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¹³ ‘Let me have silence, and I will speak,
   and let come on me what may.
¹⁴ I will take my flesh in my teeth,
   and put my life in my hand.^*
15 See, he will kill me; I have no hope;^*
   but I will defend my ways to his face.
¹⁶ This will be my salvation,
   that the godless shall not come before him.
¹⁷ Listen carefully to my words,
   and let my declaration be in your ears.
¹⁸ I have indeed prepared my case;
   I know that I shall be vindicated.
¹⁹ Who is there that will contend with me?
   For then I would be silent and die.

Job’s Despondent Prayer

²⁰ Only grant two things to me,
   then I will not hide myself from your face:
²¹ withdraw your hand far from me,
   and do not let dread of you terrify me.
²² Then call, and I will answer;
   or let me speak, and you reply to me.
²³ How many are my iniquities and my sins?
   Make me know my transgression and my sin.
²⁴ Why do you hide your face,
   and count me as your enemy?
²⁵ Will you frighten a windblown leaf
   and pursue dry chaff?
²⁶ For you write bitter things against me,
   and make me reap^* the iniquities of my youth.
²⁷ You put my feet in the stocks,
   and watch all my paths;
   you set a bound to the soles of my feet.
²⁸ One wastes away like a rotten thing,
   like a garment that is moth-eaten.

14‘A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,
²   comes up like a flower and withers,
   flees like a shadow and does not last.
³ Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
   Do you bring me into judgement with you?
⁴ Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
   No one can.
⁵ Since their days are determined,
   and the number of their months is known to you,
   and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,
⁶ look away from them, and desist,^*
   that they may enjoy, like labourers, their days.

The Majesty of God

18He who lives for ever created the whole universe;
²   the Lord alone is just.^*
4 To none has he given power to proclaim his works;
   and who can search out his mighty deeds?
⁵ Who can measure his majestic power?
   And who can fully recount his mercies?
⁶ It is not possible to diminish or increase them,
   nor is it possible to fathom the wonders of the Lord.
⁷ When human beings have finished, they are just beginning,
   and when they stop, they are still perplexed.
⁸ What are human beings, and of what use are they?
   What is good in them, and what is evil?
⁹ The number of days in their life is great if they reach one hundred years.^*
10 Like a drop of water from the sea and a grain of sand,
   so are a few years among the days of eternity.
¹¹ That is why the Lord is patient with them
   and pours out his mercy upon them.
¹² He sees and recognizes that their end is miserable;
   therefore he grants them forgiveness all the more.
¹³ The compassion of human beings is for their neighbours,
   but the compassion of the Lord is for every living thing.
He rebukes and trains and teaches them,
   and turns them back, as a shepherd his flock.
¹⁴ He has compassion on those who accept his discipline
   and who are eager for his precepts.