Art thou the first man that was born? and wast thou brought forth before the hills?

Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God, that all wisdom is too little for thee?

“What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that we do not?

Are God’s consolations not enough for you,
even the words that deal gently with you?

That you should turn your spirit against God
And allow such words to go out of your mouth?

What is man that he is pure, And that he is righteous, one born of woman?

How much less the abominable and corrupt, man, that drinketh unrighteousness like water!

“I will tell you, listen to me;
And what I have seen I will also declare;

Which, wise men, tell, and deny not that which is from their fathers.

unto whom only the land was given, that no stranger should come among them.

All his days the wicked man suffers torment, throughout the number of the years that are stored up for the tyrant.

“He does not believe that he will return from darkness,
And he is destined for the sword.

He is wandering for bread -- 'Where is it?' He hath known that ready at his hand Is a day of darkness.

And he inhabiteth cities cut off, houses not dwelt in, That have been ready to become heaps.

Let no one trust in him that - by vanity - is deceived, for, vanity, shall be his recompense;

He will be like a vine that drops its unripe grapes
and like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms.

Is there an end to words of wind? Or what doth embolden thee that thou answerest?

I could speak as ye do also. But would God, that your soul were in my soul's stead: then should I heap up words against you, and shake my head at you.

But now that God hath sent me adversity, thou hast troubled all my congregation.

And that thou hast filled me with wrinkles, my flesh is witness; and my leanness riseth up against me and beareth witness thereof in my face.

GOD doth abandon me to him that is perverse, and, into the hands of the lawless, he throweth me headlong.

Even now, behold, my Witness is in the heavens, and he that voucheth for me is in the heights.

And, he that voucheth for me is on high. My friends are, they who scorn me, Unto GOD, hath mine eye shed tears: -

“O that a man might plead with God
As a man with his neighbor!

For the years that lie ahead are few, and then I will go on the way of no return.

Place, I pray Thee, my pledge with Thee; Who is he that striketh hand with me?

He that betrayeth friends for a prey even the eyes of his children shall fail.

But the righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall increase in strength.

“These [thoughts try to] make the night into the day;
‘The light is near,’ they say in the presence of darkness [but they pervert the truth].

"If my hope were that my house is the afterlife itself, if I were to make my bed in darkness,

If I call out to the pit (grave), ‘You are my father’;
And to the worm [that feeds on decay], ‘You are my mother and my sister [because I will soon be closest to you],’

What helpeth then my long tarrying? Or, who will fulfill the thing that I look for?

Will it go down to the bars that lock the doors of the afterlife? Will we descend together into the dust?"

Thou that tearest thyself in thine anger, shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of its place?

"He is petrified by terror that surrounds him on all sides; they chase at his heels.

In his tent will be seen that which is not his, burning stone is dropped on his house.

They that come after shall be astonished at his day, as they that went before them were affrighted.

Surely, such are the dwellings of the unrighteous man, and such the place of him that knoweth not God.

“These ten times you have insulted me;
You are not ashamed to wrong me [and harden your hearts against me].

And be it that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.

But if ye will enhance yourselves against me, and accuse me to be a wicked person because of the shame that is come upon me;

Know now, that God turned me upside down, And His net against me hath set round,

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

He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined.
He uproots my hope like a tree.

They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.

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

Who doth grant now, That my words may be written? Who doth grant that in a book they may be graven?

“That with an iron stylus and lead
They were engraved in the rock forever!

That -- I have known my Redeemer, The Living and the Last, For the dust he doth rise.

that I shall be clothed again with this skin, and see God in my flesh.

“If you say, ‘How shall we [continue to] persecute him?’
And ‘What pretext for a case against him can we find [since we claim the root of these afflictions is found in him]?’

Be ye afraid because of the sword, For furious are the punishments of the sword, That ye may know that there is a judgment.

Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, Even by reason of my haste that is in me.

When I hear a reproof that dishonors me, then my understanding prompts me to answer.

Knowest thou not this, that of old, since man was placed upon earth,

That the singing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the profane for a moment,

Though he be magnified up to the heaven, so that his head reacheth into the clouds:

Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: They that have seen him shall say, Where is he?

He vanisheth as a dream, so that he can no more be found, and passeth away as a vision in the night.

The eye that hath scanned him, shall not do it again, neither, any more, shall his place behold him:

His children are hoping that the poor will be kind to them, and his hands give back his wealth.

His bones were full of his youthful vigor, but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust.

That he favoured, that would he not forsake; but kept it close in his throat.

The bread that he did eat is turned to the poison of serpents, within his body.

The wealth that he consumed he vomits up, God will make him throw it out of his stomach.

so that he shall no more see the rivers, and brooks of honey and butter.

That which he laboured for shall he restore, and not swallow down; its restitution shall be according to the value, and he shall not rejoice therein.

For he hath oppressed, hath forsaken the poor; he hath violently taken away a house that he did not build.

“Because he knew no quietness or calm within him [because of his greed],
He does not retain anything he desires.

"Nothing is left for him to devour; that is why his prosperity does not last.

In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: The hand of every one that is in misery shall come upon him.

It shall be that, to fill his belly, he will cast his fierce anger upon him, and will rain it upon him into his flesh.

so that if he flee the iron weapons, he shall be shot with the steel bow.

All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.

The substance that he hath in his house, shall be taken away and perish, in the day of the LORD's wrath.

This is what the wicked person inherits from God; it is the inheritance that God appoints for him."

“Bear with me that I may speak;
Then after I have spoken, you may mock.

Is it with a man, that I make this disputation? Which if it were so, should not my spirit be then in sore trouble?

Their bullock gendereth, and that not out of time: their cow calveth, and is not unfruitful.

What is the Mighty One that we serve Him? And what do we profit when we meet with Him?'

“How often [then] is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out,
And that their disaster falls on them?
Does God distribute pain and destruction and sorrow [to them] in His anger?

Do they become as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away?

“You say, ‘God stores away a man’s iniquity for his sons.’
Let God repay him so that he may know it.

“Can anyone teach God knowledge,
In that He judges those on high?

Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,

That to a day of calamity is the wicked spared. To a day of wrath they are brought.

Who doth declare to his face his way? And for that which he hath done, Who doth give recompence to him?

Why then do you give me comfort with words in which there is no profit, when you see that there is nothing in your answers but deceit?

Can a man be profitable to God? surely it is unto himself that the wise man is profitable.

Is it a delight to the Mighty One That thou art righteous? is it gain, That thou makest perfect thy ways?

“Is it because of your reverence that He reproves you,
That He enters into judgment against you?

That is why snares surround you, and why sudden fear terrifies you,

Or darkness, so that you cannot see,
And an abundance of water covers you.

Is not God high in heaven? And see the summit of the stars, That they are high.

‘Clouds are a hiding place for Him, so that He cannot see;
And He walks on the vault of heaven.’

The path of the age dost thou observe, That men of iniquity have trodden?

‘Surely our adversaries are cut off and destroyed,
And fire has consumed their abundance.’

“Now yield and submit yourself to Him [agree with God and be conformed to His will] and be at peace;
In this way [you will prosper and great] good will come to you.

Indeed, then you will delight yourself in Shaddai, and {you will expect that God will be good to you}.

When they are made low, then thou shalt say, Rise up! and he shall save him that is of downcast eyes.