Bible in 90 Days

² How long will you say such things?
How long will the words of your mouth be like a blustery wind?
³ Does God pervert justice?
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
⁴ When your children sinned against him,
he handed them over to the consequences of their rebellion.
⁵ But if you will eagerly seek God
and plead for compassion from the Almighty,
⁶ if you are pure and upright,
then even now he will rouse himself on your behalf,
and he will restore your rightful dwelling place.
⁷ Then, though your beginnings were small,
your final days will be very great!

⁸ Yes, ask the previous generations,
and consider the discoveries of their fathers,
⁹ because we were born only yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are nothing but a shadow.
¹⁰ Aren’t our ancestors the ones who should teach you and inform you,
the ones who brought forth words from their hearts?

¹¹ Does papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh?
Do reeds thrive where there is no water?
¹² While they are still growing and uncut,
they can wither faster than any other plant.
¹³ This is the way it will be for all those who forget God.
The hope of the godless man perishes.
¹⁴ His source of confidence is fragile.
He trusts in something as fragile as a spider’s web.
¹⁵ He leans on his web, but it does not support him.
He grasps it, but it does not hold him up.
¹⁶ He is a thriving plant flourishing in the sunshine,
    spreading its shoots over the garden.
¹⁷ It wraps its roots around a heap of rocks.
It finds a home among the stones.
¹⁸ But if it is uprooted from its place,
that place disowns it, saying, “I have never seen you!”
¹⁹ Yes, the only good thing that comes from this situation is that
    from the dust another plant sprouts.^[a]

²⁰ Certainly God does not reject a blameless man
or strengthen the hand of evildoers.
²¹ He will again fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with a joyful shout.
²² Your enemies will be clothed with shame,
and the tents of the wicked will be no more.

² Of course I know that this is true.
But how can a man be justified before God?
³ If someone wants to argue with God,
he could not refute one charge out of a thousand.^[b]
4 God has a wise heart and great power,
so who can resist God and come out of it unharmed?

⁵ God removes mountains from their position,
and they don’t even realize it.
He overturns mountains in his anger.
⁶ He shakes the earth off its foundation.
He causes its pillars to quake.
⁷ He speaks to the sun, and it does not rise,
and he seals up the stars.
⁸ He alone stretches out the heavens.
He treads on the crests of the sea.
⁹ He made the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades,^[c]
and the constellations in the southern sky.
¹⁰ He does great things that are beyond investigation.
He does miracles that are too many to be counted.
¹¹ Though he passes by me, I do not see him.
He moves past me, but I do not detect him.
¹² If he snatches something away, who can make him bring it back?
Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
¹³ God does not hold back his anger.
Even Rahab’s^[d] helpers bow down beneath him.
¹⁴ How much less, then, will I be able to answer him?

I want to match words with him,
¹⁵ but even if I am in the right, I cannot answer him.
I can only plead to my judge for grace.
¹⁶ If I called and he responded to me,
I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.
¹⁷ With a violent storm he would crush me,
and he would inflict many wounds on me for no reason.
¹⁸ He would not allow me to catch my breath.
Instead, he would fill me with bitter experiences.
¹⁹ If it is a question of strength, he definitely is the strong one.
If it is a question of jurisdiction, who can summon him?^[e]
20 Even if I am righteous, my mouth would still condemn me.
If I am blameless, it would pronounce me crooked.
²¹ Although I am blameless, I cannot evaluate^[f] myself.
I reject my own life.

²² Here is why I say, “It makes no difference.”
Blameless or wicked, he brings them all to the same end.
²³ If a whip suddenly kills people,
he makes fun of^[g] the despair of the innocent.
²⁴ When a land is handed over to a wicked man,
God blinds the eyes of its judges.
If he is not the one, then who does it?

²⁵ My days are swifter than a runner.
They fly away without bringing any happiness.
²⁶ They glide by like reed boats,
like an eagle that swoops down on its prey.
²⁷ If I say, “I will forget my complaint.
I will put on a happy face and smile,”
²⁸ even then I dread all my pain,
because I know that you will not acquit me.
²⁹ I have already been declared guilty,
so why should I struggle for nothing.
³⁰ If I wash myself with snow,
if I cleanse my hands with strong soap,
³¹ then you will plunge me into a cesspool,
and my clothes will detest me.
³² For he is not a man as I am,
so that I am able to answer him,
so that we may meet in court.
³³ There is no one to mediate^[h] between us,
no one who can lay his hand on both of us.
³⁴ No one can make him take his rod away from me,
so that the dread of him would not fill me with terror!
³⁵ If that happened, I would speak up and not be afraid.
But I have no such mediator. I am left on my own.

10 With all my heart I am weary of my life,
so I will express my complaint freely.
I will speak from the bitterness of my heart.
² I will say this to God: Do not condemn me.
Tell me why you are pressing charges against me.
³ Is it good that you are oppressing me,
that you are rejecting what your hands have made,
at the same time that you favor the plans of the wicked?
⁴ Do you have eyes made of flesh?
Do you see things the way a man does?
⁵ Are your days like a man’s days?
Are your years like the life span of a human?

⁶ You do, in fact, investigate guilt,
and you do search carefully for sin.
⁷ Although you know that I am not guilty,
there is no one who can rescue me from your hand.

⁸ Your hands shaped me and made me,
but now you swallow me up completely.
⁹ Please remember that it was you who shaped me like a clay pot.
Will you now return me to the dust?
¹⁰ Aren’t you the one who poured me out like milk,
who thickened me like a curd of cheese?
¹¹ You clothed me with skin and flesh.
You wove me together with bones and tendons.
¹² You provided me with life and mercy,
and your watchful care has guarded my spirit.

¹³ You hid these things in your heart,
but I know that this is what you had in mind:
¹⁴ If I sinned and you were watching me,
you would not acquit me of my guilt.
¹⁵ If I was wicked, I would be cursed!
But even if I was righteous, I could not lift up my head,
because I am filled with shame and aware of^[i] my misery.
¹⁶ If I lift myself up,^[j] you hunt me down like a lion.
You turn and display amazing power against me.
¹⁷ You produce new witnesses to oppose me,
and you become more irritated with me.
You attack me with reinforcements.
¹⁸ Why, then, did you bring me out from the womb?
I wish I had died. Then no eye would have seen me.
¹⁹ I wish I had been like someone who never lived.
Then I would have been carried from the womb to the tomb.
²⁰ Don’t I have only a few days?
Stop! Leave me alone, so that I can be happy for a short time,
²¹ before I walk into the land of darkness
and into the shadow of death, never to return,
²² into the land of gloom, as dark as the shadow of death,
into the land of chaos, where even light is darkness.

² Doesn’t this gush of words call for an answer?
Can this man’s bold talk be justified?
³ Should your empty words reduce men to silence?
Can you be allowed to scoff without anyone putting you in your place?
⁴ You say, “What I teach is untainted,
and I am pure in your eyes.”
⁵ Oh how I wish that God would speak up,
open his lips against you,
⁶ and show you the secret of wisdom,
because sound judgment must look at both sides.
Then you would know that God has even forgotten some of your guilt!

⁷ Can you explore the essence of God?
Can you find a limit to the perfections of the Almighty?
⁸ They are as high as the heavens. What can you do?
They are deeper than hell.^[k] What can you know?
⁹ His dimensions are greater than the earth
and wider than the sea.
¹⁰ If God comes and arrests someone and puts him on trial,
who can overrule him?
¹¹ Certainly he recognizes deceitful men for what they are.
He sees evil, and he recognizes it for what it is.

¹² Before an empty-headed man gets understanding,
a wild donkey colt will be born as a man.

¹³ But you, if you make your heart steadfast,
and you spread out your hands to him,
¹⁴ if you put away the sin you are holding in your hand,
and you do not allow injustice to dwell in your tents,
¹⁵ then you will lift up your face and be blameless.
You will be solid and fearless.
¹⁶ You will certainly forget your trouble.
Your memory of it will be like water that has flowed away.
¹⁷ The rest of your life will be brighter than noon.
Darkness will become like morning.
¹⁸ You will be confident that there is hope.
When you look around, you will go to bed confidently.
¹⁹ You will lie down, and no one will make you tremble.
Many will seek your favor.
²⁰ The eyes of the wicked will fail,
and their place of refuge will disappear.
Their hope will vanish with their dying breath.^[l]

² Yes, indeed. You are the people,
and wisdom will die with you!
³ But I understand things as well as you.^[m]
I do not fall short of you.
Who doesn’t know all these things?

⁴ But I am a laughingstock to my neighbor—
I, who call on God, and he answers me—
I, a righteous and complete man, am a laughingstock!
⁵ Those who are carefree do not worry about disaster.
They think it is reserved for those whose feet are slipping.
⁶ The tents of raiders are undisturbed,
and those who provoke God are secure—
those who carry their god in their hand.^[n]

⁷ Please ask the animals, and they will teach you.
Ask the birds of the sky, and they will inform you.
⁸ Complain to the earth, and it will teach you,
and the fish of the sea will tell you about it.
⁹ Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord^[o] did this?
¹⁰ The life of every living thing is in his hand,
as well as the breath^[p] in all human flesh.

¹¹ Isn’t it true that the ear tests words
and the palate tastes food?
¹² Isn’t it true that wisdom is found among the aged
and understanding among those who have had a long life?
¹³ But wisdom and power are with God.
He gives guidance and understanding.
¹⁴ If he tears something down, it cannot be rebuilt.
If he shuts a door on a man, it cannot be opened.
¹⁵ Look! He holds back the waters, and the land dries up.
He turns them loose, and the earth is overwhelmed.
¹⁶ He has strength and sound judgment.
The deceiver and the deceived both belong to him.
¹⁷ He causes royal advisors to be led away naked.
He makes fools of judges.
¹⁸ He takes away the ruling power of kings,
and he wraps a loincloth around their waist.^[q]
19 He causes priests to be led away naked,
and he brings the pillars of society down to ruin.
²⁰ He closes the lips of trusted advisors,
and he takes away good judgment from elders.
²¹ He pours contempt on nobles.
He loosens the belt of the strong.
²² He uncovers deep mysteries that were hidden in darkness.
He brings the shadow of death into the light.
²³ He raises nations to power, and then he destroys them.
He enlarges nations, and then he leads them away captive.
²⁴ He deprives the heads of the peoples of the earth of their reason.
He makes them wander in a wild land where there are no roads.
²⁵ They grope around in darkness, where there is no light.
He causes them to wander aimlessly like drunks.

13 My eyes have certainly seen all this.
My ears have heard it and understood it.
² Whatever you know, I know every bit as well.
I do not fall short of you in any way.

³ But I want to speak to the Almighty.
I am eager to argue my case with God.
⁴ All you do is plaster over problems^[r] with lies.
Such useless healers, all of you!
⁵ I wish you would shut up completely.
For you, that would be wisdom!

⁶ But now, listen to my rebuttal.
Pay attention to the arguments from my lips.
⁷ Will you misrepresent God?^[s]
Will you speak deceitfully about him?
⁸ Will you show favoritism on behalf of God
and argue his case for him?
⁹ Will it turn out well when he cross-examines you?
Can you fool God as you can fool a man?
¹⁰ He will certainly rule against you if you hide your favoritism.
¹¹ Won’t God’s majesty frighten you?
Won’t the dread he inspires overwhelm you?
¹² Your axioms are proverbs made of ashes.
Your strong points are made of clay.

¹³ Silence! Let me speak.
I intend to speak up, no matter what happens.
¹⁴ Why do I bite my flesh with my teeth?
Why do I take my life in my hands?
¹⁵ Even if he slays me, I will wait for him with hope.^[t]
No matter what, I will defend my ways to his face.
¹⁶ Even this may turn out for my salvation,
for no godless person would dare to face him.
¹⁷ Listen carefully to my words!
Give my testimony a hearing.
¹⁸ Please, listen. I have laid out my case.
I know that I am innocent.
¹⁹ Who can make a case against me?
If anyone can, I will be quiet and die.

²⁰ Just do two things for me, God.
If you do, I will not hide from your face.
²¹ Take your hands off me,
and do not terrify me with your grandeur.^[u]
22 Summon me, and I will answer.
Or, I will speak, and you can respond to me.
²³ How much guilt and how many sins do I have?
Reveal my rebellion and my sin to me.
²⁴ Why do you hide your face?
Why do you treat me like your enemy?
²⁵ Will you toss me around^[v] like a wind-blown leaf?
Will you chase me away like dry chaff?
²⁶ You write bitter accusations against me,
and you hold me accountable for the guilt of my youth.
²⁷ You lock my feet in stocks
and station guards along all my paths.
You put your brand on the soles of my feet.

²⁸ So a man rots away like a garment eaten by moths.

14 Man born of woman has a few short days,
and they are full of anxiety.
² He blossoms like a flower, but soon withers.
He recedes like a shadow and does not remain.
³ You keep your eye on such a man.
You bring me^[w] into judgment in your presence.
⁴ Who can produce something pure from something that is impure?
No one.
⁵ Certainly his days are determined.
The number of his months has been set by you.
A limit is set, which he cannot exceed.
⁶ Turn your gaze away from him, and let him be,
until he finishes his day’s work as a hired man.

⁷ There is still hope for a tree if it is cut down.
It may grow up again and produce new shoots.
⁸ Though its roots lie dormant in the earth,
and its stump is dying in the dust,
⁹ with just a whiff of water, it shoots up again.
As a growing plant, it again sends out branches.
¹⁰ But if a man dies, he shrivels away.
When a person breathes his last, where is he?
¹¹ Waters evaporate from the sea.
A river dries up and becomes dust.
¹² In the same way, a man lies down and does not rise again.
Until the heavens pass away, he does not awaken,
and he is not aroused from his sleep.

¹³ Oh how I wish you would hide me in the grave,
that you would conceal me until your wrath has passed by,
that you would set an appointed time for me,
and then you would remember me.
¹⁴ If a man dies, will he live again?
Through all the days of my warfare,^[x]
I will wait, until change comes about for me.
¹⁵ You will call, and I myself will answer.
Then you will long for the work of your hands.

¹⁶ Now you count my steps,
but then you will no longer keep track of my sin.
¹⁷ My rebellious deeds will be sealed up in a bag,
and you will plaster over my guilt.

¹⁸ But as a mountain crumbles and falls,
and as a rock is moved from its place,
¹⁹ as water wears away stones,
and floodwaters wash away soil from the land,
so you destroy a man’s hope.
²⁰ You overpower him once and for all, and he passes away.
You change his appearance and send him away.
²¹ His sons are honored, but he is not aware of it.
They are brought low, but he does not realize it.
²² He feels the pain only of his own flesh,
and in his soul grieves only for himself.

² Does a wise man answer with windy bluster?
Does he fill his belly with the hot east wind?
³ Does he support his arguments with useless talk,
with words that provide no benefit?

⁴ But you even tear down reverence.
You hinder thoughtful reflection in the presence of God.
⁵ Your guilt instructs your mouth.
You choose deceptive language.
⁶ Your own mouth condemns you, not mine.
Your own lips testify against you.
⁷ Were you the first man to be born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
⁸ Do you listen in on the council meetings of God?
Do you lay claim to all wisdom for yourself?
⁹ What do you know that we do not know as well?
What do you understand that we do not?
¹⁰ The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
men older than your father.
¹¹ Are the consolations of God too small for you?
Do you think nothing of the gentle words spoken to you?
¹² Why does your heart carry you away?
Why do your eyes flash with such anger?
¹³ Why do you turn your spirit against God?
Why do you allow such words to pour out of your mouth?

¹⁴ What is man, that he could be pure,
or one born of woman, that he could be declared righteous?
¹⁵ If God does not trust in his holy ones,
and even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
¹⁶ how much less man who is repulsive and corrupt,
who drinks down injustice like water!
¹⁷ Let me instruct you! Listen to me!
This is what I have seen. Let me tell you about it.
¹⁸ This is what wise men have declared,
wise men who hid nothing of what they had received from their fathers,
¹⁹     to whom alone the land was given,
        at a time when no foreigners were present in their midst.
²⁰ Through all his days, a wicked man writhes in pain,
throughout the whole number of years stored up for a tyrant.
²¹ Terrifying sounds echo in his ears.
In peacetime the plunderer arrives.
²² The wicked man does not believe that he will return from darkness.
He is sentenced to the sword.
²³ He wanders around looking for food and asks, “Where is it?”^[y]
He knows that a day of darkness is at hand.
²⁴ Pressure and distress terrify him.
They overpower him, like a king ready to attack,
²⁵ because he has stretched out his hand against God,
and he has been arrogant toward the Almighty.
²⁶ He charges at him defiantly^[z] with a thick shield.
²⁷ Though now his face is covered with its fat,
and his hips bulge with lard,
²⁸ he will live in ruined cities,
in abandoned houses, reduced to rubble.
²⁹ He will no longer be rich.
His wealth will not last.
His possessions will no longer cover the ground.
³⁰ He will not escape from darkness.
Flames will dry up his shoots.
With a breath from God’s mouth, he will depart.
³¹ He should not trust in useless things.
He should not fool himself.
His only reward will be useless things.
³² Before his time, he will be paid in full.
His palm branches will not be green.
³³ His grapes will be shaken from the vine before they are ripe.
He will be like an olive tree that loses its blossoms.
³⁴ In the end, the community of the godless produces nothing,
and fire consumes the tents of those who take bribes.
³⁵ They conceive trouble and give birth to disaster.
Their womb produces treachery.

² I have heard many things just like these.
You are miserable comforters, all of you!
³ Is there any end to your windy words?
What provokes you to respond like this?

⁴ I also could speak just like you,
if your lives were in the same condition that my life is.
I could weave fancy words against you
and shake my head at you.
⁵ But instead, I would build you up with the words from my mouth,
and comforting words from my lips would ease your pain.
⁶ Now if I speak up, it does not lessen my pain,
and if I hold back, how much of my pain goes away?

⁷ Surely, he^[aa] has worn me out!
You have devastated everyone close to me.
⁸ You have made me shrivel up,^[ab]
and this testifies against me.
My emaciated body stands up
and is a witness against me.
⁹ His anger has torn me.
He has been hostile to me.
He has gnashed his teeth at me.
My opponent glares at me with piercing eyes.
¹⁰ People have opened their mouths wide against me.
They have slapped my face with contempt.
They have ganged up on me.
¹¹ God hands me over to evil people.^[ac]
He throws me into the hands of the wicked.
¹² When I was at ease, he shattered me.^[ad]
He seized me by the neck and has ripped me to pieces.
He has set me up as his target.
¹³ His archers surround me.
He pierces my kidneys and has no pity.
He pours out my bile on the earth.
¹⁴ He breaks down my walls in many places.
He runs against me like a warrior.
¹⁵ I have stitched sackcloth to my skin.
My horn^[ae] is stuck in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is red from my weeping.
There are dark circles under my eyes,
¹⁷ even though there is no violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.
¹⁸ O earth, do not cover my blood.
Let my cry never find a place to rest.
¹⁹ Even now, my witness is in heaven.
My advocate is on high.
²⁰ My intercessor is my friend.
My eyes never stop weeping to God.
²¹ My intercessor pleads with God for a man,
as another human pleads for his friend.
²² A few more years will come.
Then I will go the way of no return.

17 My spirit is broken.
My days are snuffed out.
The tomb is waiting for me.
² Surely mockery closes in on me.
My eyes must live with my enemies’ bitter contempt.

³ Please pay for me the deposit that you require from me.
Indeed, who else could guarantee this payment for me?

⁴ You have hidden understanding from their hearts.
Therefore, you will not let them win.
⁵ If someone denounces friends for a payoff,
his children’s eyes will fail.

⁶ He has made me a laughingstock among the people.
They spit in my face.
⁷ My vision is blurry from grief.
I am just a shadow of myself.
⁸ The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent are aroused against the godless.
⁹ In spite of it all, the righteous hold tight to their ways,
and everyone with clean hands grows stronger.

¹⁰ All right then—all of you, please come and try again,
but I will not find a wise man among you.
¹¹ My days have passed.
All the things I planned to do are ripped apart,
including the deepest desires of my heart.

¹² They turn night into day.
In the face of darkness, they claim light is near.

¹³ If I wait hopefully for the grave to become my house,
if I spread out my bed in the darkness,
¹⁴ if I cry out to the pit, “You are my father,”
and to the worm, “My mother” or “My sister,”
¹⁵ where then is my hope?
Who can find any hope for me?
¹⁶ Will it go down with me to the barred gates of the grave?
Will we rest in the dust together?

² How much longer are all of you going to keep hunting for words?^[af]
Come to your senses! Then we can talk.
³ Why are we considered to be like cattle?
Why are we regarded as unreasoning animals in your eyes?

⁴ You, who tear yourself to pieces with your anger,
do you expect the earth to be made desolate for your sake?
Should rocks be moved from their place for you?

⁵ The light of the wicked has been extinguished,
and not a spark of his flame still shines.
⁶ In his tent, light becomes darkness
when the lamp beside him goes out.
⁷ His powerful strides are tangled up,
and his own plans bring him down.
⁸ Yes, his feet are caught in a net,
and he stumbles into its webbing.
⁹ A trap snaps at his heel,
and a snare catches him firmly.
¹⁰ A noose lies hidden on the ground for him.
A trap is set on his path.
¹¹ Terrors frighten him on every side.
They harass him at every step.
¹² His strength is eaten away by hunger,^[ag]
and disaster is waiting for him to stumble.
¹³ It eats away pieces of his skin.
Death’s firstborn child eats away pieces of him.
¹⁴ He is torn away from the safety of his tent.
He is marched off to the king of terrors.
¹⁵ Nothing that belonged to him remains in his tent.^[ah]
Sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.
¹⁶ His roots dry up below,
and his branches wither above.
¹⁷ All memory of him perishes from the earth.
No one on the street remembers his name.
¹⁸ He is pushed away from the light into the darkness.
He is chased out of the world.
¹⁹ He has no posterity or descendants among his people.
He leaves no survivor in his place, where he lived as an alien.
²⁰ People in the west shudder at his fate.
People in the east are overcome with horror.
²¹ Certainly this is the dwelling place for an evil man.
This is the place for one who does not acknowledge God.

² How long will you torment my soul?
How long will you crush me with words?
³ Ten times now you have insulted me,
but you are not ashamed that you are treating me so badly.
⁴ But even if I actually were in the wrong,
my error would remain my own concern.
⁵ To be sure, when you lord it over me,
and you hurl my disgrace against me,
⁶ you should know that God has denied me justice,
and he has trapped me in his net.
⁷ Listen to me!
I cry out, “Injustice,” but I get no answer.
I call for help, but there is no justice.
⁸ He has blocked my way, so I cannot get by.
He has brought darkness on my paths.
⁹ He has stripped me of my honor,
and he has taken the crown off my head.
¹⁰ He tears me down on every side, until I am gone.
He uproots my hope like a tree.
¹¹ His anger burns against me,
and he regards me as his enemy.
¹² Together his troops advance against me.
They build a siege ramp against me.
They camp all around my tent.
¹³ He has distanced my brothers far from me,
and those who know me treat me like a stranger.
¹⁴ My relatives stay away.
Even my close friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ Even my houseguests and my female servants treat me like a stranger.
They look upon me as a foreigner.
¹⁶ I summon my servant, but he does not answer,
even though I beg him to be gracious to me.
¹⁷ My breath keeps my wife away from me,
and I am repulsive to my mother’s children.
¹⁸ Even young boys reject me.
When I get up, they speak against me.
¹⁹ My closest confidants shun me,
and those I love have turned against me.
²⁰ I am nothing but skin and bones.
I have escaped with the skin of my teeth.
²¹ Have mercy on me.
Have mercy on me, you friends of mine,
because the hand of God has struck me.
²² Why do you pursue me the way God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?
²³ Oh how I wish that my words were written down.
Oh how I wish that they were inscribed in bronze,^[ai]
24 that they would be engraved in rock forever
with an iron tool and letters filled with lead.
²⁵ As for me, I know that my Redeemer^[aj] lives,
and that at the end of time^[ak] he will stand over the dust.
²⁶ Then, even after my skin has been destroyed,
nevertheless, in my own flesh I will see God.^[al]
27 I myself will see him.
My own eyes will see him, and not as a stranger.
My emotions are in turmoil^[am] within me.

²⁸ If you say, “What can we do to pursue him?”
and “He is the root of his own problems,”
²⁹ then you should fear the edge of the sword for yourselves!
For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
so that you will know that there is judgment.

² This is why my troubled thoughts make me respond again,
and why my thoughts are racing through my mind:
³ I heard a rebuke that insults me,
so my spirit prompts me to respond with understanding.

⁴ Don’t you know this?
From ancient times,
from the time when Adam^[an] was placed on the earth,
⁵ the triumphant cry of the wicked has been short-lived,
and the joy of the godless lasts only a moment.
⁶ Although his arrogance reaches up to the skies,
and his head touches the clouds,
⁷ he will perish forever like his own filth.
Those who saw him will say, “Where is he?”
⁸ Like a dream, he flies away, and he cannot be found.
Like a vision during the night, he flutters away.
⁹ An eye catches sight of him, but it does not see him again.
His place will no longer look at him.
¹⁰ His children must make restitution to^[ao] the poor.
His hands must give back his wealth.
¹¹ His bones were once filled with youthful vigor,
but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust.
¹² If evil tastes sweet in his mouth,
and he tucks it under his tongue,
¹³ if he hoards it for himself,
and he does not let it go,
but savors it on his palate,
¹⁴ his food will turn into cobra venom in his stomach.
¹⁵ He swallowed wealth, but he vomits it up.
God makes him expel it from his belly.
¹⁶ He sucks the poison of cobras.
The fangs of a viper kill him.
¹⁷ He will not see the streams,
the rivers that flow with honey and cream.
¹⁸ Without digesting it, he gives up the produce for which he labored.
He does not enjoy the wealth for which he traded,
¹⁹ because he has crushed and abandoned the poor,
and he has stolen a house he did not build.
²⁰ His stomach is never filled.
He cannot satisfy his desires,
²¹ because now there is nothing left for him to eat,
so his prosperity will not endure.
²² Even when he has plenty,
distress catches up with him,
and misery grabs hold of him.
²³ While he is filling his belly,
God will send burning anger upon him,
and it will rain down on his body.^[ap]
24 He flees from iron weapons,
but he is pierced by a bronze arrow.
²⁵ He pulls the arrow out of his back,
and the shiny point comes out of his liver.
Terrors come over him.
²⁶ Complete darkness is lying in wait for his hidden treasures.
A fire that needs no fanning will consume him.
It will destroy anything that survives in his tent.
²⁷ The heavens will uncover his guilt,
and the earth will rise up against him.
²⁸ A flood will carry away his house,
sweeping away his possessions on the day of God’s wrath.
²⁹ This is God’s sentence on the evil man.
This is his heritage decreed by God.

² Listen carefully to my words—
that is the kind of encouragement you should give me.
³ Put up with me while I speak.
Then, after I have spoken, you may resume your mocking.

⁴ Is my complaint against a man?
Why shouldn’t I be impatient?
⁵ Look at me and be shocked,^[aq]
and then put your hand over your mouth.
⁶ When I remember all this, I am terrified,^[ar]
and horror makes my flesh tremble.
⁷ Why do the wicked keep living,
reach old age,
and even become stronger?
⁸ Their descendants are firmly established in their presence,
and they live long enough to see their offspring.
⁹ Their houses are safe from fear,
and God’s rod does not strike them.
¹⁰ The wicked man’s bulls breed without failing.
His cows deliver calves without miscarrying.
¹¹ Their toddlers frolic like flocks,
and their children dance around.
¹² They sing to the accompaniment of hand drums and lyres.
They celebrate to the sound of a flute.
¹³ They finish out^[as] their days in prosperity.
Then they go down to the grave in a moment.
¹⁴ They say to God, “Keep away from us.
We know your ways, but we find no pleasure in them.”
¹⁵ “Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him,
and what benefit do we gain from pleading with him?”
¹⁶ But I know that their prosperity is not in their own hands,
so I have distanced myself from the way of life^[at] of the wicked.

¹⁷ How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?
How often does the disaster they deserve come upon them?
How often does God in his anger dole out their fair share of pain?
¹⁸ How often are they like straw blown by the wind,
like chaff that a windstorm whisks away?

¹⁹ People say, “God stores up a man’s punishment for his children,”
but he should repay the man himself so that he experiences it!
²⁰ Let his own eyes see his condemnation.^[au]
Let him drink from the rage of the Almighty,
²¹ for what does he care about his household after his death,
when his allotment of months has run out?

²² Can anyone teach God knowledge,
since he judges even the most exalted ones?

²³ One person dies with vigor in his bones,
completely secure and at ease.
²⁴ His body is filled out with fat,^[av]
and his bones are rich with marrow.
²⁵ Another person dies with his soul filled with bitterness,
without ever tasting anything good.
²⁶ Both of them lie down together in the dust,
and worms cover them both.

²⁷ Oh, I know your thoughts
and your schemes to harm me.
²⁸ For you say, “Where is the nobleman’s house,
and where is the tent, which was the dwelling of the wicked?”

²⁹ Why don’t you question those who travel the roads?
Why don’t you acknowledge the lessons they learned?^[aw]
30 They say that the wicked man is spared from the day of disaster,
and that he escapes the day of raging fury.
³¹ Who denounces him to his face for the way he has lived?
Who repays him for what he has done?
³² When he is carried to the tombs,
when a vigil is kept at his burial mound,
³³ the clods of dirt from the streambed are sweet to him.
Everyone follows his funeral procession.
A crowd of people marches ahead of it.^[ax]

³⁴ So how can you comfort me with your useless words?
There is nothing left from your answers but fraud!

² Can a man benefit God?
Can even a wise man be of any use to him?
³ Should the Almighty be delighted if you are righteous?
Does he gain any advantage if your ways are blameless?
⁴ Is it because of your reverence that he rebukes you
and comes against you in judgment?
⁵ Isn’t your wickedness great?
Isn’t your guilt endless?
⁶ You have seized collateral from your brothers without cause,
and you have stripped off clothing from the naked.
⁷ You have not given water to the weary,
and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

⁸ The earth belongs to a forceful man,
and a well-respected man dwells in it.^[ay]

⁹ You send widows away empty-handed.
You crush the arms of the fatherless.
¹⁰ That is why snares are all around you,
and sudden fear overwhelms you.
¹¹ That is why you cannot see in the darkness,
and floodwaters cover you.

¹² Is not God in the heights of heaven?
Look at^[az] the highest stars, so high above!
¹³ But you say, “What does God know?
Can he judge through the thick darkness?
¹⁴ Dark clouds are a veil around him,
so he does not see us
as he walks back and forth in heaven’s dome.”

¹⁵ Are you the guardian of the ancient way,
    the one traveled by wicked men?
¹⁶ They were snatched away before their time.^[ba]
Their foundation was washed away by a river.
¹⁷ They said to God, “Keep away from us,”
and “What can the Almighty do to us?”^[bb]
18 even though he had filled their houses with good.
That is why the way of life of the wicked is far from me.
¹⁹ The righteous see this and are glad.
The innocent mock them, saying,
²⁰ “Surely our adversaries have been erased!
Fire has eaten up their abundance.”

²¹ Be reconciled with God.
Be at peace with him.
Then good will come to you.
²² Accept teaching from his mouth,
and set his words in your heart.
²³ If you turn to the Almighty, you will be built up.
If you want to put injustice far from your tent,
²⁴ throw your purest gold^[bc] into the dust
and your gold from Ophir upon the rocks in the ravines.
²⁵ Then the Almighty will be your purest gold
and your most precious silver.
²⁶ Then you will find pleasure in the Almighty,
and you will lift up your face to God.
²⁷ You will pray to God, and he will hear you,
and you will fulfill your vows.
²⁸ You will decide on a matter, and it will be done for you,
and light will shine on your ways.
²⁹ When people are brought low,
and you say, “Lift them up,”
God will save the downcast.
³⁰ He will deliver even the person who is not innocent,
who will escape by the purity of your hands.

² Even today my complaint is bitter.^[bd]
His^[be] hand weighs heavily on me despite my groaning.^[bf]
3 I wish I knew where I could find him,
so that I could come to his place for judgment.
⁴ Then I would lay out my case before him,
and I would fill my mouth with arguments.
⁵ I would know what words he would use to respond to me,
and I would consider what he would say to me.
⁶ Would he use his great power to press charges against me?
No, he will certainly give me a hearing.
⁷ There, an upright man could argue with him,
and I would be delivered from my judge forever.
⁸ But if I walk to the east, he is not there.
If I go back to the west, I find no sign of him.
⁹ When he is at work in the north, I do not detect him.
When he turns to the south, I do not see him.
¹⁰ But I am sure he knows the way I take.
When he has tested me, I will come out like gold.
¹¹ My feet have followed his footsteps closely.
I have kept to his way, and I have not turned aside.
¹² I have not departed from the command from his lips.
I have treasured the sayings from his mouth in my heart.^[bg]

¹³ He stands alone.
Who can make him change?
Whatever his soul desires, he will do.
¹⁴ He carries out his decrees against me,
and he has so many of them!
¹⁵ That is why I am in a panic in his presence.
When I think about this, I dread him.
¹⁶ God has made me lose heart.
The Almighty has terrified me.
¹⁷ Nevertheless, I am not silenced by the darkness,
by the dark cloud that covers my face.

24 Why are appointments never scheduled by the Almighty?
Why do those who know him never see such days?
² People move boundary stones.
They steal a flock and take it to pasture.
³ They drive away donkeys that belong to the fatherless.
They seize the widow’s ox as collateral.
⁴ They shove the poor out of the way.
The oppressed people of the land hide together.
⁵ They go out to their labor, like wild donkeys in the wilderness,
    looking for food.
The wasteland is their only source of food for themselves
    and their children.
⁶ They gather their straw in the open countryside.
They glean leftovers in the vineyard of the wicked.
⁷ They spend the night naked, without clothing.
They have no covering from the cold.
⁸ They are soaked by heavy rain from the mountains.
They cling to a cliff for shelter.

⁹ The wicked tear away a fatherless child from its mother’s breast.
They take a poor mother’s nursing baby as collateral.

¹⁰ The poor walk around naked, without clothing.
They pick up sheaves but are still hungry.
¹¹ They press olive oil among the terraces of olive trees.
They tread winepresses, but they remain thirsty.
¹² The dying people^[bh] of the city groan,
and wounded souls cry out for help,
but God does not bring charges against anyone.

¹³ There are people who rebel against the light.
They do not acknowledge its ways or dwell in its paths.
¹⁴ At the end of the daylight^[bi] a murderer arises,
and he kills the poor and needy.
At night he acts as a thief.
¹⁵ The eye of an adulterer keeps watch for twilight.
He says, “No eye can get a good look at me.”
He wears a mask over his face.
¹⁶ In the dark of night he digs into houses.
By day such people hide inside.
They keep away from the light.
¹⁷ For all of them, morning is their darkness.^[bj]
They are familiar with the sudden terror of darkness.
¹⁸ They float by like foam on the surface of the water.
Their portion of the land is cursed,
so no one turns onto the road to their vineyards.
¹⁹ As drought and heat snatch away the water from the snow,
the grave snatches away a sinner.
²⁰ The womb forgets him.
A worm finds him sweet.
He will no longer be remembered.
Wickedness is broken like a tree.

²¹ He feeds on^[bk] the childless woman,
and he does nothing good for the widow.

²² But God drags away the mighty by his strength.
He rises up, so the wicked have no confidence in their lives.
²³ God lets them be secure, and they prop themselves up,
but God’s eyes are on their ways.
²⁴ They are high and mighty for a little while,
but then they are gone.
They are brought low like all the rest.
They are gathered together, like ears of grain that have been cut off.

²⁵ So then, who can make me out to be a liar?
Who can reduce my words to nothing?