‘How much more [will He blame and charge] those who dwell in houses (bodies) of clay,
Whose foundations are in the dust,
Who are crushed like a moth.

“How painful are words of honesty.
But what does your argument prove?

“Will You never turn Your gaze away from me [it plagues me],
Nor let me alone until I swallow my spittle?

“How long will you say these things?
And will the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

“Yes, I know it is true.
But how can a mortal man be right before God?

“How can I answer Him [and plead my case],
Choosing my words [to reason] with Him?

“How many are my iniquities and sins [that so much sorrow should come to me]?
Make me recognize and understand my transgression and my sin.

How much less [pure and clean is] the one who is repulsive and corrupt,
Man, who drinks unrighteousness and injustice like water!

“How long will you hunt for words and continue these speeches?
Do some clear thinking and show understanding and then we can talk.

“How long will you torment and exasperate me
And crush me with words?

“If you say, ‘How shall we [continue to] persecute him?’
And ‘What pretext for a case against him can we find [since we claim the root of these afflictions is found in him]?’

“How often [then] is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out,
And that their disaster falls on them?
Does God distribute pain and destruction and sorrow [to them] in His anger?

“How then can you vainly comfort me with empty words,
Since your answers remain untrue?”

“Is not God in the height of heaven?
And behold the distant stars, how high they are!

“You say, ‘What does God know [about me]?
Can He judge through the thick darkness?

“How then can man be justified and righteous with God?
Or how can he who is born of a woman be pure and clean?

How much less man, that maggot,
And the son of man, that worm!”

“What a help you are to the weak (powerless)!
How you have saved the arm that is without strength!

“How you have counseled the one who has no wisdom!
And how abundantly you have provided sound wisdom and helpful insight!

“Indeed, how could the strength of their hands profit me?
Vigor had perished from them.

“Among the bushes they cry out [like wild animals];
Beneath the prickly scrub they gather and huddle together.

“I am a brother to [howling] jackals,
And a companion to ostriches [which scream dismally].

“I have made a covenant (agreement) with my eyes;
How then could I gaze [lustfully] at a virgin?

“For I do not know how to flatter, [in an appropriate way, and I fear that],
My Maker would soon take me away.

“If there is an angel as a mediator for him,
One out of a thousand,
To explain to a man what is right for him [that is, how to be in right standing with God],

Teach me what I do not see [in regard to how I have sinned];
If I have done wrong (injustice, unrighteousness),
I will not do it again’?

“For you say, ‘What advantage have you [by living a righteous life]?
What profit will I have, more [by being righteous] than if I had sinned?’

“If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him?
And if your transgressions are multiplied, what have you done to Him?

“Even though you say that you do not see Him [when missing His righteous judgment on earth],
Yet your case is before Him, and you must wait for Him!

“Do you know how God establishes and commands them,
And makes the lightning of His [storm] cloud shine?

“Do you know about the layers of thick clouds [and how they are balanced and poised in the heavens],
The wonderful works of Him who is perfect in knowledge,

“Out of the north comes golden splendor [and people can hardly look on it];
Around God is awesome splendor and majesty [far too glorious for man’s eyes].