Job 13
1 “Behold, my eye has seen all this. My ear has heard and understood it.
“Behold, my eye has seen all, My ear has heard, and it attends to it.
2 What you 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 “Surely I would speak to the Almighty. I desire to reason with God.
Yet I speak for the Mighty One, And I delight to argue for God.
4 But you are forgers of lies. You are all physicians of no value.
And yet, you [are] forgers of falsehood, Physicians of nothing—all of you,
5 Oh that you would be completely silent! Then you would be wise.
O that you would keep perfectly silent, And it would be to you for wisdom.
6 Hear now my reasoning. Listen to the pleadings of my lips.
Please hear my argument, And attend to the pleadings of my lips,
7 Will you speak unrighteously for God, and talk deceitfully for him?
Do you speak perverseness for God? And do you speak deceit for Him?
8 Will you show partiality to him? Will you 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 deceives a man, will you deceive 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 you secretly show partiality.
He surely reproves you, if you accept faces in secret.
11 Won’t his majesty make you afraid and his dread fall on you?
Does His excellence not terrify you? And His dread fall on you?
12 Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes. Your defenses are defenses of clay.
Your remembrances [are] allegories of ashes, For high places of clay [are] your heights.
13 “Be silent! Leave me alone, that I may speak. Let come on me what will.
Keep silent from me, and I speak, And pass over me what will.
14 Why should 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 Behold, he will kill me. I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.
Behold, He slays me—I do not wait! Only, I argue my ways to His face.
16 This also will be my salvation, that a godless man will not come before him.
Also—He [is] to me for salvation, For the profane do not come before Him.
17 Listen carefully to my speech. Let my declaration be in your ears.
Hear my word diligently, And my declaration with your ears.
18 See now, I have set my cause in order. I know that I am righteous.
Now behold, I have set the cause in order, I have known that I am righteous.
19 Who is he who will contend with me? For then would I hold my peace and give up the spirit.
Who [is] he that strives with me? For now I keep silent and gasp.
20 “Only don’t do two things to me, then I will not hide myself from your face:
Only two things, O God, do with me, Then I am not hidden from Your face:
21 withdraw your hand far from me, and don’t let your terror make me afraid.
Put Your hand far off from me, And do not let Your terror terrify me.
22 Then call, and I will answer, or let me speak, and you answer me.
And You call, and I answer, Or—I speak, and You answer me.
23 How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my disobedience and my sin.
How many iniquities and sins do I have? Let me know my transgression and my sin.
24 Why do you hide your face, and consider me your enemy?
Why do You hide Your face? And reckon me for an enemy to You?
25 Will you harass a driven leaf? Will you pursue the dry stubble?
Do You terrify a leaf driven away? And do You pursue the dry stubble?
26 For you write bitter things against me, and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.
For You write bitter things against me, And cause me to possess iniquities of my youth,
27 You also put my feet in the stocks, and mark all my paths. You set a bound to 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 though I am decaying like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.
And he, as a rotten thing, wears away, A moth has consumed him as a garment.”
