Who wait for death, but it does not come,
And dig (search) for death more [diligently] than for hidden treasures,

‘Can [mortal] man be just before God or be more righteous than He?
Can a man be pure before his Maker or be more cleansed than He?

‘How much more [will He blame and charge] those who dwell in houses (bodies) of clay,
Whose foundations are in the dust,
Who are crushed like a moth.

“Remember that my life is but breath [a puff of wind, a sigh];
My eye will not see good again.

“The eye of him who sees me [now] will see me no more;
Your eyes will be upon me, but I will not be.

“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.

“He will not return again to his house,
Nor will his place know about him anymore.

“Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
And the tents of the wicked will be no longer.”

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

So man lies down and does not rise [again].
Until the heavens are no longer,
The dead will not awake nor be raised from their sleep.

“The eye which saw him sees him no longer,
Neither does his [accustomed] place behold him any longer.

His pails are full of milk [his sides are filled out with fat],
And the marrow of his bones is moist,

“I have not departed from the commandment of His lips;
I have kept the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.

“A mother will forget him;
The worm feeds on him until he is no longer remembered.
And wickedness will be broken like a tree [which cannot be restored].

“Yet these are just the fringes of His ways [mere samples of His power],
The faintest whisper of His voice!
Who can contemplate the thunder of His [full] mighty power?”

“God has cast me into the mire [a swampland of crisis],
And I have become [worthless] like dust and ashes.

“They (Job’s friends) are dismayed and embarrassed, they no longer answer;
The words have moved away and failed them,” [says Elihu].

“And shall I wait, because they say nothing,
But stand still and say no more?

“For I do not know how to flatter, [in an appropriate way, and I fear that],
My Maker would soon take me away.

“For God speaks once,
And even twice, yet no one notices it [including you, Job].

“Let his flesh be restored and become fresher than in youth;
Let him return to the days of his youthful strength.

“Who is not partial to princes,
Nor does He regard the rich above the poor,
For they all are the work of His hands.

“For has anyone said to God,
‘I have endured my chastisement;
I will not offend anymore;

Teach me what I do not see [in regard to how I have sinned];
If I have done wrong (injustice, unrighteousness),
I will not do it again’?

“Do you think this is according to [your] justice?
Do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s’?

“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?’

Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth
And makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’

Job uselessly opens his mouth
And multiplies words without knowledge [drawing the worthless conclusion that the righteous have no more advantage than the wicked].”

“His underparts are like sharp pieces of broken pottery;
He moves across and spreads out [grooves] like a threshing sledge on the mire (muddy river banks).

And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.