Haven't you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face."

Yahweh said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don't put forth your hand." So Satan went forth from the presence of Yahweh.

While he was still speaking, there also came another, and said, "The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

He said, "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be the name of Yahweh."

Satan answered Yahweh, and said, "Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.

Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

So the poor has hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.

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

Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience.

God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?

You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit.

that he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom has two sides. Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.

Who doesn't know that in all these, the hand of Yahweh has done this,

"With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.

"Behold, my eye has seen all this. My ear has heard and understood it.

But his flesh on him has pain, and his soul within him mourns."

Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty;

because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat on his thighs.

He has lived in desolate cities, in houses which no one inhabited, which were ready to become heaps.

He has torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me. He has gnashed on me with his teeth. My adversary sharpens his eyes on me.

I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up for his target.

"But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face.

Yet shall the righteous hold on his way. He who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger.

know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.

He has walled up my way so that I can't pass, and has set darkness in my paths.

He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. My hope he has plucked up like a tree.

He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries.

"He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.

"Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.

He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly.

That for which he labored he shall restore, and shall not swallow it down. According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice.

For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.

Who shall declare his way to his face? Who shall repay him what he has done?

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

But he knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I shall come forth like gold.

My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned aside.

For God has made my heart faint. The Almighty has terrified me.

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

Behold, even the moon has no brightness, and the stars are not pure in his sight;

"How have you helped him who is without power! How have you saved the arm that has no strength!

How have you counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge!

Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.

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

By his Spirit the heavens are garnished. His hand has pierced the swift serpent.

"As God lives, who has taken away my right, the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter.

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.

The proud animals have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed by there.

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

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

Terrors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.

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

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

"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,

"If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor's door,

or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it

if his heart hasn't blessed me, if he hasn't been warmed with my sheep's fleece;

and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,

if the men of my tent have not said, 'Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?'

(the foreigner has not lodged in the street, but I have opened my doors to the traveler);

for he has not directed his words against me; neither will I answer him with your speeches.

Behold, my breast is as wine which has no vent; like new wineskins it is ready to burst.

See now, I have opened my mouth. My tongue has spoken in my mouth.

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

He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit. My life shall see the light.'

For Job has said, 'I am righteous, God has taken away my right:

For he has said, 'It profits a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.'

Who put him in charge of the earth? or who has appointed him over the whole world?

"For has any said to God, 'I am guilty, but I will not offend any more.

But now, because he has not visited in his anger, neither does he greatly regard arrogance.

Who has prescribed his way for him? Or who can say, 'You have committed unrighteousness?'

He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he has made may know it.

Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm;

Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it?

Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?

"Who has set the wild donkey free? Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey,

because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding.

Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.

It was so, that after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job, Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.

Now therefore, take to yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him, that I not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has."