² “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
    Yet who can keep from speaking?
³ Behold, you have instructed many,
    and you have strengthened the weak hands.
⁴ Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,
    and you have made firm the feeble knees.
⁵ But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
    it touches you, and you are dismayed.
⁶ Is not your fear of God^[a] your confidence,
    and the integrity of your ways your hope?

⁷ “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished?
    Or where were the upright cut off?
⁸ As I have seen, those who plow iniquity
    and sow trouble reap the same.
⁹ By the breath of God they perish,
    and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
¹⁰ The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,
    the teeth of the young lions are broken.
¹¹ The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,
    and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

¹² “Now a word was brought to me stealthily;
    my ear received the whisper of it.
¹³ Amid thoughts from visions of the night,
    when deep sleep falls on men,
¹⁴ dread came upon me, and trembling,
    which made all my bones shake.
¹⁵ A spirit glided past my face;
    the hair of my flesh stood up.
¹⁶ It stood still,
    but I could not discern its appearance.
A form was before my eyes;
    there was silence, then I heard a voice:
¹⁷ ‘Can mortal man be in the right before^[b] God?
    Can a man be pure before his Maker?
¹⁸ Even in his servants he puts no trust,
    and his angels he charges with error;
¹⁹ how much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
    whose foundation is in the dust,
    who are crushed like^[c] the moth.
²⁰ Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces;
    they perish forever without anyone regarding it.
²¹ Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them,
    do they not die, and that without wisdom?’

5 “Call now; is there anyone who will answer you?
    To which of the holy ones will you turn?
² Surely vexation kills the fool,
    and jealousy slays the simple.
³ I have seen the fool taking root,
    but suddenly I cursed his dwelling.
⁴ His children are far from safety;
    they are crushed in the gate,
    and there is no one to deliver them.
⁵ The hungry eat his harvest,
    and he takes it even out of thorns,^[d]
    and the thirsty pant^[e] after his^[f] wealth.
⁶ For affliction does not come from the dust,
    nor does trouble sprout from the ground,
⁷ but man is born to trouble
    as the sparks fly upward.

⁸ “As for me, I would seek God,
    and to God would I commit my cause,
⁹ who does great things and unsearchable,
    marvelous things without number:
¹⁰ he gives rain on the earth
    and sends waters on the fields;
¹¹ he sets on high those who are lowly,
    and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
¹² He frustrates the devices of the crafty,
    so that their hands achieve no success.
¹³ He catches the wise in their own craftiness,
    and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.
¹⁴ They meet with darkness in the daytime
    and grope at noonday as in the night.
¹⁵ But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth
    and from the hand of the mighty.
¹⁶ So the poor have hope,
    and injustice shuts her mouth.

¹⁷ “Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves;
    therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty.
¹⁸ For he wounds, but he binds up;
    he shatters, but his hands heal.
¹⁹ He will deliver you from six troubles;
    in seven no evil^[g] shall touch you.
²⁰ In famine he will redeem you from death,
    and in war from the power of the sword.
²¹ You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue,
    and shall not fear destruction when it comes.
²² At destruction and famine you shall laugh,
    and shall not fear the beasts of the earth.
²³ For you shall be in league with the stones of the field,
    and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.
²⁴ You shall know that your tent is at peace,
    and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.
²⁵ You shall know also that your offspring shall be many,
    and your descendants as the grass of the earth.
²⁶ You shall come to your grave in ripe old age,
    like a sheaf gathered up in its season.
²⁷ Behold, this we have searched out; it is true.
    Hear, and know it for your good.”^[h]

² “Oh that my vexation were weighed,
    and all my calamity laid in the balances!
³ For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea;
    therefore my words have been rash.
⁴ For the arrows of the Almighty are in me;
    my spirit drinks their poison;
    the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
⁵ Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass,
    or the ox low over his fodder?
⁶ Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt,
    or is there any taste in the juice of the mallow?^[i]
7 My appetite refuses to touch them;
    they are as food that is loathsome to me.^[j]

⁸ “Oh that I might have my request,
    and that God would fulfill my hope,
⁹ that it would please God to crush me,
    that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!
¹⁰ This would be my comfort;
    I would even exult^[k] in pain unsparing,
    for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
¹¹ What is my strength, that I should wait?
    And what is my end, that I should be patient?
¹² Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze?
¹³ Have I any help in me,
    when resource is driven from me?

¹⁴ “He who withholds^[l] kindness from a friend
    forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
¹⁵ My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed,
    as torrential streams that pass away,
¹⁶ which are dark with ice,
    and where the snow hides itself.
¹⁷ When they melt, they disappear;
    when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
¹⁸ The caravans turn aside from their course;
    they go up into the waste and perish.
¹⁹ The caravans of Tema look,
    the travelers of Sheba hope.
²⁰ They are ashamed because they were confident;
    they come there and are disappointed.
²¹ For you have now become nothing;
    you see my calamity and are afraid.
²² Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’?
    Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’?
²³ Or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary's hand’?
    Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless’?

²⁴ “Teach me, and I will be silent;
    make me understand how I have gone astray.
²⁵ How forceful are upright words!
    But what does reproof from you reprove?
²⁶ Do you think that you can reprove words,
    when the speech of a despairing man is wind?
²⁷ You would even cast lots over the fatherless,
    and bargain over your friend.

²⁸ “But now, be pleased to look at me,
    for I will not lie to your face.
²⁹ Please turn; let no injustice be done.
    Turn now; my vindication is at stake.
³⁰ Is there any injustice on my tongue?
    Cannot my palate discern the cause of calamity?

⁷ “Remember that my life is a breath;
    my eye will never again see good.
⁸ The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;
    while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone.
⁹ As the cloud fades and vanishes,
    so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up;
¹⁰ he returns no more to his house,
    nor does his place know him anymore.

¹¹ “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;
    I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
    I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
¹² Am I the sea, or a sea monster,
    that you set a guard over me?
¹³ When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
    my couch will ease my complaint,’
¹⁴ then you scare me with dreams
    and terrify me with visions,
¹⁵ so that I would choose strangling
    and death rather than my bones.
¹⁶ I loathe my life; I would not live forever.
    Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.
¹⁷ What is man, that you make so much of him,
    and that you set your heart on him,
¹⁸ visit him every morning
    and test him every moment?
¹⁹ How long will you not look away from me,
    nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
²⁰ If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?
    Why have you made me your mark?
    Why have I become a burden to you?
²¹ Why do you not pardon my transgression
    and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in the earth;
    you will seek me, but I shall not be.”