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v1
“Look, my eye has seen everything; my ear has heard and has understood it.
v2
What you ^[Plural] know, ^[Literally “Like your knowledge”] I myself ^[Emphatic personal pronoun] also know— I am not more inferior than you. ^[Plural]
v3
But I would speak to Shaddai, and I desire to argue with God.
v4
“But ^[Or “And but”] you ^[Plural] whitewash with lies; ^[Literally “coverers of lies”] all of you ^[Plural] are worthless healers. ^[Literally “healers of worthlessness”]
v5
O that ^[Literally “Who shall give”] you ^[Plural] would keep completely silent, and that it would become wisdom for you. ^[Plural]
v6
Please hear my argument, and listen attentively to the pleadings of my lips.
v7
“Will you ^[Plural] speak falsely for God? And will you ^[Plural] speak deceitfully for him?
v8
Will you ^[Plural] show partiality for him? ^[Literally “his faces will you raise”] Or do you ^[Plural] want to plead God’s case?
v9
Will it be well, if he examines you? ^[Plural] Or can you ^[Plural] deceive him like deceiving a human being?
v10
“Surely he will rebuke you ^[Plural] if you ^[Plural] show partiality ^[Literally “faces you lift up”] in secret.
v11
Will not his majesty terrify you, ^[Plural] and his dread fall upon you? ^[Plural]
v12
Your ^[Plural] maxims are proverbs of ashes; your ^[Plural] defenses are defenses of clay.
v13
“Let me have silence, ^[Literally “Be silent away from me”] and I myself ^[Emphatic personal pronoun] will speak, and let come over me whatever may.
v14
Why should I take my flesh in my teeth and ^[Hebrew “now”] put ^[Or “should I put,” or “will I put”] my life in my hand?
v15
Look, ^[Or “Though”] though he kill me, I will hope in ^[Or “for”] him; however, I will defend my ways before him. ^[Literally “to his faces”]
v16
Moreover, this is salvation to me, that the godless would not come before him. ^[Literally “to his faces”]
v17
“Listen carefully to my words, and let my exposition be in your ears.
v18
Please look, ^[Or “Look here”] I have prepared my case; I know that I myself ^[Emphatic personal pronoun] will be vindicated.
v19
Who is he who will contend with me? For then I would be silent, and I would pass away.
v20
“Only you ^[Singular; the antecedent is God] must not do these two things to me; then I will not hide from your face:
v21
withdraw your ^[Singular] hand from me, and let not your ^[Singular] dread terrify me.
v22
Then ^[Hebrew “And”] call, and I myself ^[Emphatic personal pronoun] will answer; or let me speak, then ^[Hebrew “and”] reply to me.
v23
“How many ^[Literally “Like what”] are my iniquities and sins? Make known to me my transgression and my sin.
v24
Why do you ^[Singular] hide your ^[Singular] face and count me as your ^[Singular] enemy?
v25
Will you ^[Singular] terrify a blown leaf? And will you ^[Singular] pursue dry stubble?
v26
“Indeed, you ^[Singular] write bitter things against me, and you ^[Singular] make me reap the iniquities of my childhood.
v27
And you ^[Singular] put my feet in the block, and you ^[Singular] watch all my paths; you carve a mark on the soles of my feet. ^[Or “You mark/note my footprints”]
v28
And he himself ^[Emphatic personal pronoun]wastes away like something rotten, like a garment that the moth has eaten.