Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night that said, There is a man child conceived.

For I feared a fear, and it hath come upon me, and that which I dreaded hath come to me.

Call, I pray thee! Is there any that answereth thee? and to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn?

Shall that which is insipid be eaten without salt? Is there any taste in the white of an egg?

Then should I yet have comfort; and in the pain which spareth not I would rejoice that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a stream, as the channel of streams which pass away,

Which are turbid by reason of the ice, in which the snow hideth itself:

Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that thou settest a watch over me?

If thou put far away the iniquity which is in thy hand, and let not wrong dwell in thy tents;

If his days are determined, if the number of his months is with thee, and thou hast appointed his bounds which he must not pass,

For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?

The waters wear the stones, the floods thereof wash away the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.

Reasoning with unprofitable talk, and with speeches which do no good?

What knowest thou that we know not? what understandest thou which is not in us?

Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hidden;

And he dwelleth in desolate cities, in houses that no man inhabiteth, which are destined to become heaps.

Like his own dung doth he perish for ever; they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

The eye which saw him shall see him not again; and his place beholdeth him no more.

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.

Yet is he carried to the graves, and watch is kept over the tomb.

Dost thou mark the ancient path which wicked men have trodden?

This is the portion of the wicked man with God, and the heritage of the violent, which they receive from the Almighty: --

Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold which they refine;

I was a father to the needy, and the cause which I knew not I searched out;

But there is a spirit which is in man; and the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; like new flasks, it is ready to burst.

Remember that thou magnify his work, which men celebrate.

For he draweth up the drops of water: they distil in rain from the vapour which he formeth,

Which the skies pour down and drop upon man abundantly.

God thundereth marvellously with his voice, doing great things which we do not comprehend.

Which I have reserved for the time of distress, for the day of battle and war?

See now the behemoth, which I made with thee: he eateth grass as an ox.

Who is he that obscureth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered what I did not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.