Job 18-31

Holman Christian Standard Bible

² How long until you stop talking?
Show some sense, and then we can talk.
³ Why are we regarded as cattle,
as stupid in your sight?
⁴ You who tear yourself in anger^[a]—
should the earth be abandoned on your account,
or a rock be removed from its place?

⁵ Yes, the light^(B) of the wicked^(C) is extinguished;
the flame of his fire does not glow.
⁶ The light in his tent grows dark,^(D)
and the lamp beside him is put out.
⁷ His powerful stride is shortened,
and his own schemes trip him up.^(E)
8 For his own feet lead him into a net,
and he strays into its mesh.
⁹ A trap catches him by the heel;
a noose seizes him.
¹⁰ A rope lies hidden for him on the ground,
and a snare waits for him along the path.
¹¹ Terrors frighten him on every side^(F)
and harass him at every step.
¹² His strength is depleted;
disaster lies ready for him to stumble.^[b]
13 Parts of his skin are eaten away;
death’s firstborn consumes his limbs.
¹⁴ He is ripped from the security of his tent
and marched away to the king of terrors.
¹⁵ Nothing he owned remains in his tent.
Burning sulfur^(G) is scattered over his home.
¹⁶ His roots below dry up,
and his branches above wither away.^(H)
17 All memory^(I) of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name anywhere.^[c]
18 He is driven from light to darkness
and chased from the inhabited world.
¹⁹ He has no children or descendants among his people,
no survivor where he used to live.^(J)
20 Those in the west are appalled^(K) at his fate,
while those in the east tremble in horror.
²¹ Indeed, such is the dwelling of the unjust man,
and this is the place of the one who does not know God.^(L)

² How long will you torment me
and crush me with words?
³ You have humiliated me ten times now,
and you mistreat^[d] me without shame.^(M)
4 Even if it is true that I have sinned,
my mistake concerns only^[e] me.
⁵ If you really want to appear superior^(N) to me
and would use my disgrace as evidence against me,
⁶ then understand that it is God who has wronged me
and caught me in His net.^(O)

⁷ I cry out: “Violence!” but get no response;^(P)
I call for help, but there is no justice.
⁸ He has blocked^(Q) my way so that I cannot pass through;
He has veiled my paths with darkness.^(R)
9 He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.
¹⁰ He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined.^[f]
He uproots my hope like a tree.^(S)
11 His anger^(T) burns against me,
and He regards me as one of His enemies.^(U)
12 His troops advance together;
they construct a ramp^[g] against me
and camp^(V) around my tent.

¹³ He has removed my brothers from me;
my acquaintances have abandoned me.^(W)
14 My relatives stop coming by,
and my close friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ My house guests^[h] and female servants regard me as a stranger;
I am a foreigner in their sight.^(X)
16 I call for my servant, but he does not answer,
even if I beg him with my own mouth.
¹⁷ My breath is offensive to my wife,
and my own family^[i] finds me repulsive.
¹⁸ Even young boys scorn me.
When I stand up, they mock me.^(Y)
19 All of my best friends^[j] despise me,^(Z)
and those I love have turned against me.^(AA)
20 My skin and my flesh cling to my bones;
I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

²¹ Have mercy on me, my friends,^(AB) have mercy,
for God’s hand^(AC) has struck me.^(AD)
22 Why do you persecute me as God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?

²³ I wish that my words were written down,
that they were recorded on a scroll
²⁴ or were inscribed in stone forever
by an iron stylus and lead!
²⁵ But I know my living Redeemer,^[k](AE)
and He will stand on the dust^[l] at last.^[m](AF)
26 Even after my skin has been destroyed,^[n]
yet I will see God in^[o] my flesh.^(AG)
27 I will see Him myself;
my eyes will look at Him, and not as a stranger.^[p]
My heart longs^[q] within me.^(AH)

²⁸ If you say, “How will we pursue him,
since the root of the problem lies with him?”^[r]
29 then be afraid of the sword,
because wrath brings punishment by the sword,^(AI)
so that you may know there is a judgment.

² This is why my unsettling thoughts compel me to answer,
because I am upset!^[s]
3 I have heard a rebuke that insults me,
and my understanding^[t] makes me reply.^(AK)

⁴ Don’t you know that ever since antiquity,
from the time man was placed on earth,
⁵ the joy of the wicked has been brief
and the happiness of the godless has lasted only a moment?^(AL)
6 Though his arrogance reaches heaven,
and his head touches the clouds,^(AM)
7 he will vanish forever like his own dung.
Those who know^[u] him will ask, “Where is he?”^(AN)
8 He will fly away like a dream and never be found;
he will be chased away like a vision in the night.^(AO)
9 The eye that saw him will see him no more,^(AP)
and his household will no longer see him.^(AQ)
10 His children will beg from^[v] the poor,
for his own hands must give back his wealth.
¹¹ His bones may be full of youthful vigor,
but will lie down with him in the grave.^(AR)

¹² Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth
and he conceals it under his tongue,
¹³ though he cherishes it and will not let it go
but keeps it in his mouth,^(AS)
14 yet the food in his stomach turns
into cobras’ venom inside him.
¹⁵ He swallows wealth but must vomit it up;
God will force it from his stomach.
¹⁶ He will suck the poison of cobras;
a viper’s fangs^[w] will kill him.^(AT)
17 He will not enjoy the streams,
the rivers flowing with honey and cream.^(AU)
18 He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it;
he doesn’t enjoy the profits from his trading.
¹⁹ For he oppressed and abandoned the poor;
he seized a house he did not build.^(AV)

²⁰ Because his appetite is never satisfied,^[x]
he does not let anything he desires escape.
²¹ Nothing is left for him to consume;^(AW)
therefore, his prosperity will not last.
²² At the height of his success^[y] distress will come to him;^(AX)
the full weight of misery^[z] will crush him.
²³ When he fills his stomach,
God will send His burning anger against him,
raining^(AY) it down on him while he is eating.^[aa]
24 If he flees from an iron weapon,
an arrow from a bronze bow will pierce him.
²⁵ He pulls it out of his back,
the flashing tip out of his liver.^[ab]
Terrors come over him.^(AZ)
26 Total darkness is reserved for his treasures.
A fire unfanned by human hands will consume^(BA) him;
it will feed on what is left in his tent.
²⁷ The heavens will expose his iniquity,^(BB)
and the earth will rise up against him.^(BC)
28 The possessions in his house will be removed,
flowing away on the day of God’s anger.
²⁹ This is the wicked man’s lot^(BD) from God,
the inheritance God ordained for him.

² Pay close attention to my words;
let this be the consolation you offer.
³ Bear with me while I speak;
then after I have spoken, you may continue mocking.

⁴ As for me, is my complaint^(BE) against a man?
Then why shouldn’t I be impatient?
⁵ Look at me and shudder;^(BF)
put your hand over your mouth.^(BG)
6 When I think about it, I am terrified
and my body trembles^(BH) in horror.
⁷ Why do the wicked continue to live,
growing old and becoming powerful?
⁸ Their children are established while they are still alive,^[ac]
and their descendants, before their eyes.
⁹ Their homes are secure and free of fear;^(BI)
no rod from God strikes them.^(BJ)
10 Their bulls breed without fail;
their cows calve and do not miscarry.
¹¹ They let their little ones run around like lambs;
their children skip about,
¹² singing to the tambourine and lyre
and rejoicing at the sound of the flute.^(BK)
13 They spend^[ad] their days in prosperity^(BL)
and go down to Sheol in peace.
¹⁴ Yet they say to God: “Leave us alone!
We don’t want to know Your ways.^(BM)
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him,
and what will we gain by pleading with Him?”^(BN)
16 But their prosperity is not of their own doing.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me!^(BO)

¹⁷ How often is the lamp^(BP) of the wicked put out?
Does disaster^[ae] come on them?
Does He apportion destruction in His anger?
¹⁸ Are they like straw before the wind,
like chaff^(BQ) a storm sweeps away?
¹⁹ God reserves a person’s punishment for his children.^(BR)
Let God repay the person himself, so that he may know it.
²⁰ Let his own eyes see his demise;
let him drink from the Almighty’s wrath!^(BS)
21 For what does he care about his family once he is dead,^(BT)
when the number of his months has run out?^(BU)

²² Can anyone teach God knowledge,^(BV)
since He judges the exalted ones?^[af]
23 One person dies in excellent health,^[ag]
completely secure^[ah] and at ease.
²⁴ His body is^[ai] well fed,^[aj]
and his bones are full of marrow.^[ak]
25 Yet another person dies with a bitter^(BW) soul,
having never tasted prosperity.
²⁶ But they both lie in the dust,
and worms cover them.^(BX)

²⁷ I know your thoughts very well,
the schemes you would wrong me with.
²⁸ For you say, “Where now is the nobleman’s house?”
and “Where are the tents^(BY) the wicked lived in?”
²⁹ Have you never consulted those who travel the roads?
Don’t you accept their reports?^[al]
30 Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of disaster,
rescued from the day of wrath.
³¹ Who would denounce his behavior to his face?
Who would repay^(BZ) him for what he has done?
³² He is carried to the grave,
and someone keeps watch over his tomb.
³³ The dirt on his grave is^[am] sweet to him.
Everyone follows behind him,
and those who go before him are without number.

³⁴ So how can you offer me such futile comfort?
Your answers are deceptive.

² Can a man be of any use to God?
Can even a wise man be of use to Him?
³ Does it delight the Almighty if you are righteous?
Does He profit if you perfect your behavior?^(CA)

⁴ Does He correct you and take you to court
because of your piety?^(CB)
5 Isn’t your wickedness abundant
and aren’t your iniquities endless?
⁶ For you took collateral^(CC) from your brothers without cause,
stripping off their clothes and leaving them naked.
⁷ You gave no water to the thirsty
and withheld food from the famished,^(CD)
8 while the land belonged to a powerful man
and an influential man lived on it.
⁹ You sent widows away empty-handed,
and the strength of the fatherless^(CE) was^[an] crushed.
¹⁰ Therefore snares surround you,
and sudden dread terrifies^(CF) you,
¹¹ or darkness, so you cannot see,
and a flood of water covers you.^(CG)

¹² Isn’t God as high as the heavens?
And look at the highest stars—how lofty they are!
¹³ Yet you say: “What does God know?
Can He judge through thick darkness?^(CH)
14 Clouds^(CI) veil Him so that He cannot see,
as He walks on the circle of the sky.”
¹⁵ Will you continue on the ancient path
that wicked men have walked?
¹⁶ They were snatched away before their time,
and their foundations^(CJ) were washed away by a river.
¹⁷ They were the ones who said to God, “Leave us alone!”
and “What can the Almighty do to us?”^[ao](CK)
18 But it was He who filled their houses with good things.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me!
¹⁹ The righteous see this and rejoice;
the innocent mock them, saying,^(CL)
20 “Surely our opponents are destroyed,
and fire has consumed what they left behind.”^(CM)

²¹ Come to terms with God and be at peace;^(CN)
in this way^[ap] good will come to you.
²² Receive instruction from His mouth,^(CO)
and place His sayings^(CP) in your heart.
²³ If you return^(CQ) to the Almighty, you will be renewed.
If you banish injustice from your tent
²⁴ and consign your gold to the dust,
the gold of Ophir^(CR) to the stones in the wadis,
²⁵ the Almighty will be your gold
and your finest silver.
²⁶ Then you will delight^(CS) in the Almighty
and lift up your face to God.^(CT)
27 You will pray to Him, and He will hear you,^(CU)
and you will fulfill your vows.
²⁸ When you make a decision, it will be carried out,^[aq]
and light will shine on your ways.^(CV)
29 When others are humiliated and you say, “Lift them up,”
God will save the humble.^[ar](CW)
30 He will even rescue the guilty one,
who will be rescued by the purity of your hands.^(CX)

² Today also my complaint is bitter.^[as](CY)
His^[at] hand is heavy despite my groaning.
³ If only I knew how to find Him,
so that I could go to His throne.
⁴ I would plead my case before Him^(CZ)
and fill my mouth with arguments.
⁵ I would learn how^[au] He would answer me;
and understand what He would say to me.
⁶ Would He prosecute^(DA) me forcefully?
No, He will certainly pay attention to me.
⁷ Then an upright man could reason^(DB) with Him,
and I would escape from my Judge^(DC) forever.

⁸ If I go east, He is not there,
and if I go west, I cannot perceive Him.^(DD)
9 When He is at work to the north, I cannot see Him;
when He turns south, I cannot find Him.
¹⁰ Yet He knows the way I have taken;^[av]
when He has tested me,^(DE) I will emerge as pure gold.
¹¹ My feet have followed in His tracks;
I have kept to His way^(DF) and not turned aside.
¹² I have not departed from the commands of His lips;
I have treasured^[aw] the words^(DG) of His mouth
more than my daily food.

¹³ But He is unchangeable; who can oppose Him?
He does what He desires.^(DH)
14 He will certainly accomplish what He has decreed for me,
and He has many more things like these in mind.^[ax]
15 Therefore I am terrified^(DI) in His presence;
when I consider this, I am afraid of Him.
¹⁶ God has made my heart faint;^(DJ)
the Almighty has terrified me.
¹⁷ Yet I am not destroyed^[ay] by the darkness,^(DK)
by the thick darkness that covers my face.

24 Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment?^(DL)
Why do those who know Him never see His days?
² The wicked displace boundary markers.
They steal a flock and provide pasture for it.
³ They drive away the donkeys owned by the fatherless^(DM)
and take the widow’s ox as collateral.
⁴ They push the needy off the road;
the poor of the land are forced into hiding.^(DN)
5 Like wild donkeys in the desert,
the poor go out to their task of foraging for food;
the wilderness provides nourishment for their children.
⁶ They gather their fodder in the field
and glean the vineyards of the wicked.
⁷ Without clothing, they spend the night naked,
having no covering against the cold.^(DO)
8 Drenched by mountain rains,
they huddle against^[az] the rocks, shelterless.
⁹ The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast;
the nursing child of the poor is seized as collateral.^[ba]
10 Without clothing, they wander about naked.
They carry sheaves but go hungry.^(DP)
11 They crush olives in their presses;^[bb]
they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.
¹² From the city, men^[bc] groan;
the mortally wounded cry for help,
yet God pays no attention to this crime.^(DQ)

¹³ The wicked are those who rebel against the light.
They do not recognize its ways
or stay on its paths.
¹⁴ The murderer rises at dawn
to kill the poor and needy,
and by night he becomes a thief.
¹⁵ The adulterer’s eye watches for twilight,
thinking: No eye will see me;
he covers his face.
¹⁶ In the dark they break^[bd] into houses;
by day they lock themselves in,^[be]
never experiencing the light.
¹⁷ For the morning is like darkness to them.
Surely they are familiar with the terrors of darkness!

¹⁸ They float^[bf] on the surface of the water.
Their section of the land is cursed,
so that they never go to their vineyards.
¹⁹ As dry ground and heat snatch away the melted snow,
so Sheol^(DR) steals those who have sinned.
²⁰ The womb forgets them;
worms feed on them;
they are remembered^(DS) no more.
So injustice is broken like a tree.
²¹ They prey on^[bg] the childless woman who is unable to conceive,
and do not deal kindly with the widow.
²² Yet God drags away^[bh] the mighty by His power;
when He rises up, they have no assurance of life.
²³ He gives them a sense of security, so they can rely on it,^(DT)
but His eyes^(DU) watch over their ways.
²⁴ They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone;
they are brought low and shrivel up like everything else.^[bi]
They wither like heads of grain.^(DV)

²⁵ If this is not true, then who can prove me a liar^(DW)
and show that my speech is worthless?

² Dominion and dread^(DX) belong to Him,
the One who establishes harmony in the heavens.^[bj]
3 Can His troops be numbered?
Does His light not shine on everyone?
⁴ How can a person be justified before God?^(DY)
How can one born of woman be pure?^(DZ)
5 If even the moon does not shine
and the stars are not pure in His sight,^(EA)
6 how much less man, who is a maggot,
and the son of man, who is a worm!^(EB)

² How you have helped^(EC) the powerless
and delivered the arm that is weak!
³ How you have counseled the unwise^(ED)
and thoroughly explained the path to success!
⁴ Who did you speak these words to?
Whose breath came out of your mouth?

⁵ The departed spirits tremble
beneath the waters and all that inhabit them.^(EE)
6 Sheol^(EF) is naked before God,
and Abaddon^(EG) has no covering.^(EH)
7 He stretches the northern skies over empty space;
He hangs the earth on nothing.
⁸ He wraps up the waters in His clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst beneath their weight.^(EI)
9 He obscures the view of His throne,
spreading His cloud over it.
¹⁰ He laid out the horizon on the surface of the waters^(EJ)
at the boundary between light and darkness.
¹¹ The pillars that hold up the sky tremble,
astounded at His rebuke.^(EK)
12 By His power He stirred^(EL) the sea,
and by His understanding He crushed Rahab.^(EM)
13 By His breath the heavens gained their beauty;
His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.^[bk](EN)
14 These are but the fringes of His ways;
how faint is the word we hear of Him!
Who can understand His mighty thunder?

² As God lives, who has deprived me of justice,^(EO)
and the Almighty who has made me bitter,^(EP)
3 as long as my breath is still in me
and the breath from God remains in my nostrils,^(EQ)
4 my lips will not speak unjustly,
and my tongue will not utter deceit.
⁵ I will never affirm that you are right.
I will maintain my integrity^[bl](ER) until I die.
⁶ I will cling to my righteousness and never let it go.
My conscience^(ES) will not accuse me as long as I live!

⁷ May my enemy be like the wicked
and my opponent like the unjust.
⁸ For what hope does the godless man^(ET) have when he is cut off,
when God takes away his life?^(EU)
9 Will God hear his cry
when distress comes on him?
¹⁰ Will he delight^(EV) in the Almighty?
Will he call on God at all times?
¹¹ I will teach you about God’s power.
I will not conceal what the Almighty has planned.^[bm]
12 All of you have seen this for yourselves,
why do you keep up this empty talk?^(EW)

¹³ This is a wicked man’s lot^(EX) from God,
the inheritance the ruthless receive from the Almighty.
¹⁴ Even if his children increase, they are destined for the sword;
his descendants will never have enough food.
¹⁵ Those who survive him will be buried by the plague,
yet their widows will not weep for them.^(EY)
16 Though he piles up silver like dust
and heaps up a wardrobe like clay—
¹⁷ he may heap it up, but the righteous will wear it,
and the innocent will divide up his silver.^(EZ)
18 The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon
or a booth set up by a watchman.^(FA)
19 He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;
when he opens his eyes, it is gone.
²⁰ Terrors overtake him like a flood;^(FB)
a storm^(FC) wind sweeps him away at night.
²¹ An east wind picks him up, and he is gone;
it carries him away from his place.
²² It blasts at him without mercy,
while he flees desperately from its grasp.
²³ It claps^(FD) its hands at him
and scorns him from its place.

¹² But where can wisdom^(FF) be found,
and where is understanding located?
¹³ No man can know its value,^[br]
since it cannot be found in the land of the living.
¹⁴ The ocean depths say, “It’s not in me,”
while the sea declares, “I don’t have it.”^(FG)
15 Gold cannot be exchanged for it,
and silver cannot be weighed out for its price.
¹⁶ Wisdom cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,^(FH)
in precious onyx or sapphire.^[bs](FI)
17 Gold and glass do not compare with it,
and articles of fine gold cannot be exchanged for it.^(FJ)
18 Coral and quartz are not worth mentioning.
The price of wisdom is beyond pearls.
¹⁹ Topaz from Cush cannot compare with it,
and it cannot be valued in pure gold.

²⁰ Where then does wisdom come from,
and where is understanding located?
²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing
and concealed from the birds of the sky.
²² Abaddon and Death^(FK) say,
“We have heard news of it with our ears.”
²³ But God understands the way to wisdom,
and He knows its location.
²⁴ For He looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
²⁵ When God fixed the weight of the wind
and limited the water by measure,^(FL)
26 when He established a limit^[bt] for the rain^(FM)
and a path for the lightning,
²⁷ He considered wisdom and evaluated it;
He established it and examined it.
²⁸ He said to mankind,
“The fear of the Lord is this: wisdom.
And to turn from evil is understanding.”^(FN)

² If only I could be as in months gone by,
in the days when God watched over me,
³ when His lamp shone above my head,
and I walked through darkness by His light!^(FO)
4 I would be as I was in the days of my youth
when God’s friendship^(FP) rested on my tent,
⁵ when the Almighty was still with me
and my children were around me,
⁶ when my feet were bathed in cream
and the rock^(FQ) poured out streams of oil for me!

⁷ When I went out to the city gate
and took my seat in the town square,
⁸ the young men saw me and withdrew,
while older men stood to their feet.
⁹ City officials stopped talking
and covered their mouths with their hands.^(FR)
10 The noblemen’s voices were hushed,
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
¹¹ When they heard me, they blessed me,
and when they saw me, they spoke well of me.^[bu]
12 For I rescued the poor man who cried out for help,
and the fatherless child who had no one to support him.^(FS)
13 The dying man blessed me,
and I made the widow’s heart rejoice.
¹⁴ I clothed myself in righteousness,^(FT)
and it enveloped me;
my just decisions were like a robe and a turban.
¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.^(FU)
16 I was a father to the needy,
and I examined the case of the stranger.
¹⁷ I shattered the fangs of the unjust^(FV)
and snatched the prey from his teeth.

¹⁸ So I thought: I will die in my own nest
and multiply my days as the sand.^[bv]
19 My roots will have access to water,^(FW)
and the dew will rest on my branches all night.
²⁰ My strength will be refreshed within me,
and my bow will be renewed in my hand.^(FX)

²¹ Men listened to me with expectation,
waiting silently for my advice.
²² After a word from me they did not speak again;
my speech settled on them like dew.
²³ They waited for me as for the rain
and opened their mouths as for spring showers.
²⁴ If I smiled at them, they couldn’t believe it;
they were thrilled at^[bw] the light of my countenance.
²⁵ I directed their course and presided as chief.
I lived as a king among his troops,
like one who comforts those who mourn.

30 But now they mock^(FY) me,
men younger than I am,
whose fathers I would have refused to put
with my sheep dogs.
² What use to me was the strength of their hands?
Their vigor had left them.
³ Emaciated from poverty and hunger,
they gnawed the dry land,
the desolate wasteland by night.
⁴ They plucked mallow^[bx](FZ) among the shrubs,
and the roots of the broom tree were their food.
⁵ They were expelled from human society;
people shouted at them as if they were thieves.
⁶ They are living on the slopes of the wadis,
among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
⁷ They bray among the shrubs;
they huddle beneath the thistles.
⁸ Foolish^(GA) men, without even a name.
They were forced to leave the land.

⁹ Now I am mocked by their songs;^(GB)
I have become an object of scorn to them.
¹⁰ They despise me and keep their distance from me;^(GC)
they do not hesitate to spit^(GD) in my face.
¹¹ Because God has loosened my^[by] bowstring and oppressed me,
they have cast off restraint in my presence.^(GE)
12 The rabble^[bz] rise up at my right;
they trap^[ca] my feet
and construct their siege ramp^[cb] against me.^(GF)
13 They tear up my path;
they contribute to my destruction,^(GG)
without anyone to help them.
¹⁴ They advance as through a gaping breach;
they keep rolling in through the ruins.^(GH)
15 Terrors^(GI) are turned loose against me;
they chase my dignity away like the wind,
and my prosperity has passed by like a cloud.

¹⁶ Now my life is poured out before my eyes,
and days of suffering^(GJ) have seized me.
¹⁷ Night pierces my bones,
but my gnawing pains never rest.^(GK)
18 My clothing is distorted with great force;
He chokes me by the neck of my garment.^[cc]
19 He throws me into the mud,
and I have become like dust and ashes.^(GL)

²⁰ I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me;^(GM)
when I stand up, You merely look at me.
²¹ You have turned against me with cruelty;
You harass^(GN) me with Your strong hand.
²² You lift me up on the wind and make me ride it;
You scatter me in the storm.^(GO)
23 Yes, I know that You will lead me to death—
the place^(GP) appointed for all who live.

²⁴ Yet no one would stretch out his hand
against a ruined man^[cd]
when he cries out to him for help
because of his distress.^(GQ)
25 Have I not wept for those who have fallen on hard times?
Has my soul not grieved for the needy?^(GR)
26 But when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked for light, darkness^(GS) came.
²⁷ I am churning within^[ce] and cannot rest;
days of suffering confront me.
²⁸ I walk about blackened, but not by the sun.^[cf]
I stood in the assembly and cried out for help.
²⁹ I have become a brother to jackals
and a companion of ostriches.
³⁰ My skin blackens and flakes off,^[cg]
and my bones burn with fever.^(GT)
31 My lyre is used for mourning
and my flute for the sound of weeping.^(GU)

31 I have made a covenant with my eyes.^(GV)
How then could I look at a young woman?^[ch](GW)
2 For what portion^(GX) would I have from God above,
or what inheritance from the Almighty on high?
³ Doesn’t disaster come to the unjust
and misfortune to evildoers?
⁴ Does He not see my ways
and number all my steps?^(GY)

⁵ If I have walked in falsehood
or my foot has rushed to deceit,
⁶ let God weigh me in accurate scales,^(GZ)
and He will recognize my integrity.^(HA)

⁷ If my step has turned from the way,
my heart has followed my eyes,
or impurity has stained my hands,^(HB)
8 let someone else eat what I have sown,
and let my crops be uprooted.^(HC)

⁹ If my heart has been seduced by my neighbor’s wife
or I have lurked at his door,
¹⁰ let my own wife grind grain for another man,
and let other men sleep with^[ci] her.
¹¹ For that would be a disgrace;
it would be a crime deserving punishment.^[cj](HD)
12 For it is a fire that consumes down to Abaddon;
it would destroy my entire harvest.^(HE)

¹³ If I have dismissed the case of my male or female servants
when they made a complaint against me,
¹⁴ what could I do when God stands up to judge?
How should I answer Him when He calls me to account?
¹⁵ Did not the One who made me in the womb also make them?
Did not the same God form us both in the womb?^(HF)

¹⁶ If I have refused the wishes of the poor
or let the widow’s^(HG) eyes go blind,
¹⁷ if I have eaten my few crumbs alone
without letting the fatherless eat any of it—
¹⁸ for from my youth, I raised him as his father,
and since the day I was born^[ck] I guided the widow—
¹⁹ if I have seen anyone dying for lack of clothing
or a needy person without a cloak,^(HH)
20 if he^[cl] did not bless me
while warming himself with the fleece from my sheep,
²¹ if I ever cast my vote^[cm] against a fatherless child
when I saw that I had support in the city gate,^(HI)
22 then let my shoulder blade fall from my back,
and my arm be pulled from its socket.
²³ For disaster from God terrifies me,
and because of His majesty I could not do these things.^(HJ)

²⁴ If I placed my confidence in gold
or called fine gold my trust,^(HK)
25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth is great
or because my own hand has acquired so much,
²⁶ if I have gazed at the sun when it was shining
or at the moon moving in splendor,^(HL)
27 so that my heart was secretly enticed
and I threw them a kiss,^[cn]
28 this would also be a crime deserving punishment,
for I would have denied God above.

²⁹ Have I rejoiced over my enemy’s distress,
or become excited when trouble came his way?
³⁰ I have not allowed my mouth to sin
by asking for his life with a curse.
³¹ Haven’t the members of my household said,
“Who is there who has not had enough to eat at Job’s table?”
³² No stranger had to spend the night on the street,
for I opened my door to the traveler.
³³ Have I covered my transgressions^(HM) as others do^[co]
by hiding my guilt in my heart,^(HN)
34 because I greatly feared the crowds,
and the contempt of the clans terrified me,
so I grew silent and would not go outside?

³⁵ If only I had someone to hear my case!^(HO)
Here is my signature; let the Almighty answer me.
Let my Opponent compose His indictment.
³⁶ I would surely carry it on my shoulder
and wear it like a crown.^(HP)
37 I would give Him an account of all my steps;
I would approach Him like a prince.

³⁸ If my land cries out against me
and its furrows join in weeping,
³⁹ if I have consumed its produce without payment
or shown contempt for its tenants,^[cp]
40 then let thorns^(HQ) grow instead of wheat
and stinkweed^(HR) instead of barley.