Job says his friends laugh at him
1Job answered and said:
2‘You think that you are
the only people who have wisdom.
3But I am also wise,
and I understand a lot.
You are no better than I am.
Everyone knows these things that you say.
4All of my friends are laughing at me
because I have called to God
and asked Him to answer me.
They laugh at me even after
I have lived in the right way and am innocent.
5The people who have enough
to enjoy life don't care
about people who have trouble
and are suffering. They laugh at them.
They trample those who have fallen.
6The robbers who destroy everything
are living peacefully.
The people who make God angry
are feeling safe,
and they think they can do with God
what they want to do.’
Job says the animals can teach his friends
7‘But you must ask the animals,
and they will teach you. The birds
will tell you what you should know.
8Let the plants of the earth teach you,
and let the fish help you understand.
9All of them know that the Lord
has made these things happen.
10The Lord decides if someone
will live or die.
He is the One who gives breath to everyone.
11Some people have ears to hear
what words mean,
and they have tongues to taste
what their food is like.
12Wisdom comes to people
when they are old.
People learn to understand after many years.’
Job says the Lord knows what He does
13‘But God has all the wisdom and power,
and He knows and understands everything.
14If He breaks something down,
no one can build it again,
and if He puts someone in prison,
no one can open the door and let him free.
15If He holds back the rain, it becomes dry.
If He sends a lot of rain, it floods the earth.
16The Lord is strong, and He has true wisdom.
He rules over good and bad people,
those who deceive other people
and the people to whom they lie.
17He makes the advisors of kings
go away without shoes like fools,
and He makes judges say foolish things.
18He takes off the chains
that kings use to tie people,
and He makes kings put on the clothes of slaves.
19He makes priests poor
and makes powerful people fall down.
20He closes the mouths of advisors
and keeps them quiet,
and He makes leaders say things that are wrong.
21He humiliates important people
and He makes strong people weak
so that they can not fight.
22He makes people understand
things that are difficult.
He takes away the darkness of the place of the dead,
and makes the darkest of places light.
23He makes nations important
and destroys them and makes them disappear.
He makes nations great and
decides what will happen to them.
24He makes the leaders of the world foolish,
so they don't know what to do.
25They are like people
who are walking in the dark,
like men who are drunk and
do not know where they are going.’
