After my word, they did not speak again, and my word dropped down [like dew] upon them.

And they waited for me as [for] the rain, and they opened their mouth wide [as] for [the] spring rain.

I smiled for them [when] they had no confidence [in anything], and they did not extinguish the light of my face.

"But now [those] younger than I, as far as days, laugh at me, whose fathers I rejected for setting with the dogs of my sheep and goats.

Moreover, {what use to me is the strength of their hands}? With them, vigor is destroyed.

They abhor me; they keep aloof from me, and they do not withhold spit from my face

because he has loosened his bowstring and humbled me, and they have thrown off restraint {in my presence}.

On [the] right hand the brood rises up; {they put me to flight}, and they build up their {siege ramps} against me.

They destroy my path; they promote my destruction; they have no helper.

Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as [by] the wind, and my hope of deliverance passed by like a cloud.

"And now my life is poured out onto me; days of misery have taken hold of me.

{At night I am in great pain}; my pains do not take a rest.

He seizes my clothing with {great power}; he grasps me by my tunic's collar.

He has cast me into the dirt, and I have become like dust and ashes.

I cry to you for help, but you do not answer me; I stand, and you [merely] look at me.

You have turned cruel to me; you persecute me with your hand's might.

You lift me up to [the] wind--you make me ride [it], and you toss me about [in] the storm.

Indeed, I know [that] you will bring me to death and [to the] house of assembly for all [the] living.

My bowels are in turmoil, and they are not still; days of misery come to confront me.

My skin turns black on me, and my bones burn with heat.

So my lyre came to be [used] for mourning, and my flute [for the] voice of [those who] weep.

"I made a covenant with my eyes, so how could I look closely upon a virgin?

Does he not see my ways and count all my steps?

"If I have walked with falseness, and my foot has hastened to deceit,

let him weigh me in [the] balance of justice, and let God know my blamelessness.

If my steps have turned aside from the way, and my heart has walked after my eyes, and my hand has clung to a spot,

let me sow, and let another eat, and let my crops be rooted out.

"If my heart has been enticed by a woman, and at my neighbor's doorway I have lain in wait,

let my wife grind for another, and let other [men] kneel over her,

Indeed, that [is] a fire that will consume up to Abaddon, and it would uproot all my crop.

"If I have rejected my male or female slave's case when their complaint [was] against me,

Did not he [who] made me in the womb make them? And did not one fashion us in the womb?

or I have eaten my morsel {alone}, and [the] orphan has not eaten from it

(for from my childhood he {grew up with} me like a father, and from my mother's womb I guided her),

if his loins have not blessed me, or by means of my sheep's fleece he has warmed himself,

if I have raised my hand against an orphan because I saw my supporters at the gate,

[then] let my shoulder blade fall from [my] shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket.

Indeed, the disaster from God [was] a dread for me, and {I was powerless} because of his majesty.

"If I have made gold my trust, or I have called fine gold my security,

if I have rejoiced because my wealth [was] great or because my hand found a fortune,

and {I was secretly enticed}, and {my hand threw them a kiss},

"If I have rejoiced at [the] ruin of [the one who] hated me or have exulted when evil overtook him--

no, I have not allowed my mouth to sin, to ask his life with a curse.

{Have the people of my tent not said}, '{O that} someone had not been satisfied with his meat'?

An alien has not lodged in the street; I have opened my door to the traveler.

{Have I concealed} my transgressions as [other] human beings to hide my iniquity in my bosom

because I dreaded [the] great multitude, and [the] contempt of clans terrified me, so that I kept quiet, I did not go out of [the] doorway?

{O that} {I had} someone hearing me! Here is my signature; let Shaddai answer me! {As for} [the] written communication [that] {my adversary} has written,

I would {surely} carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me [like] a crown.

I would give him an account of my steps; I would approach him like a noble.

If my land has cried out against me, and its furrows have wept together,

Then Elihu the son of Barakel the Buzite {spoke up} and said, "{I am young}, but you are old; therefore I feared and became afraid of explaining my knowledge to you.

Therefore I say, 'Listen to me; let me also declare my knowledge myself.'

And I directed my attention to you; and, look, there is no [one] for Job [who] refuted, answering his words among you.

But he did not direct [his] words to me, and I will not answer him with your words.

I myself will answer my share also; I myself will declare my knowledge also,

for I am full of words; {the spirit within me} urges me.

"Look, my internal organs [are] like unopened wine, like new wineskins it is [ready] to burst open.

Let me speak {that I may find relief}; let me open my lips, and let me answer.

{Please let me not show partiality to anyone}, and let me not show flattery to human beings,

for I do not know [how] {to flatter}, [else] my Maker would {soon} put an end to me.

"But now, please hear my speeches, Job, and hear all my words.

Please look, I open my mouth; my tongue in my mouth speaks.

My words [declare] my heart's uprightness, and my lips sincerely speak {what my lips know}.

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of Shaddai gives life to me.

"If you are able, answer me. Present [your argument] {before me}; take your stand.

Look, dread of me should not terrify you, and my hand will not be heavy upon you.

"Surely you have spoken in my ears, and I have heard [the] sound of [your] words:

'I [am] clean, without transgression; I [am] pure, and [there is] no guilt in me.

Look, he finds fault against me; he reckons me as his enemy;

he puts my feet in the block; he watches all my paths.'

"He will sing to men, and he will say, 'I have sinned and have perverted [what is] right, and it was not paid back to me.

He redeemed my life from going down into the pit, so {I will enjoy the light}.'

to bring his life back from [the] pit {so that he may enjoy the light of life}.

"Listen attentively, Job; listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.

If {you have anything to say}, {answer me}; speak, for I desire {to justify you}.

If not, you listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom."

"Hear my words, you wise men, and listen to me, you who know,

for Job has said, 'I am righteous, but God has taken away my justice.

Should I lie concerning my justice? [Though I am] without transgression, my wound caused by an arrow is incurable.'

"Therefore, listen to me, {people who have sense}: far be it from God {that he should commit wickedness} and that Shaddai {should do wrong}.

teach me yourself {what I cannot see}; if I have done wrong, I will not repeat [it]'?

{Those who have sense} say to me, and [the] wise man hearing me [says]:

If you ask what it profits you: 'How do I benefit {by refraining from my sin}?'

But no one says, 'Where [is] God my Maker, [who] gives songs in the night,

"Bear with me a little longer, and {I will explain}, for {I still have something to say on God's behalf}.

I will bring my knowledge from far away, and I will ascribe righteousness to my maker,

for truly my words [are] not falsehood; [one who has] perfect knowledge [is] with you.

"About this also my heart trembles, and it leaps from its place.

{he stops all human beings from working} {so that everyone whom he has made may know it}.

{Prepare yourself for a difficult task like a man}, and I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

"Where were you at my laying the foundation of [the] earth? Tell [me], if you possess understanding.

at my making [the] clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band,

and I prescribed my rule for it, and I set bars and doors,

that you may take it to its territory, and that you might discern the paths to its home?

Can you lift up your voice to the clouds so that a flood of water may cover you?

Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? And will they say to you, 'Here we are'?

"Look, I am insignificant. What shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.

"{Prepare yourself for a difficult task like a man}, and I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

"Indeed, would you annul my justice? Would you condemn me, so that you might be righteous?