 |
Job 13
Lo, my eye has seen all this,
My ear has heard and understood it.
2 What you know, the same do I know also:
I am not inferior to you.
3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty,
And I desire to reason with El.
4 But you are forgers of lies;
You are all physicians of no value.
5 Oh that you would altogether hold your peace!
And it would be your wisdom.
6 Hear now my reasoning,
And listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7 Will you speak unrighteously for El,
And talk deceitfully for him?
8 Will you show partiality to him?
Will you contend for El?
9 Is it good that he should search you out?
Or as one deceives a man, will you deceive him?
10 He will surely reprove you,
If you secretly show partiality.
11 Shall not his majesty make you afraid,
And his dread fall upon you?
12 Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes,
Your defences are defences of clay.
13 Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak;
And let come on me what will.
14 Why should I take my flesh in my teeth,
And put my life in my hand?
15 Behold, he will kill me; I have no hope:
Nevertheless I will maintain my ways before him.
16 This also shall be my salvation,
That a lawless man shall not come before him.
17 Hear diligently my speech,
And let my declaration be in your ears.
18 Behold now, I have set my cause in order;
I know that I am righteous.
19 Who is he that will contend with me?
For then would I hold my peace and give up the spirit.
20 Only do not two things to me;
Then will I not hide myself from your. face:
21 Withdraw your hand far from me;
And let not your terror make me afraid.
22 Then call and I will answer;
Or let me speak, and answer you me.
23 How many are my iniquities and sins?
Make me to know my transgression and my sin.
24 Why do you hide your face,
And hold me for your enemy?
25 Will you harass a driven leaf?
And will you pursue the dry stubble?
26 For you write bitter things against me
And make me to inherit the iniquities of my youth:
27 You put my feet also in the stocks,
And mark all my paths;
You set a bound to the soles of my feet:
28 Though I am like a rotten thing that consumes,
Like a garment that is moth-eaten.
Job 14
Man, that is born of a woman,
Is of few days, and full of trouble.
2 He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down:
He flees also as a shadow, and continues not.
3 And did you open your eyes upon such a one,
And bring me into judgment with you?
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one.
5 Seeing his days are determined,
The number of his months is with you,
And you have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
6 Look away from him, that he may rest,
Till he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day.
7 For there is hope of a tree,
If it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
And that the tender branch of it will not cease.
8 Though the root of it becomes old in the earth,
And the stock of it dies in the ground;
9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud,
And put forth boughs like a plant.
10 But man dies, and is laid low:
Yes, man gives up the spirit, and where is he?
11 As the waters fail from the sea,
And the river wastes and dries up;
12 So man lies down and rises not:
Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake,
Nor be roused out of their sleep.
13 Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,
That you would keep me secret, until your wrath is past,
That you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my warfare would I wait,
Till my release should come.
15 You would call, and I would answer you:
You would have a desire to the work of your hands.
16 But now you number my steps:
Do you not watch over my sin?
17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag,
And you fasten up my iniquity.
18 But the mountain falling comes to nothing;
And the rock is removed out of its place;
19 The waters wear the stones;
The overflowings of it wash away the dust of the earth:
So you destroy the hope of man.
20 You prevail forever against him, and he passes;
You change his countenance, and send him away.
21 His sons come to honor, and he knows it not;
And they are brought low, but he perceives it not of them.
22 But his flesh upon him has pain,
And his soul within him mourns.
Job 15
Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
2 Should a wise man make answer with vain knowledge,
And fill himself with the east wind?
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk,
Or with speeches with which he can do no good?
4 Indeed, you do away with fear,
And hinder devotion before El.
5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
And you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
Yes, your own lips testify against you.
7 Are you the first man that was born?
Or were you brought forth before the hills?
8 Have you heard the secret counsel of Eloah?
And did you limit wisdom to yourself.?
9 What do you know, that we know not?
What do you understand which is not in us?
10 With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men,
Much older than your father.
11 Are the consolations of El too small for you,
Even the word that is gentle toward you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away?
And why do your eyes flash,
13 That against El you turn your spirit,
And let words go out of your mouth?
14 What is man, that he should be clean?
And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15 Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones;
Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight:
16 How much less one that is abominable and corrupt,
A man that drinks iniquity like water!
17 I will show you, hear me;
And that which I have seen I will declare:
18 (Which wise men have told
From their fathers, and have not hid it;
19 To whom alone the land was given,
And no stranger passed among them:)
20 The wicked man travails with pain all his days,
Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
21 A sound of terrors is in his ears;
In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him:
22 He believes not that he shall return out of darkness,
And he is waited for of the sword:
23 He wanders abroad for bread, saying,
Where is it? He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand;
24 Distress and anguish make him afraid;
They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
25 Because he has stretched out his hand against El,
And behaves himself proudly against the Almighty;
26 He runs upon him with a stiff neck,
With the thick bosses of his bucklers;
27 Because he has covered his face with his fatness,
And gathered fat upon his loins;
28 And he has dwelt in desolate cities,
In houses which no man inhabited,
Which were ready to become heaps;
29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue,
Neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.
30 He shall not depart out of darkness;
The flame shall dry up his branches,
And by the breath of Elohim’s mouth shall he go away.
31 Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself:
For vanity shall be his recompense.
32 It shall be accomplished before his time,
And his branch shall not be green.
33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine,
And shall cast off his flower as the olivetree.
34 For the company of the lawless shall be barren,
And fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
And their heart prepares deceit.
