約伯記 12
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
約伯的回答
12 約伯回答說：
2 「你們真是什麼都懂的人啊，
你們死了，智慧也會消逝！
3 但我也有心智，不比你們遜色。
你們說的，誰不知道？
4 我這求告上帝並蒙祂應允的人竟成了朋友的笑柄，
我這公義純全的人竟成了笑柄。
5 安逸的人心中藐視災禍，
常常藐視那些滑倒的人。
6 強盜的帳篷太平，
冒犯上帝、手捧神像的人安穩。
7 「你去問走獸，牠們會指教你；
問天上的飛禽，牠們會告訴你；
8 向大地討教，大地會指教你，
或讓海中的魚為你闡明。
9 牠們當中哪個不知這是耶和華所為？
10 所有生靈都在祂手中，
世人的氣息也不例外。
11 舌頭豈不品嚐食物，
耳朵豈不辨別話語？
12 智慧與老人相伴，
知識與長者為伍。
13 「上帝有智慧和權能，
謀略和知識屬於祂。
14 祂拆毀的，無法重建；
祂囚禁的，無法獲釋。
15 祂攔住水源，便有乾旱；
祂放開水源，大地被淹沒。
16 祂充滿力量和智慧。
騙子和受騙者都在祂權下。
17 祂使謀士赤身被擄，
使審判官愚拙不堪。
18 祂除去君王的腰帶，
在他們腰間綁上囚索。
19 祂使祭司赤身被擄，
祂推翻久握大權者。
20 祂奪去智者的口才，
祂拿走長者的洞見。
21 祂使權貴倍受羞辱，
祂除掉強者的權勢。
22 祂揭露黑暗中的奧秘，
祂把幽暗帶入光明中。
23 祂使列國興起又滅亡，
祂使列國擴張又崩潰。
24 祂奪去世人首領的心智，
使他們在無路的荒野流浪。
25 他們在無光的黑暗中摸索，
像醉漢般踉踉蹌蹌。
Job 12
The Voice
Throughout the book, Job has very little to cling to besides a hope for the end of his current suffering. Each of his three friends expounds on hope, drawing three similar but increasingly brutal conclusions. Eliphaz realizes Job is basically a righteous man, so he encourages Job to take hope in the person he already is; somehow his own righteousness will manage to save him. Bildad adds to Eliphaz’s conclusion, claiming that wicked men cannot hope; they are left with only despair. Zophar, the most unabashedly honest of the three men, believes hope exists only for the righteous; and since Job is obviously a sinful man, he is hopeless until he changes. Fortunately, all three “wise” men are ultimately wrong. Hope is a product of trusting God and is not based on anyone’s actions, wicked or otherwise.
12 In responding to his friends’ collective accusation of his guilt, Job finally spoke.
2 Job (sarcastically to his friends): Surely, surely, my discerning friends, you are the ones!
And when you pass away, the sum total of all wisdom will perish from the earth.
3 I have a mind as good as yours.
Don’t think I am so far beneath you!
After all, who doesn’t know all about these things?
Who isn’t acquainted with the pedestrian platitudes you’ve trotted out?
4 As for me—the one who called upon God and whom God answered—
now, I am pitiful, laughable, a just and upright joke.
5 Those who have it easy may easily scorn the unfortunate;
they have their contempt already prepared for those whose feet slip.
6 Ironically, there is peace inside the tents of the raiders,
and those who upset God seem to live safe and secure;
They carry their gods around in their hands.
7 However, call on the animals to teach you;
the birds that sail through the air are not afraid to tell you the truth.
8 Engage the earth in conversation; it’s happy to share what it knows.
Even the fish of the sea are wise enough to explain it to you.
9 In fact, which part of creation isn’t aware,
which doesn’t know the Eternal’s hand has done this?
10 His hand cradles the life of every creature on the face of the earth;
His breath fills the nostrils of humans everywhere.
11 Listen! Aren’t we made to be discriminating:
our ears testing wisdom, our mouths tasting food?
Shouldn’t wisdom come with old age? Not necessarily. Only God has wisdom; we merely fool ourselves into thinking we are wise.
12 But you tell me, “With age comes wisdom,
and a long life grants understanding.”
13 With God is the sum total of all wisdom and of all power;
His is the greatest of plans and the deepest of comprehensions.
14 So, then, what God tears down cannot be built back up;
the man He shuts up cannot be released.
15 If God withholds the rains and stops the streams from flowing, the earth suffers drought;
if He unleashes too much, the lands are ravaged by flood.
16 He is strong, and sound wisdom belongs to Him:
whether one deceives or is deceived, he is under God’s control.
17 He leads the counselors off as captives, barefoot and stripped;
He makes a mockery of judges.
18 He strips off the royal sashes of kings
and ties them at the waist, making them slaves as well.
19 He leads the priests away barefoot
and defeats the long-incumbent men of power.
20 He robs trusted advisors of speech;
He steals discretion from elders.
21 He heaps contempt on rulers,
and loosens the bind of alliances among world powers.
22 Aspects of His deep wisdom that were hidden away,
He shows in plain sight;
darkness is brought into the light.
23 He builds the strength of nations, only to crush them—
increases their population across the earth, only to scatter them again.
24 He divests each nation’s leaders of understanding,
and causes them to wander aimlessly with nowhere to go,
25 Until finally they grope in the dark, the light having departed,
and He lets them stumble and stagger like drunks.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.