Job 12

Job Replies: The Lord Has Done This

1Then Job answered and said:

2 “No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.
3But I have ^aunderstanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know ^bsuch things as these?
4I am ^ca laughingstock to my friends;
I, who ^dcalled to God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
5In the thought of one who is ^eat ease there is contempt for misfortune;
it is ready for those whose feet slip.
6 ^fThe tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hand. ▼

▼The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

7 “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
8or the bushes of the earth, ▼

▼Or speak to the earth

and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9Who among all these does not know
that ⁱthe hand of the Lord has done this?
10In ^jhis hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind.
11Does not ^kthe ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
12Wisdom is with ^lthe aged,
and understanding in length of days.
13 ^m“With God ▼

▼Hebrew him

are wisdom and might;
he has counsel and understanding.
14If he tears down, none can rebuild;
if he ^oshuts a man in, none can open.
15If he ^pwithholds the waters, they dry up;
if he ^qsends them out, they overwhelm the land.
16With him are strength and ^rsound wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.
17He leads ^scounselors away stripped,
and ^tjudges he makes fools.
18He ^ulooses the bonds of kings
and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
19He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows the mighty.
20He deprives of speech those who are trusted
^vand takes away the discernment of the elders.
21He ^wpours contempt on princes
and loosens the belt of the strong.
22He ^xuncovers the deeps out of darkness
and brings ^ydeep darkness to light.
23He ^zmakes nations great, and he destroys them;
he enlarges nations, and ^aaleads them away.
24He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth
and ^abmakes them wander in a trackless waste.
25They ^acgrope in the dark without light,
and he makes them ^adstagger like a drunken man.

Job 13

Job Continues: Still I Will Hope in God

1 “Behold, my eye has seen all this,
my ear has heard and understood it.
2 ^aeWhat you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
3 ^afBut I would speak to the Almighty,
and I desire to ^agargue my case with God.
4As for you, ^ahyou whitewash with lies;
^aiworthless physicians are you all.
5Oh that you would ^ajkeep silent,
and it would be your wisdom!
6Hear now my argument
and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7Will you ^akspeak falsely for God
and speak ^aldeceitfully for him?
8Will you show partiality toward him?
Will you ^amplead the case for God?
9Will it be well with you when he ^ansearches you out?
Or ^aocan you deceive him, as one deceives a man?
10He will surely rebuke you
if in secret you show partiality.
11Will not his ^apmajesty terrify you,
and the dread of him fall upon you?
12Your maxims are proverbs of ^aqashes;
your defenses are defenses of clay.
13 “Let me have silence, and I will speak,
and let come on me what may.
14Why should I take my flesh in my teeth
and ^arput my life in my hand?
15 ^asThough he slay me, I will ^athope in him; ▼

▼Or Behold, he will slay me; I have no hope

yet I will ^avargue my ways to his face.
16This will be my salvation,
that the godless shall not come before him.
17 ^awKeep listening to my words,
and let my declaration be in your ears.
18Behold, I have ^axprepared my case;
I know that I shall be in the right.
19 ^ayWho is there who will contend with me?
For then I would be silent and die.
20Only grant me two things,
then I will not ^azhide myself from your face:
21 ^bawithdraw your hand far from me,
and let not ^bbdread of you terrify me.
22 ^bcThen call, and I will answer;
or let me speak, and you reply to me.
23How many are my iniquities and my sins?
^bdMake me know my transgression and my sin.
24Why ^bedo you hide your face
and ^bfcount me as your enemy?
25Will you frighten ^bga driven leaf
and pursue dry ^bhchaff?
26For you ^biwrite bitter things against me
and make me inherit ^bjthe iniquities of my youth.
27You put my feet in ^bkthe stocks
and ^blwatch all my paths;
you set a limit for ▼

▼Or  you marked

the soles of my feet.
28Man ▼

▼Hebrew He

wastes away like ^boa rotten thing,
like a garment that is ^bpmoth-eaten.

Job 14

Job Continues: Death Comes Soon to All

1 “Man who is ^bqborn of a woman
is ^brfew of days and ^bsfull of trouble.
2He comes out like ^bta flower and ^buwithers;
he flees like ^bva shadow and continues not.
3And do you ^bwopen your eyes on such a one
and ^bxbring me into judgment with you?
4Who can bring ^bya clean thing out of an unclean?
There is not one.
5Since his ^bzdays are determined,
and ^cathe number of his months is with you,
and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
6 ^cblook away from him and leave him alone, ▼

▼Probable reading; Hebrew  look away from him, that he may cease

that he may enjoy, like ^cda hired hand, his day.
7 “For there is hope for a tree,
if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
8Though its root grow old in the earth,
and ^ceits stump die in the soil,
9yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put out ^cfbranches like a young plant.
10But a man dies and is laid low;
man breathes his last, and ^cgwhere is he?
11 ^chAs waters fail from a lake
and a river wastes away and dries up,
12so a man lies down and rises not again;
till ^cithe heavens are no more he will not awake
or be ^cjroused out of his sleep.
13Oh that you would ^ckhide me in ^clSheol,
that you would ^cmconceal me ^cnuntil your wrath be past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my ^coservice I would ^cpwait,
till my renewal ▼

▼Or relief

should come.
15You would ^crcall, and I would answer you;
you would long for the ^cswork of your hands.
16For then you would ^ctnumber my steps;
you would not keep ^cuwatch over my sin;
17my transgression would be ^cvsealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.
18 “But the mountain falls and ^cwcrumbles away,
and ^cxthe rock is removed from its place;
19the waters wear away the stones;
the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
so you destroy the hope of man.
20You prevail forever against him, and he passes;
you change his countenance, and send him away.
21His sons come to honor, and he ^cydoes not know it;
they are brought low, and he perceives it not.
22He feels only the pain of his own body,
and he mourns only for himself.”