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Job 13 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

Job Defends Himself
Job 13:1“Behold, my eye has seen all this,
My ear has heard and understood it.
Job 13:2What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
Job 13:3But I would speak to the Almighty,
And I desire to reason with God.
Job 13:4But you forgers of lies,
You are all worthless physicians.
Job 13:5Oh, that you would be silent,
And it would be your wisdom!
Job 13:6Now hear my reasoning,
And heed the pleadings of my lips.
Job 13:7Will you speak wickedly for God,
And talk deceitfully for Him?
Job 13:8Will you show partiality for Him?
Will you contend for God?
Job 13:9Will it be well when He searches you out?
Or can you mock Him as one mocks a man?
Job 13:10He will surely rebuke you
If you secretly show partiality.
Job 13:11Will not His excellence make you afraid,
And the dread of Him fall upon you?
Job 13:12Your platitudes are proverbs of ashes,
Your defenses are defenses of clay.
Job 13:13“Hold your peace with me, and let me speak,
Then let come on me what may!
Job 13:14Why do I take my flesh in my teeth,
And put my life in my hands?
Job 13:15Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.
Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.
Job 13:16He also shall be my salvation,
For a hypocrite could not come before Him.
Job 13:17Listen carefully to my speech,
And to my declaration with your ears.
Job 13:18See now, I have prepared my case,
I know that I shall be vindicated.
Job 13:19Who is he who will contend with me?
If now I hold my tongue, I perish.
Job’s Despondent Prayer
Job 13:20“Only two things do not do to me,
Then I will not hide myself from You:
Job 13:21Withdraw Your hand far from me,
And let not the dread of You make me afraid.
Job 13:22Then call, and I will answer;
Or let me speak, then You respond to me.
Job 13:23How many are my iniquities and sins?
Make me know my transgression and my sin.
Job 13:24Why do You hide Your face,
And regard me as Your enemy?
Job 13:25Will You frighten a leaf driven to and fro?
And will You pursue dry stubble?
Job 13:26For You write bitter things against me,
And make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.
Job 13:27You put my feet in the stocks,
And watch closely all my paths.
You set a limit[fn] for the soles of my feet.
Job 13:28Man[fn] decays like a rotten thing,
Like a garment that is moth-eaten.
NKJV Footnotes
Literally inscribe a print
Literally He
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New King James Version, © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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