² “I have heard many things like these;
    you are miserable comforters, all of you!
³ Will your long-winded speeches never end?
    What ails you that you keep on arguing?
⁴ I also could speak like you,
    if you were in my place;
I could make fine speeches against you
    and shake my head at you.
⁵ But my mouth would encourage you;
    comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

⁶ “Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved;
    and if I refrain, it does not go away.
⁷ Surely, God, you have worn me out;
    you have devastated my entire household.
⁸ You have shriveled me up—and it has become a witness;
    my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.
⁹ God assails me and tears me in his anger
    and gnashes his teeth at me;
    my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.
¹⁰ People open their mouths to jeer at me;
    they strike my cheek in scorn
    and unite together against me.
¹¹ God has turned me over to the ungodly
    and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.
¹² All was well with me, but he shattered me;
    he seized me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me his target;
¹³     his archers surround me.
Without pity, he pierces my kidneys
    and spills my gall on the ground.
¹⁴ Again and again he bursts upon me;
    he rushes at me like a warrior.

¹⁵ “I have sewed sackcloth over my skin
    and buried my brow in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is red with weeping,
    dark shadows ring my eyes;
¹⁷ yet my hands have been free of violence
    and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ “Earth, do not cover my blood;
    may my cry never be laid to rest!
¹⁹ Even now my witness is in heaven;
    my advocate is on high.
²⁰ My intercessor is my friend^[a]
    as my eyes pour out tears to God;
²¹ on behalf of a man he pleads with God
    as one pleads for a friend.

²² “Only a few years will pass
    before I take the path of no return.

³ “Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.
    Who else will put up security for me?
⁴ You have closed their minds to understanding;
    therefore you will not let them triumph.
⁵ If anyone denounces their friends for reward,
    the eyes of their children will fail.

⁶ “God has made me a byword to everyone,
    a man in whose face people spit.
⁷ My eyes have grown dim with grief;
    my whole frame is but a shadow.
⁸ The upright are appalled at this;
    the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.
⁹ Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways,
    and those with clean hands will grow stronger.

¹⁰ “But come on, all of you, try again!
    I will not find a wise man among you.
¹¹ My days have passed, my plans are shattered.
    Yet the desires of my heart
¹² turn night into day;
    in the face of the darkness light is near.
¹³ If the only home I hope for is the grave,
    if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness,
¹⁴ if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’
    and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’
¹⁵ where then is my hope—
    who can see any hope for me?
¹⁶ Will it go down to the gates of death?
    Will we descend together into the dust?”

² “When will you end these speeches?
    Be sensible, and then we can talk.
³ Why are we regarded as cattle
    and considered stupid in your sight?
⁴ You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger,
    is the earth to be abandoned for your sake?
    Or must the rocks be moved from their place?

⁵ “The lamp of a wicked man is snuffed out;
    the flame of his fire stops burning.
⁶ The light in his tent becomes dark;
    the lamp beside him goes out.
⁷ The vigor of his step is weakened;
    his own schemes throw him down.
⁸ His feet thrust him into a net;
    he wanders into its mesh.
⁹ A trap seizes him by the heel;
    a snare holds him fast.
¹⁰ A noose is hidden for him on the ground;
    a trap lies in his path.
¹¹ Terrors startle him on every side
    and dog his every step.
¹² Calamity is hungry for him;
    disaster is ready for him when he falls.
¹³ It eats away parts of his skin;
    death’s firstborn devours his limbs.
¹⁴ He is torn from the security of his tent
    and marched off to the king of terrors.
¹⁵ Fire resides^[b] in his tent;
    burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.
¹⁶ His roots dry up below
    and his branches wither above.
¹⁷ The memory of him perishes from the earth;
    he has no name in the land.
¹⁸ He is driven from light into the realm of darkness
    and is banished from the world.
¹⁹ He has no offspring or descendants among his people,
    no survivor where once he lived.
²⁰ People of the west are appalled at his fate;
    those of the east are seized with horror.
²¹ Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man;
    such is the place of one who does not know God.”

² “How long will you torment me
    and crush me with words?
³ Ten times now you have reproached me;
    shamelessly you attack me.
⁴ If it is true that I have gone astray,
    my error remains my concern alone.
⁵ If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me
    and use my humiliation against me,
⁶ then know that God has wronged me
    and drawn his net around me.

⁷ “Though I cry, ‘Violence!’ I get no response;
    though I call for help, there is no justice.
⁸ He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;
    he has shrouded my paths in darkness.
⁹ He has stripped me of my honor
    and removed the crown from my head.
¹⁰ He tears me down on every side till I am gone;
    he uproots my hope like a tree.
¹¹ His anger burns against me;
    he counts me among his enemies.
¹² His troops advance in force;
    they build a siege ramp against me
    and encamp around my tent.

¹³ “He has alienated my family from me;
    my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
¹⁴ My relatives have gone away;
    my closest friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ My guests and my female servants count me a foreigner;
    they look on me as on a stranger.
¹⁶ I summon my servant, but he does not answer,
    though I beg him with my own mouth.
¹⁷ My breath is offensive to my wife;
    I am loathsome to my own family.
¹⁸ Even the little boys scorn me;
    when I appear, they ridicule me.
¹⁹ All my intimate friends detest me;
    those I love have turned against me.
²⁰ I am nothing but skin and bones;
    I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.^[c]

²¹ “Have pity on me, my friends, have pity,
    for the hand of God has struck me.
²² Why do you pursue me as God does?
    Will you never get enough of my flesh?

²³ “Oh, that my words were recorded,
    that they were written on a scroll,
²⁴ that they were inscribed with an iron tool on^[d] lead,
    or engraved in rock forever!
²⁵ I know that my redeemer^[e] lives,
    and that in the end he will stand on the earth.^[f]
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
    yet^[g] in^[h] my flesh I will see God;
²⁷ I myself will see him
    with my own eyes—I, and not another.
    How my heart yearns within me!

²⁸ “If you say, ‘How we will hound him,
    since the root of the trouble lies in him,^[i]’
²⁹ you should fear the sword yourselves;
    for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,
    and then you will know that there is judgment.^[j]”

⁴ Blessed is the one
    who trusts in the Lord,
who does not look to the proud,
    to those who turn aside to false gods.^[b]
5 Many, Lord my God,
    are the wonders you have done,
    the things you planned for us.
None can compare with you;
    were I to speak and tell of your deeds,
    they would be too many to declare.

⁶ Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—
    but my ears you have opened^[c]—
    burnt offerings and sin offerings^[d] you did not require.
⁷ Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
    it is written about me in the scroll.^[e]
8 I desire to do your will, my God;
    your law is within my heart.”

⁹ I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly;
    I do not seal my lips, Lord,
    as you know.
¹⁰ I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
    I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help.
I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness
    from the great assembly.

22 A good name is more desirable than great riches;
    to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.