Job 22; Job 23; Job 24

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Job 22

1 Then 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?

3 Is the Almighty pleased when you are righteous? Does he gain anything when you follow the path of integrity?

4 Does 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?

6 For no reason you take your brothers' goods as security for a loan and strip them of their clothes.

7 You don't even give a tired person a drink of water, and you take food away from hungry people.

8 A strong person owns the land. A privileged person lives in it.

9 You send widows away empty-handed, and the arms of orphans are broken.

10 That 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!

13 You ask, 'What does God know? Can he judge [anything] from behind a dark cloud?

14 Thick 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?

16 They are snatched up before their time. A river washes their foundation away.

17 They told God, 'Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do for us?'

18 Yet, he filled their homes with good things. (The plan of the wicked is foreign to my way of thinking.)

19 The 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.'

21 "Be in harmony and at peace with God. In this way you will have prosperity.

22 Accept instruction from his mouth, and keep his words in your heart.

23 If you return to the Almighty, you will prosper. If you put wrongdoing out of your tent,

24 and lay your gold down in the dust, and put your gold from Ophir among the pebbles in the rivers,

25 then the Almighty will become your gold and your large supply of silver.

26 Then you will be happy with the Almighty and look up toward God.

27 You will pray to him, and he will listen to you, and you will keep your vow to him.

28 When you promise to do something, you will succeed, and light will shine on your path.

29 When others are discouraged, you will say, 'Cheer up!' Then he will save the humble person.

30 He will rescue one who is not innocent. That person will be rescued by your purity."

Job 23

1 Then 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.

4 I would present [my] case to him. I would have a mouthful of arguments.

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

6 Would he sue me and hide behind great legal maneuvers? No, he certainly would press charges against me.

7 Then decent people could argue with him, and I would escape my judgment forever.

8 However, if I go east, he isn't there. If I go west, I can't find him.

9 If 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.

11 I have followed his footsteps closely. I have stayed on his path and did not turn from it.

12 I have not left his commands behind. I have treasured his words in my heart.

13 "But God is one of a kind. Who can make him change his mind? He does whatever he wants!

14 He will carry out [his] orders concerning me as he does with so many other things.

15 That is why I'm terrified of him. When I think of it, I'm afraid of him.

16 God has discouraged me. The Almighty has filled me with terror.

17 But I am not silenced by the dark or by the thick darkness that covers my face.

Job 24

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.

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

4 They force needy people off the road. All the poor people of the country go into hiding.

5 Like wild donkeys in the desert, poor people go out to do their work, looking for food. The plains provide food for their children.

6 They harvest animal food in the field [to feed themselves]. They pick the leftover grapes in the wicked person's vineyard.

7 All night they lie naked without a covering from the cold.

8 They 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.

11 They press out olive oil between rows [of olive trees]. They stomp on grapes in wine vats, yet they are thirsty.

12 Those 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.

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

15 Adulterers watch for twilight. They say, 'No one is watching us,' as they cover their faces.

16 In the dark, they break into houses, [but] by day they lock themselves in. They do not [even] know the light,

17 because morning and deep darkness are the same to them, because they are familiar with the terrors of deep darkness.

18 Such 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.

20 The womb forgets them. Worms feast on them. No one remembers them anymore, and wickedness is snapped like a twig.

21 These 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?"

Job 22; Job 23; Job 24

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Job 22

Job 23

Job 24