2  “Therefore my ^dthoughts answer me,

because of my haste within me.

3  I hear censure that insults me,

and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.

4  Do you not know this from of old,

^esince man was placed on earth,

5  ^fthat the exulting of the wicked is short,

and the joy of the godless but for a moment?

6  ^gThough his height mount up to the heavens,

and his head reach to the clouds,

7  he will perish forever like his own ^hdung;

those who have seen him will say, ⁱ‘Where is he?’

8  He will fly away like ^ja dream and not be found;

he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

9  ^kThe eye that saw him will see him no more,

nor will his place any more behold him.

10  His children will seek the favor of the poor,

and his hands will ^lgive back his wealth.

11  His bones are full of his ^myouthful vigor,

but it will lie ⁿdown with him in the dust.

12  “Though evil is sweet in his mouth,

though he hides it ^ounder his tongue,

13  though he is loath to let it go

and holds it in his mouth,

14  yet his food is turned in his stomach;

it is the venom of ^pcobras within him.

15  He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;

God casts them out of his belly.

16  He will suck the poison of cobras;

^qthe tongue of a viper will kill him.

17  He will not look upon ^rthe rivers,

the streams flowing with ^shoney and ^tcurds.

18  He will ^ugive back the fruit of his toil

and will not ^vswallow it down;

from the profit of his trading

he will get no enjoyment.

19  For he has crushed and abandoned the poor;

he has seized a house that he did not build.

20  “Because he ^wknew no ^xcontentment in his belly,

^yhe will not let anything in which he delights escape him.

21  There was nothing left after he had eaten;

therefore his prosperity will not endure.

22  In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress;

the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.

23  To fill his belly to the full,

God¹ will send his burning anger against him

and rain it upon him ^zinto his body.

24  ^aHe will flee from an iron weapon;

^ba bronze arrow will strike ^chim through.

25  It ^dis drawn forth and comes out of his body;

^ethe glittering point comes out of his ^fgallbladder;

^gterrors come upon him.

26  Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures;

^ha fire not fanned will devour him;

what is left in his tent will be consumed.

27  ⁱThe heavens will reveal his iniquity,

and the earth will rise up against him.

28  The possessions of his house will be carried away,

dragged off in the day of God’s² wrath.

29  ^jThis is the wicked man’s portion from God,

^jthe heritage decreed for him by God.”

2  ^k“Keep listening to my words,

and let this be your comfort.

3  Bear with me, and I will speak,

and after I have spoken, ^lmock on.

4  As for me, is my ^mcomplaint against man?

Why should I not be impatient?

5  Look at me and be appalled,

and ⁿlay your hand over your mouth.

6  When I remember, I am dismayed,

and shuddering seizes my flesh.

7  ^oWhy do the wicked live,

reach old age, and grow mighty in power?

8  Their ^poffspring are established in their presence,

and their descendants before their eyes.

9  Their houses are ^qsafe from fear,

and ^rno rod of God is upon them.

10  Their bull breeds without fail;

their cow calves and ^sdoes not miscarry.

11  They send out their ^tlittle boys like a flock,

and their children dance.

12  They sing to ^uthe tambourine and ^vthe lyre

and rejoice to the sound of ^vthe pipe.

13  They ^wspend their days in prosperity,

and in ^xpeace they go down to ^ySheol.

14  They say to God, ^z‘Depart from us!

We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.

15  ^aWhat is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

And what ^bprofit do we get if we pray to him?’

16  Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand?

^cThe counsel of the wicked is far from me.

17  “How often is it that ^dthe lamp of the wicked is put out?

That their calamity comes upon them?

That God¹ distributes pains in his anger?

18  That they are like ^estraw before the wind,

and like ^fchaff that the storm carries away?

19  You say, ‘God ^gstores up their iniquity for their ^hchildren.’

Let him pay it out to them, that they may ⁱknow it.

20  Let their own eyes see their destruction,

and let them ^jdrink of the wrath of the Almighty.

21  For what do they care for their houses after them,

when ^kthe number of their months is cut off?

22  ^lWill any teach God knowledge,

seeing that he ^mjudges those who are on high?

23  One dies in his full vigor,

being wholly at ease and secure,

24  his pails² full of milk

and ⁿthe marrow of his bones moist.

25  Another dies in ^obitterness of soul,

never having tasted of prosperity.

26  They ^plie down alike in the dust,

and ^qthe worms cover them.

27  “Behold, I know your thoughts

and your schemes to wrong me.

28  For you say, ^r‘Where is the house of the prince?

Where is ^sthe tent in which the wicked lived?’

29  Have you not asked those who travel the roads,

and do you not accept their testimony

30  that ^tthe evil man is spared in the day of calamity,

that he is rescued in the day of wrath?

31  Who declares his way ^uto his face,

and who ^vrepays him for what he has done?

32  When he is ^wcarried to the grave,

watch is kept over his tomb.

33  ^xThe clods of the valley are sweet to him;

^yall mankind follows after him,

and those who go before him are innumerable.

34  How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?

There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”

2  ^a“Can a man be profitable to God?

Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

3  Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right,

or is it gain to him if you ^bmake your ways blameless?

4  Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you

and ^centers into judgment with you?

5  Is not your evil abundant?

There is no end to your iniquities.

6  For you have ^dexacted pledges of your brothers for nothing

^eand stripped the naked of their clothing.

7  You have given no water to the weary to drink,

and you have ^fwithheld bread from the hungry.

8  ^gThe man with power possessed the land,

and ^hthe favored man lived in it.

9  You have ⁱsent widows away empty,

and ^jthe arms of ^kthe fatherless were crushed.

10  Therefore ^lsnares are all around you,

and sudden terror overwhelms you,

11  or ^mdarkness, so that you cannot see,

and a ⁿflood of ^owater covers you.

12  “Is not God high in the heavens?

See ^pthe highest stars, how lofty they are!

13  But you say, ^q‘What does God know?

Can he judge through ^rthe deep darkness?

14  ^sThick clouds veil him, so that he does not see,

and he walks on the vault of heaven.’

15  Will you keep to the old way

that wicked men have trod?

16  They were snatched away ^tbefore their time;

their foundation was washed away.¹

17  They said to God, ^u‘Depart from us,’

and ^v‘What can the Almighty do to us?’²

18  Yet he filled their houses with good things—

but ^wthe counsel of the wicked is far from me.

19  ^xThe righteous see it and are glad;

the innocent one ^ymocks at them,

20  saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,

and what they left ^zthe fire has consumed.’

21  ^a“Agree with God, and ^bbe at peace;

thereby good will come to you.

22  Receive instruction from ^chis mouth,

and ^dlay up his words in your heart.

23  If you ^ereturn to the Almighty you will be ^fbuilt up;

if you ^gremove injustice far from your tents,

24  if you lay gold in ^hthe dust,

and gold of ⁱOphir among the stones of the torrent-bed,

25  then the Almighty will be your gold

and your precious silver.

26  For then you ^jwill delight yourself in the Almighty

and ^klift up your face to God.

27  You will ^lmake your prayer to him, and he will hear you,

and you will ^mpay your vows.

28  You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,

and ⁿlight will shine on your ways.

29  For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’;³

but he saves ^othe lowly.

30  He ^pdelivers even the one who is not innocent,

who will be delivered through ^qthe cleanness of your hands.”

2  “Today also my ^rcomplaint is bitter;¹

my ^shand is heavy on account of my groaning.

3  Oh, ^tthat I knew where I might find him,

that I might come even to his ^useat!

4  I would ^vlay my case before him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

5  I would know what he would answer me

and understand what he would say to me.

6  Would he ^wcontend with me in the greatness of his power?

No; he would pay attention to me.

7  There an upright man could argue with him,

and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

8  “Behold, ^xI go forward, but he is not there,

and backward, but I do not perceive him;

9  on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;

he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.

10  But he ^yknows ^zthe way that I ^atake;

when he has ^btried me, I shall come out as gold.

11  My foot ^chas held fast to his steps;

I have kept his way and have ^dnot turned aside.

12  I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;

I have ^etreasured the words of his mouth more than my ^fportion of food.

13  But he is unchangeable,² and ^gwho can turn him back?

What he ^hdesires, that he does.

14  For he will complete what he ⁱappoints for me,

and many such things are ^jin his mind.

15  Therefore I am terrified at his presence;

when I consider, I am in dread of him.

16  God has made my ^kheart faint;

the Almighty has terrified me;

17  yet I am not silenced because of the darkness,

nor because thick darkness covers my face.

1  “Why are ^lnot times of judgment ^mkept by the Almighty,

and why do those who know him never see his ⁿdays?

2  Some move ^olandmarks;

they seize flocks and pasture them.

3  They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;

they ^ptake the widow’s ox for a pledge.

4  They ^qthrust the poor off the road;

the poor of the earth ^rall hide themselves.

5  Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert

the poor^{1 s}go out to their toil, ^tseeking game;

the wasteland yields food for their children.

6  They gather their² fodder in the field,

and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

7  They ^ulie all night naked, without clothing,

and have no covering in the cold.

8  They are wet with the rain of the mountains

and ^vcling to the rock for lack of shelter.

9  (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,

and they take a pledge against the poor.)

10  They go about naked, without clothing;

hungry, they ^wcarry the sheaves;

11  among the olive rows of the wicked³ they make oil;

they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.

12  From out of the city the dying⁴ groan,

and the soul of ^xthe wounded cries for help;

yet God charges no one with ^ywrong.

13  “There are those who rebel ^zagainst the light,

who are not acquainted with its ways,

and do not stay in its paths.

14  The murderer rises before it is light,

that he ^amay kill the poor and needy,

and in the night he is like a thief.

15  The eye of the adulterer also waits for ^bthe twilight,

saying, ‘No ^ceye will see me’;

and he veils his face.

16  In the dark they ^ddig through houses;

by day they shut themselves up;

they do not know the light.

17  For ^edeep darkness is morning to all of them;

for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

18  “You say, ^f‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;

their portion is cursed in the land;

no treader turns toward their vineyards.

19  Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;

so does ^gSheol those who have sinned.

20  The womb forgets them;

the worm finds them sweet;

they are ^hno longer remembered,

so wickedness is broken like ⁱa tree.’

21  “They wrong the barren, childless woman,

and do no good to the widow.

22  Yet God⁵ prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;

they rise up when they despair of life.

23  He gives them security, and they are supported,

and his ^jeyes are upon their ways.

24  They are exalted ^ka little while, and then ^lare gone;

they are brought low and gathered up like all others;

they are ^mcut off like the heads of grain.

25  If it is ⁿnot so, who will prove me a liar

and show that there is nothing in what I say?”