Job 15-17

Christian Standard Bible

⁷ Were you the first human ever born,
or were you brought forth before the hills?^(E)
8 Do you listen in on the council of God,
or have a monopoly on wisdom?^(F)
9 What do you know that we don’t?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
¹⁰ Both the gray-haired and the elderly are with us—
older than your father.
¹¹ Are God’s consolations not enough for you,
even the words that deal gently with you?
¹² Why has your heart misled you,
and why do your eyes flash
¹³ as you turn your anger^[c] against God
and allow such words to leave your mouth?

¹⁴ What is a mere human, that he should be pure,^(G)
or one born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
¹⁵ If God puts no trust in his holy ones^(H)
and the heavens are not pure in his sight,^(I)
16 how much less one who is revolting and corrupt,^(J)
who drinks injustice^(K) like water?

¹⁷ Listen to me and I will inform you.
I will describe what I have seen,
¹⁸ what the wise have declared and not concealed,
that came from their ancestors,^(L)
19 to whom alone the land was given
when no foreigner passed among them.
²⁰ A wicked person writhes in pain all his days,
throughout the number of years reserved for the ruthless.
²¹ Dreadful sounds fill his ears;
when he is at peace, a robber attacks him.
²² He doesn’t believe he will return from darkness;
he is destined for the sword.^(M)
23 He wanders about for food, asking, “Where is it?”
He knows the day of darkness is at hand.
²⁴ Trouble^(N) and distress terrify him,
overwhelming him like a king prepared for battle.
²⁵ For he has stretched out his hand^(O) against God
and has arrogantly opposed the Almighty.
²⁶ He rushes headlong at him
with his thick, studded shields.
²⁷ Though his face is covered with fat^[d]
and his waistline bulges with it,
²⁸ he will dwell in ruined cities,
in abandoned houses destined to become piles of rubble.^(P)
29 He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure.
His possessions^[e] will not increase in the land.
³⁰ He will not escape from the darkness;
flames will wither his shoots,
and by the breath of God’s mouth, he will depart.^(Q)
31 Let him not put trust in worthless things, being led astray,
for what he gets in exchange will prove worthless.
³² It will be accomplished before his time,
and his branch will not flourish.
³³ He will be like a vine that drops its unripe grapes^(R)
and like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms.
³⁴ For the company of the godless^(S) will have no children,
and fire will consume the tents of those who offer bribes.
³⁵ They conceive trouble^(T) and give birth to evil;
their womb^(U) prepares deception.^(V)

⁶ If I speak, my suffering is not relieved,
and if I hold back, does any of it leave me?
⁷ Surely he^[g] has now exhausted me.
You have devastated my entire family.
⁸ You have shriveled me up^[h]—it has become a witness;
my frailty rises up against me and testifies to my face.
⁹ His anger tears at me, and he harasses^(Z) me.
He gnashes his teeth at me.
My enemy pierces me with his eyes.
¹⁰ They open their mouths against me
and strike my cheeks with contempt;^(AA)
they join themselves together against me.
¹¹ God hands me over to the unjust;^[i]
he throws me to the wicked.
¹² I was at ease, but he shattered me;
he seized me by the scruff of the neck
and smashed me to pieces.
He set me up as his target;^(AB)
13 his archers^[j] surround me.
He pierces my kidneys without mercy
and pours my bile on the ground.
¹⁴ He breaks through my defenses again and again;^[k]
he charges at me like a warrior.^(AC)

¹⁵ I have sewn sackcloth over my skin;
I have buried my strength^[l] in the dust.^(AD)
16 My face has grown red with weeping,
and darkness^(AE) covers my eyes,
¹⁷ although my hands are free from violence^(AF)
and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ Earth, do not cover my blood;
may my cry for help find no resting place.^(AG)
19 Even now my witness is in heaven,
and my advocate is in the heights!^(AH)
20 My friends scoff at me
as I weep before God.
²¹ I wish that someone might argue for a man with God^(AI)
just as anyone^[m] would for a friend.
²² For only a few years will pass
before I go the way of no return.

17 My spirit is broken.
My days are extinguished.
A graveyard^(AJ) awaits me.
² Surely mockers surround^[n] me,
and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.^(AK)

³ Accept my pledge! Put up security for me.^(AL)
Who else will be my sponsor?^[o]
4 You have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore you will not honor them.
⁵ If a man denounces his friends for a price,
the eyes of his children will fail.

⁶ He has made me an object of scorn to the people;
I have become a man people spit at.^[p](AM)
7 My eyes have grown dim from grief,
and my whole body has become but a shadow.
⁸ The upright are appalled^(AN) at this,
and the innocent are roused against the godless.
⁹ Yet the righteous person will hold to his way,
and the one whose hands are clean^(AO) will grow stronger.
¹⁰ But come back and try again, all of you.^[q]
I will not find a wise man among you.

¹¹ My days have slipped by;
my plans have been ruined,
even the things dear to my heart.
¹² They turned night into day
and made light seem near in the face of darkness.^(AP)
13 If I await Sheol as my home,
spread out my bed in darkness,
¹⁴ and say to corruption, “You are my father,”
and to the maggot, “My mother” or “My sister,”^(AQ)
15 where then is my hope?^(AR)
Who can see any hope for me?
¹⁶ Will it go down to the gates of Sheol,^(AS)
or will we descend together to the dust?