Job 12
1 Then Job said [to his three friends],
| ויען איוב ויאמר׃ |
2 “You (talk as though/You think) [SAR] that you are the people [whom everyone should listen to], and that when you die, there will be no more wise people.
| אמנם כי אתם עם ועמכם תמות חכמה׃ |
3 But I have as much good sense as you do; I am (not less wise than/certainly as wise as [LIT]) you. Certainly everyone knows [RHQ] all that you have said.
| גם לי לבב כמוכם לא נפל אנכי מכם ואת מי אין כמו אלה׃ |
4 My friends all laugh at me now. Previously I habitually requested God to help me, and he answered/helped me. I am righteous, a very godly man [DOU], but everyone laughs at me.
| שחק לרעהו אהיה קרא לאלוה ויענהו שחוק צדיק תמים׃ |
5 Those [like you] who have no troubles make fun of me; they cause those [like me] who are already suffering to have more troubles.
| לפיד בוז לעשתות שאנן נכון למועדי רגל׃ |
6 Bandits live peacefully, and no one threatens those who cause God to become angry; their own strength is the god [that they worship].
| ישליו אהלים לשדדים ובטחות למרגיזי אל לאשר הביא אלוה בידו׃ |
7 “But ask the wild animals [what they know about God], and [if they could speak] they would teach you. [If you could] ask the birds, they would tell you.
| ואולם שאל נא בהמות ותרך ועוף השמים ויגד לך׃ |
8 [If you could] ask the creatures [that crawl] on the ground, or the fish in the sea, they would tell you [about God].
| או שיח לארץ ותרך ויספרו לך דגי הים׃ |
9 All of them certainly know [RHQ] that it is Yahweh who has made them with his hands.
| מי לא ידע בכל אלה כי יד יהוה עשתה זאת׃ |
10 He directs the lives of all living creatures; he gives breath to all [us] humans [to enable us to remain alive].
| אשר בידו נפש כל חי ורוח כל בשר איש׃ |
11 And when we [SYN] hear what other people [like you] say, we [RHQ] think carefully about what they say [to determine what is good and what is bad], like we [SYN] taste food [to determine what is good and what is bad].
| הלא אזן מלין תבחן וחך אכל יטעם לו׃ |
12 Old people are [often] very wise, and because of having lived many years, they understand much,
| בישישים חכמה וארך ימים תבונה׃ |
13 but God is wise and very powerful; he has good sense and understands [everything].
| עמו חכמה וגבורה לו עצה ותבונה׃ |
14 If he tears [something] down, no one can rebuild it; if he puts someone in prison, no one can open [the prison doors to allow that person to escape].
| הן יהרוס ולא יבנה יסגר על איש ולא יפתח׃ |
15 When he prevents rain from falling, everything dries up. When he causes a lot of rain to fall, [the result is that] there are floods.
| הן יעצר במים ויבשו וישלחם ויהפכו ארץ׃ |
16 He is the one who is truly strong and wise; he rules over those who deceive others and those whom they deceive.
| עמו עז ותושיה לו שגג ומשגה׃ |
17 He [sometimes] causes [the king’s] officials to no longer be wise, and he causes judges to become foolish.
| מוליך יועצים שולל ושפטים יהולל׃ |
18 He takes from kings the robes that they wear and puts loincloths around their waists, [causing them to become slaves].
| מוסר מלכים פתח ויאסר אזור במתניהם׃ |
19 He takes from priests the sacred clothes that they wear, [with the result that they no longer can do their work], and takes power from those who rule others.
| מוליך כהנים שולל ואתנים יסלף׃ |
20 He [sometimes] causes those whom others trust to be unable to speak, and he causes old men to no longer have good sense.
| מסיר שפה לנאמנים וטעם זקנים יקח׃ |
21 He causes those who have authority to be despised, and he causes those who are powerful to no longer have any power/strength.
| שופך בוז על נדיבים ומזיח אפיקים רפה׃ |
22 He causes things that are hidden in the darkness to be revealed.
| מגלה עמקות מני חשך ויצא לאור צלמות׃ |
23 He causes some nations to become very great, and [later] he destroys them; he causes the territory of some nations to become much larger, and [later] he causes them to be defeated and their people to be scattered.
| משגיא לגוים ויאבדם שטח לגוים וינחם׃ |
24 He causes [some] rulers to become foolish/stupid, and then he causes them to wander around, lost, in an barren desert.
| מסיר לב ראשי עם הארץ ויתעם בתהו לא דרך׃ |
25 They grope around in the darkness, without any light, and he causes them to stagger like [SIM] people who are drunk.”
| ימששו חשך ולא אור ויתעם כשכור׃ |
