Job 13

⁹the One who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.

¹⁰He gives rain to the earth and sends water upon the fields.

⁹Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?

¹⁰The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.

¹⁷Listen to me and I will inform you. I will describe what I have seen,

¹⁸what was declared by wise men and was not concealed from their fathers,

³We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

⁸Please inquire of past generations and consider the discoveries of their fathers.

⁹For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.

³that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us.

⁴We will not hide them from their children but will declare to the next generation the praises of the Lord and His might and the wonders He has performed.

³But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?

¹⁶I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.

¹⁷In this confident boasting of mine, I am not speaking as the Lord would, but as a fool.

¹¹I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.

⁷After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.

⁴“Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You? I place my hand over my mouth.

⁵I have spoken once, but I have no answer—twice, but I have nothing to add.”

²Listen closely to the thunder of His voice and the rumbling that comes from His mouth.

²¹“Present your case,” says the Lord. “Submit your arguments,” says the King of Jacob.

³If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.

¹⁸“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.

¹⁹If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land.

²²Then call me, and I will answer, or let me speak, and You can reply.

³⁵(Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.

⁵But if only God would speak and open His lips against you,

⁶⁹Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep Your precepts with all my heart.

²“I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all.

³²“Indeed,” declares the Lord, “I am against those who prophesy false dreams and retell them to lead My people astray with their reckless lies. It was not I who sent them or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people,” declares the Lord.

¹⁴They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.

²⁶She had borne much agony under the care of many physicians and had spent all she had, but to no avail. Instead, her condition had only grown worse.

²²Is there no balm in Gilead? Is no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?

²⁸Even a fool is considered wise if he keeps silent, and discerning when he holds his tongue.

¹⁹My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,

³As a dream comes through many cares, so the speech of a fool comes with many words.

¹³Be silent, and I will speak. Then let come to me what may.

¹So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

³Should your babbling put others to silence? Will you scoff without rebuke?

²“Hear my words, O wise men; give ear to me, O men of learning.

⁶Listen, for I speak of noble things, and the opening of my lips will reveal right.

⁷For my mouth will speak the truth, and wickedness is detestable to my lips.

²“Listen carefully to my words; let this be your consolation to me.

³Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking.

¹“But now, O Job, hear my speech, and listen to all my words.

²Behold, I will open my mouth; my address is on the tip of my tongue.

⁷When this was reported to Jotham, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim, raised his voice, and cried out: “Listen to me, O leaders of Shechem, and may God listen to you.

⁴For truly my words are free of falsehood; one perfect in knowledge is with you.

⁴my lips will not speak wickedness, and my tongue will not utter deceit.

²Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

⁵But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms.

⁶Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world?

⁷Consider now, I plead: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Or where have the upright been destroyed?

⁵If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.

²³These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.

²You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.

³And do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.

²¹I will be partial to no one, nor will I flatter any man.

⁹“So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not kept My ways, but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”

¹⁹who is not partial to princes and does not favor rich over poor? For they are all the work of His hands.

¹⁵You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly.

⁷Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.

⁸The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

¹⁰I, the Lord, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.

²¹would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.

²²So now, do not mock, or your shackles will become heavier. Indeed, I have heard from the Lord God of Hosts a decree of destruction against the whole land.

¹⁶True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His.

⁹But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

²¹You have done these things, and I kept silent; you thought I was just like you. But now I rebuke you and accuse you to your face.

²²Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:

²“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

⁷After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.

⁸So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.”

¹²⁰My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.

²³For calamity from God terrifies me, and His splendor I cannot overpower.

¹⁶and terror and dread will fall on them. By the power of Your arm they will be as still as a stone until Your people pass by, O Lord, until the people You have bought pass by.

¹³The Lord of Hosts is the One you shall regard as holy. Only He should be feared; only He should be dreaded.

²¹Withdraw Your hand from me, and do not let Your terror frighten me.

²²Do you not fear Me?” declares the Lord. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it.

²⁷Then Abraham answered, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord—though I am but dust and ashes—

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

¹For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

⁷The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.

¹⁵May their sins always remain before the Lord, that He may cut off their memory from the earth.

⁷Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

¹¹Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

⁵If only you would remain silent; for that would be your wisdom!

³Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking.

¹“I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.

⁹that God would be willing to crush me, to unleash His hand and cut me off!

¹⁰It still brings me comfort, and joy through unrelenting pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹⁵so that I would prefer strangling and death over my life in this body.

¹⁶I loathe my life! I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

³When I saw that you would not save me, I risked my life and crossed over to the Ammonites, and the Lord delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come today to fight against me?”

¹⁰⁹I constantly take my life in my hands, yet I do not forget Your law.

⁵He took his life in his hands when he struck down the Philistine, and the Lord worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced, so why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?”

⁴You who tear yourself in anger—should the earth be forsaken on your account, or the rocks be moved from their place?

⁵The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh.

²¹When the woman came to Saul and saw how distraught he was, she said to him, “Look, your maidservant has obeyed your voice. I took my life in my hands and did as you told me.

⁴Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

²⁵But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth.

²⁶Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.

¹⁰Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,

³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

²⁰Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.

⁵I will never say that you are right; I will maintain my integrity until I die.

¹In that day you will say: “O Lord, I will praise You. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You have comforted me.

²Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and my song, and He also has become my salvation.”

¹⁴The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling grips the ungodly: “Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting flames?”

²¹I will give You thanks, for You have answered me, and You have become my salvation.

¹Of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—whom shall I dread?

⁸For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?

⁹Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?

²³Surely deception comes from the hills, and commotion from the mountains. Surely the salvation of Israel is in the Lord our God.

¹“But now, O Job, hear my speech, and listen to all my words.

²“Listen carefully to my words; let this be your consolation to me.

⁶Hear now my argument, and listen to the plea of my lips.

⁴I would plead my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.

²“Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?

³If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.

⁷“Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.

⁸Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?

²⁶Remind Me, let us argue the matter together. State your case, so that you may be vindicated.

²¹Oh, that a man might plead with God as he pleads with his neighbor!

³³Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

³⁴Who is there to condemn us? For Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us.

⁷Because the Lord God helps Me, I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame.

⁸The One who vindicates Me is near. Who will dare to contend with Me? Let us confront each other! Who has a case against Me? Let him approach Me!

³²But if you have something to say, answer me; speak up, for I would like to vindicate you.

⁸Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me. Would You now turn and destroy me?

¹³Be silent, and I will speak. Then let come to me what may.

⁵Refute me if you can; prepare your case and confront me.

⁶I am just like you before God; I was also formed from clay.

⁵If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my disgrace against me,

⁸Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

⁹But the Lord God called out to the man, “Where are you?”

¹²even the darkness is not dark to You, but the night shines like the day, for darkness is as light to You.

¹⁵Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.

¹⁶And they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.

³⁴Let Him remove His rod from me, so that His terror will no longer frighten me.

³⁵Then I would speak without fear of Him. But as it is, I am on my own.

⁷Surely no fear of me should terrify you; nor will my hand be heavy upon you.

¹⁰Remove Your scourge from me; I am perishing by the force of Your hand.

³⁴Let Him remove His rod from me, so that His terror will no longer frighten me.

¹¹Would His majesty not terrify you? Would the dread of Him not fall upon you?

¹⁵Will you stay on the ancient path that wicked men have trod?

¹⁶They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood.

¹²⁰My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.

¹⁵You will call, and I will answer; You will desire the work of Your hands.

¹⁶If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe He would listen to my voice.

³Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.

³You asked, ‘Who is this who conceals My counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.

⁴You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak. I will question you, and you shall inform Me.’

⁴“Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You? I place my hand over my mouth.

⁵I have spoken once, but I have no answer—twice, but I have nothing to add.”

³²For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court.

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.

⁸And if men are bound with chains, caught in cords of affliction,

⁹then He tells them their deeds and how arrogantly they have transgressed.

²⁰If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

²¹would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?

⁵Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities endless?

¹¹His anger burns against me, and He counts me among His enemies.

⁵The Lord is like an enemy; He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for the Daughter of Judah.

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?

¹⁷I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in Him.

¹⁰Yet God finds occasions against me; He counts me as His enemy.

¹⁴Why, O Lord, do You reject me? Why do You hide Your face from me?

³⁶As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.

¹⁸Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?

¹⁴Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea?

²⁰A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish, till He leads justice to victory.

³Do You open Your eyes to one like this? Will You bring him into judgment before You?

¹³The nations rage like the rush of many waters. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweeds before a gale.

⁷Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my rebellious acts; remember me according to Your loving devotion, because of Your goodness, O Lord.

¹⁴Afterward, Jesus found the man at the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.”

¹¹The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie down with him in the dust.

¹⁹After I returned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

²⁰Why is light given to the miserable, and life to the bitter of soul,

¹¹At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,

¹²and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!

¹¹He puts my feet in the stocks; He watches over all my paths.’

¹⁶For then You would count my steps, but would not keep track of my sin.

²²He follows her on impulse, like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding into a trap,

⁷So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

²⁴On receiving this order, he placed them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

¹⁰Asa was angry with the seer and became so enraged over this matter that he put the man in prison. And at the same time Asa oppressed some of the people.

¹¹Now the acts of Asa, from beginning to end, are indeed written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

¹¹You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah

¹⁹how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth!

¹²Please do not let her be like a stillborn infant whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb.”

¹⁷Night pierces my bones, and my gnawing pains never rest.

¹⁸With great force He grasps my garment; He seizes me by the collar of my tunic.

¹²So I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like decay to the house of Judah.

²⁹I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches.

³⁰My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.