Iyov, starting at chapter 10
{10:1} "My soul is weary of my life;
I will give free course to my complaint.
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
{10:2} I will tell God, 'Do not condemn me,
Show me why you contend with me.
{10:3} Is it good to you that you should oppress,
That you should despise the work of your hands,
And smile on the counsel of the wicked?
{10:4} Do you have eyes of flesh?
Or do you see as man sees?
{10:5} Are your days as the days of mortals,
Or your years as man's years,
{10:6} That you inquire after my iniquity,
And search after my sin?
{10:7} Although you know that I am not wicked,
There is no one who can deliver out of your hand.
{10:8} 'Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether;
Yet you destroy me.
{10:9} Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay.
Will you bring me into dust again?
{10:10} Haven't you poured me out like milk,
And curdled me like cheese?
{10:11} You have clothed me with skin and flesh,
And knit me together with bones and sinews.
{10:12} You have granted me life and loving kindness.
Your visitation has preserved my spirit.
{10:13} Yet you hid these things in your heart.
I know that this is with you:
{10:14} If I sin, then you mark me.
You will not acquit me from my iniquity.
{10:15} If I am wicked, woe to me.
If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head,
Being filled with disgrace,
And conscious of my affliction.
{10:16} If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion.
Again you show yourself powerful to me.
{10:17} You renew your witnesses against me,
And increase your indignation on me.
Changes and warfare are with me.
{10:18} "'Why, then, have you brought me forth out of the womb?
I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.
{10:19} I should have been as though I had not been.
I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
{10:20} Aren't my days few? Cease then,
Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,
{10:21} Before I go where I shall not return from,
To the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
{10:22} The land dark as midnight,
Of the shadow of death, without any order,
Where the light is as midnight.'"
{11:1} Then Tzofar, the Na`amatite, answered,
{11:2} "Shouldn't the multitude of words be answered?
Should a man full of talk be justified?
{11:3} Should your boastings make men hold their shalom?
When you mock, shall no man make you ashamed?
{11:4} For you say, 'My doctrine is pure,
I am clean in your eyes.'
{11:5} But oh that God would speak,
And open his lips against you,
{11:6} That he would show you the secrets of wisdom!
For true wisdom has two sides.
Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity
deserves.
{11:7} "Can you fathom the mystery of God?
Or can you probe the limits of [1>]Shaddai[<1]?
{11:8} They are high as heaven. What can you do?
Deeper than She'ol: what can you know?
{11:9} The measure of it is longer than the earth,
And broader than the sea.
{11:10} If he passes by, or confines,
Or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?
{11:11} For he knows false men.
He sees iniquity also, even though he doesn't consider it.
{11:12} But vain man can become wise
If a man can be born as a wild donkey's colt.
{11:13} "If you set your heart aright,
Stretch out your hands toward him.
{11:14} If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
Don't let unrighteousness dwell in your tents.
{11:15} Surely then shall you lift up your face without spot;
Yes, you shall be steadfast, and shall not fear:
{11:16} For you shall forget your misery;
You shall remember it as waters that are passed away,
{11:17} Life shall be clearer than the noonday;
Though there is darkness, it shall be as the morning.
{11:18} You shall be secure, because there is hope;
Yes, you shall search, and shall take your rest in safety.
{11:19} Also you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid;
Yes, many shall court your favor.
{11:20} But the eyes of the wicked shall fail,
They shall have no way to flee;
Their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit."
{12:1} Then Iyov answered,
{12:2} "No doubt, but you are the people,
And wisdom shall die with you.
{12:3} But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you:
Yes, who doesn't know such things as these?
{12:4} I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor,
I, who called on God, and he answered.
The just, the blameless man is a joke.
{12:5} In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for
misfortune,
It is ready for them whose foot slips.
{12:6} The tents of robbers prosper,
Those who provoke God are secure;
Who carry their God in their hands.
{12:7} "But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you;
The birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.
{12:8} Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you;
The fish of the sea shall declare to you.
{12:9} Who doesn't know that in all these,
The hand of the LORD has done this,
{12:10} In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
The breath of all mankind?
{12:11} Doesn't the ear try words,
Even as the palate tastes its food?
{12:12} With aged men is wisdom,
In length of days understanding.
{12:13} "With God is wisdom and might.
He has counsel and understanding.
{12:14} Behold, he breaks down, and it can't be built again;
He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
{12:15} Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up;
Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
{12:16} With him is strength and wisdom;
The deceived and the deceiver are his.
{12:17} He leads counselors away stripped.
He makes judges fools.
{12:18} He loosens the bond of kings,
He binds their waist with a belt.
{12:19} He leads [2>]kohanim[<2] away stripped,
And overthrows the mighty.
{12:20} He removes the speech of those who are trusted,
And takes away the understanding of the elders.
{12:21} He pours contempt on princes,
And loosens the belt of the strong.
{12:22} He uncovers deep things out of darkness,
And brings out to light the shadow of death.
{12:23} He increases the nations, and he destroys them.
He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.
{12:24} He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of
the earth,
And causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
{12:25} They grope in the dark without light.
He makes them stagger like a drunken man.
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Footnotes:
[1] {11:7} the Almighty
[2] {12:19} priests
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