2  “Oh, that I were as in the months of old,

as in the days when God watched over me,

3  when his ^alamp shone upon my head,

and by his light I walked through darkness,

4  as I was in my prime,¹

when the ^bfriendship of God was upon my tent,

5  when the Almighty was yet with me,

when my ^cchildren were all around me,

6  when my steps were ^dwashed with ^ebutter,

and ^fthe rock poured out for me streams of ^goil!

7  When I went out to ^hthe gate of the city,

when I prepared my seat in the square,

8  the young men saw me and withdrew,

and the aged rose and stood;

9  the princes refrained from talking

and ⁱlaid their hand on their mouth;

10  the voice of the nobles was hushed,

and their ^jtongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

11  When the ear heard, it called me blessed,

and when the eye saw, it approved,

12  because I ^kdelivered the poor who cried for help,

and the fatherless who had none to help him.

13  ^lThe blessing of him who was ^mabout to perish came upon me,

and I caused ⁿthe widow’s heart to sing for joy.

14  I ^oput on righteousness, and it clothed me;

my justice was like a robe and ^pa turban.

15  I was ^qeyes to the blind

and feet to the lame.

16  I was a father to the needy,

and I searched out ^rthe cause of him whom I did not know.

17  I ^sbroke ^tthe fangs of the unrighteous

and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

18  ^uThen I thought, ‘I shall die in my ^vnest,

and I shall multiply my days as ^wthe sand,

19  my ^xroots spread out to ^ythe waters,

with the dew all night on my ^zbranches,

20  my glory fresh with me,

and my ^abow ever ^bnew in my hand.’

21  “Men listened to me and waited

and kept silence for my counsel.

22  After I spoke they did not speak again,

and my word ^cdropped upon them.

23  They waited for me as for the rain,

and they ^dopened their mouths as for the ^espring rain.

24  I smiled on them when they had no confidence,

and ^fthe light of my ^gface they did not cast down.

25  I chose their way and sat as chief,

and I lived like ^ha king among his troops,

like one who comforts mourners.

1  “But now they ⁱlaugh at me,

men who are ^jyounger than I,

whose fathers I would have disdained

to set with the dogs of my flock.

2  What could I gain from the strength of their hands,

^kmen whose ^lvigor is gone?

3  Through want and hard hunger

they ^mgnaw ⁿthe dry ground by night in ^owaste and desolation;

4  they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,

and the roots of the broom tree for their food.¹

5  ^pThey are driven out from human company;

they shout after them as after a thief.

6  In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,

in holes of the earth and of ^qthe rocks.

7  Among the bushes they ^rbray;

under ^sthe nettles they huddle together.

8  A senseless, a nameless brood,

they have been whipped out of the land.

9  “And now I have become their ^tsong;

I am ^ua byword to them.

10  They ^vabhor me; they keep aloof from me;

they do not hesitate to ^wspit at the sight of me.

11  Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,

they have cast off restraint² in my presence.

12  On my ^xright hand the rabble rise;

they push away my feet;

they ^ycast up against me their ways of destruction.

13  They break up my path;

they promote my ^zcalamity;

they need no one to help them.

14  As through a wide ^abreach they come;

amid the crash they roll on.

15  ^bTerrors are turned upon me;

my honor is pursued as by the wind,

and my prosperity has passed away like ^ca cloud.

16  “And now my soul is ^dpoured out within me;

days of affliction have taken hold of me.

17  ^eThe night ^fracks my bones,

and the pain that ^ggnaws me takes no rest.

18  With great force my garment is ^hdisfigured;

it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.

19  God³ has cast me into the mire,

and I have become like ⁱdust and ashes.

20  I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;

I stand, and you only look at me.

21  You have ^jturned cruel to me;

with the might of your hand you ^kpersecute me.

22  ^lYou lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,

and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.

23  ^mFor I know that you will bring me to death

and to the house appointed for ⁿall living.

24  “Yet does not one in a ^oheap of ruins stretch out his hand,

and in his disaster cry for help?⁴

25  Did not I ^pweep for him whose day was hard?

Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

26  But ^qwhen I hoped for good, evil came,

and when I waited for light, ^rdarkness came.

27  My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;

days of affliction ^scome to meet me.

28  I ^tgo about darkened, but not by the sun;

I stand up in ^uthe assembly and cry for help.

29  I am a brother of ^vjackals

and a companion of ^wostriches.

30  My ^xskin turns black and falls from me,

and my ^ybones burn with heat.

31  My ^zlyre is ^aturned to mourning,

and my ^zpipe to the voice of those who weep.

1  “I have made a covenant with my ^beyes;

how then could I gaze at a virgin?

2  What would be ^cmy portion from God above

and ^cmy heritage from the Almighty on high?

3  Is not calamity for the unrighteous,

and disaster for the workers of iniquity?

4  ^dDoes not he see my ways

and ^enumber all my steps?

5  “If I have walked with falsehood

and my foot has hastened to deceit;

6  (Let me be ^fweighed in a just balance,

and let God know my integrity!)

7  if my step has turned aside from the way

and ^gmy heart has gone after my eyes,

and if any ^hspot has stuck to my hands,

8  then let me ⁱsow, and another eat,

and let what grows for me¹ be rooted out.

9  “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,

and I have ^jlain in wait at my neighbor’s door,

10  then let my wife ^kgrind for another,

and let others ^lbow down on her.

11  For that would be a heinous crime;

that would be an iniquity ^mto be punished by the judges;

12  for that would be a fire ⁿthat consumes as far as Abaddon,

and it would burn to the root all my increase.

13  “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant,

when they brought a complaint against me,

14  what then shall I do when God rises up?

When he ^omakes inquiry, what shall I answer him?

15  Did ^pnot he who made me in the womb make him?

And did not one fashion us in the womb?

16  “If I have ^qwithheld anything that the poor desired,

or have ^rcaused the eyes of the widow to fail,

17  or have eaten my morsel alone,

and the fatherless has not eaten of it

18  (for from my youth the fatherless² grew up with me as with a father,

and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow³),

19  if I have seen anyone ^sperish for ^tlack of clothing,

or the needy without ^tcovering,

20  if his body has not ^ublessed me,⁴

and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

21  if I have raised my hand against ^vthe fatherless,

because I saw my help in ^wthe gate,

22  then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,

and let my arm be broken from its socket.

23  For I was ^xin terror of calamity from God,

and I could not have faced his ^xmajesty.

24  ^y“If I have made gold my ^ztrust

or called ^afine gold my confidence,

25  if I have ^brejoiced because my wealth was abundant

or because ^cmy hand had found much,

26  ^dif I have looked at the sun⁵ when it shone,

or ^ethe moon moving in splendor,

27  and my heart has been secretly enticed,

and my mouth has kissed my hand,

28  this also would be ^fan iniquity to be punished by the judges,

for I would have been false to God above.

29  “If I have ^grejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me,

or exulted when evil overtook him

30  (^hI have not let my mouth sin

by asking for his life with a curse),

31  if the men of my tent have not said,

‘Who is there that has not been filled with his ⁱmeat?’

32  (^jthe sojourner has not lodged in the street;

I have opened my doors to the traveler),

33  if I ^khave concealed my transgressions ^las others do⁶

by hiding my iniquity in my heart,

34  because I stood in great fear of ^mthe multitude,

and the contempt of families terrified me,

so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors—

35  Oh, that I had one to hear me!

(Here is my signature! Let the Almighty ⁿanswer me!)

Oh, that I had ^othe indictment written by my adversary!

36  Surely I would carry it on my ^pshoulder;

I would ^qbind it on me as ^ra crown;

37  I would give him an account of all my steps;

like a prince I would approach him.

38  “If my land has cried out against me

and its furrows have wept together,

39  ^sif I have eaten its yield without payment

and made its owners ^tbreathe their last,

40  let ^uthorns grow instead of wheat,

and foul weeds instead of barley.”