JOB 12:1-15:35
12:1 And Job answered and said,
12:2 No doubt but ye [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: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?
12:4 I am [as] one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright [man is] laughed to scorn.
12:5 He that is ready to slip with [his] feet [is as] a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.
12:6 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth [abundantly].
12:7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:
12:8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
12:9 Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?
12:10 In whose hand [is] the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.
12:11 Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?
12:12 With the ancient [is] wisdom; and in length of days understanding.
12:13 With him [is] wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.
12:14 Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.
12:15 Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth 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 leadeth counsellers away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools.
12:18 He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle.
12:19 He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty.
12:20 He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged.
12:21 He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.
12:22 He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.
12:23 He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them [again].
12:24 He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness [where there is] no way.
12:25 They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like [a] drunken [man].
13:1 Lo, mine eye hath seen all [this], mine ear hath heard and understood it.
13:2 What ye know, [the same] do I know also: I [am] not inferior unto you.
13:3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.
13:4 But ye [are] forgers of lies, ye [are] all physicians of no value.
13:5 O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.
13:6 Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.
13:7 Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?
13:8 Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?
13:9 Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye [so] mock him?
13:10 He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.
13:11 Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?
13:12 Your remembrances [are] like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.
13:13 Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what [will].
13:14 Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?
13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
13:16 He also [shall be] my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.
13:17 Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.
13:18 Behold now, I have ordered [my] cause; I know that I shall be justified.
13:19 Who [is] he [that] will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.
13:20 Only do not two [things] unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee.
13:21 Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.
13:22 Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.
13:23 How many [are] mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.
13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
13:25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
13:26 For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.
13:27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.
13:28 And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.
14:1 Man [that is] born of a woman [is] of few days, and full of trouble.
14:2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
14:3 And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?
14:4 Who can bring a clean [thing] out of an unclean? not one.
14:5 Seeing his days [are] determined, the number of his months [are] with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
14:6 Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.
14:7 For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
14:8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;
14:9 [Yet] through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
14:10 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where [is] he?
14:11 [As] the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:
14:12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens [be] no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
14:13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14:14 If a man die, shall he live [again]? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
14:15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.
14:16 For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?
14:17 My transgression [is] sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.
14:18 And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place.
14:19 The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow [out] of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.
14:20 Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.
14:21 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth [it] not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth [it] not of them.
14:22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.
15:1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
15:2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
15:3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
15:4 Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
15:5 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
15:6 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
15:7 [Art] thou the first man [that] was born? or wast thou made before the hills?
15:8 Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
15:9 What knowest thou, that we know not? [what] understandest thou, which [is] not in us?
15:10 With us [are] both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.
15:11 [Are] the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?
15:12 Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,
15:13 That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest [such] words go out of thy mouth?
15:14 What [is] man, that he should be clean? and [he which is] born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15:15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
15:16 How much more abominable and filthy [is] man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
15:17 I will shew thee, hear me; and that [which] I have seen I will declare;
15:18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid [it]:
15:19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
15:20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all [his] days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
15:21 A dreadful sound [is] in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
15:22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
15:23 He wandereth abroad for bread, [saying], Where [is it]? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
15:24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
15:25 For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.
15:26 He runneth upon him, [even] on [his] neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:
15:27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on [his] flanks.
15:28 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, [and] in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.
15:29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
15:30 He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
15:31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.
15:32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
15:33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
15:34 For the congregation of hypocrites [shall be] desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
15:35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.