When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I rise?' But [the] night is long, and I have my fill of tossing until dawn.

When I say, 'My bed will comfort me, and my couch will ease my complaint,'

"{How long} will you say these [things], and the words of your mouth [be] a mighty wind?

{If} he would snatch away, who could turn him? Who could say to him, 'What are you doing?'

It [is all] one; therefore I say, 'He destroys [both the] blameless and [the] wicked.'

Though {I say}, 'I will forget my complaint; I will change my expression, and I will rejoice,'

I will say to God, 'You should not condemn me; let me know why you contend [against] me.

For you say, 'My teaching [is] pure, and I am clean in your sight.'

"If you say, 'How will we persecute him?' And 'The root of the trouble is found' in me,

he will perish forever like his dung; [those who] have seen him will say, 'Where [is] he?'

And they say to God, 'Turn away from us, for we do not desire to know your ways.

For you say, 'Where is the nobleman's house, and where [are] {the tents in which the wicked dwell}?'

When they are humiliated, {you say}, '[It is] pride,' for he saves {the humble}.

I want to know [the] words [with which] he would answer me, and I want to understand what he would say to me.

Far be it from me that {I would say that you are right}; until I pass away, I will not put away from me my blamelessness.

The deep says, 'It [is] not in me,' and [the] sea says, 'It is not with me.'

Abaddon and Death say, 'We heard its rumor with our ears.'

Therefore I say, 'Listen to me; let me also declare my knowledge myself.'

"Look, I waited for your words; I listened for your insight, until you searched out {what to say}.

So do not say, 'We have found wisdom; let God refute him, not a man.'

"They are dismayed; they no longer answer; {they have nothing to say}.

{so that} he is gracious [to] him, and he says, 'Deliver him from descending into [the] pit; I have found a ransom.'

"He will sing to men, and he will say, 'I have sinned and have perverted [what is] right, and it was not paid back to me.

If {you have anything to say}, {answer me}; speak, for I desire {to justify you}.

Indeed, he says, 'A man does not profit when he takes delight in God.'

"But if [you have] understanding, hear this; listen to {what I say}.

the one who says to a king, 'You worthless man,' to noblemen, 'You wicked man,'

"Indeed, does anyone say to God, 'I have endured [chastisement]; I will not act corruptly [again];

{Those who have sense} say to me, and [the] wise man hearing me [says]:

"Do you think this [is] justice when you say, '{I am right} before God'?

But no one says, 'Where [is] God my Maker, [who] gives songs in the night,

{How much less} [when] you say [that] you do not see him, that [the] case [is] {before him}, and you are waiting for him!

"Bear with me a little longer, and {I will explain}, for {I still have something to say on God's behalf}.

Who has prescribed his way for him? Or who says, 'You have done wrong'?

For to the snow he says, 'Fall [on the] earth'; and {the shower of rain, his heavy shower of rain}--

"Teach us what we should say to him; we cannot draw up our case because of [the] presence of darkness.

Should he be told that I want to speak? Or did a man say that he would be communicated with?

Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? And will they say to you, 'Here we are'?

{Whenever} a horn [sounds], it says, 'Aha!' And it smells [the] battle from a distance-- [the] thunder of [the] commanders and [the] war cry.