The Trial of Job, Chapters 12 to 16

The Trial of Job

Job's Defender

[Radio announcer. Job is smarting from Zophar's insult. He's never, ever been called witless before!] ^12:1Then Job answered, saying:
²No doubt you are the ones And with you wisdom will die! ³But I have understanding as well as you; I am not less than you -- Who does not know such things?	Addressing his friends.
⁴I have become like a man who is mocked, One who calls upon God, but his neighbor answers. The just, the innocent man is a laughingstock. ⁵Men at ease have contempt for misfortune; They take aim at those who stumble, ⁶While the tents of robbers are undisturbed	Addressing the crowd. His neighbor - i.e. Zophar.
And those who provoke God are secure, Those whose god is their own mighty fist!	Job raises his fist and shakes it as if provoking God.
⁷Ask the animals, they will teach you, The birds of the sky, they will tell you; ⁸Or speak to the earth, it will teach you, The fish of the sea, they will tell you. ⁹Who does not know all these things, That the hand of Jehovah has done this? ¹⁰In his hand is every living soul And the breath of all mankind. ¹¹Can the ear not tell a word Or the mouth what food it tastes?	Addressing Bildad -- 2nd person singular.
¹²A grey beard signifies wisdom, And a long life brings understanding. ¹³But wisdom and might are his; With him are counsel and understanding. ¹⁴He tears down and there is no rebuilding; He imprisons and there is no release. ¹⁵He holds back the waters and there is drought; He lets them loose and they devastate the land. ¹⁶With him are power and victory; Deceived and deceiver are both his. ¹⁷He strips the counselors of their wits And turns judges into fools. ¹⁸He loosens the restraint of kings And girds their loins for war. ¹⁹He strips the priests of their reaon And overthrows those appointed for life. ²⁰He deprives the trustworthy of speech And takes away the judgment of the elders. ²¹He pours contempt upon the princes And disarms the strong men. ²²He opens the depths of darkness And brings forth a great shadow to the light. ²³He makes nations great and he destroys them; He enlarges nations and he leads them away. ²⁴He dements the leaders of the people of the earth; He sends them wandering through a trackless waste. ²⁵They grope in darkness where there is no light; He makes them stagger like drunkards. ^13:1My eye has seen all this; My ear has heard and understood.	Meaning Eliphaz. Meaning Bildad. Meaning God.
²What you know, I know too; I am not less than you.	Still to his friends.
*³As for me, I would* speak to the Almighty And argue my case with God; that is my desire. ⁴But you, you gild the lie and mend the idol, Doctors of what is not, all of you. ⁵If you would just keep silent, It would be your wisdom.**	Referring to Eliphaz from 5:8.
⁶Please listen to my arguments; Hear the plea of my lips.	But all three speak at once. And they won't stop.
⁷Is it for God you speak so wickedly? Is it for his sake that you lie? ⁸Looking to please him, are you? Lawyers for God? ⁹If he examines you, what then? Can you fool him as you might a man? ¹⁰He will sharply rebuke you If you are secretly currying favor. ¹¹Won't his splendor overawe you then? And the dread of him fall upon you! ¹²Your parchments will be proverbs of ash then, Your ancient tablets but shards of clay.	Job raises his voice and finally they quiet down.
¹³Be silent now that I may speak -- Then come upon me what may. ¹⁴My tongue in my teeth as my oath And my hand on my throat, a sign that I know ¹⁵He may kill me; I may have no hope, But I will defend my ways to his face.	Again all three speak up. Job tries to quiet them. He suddenly makes a hideous gesture, sticking out his tongue and biting on it, his forefinger across his throat. He meets Eliphaz' eyes and holds them a moment, reasserting himself.
¹⁶This might even be my salvation, For no godless man would face him so.	Aside.
¹⁷Now listen closely to my speech; Lend your ears to what I say, ¹⁸For I have put my case in order And I know I will be acquitted.	To his friends again.
[Radio announcer. Job's wife has helped him up.] ¹⁹Who then will contend with me, That I should keep silent and die?	With his wife's help, Job stands and intones v. 19 as a court ritual.
⁰Two things only I ask, And then I will not hide from your face: ²¹That you remove your hand far from me And that your dread not dismay me. ²²Then summon me and I will answer	Addressing God.
Or let me speak and you reply. ²³How many are my wrongs and my sins? Tell me how I have sinned or given offense.	Job pauses so God may summon him.
²⁴Why do you hide your face And regard me as your enemy? ²⁵Will you harry a driven leaf? Pursue dry chaff? ²⁶For your sentences against me are bitter And you fault me for the errors of my youth. ²⁷You shackle my ankles And watch all my paths; You brand the soles of my feet.	Job pauses so God may reply.
[Radio announcer. Job is shuffling over to the Pit.] ²⁸Like something that decays he wastes away, Like a moth-eaten garment. ^14:1Man born of woman, Few of days and full of trouble. ²He flowers and dies; Like a fleeting shadow, he is gone. ³Yet you watch him, And bring him to be judged in your court! ⁴Who can bring the clean from the unclean? No one! So let him be. ⁵His days are measured; The number of his months is with you; You have set the bounds and he cannot pass. ⁶So turn your gaze, Give him leave to enjoy his day of hire. ⁷There is hope for a tree If it is cut down, that it will sprout again And that its new growth will not fail. ⁸Though its roots grow old in the earth And its stump die in the dust, ⁹Still at the smell of water it may bud And put forth new shoots like a seedling. ¹⁰But a man when he dies, where is he? He breathes his last and is no more. ¹¹As water fails from a lake, As a riverbed dries and cakes, so ¹²Man lies down and he does not get up.	Job shuffles to the edge of the burial pit.
While the sky is above, they wake not; They will not be roused from sleep.	Those in the pit.
¹³O that you would hide me in Sheol, Conceal me till your anger has passed, Set me a time and then remember me.	Job sinks to his knees.
¹⁴Could it be that a man die and yet live? Then all my embattled days I would endure Until my relief should come.	Aside. The actor playing Job is Job's relief! He rises and bows.
¹⁵You would summon me and I would answer; You would tremble to see your handiwork again. *¹⁶That now* you might count my steps, Spying out my sin no more. ¹⁷The record of my wrongs would be sealed up; You would gloss over my error. ¹⁸But no, a mountain falls away to nothing; The rock itself is moved from its place. ¹⁹Water wears away the stone And storm rains wash away the dirt; Thus you destroy man's hope. ²⁰You trample him down to stay and he goes; You change his look and send him away. ²¹His sons are honored but he does not know it, Or humiliated and he thinks nothing of it. ²²Only his flesh upon him keeps aching And his soul within him keeps mourning.**	Addressing God. Job means now -- the time of the play.
[Radio announcer. Eliphaz has put his arm around Job and is walking him away from the Pit.] ^15:1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, saying: ²Does a wise man answer empty conceit, Fill his belly with the hot east wind?	Musical interlude. Eliphaz puts his arm around Job's shoulders and walks him away from the edge of the Pit. He speaks gently to Job, who is touched.
³Does he offer a useless rebuke? Or words that have no profit in them?	And then harshly to Zophar. More quietly to Bildad.
⁴But you, you are casting off fear And dishonoring prayer! ⁵For it is your guilt that guides your mouth; You choose the tongue of guile. ⁶Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; Your own lips testify against you. ⁷Are you Adam born before Adam, Older than the hills, ⁸A listener at God's inner circle? Keeping your wisdom to yourself, are you? ⁹So what do you know that we do not know? And what understanding is yours and not ours? ¹⁰For among us are the old and gray, Older by far than your father. ¹¹Is comfort from God not enough for you, Words that treat you gently?	But then Eliphaz spins Job around to face him and launches an attack.
[Radio Job only. Enough!] ¹²Has your heart so carried you away, Have your eyes so failed you,	Job turns his back on Eliphaz and faces the Pit again.
¹³That you turn your spirit against God And say what you say? ¹⁴How can mortal man be pure? Born of woman, how can he be righteous?	Eliphaz turns Job around once more.
¹⁵See how God has no faith in his angels, How he faults the heavens and the stars! ¹⁶What then of the loathsome and corrupt, What of man, who drinks his sin like water? ¹⁷I will tell you -- listen! I will say what I have seen, ¹⁸What wise men have declared, What our fathers saw fit to pass on, ¹⁹To whom alone the land was given, When no stranger passed among them: ²⁰The wicked man is in torment all his days, The tyrant all the years set in store for him. ²¹He hears the sound that he fears -- In the midst of prosperity, thieves breaking in. ²²He despairs of escape from darkness; He is marked for the sword. ²³He wanders, food for vultures, And he knows his ruin is at hand. ²⁴Dread of that dark day is upon him; Trouble and anguish loom over him Like a king poised to attack.	Job breaks away to sit by his wife.
²⁵For he lifted his hand against God, Bid defiance against the Almighty, ²⁶Charged him headlong With his thick studded shield. ²⁷He grew jowly and sleek With fat dimpled hips. ²⁸But he will dwell in the ruins of cities, In houses uninhabited That are ready to collapse. ²⁹He will not grow rich And his wealth will not mount up; His treasure will not reach to the grave. ³⁰He will not escape darkness; Flames will scorch his new growth; God's breath will blow him away. ³¹He is misled who trusts what is not, For his pay will be nought, ³²Paid in full before due. He is Like a palm whose frond grows dry, ³³Like a vine that shakes off its unripe grapes, Like an olive that casts down its blossoms. ³⁴For the company of the godless will prove barren And the tents of the venal will burn. ³⁵Trouble they conceive and evil they bear, But their womb nurtures a mirage. [Radio announcer. Job is beside himself with misery. Just for a moment, Eliphaz had seemed a true friend.] ^16:1Then Job answered, saying:	Raising a fist.
²I have often heard such things. You are miserable comforters, all of you!	To his three friends - 2nd plural.
³Have empty words no end? Or what is it keeps you answering? ⁴I could speak as you do If your soul were where mine is. I could fill your ears with words And be shaking my head over you, ⁵Encouraging you with my mouth, Comforting you with my bouncing lips.	To Eliphaz - 2nd person singular. To all three - plural again.
⁶If I speak, my pain is not less; If I stop, it does not leave me.	Aside.
⁷But now he has wearied me.	Meaning Eliphaz.
You have forsaken my company; ⁸You took hold of me, to be witness;	Addressing Eliphaz.
But he rose up against me, Called me liar to my face! ⁹With his tearing rage and his hate, With his gnashing teeth in pursuit,	Turning to address the crowd.
My enemy sharpens his eyes against me. ¹⁰Their mouths wide open to rip me, Their insults like slaps in the face, They mass in numbers against me. ¹¹God has given me into the hands of cruel youth, Handed me over to the godless. ¹²I was at ease and he crushed me; Yes he took me by the neck and hammered me. Now he sets me up for his target;	Catcalls from the audience.
¹³His archers ring me round. He pierces my kidneys and does not care; He pours out my bile on the ground, ¹⁴He drives me through, blow after blow, Running to the attack like a mighty warrior. ¹⁵I have made my dress of sackcloth, Cast my pride in the dust. ¹⁶My face is red with weeping; Deep shadows are round my eyes. ¹⁷But my hands are free from violence And my prayer is undefiled.	Meaning the crowd.
¹⁸Earth cover not my blood; Give my cry no resting place. {Storyteller. Just then a falcon flew up with piercing cries. I was there. I saw it happen!} Job again. ¹⁹See now in the heavens, testifying for me, It is my witness on high, ²⁰Interpreter of my thoughts, a cry -- Tears unto God from my eye! -- ²¹Arguing for a man with God As a man might argue for his friend.	Job cries out, Ayyah! and gashes his arm with the potsherd.

Continued...

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last changed July 5, 2012