He should drink from the wrath of Shadday .

21 How can he be interested in his family after he's gone, when the number of his months is cut short?

No One Understands How God Deals with Humans 22 "Can anyone teach El knowledge?

Can anyone judge the Most High?

23 One person dies in his prime and feels altogether happy and contented.

24 His stomach is full of milk, and his bones are strong and healthy.

25 Another person, never having tasted happiness, dies with a bitter soul.

26 Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them.

My Friends Have Betrayed Me 27 "You see, I know your thoughts and the schemes you plot against me 28 because you ask, 'Where is the house of the influential person?

Where is the tent where wicked people live?'

29 Haven't you asked travelers?

But you didn't pay attention to their directions.

30 On the day of disaster the wicked person is spared.

On the day of God's anger he is rescued.

31 Who will tell him to his face how he lived?

Who will pay him back for what he did?

32 He is carried to the cemetery, and his grave is guarded.

33 The soil in the creekbed is sweet to him.

Everyone follows him.

Countless others went before him.

34 How can you comfort me with this nonsense when your answers continue to betray me?"

Eliphaz Speaks: Admit You Are Wicked, Job 221 Then Eliphaz from Teman replied to Job, 2 "Can a human be of any use to El when even a wise person is only useful to himself?

3 Is Shadday pleased when you are righteous?

Does he gain anything when you follow the path of integrity?

4 Does God correct you and bring you into a court of law because you fear him?

5 "Aren't you really very wicked?

Is there no end to your wrongdoing?

6 For no reason you take your brothers' goods as security for a loan and strip them of their clothes.a 7 You don't even give a tired person a drink of water, and you take food away from hungry people.

8 A strong person owns the land.

A privileged person lives in it.

9 You send widows away empty-handed, and the arms of orphans are broken.

10 That is why traps are all around you and great fear suddenly grips you.

11 That is why darkness surrounds you and you cannot see and a flood of water covers you.

12 "Isn't Eloah high above in the heavens?

Look how high the highest stars are!

13 You ask, 'What does El know?

Can he judge anything from behind a dark cloud?

14 Thick clouds surround him so that he cannot see.

He walks above the clouds.'b 15 "Are you following the old path that wicked people have taken?

16 They are snatched up before their time.

A river washes their foundation away.

17 They told El, 'Leave us alone!

What can Shadday do for us?'

18 Yet, he filled their homes with good things.

(The plan of the wicked is foreign to my way of thinking.) 19 The righteous saw it and were glad, and the innocent made fun of them by saying, 20 'Indeed, their wealth has been wiped out, and a fire has burned up what little they had left.'

Make Peace with God 21 "Be in harmony and at peace with God.

In this way you will have prosperity.

22 Accept instruction from his mouth, and keep his words in your heart.

23 If you return to Shadday you will prosper.

If you put wrongdoing out of your tent, 24 and lay your gold down in the dust, and put your gold from Ophir among the pebbles in the rivers, 25 then Shadday will become your gold and your large supply of silver.

26 Then you will be happy with Shadday and look up toward Eloah .

27 You will pray to him, and he will listen to you, and you will keep your vow to him.

28 When you promise to do something, you will succeed, and light will shine on your path.

29 When others are discouraged, you will say, 'Cheer up!'

Then he will save the humble person.a 30 He will rescue one who is not innocent.

That person will be rescued by your purity."

Job Speaks: Where Can I Find God?

231 Then Job replied to his friends, 2 "My complaint is bitter again today.

I try hard to control my sighing.

3 "If only I knew where I could find God!

I would go where he lives.

4 I would present my case to him.

I would have a mouthful of arguments.

5 I want to know the words he would use to answer me.

I want to understand the things he would say to me.

6 Would he sue me and hide behind great legal maneuvers?

No, he certainly would press charges against me.

7 Then decent people could argue with him, and I would escape my judgment forever.

8 However, if I go east, he isn't there.

If I go west, I can't find him.

9 If I go northward, where he is at work, I can't observe him.

If I turn southward, I can't see him.

10 I can't find him because he knows the road I take.

When he tests me, I'll come out as pure as gold.

11 I have followed his footsteps closely.

I have stayed on his path and did not turn from it.

12 I have not left his commands behind.

I have treasured his words in my heart.

God Is Against Me 13 "But God is one of a kind.

Who can make him change his mind?

He does whatever he wants!

14 He will carry out his orders concerning me as he does with so many other things.b 15 That is why I'm terrified of him.

When I think of it, I'm afraid of him.

16 El has discouraged me.

Shadday has filled me with terror.

17 But I am not silenced by the dark or by the thick darkness that covers my face.

Job Continues: Why Doesn't God Punish Those Who Do Evil?

241 "Why doesn't Shadday set aside times for punishment?

Why don't those who are close to him see his days of judgment?

2 "People move boundary markers.

They steal flocks and tend them as shepherds.

3 They drive away the orphan's donkey.

They take the widow's ox as security for a loan.

4 They force needy people off the road.

All the poor people of the country go into hiding.

5 Like wild donkeys in the desert, poor people go out to do their work, looking for food.

The plains provide food for their children.

6 They harvest animal food in the field to feed themselves.

They pick the leftover grapes in the wicked person's vineyard.

7 All night they lie naked without a covering from the cold.