Job 13
1 Lo, all [this] hath my eye seen, my ear hath heard and noted it for itself;
Lo! all this mine eye hath seen; Mine ear hath heard and understood it.
2 As much as ye know, do I also know: I do not fall short compared with you.
What ye know, I know also; I am not inferior to you.
3 However, I would gladly speak to the Almighty; and to argue with God do I desire.
But O that I might speak with the Almighty! O that I might reason with God!
4 But ye are inventors of falsehood, physicians of no value are all of you.
For ye are forgers of lies; Physicians of no value, all of you!
5 Oh, who would grant that ye might keep a profound silences! and it would he accounted unto you as wisdom.
O that ye would altogether hold your peace! This, truly, would be wisdom in you.
6 Do hearken but to my reasoning, and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
Hear, I pray you, my arguments; Attend to the pleadings of my lips!
7 Will ye speak wrong things for God? and will ye speak for him deceitfully?
Will ye speak falsehood for God? Will ye utter deceit for him?
8 Will ye show him undue favor, when ye contend for God?
Will ye be partial to his person? Will ye contend earnestly for God?
9 Will it be well if he should search you out? or as one overreacheth another mortal, do ye expect to overreach 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 in secret you show him undue favor.
Surely he will rebuke you, If ye secretly have respect to persons.
11 Doth not his excellency terrify you? and his dread fall upon you?
Doth not his majesty make you afraid, And his dread fall upon you?
12 The things you remember are mere proverbs of ashes, your high-places are high-places of clay.
Your maxims are words of dust; Your fortresses are fortresses of clay.
13 Keep silence toward me, that I may indeed speak, and let pass over me what will.
Hold your peace, and let me speak: And then come upon me what will!
14 Whatever it may cost, I will take my flesh in my teeth, and my life will I put in my hand.
Why do I take my flesh in my teeth, And put my life in my hand?
15 Lo, though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: only I will argue my own ways before him.
Lo! he slayeth me, and I have no hope! Yet will I justify my ways before him.
16 Even he will come to my assistance; for a hypocrite cannot come before him.
This also shall be my deliverance; For no unrighteous man will come before him.
17 Listen well to my word, and to my demonstration with your ears.
Hear attentively my words, And give ear to my declaration!
18 Behold now, I have arrayed my cause: I know that I shall be indeed justified.
Behold, I have now set in order my cause; I know that I am innocent.
19 Who is he that will contend with me? for now, if I keep silence, I must perish.
Who is he that can contend with me? For then would I hold my peace, and die!
20 Only two things do not unto me: then will I not hide myself from thy presence.
Only do not unto me two things, Then will I not hide myself from thy presence;
21 Remove thy hand far from me; and let not thy dread terrify me.
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 do thou reply to me.
Then call upon me, and I will answer; Or I will speak, and answer thou me.
23 How many are my iniquities and sins? my transgression and my sin let me know.
How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me to know my faults and transgressions.
24 Wherefore wilt thou hide thy face, and regard me as an enemy unto thee?
Wherefore dost thou hide thy face, And account me as thine enemy?
25 Wilt thou terrify a leaf driven about [by the wind]? and wilt thou pursue dry stubble?
Wilt thou put in fear the driven leaf? Wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
26 That thou writest bitter decrees against me, and assignest unto me the iniquities of my youth;
For thou writest bitter things against me, And makest me inherit the sins of my youth.
27 And [that] thou puttest my feet in the stocks, and watchest narrowly all my paths; [and] settest for thyself a mark upon the soles 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 yet the body decayeth like a rotten thing, as a garment that the moth hath eaten.
And I, like an abandoned thing, shall waste away; Like a garment which is moth-eaten.
