“Let those curse it who curse the day,
Who are skilled in rousing up Leviathan.

“Remember now, who, being innocent, ever perished?
Or where [and in what circumstances] were those upright and in right standing with God destroyed?

“As I have seen, those who plow wickedness
And those who sow trouble and harm harvest it.

‘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.

So that He sets on high those who are lowly,
And He lifts to safety those who mourn.

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

“He who is at ease has contempt for misfortune,
But misfortune is ready [and anxiously waiting] for those whose feet slip.

“The tents of the destroyers prosper;
And those who provoke God are [apparently] secure,
Whom God brings into their power.

“He deprives the trusted ones of speech
And takes away the discernment and discretion of the aged.

“Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his ways,
And he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.

“Those who live [temporarily] in my house and my maids consider me a stranger;
I am a foreigner in their sight.

“All the men of my council hate me;
Those I love have turned against me.

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

“Can anyone teach God knowledge,
Seeing that He judges those on high?

“Have you not asked those who travel this way,
And do you not recognize their witness?

‘Surely our adversaries are cut off and destroyed,
And fire has consumed their abundance.’

“Why does the Almighty not set seasons for judgment?
Why do those who know Him not see His days [for punishment of the wicked]?

“Others have been with those who rebel against the light;
They do not want to know its ways
Nor stay in its paths.

“Drought and heat consume the snow waters;
So does Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) [consume] those who have sinned.

“Those who survive him will be buried because of the plague,
And [their] widows will not be able to weep.

“Therefore my lyre (harp) is used for [the sound of] mourning,
And my flute for the [sound of the] voices of those who weep.

“They die in youth,
And their life ends among the cult prostitutes.