Job: How Can I Contend with God? 1 UST Then Job replied to Bildad and the others. He said, BSB BSB: Then Job answered:
2 UST “I certainly know that what you have said is true. But a person can not prove that he has done the right thing{ and that God should not punish him}. BSB BSB: “Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?
3 UST If someone wanted to argue with God about that, God would ask him many questions and that person would not be able to answer any of them! BSB BSB: If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
4 UST God thinks very deeply and he is very powerful. No one who has tried to argue against him has ever been able to win. BSB BSB: God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?
5 UST God moves mountains{ in earthquakes} without anyone knowing in advance what he is going to do. God knocks down mountains when he is angry. BSB BSB: He moves mountains without their knowledge and overturns them in His anger.
6 UST God causes earthquakes far below the surface of the earth that shake the ground and make it move. BSB BSB: He shakes the earth from its place, so that its foundations tremble.
7 UST On some days, God makes it so cloudy that people can not see the sun in the sky. On some nights, God makes it so cloudy that people can not see the stars shining. BSB BSB: He commands the sun not to shine; He seals off the stars.
8 UST God created the sky all by himself. God defeated the forces of chaos{ so that he could make an orderly universe}. BSB BSB: He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.
9 UST God arranged the stars in the sky to make constellations such as the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades. God arranged stars into many other constellations as well. BSB BSB: He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
10 UST God does amazing things that people can not understand. God does more marvelous things than people are able to count. BSB BSB: He does great things beyond searching out, and wonders without number.
11 UST If God passed by where I was, I would not be able to see him. Yes, he might be going by, but I would not notice him. BSB BSB: Were He to pass by me, I would not see Him; were He to move, I would not recognize Him.
12 UST If God wants to take something away, no one can stop him from doing that. No one can require God to defend what he is doing. BSB BSB: If He takes away, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’
13 UST God would continue to be angry{ even if someone tried to calm him down}.{ No one can oppose him;} he{ even} defeated the forces of Rahab, the great sea monster. BSB BSB: God does not restrain His anger; the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him.
14 UST So I could hardly think of the right words to say in order to argue a case against God! BSB BSB: How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him?
15 UST Even if I were innocent, I would not be able to argue a case against him. All I could do would be to ask God, as my judge, to be merciful to me. BSB BSB: For even if I were right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy.
16 UST Even if he agreed to hear my case, I would not believe that he was genuinely considering my arguments. BSB BSB: If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe He would listen to my voice.
17 UST He keeps causing troubles that batter me. He hurts me many times for no good reason. BSB BSB: For He would crush me with a tempest and multiply my wounds without cause.
18 UST He causes me to suffer all the time. It is as if he will not even let me get my breath again{ before he causes the next disaster}. BSB BSB: He does not let me catch my breath, but overwhelms me with bitterness.
19 UST Suppose I did make a case against him. And suppose the winner would be the one who was stronger. Then he would win, because he is far stronger than I am. And it would not matter who was right, since no one could make him obey what a judge decided. BSB BSB: If it is a matter of strength, He is indeed mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him?
20 UST Even though I was innocent, he would find grounds in what I said to punish me. Even though I had not done anything wrong, he would still decide, based on what I said, that I was guilty. BSB BSB: Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty.
21 UST I have not done anything wrong,{ but that does not matter anymore because} I do not care what happens to me. I do not care whether I live or die. BSB BSB: Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life.
22 UST God punishes everyone the same way. As I have been saying, God destroys everyone whether they have done wrong or not. BSB BSB: It is all the same, and so I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
23 UST When people experience disaster and it causes them to die suddenly, God laughs when he sees them suffer, even if they are innocent. BSB BSB: When the scourge brings sudden death, He mocks the despair of the innocent.
24 UST God has allowed wicked people to control what happens to everyone else. It is as though God has caused judges not to be able to judge fairly. If it is not God who has done that, who, then, has done it? BSB BSB: The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He blindfolds its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?
25 UST I am approaching the end of my life more quickly than a messenger runs to bring news. It is as if the days of my life are running away from me. Good things do not happen to me. BSB BSB: My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good.
26 UST My life is going by very rapidly, as fast as a sailing boat made from reeds, as fast as an eagle swooping down to seize an animal. BSB BSB: They sweep by like boats of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.
27 UST If I decide that I will just forget what I am complaining about, if I decide to stop looking sad and try to be cheerful, BSB BSB: If I were to say, ‘I will forget my complaint and change my expression and smile,’
28 UST I still become afraid again because I know that God does not consider me innocent and so I think that he will punish me. BSB BSB: I would still dread all my sufferings; I know that You will not acquit me.
29 UST He will condemn me anyway, so why should I keep trying in vain to defend myself? BSB BSB: Since I am already found guilty, why should I labor in vain?
30 UST If I washed my body with pure water from melted snow and cleansed my hands with strong soap{ to show how innocent I am}, BSB BSB: If I should wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,
31 UST God would just throw me into a filthy pit{ to show how guilty he considers me to be}. My body would become so dirty that it would be as if my own clothes did not want to be on it! BSB BSB: then You would plunge me into the pit, and even my own clothes would despise me.
32 UST God is not a human, as I am, so I could not refute him to prove that I am innocent if we went together to have a trial in a courtroom. BSB BSB: For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court.
33 UST There is no one to mediate, no one who has authority over both of us. BSB BSB: Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his hand upon us both.
34 UST There is no one who could keep God from causing me to suffer, who could keep God from doing terrifying things that frighten me. BSB BSB: Let Him remove His rod from me, so that His terror will no longer frighten me.
35 UST { If someone could protect me and judge between us,} I would declare that I am innocent without being afraid of God. But I can not do that now. BSB BSB: Then I would speak without fear of Him. But as it is, I am on my own.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.