1    2   
Empty words, Job! Empty words!

3   
No wise man would talk the way you do
  or defend himself with such meaningless words.

4   
If you had your way, no one would fear God;
  no one would pray to him.

5   
Your wickedness is evident by what you say;
  you are trying to hide behind clever words.

6   
There is no need for me to condemn you;
  you are condemned by every word you speak.

7   
Do you think you were the first man born?
  Were you there when God made the mountains?

8   
Did you overhear the plans God made?
  Does human wisdom belong to you alone?

9   
There is nothing you know that we don't know.

10   
We learned our wisdom from gray-haired men—
  men born before your father.

11   
God offers you comfort; why still reject it?
  We have spoken for him with calm, even words.

12   
But you are excited and glare at us in anger.

13   
You are angry with God and denounce him.

14   
Can any man be really pure?
  Can anyone be right with God?

15   
Why, God does not trust even his angels;
  even they are not pure in his sight.

16   
And man drinks evil as if it were water;
  yes, man is corrupt; man is worthless. ^note

17   
Now listen, Job, to what I know.

18   
Wise men have taught me truths
  which they learned from their fathers,
  and they kept no secrets hidden.

19   
Their land was free from foreigners;
  there was no one to lead them away from God.

20   
A wicked man who oppresses others
  will be in torment as long as he lives.

21   
Voices of terror will scream in his ears,
  and robbers attack when he thinks he is safe.

22   
He has no hope of escaping from darkness,
  for somewhere a sword is waiting to kill him,

23   
  and vultures ^note are waiting ^note to eat his corpse.
He knows his future is dark;

24   
  disaster, like a powerful king,
  is waiting to attack him.

25   
That is the fate of the man
  who shakes his fist at God
  and defies the Almighty.

26    27   
That man is proud and rebellious;
  he stubbornly holds up his shield
  and rushes to fight against God.

28   
That is the man who captured cities
  and seized houses whose owners had fled,
  but war will destroy those cities and houses.

29   
He will not remain rich for long;
  nothing he owns will last.
Even his shadow ^note will vanish,

30   
  and he will not escape from darkness.
He will be like a tree
  whose branches are burned by fire,
  whose blossoms ^note are blown away by the wind.

31   
If he is foolish enough to trust in evil,
  then evil will be his reward.

32   
Before his time is up he will wither, ^note

  wither like a branch and never be green again.

33   
He will be like a vine that loses its unripe grapes;
  like an olive tree that drops its blossoms.

34   
There will be no descendants for godless men,
  and fire will destroy the homes built by bribery.

35   
These are the men who plan trouble and do evil;
  their hearts are always full of deceit.

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