Job 32

“I am young in years,

and you are aged;

therefore I was timid and afraid

to declare my opinion to you.

⁷I said, ‘Let days speak,

and many years teach wisdom.’

⁸But truly it is the spirit in a mortal,

the breath of the Almighty, that makes for understanding.

⁹It is not the old that are wise,

nor the aged that understand what is right.

¹⁰Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me;

let me also declare my opinion.’

¹¹“See, I waited for your words,

I listened for your wise sayings,

while you searched out what to say.

¹²I gave you my attention,

but there was in fact no one that confuted Job,

no one among you that answered his words.

¹³Yet do not say, ‘We have found wisdom;

God may vanquish him, not a human.’

¹⁴He has not directed his words against me,

and I will not answer him with your speeches.

¹⁵“They are dismayed, they answer no more;

they have not a word to say.

¹⁶And am I to wait, because they do not speak,

because they stand there, and answer no more?

¹⁷I also will give my answer;

I also will declare my opinion.

¹⁸For I am full of words;

the spirit within me constrains me.

¹⁹My heart is indeed like wine that has no vent;

like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.

²⁰I must speak, so that I may find relief;

I must open my lips and answer.

²¹I will not show partiality to any person

or use flattery toward anyone.

²²For I do not know how to flatter—

or my Maker would soon put an end to me!