Bible Reading Plan – Day 266

_1-2Job, can't people like you ever be quiet?

If you stopped to listen, we could talk to you.

₃What makes you think we are as stupid as cattle?

₄You are only hurting yourself with your anger.

Will the earth be deserted because you are angry?

Will God move mountains to satisfy you?

₅The light of the wicked will still be put out;

its flame will never burn again.

₆The lamp in their tents will be darkened.

₇Their steps were firm, but now they stumble;

they fall — victims of their own advice.

₈They walk into a net, and their feet are caught;

₉a trap catches their heels and holds them.

₁₀On the ground a snare is hidden;

a trap has been set in their path.

₁₁All round them terror is waiting;

it follows them at every step.

₁₂They used to be rich, but now they go hungry;

disaster stands and waits at their side.

₁₃A deadly disease spreads over their bodies

and causes their arms and legs to rot.

₁₄They are torn from the tents where they lived secure,

and are dragged off to face King Death.

₁₅Now anyone may live in their tents —

after sulphur is sprinkled to disinfect them!

₁₆Their roots and branches are withered and dry.

₁₇Their fame is ended at home and abroad;

no one remembers them any more.

₁₈They will be driven out of the land of the living,

driven from light into darkness.

₁₉They have no descendants, no survivors.

₂₀From east to west, all who hear of their fate

shudder and tremble with fear.

₂₁That is the fate of wicked people,

the fate of those who care nothing for God.

_1-2Why do you keep tormenting me with words?

₃Time after time you insult me

and show no shame for the way you abuse me.

₄Even if I have done wrong,

how does that hurt you?

₅You think you are better than I am,

and regard my troubles as proof of my guilt.

₆Can't you see it is God who has done this?

He has set a trap to catch me.

₇I protest against his violence,

but no one is listening;

no one hears my cry for justice.

₈God has blocked the way, and I can't get through;

he has hidden my path in darkness.

₉He has taken away all my wealth

and destroyed my reputation.

₁₀He batters me from every side.

He uproots my hope

and leaves me to wither and die.

₁₁God is angry and rages against me;

he treats me like his worst enemy.

₁₂He sends his army to attack me;

they dig trenches and lay siege to my tent.

₁₃God has made my own family forsake me;

I am a stranger to those who knew me;

₁₄my relatives and friends are gone.

₁₅Those who were guests in my house have forgotten me;

my servant women treat me like a stranger and a foreigner.

₁₆When I call a servant, he doesn't answer —

even when I beg him to help me.

₁₇My wife can't stand the smell of my breath,

and my own brothers won't come near me.

₁₈Children despise me and laugh when they see me.

₁₉My closest friends look at me with disgust;

those I loved most have turned against me.

₂₀My skin hangs loose on my bones;

I have barely escaped with my life.

₂₁You are my friends! Take pity on me!

The hand of God has struck me down.

₂₂Why must you persecute me as God does?

Haven't you tormented me enough?

₂₃How I wish that someone would remember my words

and record them in a book!

₂₄Or with a chisel carve my words in stone

and write them so that they would last for ever.

₂₅But I know there is someone in heaven

who will come at last to my defence.

₂₆Even after my skin is eaten by disease,

while still in this body I will see God.

₂₇I will see him with my own eyes,

and he will not be a stranger.

My courage failed because you said,

₂₈“How can we torment him?”

You looked for some excuse to attack me.

₂₉But now, be afraid of the sword —

the sword that brings God's wrath on sin,

so that you will know there is one who judges.

_1-2Job, you upset me. Now I'm impatient to answer.

₃What you have said is an insult,

but I know how to reply to you.

₄Surely you know that from ancient times,

when human beings were first placed on earth,

₅no wicked people have been happy for long.

₆They may grow great, towering to the sky,

so great that their heads reach the clouds,

₇but they will be blown away like dust.

Those who used to know them

will wonder where they have gone.

₈They will vanish like a dream, like a vision at night,

and never be seen again.

₉The wicked will disappear from the place where they used to live;

₁₀and their children will make good what they stole from the poor.

₁₁Their bodies used to be young and vigorous,

but soon they will turn to dust.

_12-13Evil tastes so good to them

that they keep some in their mouths to enjoy its flavour.

₁₄But in their stomachs the food turns bitter,

as bitter as any poison could be.

₁₅The wicked vomit up the wealth they stole;

God takes it back, even out of their stomachs.

₁₆What evil people swallow is like poison;

it kills them like the bite of a deadly snake.

₁₇They will not live to see rivers of olive oil

or streams that flow with milk and honey.

₁₈They will have to give up all they have worked for;

they will have no chance to enjoy their wealth,

₁₉because they oppressed and neglected the poor

and seized houses someone else had built.

₂₀Their greed is never satisfied.

₂₁When they eat, there is nothing left over,

but now their prosperity comes to an end.

₂₂At the height of their success

all the weight of misery will crush them.

₂₃Let them eat all they want!

God will punish them in fury and anger.

₂₄When they try to escape from an iron sword,

a bronze bow will shoot them down.

₂₅Arrows stick through their bodies;

the shiny points drip with their blood,

and terror grips their hearts.

₂₆Everything they have saved is destroyed;

a fire not lit by human hands

burns them and all their families.

₂₇Heaven reveals their sin,

and the earth gives testimony against them.

₂₈All their wealth will be destroyed

in the flood of God's anger.

₂₉This is the fate of the wicked,

the fate that God assigns to them.

_1-2Listen to what I am saying;

that is all the comfort I ask from you.

₃Give me a chance to speak and then,

when I am through, sneer if you like.

₄My quarrel is not with mortals;

I have good reason to be impatient.

₅Look at me. Isn't that enough

to make you stare in shocked silence?

₆When I think of what has happened to me,

I am stunned, and I tremble and shake.

₇Why does God let evil people live,

let them grow old and prosper?

₈They have children and grandchildren,

and live to watch them all grow up.

₉God does not bring disaster on their homes;

they never have to live in terror.

₁₀Yes, all their cattle breed

and give birth without trouble.

₁₁Their children run and play like lambs

₁₂and dance to the music of harps and flutes.

₁₃They live out their lives in peace

and quietly die without suffering.

₁₄The wicked tell God to leave them alone;

they don't want to know his will for their lives.

₁₅They think there is no need to serve God

nor any advantage in praying to him.

₁₆They claim they succeed by their own strength,

but their way of thinking I can't accept.

₁₇Was a wicked person's light ever put out?

Did one of them ever meet with disaster?

Did God ever punish the wicked in anger

₁₈and blow them away like straw in the wind,

or like dust carried away in a storm?

₁₉You claim God punishes a child for the sins of his father.

No! Let God punish the sinners themselves;

let him show that he does it because of their sins.

₂₀Let sinners bear their own punishment;

let them feel the wrath of Almighty God.

₂₁When our lives are over,

do we really care whether our children are happy?

₂₂Can anyone teach God,

who judges even those in high places?

_23-24Some people stay healthy till the day they die;

they die happy and at ease,

their bodies well nourished.

₂₅Others have no happiness at all;

they live and die with bitter hearts.

₂₆But all alike die and are buried;

they all are covered with worms.

₂₇I know what spiteful thoughts you have.

₂₈You ask, “Where are the houses of great people now,

those who practised evil?”

₂₉Haven't you talked with people who travel?

Don't you know the reports they bring back?

₃₀On the day God is angry and punishes,

it is the wicked who are always spared.

₃₁There is no one to accuse the wicked

or pay them back for all they have done.

₃₂When they are carried to the graveyard,

to their well-guarded tombs,

₃₃thousands join the funeral procession,

and even the earth lies gently on their bodies.

₃₄And you! You try to comfort me with nonsense!

Every answer you give is a lie!