Job 23-24

Holman Christian Standard Bible

² Today also my complaint is bitter.^[a](A)
His^[b] hand is heavy despite my groaning.
³ If only I knew how to find Him,
so that I could go to His throne.
⁴ I would plead my case before Him^(B)
and fill my mouth with arguments.
⁵ I would learn how^[c] He would answer me;
and understand what He would say to me.
⁶ Would He prosecute^(C) me forcefully?
No, He will certainly pay attention to me.
⁷ Then an upright man could reason^(D) with Him,
and I would escape from my Judge^(E) forever.

⁸ If I go east, He is not there,
and if I go west, I cannot perceive Him.^(F)
9 When He is at work to the north, I cannot see Him;
when He turns south, I cannot find Him.
¹⁰ Yet He knows the way I have taken;^[d]
when He has tested me,^(G) I will emerge as pure gold.
¹¹ My feet have followed in His tracks;
I have kept to His way^(H) and not turned aside.
¹² I have not departed from the commands of His lips;
I have treasured^[e] the words^(I) of His mouth
more than my daily food.

¹³ But He is unchangeable; who can oppose Him?
He does what He desires.^(J)
14 He will certainly accomplish what He has decreed for me,
and He has many more things like these in mind.^[f]
15 Therefore I am terrified^(K) in His presence;
when I consider this, I am afraid of Him.
¹⁶ God has made my heart faint;^(L)
the Almighty has terrified me.
¹⁷ Yet I am not destroyed^[g] by the darkness,^(M)
by the thick darkness that covers my face.

24 Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment?^(N)
Why do those who know Him never see His days?
² The wicked displace boundary markers.
They steal a flock and provide pasture for it.
³ They drive away the donkeys owned by the fatherless^(O)
and take the widow’s ox as collateral.
⁴ They push the needy off the road;
the poor of the land are forced into hiding.^(P)
5 Like wild donkeys in the desert,
the poor go out to their task of foraging for food;
the wilderness provides nourishment for their children.
⁶ They gather their fodder in the field
and glean the vineyards of the wicked.
⁷ Without clothing, they spend the night naked,
having no covering against the cold.^(Q)
8 Drenched by mountain rains,
they huddle against^[h] the rocks, shelterless.
⁹ The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast;
the nursing child of the poor is seized as collateral.^[i]
10 Without clothing, they wander about naked.
They carry sheaves but go hungry.^(R)
11 They crush olives in their presses;^[j]
they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.
¹² From the city, men^[k] groan;
the mortally wounded cry for help,
yet God pays no attention to this crime.^(S)

¹³ The wicked are those who rebel against the light.
They do not recognize its ways
or stay on its paths.
¹⁴ The murderer rises at dawn
to kill the poor and needy,
and by night he becomes a thief.
¹⁵ The adulterer’s eye watches for twilight,
thinking: No eye will see me;
he covers his face.
¹⁶ In the dark they break^[l] into houses;
by day they lock themselves in,^[m]
never experiencing the light.
¹⁷ For the morning is like darkness to them.
Surely they are familiar with the terrors of darkness!

¹⁸ They float^[n] on the surface of the water.
Their section of the land is cursed,
so that they never go to their vineyards.
¹⁹ As dry ground and heat snatch away the melted snow,
so Sheol^(T) steals those who have sinned.
²⁰ The womb forgets them;
worms feed on them;
they are remembered^(U) no more.
So injustice is broken like a tree.
²¹ They prey on^[o] the childless woman who is unable to conceive,
and do not deal kindly with the widow.
²² Yet God drags away^[p] the mighty by His power;
when He rises up, they have no assurance of life.
²³ He gives them a sense of security, so they can rely on it,^(V)
but His eyes^(W) watch over their ways.
²⁴ They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone;
they are brought low and shrivel up like everything else.^[q]
They wither like heads of grain.^(X)

²⁵ If this is not true, then who can prove me a liar^(Y)
and show that my speech is worthless?