‘How much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
Whose foundation is in the dust,
Who are crushed before the moth!

“Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves,
So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

“Teach me, and I will be silent;
And show me how I have erred.

“How painful are honest words!
But what does your argument prove?

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

“In truth I know that this is so;
But how can a man be in the right before God?

“It is God who removes the mountains, they know not how,
When He overturns them in His anger;

“How then can I answer Him,
And choose my words before Him?

“How many are my iniquities and sins?
Make known to me my rebellion and my sin.

How much less one who is detestable and corrupt,
Man, who drinks iniquity like water!

“How long will you hunt for words?
Show understanding and then we can talk.

“How long will you torment me
And crush me with words?

“If you say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’
And ‘What pretext for a case against him can we find?’

“How often is the lamp of the wicked put out,
Or does their calamity fall on them?
Does God apportion destruction in His anger?

“How then will you vainly comfort me,
For your answers remain full of falsehood?”

“Is not God in the height of heaven?
Look also at the distant stars, how high they are!

“How then can a man be just with God?
Or how can he be clean who is born of woman?

How much less man, that maggot,
And the son of man, that worm!”

“What a help you are to the weak!
How you have saved the arm without strength!

“Behold, these are the fringes of His ways;
And how faint a word we hear of Him!
But His mighty thunder, who can understand?”

“I have made a covenant with my eyes;
How then could I gaze at a virgin?

“For I do not know how to flatter,
Else my Maker would soon take me away.

“How much less when you say you do not behold Him,
The case is before Him, and you must wait for Him!

“Do you know how God establishes them,
And makes the lightning of His cloud to shine?