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Job replies to Zophar[a]
12 Then Job replied. This is what he said:
2 ‘You people think that you know everything.
You think that there will be no wisdom after you die.
3 But I understand things as well as you.
You are no better than I am.
Everyone knows the things that you have been saying.
4 I am a person who prayed to God and he answered me.
But my friends now laugh at me.
I have always lived completely in the right way.
But still my friends laugh at me.
5 Some people never have any troubles.
They think that people who suffer are fools.
If people are in trouble,
they knock them down!
6 But robbers seem to live in peace.
They cause God to be angry
but they think that they are safe.
They trust their own strength as their god.
7 Ask the animals and they will teach you.
The birds in the sky would tell you the truth.
8 Speak to the earth and it will teach you.
The fish in the sea would tell you what is right.
9 Any of them could tell you that the Lord has done this.
10 He has authority over the life of all the animals.
He gives breath to all people so that they can live.
11 We use our mouths to taste food.
And we use our ears to test what we hear.
12 Old people are often wise.
People who have lived for a long time understand things better.
13 God is wise and he is also powerful.
He understands things and he gives good advice.
14 If God destroys something,
nobody can repair it.
If God puts someone in prison,
that person cannot escape.
15 If God stops the rain, the land becomes dry.
If he sends lots of rain, there are floods.
16 God has strength and wisdom.
He has power over people who tell lies,
and the people that they deceive.
17 He causes clever people to become ashamed.
He causes leaders to do foolish things.
18 He takes authority away from kings.
He dresses them like slaves.
19 He causes priests to become ashamed.
He removes the power of important people.
20 He stops faithful men from giving advice.
He removes the wisdom of old men.
21 He causes rulers to be ashamed.
He destroys the power of strong men.
22 He shows people things that have been secrets.
He shines light into dark places.
23 He can make nations become great.
He can also destroy them.
He can make their land become bigger.
He can also send their people away to other places.
24 He stops the world's leaders from understanding things properly.
He sends them to travel through empty deserts.
25 They try to walk in the dark, without any light.
He causes them to walk like drunk men.
Job continues to speak
13 I have seen all these things with my own eyes.
I have heard everything that you have said.
I have understood it.
2 I know as much as you do.
You are no better than I am.
3 But I want to speak to the Almighty God.
I need to show him that I am right.
4 What you say about me is only lies.
You would be useless as doctors.
5 It would be better if you said nothing.
That would be a wise thing for you to do.
6 Listen now to what I have to say.
Listen carefully to the words that I speak.
7 You think that you can tell lies to speak on behalf of God!
Your lies are not helping God.
8 You are trying to win the argument for God.
But you are not being honest when you do that.
9 If God asks you questions,
would he find that you speak the truth?
Or would you try to deceive him,
as you deceive other people?
10 When you speak on God's behalf,
you may think that your lies are a secret.
But God will still punish you.
11 His great power will frighten you.
You will be very afraid of him.
12 Your wise teaching is worth no more than ashes.
Your arguments are weak and useless.
13 So be quiet now and let me speak.
Then we will see what happens to me.
14 I am ready for my life to be in danger.
I must take that risk.
15 Even if God kills me, I will still trust him.
I will tell him why I am not guilty.
16 I am brave enough to stand in front of God.
No wicked person would be able to do that.
So it shows that I am not guilty.
17 Listen carefully to my words.
Hear what I have to say.
18 I know what I want to say.
I am ready to explain why I am not guilty.
19 Nobody can show that I have done wrong things.
If anyone can do that, I will be quiet.
I will be ready to die.
20 God, please do two things that will help me.
If you do those things,
I will no longer hide from you.
21 Please stop punishing me.
And stop causing me to be so afraid of you.
22 Tell me to come and stand in front of you.
Then I will answer you.
Or allow me to speak first.
Then you will reply to me.
23 Tell me how many wrong things I have done.
Show me what my sins are.
24 Why do you hide yourself from me?
Why do you think that I am your enemy?
25 I am as weak as a leaf that the wind can blow away.
But you still want to frighten me.
I am as useless as chaff,
but you still attack me.
26 You write down things to accuse me.
You punish me for the sins I did when I was young.
27 You tie my feet with chains.
You watch me carefully wherever I go.
You put marks on my feet.
28 So my life is slowly disappearing.
It is like a coat that moths are eating.
Job continues to speak
14 Everyone that a woman gives birth to lives only for a short time.
The days of his life are full of trouble.
2 He is like a flower that grows
and then it soon dies.
His life quickly disappears like a shadow.
3 I am only a human like that,
so why do you watch me so carefully?
Why do you want to bring me into a court to judge me?
4 People are not clean and pure.
Nobody can change them to become pure.
5 You have decided how long people should live.
You control the number of months that each person will live.
Nobody can live any longer than that.
6 So do not watch us! Leave us alone!
We must work for the time that you have decided.
Please leave us to work in peace.
7 If someone cuts down a tree,
the tree may not die.
New branches may grow from it.
8 Its roots in the ground may be old.
The part of the tree that remains may be nearly dead.
9 But if only a little water comes near to it,
it will start to grow again.
It will make new branches,
like a young plant.
10 But when people lose their strength and they die,
that is the end.
After they die, where do they go?
11 When the water disappears from a lake or a river,
they become dry.
12 It is the same with people when they die.
They will never rise to live again.
As long as the sky remains above the earth,
they will continue to sleep in death.
13 Please hide me in the place where dead people go!
Hide me there until you are no longer angry.
Decide how long I must be there,
and then remember me again!
14 If a man dies, will he live again?
If I knew that, I would suffer patiently.
I would wait until my troubles have finished.
15 You would call me and I would answer you.
You would want to see me again,
because your own hands created me.
16 You would watch me carefully,
but you would not make a note of my sins.
17 You would forgive me for my sins.
You would hide them away.
18 But mountains fall down and they break into pieces,
Rocks fall down from their places.
19 Stones become sand when water pours over them.
Floods wash away soil.
In the same way, you remove hope from a person's life.
20 Finally, you bring his life to an end.
He leaves this world.
You change his face in death
and you send him away.
21 If his sons become famous,
he does not know about it.
If they become ashamed,
he does not know that either.
22 A dead person thinks only about himself.
He feels his own pain and he is very sad.’
Eliphaz speaks to Job again[b]
15 Then Eliphaz, the man from Teman, replied to Job. This is what he said:
2 ‘If you were wise,
you would not answer us with such silly ideas.
The words that come out from inside you are only a hot wind!
3 No wise man would argue in such a useless way.
The things that you say do not mean anything.
4 You show that you do not respect God.
You turn other people away from him.
5 It is your sin that causes you to speak like that.
You try to say clever things that will deceive people.
6 I do not need to show that you are guilty.
Your own words show that you are wrong.
7 You were not the first human to be born.
You were not alive when God made the hills.
8 You do not know God's secret plans.
You are not the only wise person in the world.
9 You do not know any more than we know.
We understand as much as you do.
10 The old men agree with us.
They are older and wiser even than your father.
11 You think that God's kind words are not important.
But they should be enough for you.
12 You have allowed your thoughts to confuse you.
We can see in your eyes that you are very angry.
13 Why are you so angry against God?
You should not say such wicked things.
14 No one who is human can be truly pure and righteous.
15 God does not even trust his own angels.
He knows that they make mistakes.
16 So he certainly will not trust people.
People are wicked and cannot think true thoughts.
They like to do evil things,
as if they are drinking water!
17 So listen to me. I will explain something to you.
I will tell you what I have seen.
18 These are things that wise men have taught me.
They did not hide the truth.
They learned these things from their ancestors.
19 They were the people who received the land.
No foreigners were there to deceive them.
20 They knew this:
A wicked person will have trouble all his life.
Anyone who is cruel will suffer every year that he lives.
21 He will hear things that frighten him.
He may think that he is safe,
but robbers will attack him.
22 He is afraid to go out in the dark.
He thinks that someone may kill him.
23 The wicked person walks about to look for food.
He says, “Where is it?”
He knows that he cannot escape from trouble.
24 He is afraid and confused.
Trouble is ready to attack him,
like a king with his army.
25 That happens to the person who turns against God.
He thinks that he is greater than Almighty God.
26 He is proud enough to attack God.
He holds a big shield as he runs to attack God!
27 He eats too much
and his whole body is very fat.[c]
28 He lives in a town that is empty.
No one else lives in the houses there.
The buildings will soon fall down
and they will become heaps of stones.
29 He will not be rich.
He will lose his valuable things.
Everything that he has will disappear.
30 When it becomes dark,
he will not be able to escape.
He will be like a tree that fire has burned.
God's breath will blow him away!
31 He may trust in useless things to save him.
But he is deceiving himself.
Any help that he receives will also be useless.
32 Before he is old,
his life will end.
Like a tree that makes no leaves,
he will have no success in life.
33 He will be like a vine that loses its grapes.
They fall off before they are ready to eat.
He will be like an olive tree that loses its flowers,
so that no olives grow on it.
34 People who turn away from God are like that.
They have no family to live after them.
If they use the money from bribes to build their homes,
fire will destroy those homes.
35 They make plans to cause trouble,
so that evil things happen.
Lies are what come out from inside them.’
29 Think about this. Some of you have let people baptize you on behalf of believers who have already died. But if dead people do not rise up to a new life, there is no reason to baptize anyone on their behalf.[a]
30 Also, think about us! All the time we are in great danger. 31 Yes, every day I come near to death! Why do I tell you this? It is because I am proud of you. I am proud because we all belong to Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 At Ephesus city, people attacked me like wild animals and I fought against them.[b] But that would be worth nothing to me if dead people do not rise to a new life. If dead people do not live again, then we could say:
‘Tomorrow we will probably die.
So we should just eat and drink as much as we like.’[c]
33 Do not let anyone deceive you. Remember this:
‘If you become a friend of bad people, you also will live in a bad way.’
34 So start thinking properly! Stop doing wrong things! Some of you do not really know God. I am saying this to make you feel ashamed.
New bodies
35 One of you may ask, ‘How does God raise dead people, to make them alive again? What kind of body will they have?’ 36 Do not think like a fool! When you plant a seed in the ground, it has to die first. Then it can become alive again and grow into a new plant. 37 You put just a seed into the ground. It might be wheat or it might be another kind of seed. You do not put into the ground the whole plant that the seed will become. 38 But God makes that seed become a plant. Each plant has its own special body that God has chosen for it.
39 Also, things that are alive do not have the same kind of body. People have one kind of body. Animals have a different kind of body. Birds and fish also have a different kind of body. 40 Also, there are things up in the sky that are different from the things here on the earth. They have different bodies. Also, the things in the sky are beautiful in a different way from the things on the earth. 41 The sun is beautiful in a special way. The moon is also beautiful in a special way, but it is different from the sun. The stars are beautiful too, and each star is beautiful in its own special way.
42 It is like that when God raises a dead person to a new life. We bury the dead person's body in the ground and it becomes spoiled. But when God raises it up, it will live for ever. 43 When we bury the body, it is not beautiful. But when God raises it up, it is very beautiful. When we bury the body, it is weak. But when God raises it, it is strong. 44 What we bury in the ground is a human body. But the body that God raises up is a spiritual body. There is a human body that belongs to this earth. So there also has to be a spiritual body that belongs to heaven.
45 It says in the Bible, ‘The first man, Adam, became a person who received life.’[d] But Christ is like the last Adam. He is a spirit who gives life to people.
46 The spiritual body does not come first. No, what is human comes first. Then, after that, what is spiritual comes. 47 God used soil from the ground to make the first man, Adam. But the second man came from heaven. 48 People who live on the earth have bodies like the first man. That is the man that God made from the soil of the earth. People in heaven have bodies like the man who came from heaven. 49 Now God has given us bodies that look like the first man. One day we will have bodies that look like the man who belongs in heaven.
50 I tell you this, my Christian friends. Our weak human bodies cannot go to heaven, to join God in his kingdom there. Our human bodies will die. They cannot share in something that will continue for ever.
51 Listen to me. I will explain a great secret to you. Not all of us will die, but God will change all of us. 52 It will happen in a short moment, when the last trumpet makes a sound. When that trumpet makes its sound, God will raise up the believers who have died. He will give them bodies that can never die. In that way, he will change all of us.
53 That has to happen. Our bodies that are becoming spoiled must change. They must change into bodies that never become spoiled. Our bodies that are dying must change into bodies that will never die. 54 God will give us new bodies like that. When that happens, what is written in the Bible will become true. It says:
‘God has won against death. He has destroyed it completely!’[e]
55 ‘Death, you can no longer win!
Death, you no longer have any power to hurt us!’[f]
56 Death only has power to hurt us because of our sins. And it is the authority of God's Law that gives power to sins. 57 But now we thank God! Because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we win against death and its power.
58 So you must continue to be strong in your spirits, my Christian friends that I love. Do not let anything move you away from your faith. Continue to work hard as you serve the Lord. You know that whatever you do for him will not be useless.
David wrote this song for Jeduthun, the leader of the music.
Life is short[a]
39 I said, ‘I will be careful what I do,
so that I do not sin.
I will also be careful what I say.
When wicked people are listening,
I will not even open my mouth.’
2 So I did not speak a word,
even about good things.
That made me very upset.
3 It was like a fire inside me!
As I thought more about it,
I just had to say something!
So I said this:
4 ‘Lord, tell me about my life.
Tell me how long it will be,
and when it will finish.
I need to remember that life is only short.
5 Yes, you have made the days of my life only a few!
The time that I live seems very short to you.
Human life is only a breath,
even for those who seem to be strong.
Selah.
6 As we live, we are just like shadows.
We work to get things for ourselves.
We may get a lot of money,
but we do not know who will have it after we die.’
7 So, my Lord, what help can I hope to get?
You are the only one that I can really trust!
8 Save me from all my sins!
Do not let fools insult me.
9 I will not say anything more.
I will not open my mouth,
because it is you who have punished me!
10 Please do not hurt me any more!
You have already punished me enough,
so that I am almost dead!
11 When people do wrong things,
you warn them and you punish them.
You destroy their valuable things,
like a moth eats cloth![b]
Yes, our lives are only a breath!
Selah.
12 Lord, please hear my prayer.
Listen to me when I call to you for help.
Do not turn away from me when I weep.
I need your help,
like a foreign person who lives away from his home.
I live on earth as a stranger,
like all my ancestors did.
13 Stop being angry with me,
so that I can be happy again before I die.
30 There is no wisdom, no knowledge and no advice
that can win against the Lord.
31 You can prepare your horses to fight in a battle,
but only the Lord can help you to win.
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