Job 17-20

Contemporary English Version

⁶ You, God, are the reason
    I am insulted and spit on.
⁷ I am almost blind with grief;
    my body is a mere shadow.

⁸ People who are truly good
    would feel so alarmed,
that they would become angry
    with my worthless friends.
⁹ They would do the right thing
and because they did,
    they would grow stronger.^[a]
10 But none of my friends
    show any sense.

¹¹ My life is drawing to an end;
    hope has disappeared.
¹² But all my friends can do
    is offer empty hopes.^[b]
13 I could tell the world below
    to prepare me a bed.
¹⁴ Then I could greet the grave
    as my father
and say to the worms,
    “Hello, mother and sisters!”

¹⁵ But what kind of hope is that?
¹⁶ Will it keep me company
    in the world of the dead?

* ^5 (A) The lamps of sinful people
soon are snuffed out,
⁶     leaving their tents dark.
⁷ Their powerful legs become weak,
and they stumble on schemes
    of their own doing.
* ⁸ Before they know it,
⁹ they are trapped in a net,
¹⁰     hidden along the path.
¹¹ Terror strikes and pursues
    from every side.
¹² Starving, they run,
    only to meet disaster,
¹³ then afterwards to be eaten alive
    by death itself.

¹⁴ Those sinners are dragged
from the safety of their tents
    to die a gruesome death.
¹⁵ Then their tents and possessions
    are burned to ashes,
¹⁶ and they are left like trees,
    dried up from the roots.
¹⁷ They are gone and forgotten,
¹⁸ thrown far from the light
    into a world of darkness,
¹⁹ without any children
    to carry on their name.
²⁰ Everyone, from east to west,
    is overwhelmed with horror.
²¹ Such is the fate of sinners
and their families
    who don't know God.

⁷ Though I pray to be rescued
    from this torment,
no whisper of justice
    answers me.
⁸ God has me trapped
with a wall of darkness
⁹     and stripped of respect.
¹⁰ God rips me apart,
    uproots my hopes,
¹¹ and attacks with fierce anger,
    as though I were his enemy.
¹² His entire army advances,
    then surrounds my tent.

²³ I wish that my words
could be written down
²⁴     or chiseled into rock.
²⁵ I know that my Protector^[d] lives,
and at the end
    he will stand on this earth.
²⁶ My flesh may be destroyed,
yet from this body
    I will see God.^[e]
27 Yes, I will see him for myself,
    and I long for that moment.

²⁸ My friends, you think up ways
to blame and torment me, saying
    I brought it on myself.
²⁹ But watch out for the judgment,
    when God will punish you!

²⁰ Greedy people want everything
    and are never satisfied.^[g]
21 But when nothing remains
for them to grab,
    they will be nothing.
²² Once they have everything,
distress and despair
    will strike them down,
²³ and God will make them swallow
    his blazing anger.^[h]

^24 (D) While running from iron spears,
they will be killed
    by arrows of bronze,
²⁵ whose shining tips go straight
    through their bodies.
They will be trapped by terror,
²⁶ and what they treasure most
    will be lost in the dark.
God will send flames
to destroy them in their tents
    with all their property.
²⁷ The heavens and the earth
    will testify against them,
²⁸ and all their possessions
will be dragged off
    when God becomes angry.
²⁹ This is what God has decided
    for those who are evil.