5  “Call now; is there anyone who will answer you?

To which of ^vthe holy ones will you turn?

2  Surely vexation kills the fool,

and jealousy slays the simple.

3  ^wI have seen the fool taking root,

but suddenly I cursed his dwelling.

4  His children are ^xfar from safety;

they are crushed in ^ythe gate,

and there is no one to deliver them.

5  The hungry eat his harvest,

and he takes it even out of thorns,¹

and the thirsty pant² after his³ wealth.

6  For affliction does not come from the dust,

nor does trouble sprout from the ground,

7  but man is ^zborn to trouble

as the sparks fly upward.

8  “As for me, I would seek God,

and to God would I commit my cause,

9  who ^adoes great things and ^bunsearchable,

^cmarvelous things without number:

10  he gives ^drain on the earth

and sends waters on the fields;

11  he ^esets on high those who are lowly,

and those who mourn are lifted to safety.

12  He ^ffrustrates the devices of the crafty,

so that their hands achieve no success.

13  He ^gcatches the wise in their own craftiness,

and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.

14  They meet with darkness in the daytime

and ^hgrope at noonday as in the night.

15  But he ⁱsaves the needy from the sword of their mouth

and from the hand of the mighty.

16  So the poor have hope,

and ^jinjustice shuts her mouth.

17  “Behold, ^kblessed is the one whom God reproves;

therefore ^ldespise not the discipline of the ^mAlmighty.

18  For he wounds, but he ⁿbinds up;

he ^oshatters, but his hands heal.

19  He will ^pdeliver you from six troubles;

in seven no ^qevil⁴ shall touch you.

20  ^rIn famine he will redeem you from death,

and in war from the power of the sword.

21  You shall be ^shidden from the lash of the tongue,

and shall not fear destruction when it comes.

22  At destruction and famine you shall laugh,

and shall not fear ^tthe beasts of the earth.

23  For you shall be in league with the stones of the field,

and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.

24  You shall know that your ^utent is at peace,

and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.

25  You shall know also that your ^voffspring shall be many,

and your descendants as ^wthe grass of the earth.

26  You shall come to your grave in ^xripe old age,

like a sheaf gathered up in its season.

27  Behold, this we have ^ysearched out; it is true.

Hear, and know it for your good.”⁵

2  “Oh that my vexation were weighed,

and all my calamity laid in the balances!

3  For then it would be heavier than ^zthe sand of the sea;

therefore my words have been rash.

4  For ^athe arrows of the Almighty are in me;

my spirit drinks their poison;

the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

5  Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass,

or the ox low over his fodder?

6  Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt,

or is there any taste in the juice of the mallow?¹

7  My appetite refuses to touch them;

they are as food that is loathsome to me.²

8  “Oh that I might have my request,

and that God would fulfill my hope,

9  that it would ^bplease God to crush me,

that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!

10  This would be my comfort;

I would even exult³ in pain ^cunsparing,

for I have not denied the words of ^dthe Holy One.

11  What is my strength, that I should wait?

And what is my end, that I should be patient?

12  Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze?

13  Have I any help in me,

when resource is driven from me?

14  “He who ^ewithholds⁴ kindness from a ^ffriend

forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

15  My ^gbrothers are ^htreacherous as a torrent-bed,

as torrential ⁱstreams that pass away,

16  which are dark with ice,

and where the snow hides itself.

17  When they melt, they disappear;

when it is hot, they vanish from their place.

18  The caravans turn aside from their course;

they go up into ^jthe waste and perish.

19  The caravans of ^kTema look,

the travelers of ^lSheba hope.

20  They are ^mashamed because they were confident;

they come there and are ^mdisappointed.

21  For you have now become nothing;

you see my calamity and are afraid.

22  Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’?

Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’?

23  Or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand’?

Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of ⁿthe ruthless’?

24  “Teach me, and I will be silent;

make me understand how I have gone astray.

25  How forceful are upright words!

But what does reproof from you reprove?

26  Do you think that you can reprove words,

when the speech of a despairing man is ^owind?

27  You would even ^pcast lots over the fatherless,

and bargain over your friend.

28  “But now, be pleased to look at me,

for I will not lie to your face.

29  ^qPlease turn; let no injustice be done.

Turn now; my vindication is at stake.

30  Is there any injustice on my tongue?

Cannot my palate discern the cause of calamity?

7  “Has not man ^ra hard service on earth,

and are not his ^sdays like the days of a hired hand?

2  Like a slave who longs for ^tthe shadow,

and like ^ua hired hand who looks for his ^vwages,

3  so I am allotted months of ^wemptiness,

^xand nights of misery are apportioned to me.

4  ^yWhen I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’

But the night is long,

and I am full of tossing till the dawn.

5  My flesh is clothed with ^zworms and ^adirt;

my skin hardens, then ^bbreaks out afresh.

6  My days are ^cswifter than ^da weaver’s shuttle

and come to their end without hope.

7  “Remember that my life is a ^ebreath;

my eye will never again see good.

8  ^fThe eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;

while your eyes are on me, ^gI shall be gone.

9  As ^hthe cloud fades and vanishes,

so he who ⁱgoes down to Sheol does not come up;

10  he ^jreturns no more to his house,

nor does his ^kplace know him anymore.

11  “Therefore I will not ^lrestrain my mouth;

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;

I will ^mcomplain in ⁿthe bitterness of my soul.

12  Am I the sea, or ^oa sea monster,

that you set a guard over me?

13  ^pWhen I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,

my couch will ease my complaint,’

14  then you scare me with dreams

and terrify me with visions,

15  so that I would choose strangling

and death rather than my ^qbones.

16  I ^rloathe my life; I would not live forever.

^sLeave me alone, for my days are ^ta breath.

17  ^uWhat is man, that you make so much of him,

and that you set your heart on him,

18  ^vvisit him every morning

and ^wtest him every moment?

19  How long will you not ^xlook away from me,

nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?

20  If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?

Why have you made me ^yyour mark?

Why have I become a burden to you?

21  Why do you not pardon my transgression

and take away my iniquity?

For now I shall lie in ^zthe earth;

you will ^aseek me, ^bbut I shall not be.”

2  “How long will you say these things,

and the words of your mouth be a ^dgreat wind?

3  ^eDoes God pervert justice?

Or does the Almighty pervert the right?

4  If your ^fchildren have sinned against him,

he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.

5  If you will seek God

and ^gplead with the Almighty for mercy,

6  if you are pure and upright,

surely then he will ^hrouse himself for you

and ⁱrestore your rightful habitation.

7  And though your beginning was small,

^jyour latter days will be very great.

8  “For ^kinquire, please, of bygone ages,

and consider what ^lthe fathers have searched out.

9  For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,

for our days on earth are ^ma shadow.

10  Will they not teach you and tell you

and utter words out of their understanding?

11  “Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?

Can reeds flourish where there is no water?

12  While yet in flower and not cut down,

they ⁿwither before any other plant.

13  Such are the paths of all who ^oforget God;

^pthe hope of ^qthe godless shall perish.

14  His confidence is severed,

and his trust is ^ra spider’s web.¹

15  He leans against his ^shouse, but it does not stand;

he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.

16  He is a lush plant before the sun,

and his ^tshoots spread over his garden.

17  His roots entwine the stone heap;

he looks upon a house of stones.

18  If he is destroyed from his ^uplace,

then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never ^vseen you.’

19  Behold, this is the joy of his way,

and out of ^wthe soil others will spring.

20  “Behold, God will not reject a blameless man,

nor take the hand of evildoers.

21  He will yet ^xfill your mouth with laughter,

and your lips with shouting.

22  Those who hate you will be ^yclothed with shame,

and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

2  “Truly I know that it is so:

But how can a man be ^zin the right before God?

3  If one wished to ^acontend with him,

one could not answer him once in a thousand times.

4  He is ^bwise in heart and mighty in strength

—who has ^chardened himself against him, and succeeded?—

5  he who removes mountains, and they know it not,

when he overturns them in his anger,

6  who ^dshakes the earth out of its place,

and ^eits pillars tremble;

7  who commands the sun, and it does not rise;

who seals up the stars;

8  who alone ^fstretched out the heavens

and trampled the waves of the sea;

9  who ^gmade ^hthe Bear and ⁱOrion,

the Pleiades ^jand the chambers of the south;

10  who does ^kgreat things beyond searching out,

and marvelous things beyond number.

11  Behold, he passes by me, and I ^lsee him not;

he moves on, but I do not perceive him.

12  Behold, he snatches away; ^mwho can turn him back?

ⁿWho will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

13  “God will not turn back his anger;

beneath him bowed the helpers of ^oRahab.

14  ^pHow then can I ^qanswer him,

choosing my words with him?

15  ^rThough I am in the right, I cannot answer him;

I must ^sappeal for mercy to my accuser.¹

16  If I summoned him and he answered me,

I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.

17  For he crushes me with a tempest

and multiplies my wounds ^twithout cause;

18  he will not let me get my breath,

but fills me with bitterness.

19  If it is a contest of ^ustrength, behold, he is mighty!

If it is a matter of justice, who can ^vsummon him?²

20  Though I am in the right, ^wmy own mouth would condemn me;

though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.

21  I am ^xblameless; I regard not myself;

I ^yloathe my life.

22  It is all one; therefore I say,

‘He ^zdestroys both the blameless and the wicked.’

23  When ^adisaster brings sudden death,

he mocks at the calamity³ of the innocent.

24  ^bThe earth is given into the hand of the wicked;

he ^ccovers the faces of its judges—

^dif it is not he, who then is it?

25  “My ^edays are swifter than ^fa runner;

they flee away; they see no good.

26  They go by like ^gskiffs of reed,

like ^han eagle swooping on the prey.

27  If I say, ⁱ‘I will forget my complaint,

I will put off my sad face, and ^jbe of good cheer,’

28  I become ^kafraid of all my suffering,

for I know you will not ^lhold me innocent.

29  I shall be ^mcondemned;

why then do I labor in vain?

30  If I wash myself with snow

and ⁿcleanse my hands with lye,

31  yet you will plunge me into a pit,

and my own clothes will ^oabhor me.

32  For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,

that we should ^pcome to trial together.

33  ^qThere is no⁴ arbiter between us,

who might lay his hand on us both.

34  ^rLet him take his ^srod away from me,

and let ^tnot dread of him terrify me.

35  Then I would speak without fear of him,

for I am not so in myself.