12 Then Job answered, and said,

² “Truly, you are the people. Wisdom must die with you.

³ “But I have understanding as well as you and am not inferior to you. Yea, who does not know such things?

⁴ “I am as one mocked by his friends, who calls upon God and He hears him. The just and the upright are laughed to scorn.

⁵ “He who feels ready to fall is like a lamp, ridiculed in the thoughts of the careless.

⁶ “The tents of robbers prosper. And those who provoke God are in safety. God has enriched them with His Hand.

⁷ “Ask, now, the beasts and they shall teach you, and the birds of the heaven and they shall tell you.

⁸ “Or speak to the Earth and it shall show you, or the fish of the sea and they shall declare to you.

⁹ “Who among all these is ignorant that the Hand of the LORD has done this,

¹⁰ “in Whose Hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind?

¹¹ “Do not the ears discern the words and the mouth taste food for themselves?

¹² “Wisdom is among the ancient, and understanding is in the length of days.

¹³ “With Him is wisdom and strength. He has counsel and understanding.

¹⁴ “Behold, He will break it down, and it cannot be built. He shuts a man up, and he cannot be loosed.

¹⁵ “Behold, He withholds the waters, and they dry up. But when He sends them out, they destroy the Earth.

¹⁶ “With Him is strength and wisdom. Both he who is deceived and who deceives are His.

¹⁷ “He leads the counselors away barefoot and makes the judges fools.

¹⁸ “He loosens the bonds of kings and girds their loins with a girdle.

¹⁹ “He leads away the princes as prey and overthrows the mighty.

²⁰ “He takes away the speech from the faithful and takes away the judgment of the ancient.

²¹ “He pours contempt upon princes and makes the strength of the mighty weak.

²² “He discovers the deep places from darkness and brings forth the shadow of death to light.

²³ “He increases the people and destroys them. He enlarges the nations and brings them in again.

²⁴ “He takes away the hearts of the leaders of the people of the Earth and makes them wander in the wilderness, out of the way.

²⁵ “They grope in the dark without light. And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.

13 “Lo, my eye has seen all this. My ear has heard and understood it.

² “I, also, know as much as you know. I am not inferior to you.

³ “But I will speak to the Almighty. And I desire to convince God.

⁴ “For indeed you forge lies. And all of you are physicians of no value.

⁵ “Oh, that you would hold your tongue, and it would become your wisdom.

⁶ “Now hear my correction and give ear to the arguments of my lips.

⁷ “Will you speak wickedly of God and talk deceitfully of His cause?

⁸ “Are you lifting up His Person if you strive with God?

⁹ “Is it well that He should seek you if you lie for Him, as one lies for a man?

¹⁰ “He will surely reprove you if you secretly lift up any person.

¹¹ “Shall not His excellency make you afraid and His fear fall upon you?

¹² “Your memories may be compared to ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.

¹³ “Hold your tongues in my presence, so that I may speak and let come upon me what will.

¹⁴ “Why do I take my flesh in my teeth and put my soul in my hand?

¹⁵ “Lo, though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. And I will prove my ways in His sight.

¹⁶ “He shall also be my salvation. For the hypocrite shall not come before Him.

¹⁷ “Hear diligently my words, and mark my talk.

¹⁸ “Behold now, I prepare myself for judgment. I know that I shall be justified.

¹⁹ “Who is he who will contend with me? For if I hold my tongue now, I die.

²⁰ “Only, do not do these two things to me. Then will I not hide myself from You.

²¹ “Withdraw Your Hand from me and do not let Your fear make me afraid.

²² “Then call, and I will answer. Or let me speak, and answer me.

²³ “How many are my iniquities and sins? Show me my rebellion and my sin.

²⁴ “Why do You hide Your Face and take me for Your enemy?

²⁵ “Will You break a leaf, driven to and fro? And will You pursue the dry stubble?

²⁶ “For You write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.

²⁷ “You also put my feet in the stocks, look narrowly to all my paths, and imprint them with the heels of my feet.

²⁸ “Such a one consumes like a rotten thing, as a garment that is moth-eaten.”

14 “Man, who is born of woman, is of few days and full of trouble.

² “He shoots forth as a flower and is cut down. He also vanishes as a shadow, and does not continue.

³ “Yet, You open Your Eyes upon such a one and cause me to enter into judgment with You.

⁴ “Who can bring a clean thing out of filthiness? There is not one.

⁵ “Are not his days determined, the number of his months with You? You have appointed his boundaries, which he cannot pass.

⁶ “Turn from him, so that he may rest, until his day is accepted as a hireling’s.

⁷ “For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will still sprout. And its branches will not cease.

⁸ “Though the root of it grows old in the earth, and its stump is dead in the ground,

⁹ “by the scent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant.

¹⁰ “But man is sick and dies. And man perishes. And where is he?

¹¹ “As the waters pass from the sea, and as the flood decays and dries up,

¹² “so man sleeps and does not rise. He shall not wake again, or be raised from his sleep, until the heavens are no more.

¹³ “Oh that You would hide me in the grave and keep me secret until Your wrath were past, would set a time for me and remember me!

¹⁴ “If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, until my relief comes.

¹⁵ “You shall call me, and I will answer You. You love the work of Your own Hands.

¹⁶ “But now, You number my steps. Do You not watch over my sins?

¹⁷ “My iniquity is sealed up in a bag. And You add to my wickedness.

¹⁸ “And surely as the mountain falls and comes to nothing, and as the rock is removed from its place,

¹⁹ “as the water breaks the stones, You overflow the things which grow in the dust of the earth. So You destroy the hope of man.

²⁰ “You always prevail against him, so that he passes away. He changes his face when You cast him away.

²¹ “And he does not know if his sons shall be honorable. Nor shall he understand concerning them, whether they shall be of low degree.

²² “But while his flesh is upon him, he shall be sorrowful. And while his soul is in him, it shall mourn.”

15 “Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,

² “Shall a wise man speak words of the wind, and fill his belly with the East wind?

³ “Shall he dispute with unprofitable words or with talk that is of no benefit?

⁴ “Surely, you have cast off fear and restrained prayer before God:

⁵ “For your mouth declares your iniquity, seeing you have chosen the tongue of the crafty.

⁶ “Your own mouth condemns you, and not me. And your lips testify against you.

⁷ “Are you the first man who was born? And were you made before the hills?

⁸ “Have you heard the secret counsel of God? And do you restrain wisdom to yourself?

⁹ “What do you know that we do not know, understand that is not in us?

¹⁰ “With us are both ancient and very aged men, far older than your father.

¹¹ “Do the consolations of God seem small to you? Is this thing strange to you?

¹² “Why does your heart take you away? And at what are you winking,

¹³ “that you answer to God at your pleasure and bring such words out of your mouth?

¹⁴ “What is man, that he would be clean? And he who is born of woman, that he would be just?

¹⁵ “Behold, He found no steadfastness in His saints. Yea, the heavens are not clean in His sight.

¹⁶ “How much more abominable is man, and filthy, who drinks iniquity like water?

¹⁷ “I will tell you. Hear me, and I will declare that which I have seen,

¹⁸ “which wise men have told from their fathers and have not kept secret,

¹⁹ “to whom alone the land was given. And no stranger passed through them.

²⁰ “The wicked man is continually as one who writhes in pain. And the number of years is hidden from the tyrant.

²¹ “A sound of fear is in his ears. In his prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.

²² “He does not believe he will return out of darkness, for he sees the sword before him.

²³ “He wanders to and fro for bread. He knows that the day of darkness is at hand.

²⁴ “Affliction and anguish shall make him afraid. They shall prevail against him as a king, ready to battle.

²⁵ “For he has stretched out his hand against God and made himself strong against the Almighty.

²⁶ “running upon Him, with the most thick part of his shield.

²⁷ “Because he has covered his face with his fatness, and excess fat is in his loins.

²⁸ “He dwells in desolate cities, in houses which no man inhabits, but have become heaps.

²⁹ “He shall not be rich. Nor shall his substance continue. Nor shall he prolong its gain on the Earth.

³⁰ “He shall never depart from darkness. The flame shall dry up his branches. And he shall go away with the breath of His mouth.

³¹ “Let him not err in his trust of frivolity. For frivolity shall be his reward.

³² “His branch shall not be green, but shall be cut off before his day.

³³ “God shall destroy him as the vine does her sour grape, and shall cast him off as the olive does her flower.

³⁴ “For the congregation of the hypocrite shall be desolate. And fire shall devour the houses of bribes.

³⁵ “They conceive mischief and bring forth emptiness. And their belly has prepared deceit.”

²⁹ Or else what shall they do who are baptized for dead? If the dead do not rise at all, why then are they baptized for dead?

³⁰ Why are we also in danger every hour?

³¹ By your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

³² If, after the habit of man, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me, if the dead are not raised up? Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die.

³³ Do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals.

³⁴ Awake to righteousness, and do not sin. For some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.

³⁵ But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come forth?”

³⁶ O fool. That which you sow does not come alive unless it dies.

³⁷ And that which you sow, you do not sow the body that shall be, but bare corn as it falls, of wheat, or of some other.

³⁸ But God gives it a body at His pleasure, even to every seed his own body.

³⁹ All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of man, and another flesh of beasts, and another of fish, and another of birds.

⁴⁰ There are also heavenly bodies, and earthly bodies. But the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another.

⁴¹ There is another glory of the Sun, and another glory of the Moon, and another glory of the stars. For one star differs from another star in glory.

⁴² So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption and is raised in incorruption.

⁴³ It is sown in dishonor and is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness and is raised in power.

⁴⁴ It is sown a natural body and is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

⁴⁵ As it is also written, “The first man, Adam, was made a living soul.” And the last Adam was made a life-giving Spirit.

⁴⁶ But that which is spiritual was not first; but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual.

⁴⁷ The first man is of the Earth, earthly. The second Man is the Lord from Heaven.

⁴⁸ As is the earthly, such are those who are earthly. And as is the heavenly, such are those also who are heavenly.

⁴⁹ And as we have borne the image of the earthly, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly.

⁵⁰ This I say, brothers: that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.

⁵¹ Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall blow, and the dead shall be raised up incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

⁵³ For this corruptible must put on incorruption: and this mortal must put on immortality.

⁵⁴ So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up into victory.”

⁵⁵ O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin. And the strength of sin is the Law.

⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, Who has given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, unmovable, abundant always in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

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39 I thought, “I will guard my ways, so that I do not sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth bridled while the wicked are in my sight.

² I was dumb and spoke nothing. I kept silent, even from good; and my sorrow was more stirred.

³ My heart was hot within me. While I was musing, the fire kindled and I spoke with my tongue:

⁴ “LORD, let me know my end, and the measure of my days, what it is. Let me know how long I have to live.”

⁵ Behold, You have made my days as a handbreadth and my age as nothing in Your sight. Surely, every man is altogether vanity in his best state. Selah.

⁶ Doubtless, man walks in a shadow, and disquiets himself pointlessly. He heaps up riches and cannot tell who shall gather them.

⁷ And now LORD, for what do I wait? My hope is even in You.

⁸ Deliver me from all my transgressions, and do not make me a rebuke to the foolish.

⁹ I should have been dumb, and not have opened my mouth, because You did it.

¹⁰ Take Your plague away from me; for I am consumed by the stroke of Your hand.

¹¹ When, with rebukes, You chastise man for iniquity, You make his beauty melt away as a moth. Surely, every man is vanity. Selah.

¹² Hear my prayer, O LORD; and hear my cry. Do not keep silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You and a sojourner, as all my fathers.

¹³ Keep Your anger from me, so that I may recover my strength before I go away and am no more. To him who excels: A Psalm of David.

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