Job 13
1 Lo! all this mine eye hath seen; Mine ear hath heard and understood it.
“Behold, my eye has seen all, My ear has heard, and it attends to it.
2 What ye know, I know also; I am not inferior to you.
According to your knowledge I have known—also I. I am not more fallen than you.
3 But O that I might speak with the Almighty! O that I might reason with God!
Yet I speak for the Mighty One, And I delight to argue for God.
4 For ye are forgers of lies; Physicians of no value, all of you!
And yet, you [are] forgers of falsehood, Physicians of nothing—all of you,
5 O that ye would altogether hold your peace! This, truly, would be wisdom in you.
O that you would keep perfectly silent, And it would be to you for wisdom.
6 Hear, I pray you, my arguments; Attend to the pleadings of my lips!
Please hear my argument, And attend to the pleadings of my lips,
7 Will ye speak falsehood for God? Will ye utter deceit for him?
Do you speak perverseness for God? And do you speak deceit for Him?
8 Will ye be partial to his person? Will ye contend earnestly for God?
Do you accept His face, if you strive for God?
9 Will it be well for you, if he search you thoroughly? Can ye deceive him, as one may deceive a man?
Is [it] good that He searches you, If, as one mocks at a man, you mock at Him?
10 Surely he will rebuke you, If ye secretly have respect to persons.
He surely reproves you, if you accept faces in secret.
11 Doth not his majesty make you afraid, And his dread fall upon you?
Does His excellence not terrify you? And His dread fall on you?
12 Your maxims are words of dust; Your fortresses are fortresses of clay.
Your remembrances [are] allegories of ashes, For high places of clay [are] your heights.
13 Hold your peace, and let me speak: And then come upon me what will!
Keep silent from me, and I speak, And pass over me what will.
14 Why do I take my flesh in my teeth, And put my life in my hand?
Why do I take my flesh in my teeth? And my soul put in my hand?
15 Lo! he slayeth me, and I have no hope! Yet will I justify my ways before him.
Behold, He slays me—I do not wait! Only, I argue my ways to His face.
16 This also shall be my deliverance; For no unrighteous man will come before him.
Also—He [is] to me for salvation, For the profane do not come before Him.
17 Hear attentively my words, And give ear to my declaration!
Hear my word diligently, And my declaration with your ears.
18 Behold, I have now set in order my cause; I know that I am innocent.
Now behold, I have set the cause in order, I have known that I am righteous.
19 Who is he that can contend with me? For then would I hold my peace, and die!
Who [is] he that strives with me? For now I keep silent and gasp.
20 Only do not unto me two things, Then will I not hide myself from thy presence;
Only two things, O God, do with me, Then I am not hidden from Your face:
21 Let not thy hand be heavy upon me, And let not thy terrors make me afraid:
Put Your hand far off from me, And do not let Your terror terrify me.
22 Then call upon me, and I will answer; Or I will speak, and answer thou me.
And You call, and I answer, Or—I speak, and You answer me.
23 How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me to know my faults and transgressions.
How many iniquities and sins do I have? Let me know my transgression and my sin.
24 Wherefore dost thou hide thy face, And account me as thine enemy?
Why do You hide Your face? And reckon me for an enemy to You?
25 Wilt thou put in fear the driven leaf? Wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
Do You terrify a leaf driven away? And do You pursue the dry stubble?
26 For thou writest bitter things against me, And makest me inherit the sins of my youth.
For You write bitter things against me, And cause me to possess iniquities of my youth,
27 Yea, thou puttest my feet in the stocks, And waterest all my paths; Thou hemmest in the soles of my feet.
And you put my feet in the stocks, And observe all my paths—You set a print on the roots of my feet,
28 And I, like an abandoned thing, shall waste away; Like a garment which is moth-eaten.
And he, as a rotten thing, wears away, A moth has consumed him as a garment.”
