Bible-Reading.comJob 13
1Truly, my eye has seen all this, word of it has come to my ear, and I have knowledge of it.
2The same things are in my mind as in yours; I am equal to you.
3But I would have talk with the Ruler of all, and my desire is to have an argument with God.
4But you put a false face on things; all your attempts to put things right are of no value.
5If only you would keep quiet, it would be a sign of wisdom!
6Give ear to the argument of my mouth, and take note of the words of my lips.
7Will you say in God's name what is not right, and put false words into his mouth?
8Will you have respect for God's person in this cause, and put yourselves forward as his supporters?
9Will it be good for you to be searched out by him, or have you the thought that he may be guided into error like a man?
10He will certainly put you right, if you have respect for persons in secret.
11Will not his glory put you in fear, so that your hearts will be overcome before him?
12Your wise sayings are only dust, and your strong places are only earth.
13Keep quiet, and let me say what is in my mind, whatever may come to me.
14I will take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand.
15Truly, he will put an end to me; I have no hope; but I will not give way in argument before him;
16And that will be my salvation, for an evil-doer would not come before him,
17Give ear with care to my words, and keep what I say in your minds.
18See now, I have put my cause in order, and I am certain that I will be seen to be right.
19Is any one able to take up the argument against me? If so, I would keep quiet and give up my breath.
20Only two things do not do to me, then I will come before your face:
21Take your hand far away from me; and let me not be overcome by fear of you.
22Then at the sound of your voice I will give answer; or let me put forward my cause for you to give me an answer.
23What is the number of my evil-doings and my sins? give me knowledge of them.
24Why is your face veiled from me, as if I was numbered among your haters?
25Will you be hard on a leaf in flight before the wind? will you make a dry stem go more quickly on its way?
26For you put bitter things on record against me, and send punishment on me for the sins of my early years;
27And you put chains on my feet, watching all my ways, and making a limit for my steps;
28Though a man comes to nothing like a bit of dead wood, or like a robe which has become food for the worm.
Job 14
1As for man, the son of woman, his days are short and full of trouble.
2He comes out like a flower, and is cut down: he goes in flight like a shade, and is never seen again.
3Is it on such a one as this that your eyes are fixed, with the purpose of judging him?
4If only a clean thing might come out of an unclean! But it is not possible.
5If his days are ordered, and you have knowledge of the number of his months, having given him a fixed limit past which he may not go;
6Let your eyes be turned away from him, and take your hand from him, so that he may have pleasure at the end of his day, like a servant working for payment.
7For there is hope of a tree; if it is cut down, it will come to life again, and its branches will not come to an end.
8Though its root may be old in the earth, and its cut-off end may be dead in the dust;
9Still, at the smell of water, it will make buds, and put out branches like a young plant.
10But man comes to his death and is gone: he gives up his spirit, and where is he?
11The waters go from a pool, and a river becomes waste and dry;
12So man goes down to his last resting-place and comes not again: till the heavens come to an end, they will not be awake or come out of their sleep.
13If only you would keep me safe in the underworld, putting me in a secret place till your wrath is past, giving me a fixed time when I might come to your memory again!
14If death takes a man, will he come to life again? All the days of my trouble I would be waiting, till the time came for me to be free.
15At the sound of your voice I would give an answer, and you would have a desire for the work of your hands.
16For now my steps are numbered by you, and my sin is not overlooked.
17My wrongdoing is corded up in a bag, and my sin is shut up safe.
18But truly a mountain falling comes to dust, and a rock is moved from its place;
19The stones are crushed small by the force of the waters; the dust of the earth is washed away by their overflowing: and so you put an end to the hope of man.
20You overcome him for ever, and he is gone; his face is changed in death, and you send him away.
21His sons come to honour, and he has no knowledge of it; they are made low, but he is not conscious of it.
22Only his flesh still has pain, and his soul is sad.
Job 15
1And Eliphaz the Temanite made answer and said,
2Will a wise man make answer with knowledge of no value, or will he give birth to the east wind?
3Will he make arguments with words in which is no profit, and with sayings which have no value?
4Truly, you make the fear of God without effect, so that the time of quiet worship before God is made less by your outcry.
5For your mouth is guided by your sin, and you have taken the tongue of the false for yourself.
6It is by your mouth, even yours, that you are judged to be in the wrong, and not by me; and your lips give witness against you.
7Were you the first man to come into the world? or did you come into being before the hills?
8Were you present at the secret meeting of God? and have you taken all wisdom for yourself?
9What knowledge have you which we have not? is there anything in your mind which is not in ours?
10With us are men who are grey-haired and full of years, much older than your father.
11Are the comforts of God not enough for you, and the gentle word which was said to you?
12Why is your heart uncontrolled, and why are your eyes lifted up;
13So that you are turning your spirit against God, and letting such words go out of your mouth?
14What is man, that he may be clean? and how may the son of woman be upright?
15Truly, he puts no faith in his holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in his eyes;
16How much less one who is disgusting and unclean, a man who takes in evil like water!
17Take note and give ear to my words; and I will say what I have seen:
18(The things which wise men have got from their fathers, and have not kept secret from us;
19For only to them was the land given, and no strange people were among them:)
20The evil man is in pain all his days, and the number of the years stored up for the cruel is small.
21A sound of fear is in his ears; in time of peace destruction will come on him:
22He has no hope of coming safe out of the dark, and his fate will be the sword;
23He is wandering about in search of bread, saying, Where is it? and he is certain that the day of trouble is ready for him:
24He is greatly in fear of the dark day, trouble and pain overcome him:
25Because his hand is stretched out against God, and his heart is lifted up against the Ruler of all,
26Running against him like a man of war, covered by his thick breastplate; even like a king ready for the fight,
27Because his face is covered with fat, and his body has become thick;
28And he has made his resting-place in the towns which have been pulled down, in houses where no man had a right to be, whose fate was to become masses of broken walls.
29He does not get wealth for himself, and is unable to keep what he has got; the heads of his grain are not bent down to the earth.
30He does not come out of the dark; his branches are burned by the flame, and the wind takes away his bud.
31Let him not put his hope in what is false, falling into error: for he will get deceit as his reward.
32His branch is cut off before its time, and his leaf is no longer green.
33He is like a vine whose grapes do not come to full growth, or an olive-tree dropping its flowers.
34For the band of the evil-doers gives no fruit, and the tents of those who give wrong decisions for reward are burned with fire.
35Evil has made them with child, and they give birth to trouble; and the fruit of their body is shame for themselves.