rsv Job:11-20 SEEK
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*
Then Zophar the Na '
amathite answered :
* "
Should a multitude of words go unanswered ,
and a man full of talk be vindicated ?
*
Should your babble silence men ,
and when you mock ,
shall no one shame you ?
*
For you say , `
r you say , "
My doctrine is pure ,
and I am clean in God '
s eyes .'
*
But oh ,
that God would speak ,
and open his lips to you ,
*
and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom !
For he is manifold in understanding .
Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves .
* "
Can you find out the deep things of God ?
Can you find out the limit of the Almighty ?
*
It is higher than heaven --
what can you do ?
Deeper than Sheol--what can you know ?
*
Its measure is longer than the earth ,
and broader than the sea .
*
If he passes through ,
and imprisons ,
and calls to judgment ,
who can hinder him ?
*
For he knows worthless men ;
when he sees iniquity ,
will he not consider it ?
*
But a stupid man will get understanding ,
when a wild ass '
s colt is born a man .
* "
If you set your heart aright ,
you will stretch out your hands toward him .
*
If iniquity is in your hand ,
put it far away ,
and let not wickedness dwell in your tents .
*
Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish ;
you will be secure ,
and will not fear .
*
You will forget your misery ;
you will remember it as waters that have passed away .
*
And your life will be brighter than the noonday ;
its darkness will be like the morning .
*
And you will have confidence ,
because there is hope ;
you will be protected and take your rest in safety .
*
You will lie down ,
and none will make you afraid ;
many will entreat your favor .
*
But the eyes of the wicked will fail ;
all way of escape will be lost to them ,
and their hope is to breathe their last ."
*
Then Job answered :
* "
No doubt you are the people ,
and wisdom will die with you .
*
But I have understanding as well as you ;
I am not inferior to you .
Who does not know such things as these ?
*
I am a laughingstock to my friends ;
I ,
who called upon God and he answered me ,
a just and blameless man ,
am a laughingstock .
*
In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune ;
it is ready for those whose feet slip .
*
The tents of robbers are at peace ,
and those who provoke God are secure ,
who bring their god in their hand .
* "
But ask the beasts ,
and they will teach you ;
the birds of the air ,
and they will tell you ;
*
or the plants of the earth ,
and they will teach you ;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you .
*
Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this ?
*
In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind .
*
Does not the ear try words as the palate tastes food ?
*
Wisdom is with the aged ,
and understanding in length of days .
* "
With God are wisdom and might ;
he has counsel and understanding .
*
If he tears down ,
none can rebuild ;
if he shuts a man in ,
none can open .
*
If he withholds the waters ,
they dry up ;
if he sends them out ,
they overwhelm the land .
*
With him are strength and wisdom ;
the deceived and the deceiver are his .
*
He leads counselors away stripped ,
and judges he makes fools .
*
He looses the bonds of kings ,
and binds a waistcloth on their loins .
*
He leads priests away stripped ,
and overthrows the mighty .
*
He deprives of speech those who are trusted ,
and takes away the discernment of the elders .
*
He pours contempt on princes ,
and looses the belt of the strong .
*
He uncovers the deeps out of darkness ,
and brings deep darkness to light .
*
He makes nations great ,
and he destroys them :
he enlarges nations ,
and leads them away .
*
He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth ,
and makes them wander in a pathless waste .
*
They grope in the dark without light ;
and he makes them stagger like a drunken man .
* "
Lo ,
my eye has seen all this ,
my ear has heard and understood it .
*
What you know ,
I also know ;
I am not inferior to you .
*
But I would speak to the Almighty ,
and I desire to argue my case with God .
*
As for you ,
you whitewash with lies ;
worthless physicians are you all .
*
Oh that you would keep silent ,
and it would be your wisdom !
*
Hear now my reasoning ,
and listen to the pleadings of my lips .
*
Will you speak falsely for God ,
and speak deceitfully for him ?
*
Will you show partiality toward him ,
will you plead the case for God ?
*
Will it be well with you when he searches you out ?
Or can you deceive him ,
as one deceives a man ?
*
He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality .
*
Will not his majesty terrify you ,
and the dread of him fall upon you ?
*
Your maxims are proverbs of ashes ,
your defenses are defenses of clay .
* "
Let me have silence ,
and I will speak ,
and let come on me what may .
*
I will take my flesh in my teeth ,
and put my life in my hand .
*
Behold ,
he will slay me ;
I have no hope ;
yet I will defend my ways to his face .
*
This will be my salvation ,
that a godless man shall not come before him .
*
Listen carefully to my words ,
and let my declaration be in your ears .
*
Behold ,
I have prepared my case ;
I know that I shall be vindicated .
*
Who is there that will contend with me ?
For then I would be silent and die .
*
Only grant two things to me ,
then I will not hide myself from thy face :
*
withdraw thy hand far from me ,
and let not dread of thee terrify me .
*
Then call ,
and I will answer ;
or let me speak ,
and do thou reply to me .
*
How many are my iniquities and my sins ?
Make me know my transgression and my sin .
*
Why dost thou hide thy face ,
and count me as thy enemy ?
*
Wilt thou frighten a driven leaf and pursue dry chaff +?
*
For thou writest bitter things against me ,
and makest me inherit the iniquities of my youth .
*
Thou puttest my feet in the stocks ,
and watchest all my paths ;
thou settest a bound to the soles of my feet .
*
Man wastes away like a rotten thing ,
like a garment that is moth-eaten .
* "
Man that is born of a woman is of few days ,
and full of trouble .
*
He comes forth like a flower ,
and withers ;
he flees like a shadow ,
and continues not .
*
And dost thou open thy eyes upon such a one and bring him into judgment with thee ?
*
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ?
There is not one .
*
Since his days are determined ,
and the number of his months is with thee ,
and thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass ,
*
look away from him ,
and desist ,
that he may enjoy ,
like a hireling ,
his day .
* "
For there is hope for a tree ,
if it be cut down ,
that it will sprout again ,
and that its shoots will not cease .
*
Though its root grow old in the earth ,
and its stump die in the ground ,
*
yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant .
*
But man dies ,
and is laid low ;
man breathes his last ,
and where is he ?
*
As waters fail from a lake ,
and a river wastes away and dries up ,
*
so man lies down and rises not again ;
till the heavens are no more he will not awake ,
or be roused out of his sleep .
*
Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol ,
that thou wouldest conceal me until thy wrath be past ,
that thou wouldest appoint me a set time ,
and remember me !
*
If a man die ,
shall he live again ?
All the days of my service I would wait ,
till my release should come .
*
Thou wouldest call ,
and I would answer thee ;
thou wouldest long for the work of thy hands .
*
For then thou wouldest number my steps ,
thou wouldest not keep watch over my sin ;
*
my transgression would be sealed up in a bag ,
and thou wouldest cover over my iniquity .
* "
But the mountain falls and crumbles away ,
and the rock is removed from its place ;
*
the waters wear away the stones ;
the torrents wash away the soil of the earth ;
so thou destroyest the hope of man .
*
Thou prevailest for ever against him ,
and he passes ;
thou changest his countenance ,
and sendest him away .
*
His sons come to honor ,
and he does not know it ;
they are brought low ,
and he perceives it not .
*
He feels only the pain of his own body ,
and he mourns only for himself ."
*
Then Eli '
phaz the Te '
manite answered :
* "
Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge ,
and fill himself with the east wind ?
*
Should he argue in unprofitable talk ,
or in words with which he can do no good ?
*
But you are doing away with the fear of God ,
and hindering meditation before God .
*
For your iniquity teaches your mouth ,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty .
*
Your own mouth condemns you ,
and not I ;
your own lips testify against you .
* "
Are you the first man that was born ?
Or were you brought forth before the hills ?
*
Have you listened in the council of God ?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself +?
*
What do you know that we do not know ?
What do you understand that is not clear to us ?
*
Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us ,
older than your father .
*
Are the consolations of God too small for you ,
or the word that deals gently with you ?
*
Why does your heart carry you away ,
and why do your eyes flash ,
*
that you turn your spirit against God ,
and let such words go out of your mouth ?
*
What is man ,
that he can be clean ?
Or he that is born of a woman ,
that he can be righteous ?
*
Behold ,
God puts no trust in his holy ones ,
and the heavens are not clean in his sight ;
*
how much less one who is abominable and corrupt ,
a man who drinks iniquity like water !
* "
I will show you ,
hear me ;
and what I have seen I will declare
* (
what wise men have told ,
and their fathers have not hidden ,
*
to whom alone the land was given ,
and no stranger passed among them ).
*
The wicked man writhes in pain all his days ,
through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless .
*
Terrifying sounds are in his ears ;
in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him .
*
He does not believe that he will return out of darkness ,
and he is destined for the sword .
*
He wanders abroad for bread ,
saying , `
wanders abroad for bread ,
saying , "
Where is it ?'
He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand ;
*
distress and anguish terrify him ;
they prevail against him ,
like a king prepared for battle .
*
Because he has stretched forth his hand against God ,
and bids defiance to the Almighty ,
*
running stubbornly against him with a thick-bossed shield ;
*
because he has covered his face with his fat ,
and gathered fat upon his loins ,
*
and has lived in desolate cities ,
in houses which no man should inhabit ,
which were destined to become heaps of ruins ;
*
he will not be rich ,
and his wealth will not endure ,
nor will he strike root in the earth ;
*
he will not escape from darkness ;
the flame will dry up his shoots ,
and his blossom will be swept away by the wind .
*
Let him not trust in emptiness ,
deceiving himself ;
for emptiness will be his recompense .
*
It will be paid in full before his time ,
and his branch will not be green .
*
He will shake off his unripe grape ,
like the vine ,
and cast off his blossom ,
like the olive tree .
*
For the company of the godless is barren ,
and fire consumes the tents of bribery .
*
They conceive mischief and bring forth evil and their heart prepares deceit ."
*
Then Job answered :
* "
I have heard many such things ;
miserable comforters are you all .
*
Shall windy words have an end ?
Or what provokes you that you answer ?
*
I also could speak as you do ,
if you were in my place ;
I could join words together against you ,
and shake my head at you .
*
I could strengthen you with my mouth ,
and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain .
* "
If I speak ,
my pain is not assuaged ,
and if I forbear ,
how much of it leaves me ?
*
Surely now God has worn me out ;
he has made desolate all my company .
*
And he has shriveled me up ,
which is a witness against me ;
and my leanness has risen up against me ,
it testifies to my face .
*
He has torn me in his wrath ,
and hated me ;
he has gnashed his teeth at me ;
my adversary sharpens his eyes against me .
*
Men have gaped at me with their mouth ,
they have struck me insolently upon the cheek ,
they mass themselves together against me .
*
God gives me up to the ungodly ,
and casts me into the hands of the wicked .
*
I was at ease ,
and he broke me asunder ;
he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces ;
he set me up as his target ,
*
his archers surround me .
He slashes open my kidneys ,
and does not spare ;
he pours out my gall on the ground .
*
He breaks me with breach upon breach ;
he runs upon me like a warrior .
*
I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin ,
and have laid my strength in the dust .
*
My face is red with weeping ,
and on my eyelids is deep darkness ;
*
although there is no violence in my hands ,
and my prayer is pure .
* "
O earth ,
cover not my blood ,
and let my cry find no resting place .
*
Even now ,
behold ,
my witness is in heaven ,
and he that vouches for me is on high .
*
My friends scorn me ;
my eye pours out tears to God ,
*
that he would maintain the right of a man with God ,
like that of a man with his neighbor .
*
For when a few years have come I shall go the way whence I shall not return .
*
My spirit is broken ,
my days are extinct ,
the grave is ready for me .
*
Surely there are mockers about me ,
and my eye dwells on their provocation .
* "
Lay down a pledge for me with thyself ;
who is there that will give surety for me ?
*
Since thou hast closed their minds to understanding ,
therefore thou wilt not let them triumph .
*
He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property ,
the eyes of his children will fail .
* "
He has made me a byword of the peoples ,
and I am one before whom men spit .
*
My eye has grown dim from grief ,
and all my members are like a shadow .
*
Upright men are appalled at this ,
and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless .
*
Yet the righteous holds to his way ,
and he that has clean hands grows stronger and stronger .
*
But you ,
come on again ,
all of you ,
and I shall not find a wise man among you .
*
My days are past ,
my plans are broken off ,
the desires of my heart .
*
They make night into day ; `
he light ,'
they say , "
is near to the darkness .'
*
If I look for Sheol as my house ,
if I spread my couch in darkness ,
*
if I say to the pit , `
You are my father ,'
and to the worm , `
My mother ,'
or `
My sister ,'
*
where then is my hope ?
Who will see my hope ?
*
Will it go down to the bars of Sheol ?
Shall we descend together into the dust ?"
*
Then Bildad the Shuhite answered :
* "
How long will you hunt for words ?
Consider ,
and then we will speak .
*
Why are we counted as cattle ?
Why are we stupid in your sight ?
*
You who tear yourself in your anger ,
shall the earth be forsaken for you ,
or the rock be removed out of its place ?
* "
Yea ,
the light of the wicked is put out ,
and the flame of his fire does not shine .
*
The light is dark in his tent ,
and his lamp above him is put out .
*
His strong steps are shortened and his own schemes throw him down .
*
For he is cast into a net by his own feet ,
and he walks on a pitfall .
*
A trap seizes him by the heel ,
a snare lays hold of him .
*
A rope is hid for him in the ground ,
a trap for him in the path .
*
Terrors frighten him on every side ,
and chase him at his heels .
*
His strength is hunger-bitten ,
and calamity is ready for his stumbling .
*
By disease his skin is consumed ,
the first-born of death consumes his limbs .
*
He is torn from the tent in which he trusted ,
and is brought to the king of terrors .
*
In his tent dwells that which is none of his ;
brimstone is scattered upon his habitation .
*
His roots dry up beneath ,
and his branches wither above .
*
His memory perishes from the earth ,
and he has no name in the street .
*
He is thrust from light into darkness ,
and driven out of the world .
*
He has no offspring or descendant among his people ,
and no survivor where he used to live .
*
They of the west are appalled at his day ,
and horror seizes them of the east .
*
Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly ,
such is the place of him who knows not God ."
*
Then Job answered :
* "
How long will you torment me ,
and break me in pieces with words ?
*
These ten times you have cast reproach upon me ;
are you not ashamed to wrong me ?
*
And even if it be true that I have erred ,
my error remains with myself .
*
If indeed you magnify yourselves against me ,
and make my humiliation an argument against me ,
*
know then that God has put me in the wrong ,
and closed his net about me .
*
Behold ,
I cry out , `
hold ,
I cry out , "
Violence !'
but I am not answered ;
I call aloud ,
but there is no justice .
*
He has walled up my way ,
so that I cannot pass ,
and he has set darkness upon my paths .
*
He has stripped from me my glory ,
and taken the crown from my head .
*
He breaks me down on every side ,
and I am gone ,
and my hope has he pulled up like a tree .
*
He has kindled his wrath against me ,
and counts me as his adversary .
*
His troops come on together ;
they have cast up siegeworks against me ,
and encamp round about my tent .
* "
He has put my brethren far from me ,
and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me .
*
My kinsfolk and my close friends have failed me ;
*
the guests in my house have forgotten me ;
my maidservants count me as a stranger ;
I have become an alien in their eyes .
*
I call to my servant ,
but he gives me no answer ;
I must beseech him with my mouth .
*
I am repulsive to my wife ,
loathsome to the sons of my own mother .
*
Even young children despise me ;
when I rise they talk against me .
*
All my intimate friends abhor me ,
and those whom I loved have turned against me .
*
My bones cleave to my skin and to my flesh ,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth .
*
Have pity on me ,
have pity on me ,
O you my friends ,
for the hand of God has touched me !
*
Why do you ,
like God ,
pursue me ?
Why are you not satisfied with my flesh ?
* "
Oh that my words were written !
Oh that they were inscribed in a book !
*
Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were graven in the rock for ever !
*
For I know that my Redeemer lives ,
and at last he will stand upon the earth ;
*
and after my skin has been thus destroyed ,
then from my flesh I shall see God ,
*
whom I shall see on my side ,
and my eyes shall behold ,
and not another .
My heart faints within me !
*
If you say , `
e him !'
and , `
s found in him ';
*
be afraid of the sword ,
for wrath brings the punishment of the sword ,
that you may know there is a judgment ."
*
Then Zophar the Na '
amathite answered :
* "
Therefore my thoughts answer me ,
because of my haste within me .
*
I hear censure which insults me ,
and out of my understanding a spirit answers me .
*
Do you not know this from of old ,
since man was placed upon earth ,
*
that the exulting of the wicked is short ,
and the joy of the godless but for a moment ?
*
Though his height mount up to the heavens ,
and his head reach to the clouds ,
*
he will perish for ever like his own dung ;
those who have seen him will say , `
ose who have seen him will say , "
Where is he ?'
*
He will fly away like a dream ,
and not be found ;
he will be chased away like a vision of the night .
*
The eye which saw him will see him no more ,
nor will his place any more behold him .
*
His children will seek the favor of the poor ,
and his hands will give back his wealth .
*
His bones are full of youthful vigor ,
but it will lie down with him in the dust .
* "
Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth ,
though he hides it under his tongue ,
*
though he is loath to let it go ,
and holds it in his mouth ,
*
yet his food is turned in his stomach ;
it is the gall of asps within him .
*
He swallows down riches and vomits them up again ;
God casts them out of his belly .
*
He will suck the poison of asps ;
the tongue of a viper will kill him .
*
He will not look upon the rivers ,
the streams flowing with honey and curds .
*
He will give back the fruit of his toil ,
and will not swallow it down ;
from the profit of his trading he will get no enjoyment .
*
For he has crushed and abandoned the poor ,
he has seized a house which he did not build .
* "
Because his greed knew no rest ,
he will not save anything in which he delights .
*
There was nothing left after he had eaten ;
therefore his prosperity will not endure .
*
In the fulness of his sufficiency he will be in straits ;
all the force of misery will come upon him .
*
To fill his belly to the full God will send his fierce anger into him ,
and rain it upon him as his food .
*
He will flee from an iron weapon ;
a bronze arrow will strike him through .
*
It is drawn forth and comes out of his body ,
the glittering point comes out of his gall ;
terrors come upon him .
*
Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures ;
a fire not blown upon will devour him ;
what is left in his tent will be consumed .
*
The heavens will reveal his iniquity ,
and the earth will rise up against him .
*
The possessions of his house will be carried away ,
dragged off in the day of God '
s wrath .
*
This is the wicked man '
s portion from God ,
the heritage decreed for him by God ."
*
Then Job answered :