Job 11-15

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

⁷ ‘Can you find out the deep things of God?
    Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?^[d]
8 It is higher than heaven^[e]—what can you do?
    Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
⁹ Its measure is longer than the earth,
    and broader than the sea.
¹⁰ If he passes through, and imprisons,
    and assembles for judgement, who can hinder him?
¹¹ For he knows those who are worthless;
    when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?
¹² But a stupid person will get understanding,
    when a wild ass is born human.^[f]

¹³ ‘If you direct your heart rightly,
    you will stretch out your hands towards him.
¹⁴ If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
    and do not let wickedness reside in your tents.
¹⁵ Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish;
    you will be secure, and will not fear.
¹⁶ You will forget your misery;
    you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
¹⁷ And your life will be brighter than the noonday;
    its darkness will be like the morning.
¹⁸ And you will have confidence, because there is hope;
    you will be protected^[g] and take your rest in safety.
¹⁹ You will lie down, and no one will make you afraid;
    many will entreat your favour.
²⁰ But the eyes of the wicked will fail;
    all way of escape will be lost to them,
    and their hope is to breathe their last.’

⁷ ‘But ask the animals, and they will teach you;
    the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
⁸ ask the plants of the earth,^[j] and they will teach you;
    and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
⁹ Who among all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this?
¹⁰ In his hand is the life of every living thing
    and the breath of every human being.
¹¹ Does not the ear test words
    as the palate tastes food?
¹² Is wisdom with the aged,
    and understanding in length of days?

¹³ ‘With God^[k] are wisdom and strength;
    he has counsel and understanding.
¹⁴ If he tears down, no one can rebuild;
    if he shuts someone in, no one can open up.
¹⁵ If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
    if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
¹⁶ With him are strength and wisdom;
    the deceived and the deceiver are his.
¹⁷ He leads counsellors away stripped,
    and makes fools of judges.
¹⁸ He looses the sash of kings,
    and binds a waistcloth on their loins.
¹⁹ He leads priests away stripped,
    and overthrows the mighty.
²⁰ He deprives of speech those who are trusted,
    and takes away the discernment of the elders.
²¹ He pours contempt on princes,
    and looses the belt of the strong.
²² He uncovers the deeps out of darkness,
    and brings deep darkness to light.
²³ He makes nations great, then destroys them;
    he enlarges nations, then leads them away.
²⁴ He strips understanding from the leaders^[l] of the earth,
    and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
²⁵ They grope in the dark without light;
    he makes them stagger like a drunkard.

13 ‘Look, my eye has seen all this,
    my ear has heard and understood it.
² What you know, I also know;
    I am not inferior to you.
³ But I would speak to the Almighty,^[m]
    and I desire to argue my case with God.
⁴ As for you, you whitewash with lies;
    all of you are worthless physicians.
⁵ If you would only keep silent,
    that would be your wisdom!
⁶ Hear now my reasoning,
    and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
⁷ Will you speak falsely for God,
    and speak deceitfully for him?
⁸ Will you show partiality towards him,
    will you plead the case for God?
⁹ Will it be well with you when he searches you out?
    Or can you deceive him, as one person deceives another?
¹⁰ He will surely rebuke you
    if in secret you show partiality.
¹¹ Will not his majesty terrify you,
    and the dread of him fall upon you?
¹² Your maxims are proverbs of ashes,
    your defences are defences of clay.

¹³ ‘Let me have silence, and I will speak,
    and let come on me what may.
¹⁴ I will take my flesh in my teeth,
    and put my life in my hand.^[n]
15 See, he will kill me; I have no hope;^[o]
    but I will defend my ways to his face.
¹⁶ This will be my salvation,
    that the godless shall not come before him.
¹⁷ Listen carefully to my words,
    and let my declaration be in your ears.
¹⁸ I have indeed prepared my case;
    I know that I shall be vindicated.
¹⁹ Who is there that will contend with me?
    For then I would be silent and die.

14 ‘A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,
²     comes up like a flower and withers,
    flees like a shadow and does not last.
³ Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
    Do you bring me into judgement with you?
⁴ Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
    No one can.
⁵ Since their days are determined,
    and the number of their months is known to you,
    and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,
⁶ look away from them, and desist,^[q]
    that they may enjoy, like labourers, their days.

⁷ ‘For there is hope for a tree,
    if it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
    and that its shoots will not cease.
⁸ Though its root grows old in the earth,
    and its stump dies in the ground,
⁹ yet at the scent of water it will bud
    and put forth branches like a young plant.
¹⁰ But mortals die, and are laid low;
    humans expire, and where are they?
¹¹ As waters fail from a lake,
    and a river wastes away and dries up,
¹² so mortals lie down and do not rise again;
    until the heavens are no more, they will not awake
    or be roused out of their sleep.
¹³ O that you would hide me in Sheol,
    that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,
    that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
¹⁴ If mortals die, will they live again?
    All the days of my service I would wait
    until my release should come.
¹⁵ You would call, and I would answer you;
    you would long for the work of your hands.
¹⁶ For then you would not^[r] number my steps,
    you would not keep watch over my sin;
¹⁷ my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
    and you would cover over my iniquity.

¹⁸ ‘But the mountain falls and crumbles away,
    and the rock is removed from its place;
¹⁹ the waters wear away the stones;
    the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
    so you destroy the hope of mortals.
²⁰ You prevail for ever against them, and they pass away;
    you change their countenance, and send them away.
²¹ Their children come to honour, and they do not know it;
    they are brought low, and it goes unnoticed.
²² They feel only the pain of their own bodies,
    and mourn only for themselves.’

⁷ ‘Are you the firstborn of the human race?
    Were you brought forth before the hills?
⁸ Have you listened in the council of God?
    And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
⁹ What do you know that we do not know?
    What do you understand that is not clear to us?
¹⁰ The grey-haired and the aged are on our side,
    those older than your father.
¹¹ Are the consolations of God too small for you,
    or the word that deals gently with you?
¹² Why does your heart carry you away,
    and why do your eyes flash,^[s]
13 so that you turn your spirit against God,
    and let such words go out of your mouth?
¹⁴ What are mortals, that they can be clean?
    Or those born of woman, that they can be righteous?
¹⁵ God puts no trust even in his holy ones,
    and the heavens are not clean in his sight;
¹⁶ how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
    one who drinks iniquity like water!

¹⁷ ‘I will show you; listen to me;
    what I have seen I will declare—
¹⁸ what sages have told,
    and their ancestors have not hidden,
¹⁹ to whom alone the land was given,
    and no stranger passed among them.
²⁰ The wicked writhe in pain all their days,
    through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
²¹ Terrifying sounds are in their ears;
    in prosperity the destroyer will come upon them.
²² They despair of returning from darkness,
    and they are destined for the sword.
²³ They wander abroad for bread, saying, “Where is it?”
    They know that a day of darkness is ready at hand;
²⁴ distress and anguish terrify them;
    they prevail against them, like a king prepared for battle.
²⁵ Because they stretched out their hands against God,
    and bid defiance to the Almighty,^[t]
26 running stubbornly against him
    with a thick-bossed shield;
²⁷ because they have covered their faces with their fat,
    and gathered fat upon their loins,
²⁸ they will live in desolate cities,
    in houses that no one should inhabit,
    houses destined to become heaps of ruins;
²⁹ they will not be rich, and their wealth will not endure,
    nor will they strike root in the earth;^[u]
30 they will not escape from darkness;
    the flame will dry up their shoots,
    and their blossom^[v] will be swept away^[w] by the wind.
³¹ Let them not trust in emptiness, deceiving themselves;
    for emptiness will be their recompense.
³² It will be paid in full before their time,
    and their branch will not be green.
³³ They will shake off their unripe grape, like the vine,
    and cast off their blossoms, like the olive tree.
³⁴ For the company of the godless is barren,
    and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
³⁵ They conceive mischief and bring forth evil
    and their heart prepares deceit.’