Job 15:17-35

International Children’s Bible

¹⁷ “Job, listen to me, and I will tell you about it.
    I will tell you what I have seen.
¹⁸ These are things wise men have told.
    Their ancestors told them these things, and they have hidden nothing.
¹⁹ (The land was given to their fathers only.
    No foreigner lived among them.)
²⁰ The evil man suffers pain all his life.
    The cruel man suffers during all the years saved up for him.
²¹ Terrible sounds fill his ears.
    When things seem to be going well, robbers attack him.
²² The evil person gives up trying to escape from the darkness.
    It has been decided that he will die by the sword.
²³ He wanders around. He will become food for vultures.
    He knows death will soon come.
²⁴ Worry and suffering terrify him.
    They overwhelm him. They seem like a king ready to attack.
²⁵ This is because he shakes his fist at God.
    He tries to get his own way against God All-Powerful.
²⁶ He stubbornly charges at God
    with a thick, strong shield.

²⁷ “The evil person’s face is covered with fat.
    His waist is fat with flesh.
²⁸ He will live in towns that are ruined.
    He will live in houses where no one lives.
    They are houses that are crumbling into ruins.
²⁹ The evil person will no longer get rich.
    And the riches he has will not last.
    The things he owns will no longer spread over the land.
³⁰ He will not escape the darkness.
    A flame will dry up his branches.
    God’s breath will carry that evil person away.
³¹ The evil person should not fool himself by trusting what is useless.
    If he does, he will get nothing in return.
³² His branch will dry up before it finishes growing.
    It will not even become green.
³³ He will be like a vine whose grapes are pulled off before they are ripe.
    He will be like an olive tree that loses its blossoms.
³⁴ People without God can produce nothing.
    Fire will destroy the tents of people who take money to do evil.
³⁵ They plan trouble and give birth to evil.
    Their hearts plan ways to trick people.”