Job 14-17

Common English Bible

14 All of us^[a] are born of women,
    have few days, and are full of turmoil.
² Like a flower, we^[b] bloom, then wither,
    flee like a shadow, and don’t last.
(³ Yes, you open your eyes on this one;
    you bring me into trial against you.)
⁴ Who can make pure from impure?
    Nobody.
⁵ If our days are fixed, the number of our months with you,
    you set a statute and we can’t exceed it.
⁶ Look away from us that we may rest,
    until we are satisfied like a worker at day’s end.

⁷ Indeed there is hope for a tree.
    If it’s cut down and still sprouting
    and its shoots don’t fail,
⁸     if its roots age in the ground
        and its stump dies in the dust,
⁹     at the scent of water, it will bud
        and produce sprouts like a plant.
¹⁰ But a human dies and lies there;
    a person expires, and where is he?
¹¹ Water vanishes from the sea;
    a river dries up completely.
¹² But a human lies down and doesn’t rise
        until the heavens cease;
    they don’t get up and awaken from sleep.

¹³ I wish you would hide me in the underworld,^[c]
    conceal me until your anger passes,
    set a time for me, and remember me.
¹⁴ If people die, will they live again?
    All the days of my service I would wait
        until my restoration took place.
¹⁵ You would call, and I would answer you;
    you would long for your handiwork.
¹⁶ Though you now number my steps,
    you would not keep a record of my sin.
¹⁷ My rebellion is sealed in a bag;
    you would cover my sin.

¹⁸ But an eroding mountain breaks up,
    and rock is displaced.
¹⁹ Water wears away boulders;
    floods carry away soil;
    you destroy a people’s hope.
²⁰ You overpower them relentlessly, and they die;
    you change their appearance and send them away.
²¹ Their children achieve honor, and they don’t know it;
    their children become insignificant, and they don’t see it.
²² They only feel the pain of their body,
    and they mourn for themselves.

² Will the wise respond with windy knowledge
    and fill their belly with the east wind?
³ Will they argue with a word that has no benefit
    and with unprofitable words?
⁴ You are truly making religion ineffective
    and restraining meditation before God.
⁵ Your mouth multiplies your sins a thousand times;
    you opt for a clever tongue.
⁶ Your mouth condemns you, not I;
    your lips argue against you.
⁷ Were you born the first Adam,
    brought forth before the hills?
⁸ Did you listen in God’s council;
    is wisdom limited to you?
⁹ What do you know that we don’t know;
    what do you understand that isn’t among us?
¹⁰ Both the graybeard and the aged are with us;
    those much older than your father.
¹¹ Are God’s comforts not enough for you,
    a word spoken gently with you?
¹² Why has your mind seized you,
    why have your eyes flashed,
¹³     so that you return your breath to God
    and utter such words from your mouth?
¹⁴ What are humans that they might be pure,
    and those born of woman that they might be innocent?
¹⁵ If he doesn’t trust his holy ones
    and the heavens aren’t pure in his eyes,
¹⁶     how much less those who are abominable and corrupt,
        for they drink sin like water.

¹⁷ Listen to me; I will argue with you;
    what I’ve seen, I will declare to you;
¹⁸     what the wise have told and have not concealed from their family,
¹⁹     to whom alone the earth was given
        and no stranger passed in their midst.
²⁰ All the days of the wicked are painful;
    the number of years reserved for the hateful;
²¹ a sound of terror pierces^[d] their ears;
    when safe, raiders overtake them.
²² They can’t count on turning away from darkness;
    they are destined for a sword.
²³ They wander about for bread. “Where is it?”
    They know that their day of darkness is fixed.
²⁴ Adversity and stress scare them,
    master them like a king ready to strike;
²⁵     for they raise a fist against God
        and try to overpower the Almighty.
²⁶ They run toward him aggressively,
    with a massive and strong shield.
²⁷ They cover their face with grease
    and make their loins gross.
²⁸ They lived in ruined cities,
    unoccupied houses that turn to rubble.
²⁹ They won’t get rich; their wealth won’t last;
    their property won’t extend over the earth.
³⁰ They can’t turn away from darkness;
    a flame will dry out their shoots,
        and they will be taken away by the wind from his mouth.
³¹ They shouldn’t trust in what has no worth,
    for their reward will be worthless.
³² Before their branch is formed,
        before it is green,
³³     like the vine, they will drop early grapes
        and cast off their blossoms like the olive.
³⁴ The ruthless gang is barren,
        and fire consumes the tents of bribers.
³⁵     They conceive toil and give birth to sorrow;
        their belly establishes deceit.

² I’ve heard many things like these.
    All of you are sorry comforters.
³ Will windy talk ever cease;
    what bothers you that you must argue?
⁴ In your situation I could speak like you;
    I could put words together to oppose you,
    shake my head over you.
⁵ I could heap up words, strengthen you with my speech;
    my trembling lips would be held in check.
⁶ If I speak, my pain is not eased;
    if I hold back, what have I lost?

⁷ Now God has surely worn me out.
    You have destroyed my entire group,
⁸     seized me, which became grounds for an accusation.^[e]
My leanness rises to bear witness against me.
⁹ His anger tears me and afflicts me;
    he slashes at me with his teeth.
    My enemy pierces me with his eyes.
¹⁰ They open their mouths at me
    and strike my cheek in a taunt;
        they gang up on me.
¹¹ God delivers me to a criminal
    and forces me into the hands of the wicked.
¹² I was at rest, but he shattered me,
    seized me by the back of my neck,
    dashed me into pieces;
        he raised me up for his target.
¹³ His archers surround me;
    he cuts my kidneys open without pity and doesn’t care,
        pours my gall on the ground,
¹⁴     bursts me open over and over,
        runs against me like a strong man.
¹⁵ I’ve sewed rough cloth over my skin
    and buried my dignity in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is red from crying,
    and dark gloom hangs on my eyelids.
¹⁷ But there is no violence in my hands,
    and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ Earth, don’t cover my blood;
    let my outcry never cease.
¹⁹ Surely now my witness stands in heaven;
    my advocate is on high;
²⁰     my go-between, my friend.^[f]
While my eyes drip tears to God,
²¹     let him plead with God for a human being,
    like a person pleads for a friend.
²² A number of years will surely pass,
    and then I’ll walk a path that I won’t return.

17 My spirit is broken,
    my days extinguished,
    the grave,^[g] mine.
² Surely mockers are with me,
    and my eye looks on their rebellion.
³ Take my guarantee.
    Who else is willing to make an agreement?
⁴ You’ve closed their mind to insight;
    therefore, you won’t be exalted.
⁵ He denounces his friends for gain,
    and his children’s eyes fail.
⁶ He makes me a popular proverb;
    I’m like spit in people’s faces.
⁷ My eye is weak from grief;
    my limbs like a shadow—all of them.
⁸ Those who do the right thing are amazed at this;
    the guiltless become troubled about the godless.
⁹ The innocent clings to his way;
    the one whose hands are clean grows stronger.
¹⁰ But you can bring all of them again,
    and I won’t find a wise one among you.
¹¹ My days have passed;
    my goals are destroyed, my heart’s desires.
¹² They turn night into day;
    light is near because of the darkness.
¹³ If I hope for the underworld^[h] as my dwelling,
    lay out my bed in darkness,
¹⁴     I’ve called corruption “my father,”
    the worm, “my mother and sister.”
¹⁵     Where then is my hope?
        My hope—who can see it?
¹⁶ Will they go down with me to the underworld;^[i]
    will we descend together to the dust?