"Now for you, if you will prepare your heart, spread out your hands to him.

If you put far away the evil of your hands, and let no wrongdoing have a place in your tent;

Then truly your face will be lifted up, with no mark of sin, and you will be fixed in your place without fear:

For, now, shalt thou forget, sorrow, Like waters passed away, shalt thou remember it.

And you will lie down, and {no one will make you afraid}; {and many will entreat your favor}.

But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, And they shall have no way to flee; And their hope shall be the giving up of the ghost.

No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.

“But I have intelligence and understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these [of God’s wisdom and might]?

It seems that I am to be as one who is a cause of laughing to his neighbour, one who makes his prayer to God and is answered! the upright man who has done no wrong is to be made sport of!

In the thought of him who is in comfort there is no respect for one who is in trouble; such is the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

“The tents of the destroyers prosper;
And those who provoke God are [apparently] secure,
Whom God brings into their power.

But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:

Who among all of these does not know that Yahweh's hand has done this?

Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.

He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

They grope about in the dark, having no light, and He hath made them to reel, like a drunken man.

What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you.

But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.

Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.

"Hold your tongues now, and let me speak, for there is something come into my mind.

Behold, he will slay me; I have no hope: Nevertheless I will maintain my ways before him.

Yes, this will result in my deliverance,
for no godless person can appear before Him.

Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.

Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.

How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.

“For You write bitter things against me [in Your indictment]
And make me inherit and suffer for the iniquities of my youth.

“Who can make a clean thing out of the unclean?
No one!

“For there is hope for a tree,
If it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
And that the shoots of it will not cease nor fail, [but there is no such hope for man].

the presence of water will make it to bud so that it sprouts new branches like a young plant.

So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.

For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?

His children may [come to] honor, but he does not know [it]; or they may become lowly, but he does not realize it.

Will a wise man make answer with knowledge of no value, or will he give birth to the east wind?

Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?

What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?

Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

"I will tell thee; hear me. I will show thee a thing, that I know;

Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.

He has no hope of coming safe out of the dark, and his fate will be the sword;

He wandered about for bread, where he knew that the day of darkness was ready at his hand.

And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.

He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure.
His possessions will not increase in the land.

"He will not escape from darkness; a flame will dry up his new shoot, and by the wind of his mouth he shall be removed.

Let no one trust in him that - by vanity - is deceived, for, vanity, shall be his recompense;

His branch is cut off before its time, and his leaf is no longer green.

For the band of the evil-doers gives no fruit, and the tents of those who give wrong decisions for reward are burned with fire.

“Is there no end to [your futile] words of wind?
Or what plagues you [so much] that you [so boldly] answer [me like this]?

“If I speak [to you miserable comforters], my pain is not relieved;
And if I refrain [from speaking], what [pain or anguish] leaves me?

But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company.

Although there is no violence in my hands, And my prayer is pure.

O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.

Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.

For only a few years will pass
before I go the way of no return.

>

Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?

Now as for the one who testifies against his friends to take their property, even the eyes of his children will fail.

The upright are surprised at this, and he who has done no wrong is troubled because of the evil-doers.

Still the upright keeps on his way, and he who has clean hands gets new strength.

But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.

And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?

“Why are we regarded as beasts,
As if [we are] stupid (senseless) in your eyes?

But come back, now, come: you who are wounding yourself in your passion, will the earth be given up because of you, or a rock be moved out of its place?

“Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out,
And the flame of his fire gives no light.

"Fearfulness shall make him afraid on every side, that he shall not know where to get out.

Other men shall dwell in his house - which now is none of his - and brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.

He hath no continuator, Nor successor among his people, And none is remaining in his dwellings.

Indeed, such is the dwelling of the unjust man,
and this is the place of the one who does not know God.

You have humiliated me ten times now,
and you mistreat me without shame.

Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.

Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

He is breaking me down on every side, and now it's too late for me; he has uprooted my hopes like a tree.

I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.

Even young children have no respect for me; when I get up their backs are turned on me.

Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.

“Do you not know this from the old days,
Since the time that man was placed on the earth,

he will vanish forever like his own dung.
Those who know him will ask, “Where is he?”

He'll vanish like a dream, and no one will find him; he will be chased away like a night vision."

The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

From his youth his bones are full of vice; but now shall it lie down with him in the earth.

so that he shall no more see the rivers, and brooks of honey and butter.

He is forced to give back the fruit of his work, and may not take it for food; he has no joy in the profit of his trading.

Because he knew no quietness within him, He shall not save aught of that wherein he delighteth.

There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.

"Total darkness has been reserved for his treasures; a fire that has no need to be kindled will devour him and consume whatever remains in his possession.

Their homes are secure and free of fear;
no rod from God strikes them.

And they say to God, 'Turn away from us, for we do not desire to know your ways.

Lo, there is utterly no goodness in them, therefore will not I have to do with the counsel of the ungodly.

God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.

One dieth now when he is mighty and at his best, rich and in prosperity;

His buckets are full of milk, and there is no loss of strength in his bones.

Now sleep they both alike in the earth, and the worms cover them.

Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.

For you say, “Where now is the nobleman’s house?”
and “Where are the tents the wicked lived in?”

Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,

“That evil men are [now] reserved for the day of disaster and destruction,
They will be led away on the day of [God’s] wrath?

No one denounces his conduct to his face; no one repays him for what he has done.

Sweet to him have been the clods of the valley, And after him every man he draweth, And before him there is no numbering.

Why then do you give me comfort with words in which there is no profit, when you see that there is nothing in your answers but deceit?