^2 [a]Suffer me a little, and I will show thee;
For ^[b]I have yet somewhat to say on God’s behalf.
³ I will fetch my knowledge from afar,
And will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
⁴ For truly my words are not false:
One that is perfect in knowledge is with thee.
⁵ Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any:
He is mighty in strength of ^[c]understanding.
⁶ He preserveth not the life of the wicked,
But giveth to the afflicted their right.
⁷ He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous:
But with kings upon the throne
He setteth them for ever, and they are exalted.
⁸ And if they be bound in fetters,
And be taken in the cords of affliction;
⁹ Then he showeth them their work,
And their transgressions, that they have behaved themselves proudly.
¹⁰ He openeth also their ear to instruction,
And commandeth that they return from iniquity.
¹¹ If they hearken and serve him,
They shall spend their days in prosperity,
And their years in ^[d]pleasures.
¹² But if they hearken not, they shall perish by ^[e]the sword,
And they shall die without knowledge.
¹³ But they that are godless in heart lay up anger:
They cry not for help when he bindeth them.
^14 [f]They die in youth,
And their life perisheth ^[g]among the ^[h]unclean.
¹⁵ He delivereth the afflicted ^[i]by their affliction,
And openeth their ear ^[j]in oppression.
¹⁶ Yea, he would have allured thee ^[k]out of distress
Into a broad place, where there is no straitness;
And that which is set on thy table would be full of fatness.

¹⁷ But thou ^[l]art full of the judgment of the wicked:
Judgment and justice take hold on thee.

^18 [m]For let not wrath stir thee up against chastisements;
Neither let the greatness of the ransom turn thee aside.
¹⁹ Will thy cry avail, that thou be not in distress,
Or all the forces of thy strength?
²⁰ Desire not the night,
When peoples ^[n]are cut off in their place.
²¹ Take heed, regard not iniquity:
For this hast thou chosen rather than affliction.
²² Behold, God doeth loftily in his power:
Who is a teacher like unto him?
²³ Who hath enjoined him his way?
Or who can say, Thou hast wrought unrighteousness?

²⁴ Remember that thou magnify his work,
Whereof men have sung.

²⁵ All men have looked thereon;
Man beholdeth it afar off.
²⁶ Behold, God is great, and we know him not;
The number of his years is unsearchable.
²⁷ For he draweth up the drops of water,
Which distil in rain ^[o]from ^[p]his vapor,
²⁸ Which the skies pour down
And drop upon man abundantly.
²⁹ Yea, can any understand the spreadings of the clouds,
The thunderings of his pavilion?
³⁰ Behold, he spreadeth his light ^[q]around him;
And he ^[r]covereth the bottom of the sea.
³¹ For by these he judgeth the peoples;
He giveth food in abundance.
³² He covereth his hands with the ^[s]lightning,
And giveth it a charge ^[t]that it strike the mark.
³³ The noise thereof telleth concerning ^[u]him,
The cattle also concerning ^[v]the storm that cometh up.