Job 24; Job 25; Job 26; Job 27; Job 28

Job 24

1 "I wish the Almighty would set a time for judging. Those who know God do not see such a day.

2 Wicked people take other people's land; they steal flocks and take them to new pastures.

3 They chase away the orphan's donkey and take the widow's ox when she has no money.

4 They push needy people off the path; all the poor of the land hide from them.

5 The poor become like wild donkeys in the desert who go about their job of finding food. The desert gives them food for their children.

6 They gather hay and straw in the fields and pick up leftover grapes from the vineyard of the wicked.

7 They spend the night naked, because they have no clothes, nothing to cover themselves in the cold.

8 They are soaked from mountain rains and stay near the large rocks because they have no shelter.

9 The fatherless child is grabbed from its mother's breast; they take a poor mother's baby to pay for what she owes.

10 So the poor go around naked without any clothes; they carry bundles of grain but still go hungry;

11 they crush olives to get oil and grapes to get wine, but they still go thirsty.

12 Dying people groan in the city, and the injured cry out for help, but God accuses no one of doing wrong.

13 "Those who fight against the light do not know God's ways or stay in his paths.

14 When the day is over, the murderers get up to kill the poor and needy. At night they go about like thieves.

15 Those who are guilty of adultery watch for the night, thinking, 'No one will see us,' and they keep their faces covered.

16 In the dark, evil people break into houses. In the daytime they shut themselves up in their own houses, because they want nothing to do with the light.

17 Darkness is like morning to all these evil people who make friends with the terrors of darkness.

18 "They are like foam floating on the water. Their part of the land is cursed; no one uses the road that goes by their vineyards.

19 As heat and dryness quickly melt the snow, so the grave quickly takes away the sinners.

20 Their mothers forget them, and worms will eat their bodies. They will not be remembered, so wickedness is broken in pieces like a stick.

21 These evil people abuse women who cannot have children and show no kindness to widows.

22 But God drags away the strong by his power. Even though they seem strong, they do not know how long they will live.

23 God may let these evil people feel safe, but he is watching their ways.

24 For a little while they are important, and then they die; they are laid low and buried like everyone else; they are cut off like the heads of grain.

25 If this is not true, who can prove I am wrong? Who can show that my words are worth nothing?"

Job 25

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

2 "God rules and he must be honored; he set up order in his high heaven.

3 No one can count God's armies. His light shines on all people.

4 So no one can be good in the presence of God, and no one born to a woman can be pure.

5 Even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes.

6 People are much less! They are like insects. They are only worms!"

Job 26

1 Then Job answered:

2 "You are no help to the helpless! You have not aided the weak!

3 Your advice lacks wisdom! You have shown little understanding!

4 Who has helped you say these words? And where did you get these ideas?

5 "The spirits of the dead tremble, those who are beneath and in the waters.

6 Death is naked before God; destruction is uncovered before him.

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

8 He wraps up the waters in his thick clouds, but the clouds do not break under their weight.

9 He covers the face of the moon, spreading his clouds over it.

10 He draws the horizon like a circle on the water at the place where light and darkness meet.

11 Heaven's foundations shake when he thunders at them.

12 With his power he quiets the sea; by his wisdom he destroys Rahab, the sea monster.

13 He breathes, and the sky clears. His hand stabs the fleeing snake.

14 And these are only a small part of God's works. We only hear a small whisper of him.

Job 27

1 And Job continued speaking:

2 "As surely as God lives, who has taken away my rights, the Almighty, who has made me unhappy,

3 as long as I am alive and God's breath of life is in my nose,

4 my lips will not speak evil, and my tongue will not tell a lie.

5 I will never agree you are right; until I die, I will never stop saying I am innocent.

6 I will insist that I am right; I will not back down. My conscience will never bother me.

7 "Let my enemies be like evil people, my foes like those who are wrong.

8 What hope do the wicked have when they die, when God takes their life away?

9 God will not listen to their cries when trouble comes to them.

10 They will not find joy in the Almighty, even though they call out to God all the time.

11 "I will teach you about the power of God and will not hide the ways of the Almighty.

12 You have all seen this yourselves. So why are we having all this talk that means nothing?

13 "Here is what God has planned for evil people, and what the Almighty will give to cruel people:

14 They may have many children, but the sword will kill them. Their children who are left will never have enough to eat.

15 Then they will die of disease and be buried, and the widows will not even cry for them.

16 The wicked may heap up silver like piles of dirt and have so many clothes they are like piles of clay.

17 But good people will wear what evil people have gathered, and the innocent will divide up their silver.

18 The houses the wicked build are like a spider's web, like a hut that a guard builds.

19 The wicked are rich when they go to bed, but they are rich for the last time; when they open their eyes, everything is gone.

20 Fears come over them like a flood, and a storm snatches them away in the night.

21 The east wind will carry them away, and then they are gone, because it sweeps them out of their place.

22 The wind will hit them without mercy as they try to run away from its power.

23 It will be as if the wind is clapping its hands; it will whistle at them as they run from their place.

Job 28

1 "There are mines where people dig silver and places where gold is made pure.

2 Iron is taken from the ground, and copper is melted out of rocks.

3 Miners bring lights and search deep into the mines for ore in thick darkness.

4 Miners dig a tunnel far from where people live, where no one has ever walked; they work far from people, swinging and swaying from ropes.

5 Food grows on top of the earth, but below ground things are changed as if by fire.

6 Sapphires are found in rocks, and gold dust is also found there.

7 No hawk knows that path; the falcon has not seen it.

8 Proud animals have not walked there, and no lions cross over it.

9 Miners hit the rocks of flint and dig away at the bottom of the mountains.

10 They cut tunnels through the rock and see all the treasures there.

11 They search for places where rivers begin and bring things hidden out into the light.

12 "But where can wisdom be found, and where does understanding live?

13 People do not understand the value of wisdom; it cannot be found among those who are alive.

14 The deep ocean says, 'It's not in me;' the sea says, 'It's not in me.'

15 Wisdom cannot be bought with gold, and its cost cannot be weighed in silver.

16 Wisdom cannot be bought with fine gold or with valuable onyx or sapphire gems.

17 Gold and crystal are not as valuable as wisdom, and you cannot buy it with jewels of gold.

18 Coral and jasper are not worth talking about, and the price of wisdom is much greater than rubies.

19 The topaz from Cush cannot compare to wisdom; it cannot be bought with the purest gold.

20 "So where does wisdom come from, and where does understanding live?

21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, even from the birds of the air.

22 The places of destruction and death say, 'We have heard reports about it.'

23 Only God understands the way to wisdom, and he alone knows where it lives,

24 because he looks to the farthest parts of the earth and sees everything under the sky.

25 When God gave power to the wind and measured the water,

26 when he made rules for the rain and set a path for a thunderstorm to follow,

27 then he looked at wisdom and decided its worth; he set wisdom up and tested it.

28 Then he said to humans, 'The fear of the Lord is wisdom; to stay away from evil is understanding.'"