“When I lie down I say,
‘When shall I arise?’
But the night continues,
And I am continually tossing until dawn.

“If I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
My couch will ease my complaint,’

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

“Were He to snatch away, who could restrain Him?
Who could say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’

“It is all one; therefore I say,
‘He destroys the guiltless and the wicked.’

“Though I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will leave off my sad countenance and be cheerful,’

“I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;
Let me know why You contend with me.

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

He perishes forever like his refuse;
Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

“They say to God, ‘Depart from us!
We do not even desire the knowledge of Your ways.

“You say, ‘God stores away a man’s iniquity for his sons.’
Let God repay him so that he may know it.

“For you say, ‘Where is the house of the nobleman,
And where is the tent, the dwelling places of the wicked?’

“You say, ‘What does God know?
Can He judge through the thick darkness?

“I would learn the words which He would answer,
And perceive what He would say to me.

“The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

“Abaddon and Death say,
‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.’

“So I say, ‘Listen to me,
I too will tell what I think.’

“Behold, I waited for your words,
I listened to your reasonings,
While you pondered what to say.

“Do not say,
‘We have found wisdom;
God will rout him, not man.’

Then let him be gracious to him, and say,
‘Deliver him from going down to the pit,
I have found a ransom’;

“He will sing to men and say,
‘I have sinned and perverted what is right,
And it is not proper for me.

“Then if you have anything to say, answer me;
Speak, for I desire to justify you.

Who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’
To nobles, ‘Wicked ones’;

“Men of understanding will say to me,
And a wise man who hears me,

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

“For you say, ‘What advantage will it be to You?
What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?’

“But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
Who gives songs in the night,

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

“For to the snow He says, ‘Fall on the earth,’
And to the downpour and the rain, ‘Be strong.’

“Teach us what we shall say to Him;
We cannot arrange our case because of darkness.

“Shall it be told Him that I would speak?
Or should a man say that he would be swallowed up?

“Can you send forth lightnings that they may go
And say to you, ‘Here we are’?

“As often as the trumpet sounds he says, ‘Aha!’
And he scents the battle from afar,
And the thunder of the captains and the war cry.