Job 12

Job Replies: The LORD Has Done This

¹Then Job answered and said:
²"No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.
³But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these?
⁴I am a laughingstock to my friends;
I, who called to God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
⁵In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune;
it is ready for those whose feet slip.
⁶The tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hand.^a]">

⁷"But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
⁸or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
⁹Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?
¹⁰In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind.
¹¹Does not the ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
¹²Wisdom is with the aged,
and understanding in length of days.

¹³ "With God are wisdom and might;
he has counsel and understanding.
¹⁴If he tears down, none can rebuild;
if he shuts a man in, none can open.
¹⁵If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
¹⁶With him are strength and sound wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.
¹⁷He leads counselors away stripped,
and judges he makes fools.
¹⁸He looses the bonds of kings
and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
¹⁹He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows the mighty.
²⁰He deprives of speech those who are trusted
and takes away the discernment of the elders.
²¹He pours contempt on princes
and loosens the belt of the strong.
²²He uncovers the deeps out of darkness
and brings deep darkness to light.
²³He makes nations great, and he destroys them;
he enlarges nations, and leads them away.
²⁴He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth
and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
²⁵They grope in the dark without light,
and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.

Job 13

Job Continues: Still I Will Hope in God

¹"Behold, my eye has seen all this,
my ear has heard and understood it.
² What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
³ But I would speak to the Almighty,
and I desire to argue my case with God.
⁴As for you, you whitewash with lies;
worthless physicians are you all.
⁵Oh that you would keep silent,
and it would be your wisdom!
⁶Hear now my argument
and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
⁷Will you speak falsely for God
and speak deceitfully for him?
⁸Will you show partiality toward him?
Will you plead the case for God?
⁹Will it be well with you when he searches you out?
Or can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?
¹⁰He will surely rebuke you
if in secret you show partiality.
¹¹Will not his majesty terrify you,
and the dread of him fall upon you?
¹²Your maxims are proverbs of ashes;
your defenses are defenses of clay.

¹³"Let me have silence, and I will speak,
and let come on me what may.
¹⁴Why should I take my flesh in my teeth
and put my life in my hand?
¹⁵ Though he slay me, I will hope in him;
yet I will argue my ways to his face.
¹⁶This will be my salvation,
that the godless shall not come before him.
¹⁷ Keep listening to my words,
and let my declaration be in your ears.
¹⁸Behold, I have prepared my case;
I know that I shall be in the right.
¹⁹ Who is there who will contend with me?
For then I would be silent and die.
²⁰Only grant me two things,
then I will not hide myself from your face:
²¹ withdraw your hand far from me,
and let not dread of you terrify me.
²² Then call, and I will answer;
or let me speak, and you reply to me.
²³How many are my iniquities and my sins?
Make me know my transgression and my sin.
²⁴Why do you hide your face
and count me as your enemy?
²⁵Will you frighten a driven leaf
and pursue dry chaff?
²⁶For you write bitter things against me
and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.
²⁷You put my feet in the stocks
and watch all my paths;
you set a limit for the soles of my feet.
²⁸Man wastes away like a rotten thing,
like a garment that is moth-eaten.

Job 14

Job Continues: Death Comes Soon to All

¹"Man who is born of a woman
is few of days and full of trouble.
²He comes out like a flower and withers;
he flees like a shadow and continues not.
³And do you open your eyes on such a one
and bring me into judgment with you?
⁴Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
There is not one.
⁵Since his days are determined,
and the number of his months is with you,
and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
⁶ look away from him and leave him alone,
that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day.

⁷"For there is hope for a tree,
if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
⁸Though its root grow old in the earth,
and its stump die in the soil,
⁹yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put out branches like a young plant.
¹⁰But a man dies and is laid low;
man breathes his last, and where is he?
¹¹ As waters fail from a lake
and a river wastes away and dries up,
¹²so a man lies down and rises not again;
till the heavens are no more he will not awake
or be roused out of his sleep.
¹³Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath be past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
¹⁴If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my service I would wait,
till my renewal should come.
¹⁵You would call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the work of your hands.
¹⁶For then you would number my steps;
you would not keep watch over my sin;
¹⁷my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.

¹⁸"But the mountain falls and crumbles away,
and the rock is removed from its place;
¹⁹the waters wear away the stones;
the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
so you destroy the hope of man.
²⁰You prevail forever against him, and he passes;
you change his countenance, and send him away.
²¹His sons come to honor, and he does not know it;
they are brought low, and he perceives it not.
²²He feels only the pain of his own body,
and he mourns only for himself."