Beginning
Job's friend Bildad speaks to him[a]
8 Job's friend Bildad, who came from Shuah, decided to speak. He said this to Job:
2 ‘You should not continue to talk like this.
Your words are like a wind that blows strongly.
3 Surely you know that God is fair.
The Almighty God never changes right things into wrong things.
4 Your children did things that were wrong.
That is why God punished them.
5 But you should pray to Almighty God.
You should ask him to help you.
6 If you are honest and live in the right way,
God will do something to help you.
He will give you a family again
that will bring you honour.
7 You will be successful in the future,
with more riches than you had before.
8 Think about the people who lived before us.
Study the things that our ancestors learned.
9 We have not lived for very long,
so we do not know very much.
Our lives are like shadows that quickly disappear.
10 But the people who lived before us can teach you.
They can tell you the things that they have learned.
11 Some plants only grow tall in wet ground.
Reeds only grow well where there is water.
12 If the water is no longer there,
they will quickly die.
They will die before they are ready for people to cut them.
They become useless more quickly than grass.
13 People who turn away from God are like those plants.
Their hope quickly disappears.
14 They trust in useless things to help them.
Those things are as weak as a spider's web.[b]
15 If they expect something like that to help them,
it will fall down and leave them.
If they take hold of it,
it will not keep them safe.
16 People who turn away from God are like weeds.
When there is plenty of water and the sun shines on them,
they grow all over the garden.
17 Their roots grow around a heap of stones.
They have a strong home among the rocks.
18 But finally, someone pulls those weeds out of the ground.
When that happens,
nobody knows that the weeds were ever there.
19 People who are like weeds only have that kind of joy.
When they disappear, other weeds grow in their place.
20 Listen! God never turns away from a man who is not guilty.
Nor will he ever help wicked people.
21 He will surely make you happy again.
You will be able to laugh and shout with joy.
22 People who hate you will be ashamed.
Wicked people will have nowhere to live.’
Job replies to Bildad
9 Then Job replied. This is what he said:
2 ‘The things that you have said are true.
But nobody can show God that he is completely good.
3 It is not possible to argue with God.
God can ask 1,000 questions that we cannot answer.
4 God is very wise and he is very powerful.
It is impossible to argue against him and win.
5 He has the power to move mountains suddenly.
When he is angry he can knock them down.
6 He shakes the earth,
to move it from its proper place.
The foundations of the earth shake!
7 He may command the sun not to shine during the day.
He may stop the stars shining at night.
8 God alone put the whole sky in its place.
He marches over the waves of the sea.
9 He put the groups of stars in their places.
He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades.[c]
He put the groups of stars in the southern sky.
10 He does great things that we cannot understand.
He does more wonderful things than we can count.
11 When God passes in front of me,
I do not see him.
If he moves further away,
I do not see where he has gone.
12 If God decides to take something,
nobody can stop him.
Nobody can ask him, “What are you doing?”
13 If God is angry, he will not stop.
He destroys Rahab and the other monsters of the sea.[d]
14 So I can never give an answer to God.
There are no words that I can use to argue with him.
15 Even if I am completely right,
I cannot answer him.
He is my judge.
I can only ask him to be kind to me.
16 He might agree to meet with me in court.
But I do not believe that he would listen to me.
17 He would attack me with a strong storm.
He would hurt me even more, for no reason.
18 He would not allow me to breathe quietly.
Instead, he would make me very upset.
19 If I tried to fight God,
he is much stronger than I am.
And if I ask for justice,
who can bring God to court?
20 I am right. I have not done anything that is wrong.
But my words would say that I am guilty.
21 I have not done anything that is wrong.
But it does not matter what happens to me.
My life is not important to me.
22 The same thing happens to good people and to wicked people.
So I say, “God destroys people who are not guilty
as well as those who are guilty.”
23 When disease comes, people may die suddenly.
God laughs at good people who suffer like that.
24 A wicked man may have power to rule a nation.
Then God stops the judges from being fair.
It must be God who does that.
Who else could it be?
25 The days of my life are passing very quickly,
like a fast runner.
None of my days makes me happy.
26 My days go past like a fast boat on a river.
They move quickly like an eagle
when it flies down to catch its food.
27 I may try to be happy and to smile.
I may try to forget about my troubles.
28 Even then, I will be afraid of all my pain.
God, I know that you think I am guilty.
29 So, if I am guilty,
it is useless to do anything about it.
30 I might wash myself with pure water.
I might clean my hands with soap.
31 But then God would throw me down into a dirty hole.
Even my own clothes would be ashamed of me!
32 God is not a human, as I am.
So I cannot answer him.
We cannot argue with each other in court.
33 There is nobody who can decide which of us is right.
Nobody has authority to judge both of us.
34 Nobody can stop God from punishing me.
If that were possible, I would not be afraid any more.
35 I would speak to God and I would not be afraid.
But now I cannot do that.
Job continues to speak
10 I do not want to live any longer.
I must continue to complain.
I am very upset and I have to speak about it.
2 This is what I will say to God:
“Do not say that I am guilty.
Tell me what bad things you think I have done.
3 Your own hands created me.
So you should not be cruel to me. It is not right.
Instead, you are kind to wicked people.
You help them to do the bad things that they want to do.
4 Do you see things as people see them?
Are your eyes only like human eyes?[e]
5 Is your life like a human life?
It is surely not as short as that!
6 So why do you want to discover all my sins?
Why do you hurry to do that?
7 You know that I am not guilty.
But you also know that no one can save me from your power.
8 Your own hands have made me who I am.
But now you are completely destroying me.
9 Remember that you made me,
like someone who uses clay to make things.
Will you now make me become dust again?
10 You poured me like milk into my mother.
There you put my body together,
like milk that becomes cheese.
11 You joined my bones together,
and you covered them with skin.
12 You gave me life and you loved me faithfully.
You took care of me and you kept me safe.
13 But now I know what you have been thinking.
I have discovered your secret.
14 You were watching me to see if I did wrong things.
Then you would refuse to forgive me.
15 If I am guilty of sin,
that brings terrible trouble to me.
But if I am righteous,
I still feel ashamed.
Whatever I do, I have nothing but shame
and my life is full of trouble.
16 If I try to be brave,
you chase me like a hungry lion.
You show your power to hurt me.
17 You find more reasons to attack me.
You become more and more angry with me.
You attack me with even greater power.
18 Why did you let me be born?
I should have died before anyone saw me.
19 It would have been better if I had not been born.
Or they should have put me in my grave,
immediately after my birth.
20 I will only live for a few more days.
So leave me alone! Then I may be happy for a moment.
21 I will soon go to the dark place where there is no hope.
I will never come back from that place.
22 I will go to that very dark place where there are only shadows.
In that place, it is still dark when the light shines. ” ’
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