Job 3-22

EasyEnglish Bible

³ ‘Forget the day of my birth.
    Forget the night when a son was born to my parents.
⁴ That day should be completely dark,
    with no light to shine on it!
God in heaven above should not even think about it.
⁵ That day should remain in a dark shadow.
    Clouds should cover it so that everywhere is black.
⁶ Remove that night completely!
    It should no longer be a date among the days of the year.
    Remove that day from the months of the year.
⁷ Do not let women become pregnant on that night.
    Nobody should be happy!
⁸ People who know how to curse days should curse that day.
    They should wake up Leviathan, the monster from the sea, to attack it.
⁹ The stars of early morning should be dark on that day.
    Do not let the sun shine at dawn,
    so that there is no end to the dark night.
¹⁰ I curse that day because it allowed me to be born.
    It brought me into a life of trouble.

¹¹ It would have been better if I had died at birth.
    I should have been born dead.
¹² Instead, my mother held me on her knees.
    I drank from her breasts.
¹³ If I had died at birth, I would now be resting in peace.
¹⁴ I would be resting with kings and rulers.
    They lived in beautiful houses which are now heaps of stones.
¹⁵ I would be with princes who once were very rich.
    Their palaces were full of gold and silver.
¹⁶ My parents should have buried me,
    like a child that is born dead.
    I would never have seen the light of day.
¹⁷ After death, wicked people can no longer cause any trouble.
    People who have become tired can rest.
¹⁸ Even prisoners can enjoy a time of peace.
    No guards are there to shout at them.
¹⁹ Great people and ordinary people are all there together.
    Slaves have no master that they must obey.

²⁰ I am suffering very much.
    Why does God let me wake up each day?
I am very upset,
    so why does God continue to let me live?
²¹ People like me only want to die. But death does not come.
    They would rather die than find valuable gold.
²² When their life finally finishes, they are very happy.
    They are happy to go into their graves.
²³ So why do I continue to live?
    God has stopped me moving forward in life.
    I cannot see which way to go.
²⁴ I am crying instead of eating.
    My tears pour out like a river of water.
²⁵ The things that frighten me most have happened to me.
²⁶ Because of all the trouble that has happened to me,
    I cannot rest. I have no peace in my mind.’

² ‘Please be patient and listen to what I say.
    Allow me to speak, because I cannot remain quiet.
³ Listen! You have taught many people.
    You have helped weak people to be strong.
⁴ With your words, you have saved people from danger.
    You have helped people who are in trouble to be brave.
⁵ But now you are the person who has trouble.
    You yourself are not patient.
    Trouble has come to you and you feel afraid.
⁶ But you respect God's authority,
    so you should trust him.
You live in an honest way,
    so you should still hope for better things.
⁷ Think about this:
    People who are not guilty of sin do not suddenly die.
    God does not destroy people who do good things.
⁸ I will tell you what I have seen.
    Trouble comes to people who do wicked things.
    They receive the punishment that they deserve.
⁹ God destroys them with his breath.
    His anger is like a storm that blows them away.
¹⁰ Lions are strong animals that roar loudly.
    But if God breaks a lion's teeth, it cannot eat.
¹¹ Even the strongest lion will die if it has nothing to eat.
    The young lions will run away from their mother to find food.^[c]

¹² One night I heard a quiet voice.
    Someone spoke to me and told me a secret.
¹³ I was asleep, but my dreams woke me.
¹⁴ I was very afraid.
    Even my bones were shaking.
¹⁵ A wind was blowing over my face.
    The hair on my skin stood up.
¹⁶ Something stopped and it stood in front of me.
    I could not recognize its shape.
Then I heard a quiet voice say:
¹⁷ “No human is righteous when he stands in front of God.
    He cannot be pure in front of his Maker.
¹⁸ God knows that even his angels make mistakes.
    They may do foolish things.
¹⁹ God used clay to make bodies for us who are humans.
    We came from the dust of the earth.
    We are as weak as moths.
²⁰ We are alive in the morning,
    and when evening comes we may be dead.
People disappear for ever.
    No one even knows about it.
²¹ They no longer have their valuable things.
    They suddenly die and they are still not wise.” ’

⁸ I suggest that you ask God to help you.
    You should tell him about your problems.
⁹ He does great things that nobody can understand.
    He does more miracles than anyone can count.
¹⁰ He gives rain for the earth.
    He sends water for the fields.
¹¹ He gives honour to humble people.
    When people are suffering, he puts them in a safe place.
¹² He stops the ideas of clever people.
    They cannot do what they want to do.
¹³ When wise people try to do clever things,
    he causes those things to give them trouble.
    He quickly stops their clever ideas.
¹⁴ In the middle of the day, it becomes dark for those people.
    At midday, they see no better than blind people.
¹⁵ He saves poor people when wicked people attack them.
    He rescues weak people from the power of strong people.
¹⁶ So poor people can hope for justice.
    Wicked people have to be quiet.
¹⁷ If Almighty God warns you to do what is right,
    he has blessed you.
So do not be upset when he decides to do that.
¹⁸ He may cause you to have pain,
    but he will make you well again.
He may hurt you,
    but he will also give you health.
¹⁹ If trouble comes to you six times, he will rescue you.
    No bad thing will hurt you, as often as it happens.
²⁰ If there is a time of famine,
    he will keep you alive.
He will protect you from death in a time of war.
²¹ If people insult you, he will take care of you.
    When people attack you, you will not be afraid.
²² In times of danger and famine, you will be brave.
    You will not be afraid of wild animals.
²³ The stones in your fields will not give you trouble.
    The wild animals will not attack you.
²⁴ You will know that your home is strong and safe.
When you check all your land,
    you will see that all your animals are safe.
²⁵ You will know that your children will be very many.
    You will have as many descendants as the grass that grows in the ground.
²⁶ You will not die until you are old.
You will grow with strength until you die,
    like crops that grow until the time of harvest.
²⁷ We have thought carefully about these things.
    We know that they are true.
So listen to what we say.
    Accept it and it will be good for you.’

² ‘I am so upset that nobody could measure it!
    My problems are too many to weigh!
³ They are heavier than all the sand on the shore of the sea.
    That is why I did not think carefully before I spoke.
⁴ Almighty God has shot his arrows into me.
    Their poison is now deep inside me.
God has sent me many troubles that make me afraid.

⁵ A wild donkey does not complain when it has grass to eat.
    An ox is quiet when it has its food.
⁶ You cannot enjoy food that has no salt in it.
    The white part of an egg is not nice to eat on its own.
⁷ I cannot eat that kind of food.
    It makes me ill.

⁸ I want God to give me what I ask him for.
    I want him to answer my prayer.
⁹ I would like him to destroy me.
    He should kill me himself.
¹⁰ Then I would have peace.
    I would be happy.
I have received much cruel pain.
    But I have always obeyed the words of the holy God.
¹¹ I am not strong enough to hope for my life to become any better.
    There is no reason for me to continue my life.
¹² I am not as strong as stones.
    My body is not strong like bronze.
¹³ I no longer have strength to help myself.
    There is nowhere that I can go to get help.

¹⁴ When a man has no hope,
    his friends should be kind to him.
They should help him,
    even if he no longer respects God Almighty.
¹⁵ But you, my friends, have not helped me when I need you.
    You are like streams that quickly become dry.
    There is no water when you need it.
¹⁶ In the spring, ice and deep snow covers them.
¹⁷ But in the hot summer time, all the water disappears.
    Those streams become completely dry.
¹⁸ Travellers leave the road to look for water.
    They find no water to drink and they die in the desert.
¹⁹ Travellers from Tema look everywhere for these streams.
    Traders from Sheba hope to find water.
²⁰ They are very upset, because they expected to find water.
    But when they arrive, they are disappointed.
²¹ My friends, you have become like those streams.
    You see my great problem, and you are afraid.

²² I have never said to you, “Give me something to help me.
    Please use some of your money to rescue me.”
²³ I have not asked you to save me from the power of my enemy.
    Or to pay cruel people to let me go free.

²⁴ Teach me the truth, and I will listen carefully.
    Explain to me the mistakes that I have made.
²⁵ True words may give pain to the person who listens to them.
    But the things that you say against me mean nothing.
²⁶ You are warning me because of what I say.
    I have no hope and you think that my words are empty.
²⁷ You would play a game to win a child who has no family.
    You would even sell your friends to become rich yourselves.
²⁸ But now, please look at me.
    I will not tell you any lies.
²⁹ Change what you are saying about me.
    Do not say that I am guilty.
Think again, for I am truly a good person.
³⁰ I have not spoken any lies.
    I know what is right and what is wrong.

¹¹ So I must continue to speak.
    I will tell you how upset I am.
I am angry because of what has happened to me.
    So I must complain.
¹² Why do you have to watch me, God, like a guard?
    Do you think that I am a dangerous monster from the sea?
¹³ When I lie down to sleep,
    I hope that my pain will be less.
¹⁴ But even then you give me dreams that frighten me.
    I have visions which make me very afraid.
¹⁵ I would like someone to stop me breathing!
    Death would be better than life.
¹⁶ My life is useless.
    I do not want to live for ever.
My life is only a short breath.
    So let me be alone.

¹⁷ Why do you think that people are important?
    Why do you watch us so carefully?
¹⁸ You never leave us alone.
    You test us every moment of every day.
¹⁹ You never look the other way.
    You never leave me alone, even for a moment.
²⁰ You carefully watch what people do.
Even if I have done something wrong,
    it should not cause any trouble for you.
So why do you choose to punish me?
²¹ You should agree to forgive my sins.
    You should say that I am not guilty.
I will soon die and I will go into my grave.
Then you will carefully look for me,
    but I will not be there.’

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.^[f]
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.’

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.^[g]
    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.^[h]

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.

“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?^[i]
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. ” ’

² ‘Someone must answer all these words that you have spoken.
You have talked a lot,
    but that does not mean that you are right.
³ Your proud words will not cause other people to say nothing.
    We must make you ashamed when you laugh at us.
⁴ You have said, “The things that I teach are true.
    God knows that I am a good man.”
⁵ So God himself should answer you.
    He should tell you what he thinks.
⁶ He would show you the secret of wisdom.
    True wisdom is not easy to understand.
But you must understand this:
    God is punishing you less than you deserve.
⁷ You cannot discover everything about God.
    You cannot know how powerful he is.
⁸ His power goes higher than the sky.
    You cannot do anything about that.
His power goes deeper than the place of death.
    You cannot know all about that.
⁹ The truth about God is wider than the whole earth.
    It goes far beyond the sea.
¹⁰ God may catch you and put you in prison.
    He may accuse you in a court.
Nobody can stop him doing that.
¹¹ God knows the people who are not honest.
    He sees the evil things that they do.
¹² Wild donkeys never give birth to human children.
    And foolish people never become wise!

¹³ As for you, Job, you should be faithful to God.
    Raise your hands and pray to God.
¹⁴ If you want to do an evil thing,
    stop yourself from doing it.
Do not let people do wrong things in your home.
¹⁵ Do what I say. Then you will not be ashamed any more.
    Instead, you will be strong. You will not be afraid.
¹⁶ You will forget about your trouble.
It will be like water that has disappeared.
    You will not remember it.
¹⁷ You will have a happy life
    that is brighter than the sun at noon.
Even if trouble makes it dark,
    it will still seem like a bright morning.
¹⁸ You will be safe as you trust God.
God will protect you.
    You will be able to rest safely.
¹⁹ When you lie down to sleep,
    you will not be afraid of anyone.
Many people will ask you to help them.

²⁰ But wicked people will not find any help.
    They cannot escape from their troubles.
They can only hope to die.’

² ‘You people think that you know everything.
    You think that there will be no wisdom after you die.
³ But I understand things as well as you.
    You are no better than I am.
Everyone knows the things that you have been saying.
⁴ I am a person who prayed to God and he answered me.
    But my friends now laugh at me.
I have always lived completely in the right way.
    But still my friends laugh at me.
⁵ Some people never have any troubles.
    They think that people who suffer are fools.
If people are in trouble,
    they knock them down!
⁶ But robbers seem to live in peace.
They cause God to be angry
    but they think that they are safe.
They trust their own strength as their god.

⁷ Ask the animals and they will teach you.
    The birds in the sky would tell you the truth.
⁸ Speak to the earth and it will teach you.
    The fish in the sea would tell you what is right.
⁹ Any of them could tell you that the Lord has done this.
¹⁰ He has authority over the life of all the animals.
    He gives breath to all people so that they can live.
¹¹ We use our mouths to taste food.
    And we use our ears to test what we hear.
¹² Old people are often wise.
    People who have lived for a long time understand things better.
¹³ God is wise and he is also powerful.
    He understands things and he gives good advice.
¹⁴ If God destroys something,
    nobody can repair it.
If God puts someone in prison,
    that person cannot escape.
¹⁵ If God stops the rain, the land becomes dry.
    If he sends lots of rain, there are floods.
¹⁶ God has strength and wisdom.
He has power over people who tell lies,
    and the people that they deceive.
¹⁷ He causes clever people to become ashamed.
    He causes leaders to do foolish things.
¹⁸ He takes authority away from kings.
    He dresses them like slaves.
¹⁹ He causes priests to become ashamed.
    He removes the power of important people.
²⁰ He stops faithful men from giving advice.
    He removes the wisdom of old men.
²¹ He causes rulers to be ashamed.
    He destroys the power of strong men.
²² He shows people things that have been secrets.
    He shines light into dark places.
²³ He can make nations become great.
    He can also destroy them.
He can make their land become bigger.
    He can also send their people away to other places.
²⁴ He stops the world's leaders from understanding things properly.
    He sends them to travel through empty deserts.
²⁵ They try to walk in the dark, without any light.
    He causes them to walk like drunk men.

⁷ If someone cuts down a tree,
    the tree may not die.
    New branches may grow from it.
⁸ Its roots in the ground may be old.
    The part of the tree that remains may be nearly dead.
⁹ But if only a little water comes near to it,
    it will start to grow again.
It will make new branches,
    like a young plant.
¹⁰ But when people lose their strength and they die,
    that is the end.
    After they die, where do they go?
¹¹ When the water disappears from a lake or a river,
    they become dry.
¹² It is the same with people when they die.
    They will never rise to live again.
As long as the sky remains above the earth,
    they will continue to sleep in death.

¹³ Please hide me in the place where dead people go!
    Hide me there until you are no longer angry.
Decide how long I must be there,
    and then remember me again!
¹⁴ If a man dies, will he live again?
    If I knew that, I would suffer patiently.
    I would wait until my troubles have finished.
¹⁵ You would call me and I would answer you.
You would want to see me again,
    because your own hands created me.
¹⁶ You would watch me carefully,
    but you would not make a note of my sins.
¹⁷ You would forgive me for my sins.
    You would hide them away.

¹⁸ But mountains fall down and they break into pieces,
    Rocks fall down from their places.
¹⁹ Stones become sand when water pours over them.
    Floods wash away soil.
In the same way, you remove hope from a person's life.
²⁰ Finally, you bring his life to an end.
    He leaves this world.
You change his face in death
    and you send him away.
²¹ If his sons become famous,
    he does not know about it.
If they become ashamed,
    he does not know that either.
²² A dead person thinks only about himself.
    He feels his own pain and he is very sad.’

² ‘If you were wise,
    you would not answer us with such silly ideas.
The words that come out from inside you are only a hot wind!
³ No wise man would argue in such a useless way.
    The things that you say do not mean anything.
⁴ You show that you do not respect God.
    You turn other people away from him.
⁵ It is your sin that causes you to speak like that.
    You try to say clever things that will deceive people.
⁶ I do not need to show that you are guilty.
    Your own words show that you are wrong.
⁷ You were not the first human to be born.
    You were not alive when God made the hills.
⁸ You do not know God's secret plans.
    You are not the only wise person in the world.
⁹ You do not know any more than we know.
    We understand as much as you do.
¹⁰ The old men agree with us.
    They are older and wiser even than your father.
¹¹ You think that God's kind words are not important.
    But they should be enough for you.
¹² You have allowed your thoughts to confuse you.
    We can see in your eyes that you are very angry.
¹³ Why are you so angry against God?
    You should not say such wicked things.
¹⁴ No one who is human can be truly pure and righteous.
¹⁵ God does not even trust his own angels.
    He knows that they make mistakes.
¹⁶ So he certainly will not trust people.
    People are wicked and cannot think true thoughts.
They like to do evil things,
    as if they are drinking water!

¹⁷ So listen to me. I will explain something to you.
    I will tell you what I have seen.
¹⁸ These are things that wise men have taught me.
    They did not hide the truth.
They learned these things from their ancestors.
¹⁹ They were the people who received the land.
    No foreigners were there to deceive them.
²⁰ They knew this:
    A wicked person will have trouble all his life.
    Anyone who is cruel will suffer every year that he lives.
²¹ He will hear things that frighten him.
He may think that he is safe,
    but robbers will attack him.
²² He is afraid to go out in the dark.
    He thinks that someone may kill him.
²³ The wicked person walks about to look for food.
    He says, “Where is it?”
He knows that he cannot escape from trouble.
²⁴     He is afraid and confused.
Trouble is ready to attack him,
    like a king with his army.
²⁵ That happens to the person who turns against God.
    He thinks that he is greater than Almighty God.
²⁶ He is proud enough to attack God.
    He holds a big shield as he runs to attack God!
²⁷ He eats too much
    and his whole body is very fat.^[m]
28 He lives in a town that is empty.
    No one else lives in the houses there.
The buildings will soon fall down
    and they will become heaps of stones.
²⁹ He will not be rich.
    He will lose his valuable things.
    Everything that he has will disappear.
³⁰ When it becomes dark,
    he will not be able to escape.
He will be like a tree that fire has burned.
    God's breath will blow him away!
³¹ He may trust in useless things to save him.
    But he is deceiving himself.
Any help that he receives will also be useless.
³² Before he is old,
    his life will end.
Like a tree that makes no leaves,
    he will have no success in life.
³³ He will be like a vine that loses its grapes.
    They fall off before they are ready to eat.
He will be like an olive tree that loses its flowers,
    so that no olives grow on it.
³⁴ People who turn away from God are like that.
    They have no family to live after them.
If they use the money from bribes to build their homes,
    fire will destroy those homes.
³⁵ They make plans to cause trouble,
    so that evil things happen.
Lies are what come out from inside them.’

² ‘I have heard all these things before.
You are not making my troubles any better.
    You are making them worse!
³ Please stop speaking useless words.
    Why do you talk to me like that?
⁴ If you were suffering like I am,
    I could say the same things to you.
I could speak for a long time
    about the wrong things that you have done.
I could shake my head
    and laugh at you.
⁵ But, instead, I would help you to be strong.
    I would say things to comfort you.

⁶ But now, if I speak,
    my pain does not become any better.
If I stop speaking,
    my pain continues to be there.
⁷ God, you have made me very weak.
    You have destroyed my family.
⁸ You have taken hold of me.
Because of my troubles,
    people think that I am guilty.
Because my body is so thin,
    people think that I have done bad things.
⁹ God attacks me and he punishes me because he is angry.
    He shows his anger like a wild animal.
He has become my enemy.
¹⁰ People insult me and they laugh at me.
    They hit me on my face.
They all join together to attack me.
¹¹ God has allowed evil men to take hold of me.
    He has put me under the power of wicked men.
¹² I was living in peace,
    but then God destroyed me.
He took hold of my neck
    and he shook me to pieces.
He decided to shoot his arrows at me.
¹³ His arrows come from all around me.
    They go deep into my body
    and my blood pours out on the ground.
But God still does not feel sorry for me.
¹⁴ He attacks me again and again.
    He rushes to attack me like a strong fighter.
¹⁵ I have used sackcloth to make my clothes.^[o]
I am no longer proud of my strength,
    and I sit in the dust.
¹⁶ I have cried so much that my face is red.
    There are dark circles around my eyes.
¹⁷ But I have not been cruel.
    And when I pray, I speak honestly to God.

¹⁸ The earth should not hide my blood!
    People should remember how I have suffered.
    They should not forget that I asked for justice.
¹⁹ But even now, I know that I have a friend in heaven.
    He knows that I am not guilty.
    He speaks on my behalf.
²⁰ My friends have turned against me.
    I cry with many tears as I pray to God.
²¹ I need someone to speak to God on my behalf.
He should ask God not to punish me,
    as someone might try to help his friends.

²² I only have a few more years to live.
I will die and I will never again return to this earth.

³ God, please help me to become free again.
    Nobody else will pay the price to do that for me.
⁴ You have stopped my friends from thinking properly.
    So do not allow them to win the argument.
⁵ People may turn against their friends
    to get things for themselves.
If they do that, their children should become blind.
⁶ You have caused people to insult me,
    like that proverb says.
People even spit at my face.
⁷ I have cried so much that my eyes have become weak.
    My body is so thin that I am like a shadow.
⁸ Good people are upset,
    when they see what is happening to me.
They are angry with those who turn away from you.
⁹ Righteous people continue to do things that are right.
    People who do good things become stronger.

¹⁰ But you, my friends, come here!
    Try again to help me, all of you!
I will not find a wise man among you.
¹¹ I will not live for many more days.
    I will never do the things that I wanted to do.
¹² My friends say, “It is day”,
    when it is still night.
They do not know the difference between light and dark.
¹³ The only home that I hope to go to is my grave.
    I will lie down to sleep there in the dark.
¹⁴ I will say to the grave,
    “You are my father.”
I will say to the worms that eat me,
    “Hello, my mother. Hello, my sister.”
¹⁵ I can hope for nothing that is better than that.
    No one can find anything better for me.
¹⁶ When I go to the world of dead people,
    all my hope will have finished.
Everything that I had hoped for will lie with me in the dust.’

² ‘You should not continue to talk like that!
    Stop and think carefully. Then we can talk.
³ You should not think that we are as foolish as cows.
⁴ You are so angry that you are hurting yourself.
You will never change the way that things happen in the world.
Your anger will not cause the earth to shake,
    or any rocks to move from their places.

²¹ I know that this is what happens to the homes of evil people.
It happens to people who turn away from God.’

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.^[s]
    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.^[u]
    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.^[v]
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!’

² ‘Nothing that a man can do will help God.
    Even a wise man cannot help God.
³ If you are a righteous person,
    it does nothing to help Almighty God.
If you live a completely good life,
    it still does not help him.
⁴ It is not because you respect and obey God
    that he punishes you.
It is not because you are a good person
    that he accuses you.
⁵ No! It is because you are a very wicked person.
You have done too many evil things for anyone to count them.
    That is why he is punishing you.

⁶ You took things from your friends when you lent money to them.
    You had no reason to do that.
You even took away the only clothes that poor people were wearing.^[x]
7 When you met people who were weak and tired,
    you did not give them any water to drink.
You refused to feed hungry people.
⁸ You were a powerful man,
    with land that belonged to you.
People respected you.
    Your land gave you a good life.
⁹ But you refused to help widows.
    You were cruel to children who have no family.
¹⁰ That is why you have so many troubles.
    That is why you shake with fear.
¹¹ It seems to you that you are in the dark
    and you cannot see.
You feel as if a flood of deep water covers you.

¹² God lives high above us in heaven.
    Look up at the stars and see how high they are!
¹³ So you say, “God does not know about us.
He cannot judge us,
    because darkness hides us from him.
¹⁴ Thick clouds cover him,
    so that he does not see us.
He moves around high above the sky.”

¹⁵ Job, you must not continue to turn against God.
    That is the way that evil people lived long ago.