Job 13-15

Wycliffe Bible

13 Lo! mine eye, saith Job, hath seen all things, and mine ear hath heard (it all); and I understood all things.

² Even with your knowing, (that) also I know, and I am not lower than ye. (What you know, I also know, and I am not lower than ye.)

³ But nevertheless I shall speak to Almighty God, and I covet to dispute with God (and I desire to dispute with God);

⁴ and first I (shall) show you (to be) makers of lies, and lovers/favourers of wayward teachings. (but first I shall show you to be liars, and lovers of wayward teaching.)

⁵ And I would, that ye were still, that ye were guessed to be wise men. (And I wish, that ye held your peace, so that ye could be thought to be wise.)

⁶ Therefore hear ye my chastisings; and perceive ye the doom of my lips. (And so hear ye my arguments; and understand ye the judgement from my lips.)

⁷ Whether God hath need to your leasing, that ye speak guileful things for him? (Hath God a need for your lies, so that ye speak these guileful things for him?)

⁸ Whether ye take his face, and enforce to deem for God? (Do ye take his place, and endeavour to judge for God?)

⁹ Either it shall please him, from whom nothing may be hid? Whether he, as a man, shall be deceived by your falsenesses? (Shall he, like a man, be deceived by your falseness, or your duplicity?)

¹⁰ He shall reprove you; for ye take his face in huddles. (He shall rebuke you, if ye secretly accuse me, and judge me.)

¹¹ Anon as he shall stir him, he shall trouble you; and his dread shall fall upon you. (At once he shall stir himself, and he shall trouble you; and the fear of him, or his terror, shall come upon you.)

¹² Your mind shall be comparisoned to ashes; and your nolls shall be driven down into (the) clay.

¹³ Be ye still a little, that I speak (so that I can speak), whatever thing my mind hath showed to me.

¹⁴ Why rend I my flesh with my teeth, and bear my life in mine hands?

¹⁵ Yea, though God slay me, I shall hope in him; nevertheless I shall prove my ways in his sight. (Yea, even if God shall kill me, I shall still hope, or trust, in him; and I shall still argue my case before him.)

¹⁶ And he shall be my saviour; for why each hypocrite shall not come in his sight (for no hypocrite shall ever come before him).

¹⁷ Hear ye my word, and perceive ye with [your] ears (my) dark and hard privy speeches/(my) dark and hard figurative speeches. (Hear ye my voice, and perceive ye with your ears, my words of explanation.)

¹⁸ If I shall be deemed, I know that I shall be found just. (If I shall be judged, I know that I shall be justified, or found acquitted.)

¹⁹ Who is he that is deemed with me? Come he; why am I still, and am wasted? (Who is he who is judged with me? Come he; for if I hold my peace, I shall be destroyed.)

²⁰ Do thou not to me two things only; and then I shall not be hid from thy face. (Do thou only two things for me; and then I shall not hide from thy face.)

²¹ Make thine hand far from me; and thy dread make not me afeared. (Take thy hand far away from me; and do not let my fear of thee make me afraid.)

²² Call thou me, and I shall answer thee; either certainly I shall speak, and (then) thou shalt answer me.

²³ How great sins and wickednesses have I? (How many sins and wickednesses have I?) Show thou to me my felonies, and my trespasses.

²⁴ Why hidest thou thy face, and deemest me thine enemy?

²⁵ Thou showest thy might against a leaf, that is ravished away with the wind; and thou pursuest dry stubble.

²⁶ For thou writest bitternesses against me; and wilt waste me with the sins of my young waxing age. (For thou writest bitter charges against me; and wilt destroy me for the sins of my youth.)

²⁷ Thou hast set my foot in a stock (Thou hast set my feet in the stocks), and thou hast kept (watch over) all my paths; and thou hast beheld the steps of my feet.

²⁸ And I shall be wasted as rot, and as a cloth, that is eaten of a moth. (And I shall be wasted by rot, and like a cloak, that is eaten by a moth.)

14 A man is born of a woman, and liveth (but a) short time, and he is full-filled with many wretchednesses (and he is filled full of many wretchednesses).

² And he goeth out, and is defouled as a flower; and he fleeth away as a shadow, and dwelleth never perfectly in that same state. (And he goeth out, and withereth like a flower; and then he fleeth away like a shadow, and never again dwelleth in that same state.)

³ And guessest thou (it a) worthy thing to open thine eyes upon such a man; and to bring him into doom with thee? (And thinkest thou that it is worthwhile to look upon such a person; and to bring him into court, or unto judgement, with thee?)

⁴ Who may make a man clean (who is) conceived of unclean seed? Whether not thou, Lord, that art alone? (Who can make someone clean who is conceived of unclean seed? No one.)

⁵ The days of a man be short, and the number of his months be with thee; thou hast set, either ordained, his terms, which may not be (over)passed.

⁶ Therefore go thou away from him a little, that he have rest; till his meed coveted come, and his day is as the day of an hired man. (And so go thou away from him for a little while, so that he can have some rest; until his desired reward come, and his day is like the day of a hired man.)

⁷ A tree hath hope, if it is cut down; and again it waxeth green, and his branches spread forth. (A tree hath hope, that if it is cut down, it shall grow green again, and its branches shall spread forth.)

⁸ If the root thereof is eld in the earth, and the stock thereof is nigh dead in (the) dust; (Yea, though its roots be old in the earth, and its stump is all but dead in the ground;)

⁹ it shall burgeon (again) at the odour of water, and it shall make hair, that is, leaves and branches/or take root, as when it was planted first (like when it was first planted).

¹⁰ But when a man is dead, and made naked, and wasted; I pray (thee), where is he?

¹¹ As if waters go away from the sea, and as a river made void of waters wax dry, (Like when waters go away from the sea, or a river made void, or empty, of water groweth dry,)

¹² so a man, when he hath slept, that is, died, he shall not rise again, till heaven be broken, or made new; he shall not wake, neither he shall rise altogether from his sleep. (so a man, when he hath slept, or died, shall not rise again, until the heavens be broken apart; he shall not awake, nor shall he ever rise again from his sleep.)

¹³ Who giveth this to me, that thou defend me in hell, and that thou hide me, till thy great vengeance pass; and that thou set to me a time, in which thou have mind on me? (I wish, that thou would hide me in Sheol, yea, that thou would hide me until thy great vengeance pass; and then that thou would set a time for me, in which thou would remember me!)

¹⁴ Guessest thou, whether a dead man shall live again? Now in all the days, in which I hold knighthood, I abide, till my changing come. (Thinkest thou, that someone dead shall live again? Then in all the days, in which I travail, or labour, I shall wait, for my changing to come.)

¹⁵ Thou shalt call me, and I shall answer thee; thou shalt (ad)dress the right half, that is, bless, to the work of thine hands (thou shalt direct thy right hand, that is, thou shalt bless the work of thy hands).

¹⁶ Soothly thou hast numbered my steps; but spare thou my sins (but please do not count up my sins).

¹⁷ Thou hast sealed as in a bag my trespasses, but thou hast cured my wickedness. (Thou hast sealed up my trespasses in a bag, and thou hast cured my wickedness.)

¹⁸ An hill falling droppeth down, and a rock of stone is borne over from his place. (A falling hill floweth downward, and a stone is carried over from its place.)

¹⁹ Waters make stones hollow, and the earth is wasted little and little by (the) washing away of (the) water; and thou shalt lose men in like manner (and thou shalt destroy people’s hopes in like manner).

²⁰ Thou madest a man strong (for) a little, that he should pass [into] without end; thou shalt change his face, and shalt send him out. (Thou makest a man strong for a little while, and then he passeth away forevermore; thou changeth his face, and then sendeth him away from thee.)

²¹ Whether his sons be noble, either unnoble, he shall not understand (he shall never know).

²² Nevertheless his flesh, while he liveth, shall have sorrow, and his soul shall mourn (thinking) upon himself.

15 Then Eliphaz (the) Temanite answered, and said,

² Whether a wise man shall answer, as speaking against the wind, and shall fill his stomach with burning, that is ire? (Would a wise man answer someone, whose speaking is merely wind, and who filleth his stomach with hot air?)

³ For thou reprovest him by words, which is not like thee, and thou speakest that, that speedeth not to thee. (For thou rebukest him with worthless words, and thou speakest, what profiteth thee not.)

⁴ As much as is in thee, thou hast avoided dread; and thou hast taken away thy prayers before God. (As much as is possible, thou hast avoided fearing God/revering God; and thou hast not presented thy prayers to God.)

⁵ For [thy] wickedness hath taught thy mouth, and thou followest the tongue of blasphemers.

⁶ Thy tongue [Thy mouth], and not I, shall condemn thee, and thy lips shall answer (against) thee.

⁷ Whether thou art born the first man, and whether thou art formed before (the) little hills? (Art thou the first man born, and wast thou formed before the little hills?)

⁸ Whether thou hast heard the counsel of God, and whether his wisdom is lower than thou? (and is his wisdom less than thine?)

⁹ What thing knowest thou, which we know not? What thing understandest thou, which we know not?

¹⁰ Both wise men and eld (men), much elder than thy fathers (much older than thy father), be among us.

¹¹ Whether it is great, that God comfort thee? But thy shrewd words forbid this. (Is it not wonderful, that God comforteth thee? But thy depraved words forbid this.)

¹² What raiseth thine heart thee, and thou as thinking great things hast eyes astonished? (What raiseth up thy heart, to think such great things? and why be thine eyes astonished?)

¹³ What swelleth thy spirit against God, that thou bring forth of thy mouth such words? (What swelleth thy spirit against God, so that thou bring forth such words out of thy mouth?)

¹⁴ What is a man, that he be without wem, and that he, born of a woman, appear just? (What is a man, is he ever pure, or without fault? yea, he, who is born of a woman, is he ever truly right before God?)

¹⁵ Lo! none among his saints is unchangeable (Lo! no one among his saints is trustworthy), and (even the) heavens be not clean in his sight.

¹⁶ How much more is a man abominable and unprofitable, that drinketh wickedness as water? (Then how much more abominable and unprofitable is man, who drinketh wickedness like water?)

¹⁷ I shall show to thee, hear thou me; I shall tell to thee that, that I saw (I shall tell thee, what I saw).

¹⁸ Wise men acknowledge, and hide (it) not their fathers. (The wise acknowledge it, and their forefathers hide it not.)

¹⁹ To which wise men alone the earth is given, and an alien shall not pass by them. (To whom alone the land was given; and no foreigner lived among them.)

²⁰ A wicked man is proud in all his days; and the number of his years and of his tyranny is uncertain.

²¹ The sound of dread is ever[more] in his ears, and when peace is, he supposeth ever[more] treasons. (A fearful sound is forever in his ears, and even when there is peace, he always expecteth an attack.)

²² He believeth not that he may turn again from darknesses to light; and he beholdeth about on each side (for) a sword.

²³ When he stirreth him[self] to seek bread, he knoweth, that the day of darknesses is made ready in his hand (he knoweth that the day of darkness is at hand).

²⁴ Tribulation shall make him afeared, and anguish shall (en)compass him, as a king which is made ready to battle. (Tribulation shall make him afraid, and anguish shall surround him, like a king who is made ready for battle.)

²⁵ For he held forth his hand against God, and he was made strong against Almighty God. (For he put forth his hand against God, and he made himself strong against Almighty God.)

²⁶ He ran with his neck raised up against God, and he was armed with a fat noll. (He ran with his head raised up against God, and he was armed with a stiff neck, or he was stubborn.)

²⁷ Fatness, that is, pride of temporal abundance, covered his face, or understanding, and outward fatness, that is, unshamefastness, hangeth down of his sides (hangeth down on his sides). [Fatness covered his face, and of his sides grease hangeth. (Fatness covered his face, and grease hangeth down on his sides.)]

²⁸ He shall dwell in desolate cities (He shall live in empty cities), and in deserted houses, that be turned into burials.

²⁹ He shall not be made rich, neither his chattel shall dwell steadfastly (nor shall his substance, or his possessions, endure); neither he shall send his root into the earth,

³⁰ neither he shall go away from darknesses. Flame shall make dry his branches, and he shall be taken away by the spirit of his mouth (The flame shall dry up his branches, and then he shall be taken away by the wind).

³¹ Believe he not vainly which is deceived by error, that he shall be again-bought by any price. (He, who is deceived by error, vainly believeth that he shall be bought back, or redeemed, at any price.)

³² Before that his days be [ful]filled, he shall perish, and his hands shall wax dry;

³³ he shall be hurt as a vine in the first flower of his grape, and as an olive tree casting away his flower. (he shall be like a vine that droppeth off its unripe grapes, or like an olive tree that casteth away its flowering buds.)

³⁴ For the gathering together of an hypocrite is barren, and fire shall devour the tabernacles of them, that take gifts willfully. (For hypocrites, one and all, be barren, and fire shall devour the tents of those, who willingly take gifts.)

³⁵ He conceived sorrow, and childed wickedness, and his womb maketh ready treacheries.