When the days of their feasting were over, Job would send [for them] and consecrate them, rising early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Job did this at all [such] times.

When they looked from a distance and did not recognize him [because of his disfigurement], they raised their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe [in grief] and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky [in sorrow].

“Oh, that my grief could actually be weighed
And placed in the balances together with my tragedy [to see if my grief is the grief of a coward]!

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

“You would cast lots (gamble) over the fatherless
And bargain away your friend.

“Am I the sea, or the sea monster,
That You set a guard over me?

“He thrives and prospers [like a green plant] before the sun,
And his branches spread out over his garden.

“But his body [lamenting its decay] grieves in pain over it,
And his soul mourns over [the loss of] himself.”

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

“Nothing of his dwells in his tent;
Brimstone (burning sulfur) is scattered over his dwelling [to purify it].

“Together they lie down in the dust,
And the worms cover them.

“When he is carried to his grave,
A guard will keep watch over his tomb.

“It is He who spreads out the north over emptiness
And hangs the earth on nothing.

“He covers the face of the full moon
And spreads His cloud over it.

“The proud beasts [and their young] have not walked on it,
Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.

“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,

“Who put God in charge over the earth?
And who has laid on Him the whole world?

“Ice is made by the breath of God,
And the expanse of the waters is frozen.

“Where is the way that the light is distributed,
Or the east wind scattered over the earth?

“Will traders bargain over him?
Will they divide him up among the merchants?

“Out of his nostrils smoke goes forth
As from a boiling pot and [as from] burning rushes.

“He looks on everything that is high [without terror];
He is monarch over all the sons of pride. [And now, Job, who are you who does not dare to disturb the beast, yet who dares resist Me, the beast’s creator? Everything under the heavens is Mine; therefore, who can have a claim against God?]”

Then all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him over all the [distressing] adversities that the Lord had brought on him. And each one gave him a piece of money, and each a ring of gold.