Job Presents His Case 1 UST Then Job replied to Zophar and the others. He said, BSB BSB: Then Job answered:
2 UST “You are speaking as if you were the people to whom everyone should listen. You seem to believe that you are the only wise people who are now alive. BSB BSB: “Truly then you are the people with whom wisdom itself will die!
3 UST But I have as much good sense as you do. I am just as wise as you are. People certainly know, in general, the things 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 UST Before, when I prayed to God for help, God would help me. But now{, because God is not helping me in my suffering,} other people laugh at me. I am righteous and I honor God, but they laugh 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 UST People like you who have no troubles think that others are suffering because of their sins. You think that God is punishing us and that is why we are suffering. BSB BSB: The one at ease scorns misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
6 UST Meanwhile, bandits get rich by robbing people. Those who defiantly disobey God live peacefully. Such people believe that God cannot stop them from doing what they want to do. BSB BSB: The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure—those who carry their god in their hands.
7 UST But if the wild animals could speak, and if you asked them{ what they know about God}, they would tell you{ that God is responsible when someone suffers as I am suffering}. If the birds could speak, and if you asked them{ the same question}, they would tell you{ the same thing}. BSB BSB: But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you.
8 UST If the ground could talk, and if you asked it about God, or if fish could talk and you asked them, they too would tell you that God is responsible when people suffer. BSB BSB: Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; let the fish of the sea inform you.
9 UST All of them certainly know that it is Yahweh himself who has caused me to suffer. BSB BSB: Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
10 UST He controls whether all living creatures live or die, including whether any person dies or continues to live. BSB BSB: The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.
11 UST We decide whether our food is good or bad by tasting it. In the same way, we think carefully about what we hear people say in order to decide whether it is good or bad advice.{ I have listened carefully to you, and I have decided that you are giving me bad advice!} BSB BSB: Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes its food?
12 UST Older people have usually become wise. Because they have lived a long time, they have learned many things. BSB BSB: Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.
13 UST God himself is wise and very powerful. He has good sense and he understands everything. BSB BSB: Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are His.
14 UST Indeed, if God tears something down, no one can build it back up again. If God puts someone in prison, no one can enable that person to escape. BSB BSB: What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released.
15 UST Yes, God is so powerful that if he prevents rain from falling, then the water on the earth dries up. If God causes a lot of rain to fall, then water floods onto the land. BSB BSB: If He holds back the waters, they dry up, and if He releases them, they overwhelm the land.
16 UST God is the one who is truly strong and wise. He does not let anyone get away with doing wrong or with convincing others to do wrong. BSB BSB: True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His.
17 UST { God is so powerful that} he can remove royal advisors from their positions, and he can cause judges to become fools. BSB BSB: He leads counselors away barefoot and makes fools of judges.
18 UST God can take away the ruling authority that kings have and make those kings become slaves instead. BSB BSB: He loosens the bonds placed by kings and fastens a belt around their waists.
19 UST God can remove priests from their positions and take the power away from those who have long ruled others. BSB BSB: He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows the established.
20 UST God can cause trusted counselors not to know what to say, and he can cause wise elders no longer to have good sense. BSB BSB: He deprives the trusted of speech and takes away the discernment of elders.
21 UST God can cause princes to lose the respect of others, and he can cause those who are powerful to become weak. BSB BSB: He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.
22 UST God can enable people to understand things that are very difficult to understand. BSB BSB: He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into light.
23 UST God causes some nations to become very great, but later he destroys them. God enables some nations to enlarge their territory greatly, but later he allows others to conquer them and take their people away as prisoners. BSB BSB: He makes nations great and destroys them; He enlarges nations, then disperses them.
24 UST He causes some human rulers to become foolish. As a result, they try one thing after another without success, as if they were lost in a desert without roads. BSB BSB: He deprives the earth’s leaders of reason and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.
25 UST It is as if they were trying to feel their way in complete darkness. It is as if they were staggering around drunk.” 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.