many of those children will die in wars [MTY],

and their other children will die because they do not have enough food to eat.

15 Their children who are still alive will die from diseases,

and their widows will not even mourn for them.

16 Sometimes wicked people accumulate a huge amount [SIM] of silver

and pile up clothes like [SIM] those clothes were a pile of clay,

17 but those wicked people will die, and then righteous people will wear those clothes,

and honest/innocent people will get their silver and divide it among themselves.

18 The houses that they build are as frail/fragile as [SIM] spider webs,

or they are like flimsy huts that watchmen live in while they guard people’s fields.

19 Wicked people are rich when they lie down at night,

but when they wake up in the morning, they find out that their money has disappeared.

20 “Things that terrify them [PRS] strike them like a flood [SIM];

during the night a whirlwind carries them away.

21 It is as though the wind from the east picks them up and carries them away from their homes,

and they disappear.

22 That wind strikes them without pitying them

while they are running away, trying to escape from its force/power [MTY].

23 That wind is like someone clapping his hands [MET] at them to ridicule them,

howling at them wherever they run to.”

Job states some general truths about God’s wisdom

28 “It is true that there are places where men dig to find silver,

and there are places where people refine/purify gold that they have dug.

2 People dig iron ore out of the ground,

and they ◄smelt copper ore/heat copper ore to get the copper from it►.

3 Men use lamps while they work far down under the ground

to search for the ore inside the mines

where it is very dark.

4 They dig ◄shafts/narrow holes very deep down into the ground► in places that are far from where people live,

where travelers do not go.

They work far away from other people,

swinging back and forth on ropes as they descend into the mine shafts.

5 Food grows on the surface of the ground,

but down under the ground, where there is no food, the miners make fires to break apart the rocks.

6 The stones that are dug from under the ground contain ◄sapphires/very valuable blue stones►,

and the dirt contains bits of gold.

7 Some birds have very good eyes,

but even hawks do not know where the mines are,

and falcons/vultures have not seen those places.

8 Lions or other proud wild animals have not walked on the roads near those mines.

9 Miners tear apart [MTY] very hard rock;

it is as though they turn the mountains upside down to get the ore.

10 They cut tunnels through the rocks,

and they find ◄precious/very valuable► things.

11 They dam up small streams in order that water does not flow,

and they bring up into the light valuable things that are hidden in the ground and in the streams.

12 “But wisdom: Where can people find that?

Where can we find out how to truly understand things?

13 Humans do not know where to find it;

no one can find it here on this earth where they are living.

14 It is as though water that is deep inside the earth and water that is in the seas say [PRS],

‘Wisdom is not here!’

15 People cannot buy wisdom

by paying for it with silver or gold.

16 Wisdom is worth much more than fine gold from Ophir land

or other very valuable stones.

17 It is worth much more than gold or beautiful glass,

worth more than vases made from fine gold.

18 Wisdom is worth more than coral or crystal/pure quartz;

the price of wisdom is higher/more than the price of pearls.

19 The prices of ◄topaz/very valuable yellow stones► from Ethiopia and of pure gold

are lower/less than the price of wisdom.

20 “So, where does wisdom come from?

Where can we find out how to truly understand things?

21 No living humans can see it [MTY];

and birds cannot see it while they are flying [MTY].

22 It is as though the places where people go after they die say [PRS],

‘We have only heard rumors about where to find wisdom.’

23 God is the only one who knows how to find wisdom;

he knows where it is,

24 because he can see things even in the most remote/distant places on the earth;

he can see everything that is below the sky.

25 When he decided how strongly the winds should blow,

and how much rain would be in the clouds,

26 and when he decided where rain should fall,

and what path lightning should take from the clouds down to the ground,

27 at that time he saw wisdom and decided that it is extremely valuable.

He examined it and ◄approved it/said that it was very good►.

28 And then he said to humans, ‘Listen! To have an awesome respect for me is what will enable you to become wise;

and to truly understand everything, you must first turn away from doing what is evil.’”

Job’s final speech

29 Job spoke again,

2 “I wish/desire that I could be like I was previously,

during the years when God took care of me.

3 During those years, it was as though God’s lamp [MET] shone on me

and gave me light while I walked in the darkness.

4 At that time I was young and strong,

and because God was my friend, he protected [PRS] my tent.

5 Almighty God was with me during those years

when all my children were around me.

6 My herds provided me with plenty of milk,

and streams of oil flowed from the rock where my olives were pressed.

7 “Whenever I went to the place where the elders gathered at the city gate,

I sat down with them,

8 and when the young men saw me, they stepped aside respectfully,

and the old men also stood respectfully.

9 The leaders of the people stopped talking [DOU],

10 and even the most important men became quiet

and ceased talking [MTY] in order to hear me speak to them.

11 When they [SYN] all heard what I told them,

they said good things about me.

When they [SYN] saw me (OR, what I had done), they commended me,

12 because I had helped the poor people when they cried out for help

and I aided/helped orphans who had no one else to help them.

13 Those who were suffering and about to die praised [PRS] me,

and I caused widows [SYN] to sing joyfully, because of my helping them.

14 I always acted justly;

my continually doing that was like [MET] a robe that I wore and a turban that was wrapped around my head.

15 It was as though [MET] I was eyes for blind people

and feet for people who were lame.

16 I was like [MET] a father to poor people,

and in courts I defended those who were strangers.

17 My causing wicked people to be unable to continue oppressing others was like [MET] breaking the fangs of fierce wild animals

and forcing them to drop from their teeth/mouths the animals that they had caught/seized.

18 “At that time I thought, ‘Surely I will live securely, until I am very old [SIM],

and I will die at home with my family.’

19 I was like a tree [MET] whose roots reach down into the water

and whose branches become wet with dew each night.

20 People always honored me,

and I was always strong like [MET] a new bow.

21 “When I spoke, people waited to hear what I would say

and remained silent until I advised them what they should do.

22 After I finished speaking, they did not say any more;

it was as though [MET] my words fell on their ears like refreshing drops of rain.

23 They waited for me to speak like they wait for rain;

they appreciated what I said like [MET] farmers appreciate the final rain in the spring before the dry season.

24 When they were discouraged, I smiled at them to encourage them;

they became encouraged when they saw that I approved of them.

25 I was their leader, and I decided what things would be good for them to do;

I was among them like [SIM] a king who is among his troops;

I was like someone who comforts others who are mourning.”

Job ridicules the fathers of young men

30 “But now men who are younger than I am make fun of me—

men whose fathers I greatly despised,

with the result that I would not even have allowed them to help my dogs guard my sheep.

2 They were men who were old and ◄weak/worn out►;

so ◄what could I gain from them working for me?/I would have gained nothing from them working for me.► [RHQ]

3 They were very poor and hungry,

with the result that they chewed on roots at night

in dry and desolate places.

4 They pulled up plants in the desert and ate them

and warmed themselves by burning the roots of broom trees.

5 Everyone shouted at them as though they were thieves

and expelled them from their areas.

6 They were forced to live in caves in the hills,

in holes in the ground, and in the sides of cliffs.

7 In the bushes they howled like animals because they were hungry,

and they huddled together under thornbushes.

8 They were people without good sense,

whose names no one knows;

they have been expelled from the land where they were born.

Job stated how he was despised

9 “And now their children sing songs to make fun of me.

They tell jokes about me.

10 They are disgusted with me, and they usually stay away from me,

but when they see me, they are happy to spit in my face.

11 Because it is as though [MET] God has cut my bowstring, he has caused me to be unable to defend myself, and he has humbled me,

and my enemies have done to me whatever they wanted.

12 ◄Gangs/Groups of violent youths► attack me and force me to run away;

they prepare to destroy me.

13 They prevent me from escaping,

and they do not need anyone to help them (OR, there is no one to help me).

14 It is as though I am a city wall and [SIM] they have broken through the wall,

and they have come crashing down on me.

15 I am very terrified;

My dignity/honor has been taken away as though [SIM] it has been blown away by the wind,

and my prosperity has disappeared like [SIM] clouds disappear.

Job stated that God also mistreated him

16 “And now I [SYN] am about to die [IDM];

I suffer every day.

17 My bones ache during the night,

and the pain that torments me never stops.

18 It is as though God seizes my clothes

and chokes me with the collar of my coat.

19 He has thrown me into the mud;

I am not worth anything more than dust and ashes.

20 “I cry out to God, but he does not answer/help me;

I stand up and pray, but he does not pay any attention.

21 He acts very cruelly toward me;

with all of his power [MTY] he causes me to suffer.

22 He allows the wind to lift me up and blow me away,

and he tosses me up and down in a violent storm.

23 I know that he will cause me to die,

which is what happens to everyone [MTY] who is alive.

24 “When people experience disasters,

and they sit on a pile of ruins and cry out for help,

others surely [RHQ] reach out their hand to help them.

25 That is what I did previously. I wept for people who were experiencing troubles,

and I felt sorry for poor/needy people.

26 But when I expected good things to happen to me, evil things happened;

when I waited for light/happiness, all I experienced was darkness/unhappiness [MET].

27 I am very distressed [IDM], all the time;

I suffer every day.

28 I go about very discouraged;

I stand up and plead for people to help me.

29 My wailing sounds as sad as [MET] the cries of jackals/foxes and ostriches.

30 My skin has become dark/black and is peeling off,

and I have a fever which causes my body to feel like it is burning.

31 Previously, I played joyful music on my harp and with my flute,

but now I play only the sad music of those who mourn.”

Job stated his innocence

31 “I solemnly promised myself

that I would not look at a young woman with a desire to have sex with her.

2 If I did not do what I promised,

what would God who is in heaven [MTY] do to me [RHQ]?

Almighty God would certainly not [RHQ] give me any reward!

3 Previously I thought that surely [RHQ] it was unrighteous people who would experience calamities,

and that it was those who do what is wrong who would experience disasters.

4 God certainly sees [RHQ] everything that I do,

so why is he causing me to suffer?

It is as though he counts every step that I take.

5 “I solemnly declare that I have never acted wickedly

and have never tried to deceive people.

6 I request only that God judge me fairly [MET],

and if he does that, he will know that I ◄am innocent/have not done what is wrong►.

7 If it were true that I have stopped living righteously,

or that I [SYN] have desired the things that I look at [MTY],

or that I am guilty of any other sin,

8 then I hope/wish that when I plant seeds, someone else will harvest the crops and eat them

and that others will uproot the fruit trees that I planted.

9 “If it were true that I [SYN] have been attracted by some other man’s wife,

or that I have hidden myself and waited outside the door to her house,

10 I hope/desire that my wife will become the servant/slave of another man

and have sex [EUP] with him.

11 For me to do that would be a terrible sin,

and the judges would decide that I should be punished.

12 My committing adultery would produce in me a fire like [MET] the fire that burns people in hell,

and it would burn up everything that I own.

13 “And, if it were true that I have ever refused to listen to one of my male or female servants

when they complained to me about something,

14 God would arise and declare that he would punish me;

and when he would do that, what would I do?

If he would ask me about what I have done, ◄what would I answer?/I would not be able to answer.► [RHQ]

15 God, who created me, certainly also created my servants [RHQ];

surely he is the one who formed them and me in our mothers’ wombs [RHQ];

so we all should behave toward each other equally.

16-18 16-18“I have guided orphans from the time that they were born;

I have taken care of them since they were young.

So, if it were true that I ate all my food myself and did not share some of it with orphans,

or that I refused to give poor people the things that they wanted,

or that I caused widows to live ◄in despair/without hope that they would receive any help from anyone►,

19 or that I had seen people die from cold because they had no clothes,

or that I had seen poor people who did not have clothes to keep them warm,

20 and they were not able to become warm from clothes made from the wool of my sheep

with the result that they thanked me for giving them clothes,

21 or if it were true that I threatened to strike any orphan

because I knew that the elders at the city gates would ◄decide in my favor►;

22 if those things were true about me, I hope/desire that my shoulder blade would be torn out

and my arm be torn from my shoulder.

23 I always feared that God would cause me to experience a great disaster if I did any of those evil things,

and I would not have been able to endure the powerful things that he would do to punish me.

24 “If it were true that I trusted in my gold/money [DOU],

25 or that I rejoiced because I had acquired many things

and had become very rich,

26 or that I looked at the sun when it was shining

or looked at the beautiful moon

27 and I [SYN] had been tempted to worship them

by kissing my hand to revere them,

28 those things also would be sins for which the judges would say that I must be punished,

because I would have been rejecting God by doing those things.

29-30 29-30“It is not true that I [SYN] sinned by requesting God to curse people who hated me

with the result that God would cause them to die.

It is also not true that I was glad when they were ruined

or that I rejoiced when they experienced disasters [DOU].

31-32 31-32It is also not true that I never welcomed travelers to stay in my tent

or that I did not open my doors to them, but forced them to sleep in the streets.

All the men who work for me certainly know that [RHQ]!

33 Some people try to hide their sins,

but I have never done that;

34 and I never remained silent and refused to go outside of my home

because I was very ◄afraid of/worried about► what people would say about me,

and that they would hate/scorn me.

35 “I wish/desire that there was someone who would hear what I am saying!

I solemnly declare that all that I have said is true.

I wish that those who oppose me would write down on a scroll the evil things that they say that I did.

36 If they did that, I would wear that scroll on my shoulder, or wear it on top of my head, in order that everyone could see it.

37 I would tell God everything that I have done,

and I would approach him confidently, like a ruler would.

38 If it were true that I have stolen land,

with the result that it was as though its furrows cried out to accuse me of stealing;

39 or if it were true that I have eaten the crops that grew in someone else’s fields

without paying for those crops,

with the result that those farmers who grew those crops died from hunger;

40 then I wish/desire that thorns would grow in my fields instead of wheat.

May bad weeds grow instead of barley!”

That is the end of what Job said to his three friends.

Elihu replied to Job and his three friends

32 Then those three men stopped answering Job, because they could not convince Job that he was wrong in claiming that he had not done anything that was wrong. 2 Then Elihu, the son of Barachel, a descendant of Buz, from the clan of Ram, became very angry at Job. He was angry because Job continued to claim that he was righteous/innocent, and that God was wrong to punish him. 3 He was also angry with Job’s three friends, because they had declared that Job must have done many things that were wrong, but they were unable to convince Job that what they said was true. As a result, it seemed to Elihu that God did what was wrong by punishing Job. 4 Elihu was younger than the others, so he waited until they had finished speaking before he replied to Job. 5 But when Elihu realized that the three men had no more to say [MTY] to Job, he became angry.

6 And this is what he said:

“I am young, and you all are much older than I am.

So, I was timid, and I was afraid to tell you what I was thinking.

7 I thought, ‘Let those [PRS] who are much older speak,

because older people should be able to say things that are wise.’

8 But the Spirit of Almighty God is within people, and it is he who enables them to be wise.

9 It is not people becoming old that enables them to be wise;

not all old people understand what is right.

10 “So, I say, ‘Listen to me,

and allow me to say what I think.’

11 I waited for you all to speak;

I wanted to hear the wise things that you would say.

I waited while you thought carefully about what would be the right things to say.

12 I paid attention carefully,

but surprisingly, none of you were able to prove that what Job said was wrong.

13 So, do not say to yourselves, ‘We have discovered what is wise!’

It is God who must ◄refute Job/show that what Job said was wrong►, because you three have not been able to do that.

14 Job was replying to you, not to me,

but I will not reply to him by saying what you three said.

15 “You three are dismayed because you have not been able to convince him that he was wrong,

so you are not saying any more to him [DOU].

16 But because you do not speak, I certainly will not wait any longer [RHQ];

you merely stand there and do not reply any more.

17 So now I also will reply to Job

and say what I think.

18 I have plenty to say,

and my spirit compels me to say it.

19 My inner being is like [SIM] a ◄wineskin/bag that has wine in it►,

and it will soon burst.

20 I must speak [MTY], in order that I do not have to keep holding what I want to say;

I must say something [MTY] to reply to you all.

21 I will speak fairly, not favoring any of you,

and I will not try to flatter anyone.

22 I really do not know how to flatter people;

and if I did that, God would soon get rid of me.”

Elihu challenged Job

33 “But now, Job, listen carefully

to all that I am going to say [DOU].

2 I am ready to tell you [MTY, DOU] what I think.

3 I know that I am speaking honestly

and that I am speaking [MTY] sincerely.

4 Almighty God has created me as well as you,

and his breath has caused me to live.

5 So, answer what I say if you can;

think carefully about how you will reply to me.

6 “God considers that you, and I are both equal;

he formed both of us from clay.

7 So you do not need to be afraid of me;

I will not crush/oppress you by what I say [MTY].

8 I have heard you [DOU] speaking,

and this is what you have said:

9 ‘I am innocent; I have not committed any sins;

I am pure; I have not done things that are wrong.

10 But God finds reasons to accuse me,

and he considers that I am his enemy.

11 It is as though he has put my feet ◄in stocks/between wooden blocks to prevent me from walking away►,

and he watches everything that I do.’ [MTY]

12 But what you have said is wrong,

and I will tell you what you have said that is wrong.

God is much greater than any human.

13 So, ◄why are you arguing against God, saying ‘He never answers my questions’?/you should not be arguing against God, saying ‘He never answers my questions.’► [RHQ]

14 God does speak to us in various ways,

but we do not pay any attention to what he says.

15 Sometimes he speaks to us at night in dreams and visions,

when we are on our beds, asleep [DOU].

16 He reveals things [MTY] to us

and terrifies us by the things he warns us about.

17 He tell us those things in order that we stop doing evil things

and to prevent us from becoming proud.

18 He does not want us to be destroyed [MTY];

he wants to prevent us from dying [MTY] while we are still young.

19 God also sometimes corrects us by forcing us to lie on our beds suffering much pain

and with fever/aching in our bones.

20 The result is that we do not desire any food,

not even very special food.

21 Our bodies become very thin, with the result that we look like skeletons [HYP],

and our bones stick out.

22 We know that we will soon die

and go to the place where dead people are.

23 “But sometimes an angel may come to one of us,

one of the thousands of angels who come to intervene between us and God,

to tell us what are the right things for us to do.

24 The angel is kind to us and says to God,

‘Release that person,

so that he does not descend to the place where dead people are!

Do that because I have found the money to pay so that he can be released!

25 Allow his body to be strong again;

allow him to be strong like he was when he was a youth!’

26 When that happens, that person will pray to God, and God will accept/answer him;

he will ◄enter God’s presence/worship God► joyfully,

and then he will tell others how God saved him from dying.

27 He will sing as he tells everyone,

‘I sinned, and I did things that were not right,

but God did not punish me in the way that I deserved.

28 He has saved me from dying and going to the place where dead people are,

and I will continue to enjoy being alive.’

29 God does all these things for us many times;

30 he keeps us [SYN] from dying and going to the place where the dead are,

in order that we can continue to enjoy being alive [IDM].

31 So Job, listen to me;

do not say anything more; just allow me to speak.

32 After I speak, if you have something more that you want to say to me,

say it, because I would like to find a way to declare that you ◄are innocent/have not done what is wrong►.

33 But if you have nothing more that you want to say, then just listen to me,

and I will teach you how to become wise.”

Elihu continued his challenge

34 Then Elihu continued:

2 “You three men who think that you [SAR] are very wise, hear me;

listen to what I am saying, you men who say that you know so much.

3 When we [SYN] hear what other people like you say,

we [RHQ] think carefully about what they say to determine what is good and what is bad,

like we [SYN] taste food to determine what is good.

4 We need to decide who is saying what is right

and to determine among ourselves what is good/best.

5 Job has said, ‘I am innocent,

but God has refused to judge me fairly/justly.

6 Even though I have always done what is right,

he is lying about me.

Even though I have not done what is wrong,

he has caused me to suffer, and I will certainly die.’

7 ◄Is there any person like Job, who insults others as easily as people accept a drink of water?/There is no person like Job, who insults others as easily as people accept a drink of water.► [RHQ]

8 He habitually associates with people who do what is evil

and spends time with wicked people.

9 He has said, ‘It is useless for people to try to please God.’

10 “So, you men who claim that you understand everything, listen to me!

Almighty God would never consider doing anything that is wicked or wrong [DOU]!

11 He ◄pays back/punishes► people for what they have done;

he gives them what they deserve for the way that they have conducted their lives.

12 Truly, Almighty God never does what is wicked;

he always [LIT] does what is fair/just.

13 The authority that he has to rule everything on the earth, no one [RHQ] gave it to him;

no one [RHQ] put him in control of the whole world.

He has always had that authority.

14 If he would take his spirit back to himself,

15 everyone would die immediately,

and their corpses would soon become dirt again.

16 “So, Job, if you say that you understand everything,

listen to what I am saying.

17 God could certainly not [RHQ] govern the world if he hated doing what is fair/just.

So, will you condemn God, who is righteous and powerful, saying that what he has done is wrong?

18 He tells some kings that they are worthless,

and he says to some officials that they are wicked.

19 He does not favor rulers more than he favors others;

he does not favor rich people more than poor people,

because he created all of them.

20 People often die suddenly;

he strikes them at midnight and they die;

he even gets rid of mighty people without the help of any humans [SYN].

21 “He sees [MTY] everything that people do;

when we walk, he watches every step that we take.

22 There is no gloom or darkness [DOU] that is so dark

that sinners can hide from him in that darkness.

23 God does not need to set a time

when we will stand in front of him in order that he may judge us.

He can judge us whenever he wants to.

24 He destroys mighty people without needing to investigate what they have done,

and he appoints others to take their places.

25 Because he already knows what they have done,

he removes them at night and gets rid of them.

26 Where many people can see it,

he strikes/punishes them because of the wicked things that they have done;

27 he strikes them because they turned away from doing what he wanted them to do

and did not pay attention to any of his commands.

28 They mistreated the poor people,

with the result that those poor people cried out to God for help,

and he heard those afflicted people when they cried out to him.

29 But if God decides to do nothing to punish wicked people,

no one can criticize/condemn him.

If a godless/wicked man rules a nation,

a man who tricks/deceives the people,

30 and if God hides his face with the result that he does not see that ruler or punish him,

no one will be able to prevent that ruler from doing those things.

31 “Job, have you or anyone else ever said to God, ‘I have been punished for my sins,

and I will not sin any more;

32 so teach/show me what sins I have committed;

if I have done anything that is evil,

I will not do it any more’?

33 Job, you object to what God has done to you,

but do you think that he will do what you want him to do?

It is you who must choose what you say to God, not I;

so tell me what you are thinking about this.

34 “People who have good sense, those who are wise and who listen to what I say,

will say to me,

35 ‘Job is speaking ignorantly;

what he says is nonsense.’

36 I think that Job should be taken to a court and ◄put on trial/judged►,

because he answers us his friends like wicked men would answer.

37 To add to the other sins that he has committed, he is rebelling against God;

he shows us that he does not respect God [IDM],

making long speeches saying that God has punished him unjustly.”

Elihu continued his challenge

35 Then Elihu also said this:

2 “Job, do you think that what you said is right/correct?

You say, ‘God knows that I am innocent,’

3 and you say to God, ‘What good have I received for not sinning?

What benefit have I received from that?’ [DOU, RHQ]

4 Well, I will answer you,

and I will answer your three friends, too.

5 “Job, look up at the sky;

look at the clouds that are high above you

and realize that God is far above everything.

6 If you have sinned, that does not [RHQ] harm God at all.

If many times you do things that are wrong, that certainly does not [RHQ] affect him [DOU].

7 And if you are righteous, does that help God?

No, he is not benefited by anything that you do [DOU].

8 It is other people who suffer because of the wicked things that you do,

but by doing good things for people, you help them.

9 “People cry out because of the many things that people do to others to ◄oppress them/treat them cruelly►;

they call for help because of the things that powerful people do [MTY] to them.

10 But ◄no one/none of them► calls out to God,

saying ‘Why does God, my creator, not help me?

He should enable me to sing joyful songs, instead of very sad songs, during the night.

11 He should be able to teach us more than all the wild animals do;

he should enable us to become wiser than all the birds are!’

12 People cry out for help,

but God does not answer them,

because those who cry out are proud and evil people.

13 It is useless for them to cry out,

because God, the Almighty One, does not pay any attention to what they say.

14 So, when you complain that you cannot see God,

and you tell him that you are waiting for him to decide whether or not you should be punished for what you have done,

God will not listen to you, either!

15 Furthermore, you say that because he does not pay attention when people commit sins,

he does not become angry and punish them.

16 You say things that are useless;

you say a lot of things without knowing what you are talking about.”

Elihu’s final speech

36 Elihu finished by saying this:

2 “Job, be patient with me a little longer,

because I have something else to teach you.

I have something else to say that God wants you to know.

3 I will tell you what I have learned from many sources,

in order to show that God, my creator, is just/fair.

4 I am not saying anything to you that is false;

I, who am standing in front of you, am someone who understands things ◄very well/perfectly► [HYP].

5 “Hey, God is very powerful, and he does not despise anyone,

and he understands everything.

6 He does not allow wicked people to remain alive,

and he always acts justly toward those who are poor.

7 He always watches over [MTY] those who are righteous;

he allows them to sit on thrones and rule with kings,

and they are honored forever.

8 But if people who commit crimes are caught,

they are thrown into prison and are caused to suffer by being fastened with chains.

9 When that happens, God shows them what they have done;

he shows them the sins that they have committed,

and he shows them that they have been proud/arrogant.

10 He causes them to listen [MTY] to what he is warning them,

and he commands them to turn away from doing what is evil.

11 If they ◄listen to/heed► him and serve him, after they get out of prison

they will prosper for all the years that they are alive and be peaceful/happy.

12 But if they do not ◄listen/pay attention► to him,

they will die violently,

not knowing why God is causing them to die.

13 “Godless/Wicked people continue being angry,

and they do not cry out for help,

even when God is punishing them.

14 They die while they are still young,

disgraced because of their very immoral behavior [EUP].

15 But God teaches people by causing them to suffer;

by afflicting them, he causes them to listen to [MTY] what he is telling them.

16 “And Job, I think that God wants to bring you out of your troubles

and allow you to live without distress;

he wants your table to be full of very nice food.

17 But now, you are being punished [MTY] as wicked people are punished;

God [PRS] has been punishing you ◄justly/as you deserve►.

18 So be careful that you are not deceived by desiring to acquire money

or that you are not ruined by accepting large bribes.

19 If you are deceived by those things, it certainly will not [RHQ] help you to cry out when you are distressed;

all of your strength will not help you.

20 Do not wish that it would be nighttime in order that God will not see you and punish you,

because night is the time when even people-groups are destroyed!

21 Be careful not to begin doing evil things,

because God has caused you to suffer to prevent you from doing evil.

22 “Hey, God is extremely powerful;

there is certainly [RHQ] no teacher who teaches like he does.

23 No one has [RHQ] told him what he should do,

and no one has [RHQ] said to him, ‘You have done what is wrong!’

24 People have always sung to praise him,

so you also should never forget to praise him for what he has done.

25 Everyone has seen what he has done,

but sometimes we can see it only from far away.

26 “Hey, God is very great, and we are not able to know how great he is,

and we do not know how old he is.

27 He draws water up from the earth and puts it in clouds

and causes it to become rain.

28 The rain pours down from the sky/clouds;

God causes abundant showers to fall on everyone.

29 No one can [RHQ] understand how the clouds move across the sky

or how it thunders in the sky where God lives.

30 He causes lightning to flash all around him,

but he causes the bottom of the oceans to remain dark.

31 By providing plenty of rain for us,

he enables us to have abundant food.

32 It is as though he holds the lightning in his hands,

and then he commands it to strike where he wants it to.

33 When we hear his thunder, we know that there will be a storm,

and the cattle know it, too.”

Elihu continued his final speech

37 “My heart pounds [DOU] when I think about that.

2 Listen, all of you, to the thunder,

which is like God’s voice [DOU].

3 He causes thunder to be heard all across the sky,

and he causes lighting to flash to the most distant places on the earth.

4 After the lightning flashes, we hear the thunder

which is like [MET] God’s majestic voice;

he does not restrain the lightning when he speaks.

5 When God speaks, it is awesome, like thunder;

he does amazing things which we cannot fully understand.

6 He commands the snow to fall on the ground,

and sometimes he causes it to rain very hard.

7 And when God does that, it prevents people [SYN] from working,

in order that all people may know that he is the one who has done that (OR, what he can do).

8 When it rains, animals go into their hiding places,

and they remain there until the rain stops.

9 The storms/hurricanes come from the place in the south where they start,

and the cold wind comes from the north.

10 In the ◄winter/cold season►, the cold north wind is like God’s breath that causes [MET] water to freeze;

he causes the lakes/streams to become ice.

11 God fills the clouds with moisture/hail,

and lightning flashes from the clouds.

12 He guides the clouds and causes them to move back and forth

in order that they may accomplish all that he commands them to do, all over the world.

13 Sometimes God sends rain to punish us,

and sometimes he sends rain to show us that he acts kindly toward us.

14 “Job, listen to this;

stop and think about the wonderful things that God does.

15 ◄Do you know how God commands the lightning to flash down from the clouds?/We do not know how God commands the lightning to flash down from the clouds.► [RHQ]

16 Only God knows everything perfectly;

so ◄do you know how he causes the clouds to across the sky?/you certainly do not know how he causes the clouds to across the sky!► [RHQ]

17 No, you just sweat there in your clothes;

it is very oppressive when the hot wind stops blowing from the south and all the leaves on the trees ◄become still/do not move►.

18 ◄Can you stretch out the skies like God does and make them as hard as [SIM] a sheet of polished brass?/You certainly cannot stretch out the skies like God does and make them as hard as [SIM] a sheet of polished brass!► [RHQ]

19 “Job, tell us(exc) what we should say to God;

we do not know anything [IDM].

As a result, we do not know what to say to him to defend ourselves.

20 Should I tell God that I want to speak to him?

No, because if I did that, he might destroy me.

21 Now, people cannot look directly at the sun

when it shines brightly in the sky after the wind has blown the clouds away;

so, we certainly cannot look at the brightness of God.

22 God comes out of the north with a light that shines like gold;

his glory causes us to be afraid.

23 Almighty God is very powerful,

and we cannot come near to him.

He always acts righteously,

and he will never oppress us.

24 That is the reason that we have an awesome respect for him;

he does not pay attention to those who proudly, but wrongly, think that they are wise.”

Yahweh replied to Job

38 Then Yahweh spoke to Job from inside a great windstorm. He said to him,

2 “◄Who are you to question what I plan to do?/You have no right/authority to question what I plan to do.► [RHQ]

You are speaking ignorantly!

3 I want to ask you some questions,

so, just like men prepare themselves for a difficult task [MET],

prepare to answer my questions.

4 ◄“Where were you/Were you there with me► long ago when I ◄laid the foundations of/created► the earth?

Since you know so much, tell me where you were at that time.

5 Do you know how I decided how large the earth would be?

Do you know who stretched a measuring tape around the earth?

Surely since you think that you know so much, you should know that!

6-7 6-7What supports the pillars on which the earth rests?

When the stars that shine early in the morning sang together,

and someone put in place the stone that causes the earth to stay in its place,

and all the angels shouted joyfully when they saw that happening,

who laid that cornerstone? Did you?

8 “When the seas poured forth from inside the earth,

who prevented the water from flooding over the land?

9 It was I, not you, who caused clouds to come over the seas

and caused it to become very dark under those clouds.

10 I set limits for the seas,

and I put barriers so that the water would not come over the land.

11 I pointed to the shore and said to the water,

‘I permit you to come up to here, but I do not permit you to come any farther.

Your powerful waves must stop there!’

12 “Job, have you ever commanded the morning to begin?

Have you ever told the dawn to start a new day?

13 Have you ever told the dawn to spread out over the whole earth,

with the result that wicked people run away from the light?

14 When it becomes light after the dawn,

the hills and the valleys become clear like the folds in a cloth.

15 When it becomes daylight, the wicked do not have the darkness that they like;

in the daylight they no longer are able to raise up their arms, ready to hurt people.

16 “Job, have you traveled to the springs in the bottom of the ocean from which the water in the seas comes?

Have you investigated/explored the very bottom of the oceans?

17 Has someone shown you the gates to the place where dead people are,

the gates to the place where it is very dark?

18 Do you know how big the earth is?

Tell me, if you know all these things!

19 “Where is the road to the place where light comes from?

And can you tell me where darkness lives?

20 Can take me to its home?

Do you know where the road is that goes there?

21 I am sure that you know these things,

because you talk as though you were born before the time when all things were created;

you must be very old!

22 “Have you entered the place where I store the snow

and the place where I keep the hail?

23 I store the snow and the hail in order that I can use them to help my people when they have troubles,

in times when they are fighting wars [DOU].

24 And where is the road to the place from which I cause the lightning to flash?

Where is the place from where the east wind begins to blow over all the earth?

25 Who created the channels in which the rain comes down from the sky?

Who makes the roads for the thunder/lightning?

26 Who causes rain to fall in the desert,

in places where no one lives?

27 Who sends the rain that gives moisture/water to areas where nothing has grown,

with the result that grass begins to grow again?

28 Does the rain have a father?

Does the dew also have a father?

29 And from whose womb does ice come in the ◄winter/cold season►?

Who gives birth to the frost that comes down from the sky?

30 In the winter, the water freezes and becomes hard, like a rock,

and the surface of lakes becomes frozen.

31 “Job, can you fasten the chains that hold the stars together in clusters/groups in the sky?

32 Can you tell the stars when they should shine?

Can you guide the stars in the groups in the northern sky whose names are the Big Bear and the Little Bear?

33 Do you know the laws that the stars must obey?

Can you cause those same laws to rule everything here on the earth?

34 “Can you shout to the clouds and cause rain to pour down on you?

35 Can you cause flashes of lightning to come down and strike where you want it to strike?

Do those flashes say to you, ‘Where do you want us to strike next?’

36 Who enables the clouds to know when they should cause rain to fall?

37 And who is skilled/wise enough to be able to count the clouds?

Who can tilt the jugs of water in the sky to cause the rain to fall,

38 with the result that the dry ground becomes hard

as the dry ◄clods/lumps of soil► become wet and stick together?

39-40 39-40“When a lioness and her cubs crouch in their dens or hide in a thicket, waiting for some animal to pass by that they can kill,

can you find animals for a lioness to kill

so that she and her cubs can eat the meat and not be hungry any more?

41 Who provides dead animals for crows,

when the baby crows are calling out to me for food,

when they are so weak because of their lack of food that they ◄stagger around/can hardly stand up► in their nests?”

Yahweh continued his reply to Job

39 “Job, do you know at what time/season of the year the female mountain goats give birth?

Have you watched the wild deer while their fawns were being born?

2 Do you know how many months pass from the time they become pregnant until their fawns are born?

3 When they give birth, they crouch down

so that the fawns do not get hurt by falling to the ground when they are born.

4 The young fawns grow up in the open fields,

and then they leave their mothers and do not return to them again.

5 “Who allows the wild donkeys to go wherever they want [DOU]?

6 I am the one who put them in the desert,

in places where grass does not grow.

7 They do not like the noise in the cities;

in the desert they do not have to listen to the shouts of those who force donkeys to work.

8 They go to the hills to find food;

there they search for grass to eat.

9 :Will a wild ox agree to work for you?

Will it allow you to keep it penned up at night in the place where you put feed for your animals?

10 And can you fasten it with a rope

so that it will plow furrows/trenches in your fields?

11 Since it is very strong, can you trust it to work for you?

Can you go away after you tell it what work it should do and assume that it will do that work?

12 Can you rely on it to come back from the field,

bringing your grain to the place where you thresh it?

13 “Think also about the ostriches. They joyfully flap their wings,

but they do not have wing feathers that enable them to fly like storks do.

14 Ostriches lay their eggs on top of the ground and then walk away,

leaving the eggs to be warmed in the sand.

15 Ostriches do not worry that some wild animal may step on the eggs and crush them [DOU].

16 Ostriches act cruelly towards their chicks;

they act as though the chicks belonged to some other ostrich.

They are not concerned if their chicks die,

and so the laying of the eggs was in vain.

17 That is because I did not allow ostriches to be wise.

I did not enable them to be intelligent.

18 But, when they get up and begin to run,

they scornfully laugh at horses with their riders

because the horses cannot run as fast as the ostriches!

19 And think about horses. Job, are you the one who caused horses to be strong?

Are you the one who put flowing ◄manes/long hair► on their necks?

20 Are you the one who enabled them to leap forward like locusts?

When they ◄snort/blow loudly through their noses►, they cause people to be afraid.

21 They paw the ground, rejoicing about being very strong,

as they prepare to rush into a battle.

22 It is as if they laugh at the thought of being afraid. They are not afraid of anything!

They do not run away when the soldiers in the battle are fighting each other with swords.

23 The quivers containing the riders’ arrows rattle against the horses’ sides,

and the spears and javelins flash in the light of the sun.

24 The horses paw the ground fiercely/excitedly, wanting the battle to begin,

and they rush into the battle when the trumpet is blown.

25 They neigh joyfully when they hear someone blowing the trumpet.

They can smell a battle even when they are far away,

and they understand what it means when the commanders shout their commands to their soldiers.

26 “And think about big birds. Are you the one who enabled hawks to spread their wings

and fly to the south for the winter?

27 Do eagles fly high up into the cliffs to make their nests

because you commanded them to do that?

28 They live in holes in those cliffs.

They are safe in those high pointed rocks because no animals can reach them there.

29 As they watch carefully from there,

they see far away the animals that they can kill (OR, dead bodies of animals).

30 After an eagle kills an animal,

the baby eagles drink the blood of that animal.”

Yahweh continued his reply to Job

40 Then Yahweh said to Job,

2 “Do you still want to argue with me, the Almighty One?

Since you criticize me, ◄you should be able to answer my questions!/why are you not able to answer my questions?► [RHQ]”

Job replied to Yahweh

3 Then Job replied to Yahweh,

4 “Now I realize that I am completely worthless. So ◄how could I answer those questions?/I could not possibly answer those questions!► [RHQ]

I will put my hand over my mouth and not say anything.

5 I have already said more than I should have said,

so now I will say nothing more.”

Yahweh challenged Job

6 Then Yahweh again spoke to Job from inside the great windstorm. He said,

7 “I want to ask you some more questions.

So as men prepare themselves for a difficult task [MET],

prepare yourself again to answer some more questions.

8 “Are you going to accuse me and say that I am unjust?

Are you going to say that what I have done is wrong, in order that you can say that what you have done is right?

9 Are you as powerful [MTY] as I am?

Can your voice sound as loud as thunder, as mine can?

10 If you can do that, put on the robes

that show that you are glorious and are greatly honored!

11 Show that you are very angry;

show that you have the right/authority to humble people who are very proud!

12 Humble those proud people just by looking at them angrily

Crush wicked people quickly!

13 Bury them in the ground!

Send them to the place where dead people are,

where they will not be able to get out!

14 After you do that, I will congratulate/praise you

and say that truly you can save yourself by your own ability/power.

15 “Think also about the huge animals that live near the water.

I made you, and I made them also.

They eat grass, like oxen do.

16 Their legs/thighs are very strong,

and the muscles of their bellies are very powerful.

17 Their tails are stiff (OR, bend down) like the branches of a cedar tree.

The sinews/muscles of their thighs are close together.

18 Their thigh bones are like tubes made of bronze,

and the bones of their legs are like bars made of iron.

19 They are among the strongest of the animals that I made,

and I, who created them, am the only one who can kill them.

20 On the hills grows food [PRS] for them to eat

while many [HYP] other wild animals play nearby.

21 They lie down in the water under the lotus plants;

they hide in tall reeds in the swamps.

22 Those huge animals find shade under the lotus plants,

and they are surrounded by poplar trees.

23 They are not disturbed by raging/swiftly-flowing rivers;

they are not even disturbed/frightened when rivers like the Jordan River rush over them.

24 No one can [RHQ] catch them by blinding their eyes

or by piercing their noses with the teeth of a trap!”

Yahweh challenged Job to try to capture a crocodile

41 “Think also about ◄crocodiles/great sea dragons►.

Can you catch them with a fishhook

or fasten their jaws with a rope?

2 Can you put ropes through their noses to control them

or thrust hooks through their jaws?

3 Will they plead with you to act mercifully toward them

or ◄use sweet talk/speak to you nicely► in order that you will not harm them?

4 Will they make an agreement with you to work for you,

to be your slaves as long as they live?

5 Can you cause them to become pets like you cause birds to become your pets?

Can you put a leash/rope around their necks so that your servant girls can play with them?

6 Will merchants try to buy them in the market?

Will they cut them up into pieces and sell the meat?

7 Can you pierce their skins by throwing fishing spears at them?

Can you pierce their heads with a harpoon?

8 If you grab one of them with your hands, it will fight you in a way that you will never forget,

and you will never try to do it again!

9 It is useless to try to subdue them.

Anyone who tries to subdue one of them will lose his courage.

10 No one dares/tries to ◄arouse them/cause them to be angry►.

So, since I am much more powerful than they are, ◄who would dare to cause me to be angry?/no one would dare to cause me to be angry!► [RHQ]

11 Also, everything on the earth is mine.

Therefore, no one [RHQ] is able to give anything to me and require me to pay money for it!

12 I will tell you about how strong crocodiles' legs are

and how strong their well-formed bodies are.

13 ◄Can anyone strip off their hides?/No one is able to strip off their hides.► [RHQ]

◄Can anyone try to put bridles on them?/No one can try to put bridles on them.► [RHQ] (OR, Can anyone pierce their very thick hides?)

14 ◄Can anyone pry open their jaws, which have terrible teeth in them?/No one can pry open their jaws, which have terrible teeth in them!► [RHQ]

15 They have rows of scales on their back

which are as hard as a rock (OR, tightly fastened together).

16 The scales are very close together,

with the result that not even air can get between them.

17 The scales are joined very closely to each other,

and they cannot be separated.

18 When crocodiles sneeze, the tiny drops of water that come out of their noses sparkle in the sunlight.

Their eyes are red like the rising sun.

19 It is as though sparks of fire pour out of their mouths [DOU].

20 Smoke pours out of their nostrils/noses

like steam comes out of a pot that is put over a fire made from dry reeds.

21 Their breath can cause coals to blaze,

and flames shoot out from their mouths.

22 Their necks are very strong;

wherever they go, they cause people to be very afraid.

23 The folds in their flesh are very close together

and are very hard/firm.

24 They are fearless, because

the inner parts of their bodies are as hard as a rock,

as hard as the lower millstone on which grain is ground.

25 When they rise up, they cause even very strong people to be terrified.

As a result, people ◄fall back/run away► when crocodiles thrash around.

26 People [PRS] cannot injure them with swords,

and spears or darts or javelins cannot injure them, either.

27 They certainly are not afraid of weapons made of straw or rotten wood,

but they are not even afraid of weapons made of iron or bronze!

28 Shooting arrows at them does not cause them to run away.

Hurling stones at them from a sling is like hurling bits of chaff at them.

29 They are not afraid of clubs any more than they would be afraid of men throwing bits of straw at them,

and they laugh when they hear the whirl/sound of javelins being thrown at them .

30 Their bellies are covered with scales that are as sharp as broken pieces of pottery.

When they drag themselves through the mud,

their bellies tear up the ground like a plow.

31 They stir up the water and cause it to foam

as they churn/swim through it.

32 As they go through the water, the ◄wakes/trails in the water behind them► glisten.

People who see it would think that the foam in those wakes had become white hair.

33 There are no creatures on earth that are as fearless as crocodiles.

34 They are the proudest of all the creatures;

it is as though they rule like kings over all the other wild animals.”

Job replied to Yahweh

42 Then Job replied to Yahweh. He said,

2 “I know that you can do everything

and that no one can stop you from doing what you want to do.

3 You asked me, ‘◄Who are you, who by speaking ignorantly, question what I plan to do?/You have no right to question what I plan to do by speaking ignorantly.►’ [RHQ]

It is true that I spoke about things that I did not understand,

things that are very wonderful/marvelous,

and therefore I am not able to know them.

4 You said to me, ‘Listen while I talk to you.

I want to ask you some questions,

so prepare yourself to answer them.’

5 I had heard about you previously,

but now it is as though I have seen you with my own eyes.

6 Therefore I ◄am ashamed of/withdraw► what I said,

and I sit in dust and ashes to show that I am sorry for what I said.”

Yahweh said he disapproved of what Job’s three friends said

7 After Yahweh said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz, “I am angry with you and your two friends, Bildad and Zophar, because what my servant Job said about me was right/true, but what you have spoken about me was not right/true. 8 So now you must take to Job seven young bulls and seven rams and kill them and burn them on the altar as a sacrifice for yourselves. Then Job will pray for you, and I will do what he requests me to do, and I will forgive you for speaking wrongly about me. I will not punish you, even though you deserve to be punished, because what you said about me was not right/true, but what Job said about me was right/true.”

9 So Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar did what Yahweh commanded them to do, and Yahweh did what Job requested him to do for the three of them.

Yahweh blessed Job again

10 After Job prayed for his three friends, Yahweh healed him and caused him to become rich again. Yahweh gave him twice as many things as he had before. 11 Then all his brothers and sisters, and all the people who had known him before, came to his house, and they ate a meal together. They consoled/comforted [DOU] him because of all the troubles that Yahweh had allowed him to experience.

12 Then Yahweh blessed Job in the second half of his life more than he had blessed him in the first half of his life. He now acquired/owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 2,000 oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 And he also had seven more sons and three more daughters. 14 He named the first daughter Jemimah, he named the second daughter Keziah, and he named the third daughter Keren-Happuch. 15 In all of Uz land there were no young women who were as beautiful as the daughters of Job, and Job declared that they would inherit some of his possessions, just like their brothers would inherit some.

16 After that, Job lived 140 more years. Before he died, he ◄saw/enjoyed being with► his great-great-grandchildren. 17 He was very old [DOU] when he died.