Job 12:20-14:16

English Standard Version

²⁰He deprives of speech those who are trusted
    ^(A)and takes away the discernment of the elders.
²¹He ^(B)pours contempt on princes
    and loosens the belt of the strong.
²²He ^(C)uncovers the deeps out of darkness
    and brings ^(D)deep darkness to light.
²³He ^(E)makes nations great, and he destroys them;
    he enlarges nations, and ^(F)leads them away.
²⁴He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth
    and ^(G)makes them wander in a trackless waste.
²⁵They ^(H)grope in the dark without light,
    and he makes them ^(I)stagger like a drunken man.

Job Continues: Still I Will Hope in God

13 “Behold, my eye has seen all this,
    my ear has heard and understood it.
²^(J)What you know, I also know;
    I am not inferior to you.
³^(K)But I would speak to the Almighty,
    and I desire to ^(L)argue my case with God.
⁴As for you, ^(M)you whitewash with lies;
    ^(N)worthless physicians are you all.
⁵Oh that you would ^(O)keep silent,
    and it would be your wisdom!
⁶Hear now my argument
    and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
⁷Will you ^(P)speak falsely for God
    and speak ^(Q)deceitfully for him?
⁸Will you show partiality toward him?
    Will you ^(R)plead the case for God?
⁹Will it be well with you when he ^(S)searches you out?
    Or ^(T)can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?
¹⁰He will surely rebuke you
    if in secret you show partiality.
¹¹Will not his ^(U)majesty terrify you,
    and the dread of him fall upon you?
¹²Your maxims are proverbs of ^(V)ashes;
    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 ^(W)put my life in my hand?
¹⁵^(X)Though he slay me, I will ^(Y)hope in him;^[a]
    yet I will ^(Z)argue my ways to his face.
¹⁶This will be my salvation,
    that the godless shall not come before him.
¹⁷^(AA)Keep listening to my words,
    and let my declaration be in your ears.
¹⁸Behold, I have ^(AB)prepared my case;
    I know that I shall be in the right.
¹⁹^(AC)Who is there who will contend with me?
    For then I would be silent and die.
²⁰Only grant me two things,
    then I will not ^(AD)hide myself from your face:
²¹^(AE)withdraw your hand far from me,
    and let not ^(AF)dread of you terrify me.
²²^(AG)Then call, and I will answer;
    or let me speak, and you reply to me.
²³How many are my iniquities and my sins?
    ^(AH)Make me know my transgression and my sin.
²⁴Why ^(AI)do you hide your face
    and ^(AJ)count me as your enemy?
²⁵Will you frighten ^(AK)a driven leaf
    and pursue dry ^(AL)chaff?
²⁶For you ^(AM)write bitter things against me
    and make me inherit ^(AN)the iniquities of my youth.
²⁷You put my feet in ^(AO)the stocks
    and ^(AP)watch all my paths;
    you set a limit for^[b] the soles of my feet.
²⁸Man^[c] wastes away like ^(AQ)a rotten thing,
    like a garment that is ^(AR)moth-eaten.

Job Continues: Death Comes Soon to All

14 “Man who is ^(AS)born of a woman
    is ^(AT)few of days and ^(AU)full of trouble.
²He comes out like ^(AV)a flower and ^(AW)withers;
    he flees like ^(AX)a shadow and continues not.
³And do you ^(AY)open your eyes on such a one
    and ^(AZ)bring me into judgment with you?
⁴Who can bring ^(BA)a clean thing out of an unclean?
    There is not one.
⁵Since his ^(BB)days are determined,
    and ^(BC)the number of his months is with you,
    and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
⁶^(BD)look away from him and leave him alone,^[d]
    that he may enjoy, like ^(BE)a 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 ^(BF)its stump die in the soil,
⁹yet at the scent of water it will bud
    and put out ^(BG)branches like a young plant.
¹⁰But a man dies and is laid low;
    man breathes his last, and ^(BH)where is he?
¹¹^(BI)As waters fail from a lake
    and a river wastes away and dries up,
¹²so a man lies down and rises not again;
    till ^(BJ)the heavens are no more he will not awake
    or be ^(BK)roused out of his sleep.
¹³Oh that you would ^(BL)hide me in ^(BM)Sheol,
    that you would ^(BN)conceal me ^(BO)until 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 ^(BP)service I would ^(BQ)wait,
    till my renewal^[e] should come.
¹⁵You would ^(BR)call, and I would answer you;
    you would long for the ^(BS)work of your hands.
¹⁶For then you would ^(BT)number my steps;
    you would not keep ^(BU)watch over my sin;