Job 10:11-20:20

English Standard Version

^18 (K)“Why did you bring me out from the womb?
    Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
^19 (L)and were as though I had not been,
    carried from the womb to the grave.
^20 (M)Are not my days few?
    ^(N)Then cease, and leave me alone, ^(O)that I may find a little cheer
²¹ before I go—and ^(P)I shall not return—
    to the land of ^(Q)darkness and ^(R)deep shadow,
²² the land of gloom like thick darkness,
    like deep shadow without any order,
    where light is as thick darkness.”

² “Should ^(T)a multitude of words go unanswered,
    and a man full of talk be judged right?
³ Should your babble silence men,
    and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
⁴ For ^(U)you say, ‘My ^(V)doctrine is pure,
    and I am clean in God's^[b] eyes.’
⁵ But oh, that God would speak
    and open his lips to you,
⁶ and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!
    For he is manifold in ^(W)understanding.^[c]
Know then that God ^(X)exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

^7 (Y)“Can you find out the deep things of God?
    Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
⁸ It is ^(Z)higher than heaven^[d]—what can you do?
    Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
⁹ Its measure is longer than the earth
    and broader than the sea.
¹⁰ If he ^(AA)passes through and ^(AB)imprisons
    and summons the court, who can ^(AC)turn him back?
¹¹ For he knows ^(AD)worthless men;
    when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?
¹² But a stupid man will get understanding
    when ^(AE)a wild donkey's colt is ^(AF)born a man!

¹³ “If you ^(AG)prepare your heart,
    you will ^(AH)stretch out your hands toward him.
¹⁴ If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
    and let not injustice dwell in your tents.
¹⁵ Surely then you will ^(AI)lift up your face without ^(AJ)blemish;
    you will be secure and will not fear.
¹⁶ You will ^(AK)forget your misery;
    you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
¹⁷ And your life will be ^(AL)brighter than the noonday;
    its darkness will be like the morning.
¹⁸ And you will feel secure, because there is hope;
    you will look around and ^(AM)take your rest in security.
¹⁹ You will ^(AN)lie down, and none will make you afraid;
    many will ^(AO)court your favor.
²⁰ But ^(AP)the eyes of the wicked will fail;
    all way of escape will be lost to them,
    and their hope is ^(AQ)to breathe their last.”

² “No doubt you are the people,
    and wisdom will die with you.
³ But I have ^(AR)understanding as well as you;
    I am not inferior to you.
    Who does not know ^(AS)such things as these?
⁴ I am ^(AT)a laughingstock to my friends;
    I, who ^(AU)called to God and he answered me,
    a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
⁵ In the thought of one who is ^(AV)at ease there is contempt for misfortune;
    it is ready for those whose feet slip.
^6 (AW)The tents of robbers are at peace,
    and those who provoke God are secure,
    who bring their god in their hand.^[e]

⁷ “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
    the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
⁸ or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;^[f]
    and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
⁹ Who among all these does not know
    that ^(AX)the hand of the Lord has done this?
¹⁰ In ^(AY)his hand is the life of every living thing
    and the breath of all mankind.
¹¹ Does not ^(AZ)the ear test words
    as the palate tastes food?
¹² Wisdom is with ^(BA)the aged,
    and understanding in length of days.

^13 (BB)“With God^[g] are wisdom and might;
    he has counsel and understanding.
¹⁴ If he tears down, none can rebuild;
    if he ^(BC)shuts a man in, none can open.
¹⁵ If he ^(BD)withholds the waters, they dry up;
    if he ^(BE)sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
¹⁶ With him are strength and ^(BF)sound wisdom;
    the deceived and the deceiver are his.
¹⁷ He leads ^(BG)counselors away stripped,
    and ^(BH)judges he makes fools.
¹⁸ He ^(BI)looses the bonds of kings
    and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
¹⁹ He leads priests away stripped
    and overthrows the mighty.
²⁰ He deprives of speech those who are trusted
    ^(BJ)and takes away the discernment of the elders.
²¹ He ^(BK)pours contempt on princes
    and loosens the belt of the strong.
²² He ^(BL)uncovers the deeps out of darkness
    and brings ^(BM)deep darkness to light.
²³ He ^(BN)makes nations great, and he destroys them;
    he enlarges nations, and ^(BO)leads them away.
²⁴ He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth
    and ^(BP)makes them wander in a trackless waste.
²⁵ They ^(BQ)grope in the dark without light,
    and he makes them ^(BR)stagger like a drunken man.

¹³ “Let me have silence, and I will speak,
    and let come on me what may.
¹⁴ Why should I take my flesh in my teeth
    and ^(CF)put my life in my hand?
^15 (CG)Though he slay me, I will ^(CH)hope in him;^[h]
    yet I will ^(CI)argue my ways to his face.
¹⁶ This will be my salvation,
    that the godless shall not come before him.
^17 (CJ)Keep listening to my words,
    and let my declaration be in your ears.
¹⁸ Behold, I have ^(CK)prepared my case;
    I know that I shall be in the right.
^19 (CL)Who is there who will contend with me?
    For then I would be silent and die.
²⁰ Only grant me two things,
    then I will not ^(CM)hide myself from your face:
^21 (CN)withdraw your hand far from me,
    and let not ^(CO)dread of you terrify me.
^22 (CP)Then call, and I will answer;
    or let me speak, and you reply to me.
²³ How many are my iniquities and my sins?
    ^(CQ)Make me know my transgression and my sin.
²⁴ Why ^(CR)do you hide your face
    and ^(CS)count me as your enemy?
²⁵ Will you frighten ^(CT)a driven leaf
    and pursue dry ^(CU)chaff?
²⁶ For you ^(CV)write bitter things against me
    and make me inherit ^(CW)the iniquities of my youth.
²⁷ You put my feet in ^(CX)the stocks
    and ^(CY)watch all my paths;
    you set a limit for^[i] the soles of my feet.
²⁸ Man^[j] wastes away like ^(CZ)a rotten thing,
    like a garment that is ^(DA)moth-eaten.

⁷ “For there is hope for a tree,
    if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
    and that its shoots will not cease.
⁸ Though its root grow old in the earth,
    and ^(DO)its stump die in the soil,
⁹ yet at the scent of water it will bud
    and put out ^(DP)branches like a young plant.
¹⁰ But a man dies and is laid low;
    man breathes his last, and ^(DQ)where is he?
^11 (DR)As waters fail from a lake
    and a river wastes away and dries up,
¹² so a man lies down and rises not again;
    till ^(DS)the heavens are no more he will not awake
    or be ^(DT)roused out of his sleep.
¹³ Oh that you would ^(DU)hide me in ^(DV)Sheol,
    that you would ^(DW)conceal me ^(DX)until your wrath be past,
    that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
¹⁴ If a man dies, shall he live again?
    All the days of my ^(DY)service I would ^(DZ)wait,
    till my renewal^[l] should come.
¹⁵ You would ^(EA)call, and I would answer you;
    you would long for the ^(EB)work of your hands.
¹⁶ For then you would ^(EC)number my steps;
    you would not keep ^(ED)watch over my sin;
¹⁷ my transgression would be ^(EE)sealed up in a bag,
    and you would cover over my iniquity.

¹⁸ “But the mountain falls and ^(EF)crumbles away,
    and ^(EG)the rock is removed from its place;
¹⁹ the waters wear away the stones;
    the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
    so you destroy the hope of man.
²⁰ You prevail forever against him, and he passes;
    you change his countenance, and send him away.
²¹ His sons come to honor, and he ^(EH)does not know it;
    they are brought low, and he perceives it not.
²² He feels only the pain of his own body,
    and he mourns only for himself.”

² “Should ^(EJ)a wise man answer with ^(EK)windy knowledge,
    and fill his ^(EL)belly with ^(EM)the east wind?
³ Should he argue in unprofitable talk,
    or in words with which he can do no good?
⁴ But you are doing away with the fear of God^[m]
    and hindering meditation before God.
⁵ For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
    and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
⁶ Your ^(EN)own mouth condemns you, and not I;
    ^(EO)your own lips testify against you.

^7 (EP)“Are you the first man who was born?
    Or ^(EQ)were you brought forth ^(ER)before the hills?
⁸ Have you listened in ^(ES)the council of God?
    And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
^9 (ET)What do you know that we do not know?
    What do you understand that is not clear to us?
^10 (EU)Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,
    older than your father.
¹¹ Are the comforts of God too small for you,
    or the word that deals gently with you?
¹² Why does your heart carry you away,
    and why do your eyes flash,
¹³ that you turn your ^(EV)spirit against God
    and bring such words out of your mouth?
^14 (EW)What is man, ^(EX)that he can be pure?
    Or he who is ^(EY)born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
¹⁵ Behold, God^{[n] (EZ)}puts no trust in his ^(FA)holy ones,
    and the heavens are not pure in his sight;
^16 (FB)how much less one who is abominable and ^(FC)corrupt,
    a man who ^(FD)drinks injustice like water!

¹⁷ “I will show you; hear me,
    and what I have seen I will declare
¹⁸ (what wise men have told,
    without hiding it ^(FE)from their fathers,
¹⁹ to whom alone the land was given,
    and no ^(FF)stranger passed among them).
²⁰ The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
    through all the ^(FG)years that are laid up for ^(FH)the ruthless.
^21 (FI)Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
    in ^(FJ)prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
²² He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,
    and he is marked for the sword.
²³ He ^(FK)wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
    He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;
²⁴ distress and anguish terrify him;
    they ^(FL)prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.
²⁵ Because he has stretched out his hand against God
    and defies the Almighty,
^26 (FM)running ^(FN)stubbornly against him
    with a thickly bossed shield;
²⁷ because he has ^(FO)covered his face with his fat
    and gathered fat upon his waist
²⁸ and has lived in desolate cities,
    in houses that none should inhabit,
    which were ready to become heaps of ruins;
²⁹ he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure,
    nor will his possessions spread over the earth;^[o]
30 he will not depart from darkness;
    the flame will dry up his shoots,
    and by ^(FP)the breath of his mouth he will depart.
³¹ Let him not ^(FQ)trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
    for emptiness will be his payment.
³² It will be paid in full ^(FR)before his time,
    and his branch will not be green.
³³ He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,
    and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.
³⁴ For ^(FS)the company of the godless is barren,
    and ^(FT)fire consumes the tents of bribery.
³⁵ They ^(FU)conceive trouble and give birth to evil,
    and their ^(FV)womb prepares deceit.”

² “I have heard ^(FW)many such things;
    ^(FX)miserable comforters are you all.
³ Shall ^(FY)windy words have an end?
    Or what provokes you that you answer?
⁴ I also could speak as you do,
    if you were in my place;
I could join words together against you
    and ^(FZ)shake my head at you.
⁵ I could strengthen you with my mouth,
    and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.

⁶ “If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
    and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
⁷ Surely now God has worn me out;
    ^(GA)he has^[p] made desolate all my company.
⁸ And he has shriveled me up,
    which is ^(GB)a witness against me,
and my ^(GC)leanness has risen up against me;
    it testifies to my face.
⁹ He has ^(GD)torn me in his wrath ^(GE)and hated me;
    he has ^(GF)gnashed his teeth at me;
    my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
¹⁰ Men have ^(GG)gaped at me with their mouth;
    they have ^(GH)struck me insolently on the cheek;
    they ^(GI)mass themselves together against me.
¹¹ God gives me up to the ungodly
    and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
¹² I was at ease, and he broke me apart;
    he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
he set me up as his ^(GJ)target;
¹³     his ^(GK)archers surround me.
He slashes open my kidneys ^(GL)and does not spare;
    he ^(GM)pours out my gall on the ground.
¹⁴ He breaks me with ^(GN)breach upon breach;
    he ^(GO)runs upon me like a warrior.
¹⁵ I have sewed ^(GP)sackcloth upon my skin
    and have laid ^(GQ)my strength ^(GR)in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is red with weeping,
    and on my eyelids is ^(GS)deep darkness,
¹⁷ although there is no ^(GT)violence in my hands,
    and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ “O earth, ^(GU)cover not my blood,
    and let my ^(GV)cry find no resting place.
¹⁹ Even now, behold, my ^(GW)witness is in heaven,
    and he who testifies for me is ^(GX)on high.
²⁰ My friends ^(GY)scorn me;
    my eye pours out tears to God,
²¹ that he would ^(GZ)argue the case of a man with God,
    as^[q] a son of man does with his neighbor.
²² For when a few years have come
    I shall go the way ^(HA)from which I shall not return.

³ “Lay down a pledge for me with you;
    who is there who will put up ^(HE)security for me?
⁴ Since you have closed their hearts to understanding,
    therefore you will not let them triumph.
⁵ He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property—
    the ^(HF)eyes of his children will fail.

⁶ “He has made me ^(HG)a byword of the peoples,
    and I am one before whom men spit.
⁷ My ^(HH)eye has grown dim from vexation,
    and all my members are like ^(HI)a shadow.
⁸ The upright are ^(HJ)appalled at this,
    and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
⁹ Yet the righteous holds to his way,
    and he who has ^(HK)clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
¹⁰ But you, ^(HL)come on again, all of you,
    and I shall not find a wise man among you.
¹¹ My ^(HM)days are past; my plans are broken off,
    the desires of my heart.
¹² They ^(HN)make night into day:
    ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’^[r]
13 If I hope for ^(HO)Sheol as ^(HP)my house,
    if I make my bed in darkness,
¹⁴ if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
    and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
¹⁵ where then is my hope?
    Who will see my hope?
¹⁶ Will it go down to the bars of ^(HQ)Sheol?
    Shall we ^(HR)descend together ^(HS)into the dust?”^[s]

² “How long will you ^(HU)hunt for words?
    Consider, and then we will speak.
³ Why are we counted as ^(HV)cattle?
    Why are we stupid in your sight?
⁴ You who ^(HW)tear yourself in your anger,
    shall the earth be forsaken for you,
    or ^(HX)the rock be removed out of its place?

⁵ “Indeed, ^(HY)the light of the wicked is put out,
    and the flame of his fire does not shine.
⁶ The light is ^(HZ)dark in his tent,
    and his lamp above him is put out.
⁷ His strong steps are shortened,
    and his ^(IA)own schemes throw him down.
⁸ For he is cast into a net by his own feet,
    and he walks on its mesh.
^9 (IB)A trap seizes him by the heel;
    a snare lays hold of him.
¹⁰ A rope is hidden for him in the ground,
    a trap for him in the path.
^11 (IC)Terrors frighten him on every side,
    and chase him at his heels.
¹² His strength is famished,
    and calamity is ^(ID)ready for his stumbling.
¹³ It consumes the parts of his skin;
    ^(IE)the firstborn of death consumes his limbs.
¹⁴ He is torn from the tent in which he trusted
    and is brought to ^(IF)the king of terrors.
¹⁵ In his tent dwells that which is none of his;
    ^(IG)sulfur is scattered over his habitation.
¹⁶ His ^(IH)roots dry up beneath,
    and his branches ^(II)wither above.
¹⁷ His ^(IJ)memory perishes from the earth,
    and he has no name in the street.
^18 (IK)He is thrust from light into darkness,
    and driven out of the world.
¹⁹ He has no ^(IL)posterity or progeny among his people,
    and no survivor where he used to live.
²⁰ They of the west are appalled at his ^(IM)day,
    and ^(IN)horror seizes them of the east.
²¹ Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,
    such is the place of him who ^(IO)knows not God.”

² “How long will you torment me
    and break me in pieces with words?
³ These ^(IP)ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
    are you not ashamed to wrong me?
⁴ And even if it be true that I have erred,
    my error remains with myself.
⁵ If indeed you ^(IQ)magnify yourselves against me
    and make my disgrace an argument against me,
⁶ know then that God has ^(IR)put me in the wrong
    and closed his net about me.
⁷ Behold, I ^(IS)cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;
    I call for help, but there is no justice.
⁸ He has ^(IT)walled up my way, so that I cannot pass,
    and he has set darkness upon my paths.
⁹ He has ^(IU)stripped from me my glory
    and taken the ^(IV)crown from my head.
¹⁰ He breaks me down on every side, and I ^(IW)am gone,
    and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.
¹¹ He has kindled his wrath against me
    and ^(IX)counts me as his adversary.
¹² His ^(IY)troops come on together;
    they have ^(IZ)cast up their siege ramp^[t] against me
    and encamp around my tent.

¹³ “He has put my ^(JA)brothers far from me,
    and ^(JB)those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
¹⁴ My relatives ^(JC)have failed me,
    my close ^(JD)friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ The guests ^(JE)in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;
    I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
¹⁶ I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
    I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.
¹⁷ My breath is strange to my ^(JF)wife,
    and I am a stench to the children of ^(JG)my own mother.
¹⁸ Even young ^(JH)children despise me;
    when I rise they talk against me.
¹⁹ All my ^(JI)intimate friends abhor me,
    and those whom I loved have turned against me.
²⁰ My ^(JJ)bones stick to my skin and to my flesh,
    and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
²¹ Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,
    for the hand of God has ^(JK)touched me!
²² Why do you, like God, ^(JL)pursue me?
    Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?

²³ “Oh that my words were written!
    Oh that they were ^(JM)inscribed in a book!
²⁴ Oh that with an iron ^(JN)pen and lead
    they were engraved in the rock forever!
²⁵ For I ^(JO)know that my ^(JP)Redeemer lives,
    and at the last he will stand upon the ^(JQ)earth.^[u]
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
    yet in^[v] my flesh I shall ^(JR)see God,
²⁷ whom I shall see for myself,
    and my eyes shall behold, and not ^(JS)another.
    My heart ^(JT)faints within me!
²⁸ If you say, ‘How we will ^(JU)pursue him!’
    and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’^[w]
29 be afraid of the sword,
    for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
    that you may know there is ^(JV)a judgment.”

² “Therefore my ^(JX)thoughts answer me,
    because of my haste within me.
³ I hear censure that insults me,
    and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
⁴ Do you not know this from of old,
    ^(JY)since man was placed on earth,
^5 (JZ)that the exulting of the wicked is short,
    and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
^6 (KA)Though his height mount up to the heavens,
    and his head reach to the clouds,
⁷ he will perish forever like his own ^(KB)dung;
    those who have seen him will say, ^(KC)‘Where is he?’
⁸ He will fly away like ^(KD)a dream and not be found;
    he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
^9 (KE)The eye that saw him will see him no more,
    nor will his place any more behold him.
¹⁰ His children will seek the favor of the poor,
    and his hands will ^(KF)give back his wealth.
¹¹ His bones are full of his ^(KG)youthful vigor,
    but it will lie ^(KH)down with him in the dust.

¹² “Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
    though he hides it ^(KI)under his tongue,
¹³ though he is loath to let it go
    and holds it in his mouth,
¹⁴ yet his food is turned in his stomach;
    it is the venom of ^(KJ)cobras within him.
¹⁵ He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;
    God casts them out of his belly.
¹⁶ He will suck the poison of cobras;
    ^(KK)the tongue of a viper will kill him.
¹⁷ He will not look upon ^(KL)the rivers,
    the streams flowing with ^(KM)honey and ^(KN)curds.
¹⁸ He will ^(KO)give back the fruit of his toil
    and will not ^(KP)swallow it down;
from the profit of his trading
    he will get no enjoyment.
¹⁹ For he has crushed and abandoned the poor;
    he has seized a house that he did not build.

²⁰ “Because he ^(KQ)knew no ^(KR)contentment in his belly,
    ^(KS)he will not let anything in which he delights escape him.