איוב 12
| ויען איוב ויאמר | 1 |
Then Job said [to his three friends],
| אמנם כי אתם-עם ועמכם תמות חכמה | 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.
| גם-לי לבב כמוכם--לא-נפל אנכי מכם ואת-מי-אין כמו-אלה | 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.
| שחק לרעהו אהיה--קרא לאלוה ויענהו שחוק צדיק תמים | 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.
| לפיד בוז לעשתות שאנן-- נכון למועדי רגל | 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.
| ישליו אהלים לשדדים ובטחות למרגיזי אל-- לאשר הביא אלוה בידו | 6 |
Bandits live peacefully, and no one threatens those who cause God to become angry; their own strength is the god [that they worship].
| ואולם--שאל-נא בהמות ותרך ועוף השמים ויגד-לך | 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.
| או שיח לארץ ותרך ויספרו לך דגי הים | 8 |
[If you could] ask the creatures [that crawl] on the ground, or the fish in the sea, they would tell you [about God].
| מי לא-ידע בכל-אלה כי יד-יהוה עשתה זאת | 9 |
All of them certainly know [RHQ] that it is Yahweh who has made them with his hands.
| אשר בידו נפש כל-חי ורוח כל-בשר-איש | 10 |
He directs the lives of all living creatures; he gives breath to all [us] humans [to enable us to remain alive].
| הלא-אזן מלין תבחן וחך אכל יטעם-לו | 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].
| בישישים חכמה וארך ימים תבונה | 12 |
Old people are [often] very wise, and because of having lived many years, they understand much,
| עמו חכמה וגבורה לו עצה ותבונה | 13 |
but God is wise and very powerful; he has good sense and understands [everything].
| הן יהרוס ולא יבנה יסגר על-איש ולא יפתח | 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 יעצר במים ויבשו וישלחם ויהפכו ארץ | 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.
| עמו עז ותושיה לו שגג ומשגה | 16 |
He is the one who is truly strong and wise; he rules over those who deceive others and those whom they deceive.
| מוליך יועצים שולל ושפטים יהולל | 17 |
He [sometimes] causes [the king’s] officials to no longer be wise, and he causes judges to become foolish.
| מוסר מלכים פתח ויאסר אזור במתניהם | 18 |
He takes from kings the robes that they wear and puts loincloths around their waists, [causing them to become slaves].
| מוליך כהנים שולל ואתנים יסלף | 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.
| מסיר שפה לנאמנים וטעם זקנים יקח | 20 |
He [sometimes] causes those whom others trust to be unable to speak, and he causes old men to no longer have good sense.
| שופך בוז על-נדיבים ומזיח אפיקים רפה | 21 |
He causes those who have authority to be despised, and he causes those who are powerful to no longer have any power/strength.
| מגלה עמקות מני-חשך ויצא לאור צלמות | 22 |
He causes things that are hidden in the darkness to be revealed.
| משגיא לגוים ויאבדם שטח לגוים וינחם | 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.
| מסיר--לב ראשי עם-הארץ ויתעם בתהו לא-דרך | 24 |
He causes [some] rulers to become foolish/stupid, and then he causes them to wander around, lost, in an barren desert.
| ימששו-חשך ולא-אור ויתעם כשכור | 25 |
They grope around in the darkness, without any light, and he causes them to stagger like [SIM] people who are drunk.”
