Job 10-13 (Darby Translation)

Job 10

 ¹My soul is weary of my life: I will give free course to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

 ²I will say unto +God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou strivest with me.

 ³Doth it please thee to oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thy hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

 ⁴Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?

 ⁵Are thy days as the days of a mortal? are thy years as a man's days,

 ⁶That thou searchest after mine iniquity, and inquirest into my sin;

 ⁷Since thou knowest that I am not wicked, and that there is none that delivereth out of thy hand?

 ⁸Thy hands have bound me together and made me as one, round about; yet dost thou swallow me up!

 ⁹Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as clay, and wilt bring me into dust again.

 ¹⁰Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

 ¹¹Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews;

 ¹²Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy care hath preserved my spirit;

 ¹³And these things didst thou hide in thy heart; I know that this was with thee.

 ¹⁴If I sinned, thou wouldest mark me, and thou wouldest not acquit me of mine iniquity.

 ¹⁵If I were wicked, woe unto me! and righteous, I will not lift up my head, being [so] full of shame, and beholding mine affliction; --

 ¹⁶And it increaseth: thou huntest me as a fierce lion; and ever again thou shewest thy marvellous power upon me.

 ¹⁷Thou renewest thy witnesses before me and increasest thy displeasure against me; successions [of evil] and a time of toil are with me.

 ¹⁸And wherefore didst thou bring me forth out of the womb? I had expired, and no eye had seen me.

 ¹⁹I should be as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

 ²⁰Are not my days few? cease then and let me alone, that I may revive a little,

 ²¹Before I go, and never to return, -- to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;

 ²²A land of gloom, as darkness itself; of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as thick darkness.

Job 11

 ¹And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,

 ²Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man of much talk be justified?

 ³Should thy fictions make men hold their peace? and shouldest thou mock, and no one make [thee] ashamed?

 ⁴For thou sayest, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes.

 ⁵But oh that +God would speak, and open his lips against thee;

 ⁶And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, how that they are the double of what is realised; and know that +God passeth by [much] of thine iniquity!

 ⁷Canst thou by searching find out +God? canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?

 ⁸[It is as] the heights of heaven; what wilt thou do? deeper than Sheol; what canst thou know?

 ⁹The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

 ¹⁰If he pass by, and shut up, and call to judgment, who can hinder him?

 ¹¹For he knoweth vain men, and seeth wickedness when [man] doth not consider it;

 ¹²Yet a senseless man will make bold, though man be born [like] the foal of a wild ass.

 ¹³If thou prepare thy heart and stretch out thy hands toward him,

 ¹⁴If thou put far away the iniquity which is in thy hand, and let not wrong dwell in thy tents;

 ¹⁵Surely then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot, and thou shalt be stedfast and shalt not fear:

 ¹⁶For thou shalt forget misery; as waters that are passed away shalt thou remember it;

 ¹⁷And life shall arise brighter than noonday; though thou be enshrouded in darkness, thou shalt be as the morning,

 ¹⁸And thou shalt have confidence, because there shall be hope; and having searched about [thee], thou shalt take rest in safety.

 ¹⁹Yea, thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; and many shall seek thy favour.

 ²⁰But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and [all] refuge shall vanish from them, and their hope [shall be] the breathing out of life.

Job 12

 ¹And Job answered and said,

 ²Truly ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you!

 ³I also have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you; and who knoweth not such things as these?

 ⁴I am to be one that is a derision to his friend, I who call upon +God, and whom he will answer: a derision is the just upright [man].

 ⁵He that is ready to stumble with the foot is a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.

 ⁶The tents of desolators are in peace, and they that provoke ùGod are secure; into whose hand +God bringeth.

 ⁷But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowl of the heavens, and they shall tell thee;

 ⁸Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.

 ⁹Who knoweth not in all these, that the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this?

 ¹⁰In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the spirit of all flesh of man.

 ¹¹Doth not the ear try words, as the palate tasteth food?

 ¹²With the aged is wisdom, and in length of days understanding.

 ¹³With him is wisdom and might; he hath counsel and understanding.

 ¹⁴Behold, he breaketh down, and it is not built again; he shutteth up a man, and there is no opening.

 ¹⁵Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; and he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.

 ¹⁶With him is strength and effectual knowledge; the deceived and the deceiver are his.

 ¹⁷He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and judges maketh he fools;

 ¹⁸He weakeneth the government of kings, and bindeth their loins with a fetter;

 ¹⁹He leadeth priests away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty;

 ²⁰He depriveth of speech the trusty, and taketh away the judgment of the elders;

 ²¹He poureth contempt upon nobles, and slackeneth the girdle of the mighty;

 ²²He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out into light the shadow of death;

 ²³He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them; he spreadeth out the nations, and bringeth them in;

 ²⁴He taketh away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a pathless waste.

 ²⁵They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunkard.

Job 13

 ¹Lo, mine eye hath seen all [this], mine ear hath heard and understood it.

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

 ³But I will speak to the Almighty, and will find pleasure in reasoning with ùGod;

 ⁴For ye indeed are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.

 ⁵Oh that ye would be altogether silent! and it would be your wisdom.

 ⁶Hear now my defence, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.

 ⁷Will ye speak unrighteously for ùGod? and for him speak deceit?

 ⁸Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for ùGod?

 ⁹Will it be well if he should search you out? or as one mocketh at a man, will ye mock at him?

 ¹⁰He will certainly reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.

 ¹¹Shall not his excellency terrify you? and his dread fall upon you?

 ¹²Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, your bulwarks are bulwarks of mire.

 ¹³Hold your peace from me, and I will speak, and let come on me what [will]!

 ¹⁴Wherefore should I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand?

 ¹⁵Behold, if he slay me, yet would I trust in him; but I will defend mine own ways before him.

 ¹⁶This also shall be my salvation, that a profane man shall not come before his face.

 ¹⁷Hear attentively my speech and my declaration with your ears.

 ¹⁸Behold now, I have ordered the cause; I know that I shall be justified.

 ¹⁹Who is he that contendeth with me? For if I were silent now, I should expire.

 ²⁰Only do not two things unto me; then will I not hide myself from thee.

 ²¹Withdraw thy hand far from me; and let not thy terror make me afraid:

 ²²Then call, and I will answer; or I will speak, and answer thou me.

 ²³How many are mine iniquities and sins? Make me to know my transgression and my sin.

 ²⁴Wherefore dost thou hide thy face, and countest me for thine enemy?

 ²⁵Wilt thou terrify a driven leaf? and wilt thou pursue dry stubble?

 ²⁶For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth;

 ²⁷And thou puttest my feet in the stocks, and markest all my paths; thou settest a bound about the soles of my feet; --

 ²⁸One who, as a rotten thing consumeth, as a garment that the moth eateth.