< Job 13 >
1 Lo, mine eye hath seen all [this], mine ear hath heard and understood it.
Lo! all this mine eye hath seen; Mine ear hath heard and understood it.
2 What ye know, [the same] do I know also: I [am] not inferior unto you.
What ye know, I know also; I am not inferior to you.
3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.
But O that I might speak with the Almighty! O that I might reason with God!
4 But ye [are] forgers of lies, ye [are] all physicians of no value.
For ye are forgers of lies; Physicians of no value, all of you!
5 O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.
O that ye would altogether hold your peace! This, truly, would be wisdom in you.
6 Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.
Hear, I pray you, my arguments; Attend to the pleadings of my lips!
7 Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?
Will ye speak falsehood for God? Will ye utter deceit for him?
8 Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?
Will ye be partial to his person? Will ye contend earnestly for God?
9 Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye [so] mock him?
Will it be well for you, if he search you thoroughly? Can ye deceive him, as one may deceive a man?
10 He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.
Surely he will rebuke you, If ye secretly have respect to persons.
11 Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?
Doth not his majesty make you afraid, And his dread fall upon you?
12 Your remembrances [are] like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.
Your maxims are words of dust; Your fortresses are fortresses of clay.
13 Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what [will].
Hold your peace, and let me speak: And then come upon me what will!
14 Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?
Why do I take my flesh in my teeth, And put my life in my hand?
15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
Lo! he slayeth me, and I have no hope! Yet will I justify my ways before him.
16 He also [shall be] my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.
This also shall be my deliverance; For no unrighteous man will come before him.
17 Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.
Hear attentively my words, And give ear to my declaration!
18 Behold now, I have ordered [my] cause; I know that I shall be justified.
Behold, I have now set in order my cause; I know that I am innocent.
19 Who [is] he [that] will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.
Who is he that can contend with me? For then would I hold my peace, and die!
20 Only do not two [things] unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee.
Only do not unto me two things, Then will I not hide myself from thy presence;
21 Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.
Let not thy hand be heavy upon me, And let not thy terrors make me afraid:
22 Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.
Then call upon me, and I will answer; Or I will speak, and answer thou me.
23 How many [are] mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.
How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me to know my faults and transgressions.
24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
Wherefore dost thou hide thy face, And account me as thine enemy?
25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
Wilt thou put in fear the driven leaf? Wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
26 For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.
For thou writest bitter things against me, And makest me inherit the sins of my youth.
27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.
Yea, thou puttest my feet in the stocks, And waterest all my paths; Thou hemmest in the soles of my feet.
28 And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.
And I, like an abandoned thing, shall waste away; Like a garment which is moth-eaten.