12

¹约伯回答说：
²“你们果真是人物啊！
智慧要与你们一同去死。
³但我也有聪明，跟你们一样，
并非不及你们。
这些事，谁不知道呢？
⁴我这求告上帝、蒙他应允的人
竟成了朋友所讥笑的；
又公义又完全的人竟遭受讥笑。
⁵安逸的人心里藐视灾祸，
这灾祸在等待失足滑跌的人。
⁶强盗的帐棚安宁，
惹上帝发怒的人稳固，
他们把上帝⚓握在自己手中⚓。

⁷“你问走兽，走兽必指教你；
你问空中的飞鸟，飞鸟必告诉你；
⁸或者你与地说话，地必指教你⚓；
海中的鱼也必向你说明。
⁹在这一切当中，
有谁不知道这是耶和华的手做成的呢？
¹⁰凡动物的生命
和人类的气息都在他手中。
¹¹耳朵岂不辨别言语，
正如上膛品尝食物吗？
¹²年老的有智慧，
寿高的有知识。

¹³“在上帝有智慧和能力，
他有谋略和知识。
¹⁴看哪，他拆毁，就不能重建；
他拘禁人，人就不得释放。
¹⁵看哪，他使水止住，水就干了；
他把水放出，水就淹没大地。
¹⁶在他有能力和智慧，
走迷的和使人迷路的都属他。
¹⁷他把谋士剥衣掳去，
使审判官变为愚妄。
¹⁸他解除君王的权势⚓，
用带子捆住他们的腰。
¹⁹他把祭司剥衣掳去，
使有权能的人倾覆。
²⁰他废去忠信者的言论，
夺去长者的见识。
²¹他使贵族蒙羞受辱，
放松勇士的腰带。
²²他从黑暗中彰显深奥的事，
使死荫显出光明。
²³他使邦国兴旺而又毁灭，
使邦国扩展又被掠夺。
²⁴他将地上百姓中领袖的聪明夺去，
使他们迷失在荒凉无路之地。
²⁵他们在无光的黑暗中摸索；
他使他们摇晃像醉酒的人一样。”

12

Job Answers His Critics

¹Then Job answered and said:
²“No doubt you are the people,
And wisdom will die with you!
³But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not ⚓inferior to you.
Indeed, who does not know such things as these?
⁴“I⚓ am one mocked by his friends,
Who ⚓called on God, and He answered him,
The just and blameless who is ridiculed.
⁵A lamp is despised in the thought of one who is at ease;
It is made ready for ⚓those whose feet slip.
⁶⚓The tents of robbers prosper,
And those who provoke God are secure—
In what God provides by His hand.
⁷“But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
And the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
⁸Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you;
And the fish of the sea will explain to you.
⁹Who among all these does not know
That the hand of the Lord has done this,
¹⁰⚓In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And the ⚓breath of all mankind?
¹¹Does not the ear test words
And the mouth taste its food?
¹²Wisdom is with aged men,
And with length of days, understanding.
¹³“With Him are⚓wisdom and strength,
He has counsel and understanding.
¹⁴If ⚓He breaks a thing down, it cannot be rebuilt;
If He imprisons a man, there can be no release.
¹⁵If He ⚓withholds the waters, they dry up;
If He ⚓sends them out, they overwhelm the earth.
¹⁶With Him are strength and prudence.
The deceived and the deceiver are His.
¹⁷He leads counselors away plundered,
And makes fools of the judges.
¹⁸He loosens the bonds of kings,
And binds their waist with a belt.
¹⁹He leads princes away plundered,
And overthrows the mighty.
²⁰⚓He deprives the trusted ones of speech,
And takes away the discernment of the elders.
²¹⚓He pours contempt on princes,
And disarms the mighty.
²²He ⚓uncovers deep things out of darkness,
And brings the shadow of death to light.
²³⚓He makes nations great, and destroys them;
He enlarges nations, and guides them.
²⁴He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth,
And ⚓makes them wander in a pathless wilderness.
²⁵⚓They grope in the dark without light,
And He makes them ⚓stagger like a drunken man.