rsv Job:12-14 SEEK
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Then Job answered :
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No doubt you are the people ,
and wisdom will die with you .
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But I have understanding as well as you ;
I am not inferior to you .
Who does not know such things as these ?
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I am a laughingstock to my friends ;
I ,
who called upon God and he answered me ,
a just and blameless man ,
am a laughingstock .
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In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune ;
it is ready for those whose feet slip .
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The tents of robbers are at peace ,
and those who provoke God are secure ,
who bring their god in their hand .
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But ask the beasts ,
and they will teach you ;
the birds of the air ,
and they will tell you ;
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or the plants of the earth ,
and they will teach you ;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you .
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Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this ?
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In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind .
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Does not the ear try words as the palate tastes food ?
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Wisdom is with the aged ,
and understanding in length of days .
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With God are wisdom and might ;
he has counsel and understanding .
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If he tears down ,
none can rebuild ;
if he shuts a man in ,
none can open .
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If he withholds the waters ,
they dry up ;
if he sends them out ,
they overwhelm the land .
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With him are strength and wisdom ;
the deceived and the deceiver are his .
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He leads counselors away stripped ,
and judges he makes fools .
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He looses the bonds of kings ,
and binds a waistcloth on their loins .
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He leads priests away stripped ,
and overthrows the mighty .
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He deprives of speech those who are trusted ,
and takes away the discernment of the elders .
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He pours contempt on princes ,
and looses the belt of the strong .
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He uncovers the deeps out of darkness ,
and brings deep darkness to light .
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He makes nations great ,
and he destroys them :
he enlarges nations ,
and leads them away .
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He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth ,
and makes them wander in a pathless waste .
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They grope in the dark without light ;
and he makes them stagger like a drunken man .
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Lo ,
my eye has seen all this ,
my ear has heard and understood it .
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What you know ,
I also know ;
I am not inferior to you .
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But I would speak to the Almighty ,
and I desire to argue my case with God .
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As for you ,
you whitewash with lies ;
worthless physicians are you all .
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Oh that you would keep silent ,
and it would be your wisdom !
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Hear now my reasoning ,
and listen to the pleadings of my lips .
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Will you speak falsely for God ,
and speak deceitfully for him ?
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Will you show partiality toward him ,
will you plead the case for God ?
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Will it be well with you when he searches you out ?
Or can you deceive him ,
as one deceives a man ?
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He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality .
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Will not his majesty terrify you ,
and the dread of him fall upon you ?
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Your maxims are proverbs of ashes ,
your defenses are defenses of clay .
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Let me have silence ,
and I will speak ,
and let come on me what may .
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I will take my flesh in my teeth ,
and put my life in my hand .
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Behold ,
he will slay me ;
I have no hope ;
yet I will defend my ways to his face .
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This will be my salvation ,
that a godless man shall not come before him .
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Listen carefully to my words ,
and let my declaration be in your ears .
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Behold ,
I have prepared my case ;
I know that I shall be vindicated .
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Who is there that will contend with me ?
For then I would be silent and die .
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Only grant two things to me ,
then I will not hide myself from thy face :
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withdraw thy hand far from me ,
and let not dread of thee terrify me .
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Then call ,
and I will answer ;
or let me speak ,
and do thou reply to me .
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How many are my iniquities and my sins ?
Make me know my transgression and my sin .
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Why dost thou hide thy face ,
and count me as thy enemy ?
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Wilt thou frighten a driven leaf and pursue dry chaff +?
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For thou writest bitter things against me ,
and makest me inherit the iniquities of my youth .
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Thou puttest my feet in the stocks ,
and watchest all my paths ;
thou settest a bound to the soles of my feet .
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Man wastes away like a rotten thing ,
like a garment that is moth-eaten .
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Man that is born of a woman is of few days ,
and full of trouble .
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He comes forth like a flower ,
and withers ;
he flees like a shadow ,
and continues not .
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And dost thou open thy eyes upon such a one and bring him into judgment with thee ?
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Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ?
There is not one .
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Since his days are determined ,
and the number of his months is with thee ,
and thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass ,
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look away from him ,
and desist ,
that he may enjoy ,
like a hireling ,
his day .
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For there is hope for a tree ,
if it be cut down ,
that it will sprout again ,
and that its shoots will not cease .
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Though its root grow old in the earth ,
and its stump die in the ground ,
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yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant .
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But man dies ,
and is laid low ;
man breathes his last ,
and where is he ?
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As waters fail from a lake ,
and a river wastes away and dries up ,
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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 .
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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 !
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If a man die ,
shall he live again ?
All the days of my service I would wait ,
till my release should come .
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Thou wouldest call ,
and I would answer thee ;
thou wouldest long for the work of thy hands .
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For then thou wouldest number my steps ,
thou wouldest not keep watch over my sin ;
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my transgression would be sealed up in a bag ,
and thou wouldest cover over my iniquity .
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But the mountain falls and crumbles away ,
and the rock is removed from its place ;
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the waters wear away the stones ;
the torrents wash away the soil of the earth ;
so thou destroyest the hope of man .
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Thou prevailest for ever against him ,
and he passes ;
thou changest his countenance ,
and sendest him away .
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His sons come to honor ,
and he does not know it ;
they are brought low ,
and he perceives it not .
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He feels only the pain of his own body ,
and he mourns only for himself ."
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Then Eli '
phaz the Te '
manite answered :