24 “Why is it that God All-Powerful knows when {bad} things are going to happen to people, but his followers can’t predict when he is going to do something {about it}?” ²“People move the property markers to get more of their neighbor’s land. People steal flocks and lead them to other grasslands. ³They steal the donkey that belongs to children without parents. They take a widow’s* cow away from her until she pays what she owes them. ⁹Evil people take a nursing baby from its mother. They take a poor person’s child as security* for a loan. ⁴They force the poor people to wander from place to place without a home. All the poor people are forced to hide from these evil people. ⁵“Poor people are like wild donkeys wandering in the desert searching for food. They get up early in the morning to search for food. They work late into the evening getting food for their children. ⁶Poor people must work late into the night cutting hay and straw in fields. They must work for rich people* gathering the grapes in their fields. ⁷Poor people must sleep all night without clothes. They have no covers to protect them from the cold. ⁸They are soaked with rain in the mountains. They have nothing to protect them from the cold. So they huddle close to the large rocks. ¹⁰Poor people have no clothes. So they work naked. They carry piles of grain for evil people, but still they go hungry. ¹¹Poor people press out olive oil. They walk on grapes in the winepress.* But they have nothing to drink. ¹²In the city you can hear the sad sounds of the dying people. Those hurt people cry out for help. But God does not listen. ¹³“Some people rebel against the light. They don’t know what God wants. They don’t live the way God wants. ¹⁴A murderer gets up early in the morning, and kills poor, helpless people. And at night he becomes a thief. ¹⁵The person that does adultery,* waits for the night to come. He thinks, ‘No person will see me.’ But still, he covers his face. ¹⁶At night when it is dark, evil people go out and break into peoples’ houses. But during the daylight, they lock themselves in their own homes and avoid the light. ¹⁷The darkest night is like morning for those evil people. Yes, they know the terrors of that deadly darkness very well! ¹⁸“But the evil people are taken away like things carried away in a flood. The land they own is cursed,* so they won’t gather grapes from their fields. ¹⁹Hot, dry weather takes away their water that came from the winter snows. So those sinners will be carried to the grave. ²⁰That evil person will die and even his own mother will forget him. His sweetheart will be the worms eating his body. People will not remember him. That evil person will be broken like a rotten stick! ²¹Evil people hurt women who can’t have children. And they refuse to help women whose husbands are dead. ²²Evil people use their power to ruin powerful men. Evil people might become powerful but they can’t be sure of their own lives. ²³Evil people might feel safe and secure for a short time. They might want to be powerful. ²⁴Bad people might be successful for awhile, but then they will be gone. They will be cut down like grain, just like everyone else. ²⁵“I swear (promise) these things are true! Who can prove that I lied? Who can show that I am wrong?”

widow(s) Women whose husbands have died. Often these women had no one to care for them. security Anything a person gives to show he will pay his loan. If the person does not pay back his loan, then the lender can keep that thing. rich people Or, “wicked people.” winepress A place for squeezing the juice from grapes. Sometimes this was only a shallow hole in a large rock in the ground. adultery Breaking the marriage promise by sexual sin. curse(d) To ask for bad things to happen to someone or something.

Bildad Answers Job

25 Then Bildad from Shuah answered: ²“God is the ruler. He makes people fear and respect Him. He keeps peace in his kingdom above. ³No person can count his stars.* God’s sun rises on all people. ⁴Compared to God, no person is good. No human being* can really be pure. ⁵In Gods eyes, even the moon is not pure and bright, even the stars are not pure. ⁶People are much less pure. People are like maggots,* like worthless worms!”

his stars Or, “his troops.” This means God’s heavenly army. It could be all the angels or all the stars in the sky. human being Literally, “No one born from woman.” maggots An insect that looks like a small worm and becomes a fly. It is usually found in dead bodies and decaying things.

Job Answers Bildad

26 Then Job answered: ²“Bildad, Zophar, and Eliphaz, you have really been a big help for this tired, weary man! Oh yes, you have {really been an encouragement,} you have really made my weak arms strong again! ³Yes, you have given wonderful advice to the person with no wisdom! You have really shown how wise you are!* ⁴Who helped you say these things? Whose spirit inspired you? ⁵“The spirits of dead people shake with fear in the waters under the earth. ⁶But God can see clearly into that place of death. Death* is not hidden from God. ⁷God stretched the northern sky over empty space. God hung the earth on nothing. ⁸God fills the thick clouds with water. But God doesn’t let that heavy weight break the clouds open. ⁹God covers the face of the full moon. He spreads his clouds over it and hides it. ¹⁰God drew the horizon on the ocean, like a circle where light and darkness meet. ¹¹The foundations that hold up the sky shake with fear when God threatens them. ¹²God’s power makes the sea calm. God’s wisdom destroyed Rahab’s* helpers. ¹³God’s breath makes the skies clear. God’s hand destroyed the snake that tried to get away.* ¹⁴These are only a few of the amazing things that God does. We only hear a small whisper from God. No person can really understand how great and powerful God is.”

Verses 2–3 Job doesn’t really mean what he is saying here. Job is being sarcastic—he is saying these things in a way that shows he doesn’t really mean it. Death Or, “Abaddon, Destruction.” See Rev. 9:11. Rahab A dragon or sea monster. People thought Rahab controlled the sea. Rahab is often a symbol for God’s enemies or for anything evil. snake … get away Or, “the escaping monster.” This might be another name for Rahab. See Isa. 27:1.

27 Then Job continued telling his story. Job said, ²“Truly, God lives. And just as truly as God lives, He has truly been unfair with me. God All-Powerful made my life bitter. ³But as long as life is in me and God’s breath of life is in my nose, ⁴then my lips will not speak evil things, and my tongue will never tell a lie. ⁵I will never admit that you men are right. I will continue saying I am innocent until the day I die. ⁶I will hold tightly to the right things I did. I will never stop living right. My conscience will never bother me as long as I live. ⁷“People have stood against me. I hope my enemies are punished like bad men should be punished. ⁸If a person does not care about God, then there is no hope for that person when he dies. That person has no hope when God takes his life away. ⁹That evil person will have troubles, and he will cry to God for help. But God won’t listen to him! ¹⁰That person should have enjoyed {talking with} God All-Powerful. That person should have prayed to God all the time. ¹¹“I will teach you about God’s power. I will not hide God All-Powerful’s plans. ¹²You have seen God’s power with your own eyes. So why do you say such useless things? ¹³This is what God planned for evil people. This is what cruel people will get from God All-Powerful: ¹⁴An evil person might have many children. But his children will be killed in war. The children of an evil person will not have enough to eat. ¹⁵All of his children will die, and his widow will not be sad. ¹⁶An evil person might get so much silver that it is like dirt to him. He might have so many clothes that they are like piles of clay. ¹⁷But a good person will get his clothes Innocent people will get his silver. ¹⁸An evil man might build a house, but it will not last a long time. It will be like a spider’s web or a watchman’s tent. ¹⁹An evil person might be rich when he goes to bed. But when he opens his eyes, all his riches will be gone. ²⁰He will be scared. It will be like a flood, like a storm came and carried everything away. ²¹The east wind will carry him away, and he will be gone. The storm will sweep him out of his home. ²²The evil person might try to run away from the power of the storm. But the storm will hit him without mercy. ²³Men will clap their hands as the evil person runs away. They will whistle at that evil person as he runs from his home.