Job 34

₂‘You are wise men,

but please listen to me.

You who know a lot,

hear what I want to tell you.

₃Your ears must listen to the words

and find out what they mean,

like your tongue must taste food

to find out if it is good or bad.

₄We must decide what is right,

and we must find out what is the best.

₅Because Job said: “I am innocent,

but God has not been fair to me.

₆I have lived in the right way, but you say

that I am telling lies.

I have not sinned but I am dying

from my wounds.”

₇There is no other man like Job.

He has kept on mocking God

as often as one drinks water.

₈His friends were bad people,

and he went with people

who did things that were wrong,

₉because he said that it did not help

to please God and do what He wants.

₁₀You, wise men,

listen to what I am saying.

God never does anything wrong.

The Almighty God never does anything bad.

₁₁No, God gives each person

what he must get.

God looks at everyone and He

rewards them for what they have done.

₁₂And God will never do something wrong.

He will never be unfair, this is sure.

₁₃No one else told God to rule over the earth,

and no one asked Him to take care of the world.

₁₄If God decides to take back

the life that He gave us,

₁₅then everyone and everything that lives

will die and become dust again.

₁₆Job, if you understand

what I am telling you, then you must listen.

₁₇Do you really think that God

can rule everything if He does not

do what is right? Never.

God is almighty and fair,

and you can not accuse Him.

₁₈God tells kings and important people

that they are bad and worthless.

₁₉He is always fair,

even when He looks at leaders and princes.

He does not love rich people

more than poor people,

because He made them all.

₂₀People die suddenly.

Some die in the middle of the night.

Their life stops and is over.

Important people die

and no one can help them.

₂₁God looks at everything that we do,

and He sees every step that we take.

₂₂God can see everywhere,

and sinful people can not hide from Him,

not even in the darkest places.

₂₃God does not have to choose

a time when He will judge us.

₂₄God knows already what we have done,

and He won't have to go and find out or ask questions.

He will humiliate important people

and choose other people

to rule in their place.

₂₅God knows everything that they do.

He will defeat them in one night

and destroy them.

₂₆He will punish them

for the bad things that they have done

at a place where everyone can see it.

₂₇He will do it because they

turned away from Him and because they

did not want to do what He wanted.

₂₈That is why the poor people cry

and ask God for help.

God hears the people shouting

who can not help themselves.

₂₉But if God decides

to keep quiet and not to help them,

then no one can accuse Him

and say that He is guilty.

If God looks away and does nothing,

no one can say that He is wrong,

not nations or people.

₃₀God can even choose a sinful leader

to rule a nation. He can choose

rulers who don't serve Him

but oppress the people

and catch them in traps.’

‘Job, have you confessed your sins to God?

Have you promised not to do them again?

₃₂Have you asked God

to show you your sins?

You have done things that were wrong,

but you did not know that they were sins.

₃₃You don't like the way that God judges.

Do you think that God should punish

someone who does wrong like that?

Must He reward you

the way that you want?

It is you who must decide

what is right, not I.

Tell me what you are thinking.

₃₄A wise man who

understands everything will say:

₃₅“Job does not know what the truth is,

and his words show that he does not understand it.”

₃₆I wish that God would

test Job in everything,

because he speaks like a sinful man.

₃₇He has sinned

and rebelled_against God.

He keeps on arguing with us

and he says things against God.’