[1] Job, will you be annoyed if I speak? I can't keep quiet any longer. [3] You have taught many people and given strength to feeble hands. [4] When someone stumbled, weak and tired, your words encouraged him to stand. [5] Now it's your turn to be in trouble, and you are too stunned to face it. [6] You worshiped God, and your life was blameless; and so you should have confidence and hope. [7] Think back now. Name a single case where someone righteous met with disaster. [8] I have seen people plow fields of evil and plant wickedness like seed; now they harvest wickedness and evil. [9] Like a storm, God destroys them in his anger. [10] The wicked roar and growl like lions, but God silences them and breaks their teeth. [11] Like lions with nothing to kill and eat, they die, and all their children are scattered. [12] Once a message came quietly, so quietly I could hardly hear it. [13] Like a nightmare it disturbed my sleep. [14] I trembled and shuddered; my whole body shook with fear. [15] A light breeze touched my face, and my skin crawled with fright. [16] I could see something standing there; I stared, but couldn't tell what it was. Then I heard a voice out of the silence: [17] "Can anyone be righteous in the sight of God or be pure before his Creator? [18] God does not trust his heavenly servants; he finds fault even with his angels. [19] Do you think he will trust a creature of clay, a thing of dust that can be crushed like a moth? [20] We may be alive in the morning, but die unnoticed before evening comes. [21] All that we have is taken away; we die, still lacking wisdom."
