When their time of feasting had concluded, Job would rise early in the morning to send for them and consecrate them to God. He would offer a burnt offering for each one, because Job thought, "Perhaps my children sinned by cursing God in their hearts." Job did this time and again.

"If I had died, I would be lying down by now, undisturbed, asleep, and at rest,

"Now as for me, I would seek God if I were you; I would commit my case to God.

You'll go to your grave at a ripe old age; like a stack of grain that's harvested at just the right time.

It would weigh more than the sand on the seashore! Here's why I've talked so rashly:

"Will the wild donkey bray from hunger if fresh grass is beside him? Will the ox low from distress if it is near its feed?

"Who will grant my wish? I wish God would grant what I'm hoping for:

that God would just be willing to crush me; that he would let loose and eliminate me!

Indeed, you would gamble to buy an orphan; and barter to buy your friend!

I would rather die by strangulation than continue living.

There is not yet a mediator between us, who would set his hand on the two of us,

Otherwise, I would speak without being terrified of him, because I'm not like that inside myself."

An empty-headed person will gain understanding when a wild donkey is born a human being!"

"Ask the wild animals, and they'll teach you; the birds of the sky will tell you.

I wish you'd all just shut up. Then at least you would appear to be wise.

Will things go well for you under his cross-examination? Can you lie to him, as you would to a human being?

Are you a god who would make a leaf tremble or who would prosecute a dry straw?

My transgressions would be sealed up in a bag; you would cover over my sins.

"I could also talk like you if only you were in my place! Then I would put together an argument against you. I would shake my head at you

and encourage you with what I have to say; my words of comfort would lessen your pain.

where would my hope be? "And speaking of my hope, who would notice it?

"Why do the wicked live to reach old age and increase in power and wealth, too?

They grow old in prosperity, as they descend peacefully into the afterlife.

If only I knew where to find him, I would visit him where he has taken his seat.

I would lay out my case before him; and fill my mouth with arguments.

I know how he would answer me; I understand what he'll tell me.

"Would he use his great power to fight me? No, he'll pay attention to me.

"Look! Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, they work diligently as they seek wild game in the desert, food for them and their young ones.

From the city, dying men groan aloud, and the wounded cries out for help, but God charges no one with wrong.

The young men would see me and withdraw, and the aged would rise and stand.

Nobles would refrain from speaking, covering their mouths with their hands.

The voices of the commanders-in-chief were hushed, and their tongues would cling to the roofs of their mouths."

I set an example of the way to live, as a leader would; I lived like a king among his army; like one who comforts mourners."

"But now they mock me; men who are far younger than I, whose fathers I would have hated to entrust with my own sheep dogs.

"They would pluck off herbs from salt marshes to eat; and roots of the broom shrub for food.

What would I have from God above, what heritage from the Almighty on high,

if I've raised my hand against an orphan when I thought I would against him in court,

this is also a sin that deserves to be judged, since I would have tried to deceive God above."

since I don't know the first thing about how to flatter; and the one who made me would sweep me away as if I were nothing."

every living thing would die all at once, and mankind would return to dust."

He won't examine mankind further, that they would go before God to judgment.

who teaches us more than the earth's wild animals, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?'

"Who sets the wild donkey free? Who loosens the bonds of the wild donkey

Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he sleep at night near your feeding trough?

but she forgets that a foot might crush them or any wild animal might trample them.

Indeed would you annul my justice and condemn me, just so you can claim that you're righteous?

Mountains produce food for him, where all the wild animals frolic.

"Look! Anyone's hope to capture him will prove itself false; anyone would be terrified just by looking at him.

Then Job died at an old age, having lived a full life.