30  “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.

31  “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.”

“I am young in years,

and you are ^zaged;

therefore I was timid and afraid

to declare my opinion to you.

7  I said, ‘Let days speak,

and many years teach wisdom.’

8  But it is ^athe spirit in man,

^bthe breath of the Almighty, that makes him ^cunderstand.

9  ^dIt is not the old¹ who are wise,

nor the aged who understand what is right.

10  Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me;

let me also declare my opinion.’

11  “Behold, I waited for your words,

I listened for your wise sayings,

while you searched out what to say.

12  I gave you my attention,

and, behold, there was none among you who refuted Job

or who answered his words.

13  Beware ^elest you say, ‘We have found wisdom;

God may vanquish him, not a man.’

14  He has not directed his words against me,

and I will not answer him with your speeches.

15  “They are dismayed; they answer no more;

they have not a word to say.

16  And shall I wait, because they do not speak,

because they stand there, and answer no more?

17  I also will answer with my share;

I also will declare my opinion.

18  For I am full of words;

the spirit within me constrains me.

19  Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent;

like new ^fwineskins ready to burst.

20  ^gI must speak, that I may find ^hrelief;

I must open my lips and answer.

21  I will not ⁱshow partiality to any man

or use flattery toward any person.

22  For I do not know how to flatter,

else my Maker would soon take me away.

33  “But now, hear my speech, O Job,

and listen to all my words.

2  Behold, I ^jopen my mouth;

the tongue in my mouth speaks.

3  My words declare the uprightness of my heart,

and what my lips know they speak sincerely.

4  ^kThe Spirit of God has made me,

and ^lthe breath of the Almighty gives me life.

5  ^mAnswer me, if you can;

ⁿset your words in order before me; take your stand.

6  Behold, I am toward God as you are;

I too was pinched off from a piece of ^oclay.

7  Behold, no ^pfear of me need terrify you;

my ^qpressure will not be heavy upon you.

8  “Surely you have spoken in my ears,

and I have heard the sound of your words.

9  You say, ‘I am ^rpure, without ^stransgression;

I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me.

10  Behold, he finds occasions against me,

he ^tcounts me as his enemy,

11  he ^uputs my feet in the stocks

and ^vwatches all my paths.’

12  “Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you,

for God is greater than man.

13  Why do you ^wcontend against him,

saying, ‘He ^xwill answer none of man’s¹ words’?²

14  For God ^yspeaks in one way,

^zand in two, though man ^adoes not perceive it.

15  In ^ba dream, in ^ca vision of ^dthe night,

when ^cdeep sleep falls on men,

while they slumber on their beds,

16  then he ^eopens the ears of men

and terrifies³ them with warnings,

17  that he may turn man aside from his ^fdeed

and conceal pride from a man;

18  he keeps back his soul from the pit,

his life from ^gperishing by the sword.

19  “Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed

and with continual strife in his ^hbones,

20  so that his ⁱlife loathes bread,

and his appetite ^jthe choicest food.

21  His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen,

and his bones that were not seen ^kstick out.

22  His soul draws near ^lthe pit,

and his life to ^mthose who bring death.

23  If there be for him ⁿan angel,

^oa mediator, ^pone of the thousand,

to declare to man what is ^qright for him,

24  and he is merciful to him, and says,

‘Deliver him from going down into the pit;

I have found ^ra ransom;

25  let his flesh ^sbecome fresh with youth;

let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;

26  then man^{4 t}prays to God, and he accepts him;

he ^usees his face with a shout of joy,

and he ^vrestores to man his righteousness.

27  He sings before men and says:

‘I ^wsinned and perverted what was right,

and it was not repaid to me.

28  He has redeemed my ^xsoul from going down ^yinto the pit,

and my life shall ^zlook upon the light.’

29  “Behold, God does all these things,

twice, ^athree times, with a man,

30  to bring back his soul from the pit,

that he may be lighted with ^bthe light of life.

31  Pay attention, O Job, listen to me;

be silent, and I will speak.

32  If you have any words, ^canswer me;

^dspeak, for I desire to justify you.

33  If not, ^elisten to me;

be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

2  “Hear my words, you wise men,

and give ear to me, you who know;

3  for ^gthe ear tests words

as the palate tastes food.

4  Let us choose ^hwhat is right;

let us know among ourselves what is good.

5  For Job has said, ‘I am ⁱin the right,

and ^jGod has taken away my right;

6  in spite of my right I am counted a liar;

my wound is incurable, though I am ^kwithout transgression.’

7  What man is like Job,

who ^ldrinks up scoffing like water,

8  who travels in company with evildoers

and walks ^mwith wicked men?

9  For ⁿhe has said, ‘It profits a man nothing

that he should take delight in God.’

10  “Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding:

far be it from God that he should ^odo wickedness,

and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.

11  For according to ^pthe work of a man he will repay him,

and ^qaccording to his ways he will make it befall him.

12  Of a truth, God will not do wickedly,

and ^rthe Almighty will not pervert justice.

13  Who gave him charge over the earth,

and who ^slaid on him¹ the whole world?

14  If he should ^tset his heart to it

and ^ugather to himself his ^vspirit and his breath,

15  all flesh would perish together,

and man would ^wreturn to dust.

16  “If you have understanding, hear this;

listen to what I say.

17  ^xShall one who hates justice govern?

Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,

18  who ^ysays to a king, ‘Worthless one,’

and to nobles, ‘Wicked man,’

19  who ^zshows no partiality to princes,

nor regards the rich ^amore than the poor,

for ^bthey are all the work of his hands?

20  In a moment ^cthey die;

at ^dmidnight the people are shaken and pass away,

and the mighty are taken away by ^eno human hand.

21  “For his eyes are on ^fthe ways of a man,

and he sees all his ^fsteps.

22  There is no ^ggloom or ^hdeep darkness

where evildoers may hide themselves.

23  For God² has no need to consider a man further,

that he should go before God in ⁱjudgment.

24  He ^jshatters the mighty without investigation

and sets ^lothers in their place.

25  Thus, knowing their works,

he ^moverturns them in the night, and they are crushed.

26  He strikes them for their wickedness

in a place for all to see,

27  because they turned aside from ⁿfollowing him

and had no regard for any of his ways,

28  so that they ^ocaused the cry of the poor to come to him,

and he ^pheard the cry of the afflicted—

29  When he is quiet, who can condemn?

When he hides his face, who can behold him,

whether it be a nation or a man?—

30  that a godless man should not reign,

that he should not ensnare the people.

31  “For has anyone said to God,

‘I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more;

32  ^rteach me what I do not see;

if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?

33  Will he then make repayment to suit you,

because you reject it?

For you must choose, and not I;

therefore ^sdeclare what you know.³

34  Men of understanding will say to me,

and the wise man who hears me will say:

35  ‘Job ^tspeaks without knowledge;

his words are without insight.’

36  Would that Job were tried to the end,

because he answers like wicked men.

37  For he adds rebellion to his sin;

he ^uclaps his hands among us

and multiplies his words against God.”