约伯记 12
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
约伯的回答
12 约伯回答说：
2 “你们真是什么都懂的人啊，
你们死了，智慧也会消逝！
3 但我也有心智，不比你们逊色。
你们说的，谁不知道？
4 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。
5 安逸的人心中藐视灾祸，
常常藐视那些滑倒的人。
6 强盗的帐篷太平，
冒犯上帝、手捧神像的人安稳。
7 “你去问走兽，它们会指教你；
问天上的飞禽，它们会告诉你；
8 向大地讨教，大地会指教你，
或让海中的鱼为你阐明。
9 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 12
New American Standard Bible
Job Chides His Accusers
12 Then Job responded,
2 “Truly then (A)you are the people,
And with you wisdom will die!
3 But (B)I have intelligence as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
And [a]who does not know such things as these?
4 I am a (C)joke to [b]my friends,
The one who called on God and He answered him;
The just and (D)blameless man is a joke.
5 [c]He who is at ease holds disaster in contempt,
As prepared for those whose feet slip.
6 The (E)tents of the destroyers prosper,
And those who provoke God (F)are secure,
[d]Whom God brings (G)into their power.
7 “But just ask the animals, and have them teach you;
And the birds of the sky, and have them tell you.
8 Or speak to the earth, and have it teach you;
And have the fish of the sea tell you.
9 Who among all these does not know
That (H)the hand of the Lord has done this,
10 (I)In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And (J)the breath of all mankind?
11 Does (K)the ear not put words to the test,
As the palate [e]tastes its food?
12 Wisdom is with the (L)aged,
And with [f]long life comes understanding.
Job Speaks of the Power of God
13 “(M)Wisdom and (N)might are with Him;
Advice and (O)understanding belong to Him.
14 Behold, He (P)tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt;
He [g](Q)imprisons a person, and [h]there is no release.
15 Behold, He (R)restrains the waters, and they dry up;
And He (S)sends them out, and they [i]inundate the earth.
16 Strength and sound wisdom are with Him.
One who (T)goes astray and one who leads astray belong to Him.
17 He makes (U)advisers walk [j]barefoot
And makes fools of (V)judges.
18 He (W)undoes the binding of kings,
And ties a loincloth around their waist.
19 He makes priests walk [k]barefoot,
And overthrows (X)the secure ones.
20 He deprives the trusted ones of speech,
And (Y)takes away the discernment of the elders.
21 He (Z)pours contempt on nobles,
And (AA)loosens the belt of the strong.
22 He (AB)reveals mysteries from the darkness,
And brings the deep darkness into light.
23 He (AC)makes the nations great, then destroys them;
He [l]enlarges the nations, then leads them away.
24 He (AD)deprives the leaders of the earth’s people of [m]intelligence
And makes them wander in a pathless wasteland.
25 They (AE)grope in darkness with no light,
And He makes them (AF)stagger like a drunken person.
Footnotes
- Job 12:3 Lit with whom is there not like these?
- Job 12:4 Lit his
- Job 12:5 Lit Contempt for calamity is the thought of him who is at ease
- Job 12:6 Or He who brings God into his hand.
- Job 12:11 Lit tastes food for itself
- Job 12:12 Lit length of days
- Job 12:14 Lit shuts against
- Job 12:14 Lit it is not opened
- Job 12:15 Lit overturn
- Job 12:17 Or stripped
- Job 12:19 Or stripped
- Job 12:23 Or spreads out
- Job 12:24 Lit heart
Job 12
The Message
Job Answers Zophar
Put Your Ear to the Earth
12 1-3 Job answered:
“I’m sure you speak for all the experts,
and when you die there’ll be no one left to tell us how to live.
But don’t forget that I also have a brain—
I don’t intend to play second fiddle to you.
It doesn’t take an expert to know these things.
4-6 “I’m ridiculed by my friends:
‘So that’s the man who had conversations with God!’
Ridiculed without mercy:
‘Look at the man who never did wrong!’
It’s easy for the well-to-do to point their fingers in blame,
for the well-fixed to pour scorn on the strugglers.
Crooks reside safely in high-security houses,
insolent blasphemers live in luxury;
they’ve bought and paid for a god who’ll protect them.
7-12 “But ask the animals what they think—let them teach you;
let the birds tell you what’s going on.
Put your ear to the earth—learn the basics.
Listen—the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.
Isn’t it clear that they all know and agree
that God is sovereign, that he holds all things in his hand—
Every living soul, yes,
every breathing creature?
Isn’t this all just common sense,
as common as the sense of taste?
Do you think the elderly have a corner on wisdom,
that you have to grow old before you understand life?
From God We Learn How to Live
13-25 “True wisdom and real power belong to God;
from him we learn how to live,
and also what to live for.
If he tears something down, it’s down for good;
if he locks people up, they’re locked up for good.
If he holds back the rain, there’s a drought;
if he lets it loose, there’s a flood.
Strength and success belong to God;
both deceived and deceiver must answer to him.
He strips experts of their vaunted credentials,
exposes judges as witless fools.
He divests kings of their royal garments,
then ties a rag around their waists.
He strips priests of their robes,
and fires high officials from their jobs.
He forces trusted sages to keep silence,
deprives elders of their good sense and wisdom.
He dumps contempt on famous people,
disarms the strong and mighty.
He shines a spotlight into caves of darkness,
hauls deepest darkness into the noonday sun.
He makes nations rise and then fall,
builds up some and abandons others.
He robs world leaders of their reason,
and sends them off into no-man’s-land.
They grope in the dark without a clue,
lurching and staggering like drunks.”
Chinese Contemporary Bible Copyright © 1979, 2005, 2007, 2011 by Biblica® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson