Only, now, it hath wearied me; Thou hast desolated all my company,

“You have shriveled me up,
It has become a witness;
And my leanness rises up against me,
It testifies to my face.

“His anger has torn me and hunted me down,
He has gnashed at me with His teeth;
My adversary glares at me.

“God hands me over to criminals
And tosses me [headlong] into the hands of the wicked.

“I was at ease, but He shattered me,
And He has grasped me by the neck and shaken me to pieces;
He has also set me up as His target.

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

"Listen, earth! Don't cover my blood, for my outcry has no place to rest.

For their heart Thou hast hidden From understanding, Therefore Thou dost not exalt them.

“But He has made me a byword of the people,
And I am one at whom men spit.

“My eye has also grown dim because of grief,
And all my members are as a shadow.

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

“Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his way,
And he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.

For he has been thrown into a net by his feet and he wanders into a mesh.

“Memory of him perishes from the earth,
And he has no name abroad.

“He has no offspring or posterity among his people,
Nor any survivor where he sojourned.

Truly, these are the houses of the sinner, and this is the place of him who has no knowledge of God.

Know then that God has wronged me
And has closed His net around me.

“He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,
And He has put darkness on my paths.

“He has stripped my honor from me
And removed the crown from my head.

“He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone;
And He has uprooted my hope like a tree.

“He has also kindled His anger against me
And considered me as His enemy.

“He has removed my brothers far from me,
And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

All the men of my counsel detest me, even this one I loved has turned against me.

“Pity me, pity me, O you my friends,
For the hand of God has struck me.

Why are you chasing me, as God has been doing? Aren't you satisfied that I'm sick?

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

This hast thou known from antiquity? Since the placing of man on earth?

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

The eye which saw him sees him no longer; and his place has no more knowledge of him.

“He swallows [his ill-gotten] riches,
But will vomit them up;
God will drive them out of his belly.

“He returns what he has attained
And cannot swallow it;
As to the riches of his trading,
He cannot even enjoy them.

“For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor;
He has seized a house which he has not built.

Because he has not known satisfaction in his stomach, {he lets nothing escape that he desires}.

{There is nothing left after he has eaten}; therefore his prosperity will not endure.

"It will come about that, when he has filled himself to the full, God will vent his burning anger on him; he will pour it out on him and on his body.

Total darkness waits to receive his treasures; a fire which has not been kindled will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.

For what interest has he in his house after him, when the number of his months is ended?

Yet another dies with a bitter inner self and has not tasted prosperity.

How the evil man goes free in the day of trouble, and has salvation in the day of wrath?

“Who will confront him with his actions,
And who will repay him for what he has done?

For thou hast taken a pledge of thy brother for nought, and stripped off the clothing of the naked.

Thou hast not given water to the fainting to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.

Widows thou hast sent away empty, And the arms of the fatherless are bruised.

And thou hast said, 'What -- hath God known? Through thickness doth He judge?

Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?

Saying, ‘Truly our adversaries are cut off,
And their abundance the fire has consumed.’

Accept what he has to teach you, and treasure his words in your heart.

If only I knew where to find him, I would visit him where he has taken his seat.

“But He knows the way I take;
When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

“My foot has held fast to His path;
I have kept His way and not turned aside.

I haven't wandered away from the commands that he has spoken; I've treasured what he has said more than my own meals."

But he is unchangeable, and who can change him? Whatever he has desired, he does.

For what has been ordered for me by him will be gone through to the end: and his mind is full of such designs

“It is God who has made my heart faint,
And the Almighty who has dismayed me,

But I am not silenced by the darkness [of these woes that fell on me],
Nor by the thick darkness which covers my face.

They send away the ass of him who has no father, they take the widow's ox for debt.

The public place of his town has no more knowledge of him, and his name has gone from the memory of men: he is rooted up like a dead tree.

He is not kind to the widow, and he has no pity for her child.

“But He drags off the valiant by His power;
He rises, but no one has assurance of life.

“If even the moon has no brightness
And the stars are not pure in His sight,

What -- thou hast helped the powerless, Saved an arm not strong!

What -- thou hast given counsel to the unwise, And wise plans in abundance made known.

With whom hast thou declared words? And whose breath came forth from thee?

“Naked is Sheol before Him,
And Abaddon has no covering.

He has enclosed the face of the full moon and spread his clouds over it.

“He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters
At the boundary of light and darkness.

“By His breath the heavens are cleared;
His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent.

“As God lives, who has taken away my right,
And the Almighty, who has embittered my soul,

I will keep it safe, and will not let it go: my heart has nothing to say against any part of my life.

“For what is the hope of the godless, even though he has gained [in this world],
When God takes his life?

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

If he has many children, their destiny is to die by the sword, and his descendants won't have enough food.

“He has built his house like the spider’s web,
Or as a hut which the watchman has made.

And it hurls at him, and it has no compassion; he will quickly flee from its power.

Its stones are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold.

“The path no bird of prey knows,
Nor has the falcon’s eye caught sight of it.

“The proud beasts have not trodden it,
Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.

On the flinty rock man has set to work with his hand; he has overturned mountains at their bases.

He has cut out channels through the rocks; his eyes have spotted every precious thing.

He has searched the sources of the rivers and what was hidden he has brought into the light.

Man has not seen the way to it, and it is not in the land of the living.

For it has been hidden from the eyes of every living creature, and from the birds of the sky it has been concealed.

God has knowledge of the way to it, and of its resting-place;

He has commanded mankind: "To fear the Lord that is wisdom; to move away from evil that is understanding.'"

Of what use is the strength of their hands to me, men in whom ripe age has perished?

But God has loosened his cord and afflicted me; so they've cast off all restraints in my presence.

“Terrors are turned against me;
They pursue my honor as the wind,
And my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

"Now, my soul pours itself out; the time of my affliction has taken control of me.

“He has cast me into the mire,
And I have become like dust and ashes.

Thou hast become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.

In times past thou didst set me up on high, as it were above the wind, but now hast thou given me a very sore fall.

Has not my hand been stretched out in help to the poor? have I not been a saviour to him in his trouble?

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

I'm boiling mad inside, and I won't remain silent; the time for my affliction to confront me has arrived.

My skin has turned dark on me; my body is hot with fever.

And my music has been turned to sorrow, and the sound of my pipe into the noise of weeping.

“If I have walked with falsehood,
And my foot has hastened after deceit,

“If my step has turned from the way,
Or my heart followed my eyes,
Or if any spot has stuck to my hands,

"If my heart has been seduced by a woman and I've laid in wait at my friend's door,

Or have eaten my morsel alone,
And the orphan has not shared it