To The Word – Day 166

_1-2Is there anyone, even the wisest,

who could ever be of use to God?

₃Does your doing right benefit God,

or does your being good help him at all?

₄It is not because you stand in awe of God

that he reprimands you and brings you to trial.

₅No, it's because you have sinned so much;

it's because of all the evil you do.

₆To make your brother repay you the money he owed,

you took away his clothes and left him nothing to wear.

₇You refused water to those who were tired,

and refused to feed those who were hungry.

₈You used your power and your position

to take over the whole land.

₉You not only refused to help widows,

but you also robbed and ill-treated orphans.

₁₀So now there are pitfalls all round you,

and suddenly you are full of fear.

₁₁It has grown so dark that you cannot see,

and a flood overwhelms you.

₁₂Doesn't God live in the highest heavens

and look down on the stars, even though they are high?

₁₃And yet you ask, “What does God know?

He is hidden by clouds — how can he judge us?”

₁₄You think the thick clouds keep him from seeing,

as he walks on the dome of the sky.

₁₅Are you determined to walk in the paths

that evil people have always followed?

₁₆Even before their time had come,

they were washed away by a flood.

₁₇These are the ones who rejected God

and believed that he could do nothing to them.

₁₈And yet it was God who made them prosperous —

I can't understand the thoughts of the wicked.

₁₉Good people are glad and the innocent laugh

when they see the wicked punished.

₂₀All that the wicked own is destroyed,

and fire burns up anything that is left.

₂₁Now, Job, make peace with God

and stop treating him like an enemy;

if you do, then he will bless you.

₂₂Accept the teaching he gives;

keep his words in your heart.

₂₃Yes, you must humbly return to God

and put an end to all the evil

that is done in your house.

₂₄Throw away your gold;

dump your finest gold in the dry stream bed.

₂₅Let Almighty God be your gold,

and let him be silver, piled high for you.

₂₆Then you will always trust in God

and find that he is the source of your joy.

₂₇When you pray, he will answer you,

and you will keep the vows you made.

₂₈You will succeed in all you do,

and light will shine on your path.

₂₉God brings down the proud

and saves the humble.

₃₀He will rescue you if you are innocent,

if what you do is right.

_1-2I still rebel and complain against God;

I can't hold back my groaning.

₃How I wish I knew where to find him,

and knew how to go where he is.

₄I would state my case before him

and present all the arguments in my favour.

₅I want to know what he would say

and how he would answer me.

₆Would God use all his strength against me?

No, he would listen as I spoke.

₇I am honest; I could reason with God;

he would declare me innocent once and for all.

₈I have searched in the east, but God is not there;

I have not found him when I searched in the west.

₉God has been at work in the north and the south,

but still I have not seen him.

₁₀Yet God knows every step I take;

if he tests me, he will find me pure.

₁₁I follow faithfully the road he chooses,

and never wander to either side.

₁₂I always do what God commands;

I follow his will, not my own desires.

₁₃He never changes. No one can oppose him

or stop him from doing what he wants to do.

₁₄He will fulfil what he has planned for me;

that plan is just one of the many he has;

₁₅I tremble with fear before him.

_16-17Almighty God has destroyed my courage.

It is God, not the dark, that makes me afraid —

even though the darkness has made me blind.

₁Why doesn't God set a time for judging,

a day of justice for those who serve him?

₂People move boundary stones to get more land;

they steal sheep and put them with their own flocks.

₃They take donkeys that belong to orphans,

and keep a widow's ox till she pays her debts.

₄They prevent the poor from getting their rights

and force the needy to run and hide.

₅So the poor, like wild donkeys,

search for food in the dry wilderness;

nowhere else can they find food for their children.

₆They have to harvest fields they don't own,

and gather grapes in the vineyards of the wicked.

₇At night they sleep with nothing to cover them,

nothing to keep them from the cold.

₈They are drenched by the rain that falls on the mountains,

and they huddle beside the rocks for shelter.

₉Evil people make slaves of fatherless infants

and take the children of the poor in payment for debts.

₁₀But the poor must go out with no clothes to protect them;

they must go hungry while harvesting wheat.

₁₁They press olives for oil, and grapes for wine,

but they themselves are thirsty.

₁₂In the cities the wounded and dying cry out,

but God ignores their prayers.

₁₃There are those who reject the light;

they don't understand it or go where it leads.

₁₄At dawn the murderer gets up

and goes out to kill the poor,

and at night he steals.

₁₅The adulterer waits for twilight to come;

he covers his face so that no one can see him.

₁₆At night thieves break into houses,

but by day they hide and avoid the light.

₁₇They fear the light of day,

but darkness holds no terror for them.

₁₈The wicked are swept away by floods,

and the land they own is under God's curse;

they no longer go to work in their vineyards.

₁₉As snow vanishes in heat and drought,

so sinners vanish from the land of the living.

₂₀Not even their mothers remember them now;

they are eaten by worms and destroyed like fallen trees.

₂₁That happens because they ill-treated widows

and showed no kindness to childless women.

₂₂God, in his strength, destroys the mighty;

God acts — and the wicked die.

₂₃God may let them live secure,

but keeps an eye on them all the time.

₂₄For a while the wicked prosper,

but then they wither like weeds,

like ears of corn that have been cut off.

₂₅Can anyone deny that this is so?

Can anyone prove that my words are not true?

_1-2God is powerful; all must stand in awe of him;

he keeps his heavenly kingdom in peace.

₃Can anyone count the angels who serve him?

Is there any place where God's light does not shine?

₄Can anyone be righteous or pure in God's sight?

₅In his eyes even the moon is not bright,

nor the stars pure.

₆Then what about a human being, that worm, that insect?

What is a human life worth in God's eyes?

_1-2What a fine help you are to me —

poor, weak man that I am!

₃You give such good advice

and share your knowledge with a fool like me!

₄Who do you think will hear all your words?

Who inspired you to speak like this?

₅The spirits of the dead tremble

in the waters under the earth.

₆The world of the dead lies open to God;

no covering shields it from his sight.

₇God stretched out the northern sky

and hung the earth in empty space.

₈It is God who fills the clouds with water

and keeps them from bursting with the weight.

₉He hides the full moon behind a cloud.

₁₀He divided light from darkness

by a circle drawn on the face of the sea.

₁₁When he threatens the pillars that hold up the sky,

they shake and tremble with fear.

₁₂It is his strength that conquered the sea;

by his skill he destroyed the monster Rahab.

₁₃It is his breath that made the sky clear,

and his hand that killed the escaping monster.

₁₄But these are only hints of his power,

only the whispers that we have heard.

Who can know how truly great God is?

_1-2I swear by the living Almighty God,

who refuses me justice and makes my life bitter —

₃as long as God gives me breath,

₄my lips will never say anything evil,

my tongue will never tell a lie.

₅I will never say that you men are right;

I will insist on my innocence to my dying day.

₆I will never give up my claim to be right;

my conscience is clear.

₇May all who oppose me and fight against me

be punished like the wicked and the unrighteous.

₈What hope is there for the godless

in the hour when God demands their life?

₉When trouble comes, will God hear their cries?

₁₀They should have desired the joy he gives;

they should have constantly prayed to him.

₁₁Let me teach you how great is God's power,

and explain what Almighty God has planned.

₁₂But no, after all, you have seen for yourselves;

so why do you talk such nonsense?

₁₃This is how Almighty God

punishes wicked, violent people.

₁₄They may have many sons,

but all will be killed in war;

their children never have enough to eat.

₁₅Those who survive will die from disease,

and even their widows will not mourn their death.

₁₆The wicked may have too much silver to count

and more clothes than anyone needs;

₁₇but some good person will wear the clothes,

and some honest person will get the silver.

₁₈The wicked build houses like a spider's web

or like the hut of a slave guarding the fields.

₁₉One last time they will lie down rich,

and when they wake up, they will find their wealth gone.

₂₀Terror will strike like a sudden flood;

a wind in the night will blow them away;

₂₁the east wind will sweep them from their homes;

₂₂it will blow down on them without pity

while they try their best to escape.

₂₃The wind howls at them as they run,

frightening them with destructive power.