Job 13:13-14:6

New International Version - UK

¹³ ‘Keep silent and let me speak;
    then let come to me what may.
¹⁴ Why do I put myself in jeopardy
    and take my life in my hands?
¹⁵ Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;
    I will surely^[a] defend my ways to his face.
¹⁶ Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance,
    for no godless person would dare come before him!
¹⁷ Listen carefully to what I say;
    let my words ring in your ears.
¹⁸ Now that I have prepared my case,
    I know I will be vindicated.
¹⁹ Can anyone bring charges against me?
    If so, I will be silent and die.

²⁰ ‘Only grant me these two things, God,
    and then I will not hide from you:
²¹ withdraw your hand far from me,
    and stop frightening me with your terrors.
²² Then summon me and I will answer,
    or let me speak, and you reply to me.
²³ How many wrongs and sins have I committed?
    Show me my offence and my sin.
²⁴ Why do you hide your face
    and consider me your enemy?
²⁵ Will you torment a wind-blown leaf?
    Will you chase after dry chaff?
²⁶ For you write down bitter things against me
    and make me reap the sins of my youth.
²⁷ You fasten my feet in shackles;
    you keep close watch on all my paths
    by putting marks on the soles of my feet.

²⁸ ‘So man wastes away like something rotten,
    like a garment eaten by moths.

14 ‘Mortals, born of woman,
    are of few days and full of trouble.
² They spring up like flowers and wither away;
    like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.
³ Do you fix your eye on them?
    Will you bring them^[b] before you for judgment?
⁴ Who can bring what is pure from the impure?
    No one!
⁵ A person’s days are determined;
    you have decreed the number of his months
    and have set limits he cannot exceed.
⁶ So look away from him and let him alone,
    till he has put in his time like a hired labourer.