约伯的回答

12 约伯回答说:

“你们真是什么都懂的人啊,
你们死了,智慧也会消逝!
但我也有心智,不比你们逊色。
你们说的,谁不知道?
我这求告上帝并蒙祂应允的人竟成了朋友的笑柄,
我这公义纯全的人竟成了笑柄。
安逸的人心中藐视灾祸,
常常藐视那些滑倒的人。
强盗的帐篷太平,
冒犯上帝、手捧神像的人安稳。

“你去问走兽,它们会指教你;
问天上的飞禽,它们会告诉你;
向大地讨教,大地会指教你,
或让海中的鱼为你阐明。
它们当中哪个不知这是耶和华所为?
10 所有生灵都在祂手中,
世人的气息也不例外。
11 舌头岂不品尝食物,
耳朵岂不辨别话语?
12 智慧与老人相伴,
知识与长者为伍。

13 “上帝有智慧和权能,
谋略和知识属于祂。
14 祂拆毁的,无法重建;
祂囚禁的,无法获释。
15 祂拦住水源,便有干旱;
祂放开水源,大地被淹没。
16 祂充满力量和智慧。
骗子和受骗者都在祂权下。
17 祂使谋士赤身被掳,
使审判官愚拙不堪。
18 祂除去君王的腰带,
在他们腰间绑上囚索。
19 祂使祭司赤身被掳,
祂推翻久握大权者。
20 祂夺去智者的口才,
祂拿走长者的洞见。
21 祂使权贵倍受羞辱,
祂除掉强者的权势。
22 祂揭露黑暗中的奥秘,
祂把幽暗带入光明中。
23 祂使列国兴起又灭亡,
祂使列国扩张又崩溃。
24 祂夺去世人首领的心智,
使他们在无路的荒野流浪。
25 他们在无光的黑暗中摸索,
像醉汉般踉踉跄跄。

Job’s Fourth Speech

12 Then[a] Job answered and said,

“Truly indeed you[b] are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.[c]
I also have insight[d] like you;[e]
I am not more inferior than you.[f]
And who does not know things like these?[g]
I am a laughingstock to my friends:[h]
He calls on God, and he answers him.’
A righteous, blameless man is a laughingstock.
Those at ease have contempt[i] for the thought of disaster,[j]
but it is ready for those unstable of foot.
The tents of the destroyers are at peace,
and there is security for those who provoke God,
for those whom God brings into his hand.[k]
“But[l] ask[m] the animals, and they will teach you,
and the birds of the heaven, and they will tell you;
or ask the earth, and it will teach you,
and the fishes of the sea will declare to you.
Who among all of these does not know
that Yahweh’s hand has done this?
10 In whose hand is the life of all living things
and the breath of every human being?[n]
11 Does not the ear test words
and the palate taste food for itself?
12 Wisdom is with the aged,
and understanding is in length of days.
13 “With him are wisdom and powerful deeds,
and to him belong counsel and understanding.
14 If he tears down, then[o] it will not be rebuilt;
if he shuts a man in, then[p] he cannot be freed.
15 Look, if he withholds the water,[q] then[r] they dry up;
and if he sends them out, then[s] they overwhelm the land.
16 “Strength and sound wisdom are with him;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.[t]
17 He leads counselors away stripped,
and he makes fools of judges.
18 He loosens the fetters of kings,
and he binds a loincloth on their loins.
19 He leads priests away stripped,
and he overthrows the members of ancient families.[u]
20 He deprives the trustworthy of speech,
and he takes away the discretion of elders.
21 He pours contempt on noblemen,
and he loosens the girdle of the mighty.
22 “He uncovers mysteries out of darkness,
and he brings deep shadow to the light.
23 He makes the nations great, then[v] he destroys them;
he expands the nations, then[w] he guides them.
24 He strips away the insight of the heads of the earth’s people,
and he makes them wander in a pathless wasteland.[x]
25 They grope in the dark without[y] light,
and he makes them stagger like a[z] drunkard.

Footnotes

  1. Job 12:1 Hebrew “And”
  2. Job 12:2 Plural
  3. Job 12:2 Plural
  4. Job 12:3 Literally “Also for me heart”
  5. Job 12:3 Plural
  6. Job 12:3 Plural
  7. Job 12:3 Literally “and who there is not like these”
  8. Job 12:4 Hebrew “to his friends”
  9. Job 12:5 Literally “Contempt is according to the thought of the complacent”
  10. Job 12:5 Literally “a torch”
  11. Job 12:6 Or “power”
  12. Job 12:7 Hebrew “And”
  13. Job 12:7 Or “ask now,” or “please ask”
  14. Job 12:10 Literally “the breath of all the flesh of man”
  15. Job 12:14 Hebrew “and”
  16. Job 12:14 Hebrew “and”
  17. Job 12:15 Or “waters”
  18. Job 12:15 Hebrew “and”
  19. Job 12:15 Hebrew “and”
  20. Job 12:16 Or “for him”
  21. Job 12:19 Literally “the constant”
  22. Job 12:23 Hebrew “and”
  23. Job 12:23 Hebrew “and”
  24. Job 12:24 Literally “in a wasteland not a way”
  25. Job 12:25 Literally “and not”
  26. Job 12:25 Hebrew “the”