Job 23
What Happens in This Chapter
Job answers his friends again. He says he wishes he could find God and bring his case to a courtroom, because he is sure he would be heard. He tells them he has followed God's way and kept God's words, and that testing will show him to be like gold. But he also says God does whatever he decides, and thinking about that leaves Job afraid.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
Then Job answered and said,
1Then Job answered his friends. He said:
2Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
2Even today my complaint is bitter. God's hand presses hard on me while I groan.
3Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
3I wish I knew where to find God. Then I could go to where he sits.
4I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
4I would lay out my case in front of him. I would give all my reasons.
5I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.
5I would hear the answer he gave me. I would understand what he said.
6Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.
6Would he use his great power to argue me down? No. He would give me strength.
7There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.
7There an honest person could reason with God. My judge would set me free for good.
8Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
8Look, I go forward, but God is not there. I go back, but I cannot find him.
9On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:
9He is working off to the left, but I cannot see him. He turns to the right, and I still cannot see him.
In verses 8 and 9, "forward," "backward," "left" and "right" mean east, west, north and south. Job is saying he has looked in every direction.
10But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
10But God knows the way I have walked. When he has tested me, I will come out like gold.
11My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.
11My feet have stayed in his tracks. I kept to his way and did not turn aside.
12Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
12I have not turned away from what he commands. I love his words more than my daily food.
13But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
13But God does not change his mind. Who can turn him? He does what he wants.
14For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.
14He is doing what he decided for me. He has many more plans like that.
15Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.
15So I am shaken when he is near. When I think about it, I am afraid of him.
16For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:
16God has made my heart weak. The Almighty, the all-powerful God, has filled me with fear.
17Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.
17Still, the darkness has not cut me off. He has not hidden the thick dark from my face.
This verse is hard to follow even in Hebrew. It can mean that Job was not taken away before the dark trouble came, or that the darkness has not made him stop speaking.
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