21.

1 Then Job spoke again.

2 "Listen closely to what I am saying.That's one consolation you can give me.

3 Bear with me, and let me speak.After I have spoken, you may resume mocking me.

4 "My complaint is with God, not with people.I have good reason to be so impatient.

5 Look at me and be stunned.Put your hand over your mouth in shock.

6 When I think about what I am saying, I shudder.My body trembles.

7 "Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful?

8 They live to see their children grow up and settle down, and they enjoy their grandchildren.

9 Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them.

10 Their bulls never fail to breed.Their cows bear calves and never miscarry.

11 They let their children frisk about like lambs.Their little ones skip and dance.

12 They sing with tambourine and harp.They celebrate to the sound of the flute.

13 They spend their days in prosperity, then go down to the grave in peace.

14 And yet they say to God, 'Go away.We want no part of you and your ways.

15 Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him? What good will it do us to pray?'

16 (They think their prosperity is of their own doing, but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.)

17 "Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished.Do they ever have trouble? Does God distribute sorrows to them in anger?

18 Are they driven before the wind like straw? Are they carried away by the storm like chaff? Not at all!

19 "'Well,' you say, 'at least God will punish their children!' But I say he should punish the ones who sin, so that they understand his judgment.

20 Let them see their destruction with their own eyes.Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty.

21 For they will not care what happens to their family after they are dead.

22 "But who can teach a lesson to God, since he judges even the most powerful?

23 One person dies in prosperity, completely comfortable and secure,

24 the picture of good health, vigorous and fit.

25 Another person dies in bitter poverty, never having tasted the good life.

26 But both are buried in the same dust, both eaten by the same maggots.

27 "Look, I know what you're thinking.I know the schemes you plot against me.

28 You will tell me of rich and wicked people whose houses have vanished because of their sins.

29 But ask those who have been around, and they will tell you the truth.

30 Evil people are spared in times of calamity and are allowed to escape disaster.

31 No one criticizes them openly or pays them back for what they have done.

32 When they are carried to the grave, an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb.

33 A great funeral procession goes to the cemetery.Many pay their respects as the body is laid to rest, and the earth gives sweet repose.

34 "How can your empty cliches comfort me? All your explanations are lies!"

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied.

2 "Can a person do anything to help God? Can even a wise person be helpful to him?

3 Is it any advantage to the Almighty if you are righteous? Would it be any gain to him if you were perfect?

4 Is it because you're so pious that he accuses you and brings judgment against you?

5 No, it's because of your wickedness! There's no limit to your sins.

6 "For example, you must have lent money to your friend and demanded clothing as security.Yes, you stripped him to the bone.

7 You must have refused water for the thirsty and food for the hungry.

8 You probably think the land belongs to the powerful and only the privileged have a right to it!

9 You must have sent widows away empty-handed and crushed the hopes of orphans.

10 That is why you are surrounded by traps and tremble from sudden fears.

11 That is why you cannot see in the darkness, and waves of water cover you.

12 "God is so great - higher than the heavens, higher than the farthest stars.

13 But you reply, 'That's why God can't see what I am doing! How can he judge through the thick darkness?

14 For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us.He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.'

15 "Will you continue on the old paths where evil people have walked?

16 They were snatched away in the prime of life, the foundations of their lives washed away.

17 For they said to God, 'Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us?'

18 Yet he was the one who filled their homes with good things, so I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.

19 "The righteous will be happy to see the wicked destroyed, and the innocent will laugh in contempt.

20 They will say, 'See how our enemies have been destroyed.The last of them have been consumed in the fire.'

21 "Submit to God, and you will have peace; then things will go well for you.

22 Listen to his instructions, and store them in your heart.

23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored - so clean up your life.

24 If you give up your lust for money and throw your precious gold into the river,

25 the Almighty himself will be your treasure.He will be your precious silver!

26 "Then you will take delight in the Almighty and look up to God.

27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows to him.

28 You will succeed in whatever you choose to do, and light will shine on the road ahead of you.

29 If people are in trouble and you say, 'Help them,' God will save them.

30 Even sinners will be rescued; they will be rescued because your hands are pure."

1 Then Job spoke again.

2 "My complaint today is still a bitter one, and I try hard not to groan aloud.

3 If only I knew where to find God, I would go to his court.

4 I would lay out my case and present my arguments.

5 Then I would listen to his reply and understand what he says to me.

6 Would he use his great power to argue with me? No, he would give me a fair hearing.

7 Honest people can reason with him, so I would be forever acquitted by my judge.

8 I go east, but he is not there.I go west, but I cannot find him.

9 I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden.I look to the south, but he is concealed.

10 "But he knows where I am going.And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold.

11 For I have stayed on God's paths; I have followed his ways and not turned aside.

12 I have not departed from his commands, but have treasured his words more than daily food.

13 But once he has made his decision, who can change his mind? Whatever he wants to do, he does.

14 So he will do to me whatever he has planned.He controls my destiny.

15 No wonder I am so terrified in his presence.When I think of it, terror grips me.

16 God has made me sick at heart; the Almighty has terrified me.

17 Darkness is all around me; thick, impenetrable darkness is everywhere.

1 "Why doesn't the Almighty bring the wicked to judgment? Why must the godly wait for him in vain?

2 Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers.They steal livestock and put them in their own pastures.

3 They take the orphan's donkey and demand the widow's ox as security for a loan.

4 The poor are pushed off the path; the needy must hide together for safety.

5 Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, the poor must spend all their time looking for food, searching even in the desert for food for their children.

6 They harvest a field they do not own, and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked.

7 All night they lie naked in the cold, without clothing or covering.

8 They are soaked by mountain showers, and they huddle against the rocks for want of a home.

9 "The wicked snatch a widow's child from her breast, taking the baby as security for a loan.

10 The poor must go about naked, without any clothing.They harvest food for others while they themselves are starving.

11 They press out olive oil without being allowed to taste it, and they tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst.

12 The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the wounded cry for help, yet God ignores their moaning.

13 "Wicked people rebel against the light.They refuse to acknowledge its ways or stay in its paths.

14 The murderer rises in the early dawn to kill the poor and needy; at night he is a thief.

15 The adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, 'No one will see me then.' He hides his face so no one will know him.

16 Thieves break into houses at night and sleep in the daytime.They are not acquainted with the light.

17 The black night is their morning.They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness.

18 "But they disappear like foam down a river.Everything they own is cursed, and they are afraid to enter their own vineyards.

19 The grave consumes sinners just as drought and heat consume snow.

20 Their own mothers will forget them.Maggots will find them sweet to eat. No one will remember them.Wicked people are broken like a tree in the storm.

21 They cheat the woman who has no son to help her.They refuse to help the needy widow.

22 "God, in his power, drags away the rich.They may rise high, but they have no assurance of life.

23 They may be allowed to live in security, but God is always watching them.

24 And though they are great now, in a moment they will be gone like all others, cut off like heads of grain.

25 Can anyone claim otherwise? Who can prove me wrong?"

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied.

2 "God is powerful and dreadful.He enforces peace in the heavens.

3 Who is able to count his heavenly army? Doesn't his light shine on all the earth?

4 How can a mortal be innocent before God? Can anyone born of a woman be pure?

5 God is more glorious than the moon; he shines brighter than the stars.

6 In comparison, people are maggots; we mortals are mere worms."

1 Then Job spoke again.

2 "How you have helped the powerless! How you have saved the weak!

3 How you have enlightened my stupidity! What wise advice you have offered!

4 Where have you gotten all these wise sayings? Whose spirit speaks through you?

5 "The dead tremble - those who live beneath the waters.

6 The underworld is naked in God's presence.The place of destruction is uncovered.

7 God stretches the northern sky over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing.

8 He wraps the rain in his thick clouds, and the clouds don't burst with the weight.

9 He covers the face of the moon, shrouding it with his clouds.

10 He created the horizon when he separated the waters; he set the boundary between day and night.

11 The foundations of heaven tremble; they shudder at his rebuke.

12 By his power the sea grew calm.By his skill he crushed the great sea monster.

13 His Spirit made the heavens beautiful, and his power pierced the gliding serpent.

14 These are just the beginning of all that he does, merely a whisper of his power.Who, then, can comprehend the thunder of his power?"