[1] Job Continues Job said: [2] I am desperate because God All-Powerful refuses to do what is right. As surely as God lives, [3] and while he gives me breath, [4] I will tell only the truth. [5] Until the day I die, I will refuse to do wrong by saying you are right, [6] because each day my conscience agrees that I am innocent. [7] I pray that my enemies will suffer no less than the wicked. [8] Such people are hopeless, and God All-Powerful will cut them down, [9] without listening when they beg for mercy. [10] And that is what God should do, because they don't like him or ever pray. [11] Now I will explain in detail what God All-Powerful does. [12] All of you have seen these things for yourselves. So you have no excuse. [13] Here is how God All-Powerful treats those who are wicked and brutal. [14] They may have many children, but most of them will go hungry or suffer a violent death. [15] Others will die of disease, and their widows won't be able to weep. [16] The wicked may collect riches and clothes in abundance as easily as clay. [17] But God's people will wear clothes taken from them and divide up their riches. [18] No homes built by the wicked will outlast a cocoon or a shack. [19] Those sinners may go to bed rich, but they will wake up poor. [20] Terror will strike at night like a flood or a storm. [21] Then a scorching wind will sweep them away [22] without showing mercy, as they try to escape. [23] At last, the wind will celebrate because they are gone.
