Job 11-17

English Standard Version

² “Should ^(B)a multitude of words go unanswered,
    and a man full of talk be judged right?
³ Should your babble silence men,
    and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
⁴ For ^(C)you say, ‘My ^(D)doctrine is pure,
    and I am clean in God's^[a] eyes.’
⁵ But oh, that God would speak
    and open his lips to you,
⁶ and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!
    For he is manifold in ^(E)understanding.^[b]
Know then that God ^(F)exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

^7 (G)“Can you find out the deep things of God?
    Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
⁸ It is ^(H)higher than heaven^[c]—what can you do?
    Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
⁹ Its measure is longer than the earth
    and broader than the sea.
¹⁰ If he ^(I)passes through and ^(J)imprisons
    and summons the court, who can ^(K)turn him back?
¹¹ For he knows ^(L)worthless men;
    when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?
¹² But a stupid man will get understanding
    when ^(M)a wild donkey's colt is ^(N)born a man!

¹³ “If you ^(O)prepare your heart,
    you will ^(P)stretch out your hands toward him.
¹⁴ If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
    and let not injustice dwell in your tents.
¹⁵ Surely then you will ^(Q)lift up your face without ^(R)blemish;
    you will be secure and will not fear.
¹⁶ You will ^(S)forget your misery;
    you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
¹⁷ And your life will be ^(T)brighter than the noonday;
    its darkness will be like the morning.
¹⁸ And you will feel secure, because there is hope;
    you will look around and ^(U)take your rest in security.
¹⁹ You will ^(V)lie down, and none will make you afraid;
    many will ^(W)court your favor.
²⁰ But ^(X)the eyes of the wicked will fail;
    all way of escape will be lost to them,
    and their hope is ^(Y)to breathe their last.”

² “No doubt you are the people,
    and wisdom will die with you.
³ But I have ^(Z)understanding as well as you;
    I am not inferior to you.
    Who does not know ^(AA)such things as these?
⁴ I am ^(AB)a laughingstock to my friends;
    I, who ^(AC)called to God and he answered me,
    a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
⁵ In the thought of one who is ^(AD)at ease there is contempt for misfortune;
    it is ready for those whose feet slip.
^6 (AE)The tents of robbers are at peace,
    and those who provoke God are secure,
    who bring their god in their hand.^[d]

⁷ “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
    the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
⁸ or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;^[e]
    and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
⁹ Who among all these does not know
    that ^(AF)the hand of the Lord has done this?
¹⁰ In ^(AG)his hand is the life of every living thing
    and the breath of all mankind.
¹¹ Does not ^(AH)the ear test words
    as the palate tastes food?
¹² Wisdom is with ^(AI)the aged,
    and understanding in length of days.

^13 (AJ)“With God^[f] are wisdom and might;
    he has counsel and understanding.
¹⁴ If he tears down, none can rebuild;
    if he ^(AK)shuts a man in, none can open.
¹⁵ If he ^(AL)withholds the waters, they dry up;
    if he ^(AM)sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
¹⁶ With him are strength and ^(AN)sound wisdom;
    the deceived and the deceiver are his.
¹⁷ He leads ^(AO)counselors away stripped,
    and ^(AP)judges he makes fools.
¹⁸ He ^(AQ)looses the bonds of kings
    and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
¹⁹ He leads priests away stripped
    and overthrows the mighty.
²⁰ He deprives of speech those who are trusted
    ^(AR)and takes away the discernment of the elders.
²¹ He ^(AS)pours contempt on princes
    and loosens the belt of the strong.
²² He ^(AT)uncovers the deeps out of darkness
    and brings ^(AU)deep darkness to light.
²³ He ^(AV)makes nations great, and he destroys them;
    he enlarges nations, and ^(AW)leads them away.
²⁴ He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth
    and ^(AX)makes them wander in a trackless waste.
²⁵ They ^(AY)grope in the dark without light,
    and he makes them ^(AZ)stagger like a drunken man.

¹³ “Let me have silence, and I will speak,
    and let come on me what may.
¹⁴ Why should I take my flesh in my teeth
    and ^(BN)put my life in my hand?
^15 (BO)Though he slay me, I will ^(BP)hope in him;^[g]
    yet I will ^(BQ)argue my ways to his face.
¹⁶ This will be my salvation,
    that the godless shall not come before him.
^17 (BR)Keep listening to my words,
    and let my declaration be in your ears.
¹⁸ Behold, I have ^(BS)prepared my case;
    I know that I shall be in the right.
^19 (BT)Who is there who will contend with me?
    For then I would be silent and die.
²⁰ Only grant me two things,
    then I will not ^(BU)hide myself from your face:
^21 (BV)withdraw your hand far from me,
    and let not ^(BW)dread of you terrify me.
^22 (BX)Then call, and I will answer;
    or let me speak, and you reply to me.
²³ How many are my iniquities and my sins?
    ^(BY)Make me know my transgression and my sin.
²⁴ Why ^(BZ)do you hide your face
    and ^(CA)count me as your enemy?
²⁵ Will you frighten ^(CB)a driven leaf
    and pursue dry ^(CC)chaff?
²⁶ For you ^(CD)write bitter things against me
    and make me inherit ^(CE)the iniquities of my youth.
²⁷ You put my feet in ^(CF)the stocks
    and ^(CG)watch all my paths;
    you set a limit for^[h] the soles of my feet.
²⁸ Man^[i] wastes away like ^(CH)a rotten thing,
    like a garment that is ^(CI)moth-eaten.

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 ^(CW)its stump die in the soil,
⁹ yet at the scent of water it will bud
    and put out ^(CX)branches like a young plant.
¹⁰ But a man dies and is laid low;
    man breathes his last, and ^(CY)where is he?
^11 (CZ)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 ^(DA)the heavens are no more he will not awake
    or be ^(DB)roused out of his sleep.
¹³ Oh that you would ^(DC)hide me in ^(DD)Sheol,
    that you would ^(DE)conceal me ^(DF)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 ^(DG)service I would ^(DH)wait,
    till my renewal^[k] should come.
¹⁵ You would ^(DI)call, and I would answer you;
    you would long for the ^(DJ)work of your hands.
¹⁶ For then you would ^(DK)number my steps;
    you would not keep ^(DL)watch over my sin;
¹⁷ my transgression would be ^(DM)sealed up in a bag,
    and you would cover over my iniquity.

¹⁸ “But the mountain falls and ^(DN)crumbles away,
    and ^(DO)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 ^(DP)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 ^(DR)a wise man answer with ^(DS)windy knowledge,
    and fill his ^(DT)belly with ^(DU)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^[l]
    and hindering meditation before God.
⁵ For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
    and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
⁶ Your ^(DV)own mouth condemns you, and not I;
    ^(DW)your own lips testify against you.

^7 (DX)“Are you the first man who was born?
    Or ^(DY)were you brought forth ^(DZ)before the hills?
⁸ Have you listened in ^(EA)the council of God?
    And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
^9 (EB)What do you know that we do not know?
    What do you understand that is not clear to us?
^10 (EC)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 ^(ED)spirit against God
    and bring such words out of your mouth?
^14 (EE)What is man, ^(EF)that he can be pure?
    Or he who is ^(EG)born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
¹⁵ Behold, God^{[m] (EH)}puts no trust in his ^(EI)holy ones,
    and the heavens are not pure in his sight;
^16 (EJ)how much less one who is abominable and ^(EK)corrupt,
    a man who ^(EL)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 ^(EM)from their fathers,
¹⁹ to whom alone the land was given,
    and no ^(EN)stranger passed among them).
²⁰ The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
    through all the ^(EO)years that are laid up for ^(EP)the ruthless.
^21 (EQ)Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
    in ^(ER)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 ^(ES)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 ^(ET)prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.
²⁵ Because he has stretched out his hand against God
    and defies the Almighty,
^26 (EU)running ^(EV)stubbornly against him
    with a thickly bossed shield;
²⁷ because he has ^(EW)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;^[n]
30 he will not depart from darkness;
    the flame will dry up his shoots,
    and by ^(EX)the breath of his mouth he will depart.
³¹ Let him not ^(EY)trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
    for emptiness will be his payment.
³² It will be paid in full ^(EZ)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 ^(FA)the company of the godless is barren,
    and ^(FB)fire consumes the tents of bribery.
³⁵ They ^(FC)conceive trouble and give birth to evil,
    and their ^(FD)womb prepares deceit.”

² “I have heard ^(FE)many such things;
    ^(FF)miserable comforters are you all.
³ Shall ^(FG)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 ^(FH)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;
    ^(FI)he has^[o] made desolate all my company.
⁸ And he has shriveled me up,
    which is ^(FJ)a witness against me,
and my ^(FK)leanness has risen up against me;
    it testifies to my face.
⁹ He has ^(FL)torn me in his wrath ^(FM)and hated me;
    he has ^(FN)gnashed his teeth at me;
    my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
¹⁰ Men have ^(FO)gaped at me with their mouth;
    they have ^(FP)struck me insolently on the cheek;
    they ^(FQ)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 ^(FR)target;
¹³     his ^(FS)archers surround me.
He slashes open my kidneys ^(FT)and does not spare;
    he ^(FU)pours out my gall on the ground.
¹⁴ He breaks me with ^(FV)breach upon breach;
    he ^(FW)runs upon me like a warrior.
¹⁵ I have sewed ^(FX)sackcloth upon my skin
    and have laid ^(FY)my strength ^(FZ)in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is red with weeping,
    and on my eyelids is ^(GA)deep darkness,
¹⁷ although there is no ^(GB)violence in my hands,
    and my prayer is pure.

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

³ “Lay down a pledge for me with you;
    who is there who will put up ^(GM)security for me?
⁴ Since you have closed their hearts to understanding,
    therefore you will not let them triumph.
⁵ He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property—
    the ^(GN)eyes of his children will fail.

⁶ “He has made me ^(GO)a byword of the peoples,
    and I am one before whom men spit.
⁷ My ^(GP)eye has grown dim from vexation,
    and all my members are like ^(GQ)a shadow.
⁸ The upright are ^(GR)appalled at this,
    and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
⁹ Yet the righteous holds to his way,
    and he who has ^(GS)clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
¹⁰ But you, ^(GT)come on again, all of you,
    and I shall not find a wise man among you.
¹¹ My ^(GU)days are past; my plans are broken off,
    the desires of my heart.
¹² They ^(GV)make night into day:
    ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’^[q]
13 If I hope for ^(GW)Sheol as ^(GX)my house,
    if I make my bed in darkness,
¹⁴ if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
    and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
¹⁵ where then is my hope?
    Who will see my hope?
¹⁶ Will it go down to the bars of ^(GY)Sheol?
    Shall we ^(GZ)descend together ^(HA)into the dust?”^[r]