Job Argues His Case with God

20 “Only youk must not do these two things to me;

then I will not hide from your face:

21 withdraw yourl hand from me,

and let not yourm dread terrify me.

22 Thenn call, and I myselfo will answer;

or let me speak, thenp reply to me.

23 “⌊How many⌋q are my iniquities and sins?

Make known to me my transgression and my sin.

24 Why do your hide yours face

and count me as yourt enemy?

25 Will youu terrify a blown leaf?

And will youv pursue dry stubble?

26 “Indeed, youw write bitter things against me,

and youx make me reap the iniquities of my childhood.

27 And youy put my feet in the block,

and youz watch all my paths;

you carve a mark on the soles of my feet.a

28 And he himself bwastes away like something rotten,

like a garment that the moth has eaten.

Job Continues to Argue His Case with God

14 “A human being born of a woman

is short of days and full of troubles.a

2 Like a flower he comes up, and he withers away;

and he flees like ab shadow, butc he does not last.

3 Even on such a one you fix your eyes,

and you bring me into judgment with you.

4 “Who can bring a clean thing from an unclean thing?

No one!d

5 If his days are determined, the number of his months is with you;

you have appointed his boundaries, and he cannot cross them.

6 Look away from him, and let him desist

until he enjoys his days like a laborer.

7 “Indeed, there is hope for a tree:

if it is cut down, thene it will sprout again,

and its new shoots will not cease;

8 though its root grows old in the earth,

and its stump dies in the dust,

9 atf the scent of water it will bud,

and it will put forth branches like a young plant.

10 “Butg a man dies, and he dwindles away;

thush a human being passes away, and where is he?i

11 As water disappears from a lake,

and a river withers away and dries up,j

12 ⌊so⌋k a man lies down, and he does not arise.

⌊Until the heavens are no more⌋,l they will not awaken,

and they will not be roused out of their sleep.

13 “⌊O that⌋m you would conceal me in Sheol,

that you would hide me ⌊until your wrath is past⌋,n

that you would appoint a set time for me and remember me.

14 If a man dies, will he live again?

All the days of my compulsory service I will wait,

until the coming of my relief.

15 You would call, and I myselfo would answer you;

you would long for the work of your hand.

16 For thenp you would count my steps,

but you would not keep watch over my sin.

17 My transgression would be sealed in a bag,

and you would cover over my guilt.

18 “Butq a mountain falls; it crumbles away,

and a rock moves away from its place.

19 Water wears away stones;

its torrents wash away the soil of the earth;

sor you destroy the hope of human beings.

20 You overpower him forever, and he passes away;

you change ⌊his countenance⌋,s ⌊then⌋t you send him away.

21 His children may come to honor, butu he does not know it;

orv they may become lowly, butw he does not realize it.x

22 He feels only the pain of his own body,y

and his inner selfz mourns for him.”a