The Living Bible (162 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
Bildad the Shuhite replies to Job:
2
“How long will you go on like this, Job, blowing words around like wind?
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Does God twist justice?
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If your children sinned against him, and he punished them,
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and you begged Almighty God for them—
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if you were pure and good, he would hear your prayer and answer you and bless you with a happy home.
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And though you started with little, you would end with much.
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“Read the history books and see—
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for we were born but yesterday and know so little; our days here on earth are as transient as shadows.
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But the wisdom of the past will teach you. The experience of others will speak to you, reminding you that
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those who forget God have no hope. They are like rushes without any mire to grow in; or grass without water to keep it alive. Suddenly it begins to wither, even before it is cut.
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A man without God is trusting in a spider’s web. Everything he counts on will collapse.
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If he counts on his home for security, it won’t last.
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At dawn he seems so strong and virile, like a green plant; his branches spread across the garden.
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His roots are in the stream, down among the stones.
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But when he disappears, he isn’t even missed!
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That is all he can look forward to! And others spring up from the earth to replace him!
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“But look! God will not cast away a good man, nor prosper evildoers.
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He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.
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Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame, and the wicked destroyed.”
Job’s reply:
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“Yes, I know all that. You’re not telling me anything new. But how can a man be truly good in the eyes of God?
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If God decides to argue with him, can a man answer even one question of a thousand he asks?
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For God is so wise and so mighty. Who has ever opposed him successfully?
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“Suddenly he moves the mountains, overturning them in his anger.
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He shakes the earth to its foundations.
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The sun won’t rise, the stars won’t shine, if he commands it so!
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Only he has stretched the heavens out and stalked along the seas.
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He made the Bear, Orion and the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern Zodiac.
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“He does incredible miracles, too many to count.
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He passes by, invisible; he moves along, but I don’t see him go.
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When he sends death to snatch a man away,
*
who can stop him? Who dares to ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
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“And God does not abate his anger. The pride of man
*
collapses before him.
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And who am I that I should try to argue with Almighty God, or even reason with him?
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Even if I were sinless, I wouldn’t say a word. I would only plead for mercy.
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And even if my prayers were answered, I could scarce believe that he had heard my cry.
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For he is the one who destroys, and multiplies my wounds without a cause.
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He will not let me breathe, but fills me with bitter sorrows.
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He alone is strong and just.
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“But I? Am I righteous? My own mouth says no. Even if I were perfect, God would prove me wicked.
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And even if I am utterly innocent, I dare not think of it. I despise what I am.
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Innocent or evil, it is all the same to him, for he destroys both kinds.
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He will laugh when calamity crushes the innocent.
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The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked. God blinds the eyes of the judges and lets them be unfair. If not he, then who?
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“My life passes swiftly away, filled with tragedy.
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My years disappear like swift ships, like the eagle that swoops upon its prey.
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“If I decided to forget my complaints against God, to end my sadness and be cheerful,
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then he would pour even greater sorrows upon me. For I know that you will not hold me innocent, O God,
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but will condemn me. So what’s the use of trying?
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Even if I were to wash myself with purest water and cleanse my hands with lye to make them utterly clean,
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even so you would plunge me into the ditch and mud; and even my clothing would be less filthy than you consider me to be!
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“And I cannot defend myself, for you are no mere man as I am. If you were, then we could discuss it fairly, but there is no umpire between us, no middle man, no mediator to bring us together.
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Oh, let him stop beating me, so that I need no longer live in terror of his punishment.
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Then I could speak without fear to him and tell him boldly that I am not guilty.
“I am weary of living. Let me complain freely. I will speak in my sorrow and bitterness.
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I will say to God, ‘Don’t just condemn me—tell me
why
you are doing it.
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Does it really seem right to you to oppress and despise me, a man you have made; and to send joy and prosperity to the wicked?
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Are you unjust
*
like men? Is your life so short that you must hound me for sins you know full well I’ve not committed? Is it because you know no one can save me from your hand?
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“‘You have made me, and yet you destroy me.
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Oh, please remember that I’m made of dust—will you change me back again to dust so soon?
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You have already poured me from bottle to bottle like milk and curdled me like cheese.
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You gave me skin and flesh and knit together bones and sinews.
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You gave me life and were so kind and loving to me, and I was preserved by your care.
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“‘Yet all the time your real motive in making me was to destroy me if I sinned, and to refuse to forgive my iniquity.
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Just the slightest wickedness, and I am done for. And if I’m good, that doesn’t count. I am filled with frustration.
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If I start to get up off the ground, you leap upon me like a lion and quickly finish me off.
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Again and again you witness against me and pour out an ever-increasing volume of wrath upon me and bring fresh armies against me.
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“‘Why then did you even let me be born? Why didn’t you let me die at birth?
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Then I would have been spared this miserable existence. I would have gone directly from the womb to the grave.
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Can’t you see how little time I have left? Oh, leave me alone that I may have a little moment of comfort before I leave for the land of darkness and the shadow of death, never to return—
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a land as dark as midnight, a land of the shadow of death where only confusion reigns and where the brightest light is dark as midnight.’”
Zophar the Naamathite replies to Job:
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“Shouldn’t someone stem this torrent of words? Is a man proved right by all this talk?
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Should I remain silent while you boast? When you mock God, shouldn’t someone make you ashamed?
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You claim you are pure in the eyes of God!
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Oh, that God would speak and tell you what he thinks!
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Oh, that he would make you truly see yourself, for he knows everything you’ve done. Listen! God is doubtless punishing you far less than you deserve!
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“Do you know the mind and purposes of God? Will long searching make them known to you? Are you qualified to judge the Almighty?
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He is as faultless as heaven is high—but who are you? His mind is fathomless—what can you know in comparison?
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His Spirit is broader than the earth and wider than the sea.
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If he rushes in and makes an arrest, and calls the court to order, who is going to stop him?
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For he knows perfectly all the faults and sins of mankind; he sees all sin without searching.
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“Mere man is as likely to be wise as a wild donkey’s colt is likely to be born a man!
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“Before you turn to God and stretch out your hands to him, get rid of your sins and leave all iniquity behind you.
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Only then, without the spots of sin to defile you, can you walk steadily forward to God without fear.
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Only then can you forget your misery. It will all be in the past.
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And your life will be cloudless; any darkness will be as bright as morning!
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“You will have courage because you will have hope. You will take your time and rest in safety.
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You will lie down unafraid, and many will look to you for help.
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But the wicked shall find no way to escape; their only hope is death.”
