They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.

What is Shaddai, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?'

Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

"How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out, that their calamity comes on them, that God distributes sorrows in his anger?

Let his own eyes see his destruction. Let him drink of the wrath of Shaddai.

For what does he care for his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?

His pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moistened.

Another dies in bitterness of soul, and never tastes of good.

For you say, 'Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?'

that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity, That they are led forth to the day of wrath?

The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him. All men shall draw after him, as there were innumerable before him.

For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover you.

"Isn't God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are.

Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn't see. He walks on the vault of the sky.'

Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

saying, 'Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed the remnant of them.'

If you return to Shaddai, you shall be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents.

Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.

He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."

"Even today my complaint is rebellious. His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.

Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No, but he would listen to me.

"If I go east, he is not there; if west, I can't find him;

He works to the north, but I can't see him. He turns south, but I can't catch a glimpse of him.

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

Therefore I am terrified at his presence. When I consider, I am afraid of him.

Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.

They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves.

They cut their provender in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked.

They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.

There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,

They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst.

From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn't regard the folly.

"These are of those who rebel against the light. They do not know its ways, nor abide in its paths.

The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, 'No eye shall see me.' He disguises his face.

For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness, for they know the terrors of the thick darkness.

"They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the earth. They do not turn into the way of the vineyards.

Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life.

They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone. Yes, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.

If it isn't so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?"

How then can man be just with God? Or how can he who is born of a woman be clean?

How much less man, who is a worm, the son of man, who is a worm."

He encloses the face of his throne, and spreads his cloud on it.

He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters, and to the confines of light and darkness.

The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his rebuke.

Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. How small a whisper do we hear of him. But the thunder of his power who can understand?"

(For the length of my life is still in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils);

For what is the hope of the godless, when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?

I will teach you about the hand of God. That which is with Shaddai will I not conceal.

Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?

"This is the portion of a wicked man with God, the heritage of oppressors, which they receive from Shaddai.

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

Those who remain of him shall be buried in death. His widows shall make no lamentation.

The east wind carries him away, and he departs. It sweeps him out of his place.

Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.

Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted out of the ore.

Man sets an end to darkness, and searches out, to the furthest bound, the stones of obscurity and of thick darkness.

As for the earth, out of it comes bread; Underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.

Sapphires come from its rocks. It has dust of gold.

That path no bird of prey knows, neither has the falcon's eye seen it.

"But where shall wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding?

Man doesn't know its price; Neither is it found in the land of the living.

It can't be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.

Gold and glass can't equal it, neither shall it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal. Yes, the price of wisdom is above rubies.

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

Whence then comes wisdom? Where is the place of understanding?

Seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the birds of the sky.

Destruction and Death say, 'We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.'

For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole sky.

He establishes the force of the wind. Yes, he measures out the waters by measure.

When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder;

To man he said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.'"

"Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;

as I was in the ripeness of my days, when the friendship of God was in my tent,

when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out streams of oil for me,

The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

I was a father to the needy. The cause of him who I did not know, I searched out.

I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the prey out of his teeth.

I smiled on them when they had no confidence. They did not reject the light of my face.

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

They are gaunt from lack and famine. They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation.

They pluck salt herbs by the bushes. The roots of the broom are their food.

They are driven out from the midst of men. They cry after them as after a thief;

So that they dwell in frightful valleys, and in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

They are children of fools, yes, children of base men. They were flogged out of the land.

For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me; and they have thrown off restraint before me.

On my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet, They cast up against me their ways of destruction.

As through a wide breach they come, in the midst of the ruin they roll themselves in.

"Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold on me.

By great force is my garment disfigured. It binds me about as the collar of my coat.

You have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me.

My heart is troubled, and doesn't rest. Days of affliction have come on me.

Therefore my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.

Is it not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?

"If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit

if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands,