² “Even today my ^(A)complaint is bitter;
^[a]My hand is listless because of my groaning.
^3 (B)Oh, that I knew where I might find Him,
That I might come to His seat!
⁴ I would present my case before Him,
And fill my mouth with arguments.
⁵ I would know the words which He would answer me,
And understand what He would say to me.
^6 (C)Would He contend with me in His great power?
No! But He would take note of me.
⁷ There the upright could reason with Him,
And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.

⁸ “Look,^(D) I go forward, but He is not there,
And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
⁹ When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him;
When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.
¹⁰ But ^(E)He knows the way that I take;
When ^(F)He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
^11 (G)My foot has held fast to His steps;
I have kept His way and not turned aside.
¹² I have not departed from the ^(H)commandment of His lips;
^(I)I have treasured the words of His mouth
More than my ^[b]necessary food.

¹³ “But He is unique, and who can make Him change?
And whatever ^(J)His soul desires, that He does.
¹⁴ For He performs what is ^(K)appointed for me,
And many such things are with Him.
¹⁵ Therefore I am terrified at His presence;
When I consider this, I am afraid of Him.
¹⁶ For God ^(L)made my heart weak,
And the Almighty terrifies me;
¹⁷ Because I was not ^(M)cut off ^[c]from the presence of darkness,
And He did not hide deep darkness from my face.

² “Some remove ^(P)landmarks;
They seize flocks violently and feed on them;
³ They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;
They ^(Q)take the widow’s ox as a pledge.
⁴ They push the needy off the road;
All the ^(R)poor of the land are forced to hide.
⁵ Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert,
They go out to their work, searching for food.
The wilderness yields food for them and for their children.
⁶ They gather their fodder in the field
And glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
⁷ They ^(S)spend the night naked, without clothing,
And have no covering in the cold.
⁸ They are wet with the showers of the mountains,
And ^(T)huddle around the rock for want of shelter.

⁹ “Some snatch the fatherless from the breast,
And take a pledge from the poor.
¹⁰ They cause the poor to go naked, without ^(U)clothing;
And they take away the sheaves from the hungry.
¹¹ They press out oil within their walls,
And tread winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
¹² The dying groan in the city,
And the souls of the wounded cry out;
Yet God does not charge them with wrong.

¹³ “There are those who rebel against the light;
They do not know its ways
Nor abide in its paths.
^14 (V)The murderer rises with the light;
He kills the poor and needy;
And in the night he is like a thief.
^15 (W)The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
^(X)Saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
And he ^[d]disguises his face.
¹⁶ In the dark they break into houses
Which they marked for themselves in the daytime;
^(Y)They do not know the light.
¹⁷ For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death;
If someone recognizes them,
They are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

¹⁸ “They should be swift on the face of the waters,
Their portion should be cursed in the earth,
So that no one would turn into the way of their vineyards.
¹⁹ As drought and heat ^[e]consume the snow waters,
So ^[f]the grave consumes those who have sinned.
²⁰ The womb should forget him,
The worm should feed sweetly on him;
^(Z)He should be remembered no more,
And wickedness should be broken like a tree.
²¹ For he ^[g]preys on the barren who do not bear,
And does no good for the widow.

²² “But God draws the mighty away with His power;
He rises up, but no man is sure of life.
²³ He gives them security, and they rely on it;
Yet ^(AA)His eyes are on their ways.
²⁴ They are exalted for a little while,
Then they are gone.
They are brought low;
They are ^[h]taken out of the way like all others;
They dry out like the heads of grain.

²⁵ “Now if it is not so, who will prove me a liar,
And make my speech worth nothing?”

² “Dominion and fear belong to Him;
He makes peace in His high places.
^3 [i]Is there any number to His armies?
Upon whom does ^(AC)His light not rise?
^4 (AD)How then can man be righteous before God?
Or how can he be ^(AE)pure who is born of a woman?
⁵ If even the moon does not shine,
And the stars are not pure in His ^(AF)sight,
⁶ How much less man, who is ^(AG)a maggot,
And a son of man, who is a worm?”

² “How have you helped him who is without power?
How have you saved the arm that has no strength?
³ How have you counseled one who has no wisdom?
And how have you declared sound advice to many?
⁴ To whom have you uttered words?
And whose spirit came from you?

⁵ “The dead tremble,
Those under the waters and those inhabiting them.
^6 (AH)Sheol is naked before Him,
And Destruction has no covering.
^7 (AI)He stretches out the north over empty space;
He hangs the earth on nothing.
^8 (AJ)He binds up the water in His thick clouds,
Yet the clouds ^[j]are not broken under it.
⁹ He covers the face of His throne,
And spreads His cloud over it.
^10 (AK)He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters,
At the boundary of light and darkness.
¹¹ The pillars of heaven tremble,
And are ^[k]astonished at His rebuke.
^12 (AL)He stirs up the sea with His power,
And by His understanding He breaks up ^[l]the storm.
^13 (AM)By His Spirit He adorned the heavens;
His hand pierced ^(AN)the fleeing serpent.
¹⁴ Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?”

² “As God lives, ^(AO)who has taken away my justice,
And the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
³ As long as my breath is in me,
And the breath of God in my nostrils,
⁴ My lips will not speak wickedness,
Nor my tongue utter deceit.
⁵ Far be it from me
That I should say you are right;
Till I die ^(AP)I will not put away my integrity from me.
⁶ My righteousness I ^(AQ)hold fast, and will not let it go;
^(AR)My heart shall not ^[m]reproach me as long as I live.

⁷ “May my enemy be like the wicked,
And he who rises up against me like the unrighteous.
^8 (AS)For what is the hope of the hypocrite,
Though he may gain much,
If God takes away his life?
^9 (AT)Will God hear his cry
When trouble comes upon him?
^10 (AU)Will he delight himself in the Almighty?
Will he always call on God?

¹¹ “I will teach you ^[n]about the hand of God;
What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
¹² Surely all of you have seen it;
Why then do you behave with complete nonsense?

¹³ “This^(AV) is the portion of a wicked man with God,
And the heritage of oppressors, received from the Almighty:
^14 (AW)If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword;
And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
¹⁵ Those who survive him shall be buried in death,
And ^(AX)their^[o] widows shall not weep,
¹⁶ Though he heaps up silver like dust,
And piles up clothing like clay—
¹⁷ He may pile it up, but ^(AY)the just will wear it,
And the innocent will divide the silver.
¹⁸ He builds his house like a ^[p]moth,
^(AZ)Like a ^[q]booth which a watchman makes.
¹⁹ The rich man will lie down,
^[r]But not be gathered up;
He opens his eyes,
And he is ^(BA)no more.
^20 (BB)Terrors overtake him like a flood;
A tempest steals him away in the night.
²¹ The east wind carries him away, and he is gone;
It sweeps him out of his place.
²² It hurls against him and does not ^(BC)spare;
He flees desperately from its ^[s]power.
²³ Men shall clap their hands at him,
And shall hiss him out of his place.

⁴ I said, “Lord, be merciful to me;
^(B)Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
⁵ My enemies speak evil of me:
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
⁶ And if he comes to see me, he speaks ^[c]lies;
His heart gathers iniquity to itself;
When he goes out, he tells it.

⁷ All who hate me whisper together against me;
Against me they ^[d]devise my hurt.
⁸ “An^[e] evil disease,” they say, “clings to him.
And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.”
^9 (C)Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted,
^(D)Who ate my bread,
Has ^[f]lifted up his heel against me.

¹⁰ But You, O Lord, be merciful to me, and raise me up,
That I may repay them.
¹¹ By this I know that You are well pleased with me,
Because my enemy does not triumph over me.
¹² As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
And ^(E)set me before Your face forever.

^13 (F)Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
From everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.

⁵ Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse;
He who guards his soul will be far from them.

^6 (A)Train up a child in the way he should go,
^[a]And when he is old he will not depart from it.