Job 13-14

Job 13

¹Lo, all -- hath mine eye seen, Heard hath mine ear, and it attendeth to it.

²According to your knowledge I have known -- also I. I am not fallen more than you.

³Yet I for the Mighty One do speak, And to argue for God I delight.

⁴And yet, ye are forgers of falsehood, Physicians of nought -- all of you,

⁵O that ye would keep perfectly silent, And it would be to you for wisdom.

⁶Hear, I pray you, my argument, And to the pleadings of my lips attend,

⁷For God do ye speak perverseness? And for Him do ye speak deceit?

⁸His face do ye accept, if for God ye strive?

⁹Is it good that He doth search you, If, as one mocketh at a man, ye mock at Him?

¹⁰He doth surely reprove you, if in secret ye accept faces.

¹¹Doth not His excellency terrify you? And His dread fall upon you?

¹²Your remembrances are similes of ashes, For high places of clay your heights.

¹³Keep silent from me, and I speak, And pass over me doth what?

¹⁴Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth? And my soul put in my hand?

¹⁵Lo, He doth slay me -- I wait not! Only, my ways unto His face I argue.

¹⁶Also -- He is to me for salvation, For the profane cometh not before Him.

¹⁷Hear ye diligently my word, And my declaration with your ears.

¹⁸Lo, I pray you, I have set in order the cause, I have known that I am righteous.

¹⁹Who is he that doth strive with me? For now I keep silent and gasp.

²⁰Only two things, O God, do with me: Then from Thy face I am not hidden.

²¹Thy hand put far off from me, And Thy terror let not terrify me.

²²And call Thou, and I -- I answer, Or -- I speak, and answer Thou me.

²³How many iniquities and sins have I? My transgression and my sin let me know.

²⁴Why dost Thou hide Thy face? And reckonest me for an enemy to Thee?

²⁵A leaf driven away dost Thou terrify? And the dry stubble dost Thou pursue?

²⁶For Thou writest against me bitter things, And causest me to possess iniquities of my youth:

²⁷And puttest in the stocks my feet, And observest all my paths, On the roots of my feet Thou settest a print,

²⁸And he, as a rotten thing, weareth away, As a garment hath a moth consumed him.

Job 14

¹Man, born of woman! Of few days, and full of trouble!

²As a flower he hath gone forth, and is cut off, And he fleeth as a shadow and standeth not.

³Also -- on this Thou hast opened Thine eyes, And dost bring me into judgment with Thee.

⁴Who giveth a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.

⁵If determined are his days, The number of his months are with Thee, His limit Thou hast made, And he passeth not over;

⁶Look away from off him that he may cease, Till he enjoy as an hireling his day.

⁷For there is of a tree hope, if it be cut down, That again it doth change, That its tender branch doth not cease.

⁸If its root becometh old in the earth, And its stem doth die in the dust,

⁹From the fragrance of water it doth flourish, And hath made a crop as a plant.

¹⁰And a man dieth, and becometh weak, And man expireth, and where is he?

¹¹Waters have gone away from a sea, And a river becometh waste and dry.

¹²And man hath lain down, and riseth not, Till the wearing out of the heavens they awake not, Nor are roused from their sleep.

¹³O that in Sheol Thou wouldst conceal me, Hide me till the turning of Thine anger, Set for me a limit, and remember me.

¹⁴If a man dieth -- doth he revive? All days of my warfare I wait, till my change come.

¹⁵Thou dost call, and I -- I answer Thee; To the work of Thy hands Thou hast desire.

¹⁶But now, my steps Thou numberest, Thou dost not watch over my sin.

¹⁷Sealed up in a bag is my transgression, And Thou sewest up mine iniquity.

¹⁸And yet, a falling mountain wasteth away, And a rock is removed from its place.

¹⁹Stones have waters worn away, Their outpourings wash away the dust of earth, And the hope of man Thou hast destroyed.

²⁰Thou prevailest over him for ever, and he goeth, He is changing his countenance, And Thou sendest him away.

²¹Honoured are his sons, and he knoweth not; And they are little, and he attendeth not to them.

²²Only -- his flesh for him is pained, And his soul for him doth mourn.'