They send out their young ones like a flock, and their children have pleasure in the dance,

They lift themselves up at timbrel and harp, And rejoice at the sound of an organ.

They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.

Yet they said unto GOD, Depart from us, and, In the knowledge of thy ways, find we no pleasure.

What is the Mighty One that we serve Him? And what do we profit when we meet with Him?'

Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.

You say, God keeps punishment stored up for his children. Let him send it on the man himself, so that he may have the punishment of it!

Let his own eyes see his destruction, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?

To God doth one teach knowledge, And He the high doth judge?

One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.

His buckets are full of milk, and there is no loss of strength in his bones.

And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.

They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.

“For you say, ‘Where is the house of the noble man?
And where is the tent, the dwelling place of the wicked?’

Have ye not asked the passers-by in the way? And, their signs, can ye not recognise?

“That evil men are [now] reserved for the day of disaster and destruction,
They will be led away on the day of [God’s] wrath?

No one denounces his conduct to his face; no one repays him for what he has done.

Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.

The dirt on his grave is sweet to him.
Everyone follows behind him,
and those who go before him are without number.

How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?

Then in response, Eliphaz from Teman said:

Is it a delight to the Mighty One That thou art righteous? is it gain, That thou makest perfect thy ways?

Is it because you give him honour that he is sending punishment on you and is judging you?

For you have taken your brother's goods when he was not in your debt, and have taken away the clothing of those who have need of it.

Thou wilt not give to the weary one water to drink, and from the hungry one thou wilt withhold bread.

But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.

Therefore art thou compassed about with snares on every side, and suddenly vexed with fear.

Or darkness, so that you cannot see,
And an abundance of water covers you.

Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!

And thou saidst How shall God know? Shall he judge in the cloud of darkness?

Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.

“Will you keep to the ancient path
That wicked men walked [in the time of Noah],

Who have been cut down unexpectedly, A flood is poured out on their foundation.

Those saying to God, 'Turn aside from us,' And what doth the Mighty One to them?

[The] righteous see, and they rejoice, but [the] innocent [one] mocks at them.

"Please reconcile yourself with him, and be at peace; {in this way}, good will come to you.

Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.

And lay thou thy treasure in the dust, And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks;

Yea, the Almighty his own self shall be thine harvest, and the heap of thy money.

For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.

And thou decreest a saying, And it is established to thee, And on thy ways hath light shone.

When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.

“He will even rescue the one [for whom you intercede] who is not innocent;
And he will be rescued through the cleanness of your hands.”

"Even today my complaint [is] bitter; my hand is heavy in addition to my groaning.

O that I had known -- and I find Him, I come in unto His seat,

I would set my cause in order before him, And fill my mouth with arguments.

Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.

There would an upright man reason with him; and I should be delivered for ever from my judge.

"When I go forward, {he is not there}, or backward, I cannot see him.

On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:

But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

On His step hath my foot laid hold, His way I have kept, and turn not aside,

Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have laid up the words of his mouth more than the purpose of my own heart.

But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.

He will certainly accomplish what He has decreed for me,
and He has many more things like these in mind.

Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.

Yea, GOD, hath made timid my heart, and, the Almighty, hath put me in terror.

Nevertheless, I haven't been silenced because of the darkness, even when thick darkness obscures my vision."

Wherefore from the Mighty One Times have not been hidden, And those knowing Him have not seen His days.

Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed on them.

The ass of the fatherless they lead away, They take in pledge the ox of the widow,

Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.

They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.

They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.

They are soaked by mountain rains and huddle in the rocks because they lack shelter.

They take violently away From the breast the orphan, And on the poor they lay a pledge.

Others go about without clothing, and though they have no food, they get in the grain from the fields.

Between their walls they make oil, Wine-presses they have trodden, and thirst.

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

They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.

The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.

And the eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me; and he putteth a covering on his face.

In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.

For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.

The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.

[He] feeds on [the] barren, [who] does not have a child, and does no good to [the] widow.

And hath drawn the mighty by his power, He riseth, and none believeth in life.

Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.

High they were for a little, and they are not, And they have been brought low. As all others they are shut up, And as the head of an ear of corn cut off.

Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high places.

Is their any number to His troops? And on whom ariseth not His light?

How can a person be justified before God?
How can one born of woman be pure?

Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.

How much less man who is an insect, and the son of man who is a worm!

In reply, Job responded:

What -- thou hast helped the powerless, Saved an arm not strong!

What -- thou hast given counsel to the unwise, And wise plans in abundance made known.

"Those who are deceased tremble, those beneath the waters and all that live in them.

yea, and all they which dwell beneath in the hell are not hid from him, and the very destruction itself cannot be kept out of his sight.

He stretches the northern skies over empty space;
He hangs the earth on nothing.

He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.

He encloses the face of his throne, and spreads his cloud on it.

He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.

Behold these the ends of his ways; how transient a sound of the word was heard in him! and the thunder of his might who shall understand?

And Job proceeded and went forth in his communication, saying,

All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;

Truly, there is no deceit in my lips, and my tongue does not say what is false.