Job’s Fourth Speech Continues

1 “Look, my eye has seen everything;

my ear has heard and has understood it.

2 What youknow,I myselfalso know—

I am not more inferior than you.

3 But I would speak to Shaddai,

and I desire to argue with God.

4 “Butyouwhitewash with lies;

all of youare worthless healers.

5 O thatyouwould keep completely silent,

and that it would become wisdom for you.

6 Please hear my argument,

and listen attentively to the pleadings of my lips.

7 “Will youspeak falsely for God?

And will youspeak deceitfully for him?

8 Will youshow partiality for him?

Or do youwant to plead God’s case?

9 Will it be well, if he examines you?

Or can youdeceive him like deceiving a human being?

10 “Surely he will rebuke you

if youshow partialityin secret.

11 Will not his majesty terrify you,

and his dread fall upon you?

12 Yourmaxims are proverbs of ashes;

yourdefenses are defenses of clay.

13 “Let me have silence,and I myselfwill speak,

and let come over me whatever may.

14 Why should I take my flesh in my teeth

andputmy life in my hand?

15 Look,though he kill me, I will hope inhim;

however, I will defend my ways before him.

16 Moreover, 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.

18 Please look,I have prepared my case;

I know that I myselfwill be vindicated.

19 Who 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 youmust not do these two things to me;

then I will not hide from your face:

21 withdraw yourhand from me,

and let not yourdread terrify me.

22 Thencall, and I myselfwill answer;

or let me speak, thenreply to me.

23 “How manyare my iniquities and sins?

Make known to me my transgression and my sin.

24 Why do youhide yourface

and count me as yourenemy?

25 Will youterrify a blown leaf?

And will youpursue dry stubble?

26 “Indeed, youwrite bitter things against me,

and youmake me reap the iniquities of my childhood.

27 And youput my feet in the block,

and youwatch all my paths;

you carve a mark on the soles of my feet.

28 And he himselfwastes away like something rotten,

like a garment that the moth has eaten.