HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 840
JOB 31
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They are driven from human society,
and people shout at them as if they were
thieves.
So now they live in frightening ravines,
in caves and among the rocks.
They sound like animals howling among
the bushes,
huddled together beneath the nettles.
They are nameless fools,
outcasts from society.
“And now they mock me with vulgar songs!
They taunt me!
They despise me and won’t come near me,
except to spit in my face.
For God has cut my bowstring.
He has humbled me,
so they have thrown off all restraint.
These outcasts oppose me to my face.
They send me sprawling
and lay traps in my path.
They block my road
and do everything they can to destroy me.
They know I have no one to help me.
They come at me from all directions.
They jump on me when I am down.
I live in terror now.
My honor has blown away in the wind,
and my prosperity has vanished like
a cloud.
“And now my life seeps away.
Depression haunts my days.
At night my bones are filled with pain,
which gnaws at me relentlessly.
With a strong hand, God grabs my shirt.*
He grips me by the collar of my coat.
He has thrown me into the mud.
I’m nothing more than dust and ashes.
“I cry to you, O God, but you don’t answer.
I stand before you, but you don’t
even look.
You have become cruel toward me.
You use your power to persecute me.
You throw me into the whirlwind
and destroy me in the storm.
And I know you are sending me to
my death—
the destination of all who live.
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Job’s Final Protest of Innocence
1 “I made a covenant with my eyes
not to look with lust at a young
woman.
2 For what has God above chosen for us?
What is our inheritance from the
Almighty on high?
3 Isn’t it calamity for the wicked
and misfortune for those who do evil?
4 Doesn’t he see everything I do
and every step I take?
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“Surely no one would turn against the
needy
when they cry for help in their trouble.
Did I not weep for those in trouble?
Was I not deeply grieved for the needy?
So I looked for good, but evil came instead.
I waited for the light, but darkness fell.
My heart is troubled and restless.
Days of suffering torment me.
I walk in gloom, without sunlight.
I stand in the public square and cry
for help.
Instead, I am considered a brother to jackals
and a companion to owls.
My skin has turned dark,
and my bones burn with fever.
My harp plays sad music,
and my flute accompanies those
who weep.
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“Have I lied to anyone
or deceived anyone?
Let God weigh me on the scales of justice,
for he knows my integrity.
If I have strayed from his pathway,
or if my heart has lusted for what my eyes
have seen,
or if I am guilty of any other sin,
then let someone else eat the crops I have
planted.
Let all that I have planted be uprooted.
“If my heart has been seduced by a woman,
or if I have lusted for my neighbor’s wife,
then let my wife serve* another man;
let other men sleep with her.
For lust is a shameful sin,
a crime that should be punished.
It is a fire that burns all the way to hell.*
It would wipe out everything I own.
“If I have been unfair to my male or female
servants
when they brought their complaints
to me,
how could I face God?
What could I say when he questioned me?
For God created both me and my servants.
He created us both in the womb.
“Have I refused to help the poor,
or crushed the hopes of widows?
Have I been stingy with my food
and refused to share it with orphans?
No, from childhood I have cared for orphans
like a father,
and all my life I have cared for widows.
Whenever I saw the homeless without
clothes
and the needy with nothing to wear,
30:18 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads hand, my garment
is disfigured. 31:10 Hebrew grind for. 31:12 Hebrew to
Abaddon.