Even if my cause was good, I would not be able to give an answer; I would make request for grace from him who was against me.

Though I was in the right, he would say that I was in the wrong; I have done no evil; but he says that I am a sinner.

Your hands made me, and I was formed by you, but then, changing your purpose, you gave me up to destruction.

Was I not drained out like milk, becoming hard like cheese?

By you I was clothed with skin and flesh, and joined together with bones and muscles.

But you kept these things in the secret of your heart; I am certain this was in your thoughts:

That, if I was an evil-doer, the curse would come on me; and if I was upright, my head would not be lifted up, being full of shame and overcome with trouble.

And that if there was cause for pride, you would go after me like a lion; and again put out your wonders against me:

Why is your face veiled from me, as if I was numbered among your haters?

Are the comforts of God not enough for you, and the gentle word which was said to you?

For only to them was the land given, and no strange people were among them:)

And he has made his resting-place in the towns which have been pulled down, in houses where no man had a right to be, whose fate was to become masses of broken walls.

I was in comfort, but I have been broken up by his hands; he has taken me by the neck, shaking me to bits; he has put me up as a mark for his arrows.

He is pulled out of his tent where he was safe, and he is taken away to the king of fears.

Have you knowledge of this from early times, when man was placed on the earth,

For you have taken your brother's goods when he was not in your debt, and have taken away the clothing of those who have need of it.

For it was the man with power who had the land, and the man with an honoured name who was living in it.

By his power the sea was made quiet; and by his wisdom Rahab was wounded.

By his wind the heavens become bright: by his hand the quickly moving snake was cut through.

If only I might again be as I was in the months which are past, in the days when God was watching over me!

When his light was shining over my head, and when I went through the dark by his light.

As I was in my flowering years, when my tent was covered by the hand of God;

While the Ruler of all was still with me, and my children were round me;

For when it came to their ears, men said that I was truly happy; and when their eyes saw, they gave witness to me;

For I was a saviour to the poor when he was crying for help, to the child with no father, and to him who had no supporter.

The blessing of him who was near to destruction came on me, and I put a song of joy into the widow's heart.

I put on righteousness as my clothing, and was full of it; right decisions were to me a robe and a head-dress.

I was eyes to the blind, and feet to him who had no power of walking.

I was a father to the poor, searching out the cause of him who was strange to me.

After I had said what was in my mind, they were quiet and let my words go deep into their hearts;

I was laughing at them when they had no hope, and the light of my face was never clouded by their fear.

I took my place as a chief, guiding them on their way, and I was as a king among his army. ...

Have I not been weeping for the crushed? and was not my soul sad for him who was in need?

For I was looking for good, and evil came; I was waiting for light, and it became dark.

If my heart went after another man's wife, or if I was waiting secretly at my neighbour's door;

If I kept back the desire of the poor; if the widow's eye was looking for help to no purpose;

(For I was cared for by God as by a father from my earliest days; he was my guide from the body of my mother;)

If my hand had been lifted up against him who had done no wrong, when I saw that I was supported by the judges;

If I was glad because my wealth was great, and because my hand had got together a great store;

If I was glad at the trouble of my hater, and gave cries of joy when evil overtook him;

And Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was angry, burning with wrath against Job, because he seemed to himself more right than God;

And he was angry with his three friends, because they had been unable to give him an answer, and had not made Job's sin clear.

Now Elihu had kept quiet while Job was talking, because they were older than he;

And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men, he was very angry.

And Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, made answer and said, I am young, and you are very old, so I was in fear, and kept myself from putting my knowledge before you.

I was waiting for your words, I was giving ear to your wise sayings; while you were searching out what to say,

I was taking note; and truly not one of you was able to make clear Job's error, or to give an answer to his words.

See, I am the same as you are in the eyes of God; I was cut off from the same bit of wet earth.

By whom were its measures fixed? Say, if you have wisdom; or by whom was the line stretched out over it?

I have said once, and even twice, what was in my mind, but I will not do so again.

Under him are sharp edges of broken pots: as if he was pulling a grain-crushing instrument over the wet earth.

And the Lord made up to Job for all his losses, after he had made prayer for his friends: and all Job had before was increased by the Lord twice as much.

And the Lord's blessing was greater on the end of Job's life than on its start: and so he came to have fourteen thousand sheep and goats, and six thousand camels, and two thousand oxen, and a thousand she-asses.

If I have given back evil to him who did evil to me, or have taken anything from him who was against me without cause;

The Lord was looking down from heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any who had wisdom, searching after God.

Then trouble and shock came on the earth; and the bases of the mountains were moved and shaking, because he was angry.

The heavens were bent, so that he might come down; and it was dark under his feet.

He made the dark his secret place; his tent round him was the dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

The Lord made thunder in the heavens, and the voice of the Highest was sounding out: a rain of ice and fire.

They came on me in the day of my trouble; but the Lord was my support.

He took me out into a wide place; he was my saviour because he had delight in me.

And I was upright before him, and I kept myself from sin.

By your help I have made a way through the wall which was shutting me in; by the help of my God I have gone over a wall.

They were crying out, but there was no one to come to their help: even to the Lord, but he gave them no answer.

But it was you who took care of me from the day of my birth: you gave me faith even from my mother's breasts.

I was in your hands even before my birth; you are my God from the time when I was in my mother's body.

Do not keep in mind my sins when I was young, or my wrongdoing: let your memory of me be full of mercy, O Lord, because of your righteousness.

Even if an army came against me with its tents, my heart would have no fear: if war was made on me, my faith would not be moved.

False statements against me have come to my ears; fear was on every side: they were talking together against me, designing to take away my life.

For the weight of your hand was on me day and night; my body became dry like the earth in summer. (Selah.)

For he gave the word, and it was done; by his order it was fixed for ever.

I was searching for the Lord, and he gave ear to my voice, and made me free from all my fears.

But as for me, when they were ill I put on the clothing of sorrow: I went without food and was sad, and my prayer came back again to my heart.

My behaviour was as if it had been my friend or my brother: I was bent low in grief like one whose mother is dead.

Like men of deceit they put me to shame; the voice of their wrath was loud against me.

But he came to an end, and there was no sign of him; I made a search for him and he was not there.

I made no sound, I said no word, even of good; and I was moved with sorrow.

My heart was burning in my breast; while I was deep in thought the fire was lighted; then I said with my tongue,

I was quiet, and kept my mouth shut; because you had done it.

When I was waiting quietly for the Lord, his heart was turned to me, and he gave ear to my cry.

For they did not make the land theirs by their swords, and it was not their arms which kept them safe; but your right hand, and your arm, and the light of your face, because you had pleasure in them.

Truly, I was formed in evil, and in sin did my mother give me birth.

God was looking down from heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any who had wisdom, searching after God.

They were in great fear, where there was no cause for fear: for the bones of those who make war on you have been broken by God; you have put them to shame, because God has no desire for them.

For it was not my hater who said evil of me; that would have been no grief to me; it was not one outside the number of my friends who made himself strong against me, or I would have kept myself from him in a secret place;

But it was you, my equal, my guide, my well-loved friend.

He has taken my soul away from the attack which was made against me, and given it peace; for great numbers were against me.

The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, but they were sharp swords.

The sea was turned into dry land: they went through the river on foot: there did we have joy in him.

Keeping the word which came from my lips, and which my mouth said, when I was in trouble.

My voice went up to him, and I was lifted up from the underworld.

The earth was shaking and the heavens were streaming, because God was present; even Sinai itself was moved before God, the God of Israel.

Those whose resting-place was there, even the poor, were comforted by your good things, O God.

When the Most High put the kings to flight, it was as white as snow in Salmon.

To him who goes or the clouds of heaven, the heaven which was from earliest times; he sends out his voice of power.

You have seen my shame, how I was laughed at and made low; my haters are all before you.

My heart is broken by bitter words, I am full of grief; I made a search for some to have pity on me, but there was no one; I had no comforter.

For you are my hope, O Lord God; I have had faith in you from the time when I was young.

O God, you have been my teacher from the time when I was young; and I have been talking of your works of wonder even till now.

But as for me, my feet had almost gone from under me; I was near to slipping;