約伯記 12

1 約伯回答說：

Then Job said [to his three friends],

2 你們真是子民哪， 你們死亡，智慧也就滅沒了。

“You (talk as though/You think) [SAR] that you are the people [whom everyone should listen to], and that when you die, there will be no more wise people.

3 但我也有聰明，與你們一樣， 並非不及你們。 你們所說的，誰不知道呢？

But I have as much good sense as you do; I am (not less wise than/certainly as wise as [LIT]) you. Certainly everyone knows [RHQ] all that you have said.

4 我這求告上帝、蒙他應允的人 竟成了朋友所譏笑的； 公義完全人竟受了人的譏笑。

My friends all laugh at me now. Previously I habitually requested God to help me, and he answered/helped me. I am righteous, a very godly man [DOU], but everyone laughs at me.

5 安逸的人心裏藐視災禍； 這災禍常常等待滑腳的人。

Those [like you] who have no troubles make fun of me; they cause those [like me] who are already suffering to have more troubles.

6 強盜的帳棚興旺， 惹上帝的人穩固， 上帝多將財物送到他們手中。

Bandits live peacefully, and no one threatens those who cause God to become angry; their own strength is the god [that they worship].

7 你且問走獸，走獸必指教你； 又問空中的飛鳥，飛鳥必告訴你；

“But ask the wild animals [what they know about God], and [if they could speak] they would teach you. [If you could] ask the birds, they would tell you.

8 或與地說話，地必指教你； 海中的魚也必向你說明。

[If you could] ask the creatures [that crawl] on the ground, or the fish in the sea, they would tell you [about God].

9 看這一切， 誰不知道是耶和華的手做成的呢？

All of them certainly know [RHQ] that it is Yahweh who has made them with his hands.

10 凡活物的生命和人類的氣息都在他手中。

He directs the lives of all living creatures; he gives breath to all [us] humans [to enable us to remain alive].

11 耳朵豈不試驗言語， 正如上膛嘗食物嗎？

And when we [SYN] hear what other people [like you] say, we [RHQ] think carefully about what they say [to determine what is good and what is bad], like we [SYN] taste food [to determine what is good and what is bad].

12 年老的有智慧； 壽高的有知識。

Old people are [often] very wise, and because of having lived many years, they understand much,

13 在上帝有智慧和能力； 他有謀略和知識。

but God is wise and very powerful; he has good sense and understands [everything].

14 他拆毀的，就不能再建造； 他捆住人，便不得開釋。

If he tears [something] down, no one can rebuild it; if he puts someone in prison, no one can open [the prison doors to allow that person to escape].

15 他把水留住，水便枯乾； 他再發出水來，水就翻地。

When he prevents rain from falling, everything dries up. When he causes a lot of rain to fall, [the result is that] there are floods.

16 在他有能力和智慧， 被誘惑的與誘惑人的都是屬他。

He is the one who is truly strong and wise; he rules over those who deceive others and those whom they deceive.

17 他把謀士剝衣擄去， 又使審判官變成愚人。

He [sometimes] causes [the king’s] officials to no longer be wise, and he causes judges to become foolish.

18 他放鬆君王的綁， 又用帶子捆他們的腰。

He takes from kings the robes that they wear and puts loincloths around their waists, [causing them to become slaves].

19 他把祭司剝衣擄去， 又使有能的人傾敗。

He takes from priests the sacred clothes that they wear, [with the result that they no longer can do their work], and takes power from those who rule others.

20 他廢去忠信人的講論， 又奪去老人的聰明。

He [sometimes] causes those whom others trust to be unable to speak, and he causes old men to no longer have good sense.

21 他使君王蒙羞被辱， 放鬆有力之人的腰帶。

He causes those who have authority to be despised, and he causes those who are powerful to no longer have any power/strength.

22 他將深奧的事從黑暗中彰顯， 使死蔭顯為光明。

He causes things that are hidden in the darkness to be revealed.

23 他使邦國興旺而又毀滅； 他使邦國開廣而又擄去。

He causes some nations to become very great, and [later] he destroys them; he causes the territory of some nations to become much larger, and [later] he causes them to be defeated and their people to be scattered.

24 他將地上民中首領的聰明奪去， 使他們在荒廢無路之地漂流；

He causes [some] rulers to become foolish/stupid, and then he causes them to wander around, lost, in an barren desert.

25 他們無光，在黑暗中摸索， 又使他們東倒西歪，像醉酒的人一樣。

They grope around in the darkness, without any light, and he causes them to stagger like [SIM] people who are drunk.”