Job 13-14

Common English Bible

13 Look, my eye has seen it all;
    my ear has heard and understood it.
² Just as you know, I also know;
    I’m not inferior to you.
³ But I want to speak to the Almighty;
    I would gladly present my case to God.

⁴ You, however, are plasterers of lies;
    ineffective healers, all of you.
⁵ Would that you were completely quiet;
    that would be your wisdom.
⁶ Hear my teaching
    and pay attention to the arguments of my lips.
⁷ Will you speak injustice for God,
    speak deceit on his behalf?
⁸ Will you be partial
    or contend for God?
⁹ Will it go well when he searches you,
    or can you fool him as you fool people?
¹⁰ He will certainly correct you
    if you’ve been secretly partial.
¹¹ Wouldn’t his majesty scare you
    and dread of him fall on you?
¹² Your old sayings are proverbs made of ashes,
    your sayings defenses made of clay.

¹³ Be quiet and I will speak,
    come what may.
¹⁴ For what reason will I take my flesh in my teeth,
    put my life in jeopardy?
¹⁵ He will slay me; I’m without hope;^[a]
    I will surely prove my way to his face.
¹⁶ Also this will be my vindication,
    that a godless person won’t come before him.
¹⁷ Listen closely to my words
    so that my remarks will be in your ears.

¹⁸ Look, I have laid out my case;
    I know that I’m innocent.
¹⁹ Who would dare contend with me,
    for then I would be quiet and die.
²⁰ Only don’t do two things to me,
    then I won’t hide from your face.
²¹ Remove your hand far from me
    and don’t terrify me with your anger.
²² Then call and I’ll answer,
    or I’ll speak and you can reply.
²³ How many are my offenses and sins?
    Inform me about my rebellions and sins.
²⁴ Why hide your face from me
    and consider me your enemy?
²⁵ Will you cause a wind-tossed leaf to tremble, or will you pursue dry straw?
²⁶ You even write bitter things about me,
    make me inherit my youthful indiscretions.
²⁷ You tie up my feet and restrict all actions;
    you stamp marks on the bottom of my feet.

²⁸ Surely a person wastes away like refuse,
    like clothing that a moth eats.

14 All of us^[b] are born of women,
    have few days, and are full of turmoil.
² Like a flower, we^[c] bloom, then wither,
    flee like a shadow, and don’t last.
(³ Yes, you open your eyes on this one;
    you bring me into trial against you.)
⁴ Who can make pure from impure?
    Nobody.
⁵ If our days are fixed, the number of our months with you,
    you set a statute and we can’t exceed it.
⁶ Look away from us that we may rest,
    until we are satisfied like a worker at day’s end.

⁷ Indeed there is hope for a tree.
    If it’s cut down and still sprouting
    and its shoots don’t fail,
⁸     if its roots age in the ground
        and its stump dies in the dust,
⁹     at the scent of water, it will bud
        and produce sprouts like a plant.
¹⁰ But a human dies and lies there;
    a person expires, and where is he?
¹¹ Water vanishes from the sea;
    a river dries up completely.
¹² But a human lies down and doesn’t rise
        until the heavens cease;
    they don’t get up and awaken from sleep.

¹³ I wish you would hide me in the underworld,^[d]
    conceal me until your anger passes,
    set a time for me, and remember me.
¹⁴ If people die, will they live again?
    All the days of my service I would wait
        until my restoration took place.
¹⁵ You would call, and I would answer you;
    you would long for your handiwork.
¹⁶ Though you now number my steps,
    you would not keep a record of my sin.
¹⁷ My rebellion is sealed in a bag;
    you would cover my sin.

¹⁸ But an eroding mountain breaks up,
    and rock is displaced.
¹⁹ Water wears away boulders;
    floods carry away soil;
    you destroy a people’s hope.
²⁰ You overpower them relentlessly, and they die;
    you change their appearance and send them away.
²¹ Their children achieve honor, and they don’t know it;
    their children become insignificant, and they don’t see it.
²² They only feel the pain of their body,
    and they mourn for themselves.