² 
“If we dare to converse with you, will you be impatient [or offended]?
But who can restrain himself from speaking?
³ 
“Behold, you have admonished and instructed many,
And you have strengthened weak hands.
⁴ 
“Your words have helped the one who was stumbling to stand,
And you have strengthened feeble knees.
⁵ 
“But now ^[a]adversity comes upon you, and you are impatient and intolerant;
It touches you, and you are horrified.
⁶ 
“Is not your fear of God your confidence,
And [is not] the integrity and uprightness of your ways your hope?

⁷ 
“Remember now, who, being innocent, ever perished?
Or where [and in what circumstances] were those upright and in right standing with God destroyed?
⁸ 
“As I have seen, those who plow wickedness
And those who sow trouble and harm harvest it.
⁹ 
“By the breath of God they perish,
And by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
¹⁰ 
“The roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion,
And the teeth of the young lions are broken.
¹¹ 
“The lion perishes for lack of prey,
And the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

¹² 
“Now a word was secretly brought to me,
And my ear received a whisper of it.
¹³ 
“Amid disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night,
When deep sleep falls on men,
¹⁴ 
Dread and trembling came upon me,
Which made all my bones shake.
¹⁵ 
“Then a spirit passed before my face;
The hair on my skin stood on end!
¹⁶ 
“The spirit stood still, but I could not discern its appearance;
A form was before my eyes;
There was silence, and then I heard a voice, saying:
¹⁷ 
‘Can [mortal] man be just before God or be more righteous than He?
Can a man be pure before his Maker or be more cleansed than He?^(A)
18 
‘God puts no trust or confidence, even in His [heavenly] servants,
And He charges His angels with error.
¹⁹ 
‘How much more [will He blame and charge] those who dwell in houses (bodies) of clay,
Whose foundations are in the dust,
Who are crushed like a moth.
²⁰ 
‘Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces and destroyed;
Unobserved and unnoticed, they perish forever.
²¹ 
‘Is not their tent-cord drawn up within them [so that the tent collapses]?
Do they not die, and yet without [acquiring] wisdom?’