Job 13
1 Look, I've seen all this with my own eyes, and heard it with my own ears, and I understand it.
“Behold, my eye has seen all, My ear has heard, and it attends to it.
2 I know what you know. You're no better than me.
According to your knowledge I have known—also I. I am not more fallen than you.
3 But I would still like to speak to the Almighty: I want to prove myself to God!
Yet I speak for the Mighty One, And I delight to argue for God.
4 As for you, you cover things up by telling lies! You are all like doctors who can't heal anyone!
And yet, you [are] forgers of falsehood, Physicians of nothing—all of you,
5 I wish you would all be quiet! That would be the wisest thing for you to do.
O that you would keep perfectly silent, And it would be to you for wisdom.
6 Listen to my argument and pay attention to what I have to say.
Please hear my argument, And attend to the pleadings of my lips,
7 Do you think you can tell lies to defend God? Are you talking deceitfully on his behalf?
Do you speak perverseness for God? And do you speak deceit for Him?
8 Or are you wanting to show God favoritism? Are you going to argue God's case for him?
Do you accept His face, if you strive for God?
9 Will you be found to be doing good when God examines you? Can you fool him as if he's a human being?
Is [it] good that He searches you, If, as one mocks at a man, you mock at Him?
10 No, he will definitely rebuke you if you secretly show him favoritism!
He surely reproves you, if you accept faces in secret.
11 Isn't his majesty terrifying to you? Aren't you so afraid of him you're paralyzed?
Does His excellence not terrify you? And His dread fall on you?
12 Your sayings are as helpful as ashes; your arguments as weak as clay.
Your remembrances [are] allegories of ashes, For high places of clay [are] your heights.
13 Be quiet. Don't talk to me. Let me speak, come what may.
Keep silent from me, and I speak, And pass over me what will.
14 I take responsibility for myself; I am ready to risk my life.
Why do I take my flesh in my teeth? And my soul put in my hand?
15 Even though he kills me, I will hope in him. I am still going to defend my ways before him.
Behold, He slays me—I do not wait! Only, I argue my ways to His face.
16 By doing this I will be saved since no godless person could come before him.
Also—He [is] to me for salvation, For the profane do not come before Him.
17 Listen carefully to what I say, pay attention to my explanation.
Hear my word diligently, And my declaration with your ears.
18 Look, I've prepared my case—I know I will be proved right.
Now behold, I have set the cause in order, I have known that I am righteous.
19 Who wants to argue with me? If I'm proved wrong, I'm prepared to be quiet and die.
Who [is] he that strives with me? For now I keep silent and gasp.
20 God, I have two requests, then I can face you.
Only two things, O God, do with me, Then I am not hidden from Your face:
21 Stop beating me, and stop terrifying me.
Put Your hand far off from me, And do not let Your terror terrify me.
22 Then call, and I will answer. Or let me speak, and then answer me.
And You call, and I answer, Or—I speak, and You answer me.
23 What are my sins and iniquities? Show me what have I done wrong; how have I rebelled against you?
How many iniquities and sins do I have? Let me know my transgression and my sin.
24 Why are you unfriendly towards me? Why do you treat me as your enemy?
Why do You hide Your face? And reckon me for an enemy to You?
25 Would you frighten a leaf blown by the wind or hunt down a piece of straw?
Do You terrify a leaf driven away? And do You pursue the dry stubble?
26 For you write down bitter things against me and pay me back for the sins of my youth.
For You write bitter things against me, And cause me to possess iniquities of my youth,
27 You put my feet in the stocks. You keep an eye on every step I take. You even inspect my footprints!
And you put my feet in the stocks, And observe all my paths—You set a print on the roots of my feet,
28 I'm falling apart like something rotten, like moth-eaten clothes.
And he, as a rotten thing, wears away, A moth has consumed him as a garment.”
