HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 835
JOB 22
page 465
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“My complaint is with God, not with people.
I have good reason to be so impatient.
Look at me and be stunned.
Put your hand over your mouth in shock.
When I think about what I am saying,
I shudder.
My body trembles.
“Why do the wicked prosper,
growing old and powerful?
They live to see their children grow up and
settle down,
and they enjoy their grandchildren.
Their homes are safe from every fear,
and God does not punish them.
Their bulls never fail to breed.
Their cows bear calves and never
miscarry.
They let their children frisk about like
lambs.
Their little ones skip and dance.
They sing with tambourine and harp.
They celebrate to the sound of the flute.
They spend their days in prosperity,
then go down to the grave* in peace.
And yet they say to God, ‘Go away.
We want no part of you and your ways.
Who is the Almighty, and why should we
obey him?
What good will it do us to pray?’
(They think their prosperity is of their
own doing,
but I will have nothing to do with that
kind of thinking.)
“Yet the light of the wicked never seems
to be extinguished.
Do they ever have trouble?
Does God distribute sorrows to them
in anger?
Are they driven before the wind like straw?
Are they carried away by the storm
like chaff?
Not at all!
“‘Well,’ you say, ‘at least God will punish
their children!’
But I say he should punish the ones
who sin,
so that they understand his judgment.
Let them see their destruction with their
own eyes.
Let them drink deeply of the anger of the
Almighty.
For they will not care what happens to their
family
after they are dead.
“But who can teach a lesson to God,
since he judges even the most powerful?
One person dies in prosperity,
21:13 Hebrew to Sheol.
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completely comfortable and secure,
the picture of good health,
vigorous and fit.
Another person dies in bitter poverty,
never having tasted the good life.
But both are buried in the same dust,
both eaten by the same maggots.
“Look, I know what you’re thinking.
I know the schemes you plot against me.
You will tell me of rich and wicked people
whose houses have vanished because of
their sins.
But ask those who have been around,
and they will tell you the truth.
Evil people are spared in times of calamity
and are allowed to escape disaster.
No one criticizes them openly
or pays them back for what they have
done.
When they are carried to the grave,
an honor guard keeps watch at their
tomb.
A great funeral procession goes to the
cemetery.
Many pay their respects as the body
is laid to rest,
and the earth gives sweet repose.
“How can your empty clichés comfort me?
All your explanations are lies!”
Eliphaz’s Third Response to Job
Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
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“Can a person do anything to
help God?
Can even a wise person be helpful
to him?
Is it any advantage to the Almighty if you
are righteous?
Would it be any gain to him if you were
perfect?
Is it because you’re so pious that he
accuses you
and brings judgment against you?
No, it’s because of your wickedness!
There’s no limit to your sins.
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“For example, you must have lent money
to your friend
and demanded clothing as security.
Yes, you stripped him to the bone.
You must have refused water for the thirsty
and food for the hungry.
You probably think the land belongs to the
powerful
and only the privileged have a right to it!
You must have sent widows away
empty-handed
and crushed the hopes of orphans.
That is why you are surrounded by traps
and tremble from sudden fears.