Job Presents His Case 1 UDB Then Job said to his three friends, BSB BSB: Then Job answered:
2 UDB "There is no doubt that you are the people to whom everyone should listen, and that when you die, there will be no more wise people alive. BSB BSB: “Truly then you are the people with whom wisdom itself will die!
3 UDB But I have as much good sense as you do; I am no less wise than you are. Certainly everyone knows all that you have said. BSB BSB: But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
4 UDB My friends all laugh at me now. Previously I habitually requested God to help me, and he always answered me. I am righteous, and I honor God, but now everyone laughs at me. BSB BSB: I am a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God, and He answered. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.
5 UDB It is easy for people like you, who have no troubles, to laugh at people like me; you make us who are already suffering to have even more troubles. BSB BSB: The one at ease scorns misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
6 UDB Meanwhile, bandits live peacefully, and no one threatens those who cause God to become angry; the god they worship is their own strength. BSB BSB: The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure—those who carry their god in their hands.
7 UDB But ask the wild animals what they know about God; if they could speak they would teach you. If you could ask the birds, they would tell you. BSB BSB: But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you.
8 UDB If you could ask the creatures that crawl on the ground, or the fish in the sea, they would tell you about God. BSB BSB: Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; let the fish of the sea inform you.
9 UDB All of them certainly know that it is Yahweh who has done this. BSB BSB: Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
10 UDB He directs the lives of all living creatures; he gives breath to all us humans to enable us to live. BSB BSB: The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.
11 UDB When we hear what people like you say, we think carefully about what they say to determine what is good and what is bad, like we taste food to know what is good and what is bad. BSB BSB: Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes its food?
12 UDB Old people are usually very wise; because they have lived a long time, they understand much. BSB BSB: Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.
13 UDB And God is wise and very powerful; he has good sense and understands everything. BSB BSB: Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are His.
14 UDB If he tears something down, no one can rebuild it; if he puts someone in prison, no one can open the door to let that person to escape. BSB BSB: What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released.
15 UDB When he prevents rain from falling, everything dries up. When he causes a lot of rain to fall, the result is that there are floods. BSB BSB: If He holds back the waters, they dry up, and if He releases them, they overwhelm the land.
16 UDB He is the one who is truly strong and wise; he rules over those who deceive others and those whom they deceive. BSB BSB: True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His.
17 UDB He sometimes causes the king's officials to lose their wisdom and grieve because of it' and he causes judges to become foolish. BSB BSB: He leads counselors away barefoot and makes fools of judges.
18 UDB He takes from kings the ornaments that they wear and puts loincloths around their waists, causing them to become slaves. BSB BSB: He loosens the bonds placed by kings and fastens a belt around their waists.
19 UDB He also makes priests grieve, and he takes power away from those who rule others. BSB BSB: He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows the established.
20 UDB He sometimes causes those whom others trust to be unable to speak, and he causes old men to no longer have good sense. BSB BSB: He deprives the trusted of speech and takes away the discernment of elders.
21 UDB He causes people to despise those who rule, and he causes those who are powerful to become weak. BSB BSB: He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.
22 UDB He shows to us things that were secret, even things that were in the world of the dead. BSB BSB: He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into light.
23 UDB He causes some nations to become very great, and later he destroys them; he causes the territory of some nations to become much larger, and later he brings others to defeat them and take them prisoner. BSB BSB: He makes nations great and destroys them; He enlarges nations, then disperses them.
24 UDB He causes some rulers to become foolish, and then he causes them to wander around, lost, as if they were in the wilderness with no way out. BSB BSB: He deprives the earth’s leaders of reason and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.
25 UDB It is as if they were feeling around in the darkness, without any light; as if they were drunk, not knowing what they should do." BSB BSB: They grope in the darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunkards.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.