Job 9-12

Job 9

¹And Job made answer and said,

²Truly, I see that it is so: and how is it possible for a man to get his right before God?

³If a man was desiring to go to law with him, he would not be able to give him an answer to one out of a thousand questions.

⁴He is wise in heart and great in strength: who ever made his face hard against him, and any good came of it?

⁵It is he who takes away the mountains without their knowledge, overturning them in his wrath:

⁶Who is moving the earth out of its place, so that its pillars are shaking:

⁷Who gives orders to the sun, and it does not give its light; and who keeps the stars from shining.

⁸By whose hand the heavens were stretched out, and who is walking on the waves of the sea:

⁹Who made the Bear and Orion, and the Pleiades, and the store-houses of the south:

¹⁰Who does great things not to be searched out; yes, wonders without number.

¹¹See, he goes past me and I see him not: he goes on before, but I have no knowledge of him.

¹²If he puts out his hand to take, by whom may it be turned back? who may say to him, What are you doing?

¹³God's wrath may not be turned back; the helpers of Rahab were bent down under him.

¹⁴How much less may I give an answer to him, using the right words in argument with him?

¹⁵Even if my cause was good, I would not be able to give an answer; I would make request for grace from him who was against me.

¹⁶If I had sent for him to be present, and he had come, I would have no faith that he would give ear to my voice.

¹⁷For I would be crushed by his storm, my wounds would be increased without cause.

¹⁸He would not let me take my breath, but I would be full of bitter grief.

¹⁹If it is a question of strength, he says, Here I am! and if it is a question of a cause at law, he says, Who will give me a fixed day?

²⁰Though I was in the right, he would say that I was in the wrong; I have done no evil; but he says that I am a sinner.

²¹I have done no wrong; I give no thought to what becomes of me; I have no desire for life.

²²It is all the same to me; so I say, He puts an end to the sinner and to him who has done no wrong together.

²³If death comes suddenly through disease, he makes sport of the fate of those who have done no wrong.

²⁴The land is given into the power of the evil-doer; the faces of its judges are covered; if not by him, then who has done it?

²⁵My days go quicker than a post-runner: they go in flight, they see no good.

²⁶They go rushing on like reed-boats, like an eagle dropping suddenly on its food.

²⁷If I say, I will put my grief out of mind, I will let my face be sad no longer and I will be bright;

²⁸I go in fear of all my pains; I am certain that I will not be free from sin in your eyes.

²⁹You will not let me be clear of sin! why then do I take trouble for nothing?

³⁰If I am washed with snow water, and make my hands clean with soap;

³¹Then you will have me pushed into the dust, so that I will seem disgusting to my very clothing.

³²For he is not a man as I am, that I might give him an answer, that we might come together before a judge.

³³There is no one to give a decision between us, who might have control over us.

³⁴Let him take away his rod from me and not send his fear on me:

³⁵Then I would say what is in my mind without fear of him; for there is no cause of fear in myself.

Job 10

¹My soul is tired of life; I will let my sad thoughts go free in words; my soul will make a bitter outcry.

²I will say to God, Do not put me down as a sinner; make clear to me what you have against me.

³What profit is it to you to be cruel, to give up the work of your hands, looking kindly on the design of evil-doers?

⁴Have you eyes of flesh, or do you see as man sees?

⁵Are your days as the days of man, or your years like his,

⁶That you take note of my sin, searching after my wrongdoing,

⁷Though you see that I am not an evil-doer; and there is no one who is able to take a man out of your hands?

⁸Your hands made me, and I was formed by you, but then, changing your purpose, you gave me up to destruction.

⁹O keep in mind that you made me out of earth; and will you send me back again to dust?

¹⁰Was I not drained out like milk, becoming hard like cheese?

¹¹By you I was clothed with skin and flesh, and joined together with bones and muscles.

¹²You have been kind to me, and your grace has been with me, and your care has kept my spirit safe.

¹³But you kept these things in the secret of your heart; I am certain this was in your thoughts:

¹⁴That, if I did wrong, you would take note of it, and would not make me clear from sin:

¹⁵That, if I was an evil-doer, the curse would come on me; and if I was upright, my head would not be lifted up, being full of shame and overcome with trouble.

¹⁶And that if there was cause for pride, you would go after me like a lion; and again put out your wonders against me:

¹⁷That you would send new witnesses against me, increasing your wrath against me, and letting loose new armies on me.

¹⁸Why then did you make me come out of my mother's body? It would have been better for me to have taken my last breath, and for no eye to have seen me,

¹⁹And for me to have been as if I had not been; to have been taken from my mother's body straight to my last resting-place.

²⁰Are not the days of my life small in number? Let your eyes be turned away from me, so that I may have a little pleasure,

²¹Before I go to the place from which I will not come back, to the land where all is dark and black,

²²A land of thick dark, without order, where the very light is dark.

Job 11

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite made answer and said,

²Are all these words to go unanswered? and is a man seen to be right because he is full of talk?

³Are your words of pride to make men keep quiet? and are you to make sport, with no one to put you to shame?

⁴You may say, My way is clean, and I am free from sin in your eyes.

⁵But if only God would take up the word, opening his lips in argument with you;

⁶And would make clear to you the secrets of wisdom, and the wonders of his purpose!

⁷Are you able to take God's measure, to make discovery of the limits of the Ruler of all?

⁸They are higher than heaven; what is there for you to do? deeper than the underworld, and outside your knowledge;

⁹Longer in measure than the earth, and wider than the sea.

¹⁰If he goes on his way, shutting a man up and putting him to death, who may make him go back from his purpose?

¹¹For in his eyes men are as nothing; he sees evil and takes note of it.

¹²And so a hollow-minded man will get wisdom, when a young ass of the field gets teaching.

¹³But if you put your heart right, stretching out your hands to him;

¹⁴If you put far away the evil of your hands, and let no wrongdoing have a place in your tent;

¹⁵Then truly your face will be lifted up, with no mark of sin, and you will be fixed in your place without fear:

¹⁶For your sorrow will go from your memory, like waters flowing away:

¹⁷And your life will be brighter than day; though it is dark, it will become like the morning.

¹⁸And you will be safe because there is hope; after looking round, you will take your rest in quiet;

¹⁹Sleeping with no fear of danger; and men will be desiring to have grace in your eyes;

²⁰But the eyes of the evil-doers will be wasting away; their way of flight is gone, and their only hope is the taking of their last breath.

Job 12

¹And Job made answer and said,

²No doubt you have knowledge, and wisdom will come to an end with you.

³But I have a mind as well as you; I am equal to you: yes, who has not knowledge of such things as these?

⁴It seems that I am to be as one who is a cause of laughing to his neighbour, one who makes his prayer to God and is answered! the upright man who has done no wrong is to be made sport of!

⁵In the thought of him who is in comfort there is no respect for one who is in trouble; such is the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

⁶There is wealth in the tents of those who make destruction, and those by whom God is moved to wrath are safe; even those whose god is their strength.

⁷But put now a question to the beasts, and get teaching from them; or to the birds of the heaven, and they will make it clear to you;

⁸Or to the things which go flat on the earth, and they will give you wisdom; and the fishes of the sea will give you news of it.

⁹Who does not see by all these that the hand of the Lord has done this?

¹⁰In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all flesh of man.

¹¹Are not words tested by the ear, even as food is tasted by the mouth?

¹²Old men have wisdom, and a long life gives knowledge.

¹³With him there is wisdom and strength; power and knowledge are his.

¹⁴Truly, there is no building up of what is pulled down by him; when a man is shut up by him, no one may let him loose.

¹⁵Truly, he keeps back the waters and they are dry; he sends them out and the earth is overturned.

¹⁶With him are strength and wise designs; he who is guided into error, together with his guide, are in his hands;

¹⁷He takes away the wisdom of the wise guides, and makes judges foolish;

¹⁸He undoes the chains of kings, and puts his band on them;

¹⁹He makes priests prisoners, overturning those in safe positions;

²⁰He makes the words of responsible persons without effect, and takes away the good sense of the old;

²¹He puts shame on chiefs, and takes away the power of the strong;

²²Uncovering deep things out of the dark, and making the deep shade bright;

²³Increasing nations, and sending destruction on them; making wide the lands of peoples, and then giving them up.

²⁴He takes away the wisdom of the rulers of the earth, and sends them wandering in a waste where there is no way.

²⁵They go feeling about in the dark without light, wandering without help like those overcome with wine.