Job 12-14

English Standard Version

Job Replies: The Lord Has Done This

12 Then Job answered and said:

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

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

¹³^(K)“With God^[c] are wisdom and might;
    he has counsel and understanding.
¹⁴If he tears down, none can rebuild;
    if he ^(L)shuts a man in, none can open.
¹⁵If he ^(M)withholds the waters, they dry up;
    if he ^(N)sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
¹⁶With him are strength and ^(O)sound wisdom;
    the deceived and the deceiver are his.
¹⁷He leads ^(P)counselors away stripped,
    and ^(Q)judges he makes fools.
¹⁸He ^(R)looses the bonds of kings
    and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
¹⁹He leads priests away stripped
    and overthrows the mighty.
²⁰He deprives of speech those who are trusted
    ^(S)and takes away the discernment of the elders.
²¹He ^(T)pours contempt on princes
    and loosens the belt of the strong.
²²He ^(U)uncovers the deeps out of darkness
    and brings ^(V)deep darkness to light.
²³He ^(W)makes nations great, and he destroys them;
    he enlarges nations, and ^(X)leads them away.
²⁴He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth
    and ^(Y)makes them wander in a trackless waste.
²⁵They ^(Z)grope in the dark without light,
    and he makes them ^(AA)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^(AB)What you know, I also know;
    I am not inferior to you.
³^(AC)But I would speak to the Almighty,
    and I desire to ^(AD)argue my case with God.
⁴As for you, ^(AE)you whitewash with lies;
    ^(AF)worthless physicians are you all.
⁵Oh that you would ^(AG)keep silent,
    and it would be your wisdom!
⁶Hear now my argument
    and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
⁷Will you ^(AH)speak falsely for God
    and speak ^(AI)deceitfully for him?
⁸Will you show partiality toward him?
    Will you ^(AJ)plead the case for God?
⁹Will it be well with you when he ^(AK)searches you out?
    Or ^(AL)can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?
¹⁰He will surely rebuke you
    if in secret you show partiality.
¹¹Will not his ^(AM)majesty terrify you,
    and the dread of him fall upon you?
¹²Your maxims are proverbs of ^(AN)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 ^(AO)put my life in my hand?
¹⁵^(AP)Though he slay me, I will ^(AQ)hope in him;^[d]
    yet I will ^(AR)argue my ways to his face.
¹⁶This will be my salvation,
    that the godless shall not come before him.
¹⁷^(AS)Keep listening to my words,
    and let my declaration be in your ears.
¹⁸Behold, I have ^(AT)prepared my case;
    I know that I shall be in the right.
¹⁹^(AU)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 ^(AV)hide myself from your face:
²¹^(AW)withdraw your hand far from me,
    and let not ^(AX)dread of you terrify me.
²²^(AY)Then call, and I will answer;
    or let me speak, and you reply to me.
²³How many are my iniquities and my sins?
    ^(AZ)Make me know my transgression and my sin.
²⁴Why ^(BA)do you hide your face
    and ^(BB)count me as your enemy?
²⁵Will you frighten ^(BC)a driven leaf
    and pursue dry ^(BD)chaff?
²⁶For you ^(BE)write bitter things against me
    and make me inherit ^(BF)the iniquities of my youth.
²⁷You put my feet in ^(BG)the stocks
    and ^(BH)watch all my paths;
    you set a limit for^[e] the soles of my feet.
²⁸Man^[f] wastes away like ^(BI)a rotten thing,
    like a garment that is ^(BJ)moth-eaten.

Job Continues: Death Comes Soon to All

14 “Man who is ^(BK)born of a woman
    is ^(BL)few of days and ^(BM)full of trouble.
²He comes out like ^(BN)a flower and ^(BO)withers;
    he flees like ^(BP)a shadow and continues not.
³And do you ^(BQ)open your eyes on such a one
    and ^(BR)bring me into judgment with you?
⁴Who can bring ^(BS)a clean thing out of an unclean?
    There is not one.
⁵Since his ^(BT)days are determined,
    and ^(BU)the number of his months is with you,
    and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
⁶^(BV)look away from him and leave him alone,^[g]
    that he may enjoy, like ^(BW)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 ^(BX)its stump die in the soil,
⁹yet at the scent of water it will bud
    and put out ^(BY)branches like a young plant.
¹⁰But a man dies and is laid low;
    man breathes his last, and ^(BZ)where is he?
¹¹^(CA)As waters fail from a lake
    and a river wastes away and dries up,
¹²so a man lies down and rises not again;
    till ^(CB)the heavens are no more he will not awake
    or be ^(CC)roused out of his sleep.
¹³Oh that you would ^(CD)hide me in ^(CE)Sheol,
    that you would ^(CF)conceal me ^(CG)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 ^(CH)service I would ^(CI)wait,
    till my renewal^[h] should come.
¹⁵You would ^(CJ)call, and I would answer you;
    you would long for the ^(CK)work of your hands.
¹⁶For then you would ^(CL)number my steps;
    you would not keep ^(CM)watch over my sin;
¹⁷my transgression would be ^(CN)sealed up in a bag,
    and you would cover over my iniquity.

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

Footnotes

Job 12:6 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
Job 12:8 Or or speak to the earth, and it will teach you
Job 12:13 Hebrew him
Job 13:15 Or Behold, he will slay me; I have no hope
Job 13:27 Or you marked
Job 13:28 Hebrew He
Job 14:6 Probable reading; Hebrew look away from him, that he may cease
Job 14:14 Or relief

Psalm 94

English Standard Version

The Lord Will Not Forsake His People

94 O Lord, God of ^(A)vengeance,
    O God of vengeance, ^(B)shine forth!
²^(C)Rise up, O ^(D)judge of the earth;
    repay to the ^(E)proud what they deserve!
³O Lord, ^(F)how long shall the wicked,
    how long shall ^(G)the wicked exult?
⁴They pour out their ^(H)arrogant words;
    all ^(I)the evildoers boast.
⁵They ^(J)crush your people, O Lord,
    and afflict your heritage.
⁶They kill ^(K)the widow and the sojourner,
    and murder ^(L)the fatherless;
⁷^(M)and they say, “The Lord does not see;
    the God of Jacob does not perceive.”

⁸^(N)Understand, O dullest of the people!
    Fools, when will you be wise?
⁹^(O)He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see?
¹⁰He who ^(P)disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?
He who ^(Q)teaches man knowledge—
¹¹    ^(R)the Lord—knows the thoughts of man,
    that they are ^(S)but a breath.^[a]

¹²^(T)Blessed is the man whom you ^(U)discipline, O Lord,
    and whom you teach out of your law,
¹³to give him ^(V)rest from ^(W)days of trouble,
    until ^(X)a pit is dug for the wicked.
¹⁴^(Y)For the Lord will not forsake his ^(Z)people;
    he will not abandon his ^(AA)heritage;
¹⁵for ^(AB)justice will return to the righteous,
    and all the upright in heart will ^(AC)follow it.

¹⁶^(AD)Who rises up for me against the wicked?
    Who stands up for me against evildoers?
¹⁷^(AE)If the Lord had not been my help,
    my soul would soon have lived in the land of ^(AF)silence.
¹⁸When I thought, ^(AG)“My foot slips,”
    your steadfast love, O Lord, ^(AH)held me up.
¹⁹When the cares of my heart are many,
    your consolations cheer my soul.
²⁰Can ^(AI)wicked rulers be allied with you,
    those who frame^[b] injustice by ^(AJ)statute?
²¹They ^(AK)band together against the life of the righteous
    and condemn ^(AL)the innocent to death.^[c]
²²But the Lord has become my ^(AM)stronghold,
    and my God ^(AN)the rock of my ^(AO)refuge.
²³He will bring back on them ^(AP)their iniquity
    and ^(AQ)wipe them out for their wickedness;
    the Lord our God will wipe them out.