Job 13-15

American Standard Version

13 Lo, mine eye hath seen all this,
Mine ear hath heard and understood it.
² What ye know, the same do I know also:
I am not inferior unto you.

³ Surely I would speak to the Almighty,
And I desire to reason with God.
⁴ But ye are forgers of lies;
Ye are all physicians of no value.
⁵ Oh that ye would altogether hold your peace!
And it would be your wisdom.
⁶ Hear now my reasoning,
And hearken to the pleadings of my lips.
⁷ Will ye speak unrighteously for God,
And talk deceitfully for him?
⁸ Will ye show partiality to him?
Will ye contend for God?
⁹ Is it good that he should search you out?
Or as one ^[a]deceiveth a man, will ye ^[b]deceive him?
¹⁰ He will surely reprove you,
If ye do secretly show partiality.
¹¹ Shall not his majesty make you afraid,
And his dread fall upon you?
¹² Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes,
Your defences are defences of clay.

¹³ Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak;
And let come on me what will.
^14 [c]Wherefore should I take my flesh in my teeth,
And put my life in my hand?
^15 [d]Behold, he will slay me; I have no hope:
Nevertheless I will ^[e]maintain my ways before him.
¹⁶ This also shall be my salvation,
That a godless man shall not come before him.
¹⁷ Hear diligently my speech,
And let my declaration be in your ears.
¹⁸ Behold now, I have set my cause in order;
I know that I ^[f]am righteous.
¹⁹ Who is he that will contend with me?
For then ^[g]would I hold my peace and give up the ghost.

²⁰ Only do not two things unto me;
Then will I not hide myself from thy face:
²¹ Withdraw thy hand far from me;
And let not thy terror make me afraid.
²² Then call thou, and I will answer;
Or let me speak, and answer thou me.
²³ How many are mine iniquities and sins?
Make me to know my transgression and my sin.
²⁴ Wherefore hidest thou thy face,
And holdest me for thine enemy?
²⁵ Wilt thou harass a driven leaf?
And wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
²⁶ For thou writest bitter things against me,
And makest me to inherit the iniquities of my youth:
²⁷ Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks,
And markest all my paths;
Thou settest a bound to the soles of my feet:
^28 [h]Though I am like a rotten thing that consumeth,
Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

14 Man, that is born of a woman,
Is of few days, and full of trouble.
² He cometh forth like a flower, and ^[i]is cut down:
He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
³ And dost thou open thine eyes upon such a one,
And bringest me into judgment with thee?
^4 [j]Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
⁵ Seeing his days are determined,
The number of his months is with thee,
And thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
⁶ Look away from him, that he may ^[k]rest,
Till he shall ^[l]accomplish, as a hireling, his day.

⁷ For there is hope of a tree,
If it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
And that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
⁸ Though the root thereof wax old in the earth,
And the stock thereof die in the ground;
⁹ Yet through the scent of water it will bud,
And put forth boughs like a plant.
¹⁰ But man dieth, and is laid low:
Yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
¹¹ As the waters ^[m]fail from the sea,
And the river wasteth and drieth up;
¹² So man lieth down and riseth not:
Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake,
Nor be roused out of their sleep.

¹³ Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol,
That thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past,
That thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
¹⁴ If a man die, shall he live again?
All the days of my warfare ^[n]would I wait,
Till my ^[o]release should come.
¹⁵ Thou ^[p]wouldest call, and I would answer thee:
Thou wouldest have a desire to the work of thy hands.
¹⁶ But now thou numberest my steps:
Dost thou not watch over my sin?
¹⁷ My transgression is sealed up in a bag,
And thou fastenest up mine iniquity.

¹⁸ But the mountain falling ^[q]cometh to nought;
And the rock is removed out of its place;
¹⁹ The waters wear the stones;
The overflowings thereof wash away the dust of the earth:
So thou destroyest the hope of man.
²⁰ Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth;
Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.
²¹ His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not;
And they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.
^22 [r]But his flesh upon him hath pain,
And his soul within him mourneth.

² Should a wise man make answer with ^[s]vain knowledge,
And fill himself with the east wind?
³ Should he reason with unprofitable talk,
Or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
⁴ Yea, thou doest away with fear,
And ^[t]hinderest ^[u]devotion before God.
⁵ For ^[v]thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth,
And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
⁶ Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I;
Yea, thine own lips testify against thee.

⁷ Art thou the first man that was born?
Or wast thou brought forth before the hills?
^8 [w]Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God?
And dost thou limit wisdom to thyself?
⁹ What knowest thou, that we know not?
What understandest thou, which is not in us?
¹⁰ With us are both the grayheaded and the very aged men,
Much elder than thy father.
¹¹ Are the consolations of God too small for thee,
^[x]Even the word that is gentle toward thee?
¹² Why doth thy heart carry thee away?
And why do thine eyes flash,
¹³ That against God thou turnest thy spirit,
And lettest words go out of thy mouth?
¹⁴ What is man, that he should be clean?
And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
¹⁵ Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones;
Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight:
¹⁶ How much less ^[y]one that is abominable and corrupt,
A man that drinketh iniquity like water!

¹⁷ I will show thee, hear thou me;
And that which I have seen I will declare
¹⁸ (Which wise men have told
From their fathers, and have not hid it;
¹⁹ Unto whom alone the land was given,
And no stranger passed among them):
²⁰ The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days,
^[z]Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
²¹ A sound of terrors is in his ears;
In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
²² He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness,
And he is waited for of the sword.
²³ He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it?
He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
²⁴ Distress and anguish make him afraid;
They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
²⁵ Because he hath stretched out his hand against God,
And ^[aa]behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty;
²⁶ He runneth upon him with a stiff neck,
^[ab]With the thick bosses of his bucklers;
²⁷ Because he hath covered his face with his fatness,
And gathered fat upon his loins;
²⁸ And he hath dwelt in ^[ac]desolate cities,
In houses which no man ^[ad]inhabited,
Which were ready to become heaps;
²⁹ He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue,
Neither shall ^[ae]their possessions be extended on the earth.
³⁰ He shall not depart out of darkness;
The flame shall dry up his branches,
And by the breath of ^[af]God’s mouth shall he go away.
³¹ Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself;
For vanity shall be his recompense.
³² It shall be ^[ag]accomplished before his time,
And his branch shall not be green.
³³ He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine,
And shall cast off his flower as the olive-tree.
³⁴ For the company of the godless shall be barren,
And fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
³⁵ They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity,
And their heart prepareth deceit.