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.”

2  “I have heard ^emany such things;

^fmiserable comforters are you all.

3  Shall ^gwindy words have an end?

Or what provokes you that you answer?

4  I also could speak as you do,

if you were in my place;

I could join words together against you

and ^hshake my head at you.

5  I could strengthen you with my mouth,

and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.

6  “If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,

and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?

7  Surely now God has worn me out;

ⁱhe has¹ made desolate all my company.

8  And he has shriveled me up,

which is ^ja witness against me,

and my ^kleanness has risen up against me;

it testifies to my face.

9  He has ^ltorn me in his wrath ^mand hated me;

he has ⁿgnashed his teeth at me;

my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.

10  Men have ^ogaped at me with their mouth;

they have ^pstruck me insolently on the cheek;

they ^qmass themselves together against me.

11  God gives me up to the ungodly

and casts me into the hands of the wicked.

12  I was at ease, and he broke me apart;

he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;

he set me up as his ^rtarget;

13  his ^sarchers surround me.

He slashes open my kidneys ^tand does not spare;

he ^upours out my gall on the ground.

14  He breaks me with ^vbreach upon breach;

he ^wruns upon me like a warrior.

15  I have sewed ^xsackcloth upon my skin

and have laid ^ymy strength ^zin the dust.

16  My face is red with weeping,

and on my eyelids is ^adeep darkness,

17  although there is no ^bviolence in my hands,

and my prayer is pure.

18  “O earth, ^ccover not my blood,

and let my ^dcry find no resting place.

19  Even now, behold, my ^ewitness is in heaven,

and he who testifies for me is ^fon high.

20  My friends ^gscorn me;

my eye pours out tears to God,

21  that he would ^hargue the case of a man with God,

as² a son of man does with his neighbor.

22  For when a few years have come

I shall go the way ⁱfrom which I shall not return.

17  “My spirit is broken; my days are ^jextinct;

^kthe graveyard is ready for me.

2  Surely there are mockers about me,

and my eye dwells on their ^lprovocation.

3  “Lay down a pledge for me with you;

who is there who will put up ^msecurity for me?

4  Since you have closed their hearts to understanding,

therefore you will not let them triumph.

5  He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property—

the ⁿeyes of his children will fail.

6  “He has made me ^oa byword of the peoples,

and I am one before whom men spit.

7  My ^peye has grown dim from vexation,

and all my members are like ^qa shadow.

8  The upright are ^rappalled at this,

and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.

9  Yet the righteous holds to his way,

and he who has ^sclean hands grows stronger and stronger.

10  But you, ^tcome on again, all of you,

and I shall not find a wise man among you.

11  My ^udays are past; my plans are broken off,

the desires of my heart.

12  They ^vmake night into day:

‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’¹

13  If I hope for ^wSheol as ^xmy house,

if I make my bed in darkness,

14  if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’

and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

15  where then is my hope?

Who will see my hope?

16  Will it go down to the bars of ^wSheol?

Shall we ^ydescend together ^zinto the dust?”²

2  “How long will you ^bhunt for words?

Consider, and then we will speak.

3  Why are we counted as ^ccattle?

Why are we stupid in your sight?

4  You who ^dtear yourself in your anger,

shall the earth be forsaken for you,

or ^ethe rock be removed out of its place?

5  “Indeed, ^fthe light of the wicked is put out,

and the flame of his fire does not shine.

6  The light is ^gdark in his tent,

and his lamp above him is put out.

7  His strong steps are shortened,

and his ^hown schemes throw him down.

8  For he is cast into a net by his own feet,

and he walks on its mesh.

9  ⁱA trap seizes him by the heel;

a snare lays hold of him.

10  A rope is hidden for him in the ground,

a trap for him in the path.

11  ^jTerrors frighten him on every side,

and chase him at his heels.

12  His strength is famished,

and calamity is ^kready for his stumbling.

13  It consumes the parts of his skin;

^lthe firstborn of death consumes his limbs.

14  He is torn from the tent in which he trusted

and is brought to ^mthe king of terrors.

15  In his tent dwells that which is none of his;

ⁿsulfur is scattered over his habitation.

16  His ^oroots dry up beneath,

and his branches ^pwither above.

17  His ^qmemory perishes from the earth,

and he has no name in the street.

18  ^rHe is thrust from light into darkness,

and driven out of the world.

19  He has no ^sposterity or progeny among his people,

and no survivor where he used to live.

20  They of the west are appalled at his ^tday,

and ^uhorror seizes them of the east.

21  Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,

such is the place of him who ^vknows not God.”

2  “How long will you torment me

and break me in pieces with words?

3  These ^wten times you have cast reproach upon me;

are you not ashamed to wrong me?

4  And even if it be true that I have erred,

my error remains with myself.

5  If indeed you ^xmagnify yourselves against me

and make my disgrace an argument against me,

6  know then that God has ^yput me in the wrong

and closed his net about me.

7  Behold, I ^zcry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;

I call for help, but there is no justice.

8  He has ^awalled up my way, so that I cannot pass,

and he has set darkness upon my paths.

9  He has ^bstripped from me my glory

and taken the ^ccrown from my head.

10  He breaks me down on every side, and I ^dam gone,

and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.

11  He has kindled his wrath against me

and ^ecounts me as his adversary.

12  His ^ftroops come on together;

they have ^gcast up their siege ramp¹ against me

and encamp around my tent.

13  “He has put my ^hbrothers far from me,

and ⁱthose who knew me are wholly estranged from me.

14  My relatives ^jhave failed me,

my close ^kfriends have forgotten me.

15  The guests ^lin my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;

I have become a foreigner in their eyes.

16  I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;

I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.

17  My breath is strange to my ^mwife,

and I am a stench to the children of ⁿmy own mother.

18  Even young ^ochildren despise me;

when I rise they talk against me.

19  All my ^pintimate friends abhor me,

and those whom I loved have turned against me.

20  My ^qbones stick to my skin and to my flesh,

and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

21  Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,

for the hand of God has ^rtouched me!

22  Why do you, like God, ^spursue me?

Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?

23  “Oh that my words were written!

Oh that they were ^tinscribed in a book!

24  Oh that with an iron ^upen and lead

they were engraved in the rock forever!

25  For I ^vknow that my ^wRedeemer lives,

and at the last he will stand upon the ^xearth.²

26  And after my skin has been thus destroyed,

yet in³ my flesh I shall ^ysee God,

27  whom I shall see for myself,

and my eyes shall behold, and not ^zanother.

My heart ^afaints within me!

28  If you say, ‘How we will ^spursue him!’

and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’⁴

29  be afraid of the sword,

for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,

that you may know there is ^ba judgment.”