One day when Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

a messenger came to Job and reported: “While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys grazing nearby,

He was still speaking when another messenger came and reported: “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house.

Why did the knees receive me,
and why were there breasts for me to nurse?

Your words have steadied the one who was stumbling
and braced the knees that were buckling.

However, if I were you, I would appeal to God
and would present my case to Him.

They encounter darkness by day,
and they grope at noon
as if it were night.

Then, even if your beginnings were modest,
your final days will be full of prosperity.

since we were born only yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are but a shadow.

Even if I were in the right, I could not answer.
I could only beg my Judge for mercy.

Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;
if I were blameless, my mouth would declare me guilty.

Were you the first person ever born,
or were you brought forth before the hills?

If you were in my place I could also talk like you.
I could string words together against you
and shake my head at you.

I wish that my words were written down,
that they were recorded on a scroll

or were inscribed in stone forever
by an iron stylus and lead!

They were snatched away before their time,
and their foundations were washed away by a river.

They were the ones who said to God, “Leave us alone!”
and “What can the Almighty do to us?”

when the Almighty was still with me
and my children were around me,

when my feet were bathed in cream
and the rock poured out streams of oil for me!

The noblemen’s voices were hushed,
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

I clothed myself in righteousness,
and it enveloped me;
my just decisions were like a robe and a turban.

If I smiled at them, they couldn’t believe it;
they were thrilled at the light of my countenance.

They plucked mallow among the shrubs,
and the roots of the broom tree were their food.

They were expelled from human society;
people shouted at them as if they were thieves.

Foolish men, without even a name.
They were forced to leave the land.

Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were all older than he.

If only Job were tested to the limit,
because his answers are like those of wicked men.

Where were you when I established the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.

Don’t you know? You were already born;
you have lived so long!

She treats her young harshly, as if they were not her own,
with no fear that her labor may have been in vain.