Job 9:32-14:14

32“He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court.

33If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together,

34someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. 35Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.

1“I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.

2I say to God: Do not declare me guilty, but tell me what charges you have against me.

3Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the plans of the wicked?

4Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees?

5Are your days like those of a mortal or your years like those of a strong man,

6that you must search out my faults and probe after my sin—

7though you know that I am not guilty and that no one can rescue me from your hand?

8“Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me?

9Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again?

10Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese,

11clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews?

12You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.

13“But this is what you concealed in your heart, and I know that this was in your mind:

14If I sinned, you would be watching me and would not let my offense go unpunished.

15If I am guilty—woe to me! Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head, for I am full of shame and drowned in Or and aware of my affliction.

16If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion and again display your awesome power against me.

17You bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger toward me; your forces come against me wave upon wave.

18“Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me.

19If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!

20Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy

21before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and utter darkness, 22to the land of deepest night, of utter darkness and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”

Zophar 1Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

2“Are all these words to go unanswered? Is this talker to be vindicated?

3Will your idle talk reduce others to silence? Will no one rebuke you when you mock?

4You say to God, ‘My beliefs are flawless and I am pure in your sight.’

5Oh, how I wish that God would speak, that he would open his lips against you

6and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.

7“Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?

8They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know?

9Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.

10“If he comes along and confines you in prison and convenes a court, who can oppose him?

11Surely he recognizes deceivers; and when he sees evil, does he not take note?

12But the witless can no more become wise than a wild donkey’s colt can be born human. Or wild donkey can be born tame

13“Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him,

14if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,

15then, free of fault, you will lift up your face; you will stand firm and without fear.

16You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by.

17Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning.

18You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety.

19You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor. 20But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; their hope will become a dying gasp.”

Job 1Then Job replied:

2“Doubtless you are the only people who matter, and wisdom will die with you!

3But I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know all these things?

4“I have become a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God and he answered— a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!

5Those who are at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

6The tents of marauders are undisturbed, and those who provoke God are secure— those God has in his hand. Or those whose god is in their own hand

7“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;

8or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you.

9Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?

10In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.

11Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food?

12Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?

13“To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.

14What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; those he imprisons cannot be released.

15If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.

16To him belong strength and insight; both deceived and deceiver are his.

17He leads rulers away stripped and makes fools of judges.

18He takes off the shackles put on by kings and ties a loincloth Or shackles of kings / and ties a belt around their waist.

19He leads priests away stripped and overthrows officials long established.

20He silences the lips of trusted advisers and takes away the discernment of elders.

21He pours contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.

22He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter darkness into the light.

23He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them.

24He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason; he makes them wander in a trackless waste. 25They grope in darkness with no light; he makes them stagger like drunkards.

1“My eyes have seen all this, my ears have heard and understood it.

2What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.

3But I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God.

4You, however, smear me with lies; you are worthless physicians, all of you!

5If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom.

6Hear now my argument; listen to the pleas of my lips.

7Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf? Will you speak deceitfully for him?

8Will you show him partiality? Will you argue the case for God?

9Would it turn out well if he examined you? Could you deceive him as you might deceive a mortal?

10He would surely call you to account if you secretly showed partiality.

11Would not his splendor terrify you? Would not the dread of him fall on you?

12Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.

13“Keep silent and let me speak; then let come to me what may.

14Why do I put myself in jeopardy and take my life in my hands?

15Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely Or He will surely slay me; I have no hope— / yet I will defend my ways to his face.

16Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance, for no godless person would dare come before him!

17Listen carefully to what I say; let my words ring in your ears.

18Now that I have prepared my case, I know I will be vindicated.

19Can anyone bring charges against me? If so, I will be silent and die.

20“Only grant me these two things, God, and then I will not hide from you:

21Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me with your terrors.

22Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply to me.

23How many wrongs and sins have I committed? Show me my offense and my sin.

24Why do you hide your face and consider me your enemy?

25Will you torment a windblown leaf? Will you chase after dry chaff?

26For you write down bitter things against me and make me reap the sins of my youth.

27You fasten my feet in shackles; you keep close watch on all my paths by putting marks on the soles of my feet. 28“So man wastes away like something rotten, like a garment eaten by moths.

1“Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble.

2They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.

3Do you fix your eye on them? Will you bring them Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew me before you for judgment?

4Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!

5A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.

6So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.

7“At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.

8Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil,

9yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.

10But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.

11As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,

12so he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake or be roused from their sleep.

13“If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me!

14If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal Or release to come.