Job Answers Zophar

12 Then Job answered {them}: ²“I’m sure you think you are the only wise people. You think when you die, wisdom will be gone with you. ³But my mind is as good as yours. I am as smart as you are. Anyone can see this is true. ⁴“My friends laugh at me now. They say, ‘He prayed to God, and he got his answer. {That is why all these bad things happened to him.}’ “I am a good man. I am innocent. But still they laugh at me. ⁵People that don’t have troubles make fun of people who do have them. Those people hit a man when he is down. ⁶But robbers’ tents are not bothered. People who make God angry live in peace, and their own strength is their only god! ⁷“But ask the animals, they will teach you. Or ask the birds of the air, they will tell you. ⁸Or speak to the earth, it will teach you. Or let the fish in the sea tell you their wisdom. ⁹Everyone knows the Lord made those things. ¹⁰Every animal that lives, and every person that breathes, is under God’s power. ¹¹But just like the tongue tastes food, the ears test the words they hear. ¹²{We say,} ‘Wisdom is to be found in old people. Long life brings understanding.’ ¹³But wisdom and power belong to God. Good advice and understanding are his. ¹⁴If God tears down anything, people can’t build it again. If God puts a person in prison, people can’t free the person. ¹⁵If God holds back the rain, the earth will dry up. If God lets the rain loose, it will flood the earth. ¹⁶God is strong and always wins. Winners and losers all belong to God! ¹⁷God strips advisors of their wisdom and makes leaders act like fools. ¹⁸Kings might put people in prison, but God sets those people free and makes them powerful. ¹⁹God strips priests of their power and fires the bureaucrats who feel so secure in their jobs. ²⁰God makes the trusted advisers be silent. He takes away the wisdom of old people. ²¹God makes leaders not important. He takes power away from rulers. ²²God knows even the darkest secrets. He sends light into places that are as dark as death. ²³God makes nations big and powerful, and then he destroys them. He makes nations grow large, then he scatters their people. ²⁴God makes leaders foolish. He makes them wander aimlessly through the desert. ²⁵Those leaders are like a person feeling his way in the dark. They are like a drunk person who doesn’t know where he is going.”

13 {Job said,} “I have seen all this before. I have already heard everything you say. I understand all of those things. ²I know as much as you do. I am as smart as you are. ³But I don’t want to argue with you. I want to speak to God All-Powerful. I want to argue with God about my troubles. ⁴But you three men try to cover up your ignorance with lies. You are like worthless doctors that can’t heal anyone. ⁵I wish you would just be quiet. That would be the wisest thing you could do. ⁶“Now, listen to my argument. Listen to what I have to say. ⁷Will you speak lies for God? Do you really believe your lies are what God wants you to say? ⁸Are you trying to defend God against me? You are not being fair—You are choosing God's side simply because he is God. ⁹If God checked you very closely, would he show you are right? Do you really think you can fool God the same as you fool people? ¹⁰You know God would criticize you if you chose a person’s side in court simply because he was important. ¹¹God’s majesty (importance) scares you. You are afraid of him. ¹²Your arguments are worth nothing. Your answers are worthless. ¹³“Be quiet and let me talk! I accept whatever happens to me. ¹⁴I will put myself in danger, and take my life in my own hands. ¹⁵I will continue to trust God even if God kills me.* But I will defend myself to his face. ¹⁶And if God lets me live, it will be because I was brave enough to speak. No evil person would dare meet God face to face. ¹⁷Listen carefully to what I say. Let me explain. ¹⁸I am ready now to defend myself. I will carefully present my arguments. I know I will be shown to be right. ¹⁹If any person can prove I am wrong, then I will shut up immediately. ²⁰“God, just give me two things, and then I won’t hide from you: ²¹Stop punishing me, and stop scaring me with your terrors. ²²Then call to me and I will answer you. Or let me speak, and you answer me. ²³How many sins have I done? What have I done wrong? Show me my sins and my wrongs. ²⁴God, why do you avoid me, and treat me like your enemy? ²⁵Are you trying to scare me? I am only a leaf blowing in the wind. You are attacking a little piece of straw! ²⁶God, you say bitter things against me. Are you making me suffer for the sins I did when I was young. ²⁷You have put chains on my feet. You watch every step I take. You watch every move I make. ²⁸So I am becoming weaker and weaker like a piece of wood rotting away, like a piece of cloth eaten by moths.”

I will … kills me Or, “If he decides to kill me, I have no hope.”