How vain, then, is the comfort that ye give me? Are not your answers clean contrary to right and truth?"

Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?

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.

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

Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.

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

Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.

They were seized, but there was not time; their foundation was poured out by a flood;

Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.

He will deliver even him that is not innocent: Yea, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of thy hands.

I would note the words wherewith he would respond to me, and would mark what he would say to me.

Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:

On the left hand, where he doth work, but I behold him not; he hideth himself on the right hand, and I see him not.

My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.

I have not gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.

Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?

“They harvest their fodder in a field [that is not their own],
And glean the vineyard of the wicked.

They lie all night naked without clothing, And have no covering in the cold.

“They cause the poor to go about naked without clothing,
And they take away the sheaves [of grain] from the hungry.

Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.

They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.

The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.

And the man whose desire is for the wife of another is waiting for the evening, saying, No eye will see me; and he puts a cover on his face. And in the night the thief goes about;

In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.

For the middle of the night is as morning to them, they are not troubled by the fear of the dark.

He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.

He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.

And though they might be safe, yet they will not receive it, for their eyes look upon their own ways.

High they were for a little, and they are not, And they have been brought low. As all others they are shut up, And as the head of an ear of corn cut off.

And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?

Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?

Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.

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

How have you advised those not wise, or fully declared wise plans?

yea, and all they which dwell beneath in the hell are not hid from him, and the very destruction itself cannot be kept out of his sight.

He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.

He holdeth back his stool, that it can not be seen, and spreadeth his clouds before it.

He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.

My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.

God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.

My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

Verily, in the Almighty, he will not find delight, nor call on GOD continually!

I will teach you by the hand of God: that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.

If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep.

The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he is not.

Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night.

For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.

There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen:

The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.

He bindeth the streams that they trickle not; And the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.

Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.

The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me.

Gold is not given for it, Nor is silver weighed -- its price.

It is not set in the balance with gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, and the sapphire.

The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.

Corals and pearl are not remembered, The acquisition of wisdom is above rubies.

The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.

I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.

My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch.

After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them.

If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down.

But now those who are younger than I make sport of me; those whose fathers I would not have put with the dogs of my flocks.

Emaciated from poverty and hunger,
they gnawed the dry land,
the desolate wasteland by night.

They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

They tear up my pathways; they profit from my destruction, and they need no help to do this!

My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.

I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.

Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?

My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.

I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up, I cry in the congregation.

I made a covenant with mine eyes, that I would not look upon a damsel.

Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?

Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?

Verily I walked not in falsity, nor did my foot haste unto deceit: -

Let him weigh me in balances of righteousness, - and let GOD take note of mine integrity!

Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?

Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;

If I saw one near to death for need of clothing, and that the poor had nothing covering him;

If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

If I shook - against the fatherless - my hand, when I saw, in the gate, his need of my help,

For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.

(Yea, I have not suffered by mouth to sin By asking his life with a curse);

If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.

The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.

Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?

Would I not take it upon my shoulder? I would bind it on to me as a crown;

and against his three friends hath his anger burned, because that they have not found an answer, and condemn Job.

But when he saw that the three men could not answer Job, he became angry.

And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not shew you mine opinion.

Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment.

“I even paid close attention to [what] you [said],
Indeed, not one of you convinced Job [nor could you refute him],
Not one of you supplied [satisfactory] answers to his words.

Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom: God thrusteth him down, not man.

Now he hath not directed his words against me: neither will I answer him with your speeches.

They are amazed, they answer no more: They have not a word to say.

When I had waited, (for they spake not, but stood still, and answered no more;)

Lo, my breast is as wine not opened, Like new bottles it is broken up.

"Let me speak! I need relief! Let me open my lips and respond.