June 10

Job 13:1 — 16:22

13 “Look! All this my eye has seen,

          My ear has heard and considers it.

 2 What YOU men know I myself well know also;

          I am not inferior to YOU.

 3 However, I, for my part, would speak to the Almighty himself,

          And in arguing with God I would find delight.

 4 On the other hand, YOU men are smearers of falsehood;

          All of YOU are physicians of no value.

 5 If only YOU would absolutely keep silent,

          That it might prove to be wisdom on YOUR part!

 6 Hear, please, my counterarguments,

          And to the pleadings of my lips pay attention.

 7 Will YOU men speak unrighteousness for God himself,

          And for him will YOU speak deceit?

 8 Will YOU be treating him with partiality,

          Or for the [true] God will YOU contend at law?

 9 Would it be good that he sound YOU out?

          Or as one trifles with mortal man will YOU trifle with him?

10 He will positively reprove YOU

          If in secrecy YOU try to show partiality;

11 Will not his very dignity make YOU start up with fright,

          And the very dread of him fall upon YOU?

12 YOUR memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes;

          YOUR shield bosses are as shield bosses of clay.

13 KEEP silent before me, that I myself may speak.

          Then let come upon me whatever it may be!

14 Why do I carry my flesh in my teeth

          And place my own soul in my palm?

15 Even if he would slay me, would I not wait?

          I would only argue to his face for my own ways.

16 He would also be my salvation,

          For before him no apostate will come in.

17 HEAR my word clear through,

          And let my declaration be in YOUR ears.

18 Look! Please, I have presented a case of justice;

          I well know that I myself am in the right.

19 Who is the one that will contend with me?

          For now were I to become silent I should simply expire!

20 Only two things do not do to me;

          In that case I shall not conceal myself just on your account;

21 Put your own hand far away from upon me,

          And the fright of you—may it not terrify me.

22 Either call that I myself may answer;

          Or may I speak, and you return me answer.

23 In what way do I have errors and sins?

          Make me to know my own revolt and my own sin.

24 Why do you conceal your very face

          And regard me as an enemy of yours?

25 Will you make a mere leaf driven about quiver,

          Or keep chasing after mere dry stubble?

26 For you keep writing against me bitter things

          And you make me possess [the consequences of] the errors of my youth.

27 You also keep my feet put in the stocks,

          And you watch all my paths;

          For the soles of my feet you mark your own line.

28 And he is like something rotten that wears out;

          Like a garment that a moth actually eats up.

14  “Man, born of woman,

          Is short-lived and glutted with agitation.

 2 Like a blossom he has come forth and is cut off,

          And he runs away like the shadow and does not keep existing.

 3 Yes, upon this one you have opened your eye,

          And me you bring into judgment with you.

 4 Who can produce someone clean out of someone unclean?

          There is not one.

 5 If his days are decided,

          The number of his months is with you;

          A decree for him you have made that he may not go beyond.

 6 Turn your gaze from upon him that he may have rest,

          Until he finds pleasure as a hired laborer does in his day.

 7 For there exists hope for even a tree.

          If it gets cut down, it will even sprout again,

          And its own twig will not cease to be.

 8 If its root grows old in the earth

          And in the dust its stump dies,

 9 At the scent of water it will sprout

          And it will certainly produce a bough like a new plant.

10 But an able-bodied man dies and lies vanquished;

          And an earthling man expires, and where is he?

11 Waters do disappear from a sea,

          And a river itself drains off and dries up.

12 Man also has to lie down and does not get up.

          Until heaven is no more they will not wake up,

          Nor will they be aroused from their sleep.

13 O that in Sheol you would conceal me,

          That you would keep me secret until your anger turns back,

          That you would set a time limit for me and remember me!

14 If an able-bodied man dies can he live again?

          All the days of my compulsory service I shall wait,

          Until my relief comes.

15 You will call, and I myself shall answer you.

          For the work of your hands you will have a yearning.

16 For now you keep counting my very steps;

          You watch for nothing but my sin.

17 Sealed up in a bag is my revolt,

          And you apply glue over my error.

18 However, a mountain itself, falling, will fade away,

          And even a rock will be moved away from its place.

19 Water certainly rubs away even stones;

          Its outpouring washes off earth’s dust.

          So you have destroyed the very hope of mortal man.

20 You overpower him forever so that he goes away;

          You are disfiguring his face so that you send him away.

21 His sons get honored, but he does not know [it];

          And they become insignificant, but he does not consider them.

22 Only his own flesh while upon him will keep aching,

          And his own soul while within him will keep mourning.”

15 And Eliphaz the Temanite proceeded to answer and say:

 2 “Will a wise person himself answer with windy knowledge,

          Or will he fill his belly with the east wind?

 3 Merely reproving with a word will be of no use,

          And mere utterances will be of no benefit by themselves.

 4 However, you yourself make fear [before God] to have no force,

          And you diminish the having of any concern before God.

 5 For your error trains your mouth,

          And you choose the tongue of shrewd people.

 6 Your mouth pronounces you wicked, and not I;

          And your own lips answer against you.

 7 Were you the very first man to be born,

          Or before the hills were you brought forth with labor pains?

 8 To the confidential talk of God do you listen,

          And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

 9 What do you actually know that we do not know?

          What do you understand that is not also with us?

10 Both the gray-headed and the aged one are with us,

          The one greater than your father in days.

11 Are the consolations of God not enough for you,

          Or a word [spoken] gently with you?

12 Why does your heart carry you away,

          And why do your eyes flash?

13 For you turn your spirit against God himself,

          And you have caused words to go forth from your own mouth.

14 What is mortal man that he should be clean,

          Or that anyone born of a woman should be in the right?

15 Look! In his holy ones he has no faith,

          And the heavens themselves are actually not clean in his eyes.

16 How much less so when one is detestable and corrupt,

          A man who is drinking in unrighteousness just like water!

17 I shall declare it to you. Listen to me!

          Even this I have beheld, so let me relate [it],

18 That which wise ones themselves tell

          And which they did not hide, [it being] from their fathers.

19 To them alone the land was given,

          And no stranger passed through the midst of them.

20 All his days a wicked one is suffering torture,

          Even the very number of years that have been reserved for the tyrant.

21 The sound of dreadful things is in his ears;

          During peace a despoiler himself comes upon him.

22 He does not believe that he will come back out of darkness,

          And he is reserved for a sword.

23 He is straying about in search of bread—where is it?

          He well knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

24 Distress and anguish keep terrifying him;

          They overpower him like a king in readiness for the assault.

25 Because he stretches out his hand against God himself,

          And over the Almighty he tries to show himself superior;

26 [Because] he runs against him stiff-neckedly,

          With the thick bosses of his shields;

27 Because he actually covers his face with his fattiness

          And he puts on fat upon his loins,

28 He merely resides in cities that are to be effaced;

          In houses in which people will not keep dwelling,

          Which certainly prove destined for heaps of stones.

29 He will not grow rich and his wealth will not mount up,

          Nor will he spread out the acquisition of them over the earth.

30 He will not turn away from darkness;

          His twig a flame will dry up,

          And he will turn aside by a blast of His mouth.

31 Let him put no faith in worthlessness, being led astray,

          For mere worthlessness will prove to be what he gets in exchange;

32 Before his day will it be fulfilled.

          And his shoot itself will certainly not grow luxuriantly.

33 He will thrust away his unripe grapes just like a vine,

          And cast off his blossoms just like an olive tree.

34 For the assembly of apostates is sterile,

          And fire itself must eat up the tents of bribery.

35 There is a conceiving of trouble and a giving birth to what is hurtful,

          And their belly itself prepares deceit.”

16 And Job proceeded to answer and say:

 2 “I have heard many things like these.

          All of YOU are troublesome comforters!

 3 Is there an end to windy words?

          Or what galls you, that you answer?

 4 I myself also could well speak as YOU men do.

          If only YOUR souls existed where my soul is,

          Would I be brilliant in words against YOU,

          And would I wag my head against YOU?

 5 I would strengthen YOU with the words of my mouth,

          And the consolation of my own lips would hold back—.

 6 If I do speak, my own pain is not held back,

          And if I do cease doing so, what goes away from me?

 7 Only now he has made me weary;

          He has made all those assembling with me desolate.

 8 You also seize me. It has become a witness,

          So that my leanness rises up against me. In my face it testifies.

 9 His very anger has torn [me] to pieces, and he harbors animosity against me.

          He actually grinds his teeth against me.

          My adversary himself sharpens his eyes against me.

10 They have opened their mouth wide against me,

          With reproach they have struck my cheeks,

          In large number they mass themselves against me.

11 God hands me over to young boys,

          And into the hands of wicked ones he throws me headlong.

12 I had come to be at ease, but he proceeded to shake me up;

          And he grabbed me by the back of the neck and proceeded to smash me,

          And he sets me up as a target for himself.

13 His archers encircle me;

          He splits open my kidneys and feels no compassion;

          He pours out my gallbladder to the very earth.

14 He keeps breaking through me with breach after breach;

          He runs at me like a mighty one.

15 Sackcloth I have sewed together over my skin,

          And I have thrust my horn in the very dust.

16 My face itself has become reddened from weeping,

          And upon my eyelids there is deep shadow,

17 Although there is no violence upon my palms,

          And my prayer is pure.

18 O earth, do not cover my blood!

          And let there prove to be no place for my outcry!

19 Also now, look! in the heavens is one testifying about me,

          And my witness is in the heights.

20 My companions are spokesmen against me;

          To God my eye has looked sleeplessly.

21 And the decision is to be made between an able-bodied man and God,

          The same as between a son of man and his fellow.

22 For just a few years are to come,

          And by the path by which I shall not return I shall go away.