Job 19-21

EasyEnglish Bible

² ‘Please stop speaking to me like that!
    Your words continue to make me suffer.
³ You have insulted me many, many times.
    You should be ashamed to attack me like that.
⁴ I might have done things that are wrong.
But even if that might be true,
    those wrong things have not hurt you.
⁵ You think that you are better people than I am.
Because I have all these troubles,
    you say that I must be guilty.
⁶ But you should realize that God has caused all my troubles.
    He is the one who has caught me in his trap.

⁷ If I shout, “Help me, I am in trouble!”
    nobody answers me.
I shout to get help,
    but nobody comes to give me justice.
⁸ God has stopped me
    so that I cannot move forward.
He has made my path dark
    so that I cannot see the way to go.
⁹ He has taken away my honour
    so that nobody respects me.
¹⁰ Everywhere that I go, God is there to attack me.
    He is ready to destroy me.
He has taken away my hope,
    as if he has dug a tree out of the ground.
¹¹ He is very angry against me.
    He attacks me as if I am his enemy.
¹² His whole army is coming to attack me!
They build a road so that they can reach me.
    They are all around me.

¹³ God has caused my brothers to stay away from me.
    My friends do not want to meet me.
¹⁴ My relatives have left me.
    My best friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ Visitors who stayed in my house
    now think that I am a stranger.
Even my servants think that I am a foreigner.
¹⁶ I tell my servant to come to me
    but he does not come.
I ask him to help me,
    but he does nothing.
¹⁷ My wife moves away from the smell of my breath.
    My brothers stay away from me.
¹⁸ Even young children insult me.
    When I stand up, they laugh at me.
¹⁹ My best friends hate me.
    People that I love have turned against me.
²⁰ My body is now only skin and bones.
    I still breathe but I am only just alive.
²¹ Please be kind to me, my friends.
God has caused me to suffer,
    so please be kind to me.
²² Do not punish me as God is punishing me.
    You have already caused me to suffer enough.

²³ Someone should write down the words that I speak.
    My words should be written on a scroll.
²⁴ If someone uses an iron tool to write them on a rock,
    that would be good.
Then they would never disappear.
²⁵ As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives.^[b]
    I know that, in the end, he will stand on the earth.
²⁶ Illness may completely destroy my skin.
But after that happens,
    I know that in this body I will see God.
²⁷ I will see him for myself,
    with my own eyes.
It makes me feel weak inside as I think about it!
²⁸ My friends, you should not think of ways to make me suffer even more.
    You say that I have caused my own trouble.
²⁹ Instead, you yourselves should be afraid of punishment!
When God is angry with someone,
    he punishes that person.
Then you will know that he is the one who judges people.’

² ‘I am very upset by the things that you have said.
    So I must say more to answer you.
³ You have said things that insult me.
    But now I know how to reply to you.
⁴ I am sure that you know this fact.
It has been true from long ago,
    since people first lived on the earth.
⁵ You know that a wicked person is only happy for a short time.
    His joy continues only for a moment.
⁶ He may think that he is more important than other people.
    He may be proud of the honour that he receives.
⁷ But he will disappear for ever,
    like dung that people throw away.
His friends will ask, “Where is he?”
⁸ He will disappear like a dream that quickly goes away.
    Nobody can find him any more.
⁹ People who knew him will never see him again.
    His family will no longer recognize him.
¹⁰ His children will have to give things back to poor people.
    Those are the valuable things that he took from them.
¹¹ He still had the strength of a young man.
    But his strength will die with him when he lies in his grave.

¹² He enjoys the wicked things that he does.
    They are like something sweet in his mouth.
¹³ He continues to enjoy wicked things,
    like the taste of sweet food that he keeps in his mouth.
¹⁴ But those things will become poison that hurts him.
    Like bitter food that goes into his stomach.
¹⁵ Like a person who is sick and loses the food from his stomach,
    God will cause the wicked person to lose all his riches.
¹⁶ He will drink the poison of snakes.
    A dangerous snake will bite him and it will kill him.
¹⁷ He will never enjoy the good things that the earth provides.
    He will not enjoy the honey and milk which pours out like rivers of water.
¹⁸ He will have to give back everything that he owned.
    He will not enjoy the things that he has worked for.
¹⁹ This will happen because he has been cruel to poor people.
    He has refused to help them.
He has taken houses for himself that do not belong to him.
²⁰ He will always want to have more things for himself.
    He takes anything that he wants to have.

²¹ Now nothing remains for him to take.
    So his riches will come to an end.
²² When he has everything that he wants,
    trouble suddenly comes to him.
²³ When he is filling himself with good food,
    God will punish him.
God will be very angry with him.
    God will attack the wicked person so that he suffers.
²⁴ He may escape from a soldier who has an iron sword.
    But then a soldier will shoot a bronze arrow into him.
²⁵ He pulls the arrow out of his back.
    His blood makes its sharp point shine brightly.
    He is very afraid.
²⁶ All his riches disappear in the dark.
    God will send a fire to destroy him.
    It will destroy all his things that remain.
²⁷ The heavens will show that he is guilty.
    People on earth will speak against him.
²⁸ A flood will destroy his house
    and everything that he has.
That will happen on the day when God punishes people
    because he is angry with them.
²⁹ That is how God punishes wicked people.
    God has decided to punish them as they deserve.’

² ‘Listen carefully to the things that I am saying.
    You can only help me if you do that.
³ Be patient with me so that I can speak.
After you have heard what I say,
    you may choose to laugh at me.
⁴ It is not people that I want to argue with.^[d]
    So I have good reason to be upset.
⁵ When you look at me, you should be upset.
    You should cover your mouth with your hand.
⁶ I think about what has happened to me.
    It makes me very afraid.
    My body shakes with fear.

⁷ Why do wicked people continue to live for a long time?
    The older they become, the more power they have.
⁸ They see their own children grow and become strong.
    Their children also have strong families.
⁹ They are safe in their homes
    and they are not afraid.
God does not punish them.
¹⁰ Their cows give birth safely to many calves.
¹¹ Their children run and play.
    They jump like young lambs.
¹² They enjoy the music of tambourines and harps.
    They sing with joy to the sound of flutes.
¹³ Wicked people have plenty of money through their whole lives.
    Even when they die, they do not suffer.
¹⁴ They say to God, “Leave us alone!
    We do not want to know about your ways.
¹⁵ We do not need to serve the Almighty God.
If we pray to him,
    there is nothing he can do to help us.”
¹⁶ They think that they have made themselves rich.
    But it is not true.
So I do not listen to the things that wicked people say.

¹⁷ It seems that wicked people enjoy a long life.
    They do not often have many troubles.
When God is angry with them,
    he does not cause them to suffer.
¹⁸ He does not blow them away,
    like the wind blows dry grass.
They do not disappear like chaff that a storm blows away.
¹⁹ You may say, “God will punish a wicked person's children
    with the punishment that he deserves.”
But I say that God should punish the wicked person himself.
    Then he will realize that he is wicked.
²⁰ Wicked people should receive their own punishment.
    They should see that Almighty God is angry with them.
²¹ After wicked people have died,
    it does not matter to them if their family suffers.

²² No one can teach God what he should do.
    He himself judges the most powerful rulers.^[e]
23 One person has good health all his life.
    Even when he is ready to die,
    he still lives a safe and happy life.
²⁴     He eats good food and his body is strong.
²⁵ But another person is sad all his life, until he dies.
    No good things ever happen to him.
²⁶ But they all die one day
    and their bodies lie under the ground.
Worms cover their bodies, whoever they are.

²⁷ I know what you are thinking.
    You want to show that I am guilty.
²⁸ You say, “You see that the rich person no longer has a house.
    Wicked people no longer have homes to live in.”
²⁹ But you should ask people who travel to different places.
    You should listen to the things that they say.
³⁰ They would tell you that wicked people do not always suffer.
When trouble comes,
    they continue to be safe.
When God is angry with people,
    wicked people escape punishment.
³¹ No one speaks against them
    to say that they are guilty.
No one punishes them
    for the bad things that they have done.
³² When a wicked person dies,
    people bury him with honour.
Guards watch over his grave.
³³ A big crowd of people come to his funeral.
They make a heap of earth over his body,
    in the valley where he rests happily.

³⁴ So your useless words do not comfort me.
Your answers are all lies!’