³ “But I would speak to ^[a]the Almighty,
And I desire to argue with God.
⁴ “But you smear with lies;
You are all worthless physicians.
⁵ “O that you would be completely silent,
And that it would become your wisdom!
⁶ “Please hear my argument
And listen to the contentions of my lips.
⁷ “Will you speak what is unjust for God,
And speak what is deceitful for Him?
⁸ “Will you show partiality for Him?
Will you contend for God?
⁹ “Will it be well when He examines you?
Or will you deceive Him as one deceives a man?
¹⁰ “He will surely reprove you
If you secretly show partiality.
¹¹ “Will not His ^[b]majesty terrify you,
And the dread of Him fall on you?
¹² “Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes,
Your defenses are defenses of clay.

²⁰ “Only two things do not do to me,
Then I will not hide from Your face:
²¹ Remove Your ^[e]hand from me,
And let not the dread of You terrify me.
²² “Then call, and I will answer;
Or let me speak, then reply to me.
²³ “How many are my iniquities and sins?
Make known to me my ^[f]rebellion and my sin.
²⁴ “Why do You hide Your face
And consider me Your enemy?
²⁵ “Will You cause a driven leaf to tremble?
Or will You pursue the dry chaff?
²⁶ “For You write bitter things against me
And make me to inherit the iniquities of my youth.
²⁷ “You put my feet in the stocks
And watch all my paths;
You ^[g]set a limit for the soles of my feet,
²⁸ While ^[h]I am decaying like a rotten thing,
Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

⁷ “For there is hope for a tree,
When it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
And its shoots will not ^[n]fail.
⁸ “Though its roots grow old in the ground
And its stump dies in the dry soil,
⁹ At the scent of water it will flourish
And put forth sprigs like a plant.
¹⁰ “But man dies and lies prostrate.
Man expires, and where is he?
¹¹ “As water ^[o]evaporates from the sea,
And a river becomes parched and dried up,
¹² So man lies down and does not rise.
Until the heavens are no longer,
^[p]He will not awake nor be aroused out of ^[q]his sleep.

¹³ “Oh that You would hide me in ^[r]Sheol,
That You would conceal me until Your wrath returns to You,
That You would set a limit for me and remember me!
¹⁴ “If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my struggle I will wait
Until my change comes.
¹⁵ “You will call, and I will answer You;
You will long for the work of Your hands.
¹⁶ “For now You number my steps,
You do not observe my sin.
¹⁷ “My transgression is sealed up in a bag,
And You ^[s]wrap up my iniquity.

¹⁸ “But the falling mountain ^[t]crumbles away,
And the rock moves from its place;
¹⁹ Water wears away stones,
Its torrents wash away the dust of the earth;
So You destroy man’s hope.
²⁰ “You forever overpower him and he departs;
You change his appearance and send him away.
²¹ “His sons achieve honor, but he does not know it;
Or they become insignificant, but he does not perceive it.
²² “But his ^[u]body pains him,
And he mourns only for himself.”

⁷ “Were you the first man to be born,
Or were you brought forth before the hills?
⁸ “Do you hear the secret counsel of God,
And limit wisdom to yourself?
⁹ “What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that ^[y]we do not?
¹⁰ “Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,
Older than your father.
¹¹ “Are the consolations of God too small for you,
Even the word spoken gently with you?
¹² “Why does your heart carry you away?
And why do your eyes flash,
¹³ That you should turn your spirit against God
And allow such words to go out of your mouth?
¹⁴ “What is man, that he should be pure,
Or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
¹⁵ “Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones,
And the heavens are not pure in His sight;
¹⁶ How much less one who is detestable and corrupt,
Man, who drinks iniquity like water!

¹⁸ “O earth, do not cover my blood,
And let there be no resting place for my cry.
¹⁹ “Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
And my ^[ar]advocate is on high.
²⁰ “My friends are my scoffers;
My eye ^[as]weeps to God.
²¹ “O that a man might plead with God
As a man with his neighbor!
²² “For when a few years are past,
I shall go the way of no return.

³ “Lay down, now, a pledge for me with Yourself;
Who is there that will ^[av]be my guarantor?
⁴ “For You have ^[aw]kept their heart from understanding,
Therefore You will not exalt them.
⁵ “He who informs against friends for a share of the spoil,
The eyes of his children also will languish.

⁶ “But He has made me a byword of the people,
And I am ^[ax]one at whom men spit.
⁷ “My eye has also grown dim because of grief,
And all my members are as a shadow.
⁸ “The upright will be appalled at this,
And the innocent will stir up himself against the godless.
⁹ “Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his way,
And he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
¹⁰ “But come again all of ^[ay]you now,
For I do not find a wise man among you.
¹¹ “My days are past, my plans are torn apart,
Even the wishes of my heart.
¹² “They make night into day, saying,
‘The light is near,’ in the presence of darkness.
¹³ “If I look for Sheol as my home,
I ^[az]make my bed in the darkness;
¹⁴ If I call to the pit, ‘You are my father’;
To the worm, ‘my mother and my sister’;
¹⁵ Where now is my hope?
And who regards my hope?
¹⁶ “^[ba]Will it go down with me to Sheol?
Shall we together go down into the dust?”