Job 13
1 “Behold, my eye has seen all, My ear has heard, and it attends to it.
Behold, my eye has seen all these things, and my ear has heard, and I have understood each one.
2 According to your knowledge I have known—also I. I am not more fallen than you.
In conformity with your knowledge, I also know. I am not inferior to you.
3 Yet I speak for the Mighty One, And I delight to argue for God.
Yet I speak this way to the Almighty, and I desire to argue with God,
4 And yet, you [are] forgers of falsehood, Physicians of nothing—all of you,
having first shown that you fabricate lies and cultivate perverse teachings.
5 O that you would keep perfectly silent, And it would be to you for wisdom.
And I wish that you would remain silent, so that you would be counted among the wise.
6 Please hear my argument, And attend to the pleadings of my lips,
Therefore, listen to my correction, and pay attention to the judgment of my lips.
7 Do you speak perverseness for God? And do you speak deceit for Him?
Does God require your lie, so that you would speak deceitfully for him?
8 Do you accept His face, if you strive for God?
Have you taken his place, and do you struggle to give judgment in favor of God?
9 Is [it] good that He searches you, If, as one mocks at a man, you mock at Him?
Or, will it please him, from whom nothing can be concealed? Or, will he be deceived, like a man, by your deceitfulness?
10 He surely reproves you, if you accept faces in secret.
He will accuse you because in secret you have preempted his presence.
11 Does His excellence not terrify you? And His dread fall on you?
As soon as he moves himself, he will disturb you, and his dread will fall over you.
12 Your remembrances [are] allegories of ashes, For high places of clay [are] your heights.
Your remembrance will be compared to ashes, and your necks will be reduced to clay.
13 Keep silent from me, and I speak, And pass over me what will.
Be silent for a little while, so that I may speak whatever my mind suggests to me.
14 Why do I take my flesh in my teeth? And my soul put in my hand?
Why do I wound my flesh with my teeth, and carry my soul in my hands?
15 Behold, He slays me—I do not wait! Only, I argue my ways to His face.
And now, if he would kill me, I will hope in him; in this, truly, I will correct my ways in his sight.
16 Also—He [is] to me for salvation, For the profane do not come before Him.
And he will be my savior, for no hypocrite at all will approach in his sight.
17 Hear my word diligently, And my declaration with your ears.
Listen to my words, and perceive an enigma with your ears.
18 Now behold, I have set the cause in order, I have known that I am righteous.
If I will be judged, I know that I will be found to be just.
19 Who [is] he that strives with me? For now I keep silent and gasp.
Who is it that will go to judgment with me? Let him approach. Why should I be consumed in silence?
20 Only two things, O God, do with me, Then I am not hidden from Your face:
Do not do such things to me twice, and then I will not hide from your face.
21 Put Your hand far off from me, And do not let Your terror terrify me.
Take your hand far away from me, and do not let your dread terrify me.
22 And You call, and I answer, Or—I speak, and You answer me.
Call me, and I will answer you, or else I will speak, and you can answer me.
23 How many iniquities and sins do I have? Let me know my transgression and my sin.
How many iniquities and sins do I have? Reveal my crimes and offenses to me.
24 Why do You hide Your face? And reckon me for an enemy to You?
Why do you conceal your face and consider me to be your enemy?
25 Do You terrify a leaf driven away? And do You pursue the dry stubble?
Against a leaf, which is carried away by the wind, you reveal your power, and you pursue dry straw.
26 For You write bitter things against me, And cause me to possess iniquities of my youth,
For you write bitter things against me, and you want to consume me for the sins of my youth.
27 And you put my feet in the stocks, And observe all my paths—You set a print on the roots of my feet,
You have put my feet on a tether, and you have observed all my paths, and you have considered the steps of my feet.
28 And he, as a rotten thing, wears away, A moth has consumed him as a garment.”
I will be left to decay like something rotten and like a garment that is being eaten by moths.
