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I summon my servant, but he does not answer, though I beg him with my own mouth.
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Even the little boys scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me.
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“Surely you know how it has been from of old, ever since mankind was placed on the earth,
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Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?’
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“Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he judges even the highest?
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The soil in the valley is sweet to them; everyone follows after them, and a countless throng goes before them.
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“Can a man be of benefit to God? Can even a wise person benefit him?
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What you decide on will be done, and light will shine on your ways.
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He will deliver even one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
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“Even today my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
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“There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths.
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In the dark, thieves break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light.
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Can his forces be numbered? On whom does his light not rise?
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If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes,
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He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness.
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They search the sources of the rivers and bring hidden things to light.
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It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds in the sky.
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for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.
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when his lamp shone on my head and by his light I walked through darkness!
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My glory will not fade; the bow will be ever new in my hand.’
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When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it; the light of my face was precious to them.
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Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness.
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Does he not see my ways and count my every step?
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“If I have denied justice to any of my servants, whether male or female, when they had a grievance against me,
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I would give him an account of my every step; I would present it to him as to a ruler.)—
