¹² “But where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
¹³ Man does not know its value,
Nor is it found in the land of the living.
¹⁴ The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
¹⁵ It cannot be purchased for gold,
Nor can silver be weighed for its price.
¹⁶ It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx or sapphire.
¹⁷ Neither gold nor crystal can equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for jewelry of fine gold.
¹⁸ No mention shall be made of coral or quartz,
For the price of wisdom is above rubies.
¹⁹ The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰ “From where then does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
And concealed from the birds of the air.
²² Destruction and Death say,
‘We have heard a report about it with our ears.’
²³ God understands its way,
And He knows its place.
²⁴ For He looks to the ends of the earth,
And sees under the whole heavens,
²⁵ To establish a weight for the wind,
And apportion the waters by measure.
²⁶ When He made a law for the rain,
And a path for the thunderbolt,
²⁷ Then He saw wisdom^[b] and declared it;
He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out.
²⁸ And to man He said,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
And to depart from evil is understanding.’”

² “Oh, that I were as in months past,
As in the days when God watched over me;
³ When His lamp shone upon my head,
And when by His light I walked through darkness;
⁴ Just as I was in the days of my prime,
When the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;
⁵ When the Almighty was yet with me,
When my children were around me;
⁶ When my steps were bathed with cream,^[c]
And the rock poured out rivers of oil for me!

⁷ “When I went out to the gate by the city,
When I took my seat in the open square,
⁸ The young men saw me and hid,
And the aged arose and stood;
⁹ The princes refrained from talking,
And put their hand on their mouth;
¹⁰ The voice of nobles was hushed,
And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
¹¹ When the ear heard, then it blessed me,
And when the eye saw, then it approved me;
¹² Because I delivered the poor who cried out,
The fatherless and the one who had no helper.
¹³ The blessing of a perishing man came upon me,
And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
¹⁴ I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
My justice was like a robe and a turban.
¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind,
And I was feet to the lame.
¹⁶ I was a father to the poor,
And I searched out the case that I did not know.
¹⁷ I broke the fangs of the wicked,
And plucked the victim from his teeth.

¹⁸ “Then I said, ‘I shall die in my nest,
And multiply my days as the sand.
¹⁹ My root is spread out to the waters,
And the dew lies all night on my branch.
²⁰ My glory is fresh within me,
And my bow is renewed in my hand.’
²¹ “Men listened to me and waited,
And kept silence for my counsel.
²² After my words they did not speak again,
And my speech settled on them as dew.
²³ They waited for me as for the rain,
And they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain.
²⁴ If I mocked at them, they did not believe it,
And the light of my countenance they did not cast down.
²⁵ I chose the way for them, and sat as chief;
So I dwelt as a king in the army,
As one who comforts mourners.

30 “But now they mock at me, men younger than I,
Whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock.
² Indeed, what profit is the strength of their hands to me?
Their vigor has perished.
³ They are gaunt from want and famine,
Fleeing late to the wilderness, desolate and waste,
⁴ Who pluck mallow by the bushes,
And broom tree roots for their food.
⁵ They were driven out from among men,
They shouted at them as at a thief.
⁶ They had to live in the clefts of the valleys,
In caves of the earth and the rocks.
⁷ Among the bushes they brayed,
Under the nettles they nestled.
⁸ They were sons of fools,
Yes, sons of vile men;
They were scourged from the land.

⁹ “And now I am their taunting song;
Yes, I am their byword.
¹⁰ They abhor me, they keep far from me;
They do not hesitate to spit in my face.
¹¹ Because He has loosed my^[d] bowstring and afflicted me,
They have cast off restraint before me.
¹² At my right hand the rabble arises;
They push away my feet,
And they raise against me their ways of destruction.
¹³ They break up my path,
They promote my calamity;
They have no helper.
¹⁴ They come as broad breakers;
Under the ruinous storm they roll along.
¹⁵ Terrors are turned upon me;
They pursue my honor as the wind,
And my prosperity has passed like a cloud.

¹⁶ “And now my soul is poured out because of my plight;
The days of affliction take hold of me.
¹⁷ My bones are pierced in me at night,
And my gnawing pains take no rest.
¹⁸ By great force my garment is disfigured;
It binds me about as the collar of my coat.
¹⁹ He has cast me into the mire,
And I have become like dust and ashes.

²⁰ “I cry out to You, but You do not answer me;
I stand up, and You regard me.
²¹ But You have become cruel to me;
With the strength of Your hand You oppose me.
²² You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride on it;
You spoil my success.
²³ For I know that You will bring me to death,
And to the house appointed for all living.

²⁴ “Surely He would not stretch out His hand against a heap of ruins,
If they cry out when He destroys it.
²⁵ Have I not wept for him who was in trouble?
Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
²⁶ But when I looked for good, evil came to me;
And when I waited for light, then came darkness.
²⁷ My heart is in turmoil and cannot rest;
Days of affliction confront me.
²⁸ I go about mourning, but not in the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.
²⁹ I am a brother of jackals,
And a companion of ostriches.
³⁰ My skin grows black and falls from me;
My bones burn with fever.
³¹ My harp is turned to mourning,
And my flute to the voice of those who weep.

31 “I have made a covenant with my eyes;
Why then should I look upon a young woman?
² For what is the allotment of God from above,
And the inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
³ Is it not destruction for the wicked,
And disaster for the workers of iniquity?
⁴ Does He not see my ways,
And count all my steps?

⁵ “If I have walked with falsehood,
Or if my foot has hastened to deceit,
⁶ Let me be weighed on honest scales,
That God may know my integrity.
⁷ If my step has turned from the way,
Or my heart walked after my eyes,
Or if any spot adheres to my hands,
⁸ Then let me sow, and another eat;
Yes, let my harvest be rooted out.
⁹ “If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
Or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,
¹⁰ Then let my wife grind for another,
And let others bow down over her.
¹¹ For that would be wickedness;
Yes, it would be iniquity deserving of judgment.
¹² For that would be a fire that consumes to destruction,
And would root out all my increase.

¹³ “If I have despised the cause of my male or female servant
When they complained against me,
¹⁴ What then shall I do when God rises up?
When He punishes, how shall I answer Him?
¹⁵ Did not He who made me in the womb make them?
Did not the same One fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶ “If I have kept the poor from their desire,
Or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
¹⁷ Or eaten my morsel by myself,
So that the fatherless could not eat of it
¹⁸ (But from my youth I reared him as a father,
And from my mother’s womb I guided the widow^[e]);
¹⁹ If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
Or any poor man without covering;
²⁰ If his heart^[f] has not blessed me,
And if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
²¹ If I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
When I saw I had help in the gate;
²² Then let my arm fall from my shoulder,
Let my arm be torn from the socket.
²³ For destruction from God is a terror to me,
And because of His magnificence I cannot endure.

²⁴ “If I have made gold my hope,
Or said to fine gold, ‘You are my confidence’;
²⁵ If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,
And because my hand had gained much;
²⁶ If I have observed the sun^[g] when it shines,
Or the moon moving in brightness,
²⁷ So that my heart has been secretly enticed,
And my mouth has kissed my hand;
²⁸ This also would be an iniquity deserving of judgment,
For I would have denied God who is above.

²⁹ “If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me,
Or lifted myself up when evil found him
³⁰ (Indeed I have not allowed my mouth to sin
By asking for a curse on his soul);
³¹ If the men of my tent have not said,
‘Who is there that has not been satisfied with his meat?’
³² (But no sojourner had to lodge in the street,
For I have opened my doors to the traveler^[h]);
³³ If I have covered my transgressions as Adam,
By hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
³⁴ Because I feared the great multitude,
And dreaded the contempt of families,
So that I kept silence
And did not go out of the door—
³⁵ Oh, that I had one to hear me!
Here is my mark.
Oh, that the Almighty would answer me,
That my Prosecutor had written a book!
³⁶ Surely I would carry it on my shoulder,
And bind it on me like a crown;
³⁷ I would declare to Him the number of my steps;
Like a prince I would approach Him.

³⁸ “If my land cries out against me,
And its furrows weep together;
³⁹ If I have eaten its fruit^[i] without money,
Or caused its owners to lose their lives;
⁴⁰ Then let thistles grow instead of wheat,
And weeds instead of barley.”