Job, chapter 13

I Know and Understand

I know and understand every bit of this.

²None of you are smarter than I am;

there's nothing you know that I don't.

³But I prefer to argue my case with God All-PowerfulI—

⁴you are merely useless doctors, who treat me with lies.

⁵The wisest thing you can do is to keep quietP

⁶and listen to my argument.

⁷Are you telling lies for God

⁸and not telling the whole truth when you argue his case?

⁹If he took you to court, could you fool him,

just as you fool others?

¹⁰If you were secretly unfair, he would correct you,

¹¹and his glorious splendor would make you terrified.

¹²Your wisdom and arguments will blow away like dust.

Be Quiet While I Speak

¹³Be quiet while I speak, and we'll see what happens.

¹⁴I will be responsible for what happens to me.

¹⁵God may kill me, but still I will trust him*

and offer my defense.

¹⁶This may be what saves meI, because no guilty person

would come to his court.

¹⁷Listen carefully to my words!

¹⁸I have prepared my case well, and I am certain to winI.

¹⁹If you can prove me guilty, I will give up and die.

I Ask Only Two Things

²⁰I ask only two things of you, my God,

and I will no longer hide from you—

²¹stop punishing and terrifying me!

²²Then speak, and I will reply;

or else let me speak, and you reply.

²³Please point out my sins, so I will know them.

²⁴Why have you turned your back

and count me your enemy?

²⁵Do you really enjoy frightening a fallen leaf?

²⁶Why do you accuse me of horrible crimes

and make me pay for sins I did in my youthI?

²⁷ C You have tied my feet down and keep me surrounded;

²⁸I am rotting away like cloth eaten by worms.