Job 13-14

Contemporary English Version

13 I know and understand
    every bit of this.
² None of you are smarter
    than I am;
there's nothing you know
    that I don't.
³ But I prefer to argue my case
    with God All-Powerful—
⁴ you are merely useless doctors,
    who treat me with lies.
⁵ The wisest thing you can do
is to keep quiet ⁶ and listen
    to my argument.
⁷ Are you telling lies for God
⁸ and not telling the whole truth
    when you argue his case?
⁹ If he took you to court,
could you fool him,
    just as you fool others?
¹⁰ If you were secretly unfair,
    he would correct you,
¹¹ and his glorious splendor
    would make you terrified.
¹² Your wisdom and arguments
    will blow away like dust.

¹³ Be quiet while I speak,
    and we'll see what happens.
¹⁴ I will be responsible
    for what happens to me.
¹⁵ God may kill me, but still
I will trust him^[a]
    and offer my defense.
¹⁶ This may be what saves me,
because no guilty person
    would come to his court.
¹⁷ Listen carefully to my words!
¹⁸ I have prepared my case well,
    and I am certain to win.
¹⁹ If you can prove me guilty,
    I will give up and die.

²⁰ I ask only two things
    of you, my God,
and I will no longer
    hide from you—
²¹ stop punishing
    and terrifying me!

14 ^(B) Life is short and sorrowful
    for every living soul.
² We are flowers that fade
    and shadows that vanish.
³ And so, I ask you, God,
    why pick on me?
⁴ There's no way a human
    can be completely pure.
⁵ Our time on earth is brief;
the number of our days
    is already decided by you.
⁶ Why don't you leave us alone
and let us find some happiness
    while we toil and labor?

⁷ When a tree is chopped down,
there is always the hope
    that it will sprout again.
⁸ Its roots and stump may rot,
⁹ but at the touch of water,
    it sprouts once again.
¹⁰ Humans are different—
    we die, and that's the end.
¹¹ We are like streams and lakes
    after the water has gone;
¹² we fall into the sleep of death,
never to rise again,
    until the sky disappears.
¹³ Please hide me, God,
    deep in the ground—
and when you are angry no more,
    remember to rescue me.

¹⁴ Will we humans live again?
I would gladly suffer
    and wait for my time.
¹⁵ My Creator, you would want me;
you would call out,
    and I would answer.
¹⁶ You would take care of me,
    but not count my sins—
¹⁷ you would put them in a bag,
tie it tight,
    and toss them away.
¹⁸ But in the real world,
mountains tumble,
    and rocks crumble;
¹⁹ streams wear away stones
and wash away soil.
    And you destroy our hopes!
²⁰ You change the way we look,
then send us away,
    wiped out forever.
²¹ We never live to know
if our children are praised
    or disgraced.
²² We feel no pain but our own,
and when we mourn,
    it's only for ourselves.