In very deed, put forth, I pray thee thy hand, and smite unto his bone, and unto his flesh, - verily, unto thy face, will he curse thee.

And they sat with him upon the ground, seven days and seven nights, - and none was speaking unto him a word, for they saw that, exceeding great, was the stinging pain.

Surely, at once, had I lain down, and been quiet, I had fallen asleep, then, had I been at rest:

Lo! thou hast admonished many, and, slack hands, hast thou been wont to uphold:

Remember, I pray thee, who, being innocent, hath perished, or when, the upright, have been cut off.

For, with the stones of the field, shall be thy covenant, and, the wild beast of the field, hath been made thy friend;

So, have I been made to inherit months of calamity, and, nights of weariness, have been appointed me.

The earth, hath been given into the hand of a lawless one, The faces of her judges, he covereth, If not, then who is it?

Yet, these things, thou didst hide in thy heart, I know that, this, hath been with thee!

If I have been lawless, alas for me! Or, if I am righteous, I will not lift up my head, Surfeited with shame, look thou then on my humiliation.

As though I had not been, should I have become, - from the womb to the grave, might I have been borne.

Stones, have been hollowed out by waters, the floods thereof wash away the dust of the earth, and, the hope of mortal man, thou hast destroyed:

But, his flesh, for himself, is in pain, and, his soul, for himself, doth mourn.

In the secret council of GOD, hast thou been wont to hearken? Or canst thou attain for thyself unto wisdom?

All the days of the lawless man, he, doth writhe with pain, and, the number of years, is hidden from the tyrant;

Because he had stretched out - against GOD - his hand, and, against the Almighty, had been wont to behave himself proudly;

Though I do speak, unassuaged is my stinging pain, - And, if I forbear, of what am I relieved?

Over his day, have they been astounded who come behind, and, them who are in advance, a shudder hath seized.

Surely then hast been wont to put thy brother in pledge, for nothing, and, the garments of the ill-clad, hast thou stripped off:

Who had been saying unto GOD, Depart from us! and - What can the Almighty do for himself?

They are exalted a little, and are not, Yea having been laid low, like all men, are they gathered, Even as the top of an ear of corn, do they hang down.

Lo! these, are the fringes of his way, and what a whisper of a word hath been heard of him! But, the thunder of his might, who could understand?

Seeing it hath been hid from the eyes of every living thing, and, from the bird of the heavens, hath it been concealed?

Or what would have been my portion of GOD from above? Or what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?

If my heart hath been enticed unto a woman, or, by the door of my neighbour, I have lien in wait,

Surely that had been a shameful thing! and that an iniquity for the judges!

Surely, a fire, had that been, which, unto destruction, would have consumed, and, of all mine increase, had it torn up the root.

Let, my shoulder, from the shoulder-blade, fall, and, my arm, from the upper bone, be broken;

That too, had been a judicial iniquity, For I should have been false to GOD, above.

Lo! I am like thyself toward GOD, From clay, have I been nipped off, even I!

Lo! in this, thou hast not been right - let me answer thee, For, GOD, is greater than, man.

Or he is chastised with pain, upon his bed, and, the strife of his bones, is unceasing!

If there hath been near him a messenger who could interpret - one of a thousand, to declare to the son of earth His uprightness,

His flesh hath been made fresher than a child's, he hath returned to the days of his youth;

He will not withdraw - from a righteous one - his eyes, - but, with kings on the throne, He hath seated men triumphantly, and they have been exalted.

But, if, bound in fetters, they have been captured with cords of affliction,

Yea he might even have allured thee - out of the mouth of straitness, into a wide space - no narrowness there, - and, the food set down on thy table, should have been full of fatness.

Have the gates of death been disclosed to thee? And, the gates of the death-shade, couldst thou descry?

Thou knowest, for, then, hadst thou been born! And, in number, thy days are many!

Lo! any hope of him, hath been found deceptive, Even at the sight of him, shall not one be overwhelmed?

There is not - upon the dust - his like, that hath been made to be without fear;