But he said to her, “You speak as one of the [spiritually] foolish women speaks [ignorant and oblivious to God’s will]. Shall we indeed accept [only] good from God and not [also] accept adversity and disaster?” In [spite of] all this Job did not sin with [words from] his lips.

“As for that night, let darkness seize it;
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
Let it not be counted in the number of the months.

“Or like a miscarriage which is hidden and put away, I would not exist,
Like infants who never saw light.

“As I have seen, those who plow wickedness
And those who sow trouble and harm harvest it.

“For man is born for trouble,
[As naturally] as sparks fly upward.

“As for me, I would seek God and inquire of Him,
And I would commit my cause to God;

“In the daytime they meet in darkness,
And at noon they grope as in the night.

“You will know also that your descendants will be many,
And your offspring as the grass of the earth.

“You will come to your grave in old age,
Like the stacking of grain [on the threshing floor] in its season.

“Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass?
Or does the ox low over his fodder?

“My brothers have acted deceitfully like a brook,
Like the torrents of brooks that vanish,

“Do you intend to reprove my words [with a convincing argument],
When the words of one in despair belong to the wind [and go ignored]?

“As a slave earnestly longs for the shade,
And as a hired man eagerly awaits his wages,

“As a cloud vanishes and is gone,
So he who goes down to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) does not come up.

“If I have sinned, what [harm] have I done to You,
O Watcher of mankind?
Why have You set me as a target for You,
So that I am a burden to myself?

“How long will you say these things?
And will the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

“If he is snatched from his place [in the garden],
Then his place will forget him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’

“Behold, God will not reject a man of integrity,
Nor will He strengthen or support evildoers.

“For God is not a [mere] man, as I am, that I may answer Him,
That we may go to court and judgment together.

‘Do You have eyes of flesh?
Do You see as a man sees?

‘Are Your days as the days of a mortal,
Are Your years as man’s years,

‘Remember now, that You have made me as clay;
So will You turn me into dust again?

‘You renew Your witnesses against me
And increase Your indignation and anger toward me;
Hardship after hardship is with me [attacking me time after time].

‘I should have been as though I had not existed;
[I should have been] carried from the womb to the grave.’

The [sunless] land of utter gloom as darkness itself,
[The land] of the shadow of death, without order,
And [where] it shines as [thick] darkness.”

“His wisdom is as high as the heights of heaven. What can you do?
It is deeper than Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead). What can you know?

“But a hollow (empty-headed) man will become intelligent and wise
[Only] when the colt of a wild donkey is born as a man.

“For you would forget your trouble;
You would remember it as waters that have passed by.

“And your life would be brighter than the noonday;
Darkness [then] would be like the morning.

“But I have intelligence and understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these [of God’s wisdom and might]?

“Now ask the animals, and let them teach you [that God does not deal with His creatures according to their character];
And ask the birds of the air, and let them tell you;

“Who among all these does not recognize [in all these things that good and evil are randomly scattered throughout nature and human life]
That the hand of the Lord has done this,

“Does the ear not put words to the test,
Just as the palate tastes its food [distinguishing between the desirable and the undesirable]?

“He makes priests walk barefoot,
And He overturns men firmly seated and secure.

“Will you show partiality for Him [and be unjust to me so that you may gain favor with Him]?
Will you contend and plead for God?

“Will it be well for you when He investigates you [and your tactics against me]?
Or will you deceive Him as one deceives a man?

“Why do You hide Your face [as if offended]
And consider me Your enemy?

While I waste away like a rotten thing,
Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

“[O God] turn your gaze from him so that he may rest,
Until he fulfills his day [on earth] like a hired man.

“As water evaporates from the sea,
And a river drains and dries up,

“But as a mountain, if it falls, crumbles into nothing,
And as the rock is moved from its place,

Water wears away the stones,
Its floods and torrents wash away the soil of the earth,
So You [O Lord] destroy the hope of man.

“Should a wise man [such as you] utter such windy and vain knowledge [as we have just heard]
And fill himself with the east wind [of withering, parching, and violent accusations]?

“Are the consolations of God [as we have interpreted them to you] too trivial for you,
[Or] were we too gentle toward you [in our first speech] to be effective?

That you should turn your spirit against God
And let such words [as you have spoken] go out of your mouth?

“He will not escape from darkness [fleeing disaster];
The flame [of God’s wrath] will wither his branch,
And by the blast of His mouth he will go away.

“I also could speak like you,
If you were in my place;
I could compose and join words together against you
And shake my head at you.

“I have sewed sackcloth over my skin [as a sign of mourning]
And have defiled my horn (symbol of strength) in the dust.

“Oh, that a man would mediate and plead with God [for me]
Just as a man [mediates and pleads] with his neighbor and friend.

“But as for all of you, come back again,
Even though I do not find a wise man among you.

“But if I look to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) as my home,
If I make my bed in the darkness,

“Why are we regarded as beasts,
As if [we are] stupid (senseless) in your eyes?

“Those in the west are astonished and appalled at his fate,
And those in the east are seized with horror.

“He has also kindled His wrath [like a fire] against me
And He considers and counts me as one of His adversaries.

“Those who live [temporarily] in my house and my maids consider me a stranger;
I am a foreigner in their sight.

“Why do you persecute me as God does?
Why are you not satisfied with my flesh (anguish)?

Whom I, even I, will see for myself,
And my eyes will see Him and not another!
My heart faints within me.

“He flies away like a dream and cannot be found;
Yes, he is chased away like a vision of the night.

“When he fills his belly,
God will send His fierce anger on him
And will rain it upon him while he is eating.

“As for me, is my complaint to man or about him?
And why should I not be impatient and my spirit troubled?

“The [dirt] clods of the valley are sweet to him [and gently cover him],
Moreover, all men will follow after him [to a grave],
While countless ones go before him.

“But He knows the way that I take [and He pays attention to it].
When He has tried me, I will come forth as [refined] gold [pure and luminous].

“Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert,
The poor go to their work, diligently seeking food;
As bread for their children in the desert.

“The murderer rises at dawn;
He kills the poor and the needy,
And at night he becomes a thief.

“They are exalted for a little while, and then they are gone;
Moreover, they are brought low and like everything [they are] gathered up and taken out of the way;
Even like the heads of grain they are cut off.

“As God lives, who has taken away my right and denied me justice,
And the Almighty, who has caused bitterness and grief for my soul,

As long as my life is within me,
And the breath of God is [still] in my nostrils,

“I hold fast my uprightness and my right standing with God and I will not let them go;
My heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

“May my enemy be as the wicked,
And he who rises up against me be as the unrighteous (unjust).

“[As for] the earth, out of it comes food,
But underneath [its surface, down deep] it is turned over as fire.

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

As I was in the prime of my days,
When the friendship and counsel of God were over my tent,

“Then I said, ‘I shall die in my nest,
And I shall multiply my days as the sand.

“They waited for me [and for my words] as for the rain,
And they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.

“I chose a way for them and sat as chief,
And dwelt as a king among his soldiers,
As one who comforts mourners.

“They are driven from the community;
They shout after them as after a thief.

“As through a wide breach they come,
Amid the crash [of falling walls] they roll on [over me].

“Terrors are turned upon me;
They chase away my honor and reputation like the wind,
And my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

(But from my youth the orphan grew up with me as with a father,
And from my mother’s womb I have been the widow’s guide),

If I beheld the sun [as an object of worship] when it shone
Or the moon going in its splendor,

“I assure you, the men of my tent have said,
‘Who can find one [in need] who has not been satisfied with his meat’?

“Surely I would [proudly] bear it on my shoulder,
And bind the scroll around my head like a crown.

“I would count out to Him the number of my steps [with every detail of my life],
Approaching His presence as if I were a prince.

“My belly is like unvented wine;
Like new wineskins it is about to burst.

“However, Job, please listen to my words,
And pay attention to everything I say.

“Behold, I belong to God like you;
I too was formed out of the clay.

‘Behold, God finds pretexts against me;
He counts me as His enemy.

“For the ear puts words to the test
As the palate tastes food.

“He strikes them like the wicked
In a public place,

“Shall God’s retribution [for your sins] be on your terms, because you refuse to accept it?
For you must do the choosing, and not I;
Therefore say what you [truthfully] know.

“For you say, ‘What advantage have you [by living a righteous life]?
What profit will I have, more [by being righteous] than if I had sinned?’

“Your wickedness affects only a man such as you,
And your righteousness affects only a son of man [but it cannot affect God, who is sovereign].

“Behold, God is mighty, and yet does not despise anyone [nor regard any as trivial];
He is mighty in the strength and power of understanding.

“For He draws up the drops of water,
They distill rain from the mist,

“Can you, with Him, spread out the sky,
Strong as a molten mirror?

“Where is the way where light dwells?
And as for darkness, where is its place,

“She treats her young cruelly, as if they were not hers;
Though her labor is in vain because she is unconcerned [for the safety of her brood],

“The quiver rattles against him,
[As do] the flashing spear and the lance [of his rider].

“As often as the trumpet sounds he says, ‘Aha!’
And he smells the battle from far away,
And senses the thunder of the captains and the war cry.

“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars,
Stretching his wings toward the south [as winter approaches]?