Job Affirms His Integrity 1 UST Job kept speaking to his three friends. He said, BSB BSB: Job continued his discourse:
2 UST “I will promise you something as surely as God exists, even though he has treated me unfairly. I will promise you something as surely as Shaddai exists, even though he has made my life so unpleasant. BSB BSB: “As surely as God lives, who has deprived me of justice—the Almighty, who has embittered my soul—
3 UST I will insist on it for as long as I am alive. Yes, for as long as I am still breathing, I will insist on it. BSB BSB: as long as my breath is still within me and the breath of God remains in my nostrils,
4 UST I promise that I will not say the wrong thing! I promise that I will not say anything to deceive anyone! BSB BSB: my lips will not speak wickedness, and my tongue will not utter deceit.
5 UST And so I will never say that what you three have said about me is true. Until the day that I die, I will insist that I have been living as God wants people to live. BSB BSB: I will never say that you are right; I will maintain my integrity until I die.
6 UST I will insist that I am innocent. I will never say anything different. That way, for as long as I live, I will not feel badly about saying something that was not true. BSB BSB: I will cling to my righteousness and never let go. As long as I live, my conscience will not accuse me.
The Wicked Man’s Portion 7 UST I want to be just the opposite of an evil person. I want to disagree with the way anyone who is a bad person is living. BSB BSB: May my enemy be like the wicked and my opponent like the unjust.
8 UST I want to be the opposite of an evil person because when God decides it is time for that person to die, he can only expect that God will then punish him for the wrong things that he has done. BSB BSB: For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
9 UST When evil people are in trouble, God does not rescue them when they pray for help. BSB BSB: Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?
10 UST Evil people are not happy about what Shaddai does. They do not speak with God in prayer in good times as well as in bad times. BSB BSB: Will he delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?
11 UST I need to teach you three something about how God actually deals with the people of this world. BSB BSB: I will instruct you in the power of God. I will not conceal the ways of the Almighty.
12 UST You three have certainly seen for yourselves how God treats people. So you should not have been telling me things that have made so little sense. BSB BSB: Surely all of you have seen it for yourselves. Why then do you keep up this empty talk?
13 UST I will tell you how God punishes evil people. This is what Shaddai does to those who mistreat others: BSB BSB: This is the wicked man’s portion from God—the heritage the ruthless receive from the Almighty.
14 UST Even if they have many children, those children will die in wars, or they will die because they do not have enough food to eat. BSB BSB: Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword; and his offspring will never have enough food.
15 UST Any children who are still alive after their evil parents die will perish from diseases. Not even the wife of an evil man will mourn for him if he dies. BSB BSB: His survivors will be buried by the plague, and their widows will not weep for them.
16 UST Sometimes evil people accumulate a large amount of money and they acquire many valuable articles of clothing. BSB BSB: Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up a wardrobe like clay,
17 UST But even if evil people become rich, they will die, and then righteous people will get their clothes. Honest people will get their money and share it with one another. BSB BSB: what he lays up, the righteous will wear, and his silver will be divided by the innocent.
18 UST The houses that they build are as weak as spider webs. Their houses are flimsy, like the huts that watchmen live in while they guard people’ s fields. BSB BSB: The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut set up by a watchman.
19 UST God makes evil people lose their money. It is as if they are rich when they go to bed one night, but the next morning they wake up to find that their money is all gone. BSB BSB: He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, all is gone.
20 UST When evil people realize that God is punishing them, they become very afraid, as if those fears were water in which they were drowning. God soon destroys the evil people, as if a whirlwind carried them away in the night. BSB BSB: Terrors overtake him like a flood; a tempest sweeps him away in the night.
21 UST It is as if a windstorm from the desert picks them up and carries them away from their homes. No one ever sees them again. BSB BSB: The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.
22 UST It is as if a wind like that blows steadily against them while they are running away, trying to escape from its force. BSB BSB: It hurls itself against him without mercy as he flees headlong from its power.
23 UST It is as if such a wind were clapping its hands at them to mock them. It is as if such a wind blew them out of their houses and stayed there laughing at them. BSB BSB: It claps its hands at him and hisses him out of his place.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.