2  “Should ^ea multitude of words go unanswered,

and a man full of talk be judged right?

3  Should your babble silence men,

and when you mock, shall no one shame you?

4  For ^fyou say, ‘My ^gdoctrine is pure,

and I am clean in God’s¹ eyes.’

5  But oh, that God would speak

and open his lips to you,

6  and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!

For he is manifold in ^hunderstanding.²

Know then that God ⁱexacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

7  ^j“Can you find out the deep things of God?

Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?

8  It is ^khigher than heaven³—what can you do?

Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

9  Its measure is longer than the earth

and broader than the sea.

10  If he ^lpasses through and ^mimprisons

and summons the court, who can ⁿturn him back?

11  For he knows ^oworthless men;

when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?

12  But a stupid man will get understanding

when ^pa wild donkey’s colt is ^qborn a man!

13  “If you ^rprepare your heart,

you will ^sstretch out your hands toward him.

14  If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,

and let not injustice dwell in your tents.

15  Surely then you will ^tlift up your face without ^ublemish;

you will be secure and will not fear.

16  You will ^vforget your misery;

you will remember it as waters that have passed away.

17  And your life will be ^wbrighter than the noonday;

its darkness will be like the morning.

18  And you will feel secure, because there is hope;

you will look around and ^xtake your rest in security.

19  You will ^xlie down, and none will make you afraid;

many will ^ycourt your favor.

20  But ^zthe eyes of the wicked will fail;

all way of escape will be lost to them,

and their hope is ^ato breathe their last.”

2  “No doubt you are the people,

and wisdom will die with you.

3  But I have ^bunderstanding as well as you;

I am not inferior to you.

Who does not know ^csuch things as these?

4  I am ^da laughingstock to my friends;

I, who ^ecalled to God and he answered me,

a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.

5  In the thought of one who is ^fat ease there is contempt for misfortune;

it is ready for those whose feet slip.

6  ^gThe tents of robbers are at peace,

and those who provoke God are secure,

who bring their god in their hand.¹

7  “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;

the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;

8  or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;²

and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

9  Who among all these does not know

that ^hthe hand of the Lord has done this?

10  In ⁱhis hand is the life of every living thing

and the breath of all mankind.

11  Does not ^jthe ear test words

as the palate tastes food?

12  Wisdom is with ^kthe aged,

and understanding in length of days.

13  ^l“With God³ are wisdom and might;

he has counsel and understanding.

14  If he tears down, none can rebuild;

if he ^mshuts a man in, none can open.

15  If he ⁿwithholds the waters, they dry up;

if he ^osends them out, they overwhelm the land.

16  With him are strength and ^psound wisdom;

the deceived and the deceiver are his.

17  He leads ^qcounselors away stripped,

and ^rjudges he makes fools.

18  He ^slooses the bonds of kings

and binds a waistcloth on their hips.

19  He leads priests away stripped

and overthrows the mighty.

20  He deprives of speech those who are trusted

^tand takes away the discernment of the elders.

21  He ^upours contempt on princes

and loosens the belt of the strong.

22  He ^vuncovers the deeps out of darkness

and brings ^wdeep darkness to light.

23  He ^xmakes nations great, and he destroys them;

he enlarges nations, and ^yleads them away.

24  He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth

and ^zmakes them wander in a trackless waste.

25  They ^agrope in the dark without light,

and he makes them ^bstagger like a drunken man.

13  “Behold, my eye has seen all this,

my ear has heard and understood it.

2  ^cWhat you know, I also know;

I am not inferior to you.

3  ^dBut I would speak to the Almighty,

and I desire to ^eargue my case with God.

4  As for you, ^fyou whitewash with lies;

^gworthless physicians are you all.

5  Oh that you would ^hkeep silent,

and it would be your wisdom!

6  Hear now my argument

and listen to the pleadings of my lips.

7  Will you ⁱspeak falsely for God

and speak ⁱdeceitfully for him?

8  Will you show partiality toward him?

Will you ^jplead the case for God?

9  Will it be well with you when he ^ksearches you out?

Or ^lcan you deceive him, as one deceives a man?

10  He will surely rebuke you

if in secret you show partiality.

11  Will not his ^mmajesty terrify you,

and the dread of him fall upon you?

12  Your maxims are proverbs of ⁿashes;

your defenses are defenses of clay.

13  “Let me have silence, and I will speak,

and let come on me what may.

14  Why should I take my flesh in my teeth

and ^oput my life in my hand?

15  ^pThough he slay me, I will ^qhope in him;¹

yet I will ^rargue my ways to his face.

16  This will be my salvation,

that the godless shall not come before him.

17  ^sKeep listening to my words,

and let my declaration be in your ears.

18  Behold, I have ^tprepared my case;

I know that I shall be in the right.

19  ^uWho is there who will contend with me?

For then I would be silent and die.

20  Only grant me two things,

then I will not ^vhide myself from your face:

21  ^wwithdraw your hand far from me,

and let not ^xdread of you terrify me.

22  ^yThen call, and I will answer;

or let me speak, and you reply to me.

23  How many are my iniquities and my sins?

^zMake me know my transgression and my sin.

24  Why ^ado you hide your face

and ^bcount me as your enemy?

25  Will you frighten ^ca driven leaf

and pursue dry ^dchaff?

26  For you ^ewrite bitter things against me

and make me inherit ^fthe iniquities of my youth.

27  You put my feet in ^gthe stocks

and ^hwatch all my paths;

you set a limit for² the soles of my feet.

28  Man³ wastes away like ⁱa rotten thing,

like a garment that is ^jmoth-eaten.

14  “Man who is ^kborn of a woman

is ^lfew of days and ^mfull of trouble.

2  He comes out like ⁿa flower and ^owithers;

he flees like ^pa shadow and continues not.

3  And do you ^qopen your eyes on such a one

and ^rbring me into judgment with you?

4  Who can bring ^sa clean thing out of an unclean?

There is not one.

5  Since his ^tdays are determined,

and ^uthe number of his months is with you,

and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,

6  ^vlook away from him and leave him alone,¹

that he may enjoy, like ^wa hired hand, his day.

7  “For there is hope for a tree,

if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,

and that its shoots will not cease.

8  Though its root grow old in the earth,

and ^xits stump die in the soil,

9  yet at the scent of water it will bud

and put out ^ybranches like a young plant.

10  But a man dies and is laid low;

man breathes his last, and ^zwhere is he?

11  ^aAs waters fail from a lake

and a river wastes away and dries up,

12  so a man lies down and rises not again;

till ^bthe heavens are no more he will not awake

or be ^croused out of his sleep.

13  Oh that you would ^dhide me in ^eSheol,

that you would ^dconceal me ^funtil your wrath be past,

that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

14  If a man dies, shall he live again?

All the days of my ^gservice I would ^hwait,

till my renewal² should come.

15  You would ⁱcall, and I would answer you;

you would long for the ^jwork of your hands.

16  For then you would ^knumber my steps;

you would not keep ^lwatch over my sin;

17  my transgression would be ^msealed up in a bag,

and you would cover over my iniquity.

18  “But the mountain falls and ⁿcrumbles away,

and ^othe rock is removed from its place;

19  the waters wear away the stones;

the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;

so you destroy the hope of man.

20  You prevail forever against him, and he passes;

you change his countenance, and send him away.

21  His sons come to honor, and he ^pdoes not know it;

they are brought low, and he perceives it not.

22  He feels only the pain of his own body,

and he mourns only for himself.”

2  “Should ^ra wise man answer with ^swindy knowledge,

and fill his ^tbelly with ^uthe east wind?

3  Should he argue in unprofitable talk,

or in words with which he can do no good?

4  But you are doing away with the fear of God¹

and hindering meditation before God.

5  For your iniquity teaches your mouth,

and you choose the tongue of the crafty.

6  Your ^vown mouth condemns you, and not I;

^wyour own lips testify against you.

7  ^x“Are you the first man who was born?

Or ^ywere you brought forth ^zbefore the hills?

8  Have you listened in ^athe council of God?

And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

9  ^bWhat do you know that we do not know?

What do you understand that is not clear to us?

10  ^cBoth the gray-haired and the aged are among us,

older than your father.

11  Are the comforts of God too small for you,

or the word that deals gently with you?

12  Why does your heart carry you away,

and why do your eyes flash,

13  that you turn your ^dspirit against God

and bring such words out of your mouth?

14  ^eWhat is man, ^fthat he can be pure?

Or he who is ^gborn of a woman, that he can be righteous?

15  Behold, God^{2 h}puts no trust in his ⁱholy ones,

and the heavens are not pure in his sight;

16  ^jhow much less one who is abominable and ^kcorrupt,

a man who ^ldrinks injustice like water!

17  “I will show you; hear me,

and what I have seen I will declare

18  (what wise men have told,

without hiding it ^mfrom their fathers,

19  to whom alone the land was given,

and no ⁿstranger passed among them).

20  The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,

through all the ^oyears that are laid up for ^pthe ruthless.

21  ^qDreadful sounds are in his ears;

in ^rprosperity the destroyer will come upon him.

22  He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,

and he is marked for the sword.

23  He ^swanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’

He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;

24  distress and anguish terrify him;

they ^tprevail against him, like a king ready for battle.

25  Because he has stretched out his hand against God

and defies the Almighty,

26  ^urunning ^vstubbornly against him

with a thickly bossed shield;

27  because he has ^wcovered his face with his fat

and gathered fat upon his waist

28  and has lived in desolate cities,

in houses that none should inhabit,

which were ready to become heaps of ruins;

29  he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure,

nor will his possessions spread over the earth;³

30  he will not depart from darkness;

the flame will dry up his shoots,

and by ^xthe breath of his mouth he will depart.

31  Let him not ^ytrust in emptiness, deceiving himself,

for emptiness will be his payment.

32  It will be paid in full ^zbefore his time,

and his branch will not be green.

33  He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,

and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.

34  For ^athe company of the godless is barren,

and ^bfire consumes the tents of bribery.

35  They ^cconceive trouble and give birth to evil,

and their ^dwomb prepares deceit.”