Lo, mine eye hath seen all this,
Mine ear hath heard and understood it.
What ye know, the same do I know also:
I am not inferior unto you.
Surely I would speak to the Almighty,
And I desire to reason with God.
But ye are forgers of lies;
Ye are all physicians of no value.
Oh that ye would altogether hold your peace!
And it would be your wisdom.
Hear now my reasoning,
And hearken to the pleadings of my lips.
Will ye speak unrighteously for God,
And talk deceitfully for him?
Will ye show partiality to him?
Will ye contend for God?
Is it good that he should search you out?
Or as one {Or, mocketh}deceiveth a man, will ye {Or, mock}deceive him?
He will surely reprove you,
If ye do secretly show partiality.
Shall not his majesty make you afraid,
And his dread fall upon you?
Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes,
Your defences are defences of clay.
Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak;
And let come on me what will.
{Or, At all adventures I will take &c.}Wherefore should I take my flesh in my teeth,
And put my life in my hand?
{Or, Though he slay me, yet will I wait for him}Behold, he will slay me; I have no hope:
Nevertheless I will {Hebrew: argue.}maintain my ways before him.
This also shall be my salvation,
That a godless man shall not come before him.
Hear diligently my speech,
And let my declaration be in your ears.
Behold now, I have set my cause in order;
I know that I {Or, shall be justified}am righteous.
Who is he that will contend with me?
For then {Or, if I hold my peace, I shall give up &c.}would I hold my peace and give up the ghost.
Only do not two things unto me;
Then will I not hide myself from thy face:
Withdraw thy hand far from me;
And let not thy terror make me afraid.
Then call thou, and I will answer;
Or let me speak, and answer thou me.
How many are mine iniquities and sins?
Make me to know my transgression and my sin.
Wherefore hidest thou thy face,
And holdest me for thine enemy?
Wilt thou harass a driven leaf?
And wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
For thou writest bitter things against me,
And makest me to inherit the iniquities of my youth:
Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks,
And markest all my paths;
Thou settest a bound to the soles of my feet:
{Hebrew: And he is like.}Though I am like a rotten thing that consumeth,
Like a garment that is moth-eaten.
Querverweise zu Hiob 13,4 Hiob 13,4
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent?Or where were the upright cut off?
According as I have seen, they that plow iniquity,And sow {Or, mischief}trouble, reap the same.
By the breath of God they perish,And by the blast of his anger are they consumed.
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion,And the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
The old lion perisheth for lack of prey,And the whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.
For now ye {Another reading is, are like thereto.}are nothing;Ye see a terror, and are afraid.
Call now; is there any that will answer thee?And to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn?
For vexation killeth the foolish man,And {Or, indignation}jealousy slayeth the silly one.
I have seen the foolish taking root:But suddenly I cursed his habitation.
His children are far from safety,And they are crushed in the gate,Neither is there any to deliver them:
Whose harvest the hungry eateth up,And taketh it even out of the thorns;And {According to Vulgate, the thirsty swallow up.}the snare gapeth for their substance.
I have heard many such things: {Or, Wearisome}Miserable comforters are ye all.
Doth God pervert justice?Or doth the Almighty pervert righteousness?
They have healed also the {Or, breach}hurt of {Another reading is, the daughter of my people, as in chapter 8:11, 21}my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
{Or, If thy children sinned…he delivered &c.}If thy children have sinned against him,And he hath delivered them into the hand of their transgression;
Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? why then is not the {Or, healing}health of the daughter of my people {Or, perfected Hebrew: gone up.}recovered?
Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out,And the {Or, flame}spark of his fire shall not shine.
The light shall be dark in his tent,And his lamp {Or, beside}above him shall be put out.
The steps of his strength shall be straitened,And his own counsel shall cast him down.
For he is cast into a net by his own feet,And he walketh upon the toils.
A gin shall take him by the heel,And a snare shall lay hold on him.
A noose is hid for him in the ground,And a trap for him in the way.
Terrors shall make him afraid on every side,And shall chase him at his heels.
His strength shall be hunger-bitten,And calamity shall be ready {Or, for his halting}at his side.
The {Hebrew: bars of his skin.}members of his body shall be devoured,Yea, the first-born of death shall devour his members.
He shall be rooted out of his tent where he trusteth;And {Hebrew: it shall (or, thou shall) bring him.}he shall be brought to the king of terrors.
{Or, It shall dwell in his tent, that it be no more his (or, because it is none of his)}There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his:Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.
His roots shall be dried up beneath,And above shall his branch {Or, wither}be cut off.
His remembrance shall perish from the earth,And he shall have no name in the street.
He shall be driven from light into darkness,And chased out of the world.
He shall have neither son nor son's son among his people,Nor any remaining where he sojourned.
{Or, They that dwell in the west are…as they that dwell in the east are &c.}They that come after shall be astonished at his day,As they that went before {Hebrew: laid hold on horror.}were affrighted.
Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,And this is the place of him that knoweth not God.
There is none to plead {Or, thy cause: for thy wound thou hast no medicines nor plaster}thy cause, {Hebrew: for closing up, or pressing.}that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines.
Behold, I know your thoughts,And the devices wherewith ye would wrong me.
For ye say, Where is the house of the prince?And where is the tent wherein the wicked dwelt?
Have ye not asked wayfaring men?And do ye not know their evidences,
That the evil man is {Or, spared in &c.}reserved to the day of calamity?That they are {Or, led away in &c.}led forth to the day of wrath?
Who shall declare his way to his face?And who shall repay him what he hath done?
{Or, Moreover he is borne to the grave, And keepth watch over his tomb. The clots of the valley are sweet unto him; And all men draw &c.}Yet shall he be borne to the grave,And men shall keep watch over the tomb.
The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him,And all men shall draw after him,As there were innumerable before him.
How then comfort ye me {Or, with vanity}in vain,Seeing in your answers there remaineth only {Or, faithlessness}falsehood?
Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou use many medicines; there is no healing for thee.
For thou hast taken pledges of thy brother for nought,And stripped the naked of their clothing.
Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink,And thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
But as for the {Hebrew: the man of arm.}mighty man, he had the {Or, land}earth;And {Hebrew: he whose person is accepted.}the honorable man, he dwelt in it.
Thou hast sent widows away empty,And the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
Therefore snares are round about thee,And sudden fear troubleth thee,
{Or, Or dost thou not see the darkness, And the flood of waters that covereth thee?}Or darkness, so that thou canst not see,And abundance of waters cover thee.
Is not God in the height of heaven?And behold the {Hebrew: head.}height of the stars, how high they are!
And thou sayest, What doth God know?Can he judge through the thick darkness?
Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he seeth not;And he walketh on the vault of heaven.
{Or, Dost thou mark}Wilt thou keep the old wayWhich wicked men have trodden?
Who were snatched away before their time,Whose foundation was poured out as a stream,
Who said unto God, Depart from us;And, What can the Almighty do {Or, to}for {Hebrew: them.}us?
Yet he filled their houses with good things:But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
The righteous see it, and are glad;And the innocent laugh them to scorn,
Saying, Surely they that did rise up against us are cut off,And the {Or, that which remained to them Or, their abundance}remnant of them the fire hath consumed.
Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: {Or,as otherwise read, Thereby shall thine increase be good.}Thereby good shall come unto thee.
Receive, I pray thee, {Or, instruction}the law from his mouth,And lay up his words in thy heart.
If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, {Or, Thou shall put away…And shall lay up}If thou put away unrighteousness far from thy tents.
And lay thou thy {Hebrew: ore.}treasure {Or, on the earth}in the dust,And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks;
And the Almighty will be thy {Hebrew: ore.}treasure,And {Or, precious silver shall be thine}precious silver unto thee.
For then shalt thou delight thyself in the Almighty,And shalt lift up thy face unto God.
Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he will hear thee;And thou shalt pay thy vows.
Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee;And light shall shine upon thy ways.
When they {Or, are made low}cast thee down, thou shalt say, There is lifting up;And {Hebrew: him that is lowly of eyes.}the humble person he will save.
He will deliver even him that is not innocent:Yea, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of thy hands.
The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought back that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with rigor have ye ruled over them.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to Assyria, and sent to {Or, a king that should contend}king Jareb: but he is not able to heal you, neither will he cure you of your wound.
The proud have forged a lie against me:With my whole heart will I keep thy precepts.
And when Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are {Greek: strong.}whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.
and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,