Job 13:20–14:22

Job Asks How He Has Sinned

20 “O God, grant me these two things,

and then I will be able to face you.

21 Remove your heavy hand from me,

and don’t terrify me with your awesome presence.

22 Now summon me, and I will answer!

Or let me speak to you, and you reply.

23 Tell me, what have I done wrong?

Show me my rebellion and my sin.

24 Why do you turn away from me?

Why do you treat me as your enemy?

25 Would you terrify a leaf blown by the wind?

Would you chase dry straw?

26 “You write bitter accusations against me

and bring up all the sins of my youth.

27 You put my feet in stocks.

You examine all my paths.

You trace all my footprints.

28 I waste away like rotting wood,

like a moth-eaten coat.

Chapter 14

1 “How frail is humanity!

How short is life, how full of trouble!

2 We blossom like a flower and then wither.

Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.

3 Must you keep an eye on such a frail creature

and demand an accounting from me?

4 Who can bring purity out of an impure person?

No one!

5 You have decided the length of our lives.

You know how many months we will live,

and we are not given a minute longer.

6 So leave us alone and let us rest!

We are like hired hands, so let us finish our work in peace.

7 “Even a tree has more hope!

If it is cut down, it will sprout again

and grow new branches.

8 Though its roots have grown old in the earth

and its stump decays,

9 at the scent of water it will bud

and sprout again like a new seedling.

10 “But when people die, their strength is gone.

They breathe their last, and then where are they?

11 As water evaporates from a lake

and a river disappears in drought,

12 people are laid to rest and do not rise again.

Until the heavens are no more, they will not wake up

nor be roused from their sleep.

13 “I wish you would hide me in the grave*

and forget me there until your anger has passed.

But mark your calendar to think of me again!

14 Can the dead live again?

If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle,

and I would eagerly await the release of death.

15 You would call and I would answer,

and you would yearn for me, your handiwork.

16 For then you would guard my steps,

instead of watching for my sins.

17 My sins would be sealed in a pouch,

and you would cover my guilt.

18 “But instead, as mountains fall and crumble

and as rocks fall from a cliff,

19 as water wears away the stones

and floods wash away the soil,

so you destroy people’s hope.

20 You always overpower them, and they pass from the scene.

You disfigure them in death and send them away.

21 They never know if their children grow up in honor

or sink to insignificance.

22 They suffer painfully;

their life is full of trouble.”