Job 4

New International Reader's Version

² “Job, suppose someone tries to talk to you.
    Will that make you uneasy?
    I can’t keep from speaking up.
³ Look, you taught many people.
    You made weak hands strong.
⁴ Your words helped those who had fallen down.
    You made shaky knees strong.
⁵ Now trouble comes to you. And you are unhappy about it.
    It strikes you down. And you are afraid.
⁶ Shouldn’t you worship God and trust in him?
    Shouldn’t your honest life give you hope?

⁷ “Here’s something to think about.
    Have people who aren’t guilty ever been wiped out?
    Have honest people ever been completely destroyed?
⁸ Here’s what I’ve observed.
    People gather a crop from what they plant.
    If they plant evil and trouble, that’s what they will harvest.
⁹ The breath of God destroys them.
    The blast of his anger wipes them out.
¹⁰ Powerful lions might roar and growl.
    But their teeth are broken.
¹¹ Lions die because they don’t have any food.
    Then their cubs are scattered.

¹² “A message came to me in secret.
    It was as quiet as a whisper.
¹³ I had a scary dream one night.
    I was sound asleep.
¹⁴ Fear and trembling seized me.
    That made every bone in my body shake.
¹⁵ A spirit glided past my face.
    The hair on my body stood on end.
¹⁶ Then the spirit stopped.
    But I couldn’t tell what it was.
Something stood there in front of me.
    I heard a soft voice.
¹⁷ It said, ‘Can a human being be more right than God?
    Can even a strong man be more pure than the God who made him?
¹⁸ God doesn’t trust those who serve him.
    He even brings charges against his angels.
¹⁹ So he’ll certainly find fault with human beings.
    After all, they are made out of dust.
    They can be crushed more easily than a moth.
²⁰ Between sunrise and sunset they are broken to pieces.
    Nobody even notices. They disappear forever.
²¹ Like a tent that falls down, they get weak.
    They die because they didn’t follow God’s wisdom.’ ”