Why is life given to a man whose path is hidden,
whom God has hedged in?

For the thing I feared has overtaken me,
and what I dreaded has happened to me.

But now that this has happened to you,
you have become exhausted.
It strikes you, and you are dismayed.

Consider: who has perished when he was innocent?
Where have the honest been destroyed?

Since I cannot help myself,
the hope for success has been banished from me.

God is wise and all-powerful.
Who has opposed Him and come out unharmed?

You gave me life and faithful love,
and Your care has guarded my life.

He would show you the secrets of wisdom,
for true wisdom has two sides.
Know then that God has chosen to overlook some of your sin.

Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?

Why has your heart misled you,
and why do your eyes flash

For he has stretched out his hand against God
and has arrogantly opposed the Almighty.

Surely He has now exhausted me.
You have devastated my entire family.

You have shriveled me up—it has become a witness;
My frailty rises up against me and testifies to my face.

My face has grown red with weeping,
and darkness covers my eyes,

He has made me an object of scorn to the people;
I have become a man people spit at.

My eyes have grown dim from grief,
and my whole body has become but a shadow.

All memory of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name anywhere.

He has no children or descendants among his people,
no survivor where he used to live.

then understand that it is God who has wronged me
and caught me in His net.

He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass through;
He has veiled my paths with darkness.

He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.

He has removed my brothers from me;
my acquaintances have abandoned me.

Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy,
for God’s hand has struck me.

Even after my skin has been destroyed,
yet I will see God in my flesh.

the joy of the wicked has been brief
and the happiness of the godless has lasted only a moment?

For what does he care about his family once he is dead,
when the number of his months has run out?

Who would denounce his behavior to his face?
Who would repay him for what he has done?

“Surely our opponents are destroyed,
and fire has consumed what they left behind.”

Yet He knows the way I have taken;
when He has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold.

He will certainly accomplish what He has decreed for me,
and He has many more things like these in mind.

God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty has terrified me.

Sheol is naked before God,
and Abaddon has no covering.

As God lives, who has deprived me of justice,
and the Almighty who has made me bitter,

I will teach you about God’s power.
I will not conceal what the Almighty has planned.

No bird of prey knows that path;
no falcon’s eye has seen it.

Proud beasts have never walked on it;
no lion has ever prowled over it.

Because God has loosened my bowstring and oppressed me,
they have cast off restraint in my presence.

Terrors are turned loose against me;
they chase my dignity away like the wind,
and my prosperity has passed by like a cloud.

Have I not wept for those who have fallen on hard times?
Has my soul not grieved for the needy?

If I have walked in falsehood
or my foot has rushed to deceit,

If my step has turned from the way,
my heart has followed my eyes,
or impurity has stained my hands,

If my heart has been seduced by my neighbor’s wife
or I have lurked at his door,

if I have rejoiced because my wealth is great
or because my own hand has acquired so much,

Haven’t the members of my household said,
“Who is there who has not had enough to eat at Job’s table?”

But Job has not directed his argument to me,
and I will not respond to him with your arguments.

The Spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

For Job has declared, “I am righteous,
yet God has deprived me of justice.

For he has said, “A man gains nothing
when he becomes God’s friend.”

For my arguments are without flaw;
one who has perfect knowledge is with you.

Who has appointed His way for Him,
and who has declared, “You have done wrong”?

All mankind has seen it;
people have looked at it from a distance.

Do you understand how the clouds float,
those wonderful works of Him who has perfect knowledge?

Now men cannot even look at the sun
when it is in the skies,
after a wind has swept through and cleared them away.

Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
Or who can tilt the water jars of heaven

For God has deprived her of wisdom;
He has not endowed her with understanding.

He has no equal on earth—
a creature devoid of fear!

After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken the truth about Me, as My servant Job has.

Now take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you. I will surely accept his prayer and not deal with you as your folly deserves. For you have not spoken the truth about Me, as My servant Job has.”