Job 12:20-16:1
English Standard Version
20 He deprives of speech those who are trusted
(A)and takes away the discernment of the elders.
21 He (B)pours contempt on princes
and loosens the belt of the strong.
22 He (C)uncovers the deeps out of darkness
and brings (D)deep darkness to light.
23 He (E)makes nations great, and he destroys them;
he enlarges nations, and (F)leads them away.
24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth
and (G)makes them wander in a trackless waste.
25 They (H)grope in the dark without light,
and he makes them (I)stagger like a drunken man.
Job Continues: Still I Will Hope in God
13 “Behold, my eye has seen all this,
my ear has heard and understood it.
2 (J)What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
3 (K)But I would speak to the Almighty,
and I desire to (L)argue my case with God.
4 As for you, (M)you whitewash with lies;
(N)worthless physicians are you all.
5 Oh that you would (O)keep silent,
and it would be your wisdom!
6 Hear now my argument
and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7 Will you (P)speak falsely for God
and speak (Q)deceitfully for him?
8 Will you show partiality toward him?
Will you (R)plead the case for God?
9 Will it be well with you when he (S)searches you out?
Or (T)can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?
10 He will surely rebuke you
if in secret you show partiality.
11 Will not his (U)majesty terrify you,
and the dread of him fall upon you?
12 Your maxims are proverbs of (V)ashes;
your defenses are defenses of clay.
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 (W)put my life in my hand?
15 (X)Though he slay me, I will (Y)hope in him;[a]
yet I will (Z)argue my ways to his face.
16 This will be my salvation,
that the godless shall not come before him.
17 (AA)Keep listening to my words,
and let my declaration be in your ears.
18 Behold, I have (AB)prepared my case;
I know that I shall be in the right.
19 (AC)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 (AD)hide myself from your face:
21 (AE)withdraw your hand far from me,
and let not (AF)dread of you terrify me.
22 (AG)Then call, and I will answer;
or let me speak, and you reply to me.
23 How many are my iniquities and my sins?
(AH)Make me know my transgression and my sin.
24 Why (AI)do you hide your face
and (AJ)count me as your enemy?
25 Will you frighten (AK)a driven leaf
and pursue dry (AL)chaff?
26 For you (AM)write bitter things against me
and make me inherit (AN)the iniquities of my youth.
27 You put my feet in (AO)the stocks
and (AP)watch all my paths;
you set a limit for[b] the soles of my feet.
28 Man[c] wastes away like (AQ)a rotten thing,
like a garment that is (AR)moth-eaten.
Job Continues: Death Comes Soon to All
14 “Man who is (AS)born of a woman
is (AT)few of days and (AU)full of trouble.
2 He comes out like (AV)a flower and (AW)withers;
he flees like (AX)a shadow and continues not.
3 And do you (AY)open your eyes on such a one
and (AZ)bring me into judgment with you?
4 Who can bring (BA)a clean thing out of an unclean?
There is not one.
5 Since his (BB)days are determined,
and (BC)the number of his months is with you,
and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
6 (BD)look away from him and leave him alone,[d]
that he may enjoy, like (BE)a hired hand, his day.
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 (BF)its stump die in the soil,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put out (BG)branches like a young plant.
10 But a man dies and is laid low;
man breathes his last, and (BH)where is he?
11 (BI)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 (BJ)the heavens are no more he will not awake
or be (BK)roused out of his sleep.
13 Oh that you would (BL)hide me in (BM)Sheol,
that you would (BN)conceal me (BO)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 (BP)service I would (BQ)wait,
till my renewal[e] should come.
15 You would (BR)call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the (BS)work of your hands.
16 For then you would (BT)number my steps;
you would not keep (BU)watch over my sin;
17 my transgression would be (BV)sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.
18 “But the mountain falls and (BW)crumbles away,
and (BX)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 (BY)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.”
Eliphaz Accuses: Job Does Not Fear God
15 Then (BZ)Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 “Should (CA)a wise man answer with (CB)windy knowledge,
and fill his (CC)belly with (CD)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[f]
and hindering meditation before God.
5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6 Your (CE)own mouth condemns you, and not I;
(CF)your own lips testify against you.
7 (CG)“Are you the first man who was born?
Or (CH)were you brought forth (CI)before the hills?
8 Have you listened in (CJ)the council of God?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9 (CK)What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
10 (CL)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 (CM)spirit against God
and bring such words out of your mouth?
14 (CN)What is man, (CO)that he can be pure?
Or he who is (CP)born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
15 Behold, God[g] (CQ)puts no trust in his (CR)holy ones,
and the heavens are not pure in his sight;
16 (CS)how much less one who is abominable and (CT)corrupt,
a man who (CU)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 (CV)from their fathers,
19 to whom alone the land was given,
and no (CW)stranger passed among them).
20 The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
through all the (CX)years that are laid up for (CY)the ruthless.
21 (CZ)Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
in (DA)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 (DB)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 (DC)prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.
25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God
and defies the Almighty,
26 (DD)running (DE)stubbornly against him
with a thickly bossed shield;
27 because he has (DF)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;[h]
30 he will not depart from darkness;
the flame will dry up his shoots,
and by (DG)the breath of his mouth he will depart.
31 Let him not (DH)trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
for emptiness will be his payment.
32 It will be paid in full (DI)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 (DJ)the company of the godless is barren,
and (DK)fire consumes the tents of bribery.
35 They (DL)conceive trouble and give birth to evil,
and their (DM)womb prepares deceit.”
Job Replies: Miserable Comforters Are You
16 Then Job answered and said:
Footnotes
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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