1  ^rBe gracious to me, O God, for man ^stramples on me;

all day long an attacker oppresses me;

2  my enemies trample on me all day long,

for many attack me proudly.

3  When I am afraid,

I ^tput my trust in you.

4  In God, whose word I praise,

in God I trust; ^uI shall not be afraid.

What can flesh do to me?

5  All day long they injure my cause;²

all their thoughts are against me for evil.

6  They ^vstir up strife, they ^wlurk;

they ^xwatch my steps,

as they have waited for my life.

7  For their crime will they escape?

^yIn wrath ^zcast down the peoples, O God!

8  You have kept count of my tossings;³

^aput my tears in your bottle.

^bAre they not in your book?

9  Then my enemies will turn back

^cin the day when I call.

This I know, that^{4 d}God is for me.

10  In God, whose word I praise,

in the Lord, whose word I praise,

11  in God I trust; ^uI shall not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

12  I must perform my ^evows to you, O God;

I will ^erender thank offerings to you.

13  ^fFor you have delivered my soul from death,

yes, my feet from falling,

^gthat I may walk before God

^hin the light of life.

1  “At this also my heart trembles

and leaps out of its place.

2  Keep listening to the thunder of his voice

and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.

3  Under the whole heaven he lets it go,

and his ⁱlightning to the ^jcorners of the earth.

4  After it ^khis voice roars;

^lhe thunders with his majestic voice,

and he does not restrain the lightnings¹ when his voice is heard.

5  God thunders wondrously with his voice;

he does ^mgreat things that we cannot ⁿcomprehend.

6  For to ^othe snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’

likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.

7  He ^pseals up the hand of every man,

that all men whom he made may ^qknow it.

8  Then the beasts go into their ^rlairs,

and remain in their ^sdens.

9  From ^tits chamber ^ucomes the whirlwind,

and ^vcold from the scattering winds.

10  By the breath of God ^wice is given,

and ^xthe broad waters are frozen fast.

11  He loads the thick cloud with moisture;

the clouds scatter his lightning.

12  They ^yturn around and around by his ^zguidance,

^zto accomplish all that he commands them

on the face of ^athe habitable world.

13  Whether for ^bcorrection or for his ^cland

or for ^dlove, he causes it to happen.

14  “Hear this, O Job;

stop and ^econsider the wondrous works of God.

15  Do you know how God lays his command upon them

and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?

16  Do you know the balancings² of the clouds,

the wondrous works of him who is ^fperfect in knowledge,

17  you whose garments are hot

when the earth is still because of the south wind?

18  Can you, like him, ^gspread out the skies,

hard as a cast metal ^hmirror?

19  Teach us what we shall say to him;

we cannot draw up our case because of ⁱdarkness.

20  Shall it be told him that I would speak?

Did a man ever wish that he would be swallowed up?

21  “And now no one looks on the light

when it is bright in the skies,

when the wind has passed and cleared them.

22  Out of the north comes golden splendor;

God is clothed with ^jawesome majesty.

23  The Almighty—we ^kcannot find him;

he is ^lgreat in power;

^mjustice and abundant righteousness he will not ⁿviolate.

24  Therefore men ^ofear him;

he does not regard any who are ^pwise in their own conceit.”³