Job 14-16

English Standard Version

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.
⁸ Though its root grow old in the earth,
    and ^(N)its stump die in the soil,
⁹ yet at the scent of water it will bud
    and put out ^(O)branches like a young plant.
¹⁰ But a man dies and is laid low;
    man breathes his last, and ^(P)where is he?
^11 (Q)As waters fail from a lake
    and a river wastes away and dries up,
¹² so a man lies down and rises not again;
    till ^(R)the heavens are no more he will not awake
    or be ^(S)roused out of his sleep.
¹³ Oh that you would ^(T)hide me in ^(U)Sheol,
    that you would ^(V)conceal me ^(W)until your wrath be past,
    that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
¹⁴ If a man dies, shall he live again?
    All the days of my ^(X)service I would ^(Y)wait,
    till my renewal^[b] should come.
¹⁵ You would ^(Z)call, and I would answer you;
    you would long for the ^(AA)work of your hands.
¹⁶ For then you would ^(AB)number my steps;
    you would not keep ^(AC)watch over my sin;
¹⁷ my transgression would be ^(AD)sealed up in a bag,
    and you would cover over my iniquity.

¹⁸ “But the mountain falls and ^(AE)crumbles away,
    and ^(AF)the rock is removed from its place;
¹⁹ the waters wear away the stones;
    the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
    so you destroy the hope of man.
²⁰ You prevail forever against him, and he passes;
    you change his countenance, and send him away.
²¹ His sons come to honor, and he ^(AG)does not know it;
    they are brought low, and he perceives it not.
²² He feels only the pain of his own body,
    and he mourns only for himself.”

² “Should ^(AI)a wise man answer with ^(AJ)windy knowledge,
    and fill his ^(AK)belly with ^(AL)the east wind?
³ Should he argue in unprofitable talk,
    or in words with which he can do no good?
⁴ But you are doing away with the fear of God^[c]
    and hindering meditation before God.
⁵ For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
    and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
⁶ Your ^(AM)own mouth condemns you, and not I;
    ^(AN)your own lips testify against you.

^7 (AO)“Are you the first man who was born?
    Or ^(AP)were you brought forth ^(AQ)before the hills?
⁸ Have you listened in ^(AR)the council of God?
    And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
^9 (AS)What do you know that we do not know?
    What do you understand that is not clear to us?
^10 (AT)Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,
    older than your father.
¹¹ Are the comforts of God too small for you,
    or the word that deals gently with you?
¹² Why does your heart carry you away,
    and why do your eyes flash,
¹³ that you turn your ^(AU)spirit against God
    and bring such words out of your mouth?
^14 (AV)What is man, ^(AW)that he can be pure?
    Or he who is ^(AX)born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
¹⁵ Behold, God^{[d] (AY)}puts no trust in his ^(AZ)holy ones,
    and the heavens are not pure in his sight;
^16 (BA)how much less one who is abominable and ^(BB)corrupt,
    a man who ^(BC)drinks injustice like water!

¹⁷ “I will show you; hear me,
    and what I have seen I will declare
¹⁸ (what wise men have told,
    without hiding it ^(BD)from their fathers,
¹⁹ to whom alone the land was given,
    and no ^(BE)stranger passed among them).
²⁰ The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
    through all the ^(BF)years that are laid up for ^(BG)the ruthless.
^21 (BH)Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
    in ^(BI)prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
²² He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,
    and he is marked for the sword.
²³ He ^(BJ)wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
    He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;
²⁴ distress and anguish terrify him;
    they ^(BK)prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.
²⁵ Because he has stretched out his hand against God
    and defies the Almighty,
^26 (BL)running ^(BM)stubbornly against him
    with a thickly bossed shield;
²⁷ because he has ^(BN)covered his face with his fat
    and gathered fat upon his waist
²⁸ and has lived in desolate cities,
    in houses that none should inhabit,
    which were ready to become heaps of ruins;
²⁹ he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure,
    nor will his possessions spread over the earth;^[e]
30 he will not depart from darkness;
    the flame will dry up his shoots,
    and by ^(BO)the breath of his mouth he will depart.
³¹ Let him not ^(BP)trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
    for emptiness will be his payment.
³² It will be paid in full ^(BQ)before his time,
    and his branch will not be green.
³³ He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,
    and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.
³⁴ For ^(BR)the company of the godless is barren,
    and ^(BS)fire consumes the tents of bribery.
³⁵ They ^(BT)conceive trouble and give birth to evil,
    and their ^(BU)womb prepares deceit.”

² “I have heard ^(BV)many such things;
    ^(BW)miserable comforters are you all.
³ Shall ^(BX)windy words have an end?
    Or what provokes you that you answer?
⁴ I also could speak as you do,
    if you were in my place;
I could join words together against you
    and ^(BY)shake my head at you.
⁵ I could strengthen you with my mouth,
    and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.

⁶ “If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
    and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
⁷ Surely now God has worn me out;
    ^(BZ)he has^[f] made desolate all my company.
⁸ And he has shriveled me up,
    which is ^(CA)a witness against me,
and my ^(CB)leanness has risen up against me;
    it testifies to my face.
⁹ He has ^(CC)torn me in his wrath ^(CD)and hated me;
    he has ^(CE)gnashed his teeth at me;
    my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
¹⁰ Men have ^(CF)gaped at me with their mouth;
    they have ^(CG)struck me insolently on the cheek;
    they ^(CH)mass themselves together against me.
¹¹ God gives me up to the ungodly
    and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
¹² I was at ease, and he broke me apart;
    he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
he set me up as his ^(CI)target;
¹³     his ^(CJ)archers surround me.
He slashes open my kidneys ^(CK)and does not spare;
    he ^(CL)pours out my gall on the ground.
¹⁴ He breaks me with ^(CM)breach upon breach;
    he ^(CN)runs upon me like a warrior.
¹⁵ I have sewed ^(CO)sackcloth upon my skin
    and have laid ^(CP)my strength ^(CQ)in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is red with weeping,
    and on my eyelids is ^(CR)deep darkness,
¹⁷ although there is no ^(CS)violence in my hands,
    and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ “O earth, ^(CT)cover not my blood,
    and let my ^(CU)cry find no resting place.
¹⁹ Even now, behold, my ^(CV)witness is in heaven,
    and he who testifies for me is ^(CW)on high.
²⁰ My friends ^(CX)scorn me;
    my eye pours out tears to God,
²¹ that he would ^(CY)argue the case of a man with God,
    as^[g] a son of man does with his neighbor.
²² For when a few years have come
    I shall go the way ^(CZ)from which I shall not return.