Job 12:1–14:22
Job Replies: The Lord Has Done This
12 Then Job answered and said:
2 “No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.
3 But I have bunderstanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know csuch things as these?
4 I am da laughingstock to my friends;
I, who ecalled to God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
5 In the thought of one who is fat ease there is contempt for misfortune;
it is ready for those whose feet slip.
6 gThe tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hand.1
7 “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
8 or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;2
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9 Who among all these does not know
that hthe hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In ihis hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind.
11 Does not jthe ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
12 Wisdom is with kthe aged,
and understanding in length of days.
13 l“With God3 are wisdom and might;
he has counsel and understanding.
14 If he tears down, none can rebuild;
if he mshuts a man in, none can open.
15 If he nwithholds the waters, they dry up;
if he osends them out, they overwhelm the land.
16 With him are strength and psound wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.
17 He leads qcounselors away stripped,
and rjudges he makes fools.
18 He slooses the bonds of kings
and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
19 He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows the mighty.
20 He deprives of speech those who are trusted
tand takes away the discernment of the elders.
21 He upours contempt on princes
and loosens the belt of the strong.
22 He vuncovers the deeps out of darkness
and brings wdeep darkness to light.
23 He xmakes nations great, and he destroys them;
he enlarges nations, and yleads them away.
24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth
and zmakes them wander in a trackless waste.
25 They agrope in the dark without light,
and he makes them bstagger like a drunken man.
Job Continues: Still I Will Hope in God
13 “Behold, my eye has seen all this,
my ear has heard and understood it.
2 cWhat you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
3 dBut I would speak to the Almighty,
and I desire to eargue my case with God.
4 As for you, fyou whitewash with lies;
gworthless physicians are you all.
5 Oh that you would hkeep silent,
and it would be your wisdom!
and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7 Will you ispeak falsely for God
and speak ideceitfully for him?
8 Will you show partiality toward him?
Will you jplead the case for God?
9 Will it be well with you when he ksearches you out?
Or lcan you deceive him, as one deceives a man?
if in secret you show partiality.
11 Will not his mmajesty terrify you,
and the dread of him fall upon you?
12 Your maxims are proverbs of nashes;
your defenses are defenses of clay.
13 “Let me have silence, and I will speak,
and let come on me what may.
14 Why should I take my flesh in my teeth
and oput my life in my hand?
15 pThough he slay me, I will qhope in him;1
yet I will rargue my ways to his face.
that the godless shall not come before him.
17 sKeep listening to my words,
and let my declaration be in your ears.
18 Behold, I have tprepared my case;
I know that I shall be in the right.
19 uWho is there who will contend with me?
For then I would be silent and die.
then I will not vhide myself from your face:
21 wwithdraw your hand far from me,
and let not xdread of you terrify me.
22 yThen call, and I will answer;
or let me speak, and you reply to me.
23 How many are my iniquities and my sins?
zMake me know my transgression and my sin.
24 Why ado you hide your face
and bcount me as your enemy?
25 Will you frighten ca driven leaf
and pursue dry dchaff?
26 For you ewrite bitter things against me
and make me inherit fthe iniquities of my youth.
27 You put my feet in gthe stocks
and hwatch all my paths;
you set a limit for2 the soles of my feet.
28 Man3 wastes away like ia rotten thing,
like a garment that is jmoth-eaten.
Job Continues: Death Comes Soon to All
14 “Man who is kborn of a woman
is lfew of days and mfull of trouble.
2 He comes out like na flower and owithers;
he flees like pa shadow and continues not.
3 And do you qopen your eyes on such a one
and rbring me into judgment with you?
4 Who can bring sa clean thing out of an unclean?
There is not one.
5 Since his tdays are determined,
and uthe number of his months is with you,
and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
6 vlook away from him and leave him alone,1
that he may enjoy, like wa hired hand, his day.
7 “For there is hope for a tree,
if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
8 Though its root grow old in the earth,
and xits stump die in the soil,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put out ybranches like a young plant.
10 But a man dies and is laid low;
man breathes his last, and zwhere is he?
11 aAs waters fail from a lake
and a river wastes away and dries up,
12 so a man lies down and rises not again;
till bthe heavens are no more he will not awake
or be croused out of his sleep.
13 Oh that you would dhide me in eSheol,
that you would dconceal me funtil your wrath be past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my gservice I would hwait,
till my renewal2 should come.
15 You would icall, and I would answer you;
you would long for the jwork of your hands.
16 For then you would knumber my steps;
you would not keep lwatch over my sin;
17 my transgression would be msealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.
18 “But the mountain falls and ncrumbles away,
and othe 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 man.
20 You prevail forever against him, and he passes;
you change his countenance, and send him away.
21 His sons come to honor, and he pdoes not know it;
they are brought low, and he perceives it not.
22 He feels only the pain of his own body,
and he mourns only for himself.”