17 My spirit is broken; I am ready to give up. My life is almost gone, the grave is waiting for me. ²People stand around me and laugh at me. I watch them as they tease and insult me. ³“God, show me that you really support me. No other person will support me. ⁴You have closed my friends’ minds and they don’t understand. Please don’t let them win. ⁵You know what people say, ‘A man neglects his own children to help his friends.’* But my friends have turned against me. ⁶God has made my name a bad word to everyone. People spit in my face. ⁷My eyes have become almost blind because I am very sad and in great pain. My whole body has become very thin, like a shadow. ⁸Good people are upset about this. Innocent people are upset at people that don’t care about God. ⁹But good people continue to live right. Innocent people will become stronger. ¹⁰“But come on, all of you, try to show me that it is all my fault. None of you are wise. ¹¹My life is passing away. My plans are destroyed. My hope is gone. ¹²But my friends are all mixed up. They think night is day. They think darkness drives away the light. ¹³“I might hope for the grave to be my new home. I might hope to make my bed in the dark grave. ¹⁴I might say to the grave, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worms, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister.’ ¹⁵But if that is my only hope then I have no hope at all. If that is my only hope then people have found me no hope at all. ¹⁶{Will my hope die with me?} Will it also go down to the place of death? Will we go down into the dirt together?”

You know … friends Literally, “He promises a share to his friends and his children’s eyes go blind.”

Bildad Answers Job

18 Then Bildad from Shuah answered: ²“Job, when will you stop talking? Be quiet and listen. Let us say something. ³Why do you think we are stupid like dumb cows? ⁴Job, your anger is only hurting yourself. Should people leave the earth just for you? Do you think God will move mountains just to satisfy you? ⁵“Yes, the evil person’s light will go out. His fire will stop burning. ⁶The light in his house will become dark. The lamp next to him will go out. ⁷His steps won’t be strong and fast again. But he will walk slowly and be weak. His own evil plans will make him fall. ⁸His own feet will lead him into a trap. He will walk into a trap and be caught. ⁹A trap will catch his heel. A trap will hold him tight. ¹⁰A rope in the ground will trap him. A trap is waiting in his path. ¹¹Terror is waiting for him all around. Fears will follow every step he takes. ¹²Bad troubles are hungry for him. Ruin and disaster are ready for him when he falls. ¹³Terrible sickness will eat away his skin. It will rot his arms and legs. ¹⁴The evil person will be taken away from the safety of his house. He will be led away to meet the king of terrors. ¹⁵He will have nothing left in his house. Why? Burning sulfur will be scattered all through his home. ¹⁶His roots below will dry up, and his branches above will die. ¹⁷People on earth won’t remember him. No person remembers him anymore. ¹⁸People will push him away from light into the darkness. They will chase him out of this world. ¹⁹He will have no children or grandchildren. None of his family will be left alive. ²⁰People in the west will be shocked when they hear what happened to the evil person. People in the east will be numb with fear. ²¹That really will happen to the evil person’s home. This is what will happen to the person that does not care about God!”

Job Answers

19 Then Job answered: ²“How long will you hurt me and break me with words? ³You have insulted me ten times now. You show no shame when you attack me! ⁴Even if I have sinned, it is my problem. It does not hurt you. ⁵You just want to make yourselves look better than me. You say that my troubles are my own fault. ⁶But it is God who did wrong to me. He set his trap to catch me. ⁷I shout, ‘He hurt me!’ But I get no answer. Even if I call loudly for help, no person hears my cry for fairness. ⁸God has blocked my way so I can’t go through. He has hidden my path in darkness. ⁹God took away my honor. He took the crown from my head. ¹⁰God hits me from every side until I am finished. He takes away my hope like a tree pulled up by the roots. ¹¹God’s anger burns against me. He calls me his enemy. ¹²God sends his army to attack me. They build attack towers around me. They camp around my tent. ¹³“God has made my brothers hate me. I am a stranger to all my friends. ¹⁴My relatives have left me. My friends have forgotten me. ¹⁵Visitors in my home and my girl servants look at me like I am a stranger and a foreigner. ¹⁶I call for my servant, but he does not answer. Even if I beg for help, my servant will not answer. ¹⁷My wife hates the smell of my breath. My own brothers hate me. ¹⁸Even little children make fun of me. When I come near them, they say bad things to me. ¹⁹All my close friends hate me. Even the people I love turned against me. ²⁰“I am so thin, my skin hangs loose on my bones. I have little life left in me. ²¹“Pity me, my friends, pity me! Why? Because God is against me. ²²Why do you persecute me like God does? Don’t you get tired of hurting me? ²³“I wish someone would remember what I say and write it in a book. I wish my words were written on a scroll. ²⁴I wish the things I say were carved with an iron tool on lead or scratched on a rock so they would last forever. ²⁵I know there is someone to defend me. I know he lives! And in the end he will stand here on earth and defend me. ²⁶After I leave my body and my skin has been destroyed, I know I will still see God. ²⁷I will see God with my own eyes. I myself, not someone else, will see God, and I can’t tell you how excited that makes me feel! ²⁸“Maybe you will say, ‘We will bother Job. We will find a reason to blame him!’ ²⁹But you yourselves should be afraid of the sword! Why? Because God punishes guilty people. God will use the sword to punish you. Then you will know that there is a time of judgment.”