Job 7:14-9:13

English Standard Version

² “How long will you say these things,
    and the words of your mouth be a ^(N)great wind?
^3 (O)Does God pervert justice?
    Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
⁴ If your ^(P)children have sinned against him,
    he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
⁵ If you will seek God
    and ^(Q)plead with the Almighty for mercy,
⁶ if you are pure and upright,
    surely then he will ^(R)rouse himself for you
    and ^(S)restore your rightful habitation.
⁷ And though your beginning was small,
    ^(T)your latter days will be very great.

⁸ “For ^(U)inquire, please, of bygone ages,
    and consider what ^(V)the fathers have searched out.
⁹ For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,
    for our days on earth are ^(W)a shadow.
¹⁰ Will they not teach you and tell you
    and utter words out of their understanding?

¹¹ “Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
    Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
¹² While yet in flower and not cut down,
    they ^(X)wither before any other plant.
¹³ Such are the paths of all who ^(Y)forget God;
    ^(Z)the hope of ^(AA)the godless shall perish.
¹⁴ His confidence is severed,
    and his trust is ^(AB)a spider's web.^[a]
15 He leans against his ^(AC)house, but it does not stand;
    he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.
¹⁶ He is a lush plant before the sun,
    and his ^(AD)shoots spread over his garden.
¹⁷ His roots entwine the stone heap;
    he looks upon a house of stones.
¹⁸ If he is destroyed from his ^(AE)place,
    then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never ^(AF)seen you.’
¹⁹ Behold, this is the joy of his way,
    and out of ^(AG)the soil others will spring.

²⁰ “Behold, God will not reject a blameless man,
    nor take the hand of evildoers.
²¹ He will yet ^(AH)fill your mouth with laughter,
    and your lips with shouting.
²² Those who hate you will be ^(AI)clothed with shame,
    and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

² “Truly I know that it is so:
    But how can a man be ^(AJ)in the right before God?
³ If one wished to ^(AK)contend with him,
    one could not answer him once in a thousand times.
⁴ He is ^(AL)wise in heart and mighty in strength
    —who has ^(AM)hardened himself against him, and succeeded?—
⁵ he who removes mountains, and they know it not,
    when he overturns them in his anger,
⁶ who ^(AN)shakes the earth out of its place,
    and ^(AO)its pillars tremble;
⁷ who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
    who seals up the stars;
⁸ who alone ^(AP)stretched out the heavens
    and trampled the waves of the sea;
⁹ who ^(AQ)made ^(AR)the Bear and ^(AS)Orion,
    the Pleiades ^(AT)and the chambers of the south;
¹⁰ who does ^(AU)great things beyond searching out,
    and marvelous things beyond number.
¹¹ Behold, he passes by me, and I ^(AV)see him not;
    he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
¹² Behold, he snatches away; ^(AW)who can turn him back?
    ^(AX)Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

¹³ “God will not turn back his anger;
    beneath him bowed the helpers of ^(AY)Rahab.