Job 13

Job’s Fourth Speech Continues

¹“Look, my eye has seen everything;

my ear has heard and has understood it.

²What you know, I myself also know—[#Plural; #Literally “Like your knowledge”; #Emphatic personal pronoun]

I am not more inferior than you.

³But I would speak to Shaddai,

and I desire to argue with God.

⁴“But you whitewash with lies;[#Or “And but”; #Plural; #Literally “coverers of lies”]

all of you are worthless healers.

⁵O that you would keep completely silent,[#Literally “Who shall give”; #Plural]

and that it would become wisdom for you.

⁶Please hear my argument,

and listen attentively to the pleadings of my lips.

⁷“Will you speak falsely for God?[#Plural]

And will you speak deceitfully for him?

⁸Will you show partiality for him?[#Plural; #Literally “his faces will you raise”]

Or do you want to plead God’s case?

⁹Will it be well, if he examines you?[#Plural]

Or can you deceive him like deceiving a human being?

¹⁰“Surely he will rebuke you[#Plural]

if you show partiality in secret.

¹¹Will not his majesty terrify you,[#Plural]

and his dread fall upon you?

¹²Your maxims are proverbs of ashes;[#Plural]

your defenses are defenses of clay.

¹³“Let me have silence, and I myself will speak,[#Literally “Be silent away from me”; #Emphatic personal pronoun]

and let come over me whatever may.

¹⁴Why should I take my flesh in my teeth

and put my life in my hand?

¹⁵Look, though he kill me, I will hope in him;[#Or “Though”; #Or “for”]

however, I will defend my ways before him.

¹⁶Moreover, this is salvation to me,

that the godless would not come before him.

¹⁷“Listen carefully to my words,

and let my exposition be in your ears.

¹⁸Please look, I have prepared my case;[#Or “Look here”]

I know that I myself will be vindicated.

¹⁹Who is he who will contend with me?

For then I would be silent, and I would pass away.

Job Argues His Case with God

²⁰“Only you must not do these two things to me;[#Singular; the antecedent is God]

then I will not hide from your face:

²¹withdraw your hand from me,[#Singular]

and let not your dread terrify me.

²²Then call, and I myself will answer;[#Hebrew “And”; #Emphatic personal pronoun]

or let me speak, then reply to me.

²³“How many are my iniquities and sins?[#Literally “Like what”]

Make known to me my transgression and my sin.

²⁴Why do you hide your face[#Singular; #Singular]

and count me as your enemy?

²⁵Will you terrify a blown leaf?[#Singular]

And will you pursue dry stubble?

²⁶“Indeed, you write bitter things against me,[#Singular]

and you make me reap the iniquities of my childhood.

²⁷And you put my feet in the block,[#Singular]

and you watch all my paths;

you carve a mark on the soles of my feet.

²⁸And he himself wastes away like something rotten,[#Emphatic personal pronoun]

like a garment that the moth has eaten.