Job 13
1 Lo, my eye hath seen all [this], my 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, [the same] do 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 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.
Yet I speak for the Mighty One, And I delight to argue for God.
4 But ye [are] forgers of lies, ye [are] all physicians of no value.
And yet, you [are] forgers of falsehood, Physicians of nothing—all of you,
5 O that ye would altogether hold your peace and it would be your wisdom.
O that you would keep perfectly silent, And it would be to you for wisdom.
6 Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.
Please hear my argument, And attend to the pleadings of my lips,
7 Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?
Do you speak perverseness for God? And do you speak deceit for Him?
8 Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?
Do you accept His face, if you strive for God?
9 Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye [so] mock him?
Is [it] good that He searches you, If, as one mocks at a man, you mock at Him?
10 He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.
He surely reproves you, if you accept faces in secret.
11 Shall not his excellence make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?
Does His excellence not terrify you? And His dread fall on you?
12 Your remembrances [are] like to ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.
Your remembrances [are] allegories of ashes, For high places of clay [are] your heights.
13 Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on 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 Though he shall slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain my own ways before him.
Behold, He slays me—I do not wait! Only, I argue my ways to His face.
16 He also [shall be] my salvation: for a hypocrite shall not come before him.
Also—He [is] to me for salvation, For the profane do not come before Him.
17 Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.
Hear my word diligently, And my declaration with your ears.
18 Behold now, I have ordered [my] cause; I know that I shall be justified.
Now behold, I have set the cause in order, I have known that I am righteous.
19 Who [is] he [that] will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall expire.
Who [is] he that strives with me? For now I keep silent and gasp.
20 Only do not two [things] to me: then will I not hide myself from thee.
Only two things, O God, do with me, Then I am not hidden from Your face:
21 Withdraw thy hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.
Put Your hand far off from me, And do not let Your terror terrify me.
22 Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me 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 transgression and my sin.
How many iniquities and sins do I have? Let me know my transgression and my sin.
24 Why hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thy enemy?
Why do You hide Your face? And reckon me for an enemy to You?
25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and 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 to possess the iniquities of my youth.
For You write bitter things against me, And cause me to possess iniquities of my youth,
27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly to all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels 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 he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth-eaten.
And he, as a rotten thing, wears away, A moth has consumed him as a garment.”
