Job 13-15

New American Standard Bible

Job Says His Friends’ Proverbs Are Ashes

13 “^(A)Behold, my eye has seen all this,
My ear has heard and understood it.
²^(B)What you know I also know;
I am not inferior to you.

³“But ^(C)I would speak to ^[a]the Almighty,
And I desire to ^(D)argue with God.
⁴But you ^(E)smear me with lies;
You are all ^(F)worthless physicians.
⁵Oh that you would ^(G)be completely silent,
And that it would become your wisdom!
⁶Please hear my argument,
And give your attention to the contentions of my lips.
⁷Will you ^(H)speak what is unjust for God,
And speak what is deceitful for Him?
⁸Will you ^(I)show partiality for Him?
Will you contend for God?
⁹Will it go well when He examines you?
Or ^(J)will you deceive Him as one deceives a man?
¹⁰He will certainly punish you
If you secretly ^(K)show partiality.
¹¹Will ^(L)His ^[b]majesty not terrify you,
And the dread of Him fall upon you?
¹²Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes,
Your defenses are defenses of clay.

Job Is Sure He Will Be Vindicated

¹³“^(M)Be silent before me so that I may speak;
Then let come upon me what may.
¹⁴Why should I take my flesh in my teeth,
And ^(N)put my life in my ^[c]hands?
¹⁵^(O)Though He slay me,
I will ^[d]hope in Him.
Nevertheless I ^(P)will argue my ways ^[e]before Him.
¹⁶This also will be my ^(Q)salvation,
For ^(R)a godless person cannot come before His presence.
¹⁷Listen carefully to my speech,
And let my declaration fill your ears.
¹⁸Behold now, I have ^(S)prepared my case;
I know that ^(T)I will be vindicated.
¹⁹^(U)Who could contend with me?
For then I would be silent and ^(V)die.

²⁰“Only two things I ask that You do not do to me,
Then I will not hide from Your face:
²¹^(W)Remove Your ^[f]hand from me,
And may the dread of You not terrify me.
²²Then call and ^(X)I will answer;
Or let me speak, then reply to me.
²³^(Y)How many are my guilty deeds and sins?
Make known to me my wrongdoing and my sin.
²⁴Why do You ^(Z)hide Your face
And consider me ^(AA)Your enemy?
²⁵Will You scare away a ^(AB)scattered leaf?
Or will You pursue the dry ^(AC)chaff?
²⁶For You write ^(AD)bitter things against me
And ^(AE)make me inherit the guilty deeds of my youth.
²⁷You ^(AF)put my feet in the stocks
And watch all my paths;
You ^[g]set a limit for the soles of my feet,
²⁸While ^[h]I am decaying like a ^(AG)rotten thing,
Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

Job Speaks of the Finality of Death

14 “^(AH)Man, who is born of woman,
Is ^[i]short-lived and ^(AI)full of turmoil.
²^(AJ)Like a flower he comes out and withers.
He also flees like ^(AK)a shadow and does not remain.
³You also ^(AL)open Your eyes on him
And ^(AM)bring ^[j]him into judgment with Yourself.
⁴^(AN)Who can make the clean out of the unclean?
No one!
⁵Since his days are determined,
The ^(AO)number of his months is with You;
And You have ^[k]set his limits so that he cannot pass.
⁶^(AP)Look away from him so that he may ^[l]rest,
Until he ^[m]fulfills his day like a hired worker.

⁷“For there is hope for a tree,
When it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
And its shoots will not ^[n]fail.
⁸Though its roots grow old in the ground,
And its stump dies in the dry soil,
⁹At the scent of water it will flourish
And produce sprigs like a plant.
¹⁰But ^(AQ)a man dies and lies prostrate.
A person ^(AR)passes away, and where is he?
¹¹As ^(AS)water ^[o]evaporates from the sea,
And a river becomes parched and dried up,
¹²So ^(AT)a man lies down and does not rise.
Until the heavens no longer exist,
^[p]He will not awake nor be woken from ^[q]his sleep.

¹³“Oh that You would hide me in ^[r]Sheol,
That You would conceal me ^(AU)until Your wrath returns to You,
That You would set a limit for me and remember me!
¹⁴If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my struggle I will wait
Until my relief comes.
¹⁵You will call, and I will answer You;
You will long for ^(AV)the work of Your hands.
¹⁶For now You ^(AW)number my steps,
You do not ^(AX)observe my sin.
¹⁷My wrongdoing is ^(AY)sealed up in a bag,
And You cover over my ^[s]guilt.

¹⁸“But the falling mountain ^[t]crumbles away,
And the rock moves from its place;
¹⁹Water wears away stones,
Its torrents wash away the dust of the earth;
So You ^(AZ)destroy a man’s hope.
²⁰You forever overpower him and he ^(BA)departs;
You change his appearance and send him away.
²¹His sons achieve honor, but ^(BB)he does not know it;
Or they become insignificant, and he does not perceive it.
²²However, his ^[u]body pains him,
And his soul mourns for himself.”

Eliphaz Says Job Presumes Much

15 Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded,

²“Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge,
^(BC)And fill ^[v]himself with the east wind?
³Should he argue with useless talk,
Or with words which do not benefit?
⁴Indeed, you do away with ^[w]reverence,
And hinder meditation before God.
⁵For ^(BD)your wrongdoing teaches your mouth,
And you choose the language of ^(BE)the cunning.
⁶Your ^(BF)own mouth condemns you, and not I;
And your own lips testify against you.

⁷“Were you the first person to be born,
Or ^(BG)were you brought forth before the hills?
⁸Do you hear the ^(BH)secret discussion of God,
And limit wisdom to yourself?
⁹^(BI)What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that ^[x]we do not?
¹⁰Both the ^(BJ)gray-haired and the aged are among us,
Older than your father.
¹¹Are ^(BK)the consolations of God too little for you,
Or the ^(BL)word spoken gently to you?
¹²Why does your ^(BM)heart take you away?
And why do your eyes wink,
¹³That you can turn your spirit against God
And produce such words from your mouth?
¹⁴What is man, that ^(BN)he would be pure,
Or ^(BO)he who is born of a woman, that he would be righteous?
¹⁵Behold, He has no trust in His ^(BP)holy ones,
And the ^(BQ)heavens are not pure in His sight;
¹⁶How much less one who is ^(BR)detestable and corrupt:
A person who ^(BS)drinks ^[y]malice like water!

What Eliphaz Has Seen of Life

¹⁷“I will tell you, listen to me;
And what I have seen I will also declare;
¹⁸What wise people have told,
And have not concealed from ^(BT)their fathers,
¹⁹To whom alone the land was given,
And no stranger passed among them.
²⁰The wicked person writhes ^(BU)in pain all his days,
And the ^[z]years ^(BV)reserved for the ruthless are numbered.
²¹^[aa]Sounds of ^(BW)terror are in his ears;
^(BX)While he is at peace the destroyer comes upon him.
²²He does not believe that he will ^(BY)return from darkness,
And he is destined for ^(BZ)the sword.
²³He wanders about for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that a day of ^(CA)darkness is ^[ab]at hand.
²⁴Distress and anguish terrify him,
They overpower him like a king ready for the attack,
²⁵Because he has reached out with his hand against God,
And is ^(CB)arrogant toward ^[ac]the Almighty.
²⁶He rushes ^[ad]headlong at Him
With his ^[ae]massive shield.
²⁷For he has ^(CC)covered his face with his fat,
And ^[af]put fat on his waist.
²⁸He has ^(CD)lived in desolate cities,
In houses no one would inhabit,
Which are destined to become ^[ag]ruins.
²⁹He ^(CE)will not become rich, nor will his wealth endure;
And his property will not stretch out on the earth.
³⁰He will ^(CF)not ^[ah]escape from darkness;
The ^(CG)flame will dry up his shoot,
And he will go away by ^(CH)the breath of His mouth.
³¹Let him not ^(CI)trust in emptiness, deceiving himself;
For his ^[ai]reward will be emptiness.
³²It will be accomplished ^(CJ)before his time,
And his palm ^(CK)branch will not be green.
³³He will drop off his unripe grape like the vine,
And will ^(CL)cast off his flower like the olive tree.
³⁴For the company of ^(CM)the godless is barren,
And fire consumes ^(CN)the tents of ^[aj]the corrupt.
³⁵They ^(CO)conceive ^[ak]harm and give birth to wrongdoing,
And their ^[al]mind prepares deception.”