Job 15-17

New King James Version

² “Should a wise man answer with empty knowledge,
And fill ^[a]himself with the east wind?
³ Should he reason with unprofitable talk,
Or by speeches with which he can do no good?
⁴ Yes, you cast off fear,
And restrain ^[b]prayer before God.
⁵ For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
And you choose the tongue of the crafty.
^6 (B)Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
Yes, your own lips testify against you.

⁷ “Are you the first man who was born?
^(C)Or were you made before the hills?
^8 (D)Have you heard the counsel of God?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
^9 (E)What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not in us?
^10 (F)Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,
Much older than your father.
¹¹ Are the consolations of God too small for you,
And the word spoken ^[c]gently with you?
¹² Why does your heart carry you away,
And ^[d]what do your eyes wink at,
¹³ That you turn your spirit against God,
And let such words go out of your mouth?

¹⁴ “What^(G) is man, that he could be pure?
And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous?
^15 (H)If God puts no trust in His saints,
And the heavens are not pure in His sight,
^16 (I)How much less man, who is abominable and filthy,
^(J)Who drinks iniquity like water!

¹⁷ “I will tell you, hear me;
What I have seen I will declare,
¹⁸ What wise men have told,
Not hiding anything received ^(K)from their fathers,
¹⁹ To whom alone the ^[e]land was given,
And ^(L)no alien passed among them:
²⁰ The wicked man writhes with pain all his days,
^(M)And the number of years is hidden from the oppressor.
^21 [f]Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
^(N)In prosperity the destroyer comes upon him.
²² He does not believe that he will ^(O)return from darkness,
For a sword is waiting for him.
²³ He ^(P)wanders about for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows ^(Q)that a day of darkness is ready at his hand.
²⁴ Trouble and anguish make him afraid;
They overpower him, like a king ready for ^[g]battle.
²⁵ For he stretches out his hand against God,
And acts defiantly against the Almighty,
²⁶ Running stubbornly against Him
With his strong, embossed shield.

²⁷ “Though^(R) he has covered his face with his fatness,
And made his waist heavy with fat,
²⁸ He dwells in desolate cities,
In houses which no one inhabits,
Which are destined to become ruins.
²⁹ He will not be rich,
Nor will his wealth ^(S)continue,
Nor will his possessions overspread the earth.
³⁰ He will not depart from darkness;
The flame will dry out his branches,
And ^(T)by the breath of His mouth he will go away.
³¹ Let him not ^(U)trust in futile things, deceiving himself,
For futility will be his reward.
³² It will be accomplished ^(V)before his time,
And his branch will not be green.
³³ He will shake off his unripe grape like a vine,
And cast off his blossom like an olive tree.
³⁴ For the company of hypocrites will be barren,
And fire will consume the tents of bribery.
^35 (W)They conceive trouble and bring forth futility;
Their womb prepares deceit.”

² “I have heard many such things;
^(X)Miserable^[h] comforters are you all!
³ Shall ^[i]words of wind have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
⁴ I also could speak as you do,
If your soul were in my soul’s place.
I could heap up words against you,
And ^(Y)shake my head at you;
⁵ But I would strengthen you with my mouth,
And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.

⁶ “Though I speak, my grief is not relieved;
And if I remain silent, how am I eased?
⁷ But now He has ^(Z)worn me out;
You ^(AA)have made desolate all my company.
⁸ You have shriveled me up,
And it is a ^(AB)witness against me;
My leanness rises up against me
And bears witness to my face.
^9 (AC)He tears me in His wrath, and hates me;
He gnashes at me with His teeth;
^(AD)My adversary sharpens His gaze on me.
¹⁰ They ^(AE)gape at me with their mouth,
They ^(AF)strike me reproachfully on the cheek,
They gather together against me.
¹¹ God ^(AG)has delivered me to the ungodly,
And turned me over to the hands of the wicked.
¹² I was at ease, but He has ^(AH)shattered me;
He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces;
He has ^(AI)set me up for His target,
¹³ His archers surround me.
He pierces my ^[j]heart and does not pity;
He pours out my gall on the ground.
¹⁴ He breaks me with wound upon wound;
He runs at me like a ^[k]warrior.

¹⁵ “I have sewn sackcloth over my skin,
And ^(AJ)laid my ^[l]head in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is ^[m]flushed from weeping,
And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
¹⁷ Although no violence is in my hands,
And my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ “O earth, do not cover my blood,
And ^(AK)let my cry have no resting place!
¹⁹ Surely even now ^(AL)my witness is in heaven,
And my evidence is on high.
²⁰ My friends scorn me;
My eyes pour out tears to God.
^21 (AM)Oh, that one might plead for a man with God,
As a man pleads for his ^[n]neighbor!
²² For when a few years are finished,
I shall ^(AN)go the way of no return.

³ “Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself.
Who is he who ^(AQ)will shake hands with me?
⁴ For You have hidden their heart from ^(AR)understanding;
Therefore You will not exalt them.
⁵ He who speaks flattery to his friends,
Even the eyes of his children will ^(AS)fail.

⁶ “But He has made me ^(AT)a byword of the people,
And I have become one in whose face men spit.
^7 (AU)My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow,
And all my members are like shadows.
⁸ Upright men are astonished at this,
And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite.
⁹ Yet the righteous will hold to his ^(AV)way,
And he who has ^(AW)clean hands will be stronger and stronger.

¹⁰ “But please, ^(AX)come back again, ^[p]all of you,
For I shall not find one wise man among you.
^11 (AY)My days are past,
My purposes are broken off,
Even the ^[q]thoughts of my heart.
¹² They change the night into day;
‘The light is near,’ they say, in the face of darkness.
¹³ If I wait for the grave as my house,
If I make my bed in the darkness,
¹⁴ If I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’
And to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister,’
¹⁵ Where then is my ^(AZ)hope?
As for my hope, who can see it?
¹⁶ Will they go down ^(BA)to the gates of ^[r]Sheol?
Shall we have ^(BB)rest together in the dust?”