Job 22-28

New Living Translation

² “Can a person do anything to help God?
    Can even a wise person be helpful to him?
³ Is it any advantage to the Almighty if you are righteous?
    Would it be any gain to him if you were perfect?
⁴ Is it because you’re so pious that he accuses you
    and brings judgment against you?
⁵ No, it’s because of your wickedness!
    There’s no limit to your sins.

⁶ “For example, you must have lent money to your friend
    and demanded clothing as security.
    Yes, you stripped him to the bone.
⁷ You must have refused water for the thirsty
    and food for the hungry.
⁸ You probably think the land belongs to the powerful
    and only the privileged have a right to it!
⁹ You must have sent widows away empty-handed
    and crushed the hopes of orphans.
¹⁰ That is why you are surrounded by traps
    and tremble from sudden fears.
¹¹ That is why you cannot see in the darkness,
    and waves of water cover you.

¹² “God is so great—higher than the heavens,
    higher than the farthest stars.
¹³ But you reply, ‘That’s why God can’t see what I am doing!
    How can he judge through the thick darkness?
¹⁴ For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us.
    He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.’

¹⁵ “Will you continue on the old paths
    where evil people have walked?
¹⁶ They were snatched away in the prime of life,
    the foundations of their lives washed away.
¹⁷ For they said to God, ‘Leave us alone!
    What can the Almighty do to us?’
¹⁸ Yet he was the one who filled their homes with good things,
    so I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.

¹⁹ “The righteous will be happy to see the wicked destroyed,
    and the innocent will laugh in contempt.
²⁰ They will say, ‘See how our enemies have been destroyed.
    The last of them have been consumed in the fire.’

²¹ “Submit to God, and you will have peace;
    then things will go well for you.
²² Listen to his instructions,
    and store them in your heart.
²³ If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored—
    so clean up your life.
²⁴ If you give up your lust for money
    and throw your precious gold into the river,
²⁵ the Almighty himself will be your treasure.
    He will be your precious silver!

²⁶ “Then you will take delight in the Almighty
    and look up to God.
²⁷ You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
    and you will fulfill your vows to him.
²⁸ You will succeed in whatever you choose to do,
    and light will shine on the road ahead of you.
²⁹ If people are in trouble and you say, ‘Help them,’
    God will save them.
³⁰ Even sinners will be rescued;
    they will be rescued because your hands are pure.”

² “My complaint today is still a bitter one,
    and I try hard not to groan aloud.
³ If only I knew where to find God,
    I would go to his court.
⁴ I would lay out my case
    and present my arguments.
⁵ Then I would listen to his reply
    and understand what he says to me.
⁶ Would he use his great power to argue with me?
    No, he would give me a fair hearing.
⁷ Honest people can reason with him,
    so I would be forever acquitted by my judge.
⁸ I go east, but he is not there.
    I go west, but I cannot find him.
⁹ I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden.
    I look to the south, but he is concealed.

¹⁰ “But he knows where I am going.
    And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold.
¹¹ For I have stayed on God’s paths;
    I have followed his ways and not turned aside.
¹² I have not departed from his commands,
    but have treasured his words more than daily food.
¹³ But once he has made his decision, who can change his mind?
    Whatever he wants to do, he does.
¹⁴ So he will do to me whatever he has planned.
    He controls my destiny.
¹⁵ No wonder I am so terrified in his presence.
    When I think of it, terror grips me.
¹⁶ God has made me sick at heart;
    the Almighty has terrified me.
¹⁷ Darkness is all around me;
    thick, impenetrable darkness is everywhere.

⁹ “The wicked snatch a widow’s child from her breast,
    taking the baby as security for a loan.
¹⁰ The poor must go about naked, without any clothing.
    They harvest food for others while they themselves are starving.
¹¹ They press out olive oil without being allowed to taste it,
    and they tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst.
¹² The groans of the dying rise from the city,
    and the wounded cry for help,
    yet God ignores their moaning.

¹³ “Wicked people rebel against the light.
    They refuse to acknowledge its ways
    or stay in its paths.
¹⁴ The murderer rises in the early dawn
    to kill the poor and needy;
    at night he is a thief.
¹⁵ The adulterer waits for the twilight,
    saying, ‘No one will see me then.’
    He hides his face so no one will know him.
¹⁶ Thieves break into houses at night
    and sleep in the daytime.
    They are not acquainted with the light.
¹⁷ The black night is their morning.
    They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness.

¹⁸ “But they disappear like foam down a river.
    Everything they own is cursed,
    and they are afraid to enter their own vineyards.
¹⁹ The grave^[a] consumes sinners
    just as drought and heat consume snow.
²⁰ Their own mothers will forget them.
    Maggots will find them sweet to eat.
No one will remember them.
    Wicked people are broken like a tree in the storm.
²¹ They cheat the woman who has no son to help her.
    They refuse to help the needy widow.

²² “God, in his power, drags away the rich.
    They may rise high, but they have no assurance of life.
²³ They may be allowed to live in security,
    but God is always watching them.
²⁴ And though they are great now,
    in a moment they will be gone like all others,
    cut off like heads of grain.
²⁵ Can anyone claim otherwise?
    Who can prove me wrong?”

² “God is powerful and dreadful.
    He enforces peace in the heavens.
³ Who is able to count his heavenly army?
    Doesn’t his light shine on all the earth?
⁴ How can a mortal be innocent before God?
    Can anyone born of a woman be pure?
⁵ God is more glorious than the moon;
    he shines brighter than the stars.
⁶ In comparison, people are maggots;
    we mortals are mere worms.”

² “How you have helped the powerless!
    How you have saved the weak!
³ How you have enlightened my stupidity!
    What wise advice you have offered!
⁴ Where have you gotten all these wise sayings?
    Whose spirit speaks through you?

⁵ “The dead tremble—
    those who live beneath the waters.
⁶ The underworld^[b] is naked in God’s presence.
    The place of destruction^[c] is uncovered.
⁷ God stretches the northern sky over empty space
    and hangs the earth on nothing.
⁸ He wraps the rain in his thick clouds,
    and the clouds don’t burst with the weight.
⁹ He covers the face of the moon,^[d]
    shrouding it with his clouds.
¹⁰ He created the horizon when he separated the waters;
    he set the boundary between day and night.
¹¹ The foundations of heaven tremble;
    they shudder at his rebuke.
¹² By his power the sea grew calm.
    By his skill he crushed the great sea monster.^[e]
13 His Spirit made the heavens beautiful,
    and his power pierced the gliding serpent.
¹⁴ These are just the beginning of all that he does,
    merely a whisper of his power.
    Who, then, can comprehend the thunder of his power?”

² “I vow by the living God, who has taken away my rights,
    by the Almighty who has embittered my soul—
³ As long as I live,
    while I have breath from God,
⁴ my lips will speak no evil,
    and my tongue will speak no lies.
⁵ I will never concede that you are right;
    I will defend my integrity until I die.
⁶ I will maintain my innocence without wavering.
    My conscience is clear for as long as I live.

⁷ “May my enemy be punished like the wicked,
    my adversary like those who do evil.
⁸ For what hope do the godless have when God cuts them off
    and takes away their life?
⁹ Will God listen to their cry
    when trouble comes upon them?
¹⁰ Can they take delight in the Almighty?
    Can they call to God at any time?
¹¹ I will teach you about God’s power.
    I will not conceal anything concerning the Almighty.
¹² But you have seen all this,
    yet you say all these useless things to me.

¹³ “This is what the wicked will receive from God;
    this is their inheritance from the Almighty.
¹⁴ They may have many children,
    but the children will die in war or starve to death.
¹⁵ Those who survive will die of a plague,
    and not even their widows will mourn them.

¹⁶ “Evil people may have piles of money
    and may store away mounds of clothing.
¹⁷ But the righteous will wear that clothing,
    and the innocent will divide that money.
¹⁸ The wicked build houses as fragile as a spider’s web,^[f]
    as flimsy as a shelter made of branches.
¹⁹ The wicked go to bed rich
    but wake to find that all their wealth is gone.
²⁰ Terror overwhelms them like a flood,
    and they are blown away in the storms of the night.
²¹ The east wind carries them away, and they are gone.
    It sweeps them away.
²² It whirls down on them without mercy.
    They struggle to flee from its power.
²³ But everyone jeers at them
    and mocks them.

¹² “But do people know where to find wisdom?
    Where can they find understanding?
¹³ No one knows where to find it,^[g]
    for it is not found among the living.
¹⁴ ‘It is not here,’ says the ocean.
    ‘Nor is it here,’ says the sea.
¹⁵ It cannot be bought with gold.
    It cannot be purchased with silver.
¹⁶ It’s worth more than all the gold of Ophir,
    greater than precious onyx or lapis lazuli.
¹⁷ Wisdom is more valuable than gold and crystal.
    It cannot be purchased with jewels mounted in fine gold.
¹⁸ Coral and jasper are worthless in trying to get it.
    The price of wisdom is far above rubies.
¹⁹ Precious peridot from Ethiopia^[h] cannot be exchanged for it.
    It’s worth more than the purest gold.

²⁰ “But do people know where to find wisdom?
    Where can they find understanding?
²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of all humanity.
    Even the sharp-eyed birds in the sky cannot discover it.
²² Destruction^[i] and Death say,
    ‘We’ve heard only rumors of where wisdom can be found.’

²³ “God alone understands the way to wisdom;
    he knows where it can be found,
²⁴ for he looks throughout the whole earth
    and sees everything under the heavens.
²⁵ He decided how hard the winds should blow
    and how much rain should fall.
²⁶ He made the laws for the rain
    and laid out a path for the lightning.
²⁷ Then he saw wisdom and evaluated it.
    He set it in place and examined it thoroughly.
²⁸ And this is what he says to all humanity:
‘The fear of the Lord is true wisdom;
    to forsake evil is real understanding.’”