Job 22–24

22ND CHAPTER

Eliphaz Speaks:

Admit You Are Wicked, Job

¹Then Eliphaz from Teman replied ⸤to Job⸥, 

²“Can a human be of any use to God 

when even a wise person is only useful to himself? 

³Is the Almighty pleased when you are righteous? 

Does he gain anything when you follow the path of integrity? 

⁴Does God correct you 

and bring you into a court of law because you fear him? 

⁵“Aren’t you really very wicked? 

Is there no end to your wrongdoing? 

⁶For no reason you take your brothers’ goods as security for a loan 

and strip them of their clothes.^a

⁷You don’t even give a tired person a drink of water, 

and you take food away from hungry people. 

⁸A strong person owns the land. 

A privileged person lives in it. 

⁹You send widows away empty-handed, 

and the arms of orphans are broken. 

¹⁰That is why traps are all around you 

and great fear suddenly grips you. 

¹¹⸤That is why⸥ darkness surrounds you and you cannot see 

and a flood of water covers you. 

¹²“Isn’t God high above in the heavens? 

Look how high the highest stars are! 

¹³You ask, ‘What does God know? 

Can he judge ⸤anything⸥ from behind a dark cloud? 

¹⁴Thick clouds surround him so that he cannot see. 

He walks above the clouds.’ 

¹⁵“Are you following the old path that wicked people have taken? 

¹⁶They are snatched up before their time. 

A river washes their foundation away. 

¹⁷They told God, ‘Leave us alone! 

What can the Almighty do for us?’ 

¹⁸Yet, he filled their homes with good things. 

(The plan of the wicked is foreign to my way of thinking.) 

¹⁹The righteous saw it and were glad, 

and the innocent made fun of them by saying, 

²⁰‘Indeed, their wealth has been wiped out, 

and a fire has burned up what ⸤little⸥ they had left.’ 

Make Peace with God

²¹“Be in harmony and at peace with God. 

In this way you will have prosperity. 

²²Accept instruction from his mouth, 

and keep his words in your heart. 

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will prosper. 

If you put wrongdoing out of your tent, 

²⁴and lay your gold down in the dust, 

and put your gold from Ophir among the pebbles in the rivers, 

²⁵then the Almighty will become your gold 

and your large supply of silver. 

²⁶Then you will be happy with the Almighty 

and look up toward God. 

²⁷You will pray to him, and he will listen to you, 

and you will keep your vow to him. 

²⁸When you promise to do something, you will succeed, 

and light will shine on your path. 

²⁹When others are discouraged, you will say, ‘Cheer up!’ 

Then he will save the humble person.^c

³⁰He will rescue one who is not innocent. 

That person will be rescued by your purity.” 

23RD CHAPTER

Job Speaks:

Where Can I Find God?

¹Then Job replied ⸤to his friends⸥, 

²“My complaint is bitter again today. 

I try hard to control my sighing. 

³“If only I knew where I could find God! 

I would go where he lives. 

⁴I would present ⸤my⸥ case to him. 

I would have a mouthful of arguments. 

⁵I want to know the words he would use to answer me. 

I want to understand the things he would say to me. 

⁶Would he sue me and hide behind great legal maneuvers? 

No, he certainly would press charges against me. 

⁷Then decent people could argue with him, 

and I would escape my judgment forever. 

⁸However, if I go east, he isn’t there. 

If I go west, I can’t find him. 

⁹If I go northward, where he is at work, I can’t observe him. 

If I turn southward, I can’t see him. 

¹⁰⸤I can’t find him⸥ because he knows the road I take. 

When he tests me, 

I’ll come out as pure as gold. 

¹¹I have followed his footsteps closely. 

I have stayed on his path and did not turn from it. 

¹²I have not left his commands behind. 

I have treasured his words in my heart. 

God Is Against Me

¹³“But God is one of a kind. 

Who can make him change his mind? 

He does whatever he wants! 

¹⁴He will carry out ⸤his⸥ orders concerning me 

as he does with so many other things. 

¹⁵That is why I’m terrified of him. 

When I think of it, I’m afraid of him. 

¹⁶God has discouraged me. 

The Almighty has filled me with terror. 

¹⁷But I am not silenced by the dark 

or by the thick darkness that covers my face. 

24TH CHAPTER

Job Continues: Why Doesn’t God Punish Those Who Do Evil?

¹“Why doesn’t the Almighty set aside times ⸤for punishment⸥? 

Why don’t those who are close to him see his days ⸤of judgment⸥? 

²“⸤People⸥ move boundary markers. 

They steal flocks and tend them as shepherds. 

³They drive away the orphan’s donkey. 

They take the widow’s ox as security for a loan. 

⁴They force needy people off the road. 

All the poor people of the country go into hiding. 

⁵Like wild donkeys in the desert, 

poor people go out to do their work, looking for food. 

The plains provide food for their children. 

⁶They harvest animal food in the field ⸤to feed themselves⸥. 

They pick the leftover grapes in the wicked person’s vineyard. 

⁷All night they lie naked 

without a covering from the cold. 

⁸They are drenched by the rainstorms in the mountains. 

They hug the rocks because they can’t find shelter. 

⁹“⸤People⸥ snatch the ⸤nursing⸥ orphan from a breast 

and take a poor woman’s baby as security for a loan. 

¹⁰⸤That is why⸥ the poor go around naked. 

They are hungry, yet they carry bundles of grain. 

¹¹They press out olive oil between rows ⸤of olive trees⸥. 

They stomp on grapes in wine vats, yet they are thirsty. 

¹²Those dying in the city groan. 

Wounded people cry for help, 

but God pays no attention to their prayers. 

¹³“Such people are among those who rebel against the light. 

They are not acquainted with its ways. 

They do not stay on its paths. 

¹⁴At dawn murderers rise; they kill the poor and needy. 

At night they become thieves. 

¹⁵Adulterers watch for twilight. 

They say, ‘No one is watching us,’ as they cover their faces. 

¹⁶In the dark, they break into houses, 

⸤but⸥ by day they lock themselves in. 

They do not ⸤even⸥ know the light, 

¹⁷because morning and deep darkness are the same to them, 

because they are familiar with the terrors of deep darkness. 

¹⁸Such people are like scum on the surface of the water. 

Their property is cursed in the land. 

People do not travel the road that goes to their vineyards. 

¹⁹⸤Just as⸥ drought and heat steal water from snow, 

so the grave steals people who sin. 

²⁰The womb forgets them. 

Worms feast on them. 

No one remembers them anymore, 

and wickedness is snapped like a twig. 

²¹These men take advantage of childless women. 

These men show no kindness to widows. 

²²⸤God⸥ will drag away ⸤these⸥ mighty men by his power. 

These people may prosper, 

but they will never feel secure about life. 

²³⸤God⸥ may let them feel confident and self-reliant, 

but his eyes are on their ways. 

²⁴⸤Such people⸥ may be prosperous for a little while, 

but then they’re gone. 

They are brought down low and disappear like everything else. 

They wither like heads of grain. 

²⁵“If it isn’t so, who can prove I’m a liar 

and show that my words are worthless?”