Job 4

New Century Version

² “If someone tried to speak with you, would you be upset?
    I cannot keep from speaking.
³ Think about the many people you have taught
    and the weak hands you have made strong.
⁴ Your words have comforted those who fell,
    and you have strengthened those who could not stand.
⁵ But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;
    trouble hits you, and you are terrified.
⁶ You should have confidence because you respect God;
    you should have hope because you are innocent.

⁷ “Remember that the innocent will not die;
    honest people will never be destroyed.
⁸ I have noticed that people who plow evil
    and plant trouble, harvest it.
⁹ God’s breath destroys them,
    and a blast of his anger kills them.
¹⁰ Lions may roar and growl,
    but when the teeth of a strong lion are broken,
¹¹ that lion dies of hunger.
    The cubs of the mother lion are scattered.

¹² “A word was brought to me in secret,
    and my ears heard a whisper of it.
¹³ It was during a nightmare
    when people are in deep sleep.
¹⁴ I was trembling with fear;
    all my bones were shaking.
¹⁵ A spirit glided past my face,
    and the hair on my body stood on end.
¹⁶ The spirit stopped,
    but I could not see what it was.
A shape stood before my eyes,
    and I heard a quiet voice.
¹⁷ It said, ‘Can a human be more right than God?
    Can a person be pure before his maker?
¹⁸ God does not trust his angels;
    he blames them for mistakes.
¹⁹ So he puts even more blame on people who live in clay houses,^[a]
    whose foundations are made of dust,
    who can be crushed like a moth.
²⁰ Between dawn and sunset many people are broken to pieces;
    without being noticed, they die and are gone forever.
²¹ The ropes of their tents are pulled up,
    and they die without wisdom.’