Job 10-11
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 10
I will give myself up to complaint;
I will speak from the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God: Do not put me in the wrong!
Let me know why you oppose me.
3 [a]Is it a pleasure for you to oppress,
to spurn the work of your hands,
and shine on the plan of the wicked?
4 Have you eyes of flesh?
Do you see as mortals see?
5 Are your days like the days of a mortal,(A)
and are your years like a human lifetime,
6 That you seek for guilt in me
and search after my sins,
7 Even though you know that I am not wicked,(B)
and that none can deliver me out of your hand?
8 Your hands have formed me and fashioned me;
will you then turn and destroy me?
9 Oh, remember that you fashioned me from clay!(C)
Will you then bring me down to dust again?
10 Did you not pour me out like milk,
and thicken me like cheese?
11 With skin and flesh you clothed me,
with bones and sinews knit me together.
12 Life and love you granted me,
and your providence has preserved my spirit.
13 Yet these things you have hidden in your heart;
I know they are your purpose:
14 If I should sin, you would keep a watch on me,
and from my guilt you would not absolve me.
15 If I should be wicked, alas for me!
even if righteous, I dare not hold up my head,
sated with shame, drenched in affliction!
16 Should it lift up, you hunt me like a lion:
repeatedly you show your wondrous power against me,
17 You renew your attack[b] upon me
and multiply your harassment of me;
in waves your troops come against me.
18 Why then did you bring me forth from the womb?(D)
I should have died and no eye have seen me.
19 I should be as though I had never lived;
I should have been taken from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not my days few? Stop!
Let me alone, that I may recover a little
21 Before I go whence I shall not return,(E)
to the land of darkness and of gloom,
22 The dark, disordered land
where darkness is the only light.
Chapter 11
Zophar’s First Speech. 1 And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
2 Should not many words be answered,
or must the garrulous man necessarily be right?
3 Shall your babblings keep others silent,
and shall you deride and no one give rebuke?
4 Shall you say: “My teaching is pure,
and I am clean in your sight”?
5 But oh, that God would speak,[c]
and open his lips against you,
6 And tell you the secrets of wisdom,
for good sense has two sides;
So you might learn that God
overlooks some of your sinfulness.
7 Can you find out the depths of God?(F)
or find out the perfection of the Almighty?
8 It is higher than the heavens; what can you do?
It is deeper than Sheol; what can you know?
9 It is longer than the earth in measure,
and broader than the sea.
10 If he should seize and imprison
or call to judgment, who then could turn him back?
11 For he knows the worthless
and sees iniquity; will he then ignore it?
12 An empty head will gain understanding,
when a colt of a wild jackass(G) is born human.[d]
13 If you set your heart aright
and stretch out your hands toward him,
14 If iniquity is in your hand, remove it,
and do not let injustice dwell in your tent,
15 Surely then you may lift up your face in innocence;
you may stand firm and unafraid.
16 For then you shall forget your misery,
like water that has ebbed away you shall regard it.
17 Then your life shall be brighter than the noonday;
its gloom shall become like the morning,
18 And you shall be secure, because there is hope;
you shall look round you and lie down in safety;(H)
19 you shall lie down and no one will disturb you.
Many shall entreat your favor,
20 but the wicked, looking on, shall be consumed with envy.
Escape shall be cut off from them,
their only hope their last breath.
Notas al pie
- 10:3–12 These lines are a delicate mixture of sarcasm and prayer; Job “reminds” God, challenging the divine providence. Note the piteous tone of the final request in vv. 20–22.
- 10:17 Attack: or “witnesses,” continuing the metaphor of lawsuit used in these chapters.
- 11:5 This is another of many ironies (e.g., cf. 11:16–19) that occur throughout the book. Zophar does not know that God will speak (chaps. 38–42), but contrary to what he thinks.
- 11:12 A colt…is born human: the Hebrew is obscure. As translated, it seems to be a proverb referring to an impossible event.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.