Job 22-24

Easy-to-Read Version

² “Does God need our help?
    Even the wisest of us is not really useful to him.
³ Does your living right benefit him?
    Does God All-Powerful gain anything if you follow him?
⁴ Why does God blame and punish you?
    Is it because you worship him?
⁵ No, it is because you sin so much.
    You never stop sinning.
⁶ Maybe to guarantee loans you took things from people for no reason.
    Maybe you took a poor man’s clothes to make sure he paid you back.^[a]
7 Maybe you failed to give water or food
    to people who were tired or hungry.
⁸ You have a lot of farmland,
    and people respect you.
⁹ But maybe you sent widows away without giving them anything.
    And maybe you took advantage of orphans.
¹⁰ That is why traps are all around you,
    and sudden trouble makes you afraid.
¹¹ That is why it is so dark you cannot see,
    and why a flood of water covers you.

¹² “God lives in the highest part of heaven
    and looks down on the highest stars.
¹³ But you might say, ‘What does God know?
    Can he see through the dark clouds to judge us?
¹⁴ Thick clouds hide us from his eyes,
    so he cannot see us as he walks around the edge of the sky.’

¹⁵ “Job, you are walking on the old path
    that evil people walked on long ago.
¹⁶ They were destroyed before it was their time to die.
    They were washed away by the flood.
¹⁷ They told God, ‘Leave us alone!’
    and said, ‘God All-Powerful cannot do anything to us!’
¹⁸ And it was God who filled their houses with good things.
    No, I would never follow the advice of evil people.
¹⁹ Those who do what is right are happy to see them destroyed.
    The innocent laugh at them and say,
²⁰ ‘Surely our enemies are destroyed!
    Their wealth burned up in the fire!’

²¹ “Now, Job, give yourself to God and make peace with him.
    Do this, and you will get many good things.
²² Accept his teaching.
    Pay attention to what he says.
²³ If you return to God All-Powerful, you will be restored.
    But remove the evil from your house.
²⁴ Think of your gold as nothing but dirt.
    Think of your finest gold as rocks from a stream.
²⁵ And let God All-Powerful be your gold.
    Let him be your pile of silver.
²⁶ Then you will enjoy God All-Powerful,
    and you will look up to him.
²⁷ When you pray, he will hear you.
    And you will be able to do all that you promised him.
²⁸ If you decide to do something, it will be successful.
    And your future will be very bright!
²⁹ When people are brought down and you ask God to help them,
    he will rescue those who have been humbled.
³⁰ Even those who are guilty will be forgiven.
    They will be saved because you did what was right.”

² “I am still complaining today.
    I groan because God is still making me suffer.
³ I wish I knew where to find him.
    I wish I knew how to go to where he lives.
⁴ I would present my case to him.
    I would make my arguments to show that I am innocent.
⁵ He could give his response, and I would understand.
    I would listen closely to what he says.
⁶ Would God use his power against me?
    No, he would listen to me!
⁷ Since I am an honest man, he would let me tell my story.
    Then my Judge would set me free!

⁸ “If I go to the east, God is not there.
    If I go to the west, I still don’t see him.
⁹ When he is working in the north, I don’t see him.
    When he turns to the south, I still don’t see him.
¹⁰ But God knows me.
    He is testing me and will see that I am as pure as gold.
¹¹ I have always lived the way God wants.
    I have never stopped following him.
¹² I always obey his commands.
    I love the words from his mouth more than I love my food.

¹³ “But God never changes,
    and who can stand against him?
    He does anything he wants.
¹⁴ He will do to me what he planned,
    and he has many other plans for me.
¹⁵ That is why I am terrified to stand before him.
    Just thinking about it makes me afraid.
¹⁶ The fear of God has made me lose my courage.
    God All-Powerful makes me afraid.
¹⁷ What has happened to me is like a dark cloud over my face.
    But the darkness will not keep me quiet.

24 “Why doesn’t God All-Powerful set times for judgment?
    And why can’t his followers know when those times will be?

² “People move property markers to get more of their neighbor’s land.
    People steal flocks and lead them to other grasslands.
³ They steal a donkey that belongs to an orphan.
    They take a widow’s cow until she pays what she owes them.
^9 [b] They take a nursing baby from its mother.
    They take a poor person’s child to guarantee a loan.
⁴ They force the poor to move out of their way
    and to get off the road.

⁵ “The poor are like wild donkeys that go out to the desert to find food.
    From morning to night they work to gather food for their children.
⁶ They have to work in the fields, harvesting grain.
    They work for the rich,^[c] gathering grapes in their vineyards.
⁷ They must sleep all night without clothes.
    They have no covers to protect them from the cold.
⁸ They are soaked with rain in the mountains.
    They stay close to the large rocks for shelter.
¹⁰ They have no clothes, so they work naked.
    They carry piles of grain for others, but they go hungry.
¹¹ They press out olive oil
    and walk on grapes in the winepress, but they have nothing to drink.
¹² In the city you can hear the sad sounds of dying people.
    Those who are hurt cry out for help, but God does not listen.

¹³ “Some people rebel against the light.
    They don’t know what God wants.
    They don’t live the way he wants.
¹⁴ A murderer gets up at dawn and kills poor, helpless people.
    And at night he becomes a thief.
¹⁵ A man who commits adultery waits for the night to come.
    He thinks, ‘No one will see me,’ but still, he covers his face.
¹⁶ When it is dark, evil people go out and break into houses.
    But during the day they lock themselves in their homes to avoid the light.
¹⁷ The darkest night is their morning.
    They are friends with the terrors of darkness.

¹⁸ “You say, ‘Evil people are taken away like things carried away in a flood.
    The land they own is cursed, so no one goes to work in their vineyards.
¹⁹ As hot, dry weather melts away the winter snows,
    so the grave takes away those who have sinned.
²⁰ Their own mothers will forget them.
    Only the worms will want them.
No one will remember them.
    They will be broken like a rotten stick!
²¹ These evil people hurt women who have no children to protect them,
    and they refuse to help widows.
²² By his power God removes the powerful.
    Even if they have a high position, they cannot be sure of their lives.
²³ They might feel safe and secure,
    but God is watching how they live.
²⁴ They might be successful for a while, but then they will be gone.
    Like everyone else, they will be cut down like grain.’

²⁵ “I swear these things are true!
    Who can prove that I lied?
    Who can show that I am wrong?”